Obstacles to the Gospel of Grace
What keeps people from seeing who God really is?
I think if we're honest, most of us would point to things "out there" — culture, entertainment, politics, busyness. And sure, those things can distract us.
But in Acts 14, we see two obstacles that have been blinding people to the good news of Jesus since the very beginning of the church. And here's the thing… they're still at work today. Not just in the world, but sometimes even in the church.
Let's take a look.
A LITTLE CONTEXT
By the time we get to Acts 14, the church has been growing just the way Jesus said it would. Before He ascended back to heaven, He told His disciples:
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
And that's exactly what happened. The gospel went out in Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and now Paul (the former persecutor of the church who received grace instead of judgment) and Barnabas have been sent out from the church at Antioch as missionaries to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
They've already been run out of Pisidian Antioch, and now they arrive in a city called Iconium.
"At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed." (Acts 14:1)
Now, that kind of makes it sound like it all came down to their great speaking abilities. But it didn't. It was the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit working in them and through them.
Jesus is the Vine. We are the branches. It's His life flowing through us as we walk in faith and dependence on Him.
That's what Paul and Barnabas were doing… and lives were being changed forever.
But there was opposition too.
OBSTACLE #1: RELIGION
"But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders." (Acts 14:2–3)
So what were these people poisoning everyone's minds with?
Religion.
Notice what Luke calls the message Paul and Barnabas were preaching: "the message of his grace." That's what was being opposed.
Because Christianity is a gospel of grace. It says, "I'm a sinner, and I can't be good enough to earn my way to God. He is holy and pure, and I'm not. But through Jesus' finished work on the cross, God offers me forgiveness and salvation as a gift… something to be received, not achieved."
And religion hears that and says, "That's too easy!"
"You've got to put in the work."
"You've got to reach this level of morality, do these religious duties, earn your way by keeping God's law."
That's why religion will always be one of the biggest obstacles to receiving God's unmerited favor.
But it doesn't stop there. For religious people, opposing grace isn't just a disagreement. It becomes an opportunity to prove their self-righteousness by going after those who preach grace.
"The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the gospel." (Acts 14:4–7)
Do you see what I mean? It wasn't enough to say, "We don't agree with them." It was, "They have to suffer. They have to die.”
Because when your whole standing before God depends on your own performance, grace isn't just wrong to you… it's a threat.
OBSTACLE #2: IDOLATRY
So Paul and Barnabas move on to Lystra, and something amazing happens.
"In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way 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." (Acts 14:8–10)
As Paul shares about Jesus — who healed people both physically and spiritually — something stirs in this man's soul. Paul can sense it, and Jesus heals him through Paul.
Amazing, right? But look at how the crowd responds:
"When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, 'The gods have come down to us in human form!' Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 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." (Acts 14:11–13)
Now you might be thinking, "Where in the world did that come from?"
Here's the deal. There was an old legend in that region that Zeus and Hermes had once visited the area disguised as ordinary men. They went around asking for hospitality, and everyone turned them away except for one elderly couple. So the "gods" blessed that couple… and destroyed everyone else.
So when this healing happens, the people of Lystra are thinking, "Zeus and Hermes are back! And we are not making the same mistake twice."
Paul and Barnabas are horrified:
"But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: '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 the heavens and the earth and the 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.' Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them." (Acts 14:14–18)
Notice Paul changes his approach here. This isn't a Jewish audience who already believed in the one true Creator God. This is a pagan crowd who worshiped idols. So he doesn't start with Jesus as the Messiah. He starts by showing them that Zeus and Hermes aren't gods at all. They're worthless idols. There is one true God, and He's the One who has been sending the rain and filling their hearts with joy all along.
And even then, they barely listened.
This is the other side of the coin. Religion and self-righteousness is one major roadblock to the gospel. Idolatry is the other.
And honestly, we see it all around us today. There are a lot of people who would call themselves "spiritual." They're open to all kinds of spiritual things. You can talk about energy, the universe, finding your truth, whatever path works for you.
But the moment you say that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him?
Oh, they won't let you go there.
WHEN THE TWO JOIN FORCES
And then, in verse 19, the two obstacles team up:
"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." (Acts 14:19)
The religious crowd shows up, and the same people who wanted to worship Paul one minute are throwing rocks at him the next.
Again, for those opposed to grace, it isn't enough to disagree. The people who say Jesus is God, and that salvation is received by grace through faith in Him alone… those people have to be silenced.
But God wasn't finished with Paul.
"But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city." (Acts 14:20)
I mean, listen… if people stone you so badly that they think you're dead, you don't just dust yourself off and walk back into town. Most likely, God healed him right there by the same resurrection power that was dwelling in him.
BUT GRACE STILL CHANGES LIVES
And here's what I love. Even with all of that opposition, Luke wants us to see that the gospel of grace really is good news, and it really does change lives:
"The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples." (Acts 14:20–21)
That's a short, simple summary, but don't miss what it means. People heard the gospel of grace and, instead of fighting it, they received it by faith. They were born again. Adopted into God's family. Made new creations in Christ with a brand-new nature. Their lives were transformed forever by grace.
But Paul knew from experience that receiving grace can also bring opposition. So rather than heading home the easy way, he and Barnabas went back through the very cities where they'd been persecuted:
"Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 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. 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." (Acts 14:21–23)
They didn't just win converts and leave. They discipled them, warned them, encouraged them, and put leadership in place so those churches could keep experiencing what Jesus was doing in them and through them.
Then they finally sailed home to Antioch, to the church that had sent them out:
"On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." (Acts 14:27)
That was the end of Paul's first missionary journey. It lasted about two years and covered more than 700 miles by land and 500 miles by sea.
And yet, look at how they describe it: "all that God had done through them."
Not "all we accomplished for God." All that God did through them.
That's the Christian life. We receive salvation by grace through faith, and we live the Christian life by grace through faith, as the Holy Spirit works in us and through us to accomplish His kingdom work.
WE WILL FACE HARDSHIP
So what does all of this mean for us?
It means we shouldn't be surprised when the gospel of grace is opposed. Paul told those new believers plainly: "We must go through many hardships."
Now, I know we don't live in the first century. And things in the United States look very different from what believers face in other parts of the world. But the reality is still the same. People will oppose the gospel of grace. Which means they'll oppose you for living by that grace and offering it to others.
And often, that opposition comes from religious people. Sometimes even from inside the church.
Pastor Tony Merida put it this way: "The scandalous message of grace enrages self-righteous legalists."
And sometimes our churches are full of self-righteous legalists who will criticize, oppose, and even threaten those who proclaim grace as the way of salvation and the way to live the Christian life.
But hear me on this: opposition doesn't mean you're doing something wrong.
Paul never said, "If people push back, just add a little law back in. Start preaching a Jesus-plus gospel so things settle down." No way! In fact, writing to churches in this very same region (most likely not long after these visits), he said this:
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!" (Galatians 1:6–8)
There is no other gospel than the gospel of grace.
So we cling to it. We proclaim it. We live in grace, and we live by grace.
And even when we face hardship for proclaiming that scandalous message, we can rest in this: no one can take away our joy, our peace, or our abundant life. Because those things aren't found in our circumstances. They're found in Jesus, and He lives in us.
That's why Paul could say:
"But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ…" (Philippians 3:7–10)
HAVE YOU RECEIVED HIS GRACE?
Maybe as you've been reading, you've realized that one of these obstacles has been standing between you and God.
Maybe it's religion. You've been trying to earn God's approval by being good enough, doing enough, keeping enough rules… and you're exhausted.
Or maybe it's idolatry. You've been open to "spirituality," but you've kept Jesus at arm's length as just one option among many.
Either way, the good news is the same. Jesus has already done everything necessary for you to be forgiven and made right with God through His death and resurrection. You can't earn it. You don't have to. You simply receive it by faith.
Trust in Him today, and you'll be born again into a brand-new life… a life that no opposition, hardship, or persecution can ever take away.
