Transcription of the Video: Unlikely Disciple

The Apostle Paul, one of the great heroes of the Christian church: preacher, teacher, missionary, church planter, Bible writer. When one thinks of Paul, you think of cities - Corinth and Athens, Thessalonica - the end of his life, Rome itself. But God brought Paul first to a beautiful but rural area called Galatia. 

It was here that Paul first preached that the Messiah had come. And it was here that Paul found an unlikely disciple. Come. Let's walk in the footsteps of Paul on his first missionary tour. 

So we've hiked out into the countryside of Galatia. What on earth brought Paul here? Well you remember he was in Antioch. Initially, they loved it. Then there was some opposition from some Jews and some Gentiles. So he left, and he went to Iconium. The story was the same there. They listened. Some loved it. But then some folks came all the way from Antioch to stir up trouble there. So there was a plot to stone Paul.

So the Bible says Paul and Barnabas fled out into the countryside of Lycaonia. Now Lycaonia is a subdivision of Galatia. So Paul came here. He walks a couple of hundred miles across this beautiful countryside. Who was this Paul? Well we couldn't possibly do justice to studying everything about this great teacher, missionary, writer of Bible books. But I'd like to have you think of him a bit as a Jewish rabbi, trained by Gamliel, the finest of the great rabbis to a Jew and become a rabbi in his own right. 

Then he met Jesus on the Damascus road, and his life changed. He went off into the desert like an ancient Jew. He got a new rabbi - apparently a Barnabas. We don't know much about him. But he became a student of a new rabbi, because he had to learn to interpret the Hebrew Bible in a new way as taught by Rabbi Jesus. And then it was his turn. 

So he comes here to Galatia on his first missionary tour. And he goes from city to city to city to city, stays there a short time, trouble comes and he leaves. Why in such a hurry? Well maybe he thought the second coming was at any minute. I've got to reach everybody? Maybe the opposition drove him out there. Maybe it was just a fire in his heart because he loved Jesus.

But somewhere in that process, he becomes even more like a-- no, not more like a rabbi; more like Rabbi Jesus. I want you to think about Paul not only in all these terms we know. But think of Paul as a rabbi who's out making disciples like Jesus. And as his missionary tours go on, that becomes more and more and more his central focus. He wanted to be like Jesus, just as he says to his hearers, "Imitate me as I imitate Jesus."

But there's something ahead here that may have been part of what changed his focus or adjusted what he was doing to become more the rabbi like Jesus. Not that it was wrong what he did. But he changed. So I need you to come. Let me show you what's ahead. Because I think you'll be amazed at another example of how Paul became like Jesus. Come with me. Come.

Jewish rabbis always look for opportunities along the way where something they see becomes something that they teach. So they're watching. "What's out there that I can use?" Look over here. 

Imagine what Paul would say if he stopped here. Now remember, he's out here with just Barnabas apparently. So he's not with a group. But imagine he walked here. I can see the excitement grow on him because of what he sees here. "Talmidim, look! Disciples, look! This is a sheepfold. The rabbi, Messiah Jesus, taught, 'I am the good shepherd.'" And then he talked about being the sheepfold.

You see, in the Middle East when they bring sheep in here, the shepherd often sleeps in the gate. So the shepherd literally goes here, puts his pack down, and sleeps right here so that to get out, the goats would have to go past him. To get in, the hyenas or the wolves would have to come over him. 

John said, "Jesus said, 'I'm the gate. My sheep know me. They can only come in through me. They know my voice, and I lead them out. I'm the only way in. I'm the one who protects you when you're in. And when it's time to come out, I go ahead of you. I'm the gate. Anyone who comes another way is a thief and a robber. You can only get in here through me.'"

So Messiah Jesus used this as an example. "But I'm so excited. I've got a friend, a doctor named Luke. He has a book that he's been working on for years. I've been after him to finish the thing for years and he doesn't get it finished. But he's writing the story of Jesus, and he tells the story that Jesus came and was born and was placed in a manger. Now in our land of Israel, mangers are always by stables. So we not only here have a sheepfold like the rabbi talked about, we have a stable."

Just imagine, now, the King of the universe - because he loved us - came down from his Father, Heaven. And he was born in the manure. Look! No golden straw, no hay. Just manure. And he was born here. And he was placed in a trough, in a place like this. Look!

Would you give birth in here? Now think of your mom. Think about it. Look where this is. And this one hasn't been recently used. He wants you to know the fire in his chest for you, for me. And that's part of what drives Paul, racing around the countryside trying to tell absolutely everybody about Messiah. Because he caught this. Pretty cool, isn't it? Come.

It doesn't matter what your degree is. Are you walking like a man of God? He said, "Foxes have holes, birds have nests. I haven't got a place to lay my head. Do you know what you're asking?" And he turned him down. Then he went and called fishermen. It's amazing.

We've been walking all morning on these same paths and trails that Paul walked on. As far as I can tell, this is the most likely route he took. It's stunningly beautiful out here. But have you noticed there's hardly anyone here? There's a shepherd now and then. A small village. People were probably as friendly in those villages to Paul as they are to us today. Maybe he came here for the people of these villages. Maybe that's where he first taught about Jesus. I don't know.

I wonder if he even knew why he was here. I wonder if the Spirit of God was pushing him, driving him, and he simply followed, somehow, obediently without even knowing for sure what it was that God had in mind.

But I do know that a very important event in Paul's life, in the life of the early church happened just ahead, believe it or not, way out here in the middle of nowhere. Let's go just a bit farther.

We're really out in the sticks at this point. We've begun to see a different kind of tree. It's called a linden tree. I wonder if Paul knew. I don't know. But there's an ancient myth in Greek mythology about this tree in this place. 

The myth goes like this. One day, Zeus and Hermes, the Greek gods, decided to come down to earth. So they disguised themselves. They came down to Lycaonia and they began to knock on people's doors just to see how hospitable people were. And everybody turned them away. "Go away, beggars," they'd say. "We don't need your kind around here." 

And so finally, they were frustrated. "These people are not hospitable. One last cottage, we'll try." So they knocked on the door and an old woman came to the door. An old man stood behind her, and immediately, they welcomed the two gods. They didn't know they were gods. They immediately took out the last flour, the last oil. They brought out the last eggs. They prepared the best meal they could, an old man and woman. And they welcomed the gods and gave them everything they had.

So Zeus and Hermes said, in mythology of course, "Why should we hide from this good couple what we're about to do?" So they said, "Come outside. Do you see your neighbors? We're going to destroy them all, because they had no hospitality." All of a sudden, in front of their eyes, the city, the village, the countryside, every house disappeared and all that was left was a swamp.

Baucis and Philemon watched in amazement. Their neighbors were gone. And then the God's said, "What do you wish from us because of your hospitality?" 

"The only thing we ask," said Baucis and Philemon, "is that we would die together." They lived many, many years in this myth. And then one day, Baucis looked at Philemon. Philemon looked at Baucis and they noticed leaves beginning to grow out of their arms and their heads and their hair. And in moments, they had turned into a linden tree.

Now a myth that almost certainly-- it doesn't have any truth at all. And yet, it was a myth that everybody here knew. It enters the story believe it or not. Two gods who destroyed a culture because they were not hospitable. Come.

Well there it is. His destination. Believe it or not, all those miles out in the middle of nowhere, off the main road by who knows how many miles because of that hill. We call it a tel (or tell). In it are a whole series of cities built one on top of the other. It was one of those 13 Roman military colonies along with Antioch. It probably had a population of 2,000? I think that's a stretch. It covers maybe four and a half or five acres on top. Its name was Lystra. And the people living there are Lycaonians. So he walks all that way to come here. Let's find out why. Come.

Well this is it. Not much here, is there? There isn't anything up here, but it's pretty small. It's beautiful. The beauty in the background. Paul's walked 150 plus miles, and he comes here. Let's pick up with the story. I'll read a bit of it.

"In Lystra," somewhere up here, "sat a man crippled in his feet from birth. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him and saw that he had the faith to be healed and called out, 'Stand on your feet.'"

"At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, 'The gods have come down in human form. The gods have come down in human form!'"

They remembered the linden tree. "'They're back. Let's not mess up this time.' Barnabas, they called Zeus. Paul, they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker." 

It's interesting. Zeus is always shown older with a beard. Hermes is always shown young, smaller, and clean shaven. And he talks all the time. So maybe Barnabas looked a little like that and Paul a little more-- I don't know. But it's possible.

"The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city brought bulls and wreaths to the city gate, because he and the crowd wanted to make sacrifices," to this Pharisee of Pharisees. "Imagine, wanting to sacrifice to me, the man who all his life believed in one God." 

"But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd shouting, 'Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We're bringing you Good News.'"

"Then some came from Antioch." Certain Jews. 150 miles. "They didn't approve of his teaching. They won the crowd over. The crowd dragged Paul and stoned him and dragged him outside of town." Did you know that? Paul was stoned here. 

Stoning was carefully prescribed at least a little bit later. We're not quite sure how prescribed it was, but it went like this. You brought a person to the edge of a cliff. It had to be about 15, 18 feet high. You bound them, and you gave them a chance to confess their sin. If they confessed, they were forgiven, and you stoned them. If they didn't, you stoned them, and it was believed God didn't forgive them. 

Then you brought them to the edge and the two witnesses, who saw their sin, pushed them off - bound. Many died from that fall. And then every person in the village who thought they were guilty got one stone - as big as you wanted - and you may drop it on them. Only one. If you miss, that's your problem. But one stone. So 1,000 people, 1,000 stones. Ten people, ten stones. 

So it says, "They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city. And they left him outside the city for dead." Now one of the most amazing verses in the whole text, in my opinion. Listen.

"After the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into town."

"Man, these people are interested in this. They want to discuss it further. Look how excited they get about what,"-- this guy's got the passion to walk back in and say, "Hey! Listen! Let me tell you more!"

If you want to talk about a rabbi with the fire of Elijah, that is intense. A powerful story, yes? But there's another story here. I'm not sure of all the details. But I'd like to tell it to you the way it may have been.

You see, living in the ruins in this hill, in a small home somewhere-- if archaeologists uncovered it, they would uncover this little home-- was a young woman. She was Jewish. And she got involved with a Greek who was probably a pagan. She got pregnant. I don't know if she was pregnant after she married him, before and then married him, or never married him. It doesn't say. But she got pregnant and she had a son. 

I see her bringing the son to the rabbi. "Rabbi, look. It's my baby. Rabbis love babies." So the rabbi blessed the baby. And then the young woman said, "Rabbi, it's the eighth day. Would you circumcise him?" The covenant with Abraham. 

The rabbi said, "I told you. You don't understand. Listen to the Torah. Anyone born of a forbidden marriage may never enter the community of the Lord even down to the tenth generation. Your baby is a mamzer (or momzer)

"Oh, no. He didn't do anything." 

"No. You did."

This little boy was an outsider if later practice is close. He was loved by his community. They didn't spit on him. But he's a mamzer. He couldn't go in synagogue. He didn't get invited to gatherings, didn't get to sit with the other kids and listen for the rabbi, didn't get to read the Torah when it was his turn. He was a boy who knew what it was to be outside the community even though he hadn't done a thing.

And then one day, this kid must have been here somewhere, saw Paul. And he must have listened. Did Paul teach here what he taught in Colossae, that in Messiah there is no Jew or Gentile, no slave or free, no rich or poor. Did he think, "Is there a mamzer?" 

He believed what Paul said. Then he saw Paul stoned. Did he cry? His last hope? No. Then he saw Paul came back. Did he say, "I like that. I could follow him. I could be like him. I know that fire." 

Then Paul was gone. And then one day, Paul came back. Now, I'm guessing-- and maybe this is a stretch. But I see Paul coming here for the fourth time, saying, "I can't understand why I keep coming back here. Why is God sending me here all the time?" But I know one thing. He was looking for disciples. 

What would you give to be sitting next to that little boy when Paul walked over, the student of Gamliel, the greatest rabbi in Jewish history? What would you give? "You, Timothy, I'm Saul."

"I know." 

"I want you to follow me."

"But I'm a mamzer."

"Not in Messiah, you aren't. I think you could be like me. Come."

And the next day, that kid walked out of here with Paul. "I'm nobody. Born in an illegitimate marriage."

Does that remind you of anyone? Bethsaida maybe? And fishermen? This kid had a fire too. And he would walk out of here to become the lead rabbi in Ephesus. And for years, he wouldn't leave Paul's side. And he didn't choose his rabbi. His rabbi chose him. Does that sound familiar?

A couple of thoughts. First, I don't know why Paul makes many churches at first and later only two churches and many disciples. I don't have the insight that would say he's changing. I do know this. At the end of his life, from what the Bible tells us, he's doing more of the things that Jesus did. And at the beginning of his life, Paul wanted to be like his rabbi. So who do you pick? A fisherman from Bethsaida.

My second thought is can you imagine how far he came just to find one kid and what that meant to Timothy? And my last thought-- I'll say this nicely. Fellow Timothies, we're all outside. We're sinners. God's come a long, long ways looking for nobodies. You don't have to bring anything but a fire in your soul, a passion in your heart, a willingness to give every ounce you've got to be like your rabbi. 

And I want to encourage you in something. Look for mamzers. They're out there. They all sit with a blank stare in their eyes. Either something they've done or something others have done have pushed them outside of the group. Find one. He never had a disciple that God used more powerfully than that kid from Lystra.

Timothy had one thing going on. He knew the text, the Scripture. So he walked out of here, became like Paul who was like Jesus. 

Say these words after me. Whoever is in Jesus must walk as Jesus walked. These are the very words of God. Amen.