When Ministry Goes Wrong

Acts 14:8-28 has always been a horrifying (and a little funny) story to me. Imagine Paul and Barnabas, full of the Holy Spirit, doing ministry in Jesus's name. Paul heals someone in Christ's power, and the whole town shows up to worship Paul and Barnabas!

I've always wondered what really went wrong there. Was it simply something in the people? Was their faith so impure that they just assumed Paul and Barnabas were their native gods? Did Paul and Barnabas unwittingly encourage it? And how did the Jews from Iconium so quickly and easily win the hearts of the entire crowd, who turned from worshipping Paul to stoning him nearly to death?

It hits me, though, that this is likely not as abnormal as I think. My dad's former church, for example, wasn't worshipping him right before he left that church. Still, they thought he was great. The church was growing, and many of the people who came were there just to hear his "fabulous" preaching, which was rumored to be the best anywhere around. When mom left him and rumors started, the church was so quickly swayed by a small faction of the church against my dad (and now, stepmom). The church all but threw him out.

Take Ross DeMerchant a few years ago, too. He was the best thing that happened to youth in the Wesleyan denomination until he was discovered to be involved in an ethical nightmare. In his case, he did what he did, but it was remarkable to me that many people I know across the denomination were ready to remove him from the ministry and from Wesleyan memory forever.

When faced with people's pseudo-worship or outright disdain, may we remain stable in the consistency of God's truth like Paul and Barnabas did. The waves of human emotion and reaction will always be predictable. May we cling firmly to the Lord, our solid rock in our quest of oneness with the Father!