Context No. 3392 of 4322 · Acts

Acts 14:20-28: in context

20But as the disciples stood around him, he rose up, and entered into the city. On the next day he went out with Barnabas to Derbe. 21When they had preached the Good News to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom. 23When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed. 24They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled. 27When they had arrived and had gathered the assembly together, they reported all the things that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the nations. 28They stayed there with the disciples for a long time.

After being stoned and left for dead at Lystra, Paul gets up and walks right back into the city, and then continues the work, returning to the very towns where he had been persecuted to strengthen the new disciples. And his encouragement to them is bracingly honest: through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

He does not promise the young believers an easy road. He tells them the truth, that following Christ will pass through hardship, and he prepares them to expect it rather than be shaken when it comes. And notice the fruit of the whole journey, reported back to the sending church: God had opened a door of faith to the nations. The suffering was not the end of the story but the doorway; through Paul's afflictions, a door swung open for the gospel to reach the world. Honest expectation of hardship, and confidence that God is opening doors through it, belong together in the Christian life.

Do I follow Christ with honest expectation that the road passes through hardship, trusting that God is opening doors through the very afflictions I would rather avoid?

Sources

Acts 14:22: "Exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into God's Kingdom."
Acts 14:27: "They reported all the things that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the nations."
Acts 14:20: "As the disciples stood around him, he rose up, and entered into the city."