From praised to stoned

Acts 14:8-23 (TNIV) -

8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked.9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed

10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.

13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only 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.16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way.17 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.”

18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.

20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
21 They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

My thoughts -

Paul and Barnabas did what God wanted them to do. They were doing their job. For that they were praised. Realizing that they were being sacrificed to they freaked out, tore their clothes, and begged the people to stop. They had the affection of the crowd, though, so even then the crowd wanted to offer them sacrifices like they were gods.

My how quickly things change. In verse 18 Paul can't seem to keep the people from sacrificing to him and in verse 19 they stone him. I'm not sure how much time passed between the two verses, but that's quite a turnaround!

We can not gauge how well we are doing the will of God solely by human reaction to it. Sure it's nice to get feedback, especially when it affirms us. I love hearing people say how much they enjoyed the service. I love hearing people tell me that they love a particular song I did. I love being praised. I do. I think we all do. But that's not really the best indicator for how I am doing in my ministry. One moment they could be praising me, like they were Paul and Barnabas here, and the next... well... I doubt anyone will stone me but they might complain or even ask me to leave.

Human feedback can be good, but people are fickle. And some don't like to hear God's prophetic word. And some get stirred up by people with nothing better to do than agitate. Paul and Barnabas did God's will and people praised them for it. They continued to do God's will and Paul got stoned by those same people.

If we really want to gauge how our ministries are doing we need to seek not just human feedback but also God's will. And we need to be prepared to do God's will in the face of potential negative human feedback.