Acts 23:1-11 Take Courage; Go in Peace!

Acts 23:1-11  Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.  Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”  Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!  ”Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”  Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees.  I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”  When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.  (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.) There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said.  “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”  The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them.  He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.   The  following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.

Paul has been arrested by the Romans.  As with Pilate and with Jesus, the officer of the Roman army had no real specific reason why the crowd was so angry with Paul.  He thought Paul must have done something very wicked to have a mob trying to kill him.  Therefore, he arrested Paul and now the next day, he gathered together the Sanhedrin to figure out the specific charges against Paul.  The Sanhedrin consisted of senior Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law.  They were the ruling class in the Jewish society.  The majority of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees.  They were the administers of the Temple; the high priests always came from their sect.  Since they disparaged the idea of a resurrection of the dead and almost anything else that was considered supernatural beyond the concept of a God, they were very hostile to the preaching of a resurrected Jesus.  The high priest's anger surfaces immediately when Paul tries to address why he serves God as a Christian.  At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.  Paul responds harshly against the high priest’s command to have him struck, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  However, he is reminded quickly that he was violating God’s command about submission to authorities.  How dare you insult God’s high priest!   Paul repents, he knows what the laws states about insulting leaders.  Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.  (Exodus 22:28)   When Jesus is arrested, He is very quiet before Pilate, a legitimate authority of Rome.  Jesus tells Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.  Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”  (John 19:11)  Jesus is before Pilate because of the demands of the ruling class in Jerusalem, especially the priesthood.  These leaders will receive a harsh judgment by God because of their intense hatred of Jesus’ teachings and of his popularity with the people.  After Jerusalem falls at the hands of the Romans in 70 A.D., the priesthood disappears as the religious leaders of the Jews.  The priesthood who put Jesus in the hands of the Romans to be executed were the people culpable for the death of Jesus on the cross. The ones who handed me over to you are guilty of a greater sin.  Pilate’s part in the killing of Jesus was not ignored by Jesus, but the leaders of the Jewish society were the most responsible for his execution.  This submission to authorities is part of the Jewish covenant, but we see even in the New Testament disciples striking back at authority.  Peter and John slap the Sanhedrin in the face by saying, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?  You be the judges!   As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  (Acts 4:20)  Paul disobeys the leaders in Philippi when they wanted Paul and Silas to leave their town quietly,  The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released.  Now you can leave.  Go in peace.  ”But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison.  And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?  No!  Let them come themselves and escort us out.”  (Acts 16:36-37)  In the Old Testament we see the Israelite army going against many leaders of the world.  In fact they fought seven Gentile nations to occupy Canaan.  The Lord said the land of Canaan was ready for conquest because these nations had filled their cups of wickedness to the brim.  Paul understood the benefits of order and authority, so he repented for his vehemence against the High Priest; he knew God was in control of his situation.  

Jesus violated the Sabbath many times, but He was the author of life, the creator of the Sabbath.  He was the Lord of the Sabbath, and in a spiritual sense THE SABBATH.  He is the Lord; IN HIM there is no more struggle to be pleasing with God.  Jesus also fought earthly leadership sometimes.  When He enters the Temple, He disrupts the environment and activity in the Temple.   He has no earthly authority to do anything in the Temple that is disruptive.  On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?  But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”  (Mark 11:15-17)  This action of Jesus, his audaciousness, must have angered the High Priest greatly, for he was the chief administer of the Temple.  What he allowed to take place in the Temple was his decision, not Jesus’ decision.  Jesus had absolutely no right to disrupt any activity in the Temple.  For the High Priest, Jesus was but a man from Galilee, considered a disreputable part of Israel.  However, the Sadducees sect knew of Jesus having a very large following.  They were envious of his gatherings of huge crowds, so they attacked Jesus’ teachings anytime they got the opportunity.  They and the Pharisees criticized Jesus for frequently breaking the Sabbath rules.  Jesus said his Father was always at work; therefore, so was He.  He did many miracles on the Sabbath.  The Sadducees questioned Jesus about the resurrection from the dead, a belief they held to be of superstition.  Jesus responds to their question about the resurrection from the dead by pointing out in their readings of the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible, that God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’.  He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”  (Matthew 22:29)  Of course the Sadducees sect is well versed in the Old Testament.  Jesus tells them that God is the I AM God of the living, not the dead; Abraham and Issac are still alive even though their bodies have been buried.  Paul before the Sanhedrin knows it consists of Sadducees, Pharisees, and teachers of the Law.  He also knows they are in disagreement in theology.  Paul takes full advantage of their theological differences by claiming, My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees.  I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.  Of course that statement is not absolutely true; the  Pharisees who believe in the resurrection were also foes of Paul’s teachings, for they believed Paul was belittling or avoiding the importance of the law in his ministry.  Consequently, this statement of Paul incited a violent disruption in the Sanhedrin.  The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them.  He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.  Sadly with all humans, even priests, strong beliefs are often backed up by violence.  Even in churches of the Living God today this remedy of violence to support faith in Christ is implied some times as healthy.

After this commotion in the Sanhedrin, Paul is now alone in his cell, probably filled with anxiety about his future.  The Sanhedrin is a formidable foe as Jesus found out before his execution.  What they desire for Paul, his murder, might be reluctantly carried out by the Romans to please the rulers of the Jews.  Pilate executed Jesus for that reason, to pacify the leadership of the Jews.  However, Jesus never abandons his children and in this case He comes to Paul and tells him, Take courage!  As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.  (Acts 23:11)  Jesus tells Paul he has a future, that his life will not end before he testifies in Rome.  Of course these words comforted Paul, knowing that this ordeal he was in the midst of would not end in death.  God, as with us, is in control; He knows the number of our days.  Paul knew the voice of God, for he had heard it many times in his life.  When in midst of serious trouble in Corinth, the Lord came to him in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”  So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.  (Acts 18:9-11)  Now alone in his cell, under the arrest of the Romans, he is once again encouraged to be strong under strong opposition.  God is asking him to keep on speaking, do not be silent.  And as we see Paul journeying to Rome, he keeps on speaking about the Good News; he is never quieted by fear.  Even when shipwrecked off the coast of Malta, Paul is magnifying the name of Jesus.  He tells the crew before the ship is grounded off the island that God is with them and that none of them will lose their lives if they stay with the ship.  Paul is never quieted by fear.  He is following the tradition of the prophets of old.  When God confronted Jeremiah with the fact that He has chosen Jeremiah to be his voice to the people, He tells him, “Get yourself ready!  Stand up and say to them whatever I command you.  Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.  Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.  They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.  (Jeremiah 1:17-19)  Paul is facing the same mission that God gave Jeremiah: you will stand against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.  Paul stood before governors, kings, magistrates, Roman officers, and the riotous people to deliver God’s Good News to the world.  “Do not be afraid” rang in his ears daily.  He served God with diligence and faithfulness.  We who are around this breakfast table have the same commission, “Do not be afraid”, be found with the poor, the hurting, the fearful, the lost.  I am in the midst of these people, says the Lord.  Do not be quieted, no matter if there is a shipwreck ahead, stay on your mission.  You who participate in this breakfast have a heart to fill your days with the goodness of the Lord.  As you sit in your homes, as Jesus said to Paul, Take courage, I am with you and I will direct your path, all  the way to Rome.  God bless you in your journey.   

Acts 22:22-30 Display Fruit in Your Life!

Acts 22:22-30  The crowd listened to Paul until he said this.   Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him!  He’s not fit to live!”  As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.  He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.  As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”  When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it.  “What are you going to do?” he asked.  “This man is a Roman citizen.”  The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”  “Yes, I am,” he answered.  Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”  “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.  Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately.   The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.  The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews.  So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble.  Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.

At the end of Paul’s explanation of his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus, he mentioned that Jesus sent him to the Gentiles to preach the Good News.  This comment infuriates the mob.   “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”  (Acts 22:21)  For them Christianity was an apostate religion, attacking Judaism as the only way to be right with God.  For the Jews anything less or more than following the laws and regulations given by Moses was an anathema.  Consequently, they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him!  He’s not fit to live!”  As angry as bulls in a bullring, they threw dust in the air and snorted the fire of judgment on Paul.  “Get rid of him!”  To calm down the riotous crowd, the commander of the Roman’s soldiers arrested Paul and brought him into the barracks.  He assumed Paul had to be a dangerous criminal, a threat in someway to the community of Jews.  To find out what criminality Paul had done to the Jewish community, he ordered his officer to interrogate Paul by flogging him.  He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.  But the officer in charge of the effort to find the truth of Paul’s misdeeds discovered that Paul is a Roman citizen.  To punish a Roman citizen before giving him his right to defend himself before a magistrate or responsible authorities was an illegal act, and probably carried severe consequences from Rome to those who allowed such a scene.  Therefore, when the commander heard that Paul was a citizen of the Roman Empire from birth, he grew fearful.  His soldiers when hearing that Paul was a citizen withdrew immediately from the scene.  The Commander rescinded his order of flogging but kept Paul in custody.  The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews.  So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble.  Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.  Paul had been punished many times, in many cities, for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ being the Lord.  He was on a mission to reconcile all people to the Creator.  This message resonated with many Jews and Gentiles.  However, most of the Jews in these Greek communities where he ministered were very hostile to the message that Jesus was and is the long awaited Messiah promised in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.  They considered the preaching of Jesus being the Messiah was an apostate message, a cruel hoax upon those who would accept such deviation from serving God through laws and regulations.  But Paul’s message revolved around John 3:16-18: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  For the Jew this theme of the Good News of Christ only put away their efforts to be right with God through obedience to the law and its regulations.  Something they could not accept.

Paul’s message was straightforward: you must be born again to be right with God.  The blessings of God would come only to those who are in right standing with him, and that does not come through obedience to the law and its commands and regulations.  No man can stand before God in right standing with him through their own effort.  Why?  Because mankind can never fulfill the complete requirements of the law.  Jesus told the people who were listening to his sermon on the Mount that you must be perfect as God is perfect.  No flaw of human nature will ever enter the kingdom of God; eternity will not accept imperfection of any kind.  Therefore, Paul preached that only Christ fulfills that requirement of being perfect to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Only those who find themselves IN CHRIST through faith in his work on the cross will be introduced to God by Jesus the Christ.  The Kingdom of God will be the home of those who are as God is: perfect.  Jesus said, people must be born again; they cannot come to God in their old tent of the flesh.  Paul says, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)   As Jonah said after being rescued from the depth of the ocean, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”  (Jonah 2:9)  New life comes only through the Lord; no other activity or idea can save a person from the depths of sin.  Only God has the power to conquer evil.  David met Goliath with a mere sling.  He faced the giant not with strength of his own, no physical power or dexterity to defeat this symbol of the enemy.  David proclaims by faith,  “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.  This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”  (1 Samuel 17:45-47)  Jesus would not knuckle under to Satan’s power either.  In the wilderness, weak with hunger, he wields the sword of God’s word toward Satan, Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!  For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.  (Matthew 4:10)  As David, Jesus seems weak, but faith in the mighty power of God makes all believers strong and dangerous to the devil.  Paul puts this new power of a Christian very succinctly, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  The old life, the old tent is controlled by the works of the devil: filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice; slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; inventing ways of doing evil; disobeying parents.  In the devil’s control, they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  Romans (1:29-31) Salvation in Christ brings a new life to us in the present, not later but now, a new life has begun.  In this new life we have a responsibility to that new creature inside of us.  We are to keep in step with the Holy Spirit.  The display of God’s Spirit will emanate from our new creation: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23) Our tent will be different from all the others in the wilderness.

When the children of Israel were released from Egypt and after they cross the Red Sea, they lived in tents.  When they would settle down, hundreds of tents would spring up in that hot, dry land.  But there was always one tent that would be different; it would be called the Tabernacle of God.  In this tent, the voice of the Lord would dwell.  The Tabernacle might not have looked a lot different from the other tents, except for its size, but it was completely different, for a new and different life was inside that tent.  Moses would enter that tent often to hear the voice of God, to find the direction to the Holy Land and to deal with the rambunctious nature of the people he was leading to Canaan.  As a friend of God he entered the presence of God often.  He was always in the reconciling mode of delivering the Israelites to God.  We who are alive in the Spirit possess the power and presence of God all of the time.  We are the tabernacle that crossed the wilderness.   In us exists the voice of God.  And as Moses, we are in the reconciling business.  Paul writes to the Corinthians of our responsibility to God, to display God to others and to call them to be reconciled to the living God.  God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)  We see after the cross, God is not counting people’s sins against them, for Christ has paid the full price of redemption for every soul.  But then what does God count against us?   God will not allow anyone to come in their own clothing, their own tent, even though cleaned up.  The marriage feast is for those who come in the clothing of the Holy One Jesus Christ.  His garment is the appropriate one in the kingdom.  What is the ultimate sin, rejecting the gift God has given us.  The gift of Jesus on the cross was for all of mankind; He alone paid the ransom cost for for every person.  God is merciful and loving to even the worst of humans.  Jonah was extremely angry because God was merciful to a city that represented the darkness of evil: Nineveh.  Jonah had paid a tremendous price to cry out to the people of Nineveh of God’s impending judgment on them.  Jonah had spent three days in a large fish, a sentence of death on him from God. Now he is disgusted with God for treating this city with mercy rather than judgment.  God tells Jonah of his everlasting mercy to the wicked to help stifle Jonah's anger about life, should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”  (Jonah 4:10-11)  God’s mercy to a world in darkness has been revealed to us through the gift of his Son on the cross.  Paul tells us to  conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.  We are to stay in our reconciling mission, even loving our enemies, the Nineveh’s of the world, regardless of the cost.  In the above focus, we see Paul once again in the hands of the enemies of God, but Paul’s stays on course, for he must go to Rome and reconcile others to God.  Friends around this table, let that be your mission today: fulfill God’s plan for your lives regardless of the cost.  

       

    

Acts 22:1-21 You Will Rejoice!

Acts 22:1-21  Then Paul said: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city.  I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.  I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.  I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify.  I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.  “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.  I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul!  Saul!  Why do you persecute me?’   “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.“  ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.  My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.  “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus.  There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’  My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.  “A man named Ananias came to see me.  He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’  And at that very moment I was able to see him. Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  And now what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’  Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  And now what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’“  When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me.  ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’  “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.  And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’  “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

In the above scene, Paul speaks to the mob who attempted to kill him.  Paul is rescued by Roman soldiers, carried on their shoulders into the barracks.  Because Paul wanted to speak to these rioters, the Roman commander allowed him to do so.  Paul addresses the mob in Aramaic, causing the riotous crowd to calm down.  By speaking to the angry crowd,  Paul probably thought he could alter these people's view of him by speaking of his conversion.  He first relates how he was as zealous about Judaism as any of them, for he studied under the prestigious Gamaliel.  He was trained well in the law and the Jewish traditions.  His Judaic zeal was so great that he persecuted and killed the apostate Christians.  I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.  He went on to say that one day his attitude towards Christians and Jesus changed completely.  He was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians there and to bring them back in chains to Jerusalem.  However, as his companions and he were approaching Damascus, they were confronted by a brilliant light, so powerful that they all fell down.  Then he alone heard a voice out of that light, ‘Saul!  Saul!  Why do you persecute me?’  He asked who He was and he told him, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.  Paul alone was struck blind by this light.  After this confrontation he was helplessly blind, needing his companions to escort him to Damascus.  In Damascus A man named Ananias came to see me (him), one who was well versed in the law and the Jewish traditions, well respected in the Jewish community.  He laid his hands on him and prayed, immediately his sight was restored and he was filled with the Spirit of God.  Then he told him that Jesus, the Lord, had commissioned him to know his will and to hear words directly from Jesus’ mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  Paul more than any of the other disciples will hear of God’s mysterious plan formulated from the beginning of time to save humans from destruction through the works of his Son, Jesus Christ.  

Because of the hardness of the hearts of the Jews and because their ears have been stopped and their eyes have been blinded by their own efforts to please God, Paul is sent to the Gentiles.  Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.  This statement enrages the Jews who are listening.  They consider themselves as the only people who are right with God because of their knowledge of the law and its regulations.  But Jesus knew their leaders were hypocrites, for they were not living up to their knowledge; they were not close to God but far away from him.  Their allegiance was to their heritage of being children of Abraham, but not to the God of eternity.  They lacked the love and mercy of the grace of God; instead they viewed God as rigid and demanding, the mercy of God was pushed aside in their thinking.  As we see in the above scene, God has a timetable for everything that is happening on earth.  Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately.  We see the Lord telling Paul to hurry.  Why hurry?  God is in charge of happenings on earth, why quick?  But the events on earth are on God’s timesheet, not man’s.  The Lord wanted Paul to move quickly into addressing the needs of the Gentile world, not to be lethargic and lazy in fulfilling God’s will for his life.  In Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25 about the master going away to a far country, the master gives three servants bags of silver according to their abilities.  One is given 5 bags of silver, another two bags of silver, and one was given one bag of silver.  The first two doubled the amount given to them by the master, but the third lived his own life in the way he desired.  He buried the money so that he would have it when the master returned.  But the judgment of the master of the third servant was very harsh.  Wicked and lazy, the third servant lived his life, indulging himself with the things of this world.  He was a worthless servant, not doing the will of the Master.  Paul was directed away from his self-life by the Lord.  Quick, get moving now.  The timetables for our lives are on God’s agenda for us: his will, not ours.  If He calls, we should answer quickly.  Paul answers and goes back to the Gentiles.  We see God’s timetable for people everywhere in the Bible.  A good example of God’s timing is Peter’s escape from prison.  When the angel enters his cell as Peter was sleeping, waiting to be executed the next day, we hear the angel tell Peter, Quick, get up!  God had a timetable for Peter, and He wanted Peter out of that jail immediately.  He had a purpose for Peter to fulfill in his life.  Peter was not to die that day.  Peter would be used to open the mystery of God of his salvation plan for all people on the face of the earth.  Cornelius and his household would all receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the same gift the apostles received on Pentecost.  Peter was not to die as James did by Herod’s hand; instead, he would continue on with his life, fulfilling God’s agenda for his life.  He would not be put in the category of a worthless servant, experiencing life for his own benefit.  No, he would live his life to express the will of God to all people.  Sometimes the will of God is not to move on so quickly.  We discover this idea in Paul’s experience in Philippi.  He was beaten with rods and thrown in jail.  This was illegal in a Roman city: to beat a Roman citizen before a trial to defend himself.  When the city officials realized what they had done, they were fearful of consequences from Rome, so they released Paul and Silas, wishing for them to move on to the next city, but Paul rejected this idea to move on quickly.  But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison.  And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?  No!  Let them come themselves and escort us out.”  (Acts 16:37)  He forced the leaders of the city to humiliate themselves by admitting they were in the wrong.  He placed fear of retribution on their heads: something they would have to live with the rest of their time in power.  God has his timetable for all of us, either to move on quickly or wait for what God wants in our lives.  We are God’s servant, not our own servant.  We are to live for his glory regardless of the consequences in our lives.

Abraham was chosen by God to be a man of faith.  By trusting in God’s love, way before the regulations and commandment of the law, he received the mercy and grace of God, a mercy that would cover all people on the earth if they would put their trust in God's love for them, which today comes through trusting Jesus the Christ and his work of love on the cross.  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.  (Genesis 18:18)  In today’s focus we see Paul carrying out the promise of God through Abraham, to bless all people on the face of the earth.  Paul is sent to the Gentiles; his focus in life is to spread the Good News to those who were living in darkness.  They were humans under the power of sin.  Their lives reflected the devil and his character.  As Paul tells the Galatians, The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  (Galatians 5:19-21)  Paul’s ministry was reaching into this dark world.  The devil did not like this invasion of his territory, so he had placed a target on Paul’s life.  Paul never knew whether death would catch up with him by the hands of the wicked.  But, he was unwilling to cease his ministry because he had seen the risen Christ, just as the apostles had seen the risen Christ after his death on the cross.  They, except John, would die violent deaths without recanting, for they had seen the risen Christ.  As Jesus was talking to the apostles about his death and his subsequent resurrection, He tells them Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.  (John 16:22)  No persecution, no threat of death, no death can take away your joy of seeing me alive after the crucifixion.  This joy will abide with you through all your trials and tribulations.  Paul knew this peace and joy the disciples felt, for he too had seen the risen Savior.  He too had heard his voice, and he too would know the purpose of Jesus Christ on earth.  He explains very clearly to the Colossians who Jesus is and why He came to earth.  The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.   For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  (Colossians 1:15-20)  Paul knew God was in the reconciling business in the telling of the Good News.  Friends around this breakfast table, you are the good news, the reconciled ones that God has chosen through Christ from the beginning of time.  You are the ones God will honor before all angels and principalities of the unseen world.  Just as God the Father loves his only begotten son, He loves you in the same way.  Jesus’ love for you was so great that even when you were enemies of his He died for you.  Paul was stopped on the road to Damascus; he a flaming enemy of Christ.  God said to him, Saul, why are you persecuting me, why not submit to my will and have eternal peace with God.  Paul was struck blind, but when his eyes were opened he was filled with the Spirit of God.  The purpose of his life was laid out to him by Ananias. So dear friends today is a good day to GET UP!

 

  

Acts 21:33-40 & Acts 22:1-2 Sheep Hear Their Shepherd!

Acts 21:33-40 & Acts 22:1-2  The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains.  Then he asked who he was and what he had done.  Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.  When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers.  The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”  As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”  “Do you speak Greek?” he replied.  “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?  ”Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city.  Please let me speak to the people.”  After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd.  When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic]: “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.  ”When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.

Paul had been warned by his Christian brethren not to go to Jerusalem.  He understood well what dangerous territory Jerusalem was for him.  In his early ministry after ministering in Damascus, he went to Jerusalem to preach the Good News he had discovered on the road to Damascus, but his presence in Jerusalem caused such a commotion that the church fathers moved him on to his hometown.  He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him.  When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.  (Acts 9:29-30)   Jerusalem was a hostile environment for all Christians.  After Stephen was stoned to death, the church of the Living God came under great persecution.  Many Christians in Jerusalem fled to other cities at that time, but the ones who stayed were ostracized and mistreated.  To be a Christian in Jerusalem usually meant you lost everything of value in this world: your family, status, inheritance, and reputation; therefore, making it difficult to support yourself or family.  The Christian church in Jerusalem was poor and in need of support.  Since Jesus was sensitive to the outcasts in the Jewish community; sinners, poor, the needy, disabled, and the sick, the early church carried this assignment to direct their ministry and service to such people.  The Pharisees had designated these people as the scum of the earth, criticizing Jesus for associating with such people.   Therefore, Paul was given the assignment by the pillars of the church to remember the poor in the Greek cities where he ministered.  In addition to remembering the outcasts in these cities, he also collected money for the poor in Jerusalem.  But Paul’s primary mission to the Greek world was to tell the Gentiles that God has sent Jesus of Nazareth to the world to atone for the sins of all people, that people can be right with the Creator, and inherit eternal life in God’s presence.  God’s purpose from the very beginning of time was to unite all his creation under the authority of the Righteous One, Jesus Christ.  All people in the world, Jews and Gentiles, are to be united as one people, known as God’s children through the atoning work of the cross.  With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  (Ephesians 1:8-10)  In Christ and through Christ, people of every nation will come under the authority and guidance of the Good Shepherd.  “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.  I must bring them also.  They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.  (John 10:14-16)  This ministry of unity under the name of Christ was an anathema to most of the Jews.  They were strongly against the idea of being right with God based only on the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  This would be a demotion of their coveted position of being the only people to know God, for they were the possessors of the law.  Since Paul was the point man in what they considered an apostate belief, they wanted him dead.

Paul was very sensitive to the Jewish way of living; he knew Judaism backwards and forwards.  He understood the significance of the Sabbath and was quite obedient to the ways of the religious Jews.  But his ministry was very strong in bringing the Gentiles to the knowledge of The Way.  For him, Christ was the only way to be right with God.  Judaism had its place and it was good, for the law and its regulations revealed the complete righteousness of God.  Every jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled completely if a person intends to see God in peace.  But any variance of the law, as James writes, preferring another person above others in seating him or her in a congregation is sin.  Why? because the culmination of the law is to love others as you love yourself.  Jesus carries this idea of love beyond just loving people who look like us or act as we do, to others we might despise, sinners and enemies.  Jesus tells us to be perfect as God is perfect; any variance from God’s perfection will separate us from a holy God and eternal separation from the Creator of all things.  Paul understood well God’s mysterious plan of bringing all his creation under Jesus Christ.  The grace of God through Jesus Christ exceeds any attempt in the flesh to be right with God.  Nothing but the grace of God would ever make a person right with God.  Jesus completed the task of fulfilling the law's demands.  He alone is perfect without sin.  Consequently, for any of us to abide in holiness before a righteous God, we must accept the perfection of Jesus Christ as our perfection.  Paul tells the Galatians the essential truth of being right with God.   In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.  (Galatians 5:6)  Christians abide in Christ through faith in Jesus’ work on the cross.  The atonement price has been paid; the blood of Jesus has been spilt for the sins of all mankind.  This idea of Christ alone riled up the Jews.  Their whole existence depended on works to please God.  They could not stand Paul’s apostate position of Christ alone is the way to God, so when they discovered Paul in Jerusalem, even in the Temple, their malevolence towards him burst out in a riot.  Rome held the commanders of the local garrisons to keep the people they governed under control.  A riot is exactly what a commander of an area would not like or tolerate.  So we see the Roman commander rushing to this scene.  The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains.  Then he asked who he was and what he had done.  Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.  To quell the rioters, the commander quickly arrested Paul, thinking he might be the cause or instigator of such commotion.  He knew for certain that most of the people there wanted Paul killed, so he had his soldiers escort Paul back to the barracks.  However, this did not appease the crowd, for they wanted Paul’s life right there and now.  When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers.  The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”  Finally the soldiers had to lift Paul to their shoulders to prevent the mob from killing him.

In this scene we see the devil manifesting himself in the words and actions of the rioters.  The devil had harassed Paul all the way through his journey on earth.  He had Paul stoned, beaten, jailed, threatened, and deprived of the necessities of life.  He never left Paul alone, for he knew the majesty of Paul’s ministry to people who were living in the captivity of sin.  He did not want to release these people to the mysterious plan of God.  Paul had learned of this mysterious plan of God of uniting all people under Jesus’ authority probably in Arabia where he first went after his salvation experience.  He would be sent primarily to the Gentiles, the mission of God to open all people to the Good News of being right with him through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.  For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.  (Galatians 2: 7-8)  HIs mission to open the Good News to all people brought grave consequences to his life.  He never was left without the feeling that his life was in danger of being terminated, every day he faced death.  Even in the congregations of believers in these various Greek churches and in Jerusalem, there were those who hated him for they were false believers who desired Judaism to be imprinted on the new converts.  Some of these false believers could have been in the midst of the rioters.  But Jesus also experienced this kind of hatred; this constant threat of death.  The devil had promised him that he would always be ready to harass Jesus.  After the devil tempted Jesus directly in the wilderness, the scriptures say, When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.  (Luke 4:13)   A more opportune time was always on the docket while Jesus walked this earth.  In following Paul’s life we see the opportune time come often.  But God’s mysterious plan was always on the docket of Paul’s life.  He lived for Christ and he would die for Christ.  He was integral in bringing all people under the authority of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  He could not rest; he was constantly on the move, reaching new communities and areas with the gospel of the Good News.  Friends around this breakfast table this morning, what is on your dockets today? What moves you most in life; what do you hold dear to your hearts?  Is it your family, possessions, jobs, lifestyle or do you count those things lost compared with knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Can we say this about you, How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion,“Your God reigns!”  (Isaiah 52: 7)  How much Good News is in you or is it in the back pages of your lives?  Of course, Jesus should be in the headline of every page of your lives.  Let the actions of God and his light be seen in every part of your lives.  Surely, breakfast companions this is your desire.  The Gospel, The Way, will be written in your lives today for all to see the face of God in this world.  

 

Acts 21:27-32 Give Your Life to Find It!

Acts 21:27-32 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple.  They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us!  This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place.  And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”  (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)  The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions.  Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.  While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.  He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd.  When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Paul had been warned about what would happen to him if he went into Jerusalem again.  Paul had made trips to Jerusalem at least three other times after his conversion.  Now Paul is going to Jerusalem for the last time.  He will leave Jerusalem this time in chains.  Paul’s ministry of the Good News was always very troubling and toxic to the Jewish community.  They hated this man who they considered to be a traitor to Judaism.  He began to minister Jesus Christ as Lord in Damascus.  Immediately, his ministry about Jesus being the Messiah brought severe hatred toward him.  After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan.  Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him.  But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.  (Acts 9:23-25)  Jesus had told Paul that he would suffer much in proclaiming the Good News that Jesus is the Lord of all.  Suffering was a major part of Paul’s life.  Paul describes his difficult life to the Corinthians in his second letter to them, defending his position as an apostle.  I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  (2 Corinthians 11:23-26)  The Jews’ animonsity towards Paul was so hot that they followed him from city to city, wishing to stone this apostate, the justifiable penalty for anyone who teaches another way to be right with God other than obeying the law given to them on Mount Sinai.  For Paul to go back to Jerusalem, the headquarters of Judaism, was suicidal in nature.  Paul understood that, and the Jerusalem church understood the danger that Paul has put himself in by going back to Jerusalem.  In order to ameliorate the hatred that the Jews had for Paul, they had Paul take the Nazarite vow, a commitment to God for a specific amount of time.  The Jerusalem church felt this Nazarite commitment on Paul’s part would persuade Paul’s enemies that Paul is fully supportive of the law and its regulations.  Of course Paul believed in the law and its regulations, but believed that Jesus Christ in himself fulfilled all the requirements of the Sinai law.  Only Jesus could satisfy the laws' requirement; consequently, to be perfect before God’s eyes, people must put their faith in Jesus’ works and not their own.  This idea was anathema to the Jews, for it eliminated much of their lifestyle of being Jewish, even their circumcision requirement.  Paul in many of the Greek communities was the point man for introducing the Good News, pointing out The Way to be right with God.  As the point of the spear, the Jewish community wished to do away with him. The Arabian Jews finally caught up with Paul in Jerusalem, and they riled up the crowd to kill him.

Paul in his conversion became a slave to Jesus Christ.  No longer was his will front and center in his life, but it was Jesus’ will that directed his life.  Consequently, he had to leave his old life behind him.  HIs focus as a new creature IN CHRIST was constantly on the will of God and on the great commission to go into all the world, preaching the Good News of eternal life to all who would put their trust in the works of Jesus Christ.  As a committed follower of Jesus, he left behind him many things that most people hold dear in their lives.  “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.  (Matthew 10:37-39)  Like a laser beam, Paul’s purpose for his life was to please his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He would acknowledge Jesus as Lord and savior in every community he visited.  People knew Paul’s life emulated Christ in all of these communities.  Jesus also was rejected by the leaders of the Jewish community.  His life was threatened many times; at least eight times the Jews threatened to kill Jesus.  In Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth they attempted to murder him.  When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.  And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.  But passing through their midst, he went away.  (Luke 4:28-30)  In other places the people wanted to stone Jesus for being an apostate.  Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father.  For which of these do you stone me?”  “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”  (John 10:31-33)   Blasphemy in the law always called for stoning the blasphemer.  This would cure the land from such contamination.  Consequently, Jesus was threatened with stoning many times.  Stephen’s words were considered to be blasphemous, out of anger they stoned him.  The Sanhedrin was the religious police of that day.  No act of supernatural activity by the apostate could delay the sentence of stoning, for those who practiced sorcery and divination could also perform supernatural acts.  Therefore, even though Jesus performed many miracles and Paul did also, that fact did not deter the Jews from wanting to murder them.  The barbarians who previously occupied Canaan were fully involved with such work of Beelzebub.

Paul had been in the hands of a mob many times in his life.  He had experienced the pain of people beating on him with their fists, trying to tear his eyes out, ripping up his flesh, probably stripping him of his clothing.  Once again he was experiencing the terror of being in the hands of people who were full of hatred for him.  Jesus had also experienced this same kind of hatred towards him.  “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.  Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.'  (John 15:18-20)  John reminds us of what kind of spirit we should possess about the world and the things in it.  Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.   For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)  For sure Jesus did the will of his Father; He always did the will of his Father, even when faced with a horrible death on the cross of Golgotha.  It is not my will be done, but yours Father.  Paul is now in Jerusalem, not his will but the Father’s will.  Throughout his third missionary journey, Paul was collecting money from the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Greece for the Jewish church in Jerusalem.  It was the Father’s will that he collect this money to help the Christian Jews in Jerusalem, but now he was in a maelstrom of hurt; people in Jerusalem are intent on killing him.  They would have completed the deed if it were not for the Romans.  While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.  It was the responsibility of the Roman garrisons to keep order in the area where they were stationed.  The  officers in the garrisons along with the civilian leaders were given the responsibility from Rome to control the  populace, keep them from rioting or disturbing the peace of the area.  So Roman soldiers rescued Paul from the violent crowd.  The rioters calmed down somewhat because going against the authority of Rome could mean death.  The commander at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd.  When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.  Paul’s life was saved for another day, but the will of the Father still lay heavily on his life.  He would eventually die in Rome, still in chains.  Dear friends around this breakfast table, living for Christ is a conundrum; we are free but yet slaves.  We have eternal life guaranteed to us, yet die daily.  We are in the world, yet not part of the world.  We bring peace to the world, yet find strife: Do you think I came to bring peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but division.  From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.  They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”  (Luke 12:51-53)  What does all this mean for us who follow Christ as new creatures?  We are to do the will of God, focused on emulating Christ in everything we do.  Our daily lives must be centered on Christ.  People ought to see Jesus in our every action.  Paul lived a life where constant threats were on him.  People wanted to kill him.  Yet, he displayed the goodness of God.  Let us display the goodness of God in our lives regardless of circumstances so that Christ is glorified.    

Acts 21:15-26 The Old Has Passed Away!

Acts 21:15-26  After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem.  Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay.  He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.  When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly.  The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present.  Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.  When they heard this, they praised God.  Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.  They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.  What shall we do?  They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you.  There are four men with us who have made a vow.  Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved.  Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.  As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”  The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them.  Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

As Paul and his companions leave Caesarea, some of the disciples of that city followed him to Jerusalem.  Near or in Jerusalem they stayed with Mnason, a Christian Jew.  In Jerusalem the church leaders greeted Paul warmly, for they had heard much about Paul’s ministry.  Even though they rejoiced with Paul about the Good News being spread in the Greek cities, some of what they heard about Paul’s ministry was troubling to them.  They had heard that Paul’s ministry was discounting the law and the necessity of being circumcised; they had heard in the Greek cities, he was advising the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.  If those reports were true, Paul was preaching a very troubling message to the followers of Judaism.  Even though thousands of Jews had converted to Christianity, their zealousness for the law and its commandments were still an integral part of being right with God.  The law and its regulations were central to the culture of the Jewish society.  Paul’s teaching that Jesus is the only way to God caused these new converts some confusion.  How could they forsake the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai?  The law and its regulations permeated their daily lives and their spiritual understanding of God.  Without the law, its commands and regulations, they would lose much of their Jewishness, their unique identity as God’s chosen.  Consequently, the Jews challenged Paul’s teaching in every Greek community.  In Pisidian Antioch, we see this rebellion against the Good News.  The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.  But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city.  They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.  (Acts 13:49-50)  In Corinth the opposition to the Good News was so strong that Paul abandoned the synagogue and taught in a different location.  Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.  But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads!  I am innocent of it.  From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”  Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.  (Acts 18:5-7)  Paul was attacked in Iconium, stoned in Lystra.  For the Jews to forsake God’s revelation to them from Mount Sinai would destroy their calling as God’s chosen people among all the people on earth.  They were God’s treasured people; the law and its traditions separated them from all other people.  The act of circumcision revealed physically this apartness from other people.  For them to shun Judaism, to abandon their heritage was apostasy.  Nevertheless, Paul taught that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law.  Jesus alone satisfied fully the requirements of the law.  The majority of the Jews would not accept Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of God’s demands on humans.  In Rome at the end of his ministry, Paul criticizes his Jewish listeners about the hardness of their hearts.  Quoting Isaiah's words,  ‘Go to this people and say,“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  ”For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’  “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”  (Acts 28:14-28)

In Jerusalem to tamper down the Jew’s anger toward Paul’s ministry, Paul is encouraged by the church leaders to take the Nazarite vow with four other men.  The Nazarite vow is a dedication to God for a certain amount of time; during this period of time, the vow demands the participant not to drink anything containing alcohol, to shave his head, and not to touch a dead body or anything that has died.  The church elders believed a commitment to a Nazarite vow by Paul would clearly demonstrate his acceptance of Judaism and its practices. The Jewish converts in Jerusalem were still very faithful to their religious heritage. This might seem strange to us today, for as Christians our zealousness is about following Jesus, not our former lives.  However, for the Jewish converts to Christianity, their daily lives and traditions hinged on the law.  In some ways their acceptance of Christ as the Messiah was like having duel citizenship in the house of the Lord: Jesus plus the law.  But Paul wanted no part of this duel citizenship idea; he is unwilling to carry the baggage of his previous life into his new life IN CHRSIT.  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old one has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)   Paul has jettisoned his old life; its ideas, the traditions and roles that he once held dear to him as a rabbi.  He possesses a new-creature life to live, based entirely on faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.  The old ways of speaking, thinking, and acting were counted as garbage to him.  The question always is, how new are new creatures?  Paul battles the Jews in every community, for they were extremely reluctant to look at a better way to be right with God.  Because of this hardness of their hearts, the Holy Spirit spoke through Isaiah, they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  (Matthew 13:15)  Why is that?  As Jesus pointed out to the religious leaders and elders; they lived as hypocrites, saying the right things but failing to obey what they are instructing.  For the Jews, obedience to the law was their stated belief, but their daily lives betrayed what they said.  Paul’s ministry focused on the works of Jesus and his righteousness, not the righteousness of men through their own efforts of being right with God. The Jews revered Mount Sinai where the law was given; Golgotha is revered by Christians where freedom from sin is found.  Sadly, Mount Sinai never could change the innate sin of their hearts.  Paul states that the followers of the law possessed hard hearts; Jesus spoke of the teachers of the law as being hypocrites.  God opposed the Jews' outward show of piety and their religious functions.  Instead of fasting and observing special days, God wanted his people to have a heartfelt obeisance to Him.  Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  (Isaiah 58:6-7)  The Israelites were chosen as a special people to express God to the world through their lifestyle.  They were set apart for God's glory, to honor him as The Creator of all things that were made.  However, instead, they fell far from God, even ending up worse than the heathen nations around them.  Paul loved his people; in reality, he gave up his own life for them.  But the darkness in their souls caused them to be an enemy to the Good News.  

The church fathers advised the Greek converts to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.  These few regulations based on the Jewish law would help solidify these new-found churches that consisted of both Jews and Greeks.  These basic restrictions would help the Jewish Christians in this transition period from Judaism to Christianity.  However, some of the Jewish converts preferred the whole law to be incorporated into the Christian dogma.  Paul resists that idea and strongly iterates that being right with God is not man’s work, but God’s work; it is grace given by God through faith in the works of Christ.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Ephesians 2:8-10)  Paul as a former rabbi understood well how central works were in worshipping the God of Mount Sinai.  His religious fervor to please God through good works led him to persecute the church of the Living God.  He willingly destroyed Christian families; he chained both men and women and brought them to the Sanhedrin for punishment.  Some of these new Christians he targeted were put to death.  Paul agreed with these sentences of death to the apostates.  He watched with satisfaction as the religious leaders stoned Stephen.  For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.  I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.  (Galatians 1:13-14)  For Paul, Stephen and others like him deserved to be punished for they were corrupting the way to serve God.  Anyone who teaches another way of knowing God or other gods much be put to death.  You must not listen to the words of a prophet or dreamer.  The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.  It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere.  Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.  That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God.  (Deuteronomy 13:3-5)  Even today we see religions that will not tolerate any variance to their religious traditions and customs.  In these communities and even nations, any other way to know God will not be tolerated.  Harsh treatment, ostracizing, shunning, or death is the deserved sentence for anyone who is perceived as an apostate.  In Christianity, traditions, customs, and rituals are not the way to know God.  The God we serve is one of freedom, full of grace and mercy.  Jesus, the Son of God, was sent by God the Father as a gift of love to mankind.  This love He demonstrated is the same love we should emulate in our daily lives.  Harshness and cruelty are markers of wayward religions and cults.  Jesus identified to the world a God of love and peace, not one who is harsh, demanding, willing to discipline anyone who steps out of line to his will.  Peace with God means accepting his gift to the world: Jesus Christ.  Jesus was crucified, whipped, humiliated for our redemption.  He was and is the ultimate and final sacrifice for people's sins.  As Christians we do not look to the old way of doing things, a problem for the new Jewish converts in Jerusalem.   We do not look to the world, maybe to restore something we thought we lost in previous generations.  No, we look forward with great anticipation to the new Kingdom in the presence of God.  All things will be new then, no different ethnic groups, no different languages, no different races, no poor, no disabled, no homelessness, no sorrow, no tears, no pain or anxiety.  All those divisions in this life or struggles will be wiped away.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  (Revelation 21:4)  We Christians do not look back to former times or what we perceived as a better age, we say emphatically and joyfully, Lord come quickly, we long for your face.  So be it!  Amen! 

We are sorry to have missed the last two weeks, but we have both been sick with covid.  We are not yet back to normal, but are doing better.