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.

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.

Trying to Join the Disciples- Acts 9:26-27a

I have an extremely vivid memory of my 7th grade year. I don't remember much about school...but I remember the basketball team. As hard as it may be for you to believe for those of you who know me, I was not very popular at all. (Ok, so maybe that's actually pretty easy for you to accept!) For whatever reason, the 8th graders on the team decided pretty unanimously that they hated me and wanted nothing to do with me. I've actually got several memories from that period, but the one that I'm thinking about was actually in a game when the coach put subbed me in for one of the 8th graders. As I jogged onto the court in all of my 7th grade confidence as an outcast, the 4 other 8th graders got together in a huddle just within earshot and I heard one of them saying, "just don't pass him the ball."

Now that may seem rather trivial to you, but to me, it was a rather defining moment and one that I can still picture in detail almost twenty years later. Needless to say I didn't perform very well when I played that night or any other as long as I was playing with guys who wanted nothing to do with me. I was constantly too nervous and scared of making a mistake that would justify their dislike of me to settle down and play. In fact, it wasn't until I switched schools after my 9th grade year and moved somewhere that no one knew me that I was finally able to enjoy going to practice and playing in games...and I loved basketball!

I have no idea what was going through Paul's mind after his conversion when he tried to join the disciples. I very seriously doubt that he felt the same insecurities and emotions that I did. And I fully recognize the difference in the importance of the two different stories. But what I do know is that I am so thankful for Barnabas who wrapped his arm around Paul's shoulders and vouched for him with the rest of the church. 

I can't tell you how many times I beg students in my youth group to look for outcasts and include them in their circles of friends. In fact, I was just asked to encourage some students to be intentional about including someone by another one of our members. But you know, the truth is that people are rejected by the other disciples across all spectrums of the church! Just look around your auditorium the next time you are there.  I guarantee you will see someone who feels horribly out of place because of how they are dressed. You will see someone who feels completely isolated because of their past sin that they feel is plastered on their clothing like a scarlet letter. You will see someone who is just so socially awkward that they can't figure out how to introduce themselves to anyone so the arrive late or just on time, they sit alone in the back of the auditorium, and they leave as soon as the final amen is said.

Look. And you will see them. That is, you will see them if they haven't already left the church quietly for the last time. They may not be performing very well, but that is likely because they have never experienced someone who believes in them. So they show up and they do their best, scared to death that they will make a mistake that will justify the others' rejection of them. In fact, they may never perform well until they finally "switch teams." And that might be in spite of the fact that they actually do truly and deeply love God and His church.

Whether the situation is due to someone's past or someone's personality, I wonder how many people slip silently in and out of our groups of disciples never making an impact as Paul did because no disciple ever vouches for them as Barnabas did.

Who will you put your arm around today? You may not be able to catch them before they dart out, so you will have to be intentional. You might need to call them to invite them to lunch or dinner with a group of friends. But will you be a Barnabas- a Son of Encouragement- for someone? Just imagine how the kingdom of God would grow if even half of a congregation was filled with people who were bound and determined to never let someone be rejected by the disciples they were trying to join!