People Will Believe Anything But the Truth!

6th Sunday of Easter, 5/26/19
Acts 14:8-18


People Will Believe Anything But the Truth!
I. The truth about the only true God
II. The truth about themselves
III. But God’s truth still works.


Recently there has been renewed interest in sending people back to the moon and even on to Mars. I said “back” to the moon because, as most of you recall, we first landed on the moon when the Miami Valley’s own Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the moon’s dust on July 20, 1969. But I’m also sure that you’ve heard that there are some people right here in the United States who don’t believe that event ever took place. In spite of the photographic, video and even physical evidence in the form of rocks and dust from the moon, some people believe it never happened. And they have a conspiracy theory on which they base their beliefs.

One of history’s most evil events was the Holocaust carried out by Nazis in Germany during WWII. More than 6 million Jewish people were systematically murdered, most in gas chambers. If you’ve ever seen pictures of the piles of dead bodies, it’s enough to make you physically ill. The inhumanity is unthinkable. In an effort to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, there are Holocaust museums in various places around the world. But once again, there are some people who maintain that it never happened. They choose to believe that the Holocaust was a hoax.

On this 6th Sunday of Easter we’re celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In fact, every Sunday is a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. His resurrection is the very foundation of our Christian faith. If his resurrection didn’t occur, we might as well go home right now and prepare from an eternity in hell. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead and we’re filled with resurrection hope and joy. The resurrection of Jesus was witnessed by hundreds of people. It’s an historical fact. But billions of people refuse to believe it. They chose to believe that Jesus is still dead.

And that’s because people will believe anything but the truth. That’s true today and it was true when Paul and Barnabas did their work in the ancient city of Lystra as recorded here in Acts 14. People will believe anything but the truth. We know how that’s true of others, but could it possibly be true of you and me as well? Join me as we see what our God shares with us in this portion of his word.

Part I.

Let me ask you something: What seems more reasonable? That there are many gods, even millions of gods, or that there is only one true God? Think about it. It really only makes sense that there is one true God. But try to convince people who believe that there are many spiritual forces out there—good versus evil—that must be understood and manipulated. Or try convincing a Hindu woman that there is only one true God, when she believes that there are literally millions of them. People will believe anything but the truth.

Paul and Barnabas ran into that very thing on this day in their work as apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were working in the city of Lystra, which is in the heart of modern Turkey. It’s interesting that Luke, who wrote Acts, doesn’t mention that Paul first went to a Jewish synagogue, which was his modus operandi. Because he didn’t, it’s likely that one didn’t exist in Lystra. In other words, Paul was working exclusively among Gentile people.

And the people of Lystra were typical Gentiles of the day in believing in the Greek pantheon. As our text informs us, they believed in Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods, and even had a temple to him on the outskirts of their city with a priest in charge of worship there. They believed in that mythical collection of gods who were known for their human foibles and devious plots against each other.

And here was the reaction of Paul and Barnabas: “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 are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.’” Paul first asserted the truth that there is only one true God who created all things. Doesn’t that just make sense? Things just don’t come into being on their own. Our world and our universe are a constant testimony to the love and almighty power of God. Just look at what he created!

And then look at how he cares for us! Paul asserts how the only true God sends the rain and makes crops grow. That’s Paul’s away of proclaiming the truth that God preserves us richly and daily. And who would argue with that? I’ll admit our lives aren’t perfect. Even farmers struggle from time to time and place to place to grow their crops, but in general, God provides for us richly and daily.

But listen to the result of Paul’s efforts to share the truth with these people: “Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.”

People will believe anything but the truth—the truth about the only true God.

There were probably many reasons why the people of Lystra chose not to believe the truth that there is only one true God, but I’d like to focus on just one: they liked having many gods. They liked being able to determine on their own what their gods said and did. That way they could say and do as they please and do so with the support of the gods they had created.

Sound familiar? It’s exactly what modern people think, believe and do. It’s why our world is in such a mess.

But here’s the truth that is hard to take: it’s the way we want things to be, too. We want our God to bend a little to our wants and desires. We want him to excuse our behavior. We don’t want to believe that he holds us accountable for our thoughts and desires. But he does! Believe it! And then believe this truth as well: He loves us so much he did something about it. He sent his Truth to us in flesh and blood—our Savior Jesus. Jesus came to sacrifice himself for all the times we don’t want to believe God’s truth.

Indeed, there is only one true God and he loves you with an everlasting love. Believe that truth!

Part II.

On a later mission trip, Paul encountered a jailer who nearly committed suicide. When Paul stopped his attempt, the jailer asked Paul and his companion, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). That’s a common, human, spiritual response.

We see it here in Lystra as well. This entire event in Lystra was occasioned by a miracle that Paul performed by the power of the Lord Jesus. Our text states, “In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.” No one could deny the miracle that had just taken place.

And here was their reaction, “When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!’” There was a legend in Lystra that the gods had appeared to them some time ago, but the people of Lystra had missed this golden opportunity. This time they weren’t going to make the same mistake.

Our text tells us that the priest of Zeus and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, having come to the conclusion that they were Zeus and Hermes. Do you notice the heart of their response? Offer sacrifices. Try to please and appease the gods. Give the divine something human. But how can sinful humans appease the gods?

Ridiculous, but people will believe anything but the truth, even the truth about themselves.

And it’s due to the fact that these people in Lystra, all people throughout history, and even we, have trouble believing the grace of God. First, we find it hard to believe that we have nothing to offer God to appease him. That’s sinful pride. On the opposite end of the spiritual spectrum, we know how miserably we’ve offended him. Guilt consumes us. We just can’t believe the grace of God. And then there’s our attitude towards others: we’re prone to cast a disparaging eye at people who are less godly than we are. And the flip side of that? We consider ourselves to be above them in some way. Why would we need the grace of God as much as they do? We want to believe anything but the truth about ourselves, just at the people of Lystra did.

God tells us the truth about ourselves—how much we need a Savior every day. And his saving truth is that he provided that Savior for us. By God’s grace we know and believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus for our forgiveness and eternal life. Praise God for that truth!

Part III.

The silver lining in this event is that God’s truth still works. It worked in the heart of the man who was paralyzed. Our text states, “Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’” Paul had been proclaiming the good news about Jesus to this man and the Holy Spirit worked through that gospel to create saving faith in his heart. Our God has done the same thing for you and me.

We wonder what happened to this man after this event. Did he remain in his Christian faith? What did he do to show his love and thankfulness to the Lord? How did this miracle effect the way he showed love for others? We’re not sure about his story.

But what’s your story? How will you show your love and thankfulness to the God whose word has worked saving faith in you? What’s your story? Pray about it. Think about it. Believe God’s truth and show it with your life! Amen.