Ministering Spirits- Hebrews 1:14

Original Picture by Ablipintime and obtained under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

My wife is reading a fictional novel right now about angels helping different people in different ways. The angels look just like anyone else and have different jobs and positions and therefore, people think that they are just ordinary humans. I have just gotten a very brief description of the book from her, but because she is reading it, it has caused her to think a little differently when she meets someone she doesn't know. Just yesterday, she came home from the store and mentioned a gentlemen that asked how she was doing and was very friendly. And as she walked away, she ruminated about whether or not he could possibly be an angel.

What an incredible way to live! We know the scriptures say "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:2). We also know that God sent angels in the past to talk with men and give messages and by all accounts the angels appeared just like any other men. 

The reason I want to point to this verse as a promise is because we tend to see only the things that are immediately in front of us. Satan does a great job of helping us focus only on those things that are here and now and that we can see, hear, taste, touch or feel. The problem with only focusing on those things is that we lose sight of true reality! None of those things will last! The things that will last are not the things we can see, hear, touch, taste or feel at all! But what difference does it make if that's what we focus on and forget about the spiritual realm?

Well, for starters, if I'm in the middle of a crisis and I'm the only one I can see in the crisis, then I begin to feel pretty overwhelmed! But what does the Hebrews writer say!? He says that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation! That's me! If I am understanding this scripture correctly, then God has appointed celestial beings to serve me and aid me in inheriting my salvation! That's not because I'm such a great person (I'm not!), it's because God is such a great God!

The second reason we need to remember the spiritual realm is because, when we do think about the spiritual realm, we tend to only think about God and Satan. And, once again, because Satan does a great job of helping us focus on the tangible, we often feel distant from God even if our feelings are misleading. When that is the case, even when my mind is thinking about the fact that there is a spiritual realm, it is easy to feel defeated because I can't feel the presence of God right now in the middle of the spiritual problem that I am facing! But what does the scripture say!? It says that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation! That's me! Even when I can't feel it, God has not left me alone in this world. He has gone to infinitely great lengths to adopt me as His son, and He promises that nothing can separate me from his love or destroy my inheritance! 

So take courage from the fact that God has sent angels to serve you as you are inheriting salvation. Take comfort that you are not in this alone even when other Christians fail you. Take joy in knowing that God has a plan to protect and keep you.  Live with the wonder and the awe that recognizes that there is more to life than what immediately meets the eye. Look with joy for the places that God has planted His servants that we might never know for sure about.There is an incredible story in 1 Kings 6 in which the Aramean army has surrounded Elisha in order to take him captive. Elisha's servant is terrified as he sees the vast army. But Elisha tells him, "Don't be afraid,...those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And then he prayed that the servants eyes would be opened to see the reality of the situation which included God's greater army between Elisha and the Aramean army!

I pray that our eyes might also be opened to see the incredibly protection of our God that surrounds us every day!
 
But do you know what is even more impressive about this promise about ministering spirits in Hebrews? The whole point of the passage in Hebrews is that Jesus is infinitely greater than the angels! "So he [Jesus] became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs" (Hebrews 1:4). You have angels who are sent to minister to you! But so much more than that, you have the Son of God Himself who has promised to never leave you or forsake you! Just as Elisha said that those who are with us are more than those who are with them, John says even more powerfully that "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4)!

Live, and love, and rejoice in that knowledge!! And then go out with confidence to do what God has called you to do in and by His power!

God's Promise to you 2,000 years ago- Acts 2:38-39

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Yesterday, the sermon was about our faith. Ed posed the question of whether we felt like our faith would be increased if we could just see some of the miracles that they saw in the first century. We get frustrated sometimes when we read the book of Acts, don't we? We long for the excitement and the wonder that seems to have pervaded the church. We sometimes wish the Spirit still fell on us the same way it fell on them. In ways that no one could deny.

Wouldn't you love to have seen the tongues of fire and heard the languages spoken at Pentecost? Wouldn't you thrill to see the lame man jumping for joy after Peter healed him? Wouldn't you live with more purpose and direction if you heard the voice of the Spirit the way it seems Paul did when Luke records Paul's travels and where he was led and not led by the Spirit?

And yet, here at the very beginning of the church...the very first invitation that was extended after Jesus ascended to heaven...is a promise that there is no mistaking whom it is for.

"The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."

Pay attention to that! There is no "Well if we just had what they had..." There can be no, "I would do better if only God gave me what He gave them..." God, through Peter, specifically spoke down through the centuries to make absolutely sure you would hear the message today...right now! The promise is for you!

It's incredible to me that with thousands of people who responded that day, God looked past the excitement of the day and inspired Peter to speak not just to the thronging crowd in front of him, but to their children and to all who are far off! Indeed to anyone whom God would call!

That's me! That's you if you've answered God's call!

So what is the promise?

"You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!"

We sometimes tend to focus on the front half of this passage. The part that we are supposed to do. Once we are convicted of the truth of God's message, what do we do? Peter says, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. We drill that...and with good reason. It's the only proper response of faith. But in focusing on what we are to do, let's not lose what God promises to do in addition to the fact that He already killed His Son....in addition to receiving the forgiveness of sins. That should be enough but God doesn't stop. The real promise is the gift of Himself! He gives us the gift of the Spirit!

There are entire books that try to cover what exactly that gift is. I can't, and won't, try to cover that here...you wouldn't keep reading if I did! But for now, I want you to meditate on the fact of the truth of the gift itself. I guarantee we could spend the rest of our earthly lives figuring out new things that the gift of the Spirit entails. How fun would it be to wake up every morning knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that because God has called me down through the ages, I can go through the day in possession of the gift of the Spirit!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how that would change your day. What has the gift of the Spirit done for you? How have you seen it in your life? If you have no idea what the gift of the Spirit is, then I challenge you to spend the day...and the week...and the month...and the rest of your life pondering that question and learning! And then live with the love and the excitement and the thrill and the purpose and the joy that the early Church did because we have all been given the same gift of the Spirit.

"The LORD saves" Matthew 1:20-21

Image obtained from www.heartlight.org

You hear it thrown out casually every day.

• Someone jams their finger and yells it.
• Someone gets frustrated with what someone else is doing and mumbles it under their breath.
• Someone is surprised about something and exclaims it out loud without every thinking about what it means.

We've gotten used to the name "Jesus." But it is anything but a common word. Just look at the verse above and remind yourself about why God instructed Joseph to name Mary's son Jesus.

The name itself is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. It means "The Lord Saves."

The Lord saves.

Is there any more powerful statement in the world? Is there anything more important? Is there anything more comforting? Is there anything that gives as much hope?

Isn't it incredible that God was not content to merely tell people that He was willing to save them. He literally left his equality with God in heaven and came down to earth wrapping himself in human flesh for the purpose of dying a human death...something he could never have done if He were not actually human (Philippians 2:6-8). And He did all that while wearing the name "The LORD saves." That message is so important that it couldn't just be preached...it had to be lived and worn by God, Himself, in the flesh.

The LORD saves.

And the angel told Joseph to name the tiny, funny-looking, not even halfway formed baby inside Mary's belly Jesus  because "he will save his people from their sins."

Do you really believe that promise? Do you believe that God loves you enough to make himself a single cell inside a young woman's womb that would multiply until it became a zygote and finally a baby? Do you believe that He was obedient to Love enough that He did that willingly and that he carried that obedience through His earthly life all the way to the point of allowing wicked men who were cursing his glorious name of "The Lord Saves" even while they were nailing him to the cross?

Do you believe that?

Because I don't believe that "The Lord saves" simply means that he saved us from the consequences of our sins. The angel said "He will save his people from their sins." That means he doesn't just want you to be forgiven...he wants you to be free of them!

Do you believe it's possible? Or do you believe you will be slave to sin your entire earthly life? I believe I will make mistakes in the future just as I have in the past. I believe I will fall and give in to my flesh again even knowing that God in the flesh wore this name in order to remind me that He saves me from my sins. But I also believe that God does what He says He will do. It will take time. It will be painful. It will take commitment on my part to draw near to God instead of going my own way. But I believe it will happen.

May we remember the power of the name of Jesus and why He was named that in the first place. May we believe the truth of the message it brings. May you be thrilled with the joy of the truth of the message every time you hear it tossed out casually by someone who clearly has no idea the power of the truth they are proclaiming every time they utter His glorious name. And may that truth give us the courage to make the changes we need to make, the discipline to focus on the good, and the faith to believe that God has the power to save us from our sins. May we never be content to simply be forgiven without being also freed.

The Thirst Quencher- John 7:37-39

www.heartlight.org

 

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

John 7:37-39 

Jesus had also made this promise earlier to the Samaritan woman at the well.

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”     - John 4:13-14

It's a really impressive statement...but what does he mean by it? I'm grateful that John looks back at this story through the lens of inspiration and explains that Jesus was talking about the Spirit. But as I was studying this passage this week, it made even more sense when considering the context.

Commentators point out that the "last and greatest day of the festival" would have included a ceremony in which the priests would carry water from the Pool of Siloam to pour out on the altar after walking around the altar seven times. After that pouring there would have been great rejoicing. And it was either immediately after that moment, or it was the day after which would have been the first day for 8 days without a similar water-pouring ceremony that Jesus proclaimed in a loud voice that anyone who was thirsty should come to him. John's placement of the story is interesting in itself. In chapter 6 Jesus fed the 5,000 and then proclaimed that he was the bread of life. And then in chapter 7, he claims that he is the living water. Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah in no uncertain terms! The people believed that the Messiah would provide for people in a similar manner that Moses (or rather God, through Moses) had with the Manna and the water from the rock.

So what difference does this make in your life today now that you understand it?

Do you feel capable of making a difference in someone's life? Do you feel content with the work God has given you? Do you feel energized as you go through life because you believe you are making a difference?

Listen to the promise!!!
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them...Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

Not only will you never thirst, but the water that keeps you from thirsting will also flow out of you to quench the thirst of those around you! You will become yourself a "spring of water welling up to eternal life!" The "rivers of living water will flow" from within you!

So hear this and hear it plainly...if you have put your trust in Jesus...if you have believed in Him and therefore obeyed him...if you have come to Him to drink, then you have something incredible and eternal to offer! There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it! If you are in the fountain, then you have become part of the fountain! You have the Spirit of the living God living inside you to fill you up and to fill the lives up of those you let Him flow to!

So don't stifle that flow with self-doubt and timidity. Don't quench the Spirit inside you by holding back a word because you are scared of "messing up." Don't close the spigot because you don't want to make other people uncomfortable by pouring the living water on them! THEY ARE DYING OF THIRST AND THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW IT! Give them the water that you have been given!

Last week at EU, Craig Evans presented a lesson on Friday night. He stated very simply: Jesus loves you. Do you believe it? And is it enough? 
  
Do you believe it? Do you believe His words here about the living water in you if you have already believed that Jesus loves you? And is that enough? What will you do with it this week? 

Guest Article: God In Us- 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Original picture by Ariely and obtained under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Several weeks ago when I asked for suggestions to write about when considering the promises of God, I got one request to write about the idea of God living in us. Because of the thought put into the request itself, and because of the respect I have for the person who suggested it, I asked that person it if they would be interested in putting some thoughts about it down. The following is what they sent, but they wanted it to be anonymous.

--------------------------------
What would it look like if Jesus decided to come down here and become YOU?
 
Would people notice the change? What would be different? How would your life make Jesus look?
 
Having Jesus become me... is that possible? Is it something that I would even WANT to happen?
 
Yet in Scripture, this gets repeated...
God IN you.
Christ IN you.
The Spirit IN you.
 
John 14:23... Jesus said, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

Romans 8:9-11... Paul wrote to the followers of Christ in Rome,
“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives IN you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
But if Christ is IN you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living IN you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives IN you.”
 
(Those “ifs” are hard to ignore.)
 
Galatians 2:19,20 ... And Paul wrote this to the Christians in Galatia,
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives IN me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
 
Colossians 1:27 ... And he wrote this to the ones in Colosse,
“...God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ IN you, the hope of glory.”
 
Paul personified the Spirit when he wrote these words to followers in Corinth:
2 Corinthians 3:17,18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
 
Is it easy for me to wrap my head around this? No. But I am working on it.
 
It’s hard for me to believe that the LORD, who is the Spirit, would want to come live in my flawed life.
 
But I do believe that he is able.
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Amen. May we live with the knowledge of "God in us" in ever increasing ways every day, and may our lives reflect that knowledge more and more as we grow in it.

Could I sacrifice my child? Hebrews 11:6

Amber and I have tried to read a Bible story to our girls nightly for some time now. We've used different children's Bibles to do so and have recently started using one that Amber's parents read to her when she was little. The story last night was the story of Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice Isaac. Now that's a pretty difficult story for us adults to handle. Needless to say, we were a little anxious once we got into the story about how 4 year olds would receive it!

Just in case you are unfamiliar or need a review, here's the gist of it:

God had previously promised Abraham that he would have descendants so numerous that they would make a great nation...so numerous in fact that they would be compared to the stars of the sky. The problem with the promise, however, was that it wasn't fulfilled until after Abraham was a very old man, and his wife Sarah was not far behind. We're talking to the tune of 100 years old and 90 years old respectively. I'm sure you can feel for them when they tried to take matters into their own hands to make the promise come true (Genesis 16)!

Of course, they are told that their human schemes to help out God's plans are not God's plans and the promise is reiterated. And finally, they have a son whom they name Isaac. Fast forward a few years and God tells Abraham to take Isaac up on a mountain and sacrifice him. Now for those of us who have grown up hearing the story, we have gotten comfortable with it because we know the end of the story. God stops the process mid-knife swing and provides a ram for the sacrifice after all.

But if you really stop to think about it, it's a difficult story. How could a loving God even ask him to sacrifice his only unique son in the first place!??

Without dwelling on it, I am starting to think that maybe the story with Abraham and Isaac was really more about God the Father and Jesus, whom God did follow through with sacrificing. But that's another story. What I want you to think about as we start the year is the faith that allowed Abraham to obey this command of God to the point of tying up his son and raising the knife to stab it through Isaac's heart! Could you do that as a dad or as a mom!!?? Could I?

Maybe you don't honestly know the answer to that question. I very seriously doubt we will be asked to find out (And, Lord, do I pray I won't!). But what we can know is why Abraham was able to obey what must have seemed an absolutely absurd order from the God he had learned to trust. The Hebrews writer holds the key:

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.       - Hebrews 11:17-19

Why did Abraham take his son up on a mountain and prepare him as a burnt offering? Because he trusted God's promise!

He had doubted God in the past and had tried to act on his own understanding of the way things work when he consented to sire a child with Sarah's maidservant. But then he had seen God's miraculous power at work. He reasoned that if God could bring forth a son from a dead and barren womb, then God could also bring back a son from the dead itself!

The reason I point to this story is because it displays so powerfully the power to change the behavior of a man when he really and truly accepted and trusted in the promises of God. Do we accept the promises of God in the same way? God has never asked me to sacrifice one of my children. He has asked me to sacrifice my time. God has never asked me to kill my son. He has asked me to kill my selfishness. God has never asked me to do the hardest thing a parent could ever possibly do. He has asked me to live in response to the truth that He actually did follow through with the hardest thing a parent could possibly do- He sacrificed His only begotten Son.

Over the coming year, we are going to be looking at some of the promises of God. The Hebrews writer tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please Him. It's interesting to me that he points out that it's not just faith that God exists...it's faith that He rewards those who seek him. In other words...He keeps His promises!!!

Paul wrote to Titus that the "knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness" is "in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time." (Titus 1:1-2)

God cannot lie. God has made promises. All of those promises in one way or another lead to eternal life. Will we believe them? Will we trust them? Will we please God with our faith that culminates in our obeying even the instructions that our sinful natures rebel against as we selfishly and desperately try to hold onto our lives out of fear of death? (see Hebrews 2:14-15)

Without that type of faith...it is impossible to please God.

May 2015 be a year that we learn to trust. And therefore may it be a year that we please God.
  

Never Stop! Acts 28

What would it take to get us to stop sharing about what God has done for us through Christ and what He wants to do for every person we come into contact with?

Do we stop talking when we feel awkward?
Do we stop when it is uncomfortable?
Do we quit when we meet resistance?
Would we quit if we were warned we could lose our job?
Would we quit if we were warned we would lose our life?
Would we keep our faith to ourselves if we knew we might lose our family by speaking?
Would we get frustrated and give up if we lost some of our freedom because of the cause of Christ?

What would it take?

As we come to the end of the year and to the end of the book of Acts, I can't help but think back to the overwhelming sense that the first century Christians would stop at absolutely nothing to serve their Lord. They endured beatings and imprisonment. They rejoiced in persecution. They deliberately disobeyed the authorities who tried to silence them because they claimed a higher Authority.

Here at the end of Luke's record of the early church, we see Paul under house arrest in Rome. It's incredible to me that Luke just leaves Paul imprisoned! But I think it speaks volumes that Luke concludes his history of the early church by saying that Paul just simply continued to proclaim the kingdom of God and continued to teach about the Lord Jesus Christ.

That mission was his everything.

It consumed him and it drove every decision he made. It set his purpose in every day. His words, thoughts, and actions all flowed from the one supreme force in his life- the grace of Jesus that he met on the road to Damascus so many years before.

As you look toward the New Year and begin to think of resolutions and plans for the future, I want to challenge you to think of one question. Is there anything in the coming days and in the coming year that will keep you from proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching someone about the Lord Jesus Christ? Will your circumstances or your family? Will your time constraints or your finances? Will your pride or your selfishness?

If there is anything at all that you can think of that would keep you from proclaiming Him...I want to challenge you to knock that idol down and start 2015 with the passion and the purpose that we read about in the book of Acts.

May we not let anything ever stop us from proclaiming the kingdom that we have been given entrance into. And may that kingdom spread and God be glorified because of it.


Don't forget to post a response to this week's VOW or last week's with your suggestions for future VOWs. I am looking for promises of God from scripture to write about in the coming weeks. I really love researching and writing about things that other people hold dear because it challenges me to grow and study passages that I may not already be familiar with. May God bless you in the coming year!

What are you afraid of? Acts 27:25

What are you afraid of?

In Gary Smalley's book The DNA of Relationships, Smalley points out that almost all fights and confrontations follow a very familiar path to destruction. He calls the process "the fear dance." Without going into too much detail, let me try to summarize the main thought.

When people are afraid of something, they react...or better, they over-react in order to try to protect themselves. In a family relationship, as in a husband and wife or a parent and child, each person tends to know instinctively what the other persons "fear buttons" are. Without even being aware of it, we fall into patterns of reacting when our fear buttons are pushed by pushing others fear buttons. And the dance escalates until it is out of control and the damage is irreparable.

I don't really want to focus on relationships...although it might be highly appropriate as you head to family gatherings this week! But I do want to focus on the idea of how we typically lose control the most when we are afraid.

A parent's wrath is the worst when the child runs into the middle of the road and is nearly hit by a car.

A superviser begins attacking and abusing employees because he is afraid of not hitting his mark and losing his position.

A child fears losing independence and rebels hatefully and spitefully in small and large ways to ensure keeping control.

A father fears he will not make enough money to provide adequately for his family so he begins to make business decisions unethically.

A girlfriend fears losing her boyfriend so she compromises her purity to attempt to save the relationship.

Why do I point to all of these bad decisions stemming from fear when talking about this verse?

Because if we could have the faith of Paul, that everything will turn out exactly as God has already said it will, then we will finally be able to have courage. And people of Godly courage make courageous Godly decisions.

The context of Paul's statement is a storm while he is a prisoner in transport to Rome. He tells those on board this in order to boost their courage. What he refers to is that God had already told them that if they all remained on board, then no lives would be lost. It was a very specific promise of God given to Paul for a very specific moment.

I want to be fair to the application of this verse. I would love to hear the voice of God in my dreams giving me specific promises about specific situation that are coming up in the next few days. But that is not typically how God works. That is the exception.

But God most definitely has made some very specific promises about our future and our security in Him.

• Promises that he will never leave us or forsake us.
• Promises that he will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able but with the temptation will also provide a way of escape.
• Promises that he will be with us to the end of the age.
• Promises that if we will confess our sins, the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
• Promises that if we are faithful unto death, we will receive the crown of life.
• Promises that if he is going to prepare a place for us, then he will come back to get us so that where he is, there we might be also.

And those are just a few of the promises that I can think of quickly.

How different would we act throughout each of life's trials, both big and small, if we could remember those promises and have courage because we believe it will turn out exactly like God told us?

I want to ask for your help in the comments to wrap up this post and provide direction for the upcoming year (or at least part of it.)

What promise of God means the most to you and why? I am thinking that I will do the VOW on some of those promises of God with this statement from Paul as a constant reminder tagged with the promises you submit.

Have courage...for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told [us]

A Lasting Christmas Wish- Acts 26:29

Have you sent out or given any Christmas wishes lately? Or have you asked any children what they are wishing for for Christmas?

This time of year in our culture is consumed with trying to figure out the correct gift to give someone. We want to pick out the perfect gift and we want to enjoy the look on someone's face when they open a present from us that they really are excited about and don't have to fake it!

We also change our greetings during the holidays. Instead of "See ya later," or, "Hey, How's it going?" now we say, "Merry Christmas!" If you've gone caroling, you've probably even sung, "We wish you a merry Christmas."

In all of the merry wishing and gift giving and holiday parties, have you wished for the one thing for the people you love that actually matters?

In Acts 26, Paul is on trial...unfairly. He had a right to be upset about it. People were accusing him falsely and maliciously. His life was on the balance. But as you read Paul's defense before Agrippa, Paul quickly pivots from defending his actions to placing Agrippa on trial in a way. Paul's very defense is focused solely on winning the souls of those who are listening! And after he talks about the prophets pointing to Jesus as the Messiah, he challenges Agrippa to see the truth for himself. I'm sure you've heard Agrippa's famous response before.

“Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”                                  -  Acts 26:28

And that is the statement that provokes Paul's wish that whether it happens quickly or it takes a lifetime, he wishes that Agrippa and everyone else within earshot would gain everything that Paul had gained through Christ...except of course the chains!

I point to that verse, because as we get close to the end of the book of Acts, I hope one of the reasons the early Christian church spread as rapidly and as powerfully as it did has become extremely clear. I think Paul's comment sums up his entire life after conversion. It was all about the saving love of Christ! He saw no one whom he didn't wish for their soul to be saved! Why? Because HE HIMSELF HAD BEEN SAVED!

I'm not sure who said it, but I have a quote hanging on my door that says,

To be a disciple of Christ is to make disciples of Christ. It is impossible to know Christ without having an urgent desire to make Him known.

So here's my challenge as we close out this year. The next time you say "Merry Christmas" to someone...or the next time you ask a child what they are wishing to get from Santa. Let that be a trigger that reminds you to think about the one gift that really matters. It's not peace during the holiday season. It's not toys or sweaters or egg nog or fruit cake. It's the gift of salvation.

And when you think about that during your conversation. Say a quick prayer for that person right there on the spot. And then let that prayer guide your comments and your conversation. Is there anything you might say or do that would confront them with the love and truth of the Good News? Is there something you might do for the parents of the child that would allow them to grow up in a home that is filled with grace and love instead of just filled with presents under the tree?

It is impossible to know Christ without without having an urgent desire to make Him known.

Do you have that desire? If not, then my wish is also for you to know Him in a new way.

Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide- Acts 24:16

"Always let your conscience be your guide."

You can probably actually hear the voice of Jimminy Cricket saying that to Pinocchio. It may be one of the most recognizable lines from any movie...although we are so far removed from the movie now, that I would say there are several now who would attribute the line to the Bible instead of to the cricket!

And for the most part...in ideal circumstances, it is a reasonable piece of advice to live by. After all, God created our consciences for a reason. They are designed to call us to higher moral ground. Paul even speaks in Romans 2 about the conscience that God put in everyone in the world to guide them even when they were not specifically given the Law (Romans 2:11-16). Having said that, of course, we also recognize that consciences can be seared beyond the point of working any more (1 Timothy 4:2). Therefore we need a higher authority, and the only real higher authority is God.

So how do we use the conscience that God has given us while not relying on it solely? I love the way Paul words it here in Acts 24 when he is on trial. Notice the verse starts with "In view of this..." So we really need to back up a few verse to find out what is in view that motivates him to keep a blameless conscience.

¹² My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ¹³ And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me. ¹⁴ However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, ¹⁵ and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.                        - Acts 24:12-15

 Notice that there are three things- all bound together- that guide every decision that he makes.

1. He worships God.
2. He believes everything in accordance with the Law and Prophets
3. He has the hope of the resurrection

 It is physically impossible to really strive to worship God in the assembly and in life and not take care to guard your conscience against offending sin. When you are focused on God's beauty, the feeling of filth and guilt that a healthy conscience inflicts because of the violation not so much of the law of God as much as a violation of the love of God is simply not acceptable to you anymore!

When you really believe that the Bible is God's inspired message for us...that it helps us to understand Who God is, how we can know Him, and what kind of life he wants for us, then the message of the Bible is what guides our consciences. We live by faith!

And when we are living by faith in Jesus and His word, then we are overwhelmingly living by the hope of the resurrection! That one day I won't even need a conscience as a warning system for when I have stepped outside God's plans because I will be perfected as I am surrounded by the very presence of God Himself!

May we strive to live by those three tenets today as well. Worship, and faith, and hope. And may those give us the motivation to live before both God and the people around us in such a way that we can also have a blameless conscience.

A Worthles Life- Acts 20:24

I don't know about you, but I tend to avoid pain. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a sissy...at least not unless you talk to one of my brothers! I can handle pain if it's a necessity. But on a typical day, if there is a fairly simple way to avoid the pain, I usually do. And if someone warns me that there is going to be a lot of pain involved, then you'd better believe that I will avoid it if possible!

There just aren't a lot of people around who actually enjoy and invite pain. And those that do are usually referred to a counselor! But if there is something that is more important to us than avoiding the pain...we will take it. The old saying, "no pain, no gain" just doesn't work out well when we can't see the gain! That's why Paul's statement in Acts 20:24 is even more impressive when you consider it's context.

While saying goodbye to the Ephesian elders, Paul tells them,

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³ I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me." Acts 20:22-23

And that is the context for his declaration in verse 24 that he considers his life worth nothing to him. His only aim is to do what Jesus asked him to do. And what Jesus asked him to do was to tell people about the incredible grace of God!

That challenges me in my faith. Do I have that kind of unwavering devotion? Am I that single minded and intent on fulfilling God's will in my life? I'm afraid to say that I often avoid even just a conversation that might become uncomfortable because I am unsure about the other person's belief system and how they will react to me talking about my God. How pitiful is that? Paul was warned by the Spirit of God Himself that he would face prison and hardship by continuing his journey of obedience to the message of God's grace. I have to convince myself to overcome the fear of the pain of an awkward conversation!

Can I honestly say that my life is worth nothing to me? I love my life. I love the family God has blessed with me. Both the family of my childhood and the wife and children He has given me. I love my friends. I love being able to stay in my car and pay a couple of bucks to get a taco or a hamburger. I love being able to go to the grocery store without worrying too much about having the funds to cover the food I need. I love being able to watch TV online. I love playing disc golf occasionally. I'm very blessed and I love my life. But do those things get in the way of the mission that God has for me?

I know they are neither good nor bad things. But when I hold them up next to the mission of God, can I honestly say, "my life is worth nothing to me."

To be honest...I'm not sure what my answer is. I know what I want it to be. I pray for it to be. I don't want to take God's grace for granted, but I am most definitely going to have to rely on God's grace because I still find myself avoiding pain at times because my view of the gain still isn't quite where Paul's seems to have been. I pray that God will keep working on me and transforming me into His image so that I can confidently say with Paul, "my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me."

And yes, I believe God gives us different specific tasks. But in the end, whatever the specifics are, they all boil down to testifying in whatever way God gives us to the good news of God's grace.

All of those other things about my life are simply icing on the cake of a life lived for God expectantly waiting and working toward an eternal life in His presence.

Paul's Lock-In- Acts 20:7-11

Original picture by Kumar83 and obtained from wikimedia under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

You know, I've never really liked the idea of a lock-in. Well, I should clarify that. Since I've become a youth minister I've hated the idea of a lock-in. When I was a kid, of course, I loved the idea. But something happens when you get out on your own and you don't have parents telling you to go to bed all the time. You start wanting to go to bed! Not only that, but I also realized several years ago, that nothing really good comes out of a lock-in. I've had one where a kid tried to light the carpet on fire in my parent's house. I've had lock-ins where the chaperones had to be specifically assigned to track the movements of a teen or two because we didn't trust them. The last one I had for the youth group here before I banned them ended with a bunch of grumpy teens back talking their parents when they came to pick them up in the morning because they were too tired to speak respectfully. Ever since that day, I've decided that if teens and parents want to host a lock-in, they are more than welcome to! I just probably won't be there! :)

But whatever else has happened at lock-ins under my almost ten years of youth ministry, I have never had to take a kid to the E.R. because he fell out of a window and everyone thought he had died!

So I'm kind of happy to report that I may actually have a leg up on the apostle Paul in that one specific category!

But I don't really want to focus on this pretty interesting story of the young man Eutychus (who was probably around the early teen years) falling out of the upstairs window. What I want to think about briefly is what led to him falling out in the first place. Paul preached until midnight! And then after the commotion about Eutychus got settled down, they went back upstairs and kept talking until day break!

What we have here is the original lock-in! But instead of the parents trying to hold their eyes open while the teens run wild, it was the teen who couldn't keep his eyes open while all of the adults stayed up all night talking and sharing about their faith!

The reason I'm pointing to that is because their willingness to stay all night points to a couple of things. It points to their excitement about being together! They were truly a family. They weren't there to punch a time clock because good Christians are supposed to "go to church." They weren't watching the sun-dial (or the moon!) to make sure Paul stayed within his 25 minute sermon time slot. They were absorbed in the moment and they realized that whether or not the pot roast burned, the conversation they were a part of and the praise they were giving God and the encouragement they were giving each other to spur one another on to good works was the absolute most important thing in the world that they could be doing!

Just think about the reaction in most of our congregations if the service lasts more than 15 minutes over the usual time! Can you even begin to imagine the bickering that would happen if it went a full hour over time? 2 hours? Most of us head for the doors as soon as the amen is said because we are ready to move on to the next thing. Where is the sense of community? Where is the passion to be with people who are passionate about the same thing(s) you are? Where is the desire to lift each other up and be lifted up?

I don't know what the answer is to these questions. How do we change the culture of the American congregation? How do we recapture the sense of excitement and expectation that enables a group of adults...not just teens...to willingly stay cramped in an upper room all through the night because of a shared salvation, and a shared mission?

I'd love to hear your comments below. When was the last time you were a part of a meeting like this in your church? What can we do to encourage it again? Let's pray that the fire of the Spirit will burn just as brightly today when we meet together as the oil lamps had to burn 2,000 years ago when this church met in the upper room all through the night.

I can't believe I'm gonna say this...but let's get back to the passionate type of Christianity we read about in the book of Acts where Christians of all ages rejoice instead of groan about the idea of a lock-in!

Time to Start a Fire! - Acts 19:18-20

Original picture by Flickr User LearningLark and obtained under Creative Commons License 2.0

A while back I was studying with someone who was upset because a different congregation had refused to baptize her some years earlier. They continued to study with her and never told her that they would not baptize her in the future, but they could not, in good conscience baptize her at that moment. Without going into all of the details, from what I could gather from her side of the story years removed from the incident, the reason for the caution in taking her to the baptistery was because of a living situation that she was not ready to leave.
So we talked for a while about her past. And we talked for a while about her present and her future. The situation she had been in had ended and she could at least recognize that it was, in fact, a sinful situation. But she just couldn't get to the part that being willing to give up willful sin is actually a prerequisite for baptism. In fact, I asked her during our study if the circumstances worked out just right if she would be willing to compromise and go back into that situation provided their was an eventual plan to fix it in the future. And she was.

I tell you that story because I think it illustrates incredibly well a mindset of what it means to be a follower of Christ in our culture. In short...it's pretty easy and it doesn't cost very much. Most of the people that we know at least claim belief in Christ even if they never worship Him. Most at least pray to God even if they never listen to Him through Bible Study. Most claim to be followers of Christ even if there is no actual following. So when a new convert is contemplating baptism, the death and burial that is what it is all about is oftentimes simply missed.

That was certainly not the case in the book of Acts. I love this story about the conversion of the Ephesians. And one of the reasons I love it is because there are some really incredible miracles recorded. There's a super cool story of a demon possessed man beating up some false prophets who were claiming the name of Jesus as the magic words necessary to drive demons out but they were not actually in Christ nor using the power of His Spirit...so they ran out of the house naked and bleeding! (I say cool because my sick sense of humor kind of laughs at the absurdity of the situation when I picture it in my mind! It obviously was not cool for those running away!)

And the result of all of these miracles and demons being driven out only by the true followers of Christ?

"When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor." (Acts 19:17)

But while the name of Jesus was held in high honor. I want you to notice the phrase that Luke uses after he recounts the true repentance that was demonstrated by the Ephesian brothers and sisters who had once practiced witchcraft.

In the verses above, we see that they came out confessing their past sins in witchcraft. And they were so serious about leaving their lives of sin that they burned all of their spell books. Luke even points out the total value of the scrolls they burned-- 50,000 drachmas! Now I know next to nothing about ancient Greek drachmas so I've been trying to figure out how much that was worth. I haven't found a good answer but what I seem to keep coming to is that most people think it was worth somewhere around a day's wages. Of course a day's wages looks different in different parts of the world, so it's kind of hard to put a number on that value, but let's break it down like this...50,000 days divided by 365 days in a year = almost 137 years worth of wages for one person!

If you know something about the Greek drachma and can enlighten us more I'd love for you to post a comment below, but here's the point...however much it was worth...IT WAS A LOT OF MONEY! We can know that just by the fact that Luke bothers to point it out. Why am I going on about this?

Because immediately after Luke records the extent to which they repented, he says this:

"In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power." (Acts 19:20)

Now remember...after recording the miracles that had been taking place and the story about the demons who recognized the power of Jesus, but pounced on someone claiming the name falsely, Luke said, "the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor" (Acts 19:17b). But now he says that it wasn't just held in honor...but that the word of the Lord actually spread and grew in power!

What's the difference? Well, maybe I'm making too much out of it, but I think there is a lot to say about the power of the gospel to change lives. And I think we have grown too comfortable praising Jesus' name and holding it in honor on Sundays  because we believe the stories we have heard about Him in the Bible, but not living like we have actually repented on Monday. And I think that lack of repentance is one of the main reasons we have such a hard time spreading the word of the Lord and allowing its power to grow in us and around the world.

The new Ephesian Christians recognized the glory that they had found in Christ. They wanted nothing to do with anything that was in opposition to the new abundant life that they had found. They weren't content to leave it in a closet or sell it to someone else to get it out of the house. They burned it...at great cost to themselves.

Perhaps there are some things that we need to burn today. No, not literally (unless of course what you are holding onto from your past life is in the form of tangible things like movies and cds and magazines... then maybe there would be some real value in starting a fire in the back yard!). But maybe we need to completely burn some bridges to sin that have constantly tripped us up in the past. Maybe there are some attitudes that we have been content to keep in the back of our personalities for when someone really steps on our toes that we need to completely purify out with the fire of the Spirit. 

May we be a truly repentant people. May we not think about the cost of what it means to repent and be sad. May we think about the riches that are ours if we will only give up those temporary things and be joyful in our repentance! And may the word of God spread and grow in power as Christians everywhere start living on Monday what we are singing about on Sunday.

Finding Common Ground- Acts 17:22-23

Original picture by Oliver Dixon and obtained from wikimedia under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic 

If you were to walk through a town...say Las Vegas, or New Orleans...and you were bombarded by sexual inuendo and advertisements and temples built to greed and gambling, how would you start a conversation with someone about the religious and spiritual state of that town? Better yet, let's make it more personal instead of just thinking about an entire city. Let's talk about seeing those things evidenced in a person's life. How would you react?

I hope, first of all, that you would be deeply saddened and upset because of the evidence of lives lived so far separated from the God who loves them and wants them. But what would you do with that feeling of revulsion, anger, and sadness that would come because of the sin and idolatry that you witnessed?

Would you lash out in anger at the disgusting state of affairs? Would you turn around and get out of town as quickly as possible? Would you warn others to stay far away?

Or would you look long enough to find some piece of evidence of something good...some deep religious inclination and spiritual leaning that you had in common with the people of that place and then use that to compliment them and establish common ground in order to share with them the glorious eternal alternative of the truly good life that they are currently missing out on because of their obsession with the very temporary "good life" that they are living now?

When Paul walked into Athens, that is pretty much what he walked into. The city was full of idolatry and with idolatry came sexual immorality. Luke says that Paul was "greatly distressed" when he saw the extent of the idolatry that the people of Athens lived in (Acts 17:16). It's worth asking before we move further into the text whether or not we experience the same pain that Paul did when we see evidence of separation from God. Or have we become so comfortable and accustomed to the sin all around us that we are perfectly content to laugh along with the rest of the world at acts and attitudes that are causing people to lose their eternal souls every day? If you are not concerned with the sin that you see around you, then there is no point in continuing to read. Instead, spend some time thinking about the greatness and the righteousness of God and then compare that to the world and ask God to break your heart over the rebellion that you see.

But if you are heart broken by the things that kill souls as Paul was, then keep reading, because I think we can learn from how Paul addressed the lost people that he so desperately wanted to save. First his began reasoning with them in a somewhat private manner in the synagogue where the people who had already denounced idolatry were. But before long, word of his teaching got out into the general public and he was invited to address the rest of the town in the Areopagus. So he did.

And did he blast their idolatry? Did he condemn their sinfulness? Well...not right off.

First, he complimented them on their deep religious inclinations and he pointed to the fact that they were so religious and concerned to please the gods that they even had altars to an unknown god. And he went from there to proclaim to them the truth of the One True God that they had never known. In his address, he even quoted some of their poets because because truth is truth no matter where the source. And what was the result of Paul's straightforward yet gentle approach to explaining that they had been worshiping many gods in ignorance but could now worship the One True God in truth?

"When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed."    - Acts 17:32-34a

May we first have our hearts broken every time we see someone who is living in a way that evidences their separation from God. May we be so distressed by their situation that we are forced to speak out about it. But may we have the wisdom and the love that Paul had when he stared at their situation long enough to see the good intentions. May we not assign false motives and labels to the people who are lost. May we see that the only difference between them and us is that someone had the grace and the love to bring us out of our ignorance so that we could know and worship the true God that is unknown to the rest of the world.

Some will still sneer at us. That's ok. They cannot possibly be any more lost. Others will be interested and just might continue to seek until they find Him. But some will believe. And your love and your wisdom in proclaiming the good news to them in a way that they can hear and understand will make an eternal difference in their lives.

The Believers Who Wouldn't Even Trust Paul- Acts 17:11-12a

Have you ever been absolutely chock full of yourself about something only to find out later that you were actually dead wrong? Amber makes fun of me all the time for this about celebrities. Apparently I have a complete inability to recognize actors/actresses in different roles. We'll be trying to figure out who was in such and such a movie and I will be absolutely sure that it was the same person who played in the other such and such a movie. And I will argue until I'm blue in the face that it is this person...until I finally actually look it up and have to crawl back to her and admit again that I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to pop culture!

But what about when it's something a little more serious that someone tells you is different than what you've always believed to be true? What if someone tells you something about God or God's will for man and it is completely different than what you and your parents and your grandparents and your preacher have always believed and known to be true?

When that happens...how do you respond?

I know my natural inclination is to argue. I set out to prove that I'm right. I've believed this all my life and a lot of other people that I really really respect have believed this all of theirs. It must be right and whatever you say that contradicts it must be wrong!

You know, I kind of think that was part of the hang up with the Jews about Christianity. Paul came into town and completely contradicted everything they had always believed about the Messiah. He contradicted their preachers and their parents. He boldly proclaimed that the path to the Father was not through the Law, it was by grace through faith in Jesus the Christ.

This upset some of the religious leaders so badly that they chased Paul out of towns and even followed him to the next town to make sure they didn't buy into the "heresy" that Paul was preaching. But Luke records an incredible- and sadly a relatively rare- characteristic about the people of Berea. They were of "noble character"- I read that "honest enough"- to consider that maybe they didn't have all the answers...but they knew exactly where to look. In the word of God.

Not only did they not take what they had always believed to be true to be God's absolute truth, they didn't take what the Jewish leaders had always told them. And they didn't take what Paul was telling them either! They went to the scriptures for themselves to see what was true and what wasn't! What a beautiful and freeing attitude toward seeking truth! And do you know what the glorious result was?

As a result, many of them believed!

I said earlier, that Luke's description of them being noble enough to search the scriptures for themselves was a rare thing. And I'm sad to say that I believe it still is. I beg my teens in class on a regular basis to study the scriptures for themselves. I beg them to not even take what I'm telling them as truth until they search it and decide whether what I'm teaching is valid. Why? Because I'm trying to deceive them and I have some cockimamey scheme up my sleeve to lead them into falsehood? NO! I want to see them all in heaven....but I've been wrong every once in a while about my Bible facts and my Bible interpretation!

I know for a fact that there are some things that I see differently today than I did a decade ago because of studying some of my previous beliefs in a little more detail. I feel pretty confident that in another decade, there will likely be a thing or two more that I have come to understand more fully or more correctly because I have continued to study.

But here's the deal....

what if someone tells you the absolute truth and you accept it. What if everything I teach about and I write about is 100% accurate and my students and readers accept it blindly. Have they accepted truth? Yes they have. But has it changed their life???? Not likely.

Paul told the truth when he went to Thessalonica. Some accepted it but most did not because they wanted to keep believing what they already believed. He also told the truth in Berea.  More eagerly received the message in Berea because it was great news! But great news can sometimes be incorrect news. So they searched it for themselves.

and as a result, many of them believed.

I think that line is significant. Because biblical belief is more than just acknowledgment of the truth. It's trust that the truth should guide every aspect of my life...trust to the point of radical obedience to it. 

May we be believers...not because of the convenience or comfort of the message...not because of the persuasiveness of the speaker...not because of the compulsions of tradition and history. May we be believers who truly live the gospel because we have searched it for ourselves and become true believers.

May we be noble.

 

Upside Down World- Acts 17:6-7

What an incredible statement! I read at least one commentary that says that the idea of turning the world upside down is probably not the greatest translation because the idea is actually that they were causing trouble everywhere. Either way, in my mind, the meaning is the same. The accusers and enemies of Christianity recognized that the gospel spreading around the world was a force to be reckoned with. Everywhere Paul went a riot was sure to follow! Of course the truth is that it was the enemies of the gospel who were causing the riots and not those spreading the gospel. But the fact remains that when those who were living and preaching the gospel moved into a town, people knew it! Stuff changed! Demon possessed girls were given freedom. Cripples walked. Idolaters repented of their idolatry. Witches burned their sorcery books. STUFF HAPPENED!!!

And why did it happen?

If you look in verse 7 above you see the unfair and untrue accusation that the Jews brought against the Christians. (It's interesting to note that they didn't even find Paul and Silas at Jason's house so they just dragged out the Christians who were there and caused trouble for them as well!) I say it was an unfair and untrue accusation because Christianity did not teach rebellion against the decrees of Caesar. If anything the principles and dictates and teachings of early Christianity led citizens of the kingdom of God to be better citizens of the Roman empire...not worse.

But in another sense, the words of the jealous Jewish antagonizers couldn't have been more accurate and complimentary. The world was being changed by God through the church so much so that it could be said "they were turning the world upside down" (or causing trouble everywhere) because the church said that there was another king- Jesus!

And they didn't just say it with their words. They said it with their lives. Everyone who came into contact with a Christian knew where their allegiance really lay. They were passionate about their new found freedom in Christ. They were excited about their adoption as sons of God. They were insistent that they were now aliens and strangers in this world because they were now citizens of heaven!

I have to think that the power of the gospel to turn the world upside down in the first century has not diminished in any way today. However, I do believe that the power is limited by the extent to which those who claim faith in that gospel allow their own personal lives to be turned upside down for the sake of the gospel. We shy away from the word "radical" because of all the political associations with the word today. But what if the only type of Christianity that the first century world knew was a "radical" kind. They sold everything and gave it to the poor. They walked the extra mile. They turned the other cheek. They refused to give verbal allegiance to Caesar as a god to save their lives even if they didn't mean it. They were willing to be burned, to be eaten by lions, to be tortured...because Jesus was their king!

When you were confronted with the gospel i the first century, you were forced to make a choice. There was no partial commitment or half-hearted verbal acknowledgement that Jesus was the Son of God. There was a very real understanding of taking up the cross and following him. But taking up that cross was not bad news to them! They didn't view the Christian life as a life of burden and misery. Because they knew that the cross that you carry today, no matter how painful would not compare to the glory and the riches that you would get in the future (Romans 8:18)!

Let's turn the world upside down again! Let's unleash the power of the gospel in our churches and in our communities. Let's ring the message out to the farthest corners of the world that there is another king- Jesus! And let's do all of that by being truly converted to the idea ourselves! May our own lives be turned upside down by the power of the gospel so that we can have the same accusations made about us that were made about the early Christians. May those who are enemies of God and lovers of darkness quit tolerating our beliefs because we are content to stay in our pews. May they hate us and persecute us, not because we hate and persecute them, but because we love them and make very effort with our actions, our choices, and our lives to shine the light of the gospel around the world.

May the world be turned upside down again through us.

The Second Secret to Effective Evangelism- Acts 16:23-30

Original pictureposted toWikimedia by Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing
and used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Last week I wrote about the secret to effective evangelism. And the secret is that it's up to God! We do our part and we trust God to do His! He is the One who opens a heart to respond to the gospel. He is the One that convicts someone of sin. Those things are outside my control. My responsibility is to simply confess my faith before others. To be prepared to give an answer for the hope that lies in me. To look for opportunities every day to bring praise to the name of God so that others might come to praise Him as well. But anything beyond what I can personally control about the interactions I have every day with anyone I come into contact with is strictly and completely up to God and that person.

Having said that...

I do think that God has used a certain aspect about His followers to break through the thick skin of unbelievers' hearts over and over again. And I'll tell you right now...it has nothing to do with their preaching or teaching ability. It has nothing to do with their incredible personalities. It has nothing to do with their connections or their abilities.

It has EVERYTHING to do with their commitment and integrity.

Consider the story in Acts 16. Paul and Silas are thrown in jail on false charges given by selfish, greedy slave owners who were upset that their chances for profit were gone because Paul and Silas had freed a young girl from demon possession. They were beaten with rods. They were flogged. And they were thrown in the stocks. I've never been in stocks. But I'm pretty sure they are not very conducive to sleep. So what did they do while they were cold, in pain from the beating, exhausted, and angry about their mistreatment?

They did exactly what they did in every aspect of every day and in every other circumstance whether good or bad. They praised God. In this case, their praises took the form of song and Luke points out that the other prisoners were listening. I have to wonder what was going through their minds as they listened to these two radical Christians who were so deluded by their faith that they were willing to praise a God who had let them be beaten and thrown into prison for their service to Him. I have to wonder if the guard was not also listening to them at some point.

You remember the rest of the story. There is a supernatural earthquake that throws the chains off the prisoners and the doors off the walls. All of the prisoners were free if they wanted to be. If it were me, I would have assumed that this was God's answer to prayer. I would have left as quickly as I could thanking God for His miraculous intervention. But they didn't. They knew what their mission was and they knew that the power of God combined with the faithfulness of Christians is an unstoppable force.

The guard came in and saw the open doors and loose chains and pulled his sword to kill himself before before his higher-ups killed him for his lack of ability to keep the prisoners in prison. But thanks be to God that Paul and Silas had stayed where they were! In fact, so had the rest of the prisoners too! You might miss that in focusing on the conversion of the jailer and his family when he immediately asks what he must do to be saved. But don't read past it too quickly. We aren't told how many people were in prison with Paul and Silas. We don't know exactly why they didn't run when the doors were open. I have a hunch that the jailer wasn't the only person in the jail that was converted to the true freedom in Christ that night.

And it happened because two men sang praises to God and stayed true to their mission even when they were mistreated. Even when they could have taken an easier road and technically still be in the will of God. Even when their lives were potentially on the line. They praised...and they stayed.

What about you? Does your temper at the office or in your home betray your allegiance to the God of peace? Does your insistence on the easy life of sitcoms and football games sell your talk of "he who would keep his life will lose it, but he who would lose his life for my sake will find it" short? Does your self preservation and refusal to let someone "walk over you" belittle your stated faith in a God who says to walk the extra mile and pray for your enemies?

Can you honestly and sincerely praise God when the chips are down and you are stuck in the stocks of worry and anger and hurt to the point that you can't sleep at midnight?

May we be a people who can sing through the blackest midnight so that when God's miracles happen, others will be paying attention.