SERMON TITLE: Humble Leaders (Humble Followers)
TEXT: Acts 14:8-28 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 10/17-18/20
You can watch the sermon here.
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And the one thing I always want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshipping with us in person at our North Main or Bowling Green campuses — or are worshipping with us online — the one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and that I love you too.
And we’re continuing our series in the book of Acts — we’re around the halfway point of Luke’s findings on the early church. Remember, Luke was hired to do a thorough investigation into the life of Jesus and the early church. He was hired to verify whether or not the stories spreading about Jesus and his followers were true. And we have Luke’s findings in his gospel and in the book we’re studying — the book of Acts.
And over the past few weeks we’ve been encountering various barriers the early Christians had to overcome in order to accomplish the mission Jesus had given them. The mission of taking the gospel — the Good News of what Jesus accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection — to the whole world. And — today — we’re going to learn from them how to overcome another barrier we face — a barrier that has the potential to keep us from accomplishing our mission of connecting people to Jesus Christ and to one another. So let’s turn to our passage for today.
If you have your Bible please turn with me to Acts chapter 14. We’ll be looking at verses 8-28.
And while you’re finding Acts chapter 14, here’s a quick preview of what’s coming up over the next few weeks. Next week — Mike Norman — our Bowling Green campus pastor — will be preaching to us from the book of Zechariah and I’ll be joining all of you in BG next weekend. Then the following week — Craig Cramer — who was a long time associate pastor on staff here at Gateway — Craig will be visiting with us. And — on November 1st — we’re having an evening communion service at our County Road 9 campus — as you’ve heard — and our founding pastor — Pastor Ben Borsay — will be preaching and leading us in the Lord’s Supper. Some exciting things coming up over the next few weeks that you’ll want to be present for.
And now let’s turn to our passage. Here are the words found in Acts chapter 14. Beginning in verse 8.
Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. 19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. 24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, 26 and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they remained no little time with the disciples. (Acts 14:8-28 ESV)
I’m sure you’ve noticed that we live in a pretty competitive world — some call it a “dog eat dog” kind of culture. This is especially true when it comes to accomplishing things and getting stuff done. We teach our kids — early on in life — to track their accomplishments for that college application they’ll fill out some day. We hold on to old trophies and awards. And — for some fields of study — the more letters and acronyms you have on your business card — obviously — the more successful you are.
Now — let me say — there’s nothing essentially wrong with being proud of our achievements as long as we recognize that we didn’t achieve anything on our own. Similar to how books have an acknowledgments section — where the author thanks all of the people who’ve helped them write the book — we can be proud of our achievements in a way that’s healthy as long as we acknowledge the help we’ve received from others. But something revealing — at least this is true for me — I nearly always skip the acknowledgments part of the book.
And the tension for us is how our culture teaches us to be proud of our accomplishments and to rarely acknowledge the shoulders we’ve stood on — the help we’ve received — the effort of others that have put us in a position to succeed. And this is especially true of those who find themselves in a leadership role — as a central point of conflict between our pride and our leadership is when the time has come for us to hand over the leadership reins to someone else.
This is easy to see in the business world — where a CEO hangs on to their position for far too long — but this can be true in the church world too. Because one of the barriers we all must face — and we’ll see this isn’t just for pastors or church staff — but for all of us — a barrier we face — something we must overcome in order to accomplish our mission of connecting people to Jesus Christ and to one another — is our own pride in what we have accomplished. Will we hang on to the influence and responsibilities we have or will we humbly and faithfully hand influence and responsibility off to others?
And — again — you may not even see yourself as a leader — but all of us can easily fall victim to the pride and corruption that we see in the headline making business scandals. Any of us — this is the barrier that we’re looking at today — any of us can allow our pride to get in the way of all of us together — Gateway Church — accomplishing the mission we’ve been given.
And — in our text for today — we see a few different situations that Paul and Barnabas find themselves in where we see what true, humble leadership looks like. We’ll see that they do accomplish some incredible things — but they do so knowing that their accomplishments weren’t done in a vacuum. They know and acknowledge that everything they accomplish is ultimately due to the grace of God.
And what we find are four marks of humility in our verses. Four marks of humility that are to be characteristics of all who follow Jesus. The four marks of humility are 1) Knowing who you are (and who you aren’t). 2) A willingness to make sacrifices. 3) Handing off authority to others. And 4) submitting yourself to others.
If you didn’t get all of those — never fear — we’re going to look at each one.
The first mark of humility — that we see in our passage — is knowing who you are and who you aren’t. Let’s begin back in verse 8.
Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. (Acts 14:8-18 ESV)
We’re talking about overcoming the barrier of pride, which often inhibits Christians — and even entire churches — from accomplishing the mission Jesus has given them. And — instead of pride — God’s people are to be humble. But before we get to this first mark of humility — let’s first talk about humility.
Though humility is considered a virtue — it’s often a virtue that’s value is questioned. And the reason why we question the value of humility is because we often misunderstand what biblical humility really is. Biblical humility doesn’t mean you constantly put yourself down or degrade yourself in the presence of others. Humility doesn’t mean you have a low self-esteem or are timid or that you have feelings of inferiority. And though humble people recognize their own shortcomings and limitations, humility doesn’t mean they make a big deal about them.
So what is humility then? To be humble means to live truthfully. To know that you're not perfect — without beating yourself up. Being humble means to have a realistic view of yourself without putting yourself down. As Augustine said, “All humility consists in knowing yourself.” Being humble means you view yourself no better than anyone else and you don’t say or do things to make you appear better than others. Humility is about us recognizing the truth about ourselves as revealed to us in God’s Word and putting all of our reliance on God to make us into a humble people.
Now in our culture — instead of humility — we like to talk about authenticity. Now the two terms would be synonymous if — by authenticity — we meant “living in light of the truth of oneself.” But — unfortunately — authenticity tends to mean more along the lines of “be true to who you think you are” more than being true to “who God says you are.” So — in our day and age — we have many people who proudly claim to be authentic.
Ultimately — though — for the Christian — humility is about centering our lives on God and not ourselves. It means recognizing that we’re not the center of the universe. The spotlight isn’t on us. We’re not the star of our own story — Christ is.
And thus — biblically humble people — who have Christ at the center of their life — can acknowledge their shortcomings, their sin, and when they are wrong — and are gracious and patient and empathetic with the shortcomings of others. And — being biblically humble people — who have Christ at the center of their life — they can also acknowledge their strengths and spiritual growth and be grateful for the strengths and spiritual growth they see in others. And — being biblically humble — they have confidence, courage, and freedom because they know who they are and who they aren’t. Thus they don’t need to go around begging for recognition and they’re not discouraged if they don’t get it. Humble people are even willing to reject the recognition of others when that recognition is out of line — which is what we see Paul and Barnabas do when the crowd believes that they are gods.
But why was there this seemingly crazy misunderstanding? Yes, Paul looking at a paralytic — who from birth had never been able to walk — Paul looking at him and telling him to stand up — and that being exactly what happens — is pretty incredible. But gods, really?
So why confuse Paul and Barnabas with Zeus and Hermes? One Bible scholar writes, “Zeus was the most widely worshipped God in Galatia . . . In the territory of Lystra there are carvings and inscriptions which show Zeus accompanied by Hermes.” (G. Walter Hansen, “Galatia,” in The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting, Volume 2: The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting, ed. David W.J. Gill and Conrad Gempf (Eugene: Wipf&Stock, 2000), 393.) There’s even an ancient legend that was recorded during the time of Jesus that claims that Zeus and Hermes once visited this area of the world disguised as ordinary men. And they were turned away from a thousand homes when they tried to find a place to stay before being welcomed by an elderly couple into their humble home. The legend goes on to say that Zeus and Hermes turned that humble home into a temple and destroyed all of the houses that rejected them. (Ibid., 394.)
Now I don’t believe any of that to be true — but I bet the people living in Lystra did. And that’s why — when Paul heals the crippled man — they’re all quick to associate him and Barnabas with Zeus and Hermes. If you believed a legend — that the gods had shown up once, got rejected by your ancestors, who were then destroyed in judgment — well I bet you’d be pretty quick to not repeat that mistake.
But Paul and Barnabas refused to be worshipped as gods. In fact, they took advantage of this strange opportunity to share the gospel with these people. And notice how different this spontaneous sharing of the gospel is than what we saw a few weeks ago when Paul was asked to give a word of encouragement to people in a synagogue. The Jews had an understanding of the Old Testament, so Paul used it to point them to Jesus. But these people — well — they don’t have an understanding of God’s Word so he uses a different tactic and uses what they know to point them to the true and living God —creation and that God is creator.
And what’s remarkable about Paul and Barnabas is their humility. They know who they are and who they aren’t. They don’t take advantage of these confused people and let them treat them as gods. They’re comfortable with who God had made them to be — including the gifts and calling he had given them — the calling to share the gospel with all people.
Which leads us to the second mark of humility that we see in our verses — humility requires sacrifice. Let’s begin in verse 19.
But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. (Acts 14:19-20 ESV)
Now — just like we’ve seen in other towns — Paul and Barnabas face opposition. And this time things get quite real as the crowd stones Paul, drags him out of the city, and assumes that they’ve beat him to the point of death. I know it’s hard to imagine something like this happening to us — but have you ever wondered what was going through Paul’s mind while he was being stoned? Obviously, there’s the physical pain. But let’s not ignore the mental and emotional pain he went through. The utter humiliation of being stoned by a crowd and being dragged unconscious out of a city. All because he healed someone and began sharing the gospel with people in the city. Talk about making a sacrifice for Christ.
Now — for some of us — serving God and others — doesn’t mean we’re literally stoned to death — but it sure feels like it. Because all authority comes with responsibility. And the greater authority that we have — the greater responsibility — and the bigger target on your back for others to throw stones at you. And — for some of us — even thinking about greater responsibility saps you of your energy. But God’s promise to you is that he will give you all the strength you need for the sacrifices he’s calling you to make. And he will heal the wounds you receive from others as you serve him — and them — faithfully.
And a mark of humility is that we make sacrifices. These sacrifices may be big or small, but biblical humility requires that we make sacrifices for the good of others and the glory of God.
Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity [or the need to make sacrifices], but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Which leads us to our third mark of humility: the ability to hand off authority to others. Let’s begin in verse 21.
When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (Acts 14:21-23 ESV)
So Paul and Barnabas begin their journey back to Antioch — to the church that sent them out to do this ministry work. And they revisit three of the towns they’d just been through — towns they’d gotten kicked out of or had to flee from. But now they return — not to evangelize — but to do a bit of follow up care with the Christians living in these cities. And they did four things. First, they strengthened the disciples — most likely — with God’s Word. Second, they encouraged them to continue in the faith. Third, they warned them about hardships that were sure to come their way. And, fourth, they helped the congregations get organized by appointing leaders of the churches.
And this is another mark of humility — especially in leadership. The ability to hand off authority to others. These churches were Paul and Barnabas’ babies — their upstarts. And yet they understood what their role was now — and what it wasn’t. And they were no longer to be the leaders of these churches — so they handed off leadership to others — entrusting the care of the people, the spiritual welfare, the teaching of God’s Word — all of the responsibilities that come with leading God’s people — they handed it all off to others.
Now here may be an unexpected application of this point. Not only does authority have to be handed off — in humility — but also — in humility — authority must be received. I say this — because something common in the church world — and I’ve seen this at Gateway — is for people to refuse being given authority or a leadership role. Now — for sure — there is a calling — but I think that far too often Christians are hesitant to receive authority — to allow others to hand off authority to them — not because they lack a calling — but because of something else.
Well what then? Well, I’m sure that some folks are afraid that they’re incompetent or might display an uncanny ability to screw things up. Others might be ashamed of their past and thus feel disqualified — or that something from their past means they are disqualified from stepping into a role of authority. Some — and if this is you I’m thankful for your self-awareness — some refuse authority because they know that they want it for all the wrong reasons.
And here’s what I hope you would know — and even more so — believe and receive — if you’re hesitant to serve in leadership because you don’t want to be an embarrassment or because you feel disqualified. God loves and values you because — through your faith — you are in Christ. Thus, your Heavenly Father loves you with the love that he has for his Son. Thus you can step into authority with confidence knowing that the God who loves you is the One who has called you to the role. He’s the One who will equip you with all you need in order to do all that he’s asking you to do. So — instead of refusing authority — seek God’s will and trust in his leading. And — like any good author — make sure you acknowledge your dependence upon God in this new role. As your English teacher told you, “Cite your sources.” And — for all Christians — the source of our calling and authority is God — thus we need to make sure we point others to him.
And we find the final mark of humility beginning in verse 24.
Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, 26 and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they remained no little time with the disciples. (Acts 14:24-28 ESV)
Paul and Barnabas — two men called out specifically by the Holy Spirit to do this work — men who God worked in so powerfully that they were believed to be the gods come down to earth. Men who made great sacrifices — nearly dying for the work God had called them to. Men who started numerous churches and raised up leaders to care for people living in multiple cities. Paul and Barnabas, return to Antioch and give a report of all the work they had been doing. They submitted themselves — once again — to others — which is the final mark of humility that we find in our verses. Submission.
Now I know that one of the hardest things — for some of us to do — is to submit others because of our past experiences. And this makes submission really hard for you — it may feel impossible. And that can be true even for church leadership. If that’s you — and I know there’s no silver bullet when it comes to getting past our past — but if this is you — know that here at Gateway — one of the beauties of our leadership structure is that no single person is the leader or has the power. I know that many people may think that I do — but I don’t. Now — for sure — I have leadership influence and quite a bit of authority and responsibility — but I submit to the Session of Gateway — to the elders. And all of the elders submit to one another. So unlike the business world with a CEO at the top of the organization — with maybe a board of directors that keeps the CEO in check — know that that’s not how we operate. That’s not how the authority is distributed. In fact, my goal — like Paul and Barnabas as we saw earlier — and I think if you asked the staff they would affirm this — one of my goals is to handoff as much authority and responsibility as I can. One of the things the staff hear me say — so much so — they’re probably sick of hearing it is, “I’m sure you will make a great decision.” Every decision isn’t mine to make — I don’t have or want that kind of authority.
For others of us — though — submission to others is hard because it makes you feel vulnerable, weak, or even powerless. And your issue isn’t with having to be in charge — though you may have had others accuse you of that in the past — for you it’s not about being in charge — you just don’t want other people telling you what to do. You don’t have to have authority — you're just hesitant to allow others to have authority over you. And what God is asking of you is to trust him and his Spirit’s work in the lives of those he’s called to lead on his behalf. And though others may betray you — God will never betray you. And God — not man — is the One who ultimately puts others in authority over us. Thus we’re to humbly submit ourselves to those whom God has appointed over us.
And for those who are in a position of authority, this is an opportunity for us to practice what Jesus modeled for us. Putting the interests of others before our own — where we consider what is best for others and act on that even if it means making a decision that isn’t to our benefit. This doesn't mean we give up our authority over others — it means we view our authority as a responsibility to make decisions that will benefit the people who we’ve been entrusted to care for. We should always be asking, “What is best for the people we’ve been entrusted to shepherd?”
And this principle is true for all Christians — not just for those in an official role. We’re all to practice what Jesus modeled. We’re all to put the interests of others before our own. We’re all to consider what’s best for others and act on that even if it means obeying a decision that isn’t to our benefit or according to our preferences. That doesn’t mean we don’t have personal preferences or convictions — it means — though — that we lay those aside for the sake of others as we love them.
So why should all of this talk about humility matter to you? Maybe you’re a long way off from serving in leadership or having much authority. Maybe you’re not even a Christian and have more questions than answers when it comes to the Christian faith. Why should any of this matter to you?
I think that C.S. Lewis helpfully summed up why humility should matter to all of us. He said, “As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” So if you’re not sure what you believe about the Christian faith, but are sure you believe that there’s some sort of spiritual being out there — well — you’ll never figure out who or what God is like without humility. You can’t look up to God if you’re always looking down on others.
And for those of us who are Christians, we’ll never accomplish the mission Jesus has given us without humility. We’ll be too busy looking down on others instead of looking up to God — allowing him to lead and guide us in all that we do — individually and as a church.
And for those of us who call Gateway our church — we’ll never accomplish our mission of connecting people to Jesus Christ and to one another without us being a humble people. Who know who we are and who we aren’t. Who make great sacrifices for the sake of the gospel. Who joyfully handoff authority and responsibility to others — and are willing to receive authority and responsibility when asked. And who submit to one another — never going off on our own — but submitting ourselves to one another as we all submit ourselves to God. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the opportunity to fix our eyes upwards towards you. Through our faith in your Son, Jesus, we don’t have to look down on others, but — in humility — can look up to you — our God — our Father — our King and Savior.
Jesus, thank you for showing us what it means to live a humble life. You don’t just command us to be humble, but lived a humble life by becoming one of us — living for us, dying for us, defeating Satan, sin, death, and Hell — all in humility — for us.
And Spirit of God, lead us on the path of humility. Help us to know who we are and who we aren’t. Give us the boldness to make great sacrifices for your gospel. Make is a joy for us to hand off authority and responsibility to others. And may we — in love — joyfully submit ourselves to you and to one another. All so we accomplish the mission you’ve called us to — to connect people to Jesus Christ and to one another. And we pray all of these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go living a life laser focused on looking up to God and not down on others — for then we will be a humble people who accomplish the mission we’ve been given. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
You can find the sermon notes here.
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