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.

Paul was a hypocrite...or was he? Acts 16:3

Original picture by Wikimedia user Rémi Jouan and obtained from Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The rest of this passage in 1 Corinthians may be a little more familiar to you. It goes on to say:

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (emph. mine)                  - 1 Corinthians 9:20-23

You may be wondering why I'm posting a passage from 1 Corinthians instead of from Acts this week. And there's a very simple answer for that. The passage I am scheduled to write about today is Acts 16:3 which says, "Paul wanted to take him [Timothy] along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek."

And let's be honest...that's just not a typical verse we think about to memorize! But I do believe the principles and the decisions represented in the passage are extremely important and worthy of looking at and thinking about. Let me give the background information and I think you will understand what I'm talking about and you will see the relevance for today as well.

We learn from the first few verses of Acts 16 that Timothy was the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father. We also learn that he had a great reputation among the believers. We've discussed the last couple of weeks the broader context. In Acts 15, there was a vigorous debate about whether or not Gentile converts had to be circumcised and keep the ceremonial Old Testament law in order to really join the church. In fact, Paul was preparing Timothy to travel around with him to the infant gentile churches delivering the good news reached at Jerusalem. That news was that they were not obligated to keep the Old Testament law. Paul had been vehement in his arguments against requiring anyone to be circumcised as a condition of salvation. Together with Peter's account of Cornelius' conversion and James's recount of the prophecies, the Jerusalem council made the wise and correct decision not to burden new converts with laws that never had the power to save anyone anyway. The question, then, when you get to chapter 16 and Paul's having Timothy circumcised, is what in the world happened to change Paul's mind!?


And the answer is nothing at all. In fact, Luke records in the verse after telling of Timothy's circumcision that he and Paul traveled around to the churches telling of the decision in Jerusalem! (Acts 16:4) How could Paul joyfully tell others they were not required to be circumcised while standing next to Timothy whom he had asked to be circumcised!? Were they being hypocritical? Were they being wishy-washy? Were they being politically correct and trying to please everyone?

Absolutely not! They were being all things to all people so that by all means they might save some!

Here's the deal as far as I can see it. They were very different circumstances. By no means would Paul stand by quietly and let someone add requirements to salvation. He would not keep quiet while Judaizers tried to pervert the gospel of God with man-made requirements and restrictions for younger believers or new converts. But in the case of Timothy, he did not ask Timothy to be circumcised as a requirement for salvation. He asked Timothy to be circumcised in order to remove a stumbling block for Jews who did not already believe! Paul knew that Timothy's effectiveness as a missionary would be severely dampened any time they went into a city. Think about it. The first place they usually went was to a synagogue. Why? Because God-fearing Jews met there. It was a great place to start preaching. But if they had to fight a battle about Timothy's heritage and lack of circumcision every time they walked into a city, when would they have time to talk about Christ!


I think this passage and context that it comes in is an incredibly illuminating example of what it means to be all things to all people and to not lay stumbling blocks in front of others. Let's be honest when we are talking about stumbling block issues. Stumbling blocks are things that keep young Christians or those who have not converted yet from being able to see Christ. They are never issues that are about placating mature Christians in order to keep the peace. They never involve adding requirements to those who come from a different background before we can grant them salvation or consider them a brother. Paul and Jesus both fought tooth an nail against those types of things.


On the other hand, let's be honest about how far we are willing to go to bring others to the God who loves us infinitely. What barriers exist between you and your unsaved neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family? Is it a style of dress? Is it a matter of comfort? Is it a political stance? Is there anything that is worth maintaining comfort and self over accommodating someone's limited perception of me so they can quit seeing the differences between us and start seeing Christ?


I'm not saying that we fake who we are. I'm not saying we are disingenuous. I'm saying we seek out and remain vigilant about any non-Biblical barriers that stand between us and anyone else that hinders them from seeing and hearing the message of Christ in us...and we destroy them.


Let's become all things to all people so that by all means we may save some. May God give us the wisdom and discernment of Paul so we may know when to fight the slavery of extra-biblical religious requirements and when to accommodate the sensitivities of non-believers.

Imagine a potluck meal with no pork! Acts 10:15

Original Illustration from Treasures of the Bible by Henry David Northrop, 1894

I really like barbecue, so I'm thankful that we've figured out the message of this passage as far as food regulations go. I wonder, however, if we've actually figured out how to apply the people side of the equation in our context today.

Of course we know- at least intellectually- that the gospel is for all. I doubt there are any serious students of the Bible who would honestly try to argue anything other than that. But do we believe it?

And by "believe," what I really mean is do we trust that truth?

The funny thing about this story with Peter is that it was not the first time he had been told that the gospel was intended to go to all the world and not just to the Jews. Consider these very familiar words from Jesus:

"...Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt. 28:19-20. Emph. mine)

But Peter was a Jew. And as a Jew he had been taught his entire life that he could not associate with anyone who was not a Jew. In fact, he had likely been taught that he could not even associate with a Jew by birth who was not a Jew in practice. He had also heard Jesus say other words during his ministry.

"These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. ⁶ Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." (Mt. 10:5-6)

and to the Canaanite woman begging for help, Jesus said,

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Mt. 15:24)

Was it any wonder, then, that Peter had some significant learning to do before he was able to understand that God is no respecter of persons? But when God wants to get a message across about who is and who is not welcome in His kingdom, He knows how to get it done. And therefore as the men sent from the gentile Cornelius are on their way to the house where Peter is staying, Peter is given a vision of unclean animals let down from heaven on a sheet and is commanded to kill and eat. Of course, Peter as a good Jew refuses because he has never eaten anything unclean. But he is reprimanded by the words in verse 15 above. In fact, this same conversation happens three times and just after the third command to not call call impure what God had made clean, the servants of Cornelius knock on the door. I love Peter's response.

First, he invites them into the house, which already would have been a violation of his Jewish upbringing. But he would violate anything that His Lord commanded Him to do because He was convinced that Jesus was Lord and therefore had a better understanding of scripture than Peter. And if the Spirit of the Christ commanded him to view the Old Testament Law differently, then he would obey.

Second, he goes with the men to Cornelius house the next day. You can still hear the hesitation and the uncertainty in Peter's voice even as he is obeying the Spirit's guidance. When he gets to Cornelius' house and finds the group there waiting for him, he says,

“You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. ²⁹ So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” (Acts 10:28-29)

Once Cornelius explains his side of the story of God's working in his home, Peter is finally able to release his inhibitions about viewing people differently- about viewing them as now understands God does.

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵ but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. (Acts 10:34-35)

 And from there, he preaches to them about Jesus.

Here is my point. Yes we know that the gospel is for all. But do we trust it? Do we respond- to the addicts and the troubled teens, to the unwed mothers of children, to the alcoholics and the crooked politicians, to the continual and persistent "benevolence cases," indeed to the members of a different denomination!- do we respond to them as if they are truly capable of being reached by God's grace in the same way that we have!?

Or do we sparingly offer a word of scripture without offering an investment of our hearts? Do we offer an invitation "to church" without offering an invitation into our lives when we are the church? Are we content to let "those people" be someone else's project who is more able to relate to "them" or are we actually willing to "let" them be our brothers and our sisters?

What would our churches across America look like if we were all able to "realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right"? How much more diverse would our pews be if once we have been shown that we "should not call anyone impure or unclean" we would follow Peter's example in going to people "without raising any objection" about the unlikelihood of their conversion or the lack of safety in the neighborhood or the dangers of "bad company corrupting good morals."

After all, just think about this. Had God not opened the door so convincingly to the Gentiles, the odds are that you would never have known God's grace as you do today. You, your parents, your children, and your children's children would all still be lost and doomed to die. That is...assuming you are not a Jew. But God did open the way for us into the kingdom of heaven. Will we shut it for someone else because we have now become comfortable as God's chosen people and view the rest of the world as "dogs" just as the Jews did of the gentiles?

I'm not saying it would be easy. Most of us have been raised our entire lives to be slightly wary of anyone different from us. Many of us have even been taught that being in association with "unclean" people will eventually make us unclean ourselves. Just think back to your teenage days and how many lectures you heard about being careful how you pick your friends. I pray that God will give us a vision. Maybe it won't be Peter's vision of a sheet full of pigs and birds and whatever else. But I pray that He will give us a vision. A vision of the greatness of God's grace and the fields that are white unto harvest. And I pray that we will finally respond to it without raising any more objections.

May we readily and joyfully accept the implication of this passage about the gospel being the power of God to salvation for all people just as readily and joyfully as we accept the implication of this passage to fill our plates with bbq!

An Epitaph Worth Raising the Dead- Acts 9:36-39

Original Picture by Flickr user Cheryl

I'm guessing you're wondering why I used a picture of crochet hooks and a ball of yarn. If you knew my Mema, then you wouldn't wonder. Mema's favorite activity in the world toward the end of her life was sitting in a chair or lying in her bed and working her crochet. She made untold numbers of dish rags and coasters. Most of those were either given away to people she loved or given to someone else to sell for some charity or some other purpose. She never made a dime off of thousands of hours of labor and probably millions of feet of yarn as far as I know. She just enjoyed making them and giving them away. Every time we saw her toward the end of her life, she would tell us to pick another out and would ask if we knew of anyone else who needed one. After her stroke when it became obvious that she would die soon, she began talking in her hospital bed about all of her unfinished crochet projects that she was working on. All the while, her fingers were working as if she were still holding the hooks. I thought, based on the way she was acting and talking, that the projects she was describing were simply products of her imagination that she was cycling through in her last moments. It wasn't until later that I found out the colors she kept talking about and who they were for were actually at the house tucked in her closet.

Crocheting was not all she did to help people. At her funeral, we got to see a lady that we haven't seen for years. She was Mema's constant companion for I have no idea how long. I don't think it was because Mema particularly enjoyed her company, though. It was because the lady needed a friend and a safe place to stay during the day. So most days she was with Mema for most of the day. We got to visit with the preacher of the tiny congregation where she lived. He knew her better than we did because from the first Sunday he started driving to preach at the Big Sandy Church of Christ, he started staying at her house and taking naps in her guest room between services. She had a library of who knows how many books that she set up in her house so others could check books out before the town got a real library. We never stayed at her house during the summer that she didn't get at least 2-3 visitors during the day. Most of them were lonely people who were looking for someone to listen to them. So they stayed at her house all day every day. I couldn't believe it when I found out that Mema had started writing letters to people on our church sick list that she had seen in our bulletin. (Mema had never even been to the town I live in much less met any of the people in the bulletin. But she always insisted on reading the bulletins of any congregation where her family attended.) I wonder how many others she wrote letters to when there was no other way for her to serve them.

Now don't get the wrong impression. Mema had her rough edges! We all found at shortly after she moved in with my parents how stubborn she could be and how blunt she could be! She could drive you insane with some of her antics and semi-manipulative tricks! But in the end, there is nothing in the world that she wouldn't do for anyone. If she had the power to help, she would. Guess which things we remember about her now.

What will people remember about you when you are gone? Tabitha...and Mema, whatever their faults, served in such a way that when they died, people wept. And those they had served had tangible evidence that they could hold up and show to others to prove the service that had been performed. I wonder what would be held up by people if I died today?

Will we be known as people who are "always doing good and helping the poor?" I can't think of a better epitaph. Tabitha's friends said that about her and it moved Peter to raise her from the dead. But the truth is that Tabitha died again later. How glorious to think that both she and Mema will one day again be raised from the dead because they were both in Christ! And when that second resurrection happens, how glorious to hear the voice of God echoing the voice of those friends!

That's what I want at the end of my life. What about you? Of course the key is living now so the epitaph at death is already written. What will your epitaph be?

Where He Leads Me...Will I Follow? Acts 8:10-1

Wouldn't it be nice if you audibly heard God give you directions? Sometimes I think if I could only have that then it would be much easier for me to obey. After all, it would be an obvious choice. I can't help but think that I would much prefer that to having to go through the messy process of trying to discern what God's will is in the details of how things should be done and how I should spend my time and who I should talk to and a host of other things.

If my memory is correct, I originally picked this verse because of Ananias' choice to obey despite the risk. I am so glad we were given the dialogue between Ananias and God. It's really kind of humorous when you think about it. Ananias actually tries to inform God of the kinds of things Saul has been doing. I guess it says a lot about God that He didn't just give Ananias a "Really? Did you think I missed that!?" But then again, I'm assuming God isn't sarcastic like I am! (Which by the way, I need to work on changing my sarcasm if God is not like that!) No God doesn't argue with him about Saul's past and even his present circumstances. After all, Ananias was right! Saul was guilty of everything Ananias mentioned! But God simply tells Ananias about Saul's future and tells him to go.

I originally picked this verse because I wanted us to think about the people we deem incapable of responding to the gospel. If anyone were in that category, it surely would have been Saul! But oh, how thankful has the church been for two thousand years that God did not give up on an angry, misguided, murderous Saul of Tarsus! Stop for a minute and think...when I ask you who in your life is so lost that they are beyond the point of coming back...whose face comes to your mind? I won't pretend for a minute that I know they will come to see Christ for who he is. But I would like for us to be honest with ourselves that the way we treat people sometimes belies the fact that we do often at least subconsciously pretend to know that they will not come to see Christ for who he is. How thankful are you that Ananias obeyed God in spite of his reservations? In spite of Saul's past and even his present? Saul was not the only person confronted by the Lord in Acts 9. Ananias was too. And they both had a choice to obey or not.

Which, by the way, brings up another interesting point. Why did God wait to tell Saul through Ananias what he needed to do to be saved? Why not just go ahead and finish the conversation instead of telling him to go into town and wait for a man named Ananias to tell him what to do? Well...I don't know. But I do know that it only makes sense based on how that played out to pay that much more attention to who God wants us to teach about how to be saved. Whatever the reason- and I have no doubt that He has his reasons- God has left that part of the plan to us. To the followers of Christ. If we disobey, who will teach the Paul of this generation how to be saved so that he/she can influence the church for the next 2,000 years?

That's what I originally wanted to talk about. But when I read the passage tonight and began collecting my thoughts, I just kept thinking that I would obey like Ananias did if I could only hear from God directly. And I found myself again longing for that kind of direct communication from God. To be honest, I'm not sure where I am on all of that. I seem to keep circling back to those types of thoughts. But one thing I am convinced of is that if I am ever to have more of an understanding about the details of God's will so I can obey them, then I am going to need to be obedient to the things that have already been revealed to me. I heard a teacher talking about Philippians 3:16 where Paul says, "Only let us live up to what we have already attained." And the context is all about pressing on to gain more of Christ. He pointed out that in the middle of the desire to gain wisdom and gain depth in relationship to Christ and gain understanding of God's specific will, Paul stops and tells us to just be obedient to what we have already attained. In other words, why should God reveal more of Himself to me if I am not responding to that part of Him that He has already revealed to me?

So what about it? Do you long for more? Are you responding to what you have right now? In the context of Ananias and Saul...are you viewing people the way God does? Do you see people as what they might be inside Christ as opposed to what they are outside of him? May we be a people that constantly trusts that God has made Pauls out of Sauls in the past and He can do it again...if only we will have the courage to obey the command to "as you are going, make disciples of all nations..."  Will you be obedient today in small things so that God will ask bigger things of you tomorrow? I can't help but think that God knew Ananias would obey this command because Ananias had already obeyed so many times before. I want God to know that of me...because I want to know Him.

Buying Power- Acts 8:20-24

Original picture by Flickr user Waiting for the Word

This is somewhat of a strange verse to have for a verse of the week. I was actually surprised when I got to it yesterday and wondered why I had picked it in the first place. As I studied on it though, it came to take on a new warning for me than what it has previously held. If you are not familiar with the story of Simon the Sorcerer, let me give you some background.

Phillip had just gone to Samaria preaching the word after the persecution in Jerusalem broke out. The power of the Gospel and the power of the witness of the signs Phillip was performing convinced many of the Samaritans to believe and be baptized. One of those people was Simon. The fact that Simon was convinced based on what he saw and heard is testimony in itself as to the power of the Spirit of God working in and through Phillip. You see, Simon was a sorcerer. Just listen to how Luke describes him:

"Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, 'This man is what is called the Great Power of God.'"      - Acts 8:9-10

How is that for a con artist!? If there was anyone who could spot a deception, it should have been Simon! But when he saw and heard the message of Christ, he knew he was seeing the real thing. Luke tells us that he believed, he was baptized, and then he began following Phillip.

Not long after, the apostles in Jerusalem heard what was happening and they sent Peter and John to lay hands on the new Christians so that they too would receive the Holy Spirit. And when Simon realized that the Spirit was giving through the laying on of hands, he asked to buy the ability to do that so that he would have the power to pass the Holy Spirit on to others just as Peter and John did. And that request is what drew such a strong rebuke from Peter.

Most who read this story have said that Simon's fault was that he wanted to purchase the power of God for selfish reasons. He wanted to profit from the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. But the text doesn't say that. It simply records his request...and then it records his repentance when he is convicted by Peter. I may be wrong, but I believe Simon had good motives when he tried to pay for the "gift of God with money." We know Simon really believed and was converted. We know he was convinced that he really would die at the hand of God if Peter did not pray for his forgiveness. This does not sound like a man who is still full of pride and thinking of selfish gain. It sounds more to me like a man who is confused about how things work in the kingdom of God.

You see, before his conversion, he was used to big displays of power that captivated his audience and made him somebody important. In order to hold their attention, he had to rely on his ability as a magician. And he was very good at it. So good, in fact, that they called him "the Great Power of God." I believe Simon was simply trying to bring his old manner of doing business into the kingdom of heaven, not realizing that the power seen in the kingdom of heaven must always rest in the hands of God and not man or his ability.

I think he was very unfamiliar with the concept that Paul would write about later when he said,

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God....I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.          1 Corinthians 1:17-18; 2:3-5

Simon did not realize that dependence on self- on money, on talents, on abilities, on reputation, on "cleverness of speech," and "persuasive words of wisdom"- would make the "cross of Christ void" both for himself and for those whom he tried to influence through only those means. The fact that even after conversion to Christ he did not understand his dependence on Christ made it all too clear to Peter that he was still "in the gall of bitterness and captive to sin." How could he not be if he still pridefully thought that God's power could bought similarly to how I'm sure he must have paid for magic tricks in the past!

Don't get me wrong, I believe it is very clear that God has given us both natural and spiritual gifts and abilities and expects us to use them for His kingdom and for His glory. But we are to use them in a way that is fully dependent upon God instead of thinking that we can "buy the gift of God with money." I heard a speaker describe the gospel spreading like wildfire through a third world country  because a few local men who had become Christians simply began walking through villages asking people if they would like to study the Bible. He asked those men why they were being so successful. They told him they didn't know at all other than the fact that it was the work of God. This speaker- who is a very talented speaker and author- then said passionately, "I long to be a part of something that can only be attributed to the power of God!"

Perhaps sometimes in our churches, we fall prey to the mistake of Simon, too. It wouldn't be hard to argue that we fall pray to his mistake even if other interpretations are correct and his mistake was using the gospel for selfish gain! But that is not what I'm referring to here. What if we have focused so much on the ability of well-crafted programs, and golden-tongued preachers, and comfortable seating, and highly efficient and streamlined orders of worship that will suit the tastes of all present that we, too, could be accused of trying to "buy the gift of God with money." No, not literally trying to bribe someone for some gift (although, to our shame, that often also goes on in some of our churches in the form of preferences and decisions made through knowledge of the donations given...or withheld) But buying the gift of God in the sense that we rely on slick marketing and talented speakers and trips to Six Flags to convert people to Christ instead of relying on the message of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit.

I long to be a part of something that can only be attributed to the power of God. I will use my gifts and abilities to serve Him. But I pray that I will stop using them in a way that they could ever be thought to be independent of Him. I cringe at the thought of the "cross of Christ being made void" in my life or anyone else's based on my dependence on human means instead of Godly means.

May our churches be filled with people who are filled with and in awe of the power of the Spirit of God. May others who have seen gimmicks and magic in the past in the form of marketing and great sales pitches recognize in us the real Thing. And may they be converted to Him in the same way we have.

A Surefire Church Growth Method- Perscution! Acts 8:4

www.heartlight.org

 

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable minds Of never failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs, And works His gracious will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessing on your head.
His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.
(God Moves in a Mysterious Way- Words by William Cowper)

This song is always difficult for me to sing because I get lost in the language. But as soon as I read the passage for today, the first line of the song came to my mind as I thought about the failure of Saul and the Jewish leaders to crush the Way and the providence of God that used persecution to spread the life-giving message of the resurrection. The song is beautiful when I take time to really look at it instead of just go through the motions of singing it. The only line that I might take issue with is "His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour."

I think it would be easier to trust in God if that "fast" were the case. But we know that often is not the case. At least it doesn't feel like the case when we feel like God should be intervening in a situation NOW!  

But if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was using every situation that you were ever going through to gain glory for Himself and souls for His kingdom, would it change your outlook on those situations?

Just think about the situation described in Acts 8. Stephen has just been murdered. But his dying breath was one of forgiveness. It would have been a beautiful story if Saul/Paul had seen the error of his ways then and been converted to Christ based on Stephen's powerful testimony. But he didn't. In fact, Saul's appetite for persecuting the church seems to have been only whetted by Stephen's death and he began "ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he put them in prison" (Acts 8:3). And because of Saul's hardness of heart after the death of Stephen...the church began to spread! Wait a minute, that wasn't supposed to happen. Persecution is designed and intended to stop things, not speed them up!

If only we could read God's intentions and God's providence as quickly in our own lives! Wouldn't it be nice if you could see God's clear plan during the next trial of your life in the same amount of time it takes to read from Acts 7:60 to Acts 8:4! 

The truth, though, is that our discernment of God's ways is not always necessary;

our obedience to God's is.

In other words, how different would the book of Acts been if Acts 8:4 read, "Therefore, those who had been scattered became fearful for their lives and for their families and they stopped speaking about the name until the dust had settled." Would the people of Samaria have received the word from Phillip (8:5-24)? Would the gospel of Christ have spread to Ethiopia by the Eunuch (8:25-39)? Would Saul have been converted on the road to Damascus if he didn't even felt compelled to go to Damascus in the first place because the Christians had already shut up!? Would the gospel have spread to the gentile world through Paul and reached us today?

Of course, we know that God's over-arching and providential will would have happened somehow anyway. But the point is that His providential will happened the way it is recorded in the book of Acts because people were obedient to His already revealed will from the book of Matthew. 

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go (literally- as you are going!) and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'”    Matthew 28:18-20

What are you going through now that you question "why, God!?" I wouldn't for a minute critique someone for asking God why! But if we are convinced that there is a God big enough for us to ask, "why," then what I would challenge all of us to do is to say "Yes, Lord," with every single "Why, God?" that ever comes out of our mouths!

I wonder how many times I have forced God to change his plans of salvation for the people around me because I was too self-absorbed or too depressed during my "Why, God?" moments to also say, "yes, Lord."

I pray that we will never "scan His work in vain." I can't wait to get to heaven and hear about the way God worked in and through my life that I was not even aware of because my vision is very, very near-sighted. I have to think that will only happen if I obey Jesus command to "make disciples of all the nations" in the same way the church in Acts 8:4 did. And I pray for forgiveness and mercy for the untold times that I have let my circumstances overcome my faith instead of having enough faith to trust that God is in control even in the midst of the worst of circumstances.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."

Romans 8:28-29 

The Choice to Forgive- Acts 7:59-60

Compare that prayer for forgiveness to some of the Psalms...take Psalm 109 for instance where David is praying about some of his enemies:

⁶ Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
    let an accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
    and may his prayers condemn him.
⁸ May his days be few;
    may another take his place of leadership.
⁹ May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.
¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
    may they be driven from their ruined homes.
¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
¹² May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity on his fatherless children.
¹³ May his descendants be cut off,
    their names blotted out from the next generation.
¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
    may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the Lord,
    that he may blot out their name from the earth.

I couldn't help but think of the contrast between these two prayers when I read Acts 7:59-60. David and Stephen were both doing the will of God. David had people who were out to get him for the job he was trying to do as king of God's people. Stephen had people who got him for the job he was trying to do as God's ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). David prayed for vengeance. Stephen prayed for forgiveness.

What was the difference between the two men and between their prayers?

I'm not sure I understand that question completely. I know that David was a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22). His prayer for vengeance is included in the sacred scriptures that God's people have used to draw closer to God and to worship God. Someone pointed to the difference in their roles. David was instructed by God to fight battles against wicked people. He was a man of war. Perhaps that lead to a different type of prayer against someone who was opposing the kingdom of God.

What I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt about Stephen, was that he was a follower of Christ. And that didn't just mean he claimed his name. It meant that, to the best of his ability and with the help of the Spirit of Christ who lived in him, he also claimed Christ's life and attitudes as his own. I wonder if Stephen actually thought about Jesus' prayer on the cross "Father, forgive them for the know not what they do." I wonder if he was simply so connected to Christ that it flowed out of him without thought and without effort.

I think without a shadow of a doubt that the peace that controlled his life and his mouth and his emotions to the point that he was able to pray for God not to hold the sin of his murder against his murderers was that he knew exactly where he was going after the stones had finished their work. He had just been given a vision of heaven and of Jesus at the right hand of God. And before he prayed for God to forgive his murderers, he prayed for God to receive his spirit when the murdering was completed.

I've always been impressed with Stephen's faith and his compassion for his enemies, but I had never caught one of the answers to his prayer. William Barclay quotes the early church father Augustine as saying, "The Church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen."

Wow.

Look again at the picture above. Find Saul in the bottom right-hand corner with the coats underneath him. And thank God that He forgave Saul and changed his name to Paul. Think about the passages that Paul wrote that have comforted and strengthened you. Think about the Christians that were converted by Paul that passed their faith down through the ages until it reached you. And thank him for the courage and the compassion of a Christian named Stephen who believed in God's grace through Christ so much that he offered it even to his murderers...one of whom was Paul.

Look around at the people in your own life. Think about the enemies that you would rather pray for vengeance to come upon them. I'm not sure what the theological implications of Psalm 109 are for a Christian today. Can we pray that same prayer as David did? Would it be right? Would it be wrong? Would it be dishonest not to and to "force" a prayer of forgiveness for my enemy when I would rather pray for revenge? I won't try to answer those questions. I'll just say that I praise and thank God that Stephen chose to pray Christ's prayer for Paul instead of David's prayer for his enemies.

Which will you choose?

The First Church Complaint- Acts 6:1-4

Original Photo posted to Flikr under creative commons license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

That's a line that I've stolen from my mother-in-law. I'm not sure if it's original to her or not (she's an elementary school teacher!) But we use the line at my house all of the time!

It would be tempting to simply use that line any time we field complaints in any area of life, wouldn't it? I'm sure that most of our complaints should be responded to with that line. But occasionally, as we all know, there really is a legitimate complaint that needs to be dealt with. Such is the case in churches from time to time now and it was also the case in the church all the way back in Acts 6.

The situation was spelled out plainly enough in verse 1 and of course it centered around the fact that someone felt they were being neglected. In this case, it was an entire group of widows. The church had apparently already developed somewhat of a division. Not in that there was a lack of unity in Christ, but simply a language barrier. The Hellenistic Jews were most likely the Jews of the diaspora, those who lived in different places all over the world. Because of that, they would have spoken Greek as their primary language. The Hebraic Jews, on the other hand, who most likely were from the Palestine area, would have been familiar with Greek and comfortable with it, but would have spoken Hebrew or more likely Aramaic as their primary language. If you have ever worshiped in a bilingual service or been a part of a congregation with a ministry to a population that speaks little or no English, then you will understand this natural...and frustrating...division completely.

Whether by chance or by design, the Greek speaking Jewish, now Christian, widows were being neglected by the church who was working to take care of those incapable of taking care of themselves. What we don't know was whether the apostles had previously been directly responsible for this ministry. We do know that the Christians would give their donations to the apostles directly and then "they would be distributed to each as any had need" (Acts 4:35).

In truth, it doesn't matter if the apostles had previously been directly responsible for distributing the aid or if they had already delegated that task. Since Acts 6 is a very obvious delegation of responsibility, it seems to me that they had been the ones rationing out the food and money. If that is so, then it's worth noting that even the inspired apostles had trouble keeping up with the demands and needs of a large group of Christians!! If that was the case from the very beginning with the men who had  a miraculous indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then perhaps we should not be quite so surprised or offended today when preachers and/or elders allow something or someone to slip through the organizational cracks!

More importantly, though, no matter who was originally responsible for passing out the food, we can learn a few principles that definitely need to be applied today:

1. In order for a church to do its work, there has to be MANY people who are "full of the Spirit and of wisdom" who are willing to work and take initiative to minister. It is not hard to see in most congregations that too many of us are content to allow the Elders, and preachers, and the really high driven deacons to do the bulk of the work in the church. But I want you to think about something. Think about the ministries that your congregation is involved in and think about the ones that have the most passion behind them and seem to be the most beneficial and effective. Isn't it true that the ministries that really work are initiated and led by members who see a need and have the desire to fill it!?
2. In order for your personal ministry to be effective, you might need to narrow your focus. I am so thankful that the apostles were wise enough and Spirit-filled enough to recognize that if they simply "worked harder" in order to satisfy the legitimate concerns of the church, they would be neglecting the primary work that God had laid out for them. They were called to be witnesses and evangelists because of what they had seen and heard. Therefore, they recognized that it "wouldn't be right to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables." Did that mean that waiting on tables was beneath them or of less importance? Absolutely not! After all, the disciples of Christ were supposed to have been known for their love for each other! (John 13:34-35) But the truth is that we all are the have different roles in the body of Christ. If they had neglected their role to do someone else's, would God have been glorified and the kingdom of heaven advanced like it was?

I was so thankful to hear our elders a couple of months ago announce that they were working on plans to give more responsibilities to deacons in order for them to be free to do more of the work of shepherding. Is the work of the deacon any less important than the work of the shepherd or of the evangelist/preacher? Absolutely not! They go hand in hand and the complement each other! But the truth is that without multiple people to fill different individual roles, then evangelism will shrink backto nothing, programs will be dropped, people will be neglected, and people's souls will stagnate and fall away because too few people would be trying to do too much work!

What need have you recognized in your church and/or your community and/or the world? What do you think needs to be done about it? Can you guess who the best person is to do it!? Recruit someone else to help you out and light a fire under them for the work, but don't take a great idea to someone who is already ministering in their own great ideas and drop your great idea on them for either their work or yours to die! Take the initiative and be the answer to your complaint!!

May we be a people who is willing to work! May we be a people who is courageous enough to call others to work! May we be a people who takes initiative! May we be a people who is neither neglectful of the ministry of the word and of prayer nor the ministries of waiting on tables!

And may God be glorified through it all!

Am I Worthy to Suffer? Acts 5:41-42

How could they do that!?

How could they rejoice after being flogged? The disgrace that they had suffered was that the Jewish sanhedrin had flogged them and ordered them once again not to speak out in the name of Jesus. My understanding of a Jewish flogging is that you received 39 lashes. I've always thought that meant being hit 39 times with the cat-o-nine tails. As I was studying for this, someone I read mentioned that the 39 lashes were the individual stripes received, not the number of times whipped. Either way, the fact is that the reason the limit was 39 was because they knew you couldn't live much past 40. So they gave them 40 minus one in order to be safe. How generous.

And the apostles walked away rejoicing.

I wish I could see a video of how they were rejoicing. Were they singing? Were they smiling? Were they clapping their hands? Undoubtedly, they were moving slowly because they would have been in horrible pain. Undoubtedly, in the midst of the rejoicing they were also grimacing. I wonder if it was an outward display of rejoicing or if it was more of a determined attitude and a verbal acknowledgment that this was a good thing to be "counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."

How could they walk away from that happier than when they walked into it!!? Everything in me rebels against the thought of pain. I don't want it and I don't seek it. Of course, the truth is that neither did they. They weren't rejoicing because they were in pain. I don't think they were excited about that at all. They were rejoicing because "they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name!"

They remembered what Jesus had said,

Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.- John 15:20-21

and,

All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. ² They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. ³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴ I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them.- John 16:1-4

and before that,

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. - Matthew 5:10-12

When I think of those passages and I think of the way the early Christians rejoiced, I can't help but think of my own life of comfort. I've been uncomfortable because of my faith a few times in my life. I've stood up for what is right at times. I've spoken to people in the name of Jesus before. But have I ever really been persecuted? No, I would have to say that I have not.

And based on this passage, I can't help but to ask, "why not?" Is it because I am not yet "considered worthy of suffering shame for the name?" Have I not been faithful in small things yet and therefore have not been given greater things? Don't get me wrong, I have no desire to be a martyr. I don't think Paul did either. In fact, when he could avoid a beating by using his Roman citizenship, he did (Acts 22:22-29). 

I don't believe that we are called to go out looking for trouble. But the fact is that throughout history, those who have proclaimed their faith clearly and powerfully in the name of Jesus, those who have really lived what they've preached, those who have been true lights in the world, have naturally been found by trouble. Why? Because the darkness hates the light (John 3:20).

May we live in such a way that the darkness hates us. Not because we are hateful to those living in darkness. Jesus was never disrespectful or demeaning to those living in darkness. But because we are constantly shining the light of God's righteousness and love upon those in darkness in order that those who would come to the light may have the opportunity to see it and respond. May we be thankful for and enjoy the comforts and the freedoms that God gives us when He does so, but may we never let Satan use those comforts and freedoms as traps to keep us from doing the hard work that we are called to do. Jesus never promised comfort in this world. But he did promise to give us abundant life. May we know that life so that when trials do come, we too have the ability to rejoice "that we were considered worthy to suffer shame for the Name."