Please read Acts 25 and Acts 26:1-14
Paul is spending this long ordeal in house arrest. Not fun but much better than being in a dungeon! As he is waiting for God's next part of the plan, we know from Chapter 24 that he is using the time wisely, testifying to Felix and the court. Now, as we go into Ch. 25, Felix has been recalled to Rome. Apparently, the imprisonment of Paul did not calm the situation down enough...he has to answer for the further riots and fights between the Jews and the Syrians. I do not think I would want to be Felix in front of Caesar.
Enter Festus, and man that other historians say is more wise than his predecessor in his few short years in office. Festus is making a tour of his territory and meets with the Temple leaders as part of the tour. They decide that it is a good time to take advantage of the situation: a man in office for only three days can surely not understand the whole picture, so they ask for Paul to be sent to Jerusalem for trial. This is to put in place exactly the same situation as we saw in Chapter 23. The plan was to ambush Paul on the way and get rid of this thorn once and for all.
Festus (did we mention that he was wise?) decides immediately to ask them to send representatives to him in Caesarea for a trial, so two weeks after he takes office the trial is held. Again, unproven charges are brought against Paul but no evidence. Paul simply answers with a statement: I have done nothing wrong against the Jews, the Temple or against Caesar. So Festus asks, "Will you go to Jerusalem to stand trial?" Paul sees the trap that Festus does not and merely points out his standing as a Roman citizen. He appeals to Caesar...
Wow. This is a big move in those days. A Roman citizen has rights, as we have discussed but this was a huge step with many repercussions. Imagine appealing to the Supreme Court but that the appeal went to a single man (or his appointed judge). There perspective would not be "what is truth?" but would more likely be "what is good for the empire?" Dangerous thing, this appeal. If you are wrong, you are likely dead. If you are right, you may still be dead if it gives an advantage to the empire.
So why would Paul do this? Remember that he was told in Acts 23 that he was going to Rome. In my opinion, God had a plan for this and Paul merely listened to the spirit. He knew it was likely to be his downfall but he knew that he was in God's hands...and had been for many years. Festus prepares to send him to Rome.
As we are awaiting Paul's departure, King Agrippa arrives. Agrippa is the latest in a long line of Kings over the land. This can be confusing but follow it a bit here. The King is the ruler under the Governor, who is under Caesar. That is a rough idea of the form of government. Agrippa is in the line of the Herods we read about in the Gospels. Remember, Jesus was almost killed at birth by Herod I and later during his final days met with Herod Antipas (who had also beheaded John the Baptist). In some ways, these Kings had become more like Mayors than anything else and were in some ways only figureheads.
Festus discusses the Paul situation with him and tells him how he cannot find any charges to send to Rome. This is a real problem: if you were Caesar and some yahoo from a podunk land sends you a prisoner to judge with no charges, would you keep him in office there? I think not. Thus, we see Festus' problem. Luckily, Agrippa agrees to listen as well.
As we start Chapter 26, Paul gets his chance to speak and what does he do? He tells his testimony...sensing a theme here? Paul NEVER misses an opportunity. But Paul's testimony IS different here. In Acts 13, Paul tells the story of the Jewish people in his testimony. In Acts 22, Paul gives his bonifides on being a "Jew's Jew"" and his study. Here Paul lays out a little of that but only to touch on his reason for being persecuted: He believes in life after death. But here Paul goes in a different direction. These ears are not Jewish. The same testimony is not effective for them. And Paul is trying to get them to open up their ears. Not to save his skin...no, it is to save their souls! We could learn a lot from Paul here. Maybe when we are telling our story to non-believers, we need to connect with their lives. Not a pat story (although we often struggle just getting though one story!) but one that they can relate to. Not deceiving or lying but just leaving out the details that would not connect and adding in those that would. Just maybe, we need to listen to the spirit more during those times. Just a thought...
In verse 14 we hear a new detail... "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." WHAT? I never read that in his other testimonies. And, what is the world is a goad? In modern vernacular (OK, maybe a little dated but still used), a goad is what someone does to incite someone to do something. It is often negative, like peer pressure, to force someone to do something they would not normally do. In these days, a goad was a device used on the front of a wagon, or placed behind a oxen, that had a series of spikes on it. It forced the animal to move forward only. It could not back up, it would hit the sharp spikes. It could not abruptly stop, the goads would hit it when the cart rolled up on the animal. Thus, the oxen went where they were led. If an animal got mad, it would kick back against it, only causing more pain...
So, what did this mean to Paul? Why would Jesus use this term with him? Well, it all has to do with Grace. You see, God was calling, prompting, seeking Saul well before the road to Damascus. Saul had to hear it, even as he sought and killed those believers in the Way. John Wesley explained it best. He said that God's grace presented itself in three forms: Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace and Sanctifying Grace. Not that there is not one Grace, only that our limited brains can only understand Grace in such a way. So what are these big, fancy theological terms:
Prevenient Grace: This is Grace that precedes our understanding and our relationship with Christ. You see, God is seeking to find us, even you dear reader, before we "find Him" God sets the stage and draws us to Him. We still can refuse but He still calls. This is Grace that leads only to Him. Prevenient Grace follows us though our lives.
Justifying Grace: When we find and accept God, this is the forgiving Grace. This grace is the new life that is found in Christ. We are forgiven and made new. It is the culmination of the Prevenient Grace. In this moment of Grace, we freely choose to let God cleanse us. It is only by this Grace that we may stand in the presence of a Holy and Righteous God. It is only through our repentance and acceptance of our Lord and Savior that grace can free us. Justifying Grace is instantaneous. We come, He makes new.
Santifying Grace: This is the grace that actively works in our life to produce holiness. This grace is the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through us so that our lives are fruitful. It is both instantaneous and a process. We are driven to build a deeper relationship with Christ through this grace. It is not about us becoming perfect; it is about God working in us to move us closer to it. His power alone...and our accepting of it.
These graces are not a once and done thing. We are all moving through all of these steps. I have seen God set the stages for me to come to Him, I have accepted Him as my savior and I have been made new and I am being actively worked on to go deeper with Him...but He is still working behind the scenes to set the stage for what is next in my life. I am still in need of repentance for new things and still need to accept his Lordship over my life... And He will continue to make me holy...because I can't do it. You see...it really is one grace...it is just hard for us to get our little brains around the concepts. This was Wesley's attempt to help us understand and it has been accepted by many denominations, not just Methodists. It may be tweaked here and there but the core is the same...
Saul was being called before, prepared for his future through his study and other events in his life. This is Prevenient Grace. He found Christ and was reborn as Paul (Justifying Grace). He spent the rest of his days watching the spirit move in and through him. That, dear reader, is Santification. What does this mean for each of us. If a killer and persecutor like Paul is not beyond God's Grace, then how can we be? Nothing we have done or will do will take us beyond God's mercy and grace. Nothing. We just need to accept it and let Him heal us. Cleansed by the blood of Jesus....
Today should be the day. If you have not accepted the love of God, talk to Him to day. Don't kick against your own goads. Come, repent and accept. The words are not important...only the heart seeking Him the way He is seeking you. Let Him show His love to you today.
God is good...
D
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Acts 24
Please read Acts 24.
So, as we dive back into the world of Paul's trials, we get to see Paul's first meeting with the Governor, Felix. Felix allows the Jewish leaders to present their case first, so Tertullus presents the "evidence" to him. He basically proceeds to butter up Felix repeatedly and really, in essence, says that Paul is a troublemaker. And he wants to imply that that trouble is aimed a Rome, not just the Temple.
Paul rather methodically goes through actual facts. He admits being a follower of the "Way." (Just a side note, if you are looking for why it is called the way, please go back to John 14:6.) He talks about how he has never actually been found to have violated Temple rules. The only thing he is guilty of is stirring a disagreement that was already in place: Pharisee vs Sadducee. His core message: I'm still Jewish, I have the same hope that they do but I know that Jesus was the Messiah. It is culmination of scripture and the Temple, not attack and desecration.
Felix, who is familiar with the goings on of the early Christian church, after 6 years of rule there, adjourns court. He and his wife, a Jewess named Drucilla, call on over the next two years. Paul does what Paul does: he preaches the Gospel. This frightens Felix because it does not mean good things for him and his lifestyle (Drucilla was his third wife, in an era where this was not very common), so he sends Paul away.
Over those years of house arrest, Felix would call Paul frequently. Why? One is that he wanted a bribe. After all, it was Paul who brought offerings (see Acts 11:29) when the famine hit earlier. Maybe there was money behind Paul. Secondly, with Paul in prison, there was less strife in the Temple. Not that it was peaceful, but at least there were fewer riots since Paul was no longer "calming the crowd." And I believe there just may have been a third reason for these calls: Felix was hearing Truth and it still attracted him. God's grace and Truth calls us, even when we don't follow Him. Maybe, just maybe, Felix could not help but to hear Paul speak more on this Jesus person...
Short lesson today but still deep truths...
May God bless the reading of His Truth.
D
So, as we dive back into the world of Paul's trials, we get to see Paul's first meeting with the Governor, Felix. Felix allows the Jewish leaders to present their case first, so Tertullus presents the "evidence" to him. He basically proceeds to butter up Felix repeatedly and really, in essence, says that Paul is a troublemaker. And he wants to imply that that trouble is aimed a Rome, not just the Temple.
Paul rather methodically goes through actual facts. He admits being a follower of the "Way." (Just a side note, if you are looking for why it is called the way, please go back to John 14:6.) He talks about how he has never actually been found to have violated Temple rules. The only thing he is guilty of is stirring a disagreement that was already in place: Pharisee vs Sadducee. His core message: I'm still Jewish, I have the same hope that they do but I know that Jesus was the Messiah. It is culmination of scripture and the Temple, not attack and desecration.
Felix, who is familiar with the goings on of the early Christian church, after 6 years of rule there, adjourns court. He and his wife, a Jewess named Drucilla, call on over the next two years. Paul does what Paul does: he preaches the Gospel. This frightens Felix because it does not mean good things for him and his lifestyle (Drucilla was his third wife, in an era where this was not very common), so he sends Paul away.
Over those years of house arrest, Felix would call Paul frequently. Why? One is that he wanted a bribe. After all, it was Paul who brought offerings (see Acts 11:29) when the famine hit earlier. Maybe there was money behind Paul. Secondly, with Paul in prison, there was less strife in the Temple. Not that it was peaceful, but at least there were fewer riots since Paul was no longer "calming the crowd." And I believe there just may have been a third reason for these calls: Felix was hearing Truth and it still attracted him. God's grace and Truth calls us, even when we don't follow Him. Maybe, just maybe, Felix could not help but to hear Paul speak more on this Jesus person...
Short lesson today but still deep truths...
May God bless the reading of His Truth.
D
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Acts 23
Please read all of Chapter 23.
Paul is called in front of the Sanhedrin to testify with them to the Commander of the Roman regiment. Paul makes a strong statement to start the exchange...he says, "I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." Which immediately draws a strong response from the High Priest, who has him struck. Why is this such a terrible thing for Paul to say?
Think about who Paul was again...if Paul had not gone off into this blasphemous sect, he could very well have sat on that council. He was a star student of the greatest Jewish teacher of the era. He was a rising star...and then he went off into the weeds, turning his back on Yahweh! And he has the nerve to stand in front of them and declare that he has a clear conscience? The pig!
Ananias has him struck immediately, despite the fact that he is doing it in front of the Commander. this shows something about Ananias and about the Jewish society of the time. It was very much against the rules to strike someone in the Temple. After all, this is God's house...not in the modern vernacular but literally it was God's throne room! Imagine if your pastor had your elders or church council beat someone up in the sanctuary! But Ananias was a man known for his cruelty and violence. His rise to power reflected the growing agitation and violence in Jewish culture of the day. With this rising violence, even in front of the very soldiers who were called upon to quell that violence, shows it was a growing problem in the land.
Paul responds to this strike by calling him a "white-washed wall". What does that mean? Some suggestions from our class spoke of a falseness or fake clean. Something pretty on the outside but not within. This is what Paul meant but to an even deeper level. Back in those days, to go to the Temple one had to been ceremonially clean. That means all the food restrictions and most importantly, to not have been around dead people or animals. To touch them would make one unclean until they could go through purification rites. To assist in this, they would whitewash the tombs, so it was apparent where they were. By calling him a whitewashed wall, Paul was saying that Ananias was unclean, even full of death inside...ouch. He is calling him a hypocrite...
So, Paul then calls to mind a fight that has been building in the temple for many years: The Sadducees vs. the Pharisees. Let's look at the two beliefs structures in the Sanhedrin:
Pharisees:
The party of the people - the were the power behind the synagogues
Believed the Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament) and the oral traditions were both authoritative and binding. This includes what we think of as the Old Testament, with the prophets, history and other books.
Unclear on opinion on Freewill vs. predestination - road the middle ground
Believed in a hierachy of angels and demons
Believed in the resurrection of the dead
Believed in the immortality of the soul and eternal rewards
Were champions of human equality
Emphasized ethics, rather than theology
Sadducees:
The ruling party in the Temple - they held the ultimate power there
Denied the oral law
Literal interpretation of the Mosaic law
Absolute belief in the rules of Levitical purity
Believed in free will only
No resurrection, no life after death and no angels or demons
No spiritual world
Only the Pentateuch was scripture
(Main source for above: NIV Study Bible - chart p.1506)
An interesting note on the Pharisees vs. Sadducees battle: It only had a few more years of fighting left. When the Temple fell a decade or so later, the Sadducees fell with it, never to return. When God allowed His house to be cleaned, He did a thorough job...
Paul lights a match on this argument and immediately his accusers begin to fight among themselves. This is a battle that had been raging for years, so it did not take much. Paul definitely fit in with the Pharisees. Even if he did not start out believing, he had seen enough angels to make it awfully had to deny them! That very night, a angel is sent by God to assure him that he will survive Jerusalem and got to Rome.
The next day, a mob makes a bold public statement: they would fast until they can kill Paul. Note: they did not take a Niacean vow, just a public vow. It was not with God on their side, only themselves. Word is out about this vow. It gets to Paul's nephew, who tells Paul. He sends him to the Centurion who takes him to the Commander who listens...why would he listen to a prisoner? A few things come to mind: one is that Paul is a citizen and another is that maybe it is starting to appear to the local Roman leaders that Paul is not the one who is the issue here. Not that it mattered to much. If it would end the disturbance, they would eliminate him immediately...
The Roman response is to send Paul onto the Governor, Felix. He sends a troop of over 200 soldiers. Why so many? If he sends fewer, he is inviting an attack. And an attack on Roman soldiers is never acceptable. If the force is overwhelming, they may think twice...if they don't think twice, the force should be able to crush them! The chapter ends with Felix agreeing to hear the case....
May you be blessed as you consider where your theology falls...what do you believe about God?
God bless you today!
D
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Chapter 22
Read Chapter 22
Note: we covered both Chapters 21 &22 in one week.
Paul begins the chapter with his address to the crowd...in Aramaic. What is Arameic? It is the most common language of the area, the one the crowd would understand the best. The commander of the Roman soldiers is probably wondering who he has in custody right now. Just how many languages does this man speak???? Not the norm to be multilingual...
Paul, with the crowd hanging on his every word, does what Paul ALWAYS does when he gets a crowd: he tells his testimony. He tells the story of his Jewish days until the day that Christ grabbed him and set him on his new course. All goes well (not to say that they were being swayed but, you know, some might have been) until Paul gets to the end of his story. At that point, he says that God sent him to the Gentiles...blasphemy!
Remember, to the Jews, the Gentiles were for God to smite. But that was never God's plan. In Genesis 12, God tells Abram, 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." How do you bless the other peoples when you avoid them and don't accept them. Don't get me wrong, God had plans at times that involved Him telling them to destroy a society. But the Hebrews were to lead the Gentiles to God. Isaiah says in Isaiah 49 that God told him that, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." What a charge...and conveniently forgotten by the Jewish leaders. The riot begins again...
The Romans prepare to torture the truth out of Paul and gets an all new surprise. Paul is a Roman citizen. You can understand the frustration that the commander must have felt. Every time he seemed to have the situation under control and figured out, Paul changes everything again. As a Roman citizen, he has rights that the conquered peoples do not. One is that they are not allowed to use their most degrading form of torture on their own. That was saved for the common conquered rabble...
While the commander had to buy his citizenship, Paul's was by birth. We don't know why this is important but it is possible that this meant that Paul's citizenship had greater value in Roman's eyes. His was not earned or bought but by birth. It was common at the time for that to be of value, kind of like how a non-Jew could follow Yahweh but could never become Jewish in Jewish eyes. Regardless, at the end of this chapter, we have Paul being released from chains and the commander, once again, trying to figure out what is going on...
May God bless the reading of His Word....
D
Note: we covered both Chapters 21 &22 in one week.
Paul begins the chapter with his address to the crowd...in Aramaic. What is Arameic? It is the most common language of the area, the one the crowd would understand the best. The commander of the Roman soldiers is probably wondering who he has in custody right now. Just how many languages does this man speak???? Not the norm to be multilingual...
Paul, with the crowd hanging on his every word, does what Paul ALWAYS does when he gets a crowd: he tells his testimony. He tells the story of his Jewish days until the day that Christ grabbed him and set him on his new course. All goes well (not to say that they were being swayed but, you know, some might have been) until Paul gets to the end of his story. At that point, he says that God sent him to the Gentiles...blasphemy!
Remember, to the Jews, the Gentiles were for God to smite. But that was never God's plan. In Genesis 12, God tells Abram, 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." How do you bless the other peoples when you avoid them and don't accept them. Don't get me wrong, God had plans at times that involved Him telling them to destroy a society. But the Hebrews were to lead the Gentiles to God. Isaiah says in Isaiah 49 that God told him that, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." What a charge...and conveniently forgotten by the Jewish leaders. The riot begins again...
The Romans prepare to torture the truth out of Paul and gets an all new surprise. Paul is a Roman citizen. You can understand the frustration that the commander must have felt. Every time he seemed to have the situation under control and figured out, Paul changes everything again. As a Roman citizen, he has rights that the conquered peoples do not. One is that they are not allowed to use their most degrading form of torture on their own. That was saved for the common conquered rabble...
While the commander had to buy his citizenship, Paul's was by birth. We don't know why this is important but it is possible that this meant that Paul's citizenship had greater value in Roman's eyes. His was not earned or bought but by birth. It was common at the time for that to be of value, kind of like how a non-Jew could follow Yahweh but could never become Jewish in Jewish eyes. Regardless, at the end of this chapter, we have Paul being released from chains and the commander, once again, trying to figure out what is going on...
May God bless the reading of His Word....
D
Acts 21
Read all of Acts 21
Luke continues the narrative of his journey with Paul and his companions on their way to Jerusalem. We read how Paul's companions are also hearing from the Holy Spirit of what is to come in Jerusalem. They are begging Paul to not go, but Paul know the Spirit is telling him TO GO. You see that while the Spirit is preparing the people for the loss of Paul, in their love for him and maybe in their fear of the loss of him, they are reacting in a way to change the plan and will of God. Paul sees this but is not to be swayed...he has an appointment in Jerusalem...and beyond!
Paul continues on the journey, finally reaching Caesarea, about as close as you can get to Jerusalem by sea. See map below for details (look right above Jerusalem):
In Caesarea, Paul visits Phillip the Evangelist. If we look back to Acts 8, we see the story of Phillip. Remember, he is the one who met with the Ethiopian eunuch to explain the Gospel...and much more evangelizing. He is also one of the seven listed in Acts 6, when the Apostles named seven people to run the administration of the Church. If you want to see more of the Biblical example of this, see Exodus 18 for Moses example. One interesting thing to note: While their "job" was administrative, their job description was that they need to be "full of the Spirit and wisdom"...when we look for administrative roles or jobs in our churches and ministries, do we look mostly at skills or at spiritual skills?
Well, Phillip has 4 daughters, who prophesied. The verse says they are all unmarried, so we may assume that they are specially dedicated to the Lord and He is blessing them for it. That is not a call for us to necessarily follow that lead but it may be an example of Paul's message in 1 Corinthians 7...
Agabus, the prophet, is the next prophet to appear. Do they grow on trees here in Caesarea? Let's take a moment to look at a prophets. What is the modern definition? Most of us would say "someone who tells the future", really meaning a fortune teller, soothsayer, or other person who can predict the future. That is a warping of the word. If you review what a prophet is in the Old Testament, you see that a prophet really is someone who is given a message by God for someone or for His people. That is the role, exclusively. It can be of the future or of the present. We are not to seek the modern "prophets", look at Isaiah 8:19. It is usually very hard to be a prophet, as the message is often hard to deliver and can mean pain or death to prophet. In the New Testament, John the Baptist was the first prophet we run across. His message: repent for the kingdom of Heaven is here. So, has God stopped sending messages in this way? I'd say no but that does not mean we listen to all who claim prophet status. But when the Spirit pushes us to speak out for Him, or to confront a friend who is going into the weeds, or to tell of our testimony (even the tough stuff in it), He is calling His new prophets...are you listening for the call?
Agabus comes and does a strange thing...he takes Paul's belt and ties up his hands and feet with it...saying, "In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles." Wow, not a message that your would want to hear, huh? Immediately, everyone jumps in to tell Paul to not go to Jerusalem (even Luke - "we gave up" verse 14). Paul insists he is ready for this mission from God, the one he has been travelling on for a long time, since that road in Damascus.
There is an interesting parallel here to an earlier event. In John 21:18 Jesus says to Peter, "I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Is this not the same message as Agabus has for Paul? I see a strong parallel between the message for Peter and Paul. By the time they both faced this arrest, prosecution and death, they were ready to die for Him. Surely both had spent a lot of time in their lives trying to avoid pain and death, like most of us would do or have done. We must understand that both were Apostles of the Master and had been prepared for this journey.
After arriving in Jerusalem, Paul goes to James and the other elders of the Jerusalem church. He makes his report and they marvel at how the thousands have believed...but also know the animosity that Paul has stirred up in the Jewish leaders. They are telling all that Paul is pitching out their customs and heritage and, worse yet, to reject Moses. Why the Moses note? Because he is the written source for the heritage, at least the early part that came directly from God. This is a huge accusation...one that would always lead to punishment.
The Elders suggest a plan: an Nazarite vow, with four other men. We have discussed this vow in Chapter 18. The message here seems to be that Paul would surely not be a defamer of their traditions if he then proceeds to do one of their toughest and most difficult traditions, a vow that goes all the way back to Sampson and beyond. But we see that it is no good...the reaction is exactly what they fear and the attack on Paul is immediate.
The turns into a riot until the Roman Chiliarch (think commander of 10 Centurions - 1000 soldiers) sends in the troops to bust some heads and put down the riot. There were likely many. many people hurt until the riot stopped. The soldiers are even forced to carry Paul to get him back to their "barracks" (really it was more of a prison). They were unable to even get a clear story from the mobs. Paul asks to speak and the commander gets his first surprise of the day: Paul speaks Greek. Why is this surprising? Because they assumed Paul was an Egyptian false prophet who had led a revolt in the past. Josephus, the ancient historian tells of this tale. The leader escaped but many were killed in the put down of the revolt. You see two things are true here: one is that the Romans immediately thought all riots were an attack on them and, secondly, the Jews in Jerusalem were getting a reputation for revolt and unrest. This is not healthy in ancient Rome...
As we leave this Chapter, Paul is allowed to address the crowd...very unusual. God is at work here...
May God bless you as you seek Him in the Word...
D
Luke continues the narrative of his journey with Paul and his companions on their way to Jerusalem. We read how Paul's companions are also hearing from the Holy Spirit of what is to come in Jerusalem. They are begging Paul to not go, but Paul know the Spirit is telling him TO GO. You see that while the Spirit is preparing the people for the loss of Paul, in their love for him and maybe in their fear of the loss of him, they are reacting in a way to change the plan and will of God. Paul sees this but is not to be swayed...he has an appointment in Jerusalem...and beyond!
Paul continues on the journey, finally reaching Caesarea, about as close as you can get to Jerusalem by sea. See map below for details (look right above Jerusalem):
In Caesarea, Paul visits Phillip the Evangelist. If we look back to Acts 8, we see the story of Phillip. Remember, he is the one who met with the Ethiopian eunuch to explain the Gospel...and much more evangelizing. He is also one of the seven listed in Acts 6, when the Apostles named seven people to run the administration of the Church. If you want to see more of the Biblical example of this, see Exodus 18 for Moses example. One interesting thing to note: While their "job" was administrative, their job description was that they need to be "full of the Spirit and wisdom"...when we look for administrative roles or jobs in our churches and ministries, do we look mostly at skills or at spiritual skills?
Well, Phillip has 4 daughters, who prophesied. The verse says they are all unmarried, so we may assume that they are specially dedicated to the Lord and He is blessing them for it. That is not a call for us to necessarily follow that lead but it may be an example of Paul's message in 1 Corinthians 7...
Agabus, the prophet, is the next prophet to appear. Do they grow on trees here in Caesarea? Let's take a moment to look at a prophets. What is the modern definition? Most of us would say "someone who tells the future", really meaning a fortune teller, soothsayer, or other person who can predict the future. That is a warping of the word. If you review what a prophet is in the Old Testament, you see that a prophet really is someone who is given a message by God for someone or for His people. That is the role, exclusively. It can be of the future or of the present. We are not to seek the modern "prophets", look at Isaiah 8:19. It is usually very hard to be a prophet, as the message is often hard to deliver and can mean pain or death to prophet. In the New Testament, John the Baptist was the first prophet we run across. His message: repent for the kingdom of Heaven is here. So, has God stopped sending messages in this way? I'd say no but that does not mean we listen to all who claim prophet status. But when the Spirit pushes us to speak out for Him, or to confront a friend who is going into the weeds, or to tell of our testimony (even the tough stuff in it), He is calling His new prophets...are you listening for the call?
Agabus comes and does a strange thing...he takes Paul's belt and ties up his hands and feet with it...saying, "In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles." Wow, not a message that your would want to hear, huh? Immediately, everyone jumps in to tell Paul to not go to Jerusalem (even Luke - "we gave up" verse 14). Paul insists he is ready for this mission from God, the one he has been travelling on for a long time, since that road in Damascus.
There is an interesting parallel here to an earlier event. In John 21:18 Jesus says to Peter, "I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Is this not the same message as Agabus has for Paul? I see a strong parallel between the message for Peter and Paul. By the time they both faced this arrest, prosecution and death, they were ready to die for Him. Surely both had spent a lot of time in their lives trying to avoid pain and death, like most of us would do or have done. We must understand that both were Apostles of the Master and had been prepared for this journey.
After arriving in Jerusalem, Paul goes to James and the other elders of the Jerusalem church. He makes his report and they marvel at how the thousands have believed...but also know the animosity that Paul has stirred up in the Jewish leaders. They are telling all that Paul is pitching out their customs and heritage and, worse yet, to reject Moses. Why the Moses note? Because he is the written source for the heritage, at least the early part that came directly from God. This is a huge accusation...one that would always lead to punishment.
The Elders suggest a plan: an Nazarite vow, with four other men. We have discussed this vow in Chapter 18. The message here seems to be that Paul would surely not be a defamer of their traditions if he then proceeds to do one of their toughest and most difficult traditions, a vow that goes all the way back to Sampson and beyond. But we see that it is no good...the reaction is exactly what they fear and the attack on Paul is immediate.
The turns into a riot until the Roman Chiliarch (think commander of 10 Centurions - 1000 soldiers) sends in the troops to bust some heads and put down the riot. There were likely many. many people hurt until the riot stopped. The soldiers are even forced to carry Paul to get him back to their "barracks" (really it was more of a prison). They were unable to even get a clear story from the mobs. Paul asks to speak and the commander gets his first surprise of the day: Paul speaks Greek. Why is this surprising? Because they assumed Paul was an Egyptian false prophet who had led a revolt in the past. Josephus, the ancient historian tells of this tale. The leader escaped but many were killed in the put down of the revolt. You see two things are true here: one is that the Romans immediately thought all riots were an attack on them and, secondly, the Jews in Jerusalem were getting a reputation for revolt and unrest. This is not healthy in ancient Rome...
As we leave this Chapter, Paul is allowed to address the crowd...very unusual. God is at work here...
May God bless you as you seek Him in the Word...
D
Monday, August 24, 2009
Acts Chapter 20
Acts Chapter 20
Read all of Acts Chapter 20.
Paul's journey continues, as he goes back to Macedonia. This is the farthest reach of his third missionary journey. He spends his time going from city to city, visiting the places that he has planted churches, encouraging the leaders there. While we could look at this as a victory lap or a reminiscent visit, it really was more of a farewell tour. Paul is feeling a growing sense of urgency.
After 3 months in Greece, the plots against his life are getting to be too much. Don't forget that a few chapters ago, the Jews had been dragging him before the Proconsul. Now it is clear to Paul that it is time for him to head back to Jerusalem, and to make this one last "lap" to encourage the others.
We see an interesting story of Eutychus thrown into Luke's testimony, starting with verse 7. Eutychus, we see, is a young boy who falls asleep during Paul's teaching and falls from the third story window to his death. From this we learn a few things. #1 - It is a good thing that our class sits on couches and does not sit on window ledges. If it did, we may have a few less students... #2 - Paul can go a long time when he gets excited and has a lot to say (I am sure he was standing and pacing...). #3 Paul is still very much filled with the Holy Spirit. In this moment, God uses Paul to heal Eutychus and bring him back to life. Thus, we have seen Peter and Paul raise people from the dead, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If anyone doubted Paul's claim to apostleship (and they should not have), it is over now.
Paul is in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, preferably by Pentecost. Pentecost...where this great story began... The Spirit has been guiding him back to Jerusalem and warning him that suffering is coming.
He calls for the leaders of the Church in Ephesus to come meet him in a nearby port. There he begins his final council... 24However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Wow. He is ready now to do anything, ready to die for his mission. Instead of his prayers being "God save me," they have become "God let me finish" or "let me see the end of the race." Do you see the change in him? Can you see a time where you have prayed to God, "Just let me tell one more person of You?"
Paul now knows that his race is ending soon and he has a level of desperation to reach all those he can. No matter what is to come, he is still running. Paul talks in Gal 2 about this race he has been running. Later, in 2 Timothy 4, we can hear him say, " 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." For Paul, he has known that he has been in a marathon and now is entering the final miles. Although there is pain and suffering, he is still running and running gladly towards the finish line.
He charges the Ephesian leaders to be strong and to be good shepherds of the flock that the Lord has given them. He warns that they must be on guard because people will come to lead away their sheep. Even from within their ranks, wolves will rise to lead them astray. The Holy Spirit is speaking directly to them, through Paul. Will they hear him in time? For that answer, I suggest you read Revelation 2...
Acts 20:32 "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. " This is an amazing verse, don't fly over it! We discussed in class what the word "sanctified" means. What is your definition? Think about it for a moment... It means to be made holy. Another way to look at it is to be made clean, spotless, as if you had never been stained. Why is this important to Paul? And to us?
You must gain an understanding of grace and sanctification. Louie Giglio defines grace as God at work. Pretty good short description. We discussed "Amazing Grace" in class, written by a true wretch of a man, a slave trader captain known for his brutality in an already brutal profession. If there was a man beyond God's saving, John Newton was that man. But God gave his unwarranted, undeserved gift of grace: forgiveness & love to him...and to us. You see, John did not deserve it. He could not do anything to remove his stains, his sin, his unholiness. But God said "Come home, child" and He wrapped his arms around him. And on the way to that hug, the blood of the Lamb of God cleansed him and made him holy, able to be in the presence of God. Revelation 7:14, talks of the robes of the saints being "washed white in the blood." What an amazing picture...beyond human description. Jesus was that ultimate sacrifice for the sanctification of the saints...so they can one day walk with God...just like God always intended. Not just now but forever with Him. Not as gods, that is a blasphemous teaching, but as ones chosen by and whom chose God.
From the beginning, God asked for a sacrifice, to bring the hearts of his people to him. It was never about the animal. He knew that someday, it would be His Son on that alter, on that cross. He knew that people would make it all about how they could sanctify themselves...and lose sight of the source of their holiness. Dear Reader, all God has ever wanted was a relationship. When God created all other beings and things (see Genesis 1), He said "it was good"...because He made them that way. He created man and he did not say "they are good." He said instead, "let us make man in our likeness." God is not saying "Boy, did I create a lousy man" or "I made a mistake here." What He is saying is "This is the one I will give a choice to...this one will be the one I have a relationship with..." This is the one I will sanctify...and MAKE GOOD!
Can we truly ever understand all the reasons and whys of God? No. But it will continually lead us closer and deeper to Him. We should not just throw up our hands and write it off as unexplainable...because when we seek Him, He is there waiting with His arms open wide, ready to reveal more. You see, the neat thing about an infinite God is that we can never stop learning about Him...and isn't that what a really good friendship is all about???
May God bless you as you seek Him!
D
Read all of Acts Chapter 20.
Paul's journey continues, as he goes back to Macedonia. This is the farthest reach of his third missionary journey. He spends his time going from city to city, visiting the places that he has planted churches, encouraging the leaders there. While we could look at this as a victory lap or a reminiscent visit, it really was more of a farewell tour. Paul is feeling a growing sense of urgency.
After 3 months in Greece, the plots against his life are getting to be too much. Don't forget that a few chapters ago, the Jews had been dragging him before the Proconsul. Now it is clear to Paul that it is time for him to head back to Jerusalem, and to make this one last "lap" to encourage the others.
We see an interesting story of Eutychus thrown into Luke's testimony, starting with verse 7. Eutychus, we see, is a young boy who falls asleep during Paul's teaching and falls from the third story window to his death. From this we learn a few things. #1 - It is a good thing that our class sits on couches and does not sit on window ledges. If it did, we may have a few less students... #2 - Paul can go a long time when he gets excited and has a lot to say (I am sure he was standing and pacing...). #3 Paul is still very much filled with the Holy Spirit. In this moment, God uses Paul to heal Eutychus and bring him back to life. Thus, we have seen Peter and Paul raise people from the dead, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If anyone doubted Paul's claim to apostleship (and they should not have), it is over now.
Paul is in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, preferably by Pentecost. Pentecost...where this great story began... The Spirit has been guiding him back to Jerusalem and warning him that suffering is coming.
He calls for the leaders of the Church in Ephesus to come meet him in a nearby port. There he begins his final council... 24However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Wow. He is ready now to do anything, ready to die for his mission. Instead of his prayers being "God save me," they have become "God let me finish" or "let me see the end of the race." Do you see the change in him? Can you see a time where you have prayed to God, "Just let me tell one more person of You?"
Paul now knows that his race is ending soon and he has a level of desperation to reach all those he can. No matter what is to come, he is still running. Paul talks in Gal 2 about this race he has been running. Later, in 2 Timothy 4, we can hear him say, " 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." For Paul, he has known that he has been in a marathon and now is entering the final miles. Although there is pain and suffering, he is still running and running gladly towards the finish line.
He charges the Ephesian leaders to be strong and to be good shepherds of the flock that the Lord has given them. He warns that they must be on guard because people will come to lead away their sheep. Even from within their ranks, wolves will rise to lead them astray. The Holy Spirit is speaking directly to them, through Paul. Will they hear him in time? For that answer, I suggest you read Revelation 2...
Acts 20:32 "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. " This is an amazing verse, don't fly over it! We discussed in class what the word "sanctified" means. What is your definition? Think about it for a moment... It means to be made holy. Another way to look at it is to be made clean, spotless, as if you had never been stained. Why is this important to Paul? And to us?
You must gain an understanding of grace and sanctification. Louie Giglio defines grace as God at work. Pretty good short description. We discussed "Amazing Grace" in class, written by a true wretch of a man, a slave trader captain known for his brutality in an already brutal profession. If there was a man beyond God's saving, John Newton was that man. But God gave his unwarranted, undeserved gift of grace: forgiveness & love to him...and to us. You see, John did not deserve it. He could not do anything to remove his stains, his sin, his unholiness. But God said "Come home, child" and He wrapped his arms around him. And on the way to that hug, the blood of the Lamb of God cleansed him and made him holy, able to be in the presence of God. Revelation 7:14, talks of the robes of the saints being "washed white in the blood." What an amazing picture...beyond human description. Jesus was that ultimate sacrifice for the sanctification of the saints...so they can one day walk with God...just like God always intended. Not just now but forever with Him. Not as gods, that is a blasphemous teaching, but as ones chosen by and whom chose God.
From the beginning, God asked for a sacrifice, to bring the hearts of his people to him. It was never about the animal. He knew that someday, it would be His Son on that alter, on that cross. He knew that people would make it all about how they could sanctify themselves...and lose sight of the source of their holiness. Dear Reader, all God has ever wanted was a relationship. When God created all other beings and things (see Genesis 1), He said "it was good"...because He made them that way. He created man and he did not say "they are good." He said instead, "let us make man in our likeness." God is not saying "Boy, did I create a lousy man" or "I made a mistake here." What He is saying is "This is the one I will give a choice to...this one will be the one I have a relationship with..." This is the one I will sanctify...and MAKE GOOD!
Can we truly ever understand all the reasons and whys of God? No. But it will continually lead us closer and deeper to Him. We should not just throw up our hands and write it off as unexplainable...because when we seek Him, He is there waiting with His arms open wide, ready to reveal more. You see, the neat thing about an infinite God is that we can never stop learning about Him...and isn't that what a really good friendship is all about???
May God bless you as you seek Him!
D
Act's 19 - Second half
Acts 19 (Second Half)
Read Acts 19:23-41
Paul and his gang of rabble-rousers (OK, maybe it is a little loose to label them as such) have caused another great disturbance in Ephesus. Ephesus was known for it's temple and worship of Artemis (also known as Diana). Her temple in Ephesus was one of the "7 wonders" of the ancient world. This was an amazing temple, drawing many from all around.
With this massive temple, the worship of Artemis had become big business. Paul and his fellow followers of the Way had become a big problem to this business. You see, when Paul led others to Christ, they did not come back to the temple...they did not come back and buy new statues...or new offerings to Artemis. When they found the Truth, they abandoned all of that. So when Demetrius calls together his fellow artisans and business people, he points out how Paul is leading people astray...AWAY from them! And worse, he is discrediting the temple!!! And, to take it one step further, if Paul has his way, he will rob the goddess of her DIVINE MAJESTY... Wow, powerful stuff. Powerful accusation. You see this was not just a business threat but a threat to the goddess herself! "We must protect her!!!," Demetrius says.
HMMMM... Don't know about your god but my God does not need me to protect Him. I cannot do anything to rob him of His majesty!!! He's go that covered. If He can create all we see (and all that we do not see) I do not have to protect Him. Not to say that we are not to take a stand with God. But it is with Him, not for Him. It is telling that the argument is phrased the way it is. I cannot minimize or send Yahweh into obscurity, even when I mess up or bring dishonor to the name "Christian". I may hurt myself, my church, my own reputation...but not God. I cannot remove His honor and glory.
Look at the many historical religions of the world. The Greek and Roman Gods are pretty much gone as "gods." The worship of Baal? Gone. The Babylonian and Phoenician subjects of worship? Gone, too. Only one God did not have a start and end date. That is the one true God, Yahweh, the I AM. Some people seem to believe that Christianity started 2000 years ago...not true. It started in the Beginning... The God of Abraham is our God too. Don't ever forget that. Christianity is not a passing fad, doomed to be cast off into the pages of a history book. It can be traced and documented as far back as any history can go. Over 2000 years ago, Jesus was born...not a religion but a continuation of a story long foretold. The prophets spoke of it hundred's of years before. The archetypes showed lesser reflections of Him to point the way. And then He came, not a "new thing" but to continue the love story of God with His people.
Back to the story, Paul companions are grabbed to answer to this riot and these accusations. Paul would like to appear to the crowd, to calm the crowd I'm sure, but he is not allowed to do it. As a matter of fact, friends begin to send him letters begging him not to do it. They seem to know better than Paul that he tends to cause riots, not quell them! So, for once, Paul is quiet and on the sidelines of the disturbance.
The City Clerk is the one to quiet the crowd and he listens to their call. He is not a clerk as we think of one in the modern world. He is not a powerless bureaucrat, pushing paper. He is powerful figure, the one who leads the general assembly and reports to Rome. He is the one who will likely answer to Rome for the riot. Needless to say, he is quick to point out that Rome will not like the riot. The Romans had one response for riots: send in the troops! Easy way to end up dead. Both the trade guilds and the Clerk were likely to be dead at the end of that...
So in the end, things wrap up rather quickly. The clerk calls on them to press their charges in a way that will be acceptable to Rome and to the local society. Since many of them were just caught up in the moment and in the group, they see the light quickly. Isn't it human nature to do things as a group that we would never do as an individual...sad but true.
In one dramatic turn of events, God has called an end to Paul's three years in Ephesus. His work here was done, he had laid a good foundation and was now pretty much unwelcome in the city. That door was closed...but Paul still had more race ahead...
May God bless your reading of the Word...
D
Read Acts 19:23-41
Paul and his gang of rabble-rousers (OK, maybe it is a little loose to label them as such) have caused another great disturbance in Ephesus. Ephesus was known for it's temple and worship of Artemis (also known as Diana). Her temple in Ephesus was one of the "7 wonders" of the ancient world. This was an amazing temple, drawing many from all around.
With this massive temple, the worship of Artemis had become big business. Paul and his fellow followers of the Way had become a big problem to this business. You see, when Paul led others to Christ, they did not come back to the temple...they did not come back and buy new statues...or new offerings to Artemis. When they found the Truth, they abandoned all of that. So when Demetrius calls together his fellow artisans and business people, he points out how Paul is leading people astray...AWAY from them! And worse, he is discrediting the temple!!! And, to take it one step further, if Paul has his way, he will rob the goddess of her DIVINE MAJESTY... Wow, powerful stuff. Powerful accusation. You see this was not just a business threat but a threat to the goddess herself! "We must protect her!!!," Demetrius says.
HMMMM... Don't know about your god but my God does not need me to protect Him. I cannot do anything to rob him of His majesty!!! He's go that covered. If He can create all we see (and all that we do not see) I do not have to protect Him. Not to say that we are not to take a stand with God. But it is with Him, not for Him. It is telling that the argument is phrased the way it is. I cannot minimize or send Yahweh into obscurity, even when I mess up or bring dishonor to the name "Christian". I may hurt myself, my church, my own reputation...but not God. I cannot remove His honor and glory.
Look at the many historical religions of the world. The Greek and Roman Gods are pretty much gone as "gods." The worship of Baal? Gone. The Babylonian and Phoenician subjects of worship? Gone, too. Only one God did not have a start and end date. That is the one true God, Yahweh, the I AM. Some people seem to believe that Christianity started 2000 years ago...not true. It started in the Beginning... The God of Abraham is our God too. Don't ever forget that. Christianity is not a passing fad, doomed to be cast off into the pages of a history book. It can be traced and documented as far back as any history can go. Over 2000 years ago, Jesus was born...not a religion but a continuation of a story long foretold. The prophets spoke of it hundred's of years before. The archetypes showed lesser reflections of Him to point the way. And then He came, not a "new thing" but to continue the love story of God with His people.
Back to the story, Paul companions are grabbed to answer to this riot and these accusations. Paul would like to appear to the crowd, to calm the crowd I'm sure, but he is not allowed to do it. As a matter of fact, friends begin to send him letters begging him not to do it. They seem to know better than Paul that he tends to cause riots, not quell them! So, for once, Paul is quiet and on the sidelines of the disturbance.
The City Clerk is the one to quiet the crowd and he listens to their call. He is not a clerk as we think of one in the modern world. He is not a powerless bureaucrat, pushing paper. He is powerful figure, the one who leads the general assembly and reports to Rome. He is the one who will likely answer to Rome for the riot. Needless to say, he is quick to point out that Rome will not like the riot. The Romans had one response for riots: send in the troops! Easy way to end up dead. Both the trade guilds and the Clerk were likely to be dead at the end of that...
So in the end, things wrap up rather quickly. The clerk calls on them to press their charges in a way that will be acceptable to Rome and to the local society. Since many of them were just caught up in the moment and in the group, they see the light quickly. Isn't it human nature to do things as a group that we would never do as an individual...sad but true.
In one dramatic turn of events, God has called an end to Paul's three years in Ephesus. His work here was done, he had laid a good foundation and was now pretty much unwelcome in the city. That door was closed...but Paul still had more race ahead...
May God bless your reading of the Word...
D
Friday, August 14, 2009
Acts 19 - First Half
Read Acts 18:24-28 and Acts 19:1-22
As we read this section of Acts, class, we see Paul is making the turn and heading back East. He has taken Priscilla and Aquila with him and leaves them in Ephesus. This is an important detail…God is about to make a major move again, for Apollos comes into the scene!
Apollos is a man who knows the “baptism of John” but not of the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? The baptism of John was what? “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is near.” John’s baptism was all about preparing, really preparing for the coming Messiah. His was to turn from your sin and be cleansed, so that when you see the Messiah, you will be ready. It is similar to the acts of handwashing that that occurred in the Temple, preparing to be in the Presence. It was a first step towards Christ but not the whole way. Obviously, Apollos was doing a great work on his own power…but now it was God’s turn.
Aquila and Priscilla take him aside and explain Jesus to him. He sees the light of fulfillment of God’s prophesies and is filled with the Spirit. He is born again in this new baptism and empowered in a new way!
What we do not see here is how successful Apollos becomes…his status as a teacher grows to be as large as Paul. If you turn to 1Corintians 1:12-13, you see the following, “11My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ." 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[b] the name of Paul?” This is an interesting passage. It shows that Apollos had grown in stature equal to an Apostle and that the early church in Corinth was rabbinical in their style. They were identifying themselves by what rabbi they followed, rather than the God they followed. Paul had no purpose for this! Christ died for you, not Paul, not Peter and not Apollos. Christ alone!
The neat thing about this is how we see God moving. God puts Priscilla and Aquila in the perfect spot to disciple Apollos. It is not always enough to have a big God moment to grow in your relationship with Christ. It can (and usually does) take someone who comes alongside you and mentors and guides you in the faith. What we see is how the message of the Messiah’s salvation is growing, person by person, teacher by teacher to the ends of the earth…
Meanwhile, Ch. 19 brings us back to Paul, where he finds a similar situation. He finds in Ephesus more disciples that have not heard the whole story. Again, we see the need for people to walk with someone who can guide their faith journey. Again, we see Christ’s fulfillment of the scriptures being explained, accepted and them being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Immediately, we see a mini-Pentecost with these 12 men… There is that 12 number again. 12 tribes, 12 Apostles, 12 lamp stands…coincidence? I think not. God is sending a message, still calling out to His tribes.
Verse 11 shows how the Holy Spirit is indwelling in Paul and how God is using him in a Christ-like way. This is God at work, Paul is just the tool. What a blessing it must have been for him to see this, not of his power but of God’s power.
After this we get into a very interesting part of this chapter. It seems that these Jewish sorcerers were traveling the land “driving out demons.” One can only imagine these people as a group of charlatans, charging people to drive out their “demons”, then heading off to the next town. This is not a Jewish practice of the Old Testament. This was something new and not of God’s calling.
The seven sons of Sceva (hmmmm, there is that 7 again) were doing this, with the new twist. Since Paul’s fame was undoubtedly growing due to the healings that God was working through him, they decided to latch onto this “new” power. Paul was telling all that it was the power of Jesus, the name of Jesus in which salvation was possible, so it seemed logical to cast out these demons with His name. Only, when they ran across a real demon, they got more than they bargained for.
The demon answers them…”Jesus I know,” it says. It knows, fears and has to respect the authority of Jesus. No choice. He is their Lord, too. All powerful and ruler of all! When they see Him, they have to recognize Him. See the response he gets in verses such as Mark 1:34. It goes on, “and I know about Paul.” Probably Paul had been on the radar screens for a long time and many attacks were made but Paul had the Lord for protection and strength. “But who are you?” Oops… Back up and run away because what the demon is really saying is “I don’t know whose you are.” Without the Spirit, they have no protection from the demon…RUN!
He gave them such a beating that they ran from the house naked and bleeding…moral of the story: don’t play in what you don’t know. Occult practices (Ouiji boards, Tarot, séances, even horoscopes), much less actual seeking of demons is not something to be trifled with. It is not a game (despite what Milton Bradley says) or harmless. Stay away from it. It opens doors that are not easily closed. God does not say to seek these out any where in the Bible. If you find it somewhere, show it to me. He says to seek Him, not them. He grants the Apostles the ability to cast out demons but does not tell them to go out and root them out!!!
Jesus tells the story of what it is like to do spiritual battle with out THE Spirit on your side in Matthew 12: 43-45. 43"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation." Even if you get a demon cast out of you (putting your house in order for the moment), unless the Holy Spirit comes, unless you have Jesus in your heart filling you up, you are open again. You need Jesus…we all do! To come live in us and through us. Also, realize that if you have the Holy Spirit in you, you cannot get possessed by a demon. No way both can live in one body. You can be influenced by a demon but possessed, no way. We don’t talk much in today’s age about this spiritual warfare but don’t assume it does not exist…
My last note on this is to remember that He who is in our hearts, if stronger than anyone or anything. PERIOD. Never forget that. He rules. If you don’t know Him, you need to find Him. This is a rough, fallen world we live in. But He is a BIG God.
May God bless you,
D
As we read this section of Acts, class, we see Paul is making the turn and heading back East. He has taken Priscilla and Aquila with him and leaves them in Ephesus. This is an important detail…God is about to make a major move again, for Apollos comes into the scene!
Apollos is a man who knows the “baptism of John” but not of the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? The baptism of John was what? “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is near.” John’s baptism was all about preparing, really preparing for the coming Messiah. His was to turn from your sin and be cleansed, so that when you see the Messiah, you will be ready. It is similar to the acts of handwashing that that occurred in the Temple, preparing to be in the Presence. It was a first step towards Christ but not the whole way. Obviously, Apollos was doing a great work on his own power…but now it was God’s turn.
Aquila and Priscilla take him aside and explain Jesus to him. He sees the light of fulfillment of God’s prophesies and is filled with the Spirit. He is born again in this new baptism and empowered in a new way!
What we do not see here is how successful Apollos becomes…his status as a teacher grows to be as large as Paul. If you turn to 1Corintians 1:12-13, you see the following, “11My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ." 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[b] the name of Paul?” This is an interesting passage. It shows that Apollos had grown in stature equal to an Apostle and that the early church in Corinth was rabbinical in their style. They were identifying themselves by what rabbi they followed, rather than the God they followed. Paul had no purpose for this! Christ died for you, not Paul, not Peter and not Apollos. Christ alone!
The neat thing about this is how we see God moving. God puts Priscilla and Aquila in the perfect spot to disciple Apollos. It is not always enough to have a big God moment to grow in your relationship with Christ. It can (and usually does) take someone who comes alongside you and mentors and guides you in the faith. What we see is how the message of the Messiah’s salvation is growing, person by person, teacher by teacher to the ends of the earth…
Meanwhile, Ch. 19 brings us back to Paul, where he finds a similar situation. He finds in Ephesus more disciples that have not heard the whole story. Again, we see the need for people to walk with someone who can guide their faith journey. Again, we see Christ’s fulfillment of the scriptures being explained, accepted and them being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Immediately, we see a mini-Pentecost with these 12 men… There is that 12 number again. 12 tribes, 12 Apostles, 12 lamp stands…coincidence? I think not. God is sending a message, still calling out to His tribes.
Verse 11 shows how the Holy Spirit is indwelling in Paul and how God is using him in a Christ-like way. This is God at work, Paul is just the tool. What a blessing it must have been for him to see this, not of his power but of God’s power.
After this we get into a very interesting part of this chapter. It seems that these Jewish sorcerers were traveling the land “driving out demons.” One can only imagine these people as a group of charlatans, charging people to drive out their “demons”, then heading off to the next town. This is not a Jewish practice of the Old Testament. This was something new and not of God’s calling.
The seven sons of Sceva (hmmmm, there is that 7 again) were doing this, with the new twist. Since Paul’s fame was undoubtedly growing due to the healings that God was working through him, they decided to latch onto this “new” power. Paul was telling all that it was the power of Jesus, the name of Jesus in which salvation was possible, so it seemed logical to cast out these demons with His name. Only, when they ran across a real demon, they got more than they bargained for.
The demon answers them…”Jesus I know,” it says. It knows, fears and has to respect the authority of Jesus. No choice. He is their Lord, too. All powerful and ruler of all! When they see Him, they have to recognize Him. See the response he gets in verses such as Mark 1:34. It goes on, “and I know about Paul.” Probably Paul had been on the radar screens for a long time and many attacks were made but Paul had the Lord for protection and strength. “But who are you?” Oops… Back up and run away because what the demon is really saying is “I don’t know whose you are.” Without the Spirit, they have no protection from the demon…RUN!
He gave them such a beating that they ran from the house naked and bleeding…moral of the story: don’t play in what you don’t know. Occult practices (Ouiji boards, Tarot, séances, even horoscopes), much less actual seeking of demons is not something to be trifled with. It is not a game (despite what Milton Bradley says) or harmless. Stay away from it. It opens doors that are not easily closed. God does not say to seek these out any where in the Bible. If you find it somewhere, show it to me. He says to seek Him, not them. He grants the Apostles the ability to cast out demons but does not tell them to go out and root them out!!!
Jesus tells the story of what it is like to do spiritual battle with out THE Spirit on your side in Matthew 12: 43-45. 43"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation." Even if you get a demon cast out of you (putting your house in order for the moment), unless the Holy Spirit comes, unless you have Jesus in your heart filling you up, you are open again. You need Jesus…we all do! To come live in us and through us. Also, realize that if you have the Holy Spirit in you, you cannot get possessed by a demon. No way both can live in one body. You can be influenced by a demon but possessed, no way. We don’t talk much in today’s age about this spiritual warfare but don’t assume it does not exist…
My last note on this is to remember that He who is in our hearts, if stronger than anyone or anything. PERIOD. Never forget that. He rules. If you don’t know Him, you need to find Him. This is a rough, fallen world we live in. But He is a BIG God.
May God bless you,
D
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Acts Chapter 18
Acts 18
Please read Chapter 18 of Acts…
Welcome back, Class, to Paul’s journeys. As we join Paul, he is heading out of Athens and off to Corinth… Why Corinth? Well, Corinth was a major crossroads city in its day. By the time Paul was there, it had surpassed Athens on a commercial and political front. Corinth sits on two harbors and was a crossroads for trade and travelers, both land and sea.
The town was dominated by a large temple dedicated to Aphrodite. Being the goddess of love, the temple was served by temple prostitutes. Historians of the time recorded as many as 1000 of them, so this was strongly pagan town and a town where Paul would not find a natural home. But Paul does…he gets to meet Aquila and Priscilla. These two were kicked out of Rome by Claudius. All Jews were being booted from Rome due to the squabbling that was going on amongst them…that fight was over a certain “Chrestus” character (according to the historian, Suetonius)…hmm, wonder who that could be… Obviously, the fight over Christ, the one that Paul was constantly initiating in other areas had spread to Rome.
Being Tentmakers by trade, it is natural for Paul to join them. Paul has lived by supporting himself all the while in his travels. In 2 Thessalonians Chapter 3, Paul says “6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."” ‘Nuff said… Could he have lived off the locals…sure…but part of being a Christian is in how we live ALL our lives and the examples we set…
We get back to Aquila and Priscilla and their story. This is one of the only times we see his name listed first. It is obvious with these two, she has a major role in their ministry. God is using them both in mighty ways. When Silas and Timothy come, Paul goes into full time ministry mode, since they are there to support it.
Paul goes back into the synagogue and testifies to the Truth…finally Paul is done with this part of his mission. When he hits rejection and distain, he shakes his robe out. Remember Class, this is an era of demonstrative means of communication. When a Jew of this era is distraught, he will rip his robe in a public display. Paul shakes his robe, as Jesus told his apostles to do in Matthew 10:15-16. It was symbolic of shaking all the dirt and sin of an area, all trace of them, off you. It was done symbolically by the Pharisees of the day to the Gentiles. He takes it one step further: He says “your blood be on your own heads”…ouch. This is an echo of the Hebrew response at Christ’s trial, “Let his blood be on us and our children.” This is a tough thing… You see, the Hebrew system of sacrifice required blood for the cleansing. This goes back to the beginning of the faith, and even back to the Garden. God had established this system to give innocent blood to clean the guilty. Hard to understand for us “modern” people… why the sacrifice. Christ was to be the ultimate sacrifice, the only blood truly capable of removing our sin, allowing us to stand with and in front of a righteous God. The picture in Revelation of the saints that “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” is a big one to imagine. Only Jesus’ blood can make us as white as snow. The tribe of Israel they were not open to the message of Christ, they were to be “in their blood” since no sacrifice could make them clean again…that system was over. Not that god would abandon them completely, but the Temple’s days were numbered. It had served it’s purpose (even had been sprinkled in Jesus’ blood on the day of His trial) and now its days were numbered. It is destroyed in 70AD…and has not been rebuilt again…but I am getting ahead in history…
Back in Acts, we see Paul getting encouragement, both from God directly (how cool is that) and in the success of his work. Even the ruler of the Synagogue is converted! He still faced yet another trial but God cleared that one up, as Galio (a wise judge in that day and age) through it out of court immediately. God did not want Paul to see trial…yet. And when the case gets thrown out, the Jews BEAT UP THEIR LEADER AND LAWYER…any wonder why the Romans kicked them out of Rome?
Paul prepares to leave Corinth and more on to Syria, but before he goes, he does an unusual thing…He shaves his head. This is likely to signify the end of a Nazarite vow. See Numbers 6 for more details on this vow. Suffice to say, this vow was a serious thing and signified a special dedication to the Lord. No wine or grape of any kind could be eaten and no shaving or cutting of hair at all. If this dedication took place, He vowed to use them in a mighty way. Does this idea sound familiar? Any Biblical Character fit the bill? Look up Sampson in your concordance and review the story. It was the dedication to God that made this vow powerful, not the man making it…His power, not theirs…
Why did Paul make this vow? When did he do it? We do not know…but maybe, just maybe, it was Paul’s dedication to establishing a strong church in this important but very ungodly of towns. The one we know more about because of the Book of Corinthians…
I will stop here, as we touched on Priscilla, Aquila and Apollo’s time together but we will go into more detail in the next class and blog…
May we all understand His sacrifice a bit deeper and have it show in our lives this week. Read Ch. 19 to prepare!
God bless!
D
Please read Chapter 18 of Acts…
Welcome back, Class, to Paul’s journeys. As we join Paul, he is heading out of Athens and off to Corinth… Why Corinth? Well, Corinth was a major crossroads city in its day. By the time Paul was there, it had surpassed Athens on a commercial and political front. Corinth sits on two harbors and was a crossroads for trade and travelers, both land and sea.
The town was dominated by a large temple dedicated to Aphrodite. Being the goddess of love, the temple was served by temple prostitutes. Historians of the time recorded as many as 1000 of them, so this was strongly pagan town and a town where Paul would not find a natural home. But Paul does…he gets to meet Aquila and Priscilla. These two were kicked out of Rome by Claudius. All Jews were being booted from Rome due to the squabbling that was going on amongst them…that fight was over a certain “Chrestus” character (according to the historian, Suetonius)…hmm, wonder who that could be… Obviously, the fight over Christ, the one that Paul was constantly initiating in other areas had spread to Rome.
Being Tentmakers by trade, it is natural for Paul to join them. Paul has lived by supporting himself all the while in his travels. In 2 Thessalonians Chapter 3, Paul says “6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."” ‘Nuff said… Could he have lived off the locals…sure…but part of being a Christian is in how we live ALL our lives and the examples we set…
We get back to Aquila and Priscilla and their story. This is one of the only times we see his name listed first. It is obvious with these two, she has a major role in their ministry. God is using them both in mighty ways. When Silas and Timothy come, Paul goes into full time ministry mode, since they are there to support it.
Paul goes back into the synagogue and testifies to the Truth…finally Paul is done with this part of his mission. When he hits rejection and distain, he shakes his robe out. Remember Class, this is an era of demonstrative means of communication. When a Jew of this era is distraught, he will rip his robe in a public display. Paul shakes his robe, as Jesus told his apostles to do in Matthew 10:15-16. It was symbolic of shaking all the dirt and sin of an area, all trace of them, off you. It was done symbolically by the Pharisees of the day to the Gentiles. He takes it one step further: He says “your blood be on your own heads”…ouch. This is an echo of the Hebrew response at Christ’s trial, “Let his blood be on us and our children.” This is a tough thing… You see, the Hebrew system of sacrifice required blood for the cleansing. This goes back to the beginning of the faith, and even back to the Garden. God had established this system to give innocent blood to clean the guilty. Hard to understand for us “modern” people… why the sacrifice. Christ was to be the ultimate sacrifice, the only blood truly capable of removing our sin, allowing us to stand with and in front of a righteous God. The picture in Revelation of the saints that “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” is a big one to imagine. Only Jesus’ blood can make us as white as snow. The tribe of Israel they were not open to the message of Christ, they were to be “in their blood” since no sacrifice could make them clean again…that system was over. Not that god would abandon them completely, but the Temple’s days were numbered. It had served it’s purpose (even had been sprinkled in Jesus’ blood on the day of His trial) and now its days were numbered. It is destroyed in 70AD…and has not been rebuilt again…but I am getting ahead in history…
Back in Acts, we see Paul getting encouragement, both from God directly (how cool is that) and in the success of his work. Even the ruler of the Synagogue is converted! He still faced yet another trial but God cleared that one up, as Galio (a wise judge in that day and age) through it out of court immediately. God did not want Paul to see trial…yet. And when the case gets thrown out, the Jews BEAT UP THEIR LEADER AND LAWYER…any wonder why the Romans kicked them out of Rome?
Paul prepares to leave Corinth and more on to Syria, but before he goes, he does an unusual thing…He shaves his head. This is likely to signify the end of a Nazarite vow. See Numbers 6 for more details on this vow. Suffice to say, this vow was a serious thing and signified a special dedication to the Lord. No wine or grape of any kind could be eaten and no shaving or cutting of hair at all. If this dedication took place, He vowed to use them in a mighty way. Does this idea sound familiar? Any Biblical Character fit the bill? Look up Sampson in your concordance and review the story. It was the dedication to God that made this vow powerful, not the man making it…His power, not theirs…
Why did Paul make this vow? When did he do it? We do not know…but maybe, just maybe, it was Paul’s dedication to establishing a strong church in this important but very ungodly of towns. The one we know more about because of the Book of Corinthians…
I will stop here, as we touched on Priscilla, Aquila and Apollo’s time together but we will go into more detail in the next class and blog…
May we all understand His sacrifice a bit deeper and have it show in our lives this week. Read Ch. 19 to prepare!
God bless!
D
Friday, July 31, 2009
Acts 17 – the Second Half
Read Acts 17:16-34
Sorry for the delay in posting this.
As we revisit Paul on his Journey, we have Paul entering Athens. He is greatly distressed by the abundance of idols (and where there are idols, there are idol worshipers…). We discussed in our class the nature of Greece at this time. Greece is a country far from its past glory. Once, they were a feared nation. Over time, Greece became a city of great thinking and learning. As it grew in prosperity, citizens grew much more likely to be philosophers than warriors. Out of Greece come Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to name a few. But by the time Paul arrives, they are 500 years past their prime. Athens is still the “university town” of its day. You kind of get the feeling that as the empire gets softer, they lose their edge and become more of a group of “navel gazers.” Meaning their focus becomes inward only. This usually leads to a downfall. Paul immediately goes to work in the synagogues, and for a change, in the marketplace…why? It does not say but God obviously had a plan…
The town is dominated two schools of philosophy – Stoicism and Epicureanism. We did not have the links that you have to these philosophies but we discussed the general beliefs. In a nutshell, Stoicism was a philosophy of self control self reliance. The focus is on one’s self. The belief is very much in line with today’s self-help movements and neo-gnostic movement, only without the excesses of a prosperity movement. Reliance on yourself is the greatest good. Epicureanism was the root of the Hedonism movement. In the beginning, it was about pleasure being the greatest good. Everything was about seeking a balance with nature, with others and with the world (this may also be sounding a bit like some of the beliefs you hear discussed today). By the time Paul is in Athens, both of these movements have devolved into caricatures. Stoicism was rife with pride and judgment and Epicureanism had devolved into hedonism (seeking excess pleasure in all things, regardless of morality)
These groups grab this “babbler” (according to NIV Study Bible notes, they mean a seed picker or country bumkin with an inflated ego, not someone who can argue at their level) and bring him back to the Areopagus. This is their highest area of meeting, where the “powerful” meet to discuss philosophy. They bring in Paul, clearly expecting little but to pick his arguments apart. Paul spots on the way in a shrine to “an unknown god” and seizes onto this opportunity. I wonder when I read this: Did Paul just grab onto this because he sensed an opening in their logic or did God place this there just for Paul…or both? Athens had developed into a society where there were gods for everything. If something bad happened, there was a god responsible. If something good happened, some god did it. So the practice of sacrificing to these various gods became a habit. They continually added gods as they went, making new gods of wood and stone. We know from the Old Testament that this was not a new thing but the Greeks even went so far as to make this new shrine “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” This way, if you made your offering there and there ways ANOTHER god you did not know about, you had it all covered. But in a system of many, many gods there was an issue. In reality, they stood for nothing. This looks a lot like the philosophy of today, which says “all ways lead to God.” When you take out the differences, there is little to stand on…and God becomes a creature of our making, not of Himself…
Paul grabs this unknown God and preaches to them the God who created all. The I AM! The “unknown” is actually the One and true God. He points to the futility of all these man-made shrines and gods…and points to the Creator who came, was, died and rose and is coming again!!! The reaction…the usual. Some sneered but some hear Truth in what he says…and are drawn to Him. They want to hear more of this and thus start the journey for themselves.
People are drawn to the Truth…we just have to speak it…
May God bless you on your journey…walk with Him…
D
Read Acts 17:16-34
Sorry for the delay in posting this.
As we revisit Paul on his Journey, we have Paul entering Athens. He is greatly distressed by the abundance of idols (and where there are idols, there are idol worshipers…). We discussed in our class the nature of Greece at this time. Greece is a country far from its past glory. Once, they were a feared nation. Over time, Greece became a city of great thinking and learning. As it grew in prosperity, citizens grew much more likely to be philosophers than warriors. Out of Greece come Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to name a few. But by the time Paul arrives, they are 500 years past their prime. Athens is still the “university town” of its day. You kind of get the feeling that as the empire gets softer, they lose their edge and become more of a group of “navel gazers.” Meaning their focus becomes inward only. This usually leads to a downfall. Paul immediately goes to work in the synagogues, and for a change, in the marketplace…why? It does not say but God obviously had a plan…
The town is dominated two schools of philosophy – Stoicism and Epicureanism. We did not have the links that you have to these philosophies but we discussed the general beliefs. In a nutshell, Stoicism was a philosophy of self control self reliance. The focus is on one’s self. The belief is very much in line with today’s self-help movements and neo-gnostic movement, only without the excesses of a prosperity movement. Reliance on yourself is the greatest good. Epicureanism was the root of the Hedonism movement. In the beginning, it was about pleasure being the greatest good. Everything was about seeking a balance with nature, with others and with the world (this may also be sounding a bit like some of the beliefs you hear discussed today). By the time Paul is in Athens, both of these movements have devolved into caricatures. Stoicism was rife with pride and judgment and Epicureanism had devolved into hedonism (seeking excess pleasure in all things, regardless of morality)
These groups grab this “babbler” (according to NIV Study Bible notes, they mean a seed picker or country bumkin with an inflated ego, not someone who can argue at their level) and bring him back to the Areopagus. This is their highest area of meeting, where the “powerful” meet to discuss philosophy. They bring in Paul, clearly expecting little but to pick his arguments apart. Paul spots on the way in a shrine to “an unknown god” and seizes onto this opportunity. I wonder when I read this: Did Paul just grab onto this because he sensed an opening in their logic or did God place this there just for Paul…or both? Athens had developed into a society where there were gods for everything. If something bad happened, there was a god responsible. If something good happened, some god did it. So the practice of sacrificing to these various gods became a habit. They continually added gods as they went, making new gods of wood and stone. We know from the Old Testament that this was not a new thing but the Greeks even went so far as to make this new shrine “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” This way, if you made your offering there and there ways ANOTHER god you did not know about, you had it all covered. But in a system of many, many gods there was an issue. In reality, they stood for nothing. This looks a lot like the philosophy of today, which says “all ways lead to God.” When you take out the differences, there is little to stand on…and God becomes a creature of our making, not of Himself…
Paul grabs this unknown God and preaches to them the God who created all. The I AM! The “unknown” is actually the One and true God. He points to the futility of all these man-made shrines and gods…and points to the Creator who came, was, died and rose and is coming again!!! The reaction…the usual. Some sneered but some hear Truth in what he says…and are drawn to Him. They want to hear more of this and thus start the journey for themselves.
People are drawn to the Truth…we just have to speak it…
May God bless you on your journey…walk with Him…
D
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Acts 17 - first half
So, welcome to the first official blog entry of our Bible Study. Today we discussed Acts 17. A couple things first:
Dr Dave had us read in his sermon Exodus 4:24-26: 24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met {Moses} [a] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched {Moses'} feet with it. [b] "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.) We discussed this in more detail...Why would God be ready to kill Moses? In our discussion, we looked a quite a few things. One is that Moses was God's chosen man, a man whose name and exploits would live on for eternity...and yet, he was not following the covenantal agreements with all His people. No free cards for the leaders, instead God asks for more, not less of them. Integrity is who you are when no one is looking...and God is ALWAYS looking. The blood tie of circumcision draws parallels to the lamb of Passover, the Jewish law to come and it's sacrifices and finally to the blood of THE LAMB, Jesus. And Moses tried to follow God before having his house in order. Since Zipporah knew IMMEDIATELY what to do, the discussion had to have taken place before...this was a conscious choice...ouch... To lead his people, Moses had to be obedient to God...
Getting back to Acts, In Chapter 17, we have Paul and Silas heading to Thessolonica. They had just been imprisoned in Phillipi (praying and singing hymns - in the dungeon!) and on their release, the say their goodbyes to Lydia and the brothers and head out to Thessolonica, a large town of 200,000 people, the capitol of Macedonia. They go back to the synagogue...remember in Phillipi, there was no synagogue, so they "gathered at the river" but Paul returns to his normal pattern and heads to the 'gogue. Why does Paul keep going back to the synagogue? Is he that stubborn? No...well, maybe yes (I love Paul's drive!) but it is not Paul who decides this...it is God! He still has not given up on His people, on His covenant so Paul is always sent to the Jews first...
A large group is persuaded by Paul's sharing of the Gospel. Some Jews, a large number of Yahweh following Greeks and "prominent women" of Thessolonica. We discussed the prominent women for a while. What does that mean? Wives of leading men? Prominent in their own rights? I wondered on their own prominence based on the goddess worship in some of the areas...but in the end, we do not think that was a big factor. If you find differently, please comment!!!
So, we see the leaders of the synagogue go off into their usual jealous response. This message of Jesus was threatening to the status quo...scary stuff! And the status quo always fears change! They go so far as to hire out (or at least convince) the local ruffians to form a mob and riot... A couple things to note: 1. These guys could not even do their own fighting, they hired out!!! At least most groups did their own attacking of Paul! It could be that with the size of the city, hiring thugs was an easy thing to do! 2. Why a riot? Because a riot brings the Roman's into the picture. The thing the Romans hated above all else was a riot. They would send in their guard to put down any riot. No messing around... They grab Jason, Paul's local contact and host, and bring him to the local city leaders. Their call to the the leaders was eerily close to the crowd a Jesus' trial ("We have no king but Caesar" John 19:15)
Paul and Silas head off to Berea...running away? I think not...we see from all that Paul went through, he was not scared of a fight or persecution...instead, you see God's direction sending him onward...over and over again. With out this persecution, what would have happened? Paul would likely have been a great teacher in a small town...with luck in a large city, like his rabbi Gammaliel...but with God at the helm, Paul became the sower to the world (or at least the known world of this time!), just as Jesus asked...
In Berea, we have the perfect response to any spiritual teaching...they "searched the scriptures"! If only we would do the same! If you are reading this blog, I urge you to follow the Berean's path and search the Bible for proof of what I am posting. If it is not scriptural, no matter who the teacher, throw it out!!! The Berean's (just a note: the store's name comes from this...) searched Isaiah (I'm sure Paul used Isa 53 - what a proof-text of the Messiah), Jeremiah, Daniel and many others to see if what Paul said is indeed what God said...and again, many people open their hearts to Christ. In this modern age, we might actually ignore the prosperity gospel (turn to Christ and you will be rich, happy and all you ever wanted) since Christ himself said that we would see "trouble" (see John 16:33 amongst others...) not prosperity. Our treasures are, for the most part, stored in Heaven. He may bless us greatly on Earth...or not. It is up to His will and plan. No covenant for riches on this Earth. Anyway, I'll climb off my soapbox...
Lastly, we see the Thessolonica crowd show up and get Paul out of Berea...but seeds were planted in Berea! Interestingly, note that Paul is moving farther away from Jerusalem, each time he is chased...and closer and closer to Rome...where the leaders of this world are located. Away from any comfort level he may have had, and closer to the darkness on which light must shine....
That's it for this week...may God bless you! And may you be like the Bereans this week!
Dr Dave had us read in his sermon Exodus 4:24-26: 24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met {Moses} [a] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched {Moses'} feet with it. [b] "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.) We discussed this in more detail...Why would God be ready to kill Moses? In our discussion, we looked a quite a few things. One is that Moses was God's chosen man, a man whose name and exploits would live on for eternity...and yet, he was not following the covenantal agreements with all His people. No free cards for the leaders, instead God asks for more, not less of them. Integrity is who you are when no one is looking...and God is ALWAYS looking. The blood tie of circumcision draws parallels to the lamb of Passover, the Jewish law to come and it's sacrifices and finally to the blood of THE LAMB, Jesus. And Moses tried to follow God before having his house in order. Since Zipporah knew IMMEDIATELY what to do, the discussion had to have taken place before...this was a conscious choice...ouch... To lead his people, Moses had to be obedient to God...
Getting back to Acts, In Chapter 17, we have Paul and Silas heading to Thessolonica. They had just been imprisoned in Phillipi (praying and singing hymns - in the dungeon!) and on their release, the say their goodbyes to Lydia and the brothers and head out to Thessolonica, a large town of 200,000 people, the capitol of Macedonia. They go back to the synagogue...remember in Phillipi, there was no synagogue, so they "gathered at the river" but Paul returns to his normal pattern and heads to the 'gogue. Why does Paul keep going back to the synagogue? Is he that stubborn? No...well, maybe yes (I love Paul's drive!) but it is not Paul who decides this...it is God! He still has not given up on His people, on His covenant so Paul is always sent to the Jews first...
A large group is persuaded by Paul's sharing of the Gospel. Some Jews, a large number of Yahweh following Greeks and "prominent women" of Thessolonica. We discussed the prominent women for a while. What does that mean? Wives of leading men? Prominent in their own rights? I wondered on their own prominence based on the goddess worship in some of the areas...but in the end, we do not think that was a big factor. If you find differently, please comment!!!
So, we see the leaders of the synagogue go off into their usual jealous response. This message of Jesus was threatening to the status quo...scary stuff! And the status quo always fears change! They go so far as to hire out (or at least convince) the local ruffians to form a mob and riot... A couple things to note: 1. These guys could not even do their own fighting, they hired out!!! At least most groups did their own attacking of Paul! It could be that with the size of the city, hiring thugs was an easy thing to do! 2. Why a riot? Because a riot brings the Roman's into the picture. The thing the Romans hated above all else was a riot. They would send in their guard to put down any riot. No messing around... They grab Jason, Paul's local contact and host, and bring him to the local city leaders. Their call to the the leaders was eerily close to the crowd a Jesus' trial ("We have no king but Caesar" John 19:15)
Paul and Silas head off to Berea...running away? I think not...we see from all that Paul went through, he was not scared of a fight or persecution...instead, you see God's direction sending him onward...over and over again. With out this persecution, what would have happened? Paul would likely have been a great teacher in a small town...with luck in a large city, like his rabbi Gammaliel...but with God at the helm, Paul became the sower to the world (or at least the known world of this time!), just as Jesus asked...
In Berea, we have the perfect response to any spiritual teaching...they "searched the scriptures"! If only we would do the same! If you are reading this blog, I urge you to follow the Berean's path and search the Bible for proof of what I am posting. If it is not scriptural, no matter who the teacher, throw it out!!! The Berean's (just a note: the store's name comes from this...) searched Isaiah (I'm sure Paul used Isa 53 - what a proof-text of the Messiah), Jeremiah, Daniel and many others to see if what Paul said is indeed what God said...and again, many people open their hearts to Christ. In this modern age, we might actually ignore the prosperity gospel (turn to Christ and you will be rich, happy and all you ever wanted) since Christ himself said that we would see "trouble" (see John 16:33 amongst others...) not prosperity. Our treasures are, for the most part, stored in Heaven. He may bless us greatly on Earth...or not. It is up to His will and plan. No covenant for riches on this Earth. Anyway, I'll climb off my soapbox...
Lastly, we see the Thessolonica crowd show up and get Paul out of Berea...but seeds were planted in Berea! Interestingly, note that Paul is moving farther away from Jerusalem, each time he is chased...and closer and closer to Rome...where the leaders of this world are located. Away from any comfort level he may have had, and closer to the darkness on which light must shine....
That's it for this week...may God bless you! And may you be like the Bereans this week!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Big God
I spent the night tonight watching the video "How great is our God" by Louie Giglio. Louie is the creator of the Passion Conferences. God has really blessed him with great ability to understand some big concepts about Himself and with the ability to communicate it to others.The message of this DVD is that God, the "Star breather", the one who created this amazingly huge universe, also created our inmost universe and understands our inmost needs. See the image at left for a picture of how God created the Heavens...an amazing black hole at the center of the perfectly turned spiral galaxy...just for us to find and see...
On the inmost front, you see the image at right...a perfect cross that is found in the structure of our cells. This is the structure of the human body, what holds us together. It is not just a diagram, there are pictures of the same structure, called Laminin. So...in the deepest of space to the smallness of our beings, God has marked things with a cross...because in His plan, He knew the cross would be needed. Well before crucifiction was invented, He knew it would be needed. And He was prepared for it. I have often wondered what it must have been like to created the particular tree that He knew would some day be used to crucify Himself...
When we see and understand this, it can change the way we see Him and maybe even how we pray...because we tend to try to direct, guide or just simply tell God how He needs to make things. As I told the group, it reminds me of J. Vernon McGee's quote: “This is God’s universe and He does things His way. You may have a better way, but you don’t have a universe.” God has a universe...I don't...
Well, I urge you to watch this video. We may even do it as a Youth thing. I found the videos still listed at the following blog: http://mp3pray.com/howgreatisourgod/
Remember, we worship a Big God...if he can do all this and plan for all this...how can we not trust him in our trials? Think about it...
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Veritas
Veritas
John 18:37-38…Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.""What is truth?" Pilate asked….
Veritas is Latin for truth. This was the word that Pontius Pilate used when speaking to Christ. He asked a big question when he asked “what is truth?” So I ask you, dear reader, the same question...
Truth to the Greek philosopher Aristotle relied on the actual existence of the thing which a thought or a statement is about: “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true.”(Aristotle – Metaphysics) Thomas Aquinas said in his famous work Summa Theologica that “Veritas est adaequatio rei et intellectus”—Truth is the equation of thing and intellect—which he restates as: “A judgment is said to be true when it conforms to the external reality.”So, is there absolute truth in the modern world? Our culture today says that there is no such thing. That it depends on our point of view, on our presupposed bias.
Dr. Norman Geisler, a modern day theologian, has this to say about truth: "We live in a relative culture and are proclaiming the absolute truth; we live in a pluralistic culture and are proclaiming an exclusive truth." He believes that there is such a thing as absolute truth. It is fact based and does not depend on our point of view. Truth is not changed by a person’s attitude toward it. “An arrogant person does not make the truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true” (Geisler and Turek – I don’t have enough faith to be an Atheist) Mortimer Adler once said “Truth consists in the agreement between what we think and what is in the world, what is real…Objective truth is truth that is independent of individual differences, differences in circumstance, time and place. What is objectively true is always true and true for all men everywhere at all times.” He goes further to say, “For all the centuries when men thought otherwise it was true that the earth revolved around the sun even though it took until the 17th and 18th centuries for us to come to know that to be true and generally acknowledge it. The truth is always the same when we know it -- when we have it. The fact that men change their minds, that what scientists and other men think is true at a time when it is wrong, doesn't make it true.” (Adler – Six Great Ideas) So, again I ask you. “What is truth?”
I have studied the Bible for a number of years as well as the works of great theologians and philosophers. And beyond that, I have built a relationship with the author of that Bible. I know truth from spending this time, comparing my beliefs and understandings versus reality. I am only human, so I still have some misconceptions and false beliefs…but at the core, I know there is truth to be found. And I build on that understanding of truth everyday. You may believe that other holy books have equal value. Compare them to the laws of historicity. You will find that no book, not even Homer’s Odessey, have the depth of historical proofs. Look for archeological proofs…look for the age and continuity of manuscripts…look for truth…Truth, dear reader, is more than how I feel about something. Truth is or it is not. Shades of grey reflect shades of falseness. I cannot truly be “mostly dead.” My wife cannot be “slightly pregnant” (she is not, just in case you are wondering the truth of that statement…) I cannot put my hand in a flame and not be burnt. I can have degrees of burn damage but it does not change the fact that I am still burnt! Likewise, God cannot be somewhat real or real for me and not for you.
Regardless of what I believe, truth is or it is not. Jesus cannot be “a good teacher” or a “moral man” and still be who he said he was…”the Son of God.” So, if when you read this, you are wondering if you will ever find truth or if it even exists, I urge you to seek truth. Anything less than truth is a lie… It may look pretty, appeal to our sense of right and wrong or to our pride but it is still a lie. A lie is a lie…whether we want to put some kind of pretty words around it to look good, it still is a lie. If I wrap up a dirty diaper in the finest wrapping paper and ribbon and bows and give it to you, it does not change what it is…or make you appreciate the gift more. A truth that is hard to believe or that rocks our understanding of things is still truth…
I try to live my life, searching for truth and sharing it with others. Because I believe that it will lead you back to the person I started this message with: Jesus Christ. I may have shocked or offended you by that. Prove me wrong. But if Christ came to “testify to the truth”, I as a Christian (“of Christ”) must do the same.
My prayer for you as I post this note is that you will seek the Truth as the Way the Truth and the Life has been seeking you.
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