I’m sure if you told Paul and Barnabas that the healing of the man who had been crippled from birth would prompt the crowd to worship, they would have said, “Great! That’s a good thing!”

But the problem occurs when the crowd moves to worship Paul and Barnabas instead of the God who has been revealed in Jesus.

Worship has never been our problem. Even the most irreligious among us is a worshiper. It’s what we were created to do.

Our problem is the object of our worship.

Wealth.

Pleasure.

Status.

Fame.

Social standing.

Sexual fulfillment.

Nationalism.

Tribalism.

The self.

We worship all sorts of things — because we were made for worship. The word “worship” literally means “to ascribe worth.” And everyone ascribes worth to something. You’re building your life around one pursuit or another, deeming some cause to be ultimately meaningful. Even if you haven’t darkened the door of a church in decades, you’re worshiping something.

The problem is that there is only ONE being worthy of your worship. This is where the crowd in Lystra gets it wrong. And we can relate, because this is where we often times get it wrong, too.

The priest of Zeus shows up to make sacrifices. I wonder if he’s trying to claim some sort of credit for the miracle. I don’t know — there’s no indication from the text that this is the case. Maybe he is representative of the kind of person who has no other category for divine handiwork other than the cliche spiritualism of his day. These people naturally assume that Zeus (or some other “god” from their culture) is the one responsible for the change in this man’s fortunes.

But Paul and Barnabas encourage the crowd to come to know the living God — and in so doing, to reject their worthless idols. I suspect this is the reason for the crowd’s swift turn against them.

It should be noted that Paul and Barnabas possess that rarest of all ministry traits: humility. I’ve known a lot of ministers over the years – many of them very gifted. They love the church and deliver beautiful homilies. They preside over weddings and funerals. They nurture the flock faithfully.

But not many are humble.

Paul and Barnabas, like John before them, refuse to accept even an iota of credit here that should instead be directed toward the Lord.