Quick Note – Acts 14:27 – God’s Doing

Acts 14:27 – 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.

Like many people, I enjoy feeling appreciated.  I like being told that I did a good job or that I am one of the best at something.  Although it isn’t necessarily bad to enjoy the occasional compliment, it can get problematic when you begin to seek that praise or to feel like you deserve it.  It may seem like this is simply a worldly problem, but Christians can struggle with this issue as well.  When a ministry is going well or a testimony or teaching leads to someone getting saved, it is quite easy to begin to think of yourself as the one who did it.  However, we must remember that it is not us who does the work but God. 

In our passage today, Paul and Barnabas gave an account of their first missionary journey to the church in Antioch.  When they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.  Although Paul and Barnabas were the missionaries, although they were the ones that shared the Gospel, although they were the ones that suffered for the faith, they correctly recognized that it was not their doing that led to the Gentiles turning to God, but that it was God’s work.  God worked through them.  God opened the door of faith.  God moved the hearts of the people to turn to Him.  They were merely the instruments which God used. 

The same goes for us.  We are simply the tools that God uses to bring others to know Him.  This is why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.  He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receives his wages according to his labor.  For we are God’s fellow workers.  You are God’s field, God’s building.”  Let us never forget that ultimately it is not our doing that leads to salvation but God’s.  He brings the increase, so let us join Him in the labor. 

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