Acts 12-1-7 Listen and Rest!

Acts 12-1-7  It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.  He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.  When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.  After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each.  Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.  So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.  The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.  Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.  “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

In the above focus we see something that challenges our own belief in God, for we see Peter in prison under the guard of 16 soldiers.  These soldiers knew their own lives were at risk if they allowed Peter to escape from prison, so they were alert, ready to turn away anyone who would try to interfere with Peter’s  imprisonment.  However, in this horrific, challenging time for Peter, we see him asleep: Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains.  How many of us would be asleep before the day of our execution?  Peter knew already that one of the Sons of Thunder, a nickname given to them by Jesus, had already been beheaded by Herod.  James and John were aggressive men.  When a Samaritan town would not welcome them for the night, they asked Jesus to destroy the village.  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”  But Jesus turned and rebuked them.  Then he and his disciples went to another village.  (Luke 9:55-56)  James had just been beheaded by Herod, a type of Lucifer.  Now Herod desired to behead Peter also because Jame’s beheading pleased the Jewish elite.  However, Herod did not want to contaminate the Passover celebration by killing Peter during that week, so Peter’s beheading would happen the day after the celebration of the Passover.  In the above focus we see Peter asleep, not praying, not filled with anxiety, but asleep.  Peter knew Jesus had promised his disciples that their lives would be filled with troubles, trials and persecutions.  For them, the championing of the cause of Christ might even mean death.  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  (Matthew 16:24-26)  Now Peter was about to lose his life.  If James would be beheaded, who was one of Jesus’ dearest disciples, a disciple who even was present on the Mount of Transfiguration, why not him.  But rather than stew about his precarious position of being killed the next day, he rested in sleep.  Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.  Maybe Peter went to sleep with the words of Jesus in his mind: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?   And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”  (John 14:1-4)   After the resurrection, Peter knew the place where Jesus had gone; He went back to his Father in heaven.  Before the resurrection, Peter recanted his belief in Jesus; he told others that he did not even know this man Jesus.  But after the resurrection, he was completely onboard to the reality that salvation, eternal life, comes only through Jesus the Son of God, SO PETER SLEPT, CHAINED BETWEEN TWO GUARDS.

Our minds in times of trouble sometimes have great difficulty in accepting the words in Psalm 23.  The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.  Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  (Psalm 23:1-6)  In times of smooth water we read these words and stake our lives on them, claiming great faith in them.  However for some of us, there is not rest in our souls because of these words, for we see our problems as intractable, without any solution.  All doors seem to be closed to any escape from our problem.  How can what we face be considered anything good?  How can the love of God be seen in these trials?  No way can this be good for us.  But Peter knew where Jesus went.  He knew Jesus loved James.  He knew the purposes of God are designed for eternal life, not the temporary life we live in the flesh, so he trusted the words of Psalm 23, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  As Paul discovered in his life of trials and persecutions, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.   (Romans 8:28)  Peter was asleep the night before his execution; he was at rest. The man who had denied Jesus before men because of his fear of them, thought maybe they would arrest him too and whip him, spit upon him, tear his beard out.  Maybe he would suffer like Jesus was suffering.  No, that was too much for him to face.  So he swears before heaven, including God in his fear, that he knew not this man, Jesus.  But now we see him asleep, with the knowledge in his mind that tomorrow he will be beheaded.  Do we really believe what Paul wrote in Romans 8: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword (beheaded)?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.  No, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:35-39)  Peter lay asleep with that assurance in his mind.  He was so asleep that the angel had to strike him on his side.  We do not know if he kicked Peter or hit him, but we do know he STRUCK Peter to wake him up.  

How much of the world is in us?  Are we like John’s warning, living so much in the world that the love of God is not in us.  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)  Are we trying to win the world for some good purpose or for some selfish reason?  Are we obeying Jesus’ teaching or our own rational thinking?  Jesus said of himself: I am the way and the truth and the life.  (John 14:6)  What is the truth, the way and real life; all of that encompasses Jesus.  It is interesting to know that as we read the New Testament we see not the world dying and being persecuted, but we see Christians dying and being persecuted.  We see the lion devouring others, and the sheep of God dying for the cause of Christ.  As people of the flesh, we want the tables turned.  We devour others, not them devouring us.  We do not like the fact we are sheep in the lion’s den.  We do not necessarily accept the fact that there is a third person in that den, Jesus.  Peter accepted that fact.  He was willing to be a front man for Jesus.  He was willing to work in the lion’s den for the cause of Christ.  Now we see him in the hands of sixteen soldiers, bound for death.  The Christians outside of that prison were praying for Peter.  The church was earnestly praying to God for him.   In rational thinking maybe the Christians would be better off by organizing a mob to attack the prison, to set Peter free.  Maybe that would be a better decision.  We are tired of being the sheep; we want to be the lion.  We will use force, but that was not the way of the cross.  “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.  These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.  (John 14:23-24)  As Jesus, the Lamb of God, we are to emulate the Father’s will.  Our hearts are to remain soft to God’s will.  The Spirit of God has been given to each Christian.  We are to take on God’s will for us, which Paul describes so beautifully in Galatians:  love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  The Spirit says to us in times of trial, discouragement, and desperation, do not harden your hearts as the Israelites did in rebellion during their time of testing in the wilderness.  (Hebrews 3:7)  One of the times the Israelites' faith and dedication to God was tested was at Marah.  After three days without water, the Israelites were led by God to Marah, but the water there was undrinkable; it was bitter, useless for drinking.  The meaning of Marah is a place of bitterness; grief; misfortune, calamity.  Of course the Israelites were desperate and their cry against God and Moses was great.  Why did you lead us here where there is no water for us to drink after being without water for three days?  What kind of God is this: definitely not a good God?  God does sweeten the water for them, so that they might drink and survive.  Peter’s survival is on the line, but he was sleeping under the wings of a good God.  He knew the God of the universe.  He knew the love of Christ for him.  Therefore, he would rest in the hands of God.  Dear friends around this breakfast table, we need each other to know God and his rest.  Some of us are at Marah, trying to figure out why we are there.  But God is saying to our spirits: rest, I am with you.  I will never leave you or abandon you in this desert.  Listen friends to the soft voice of God, that is who He is, A GOOD GOD!   

 

Acts 11:25-29. Give Gifts!

 (Acts 11:25-29)  Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.  So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.  Acts 11:25-29  The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.   During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.  One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.  (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)  The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.  This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

In the above focus we see followers of Christ now being called Christians.  This label refers to people who profess belief in the teachings of Jesus.  For the world, they are followers of a man who was crucified by the Romans in Jerusalem.  The world knows that their zeal for Jesus is so great that they have forsaken everything in this world: their heritage, reputations, relationships, fortunes and societal norms to follow the one they call the Messiah, Lord.  Jesus had told them that if they want to be known as his followers, they must lose their old lives for him.  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  (Matthew 16:24-25)  We see in today's focus that Barnabas who was actively ministering in Antioch called Saul to help him.  Barnabas was the point man in Jerusalem to accept Saul’s conversion as valid.  When Saul came to Jerusalem to introduce himself as a Christian to the elders of the church, the leaders of the church were afraid of him.  They probably suspected his conversion as false, impossible for Saul one of their chief persecutors to change into a follower of Christ.  But Barnabas understood Saul’s conversion was real.  He knew that Saul had already risked his life by ministering the Good News to people in Damascus.  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)  Saul barely escaped Damascus with his life.  Because Saul’s presence in Jerusalem riled up the unbelieving Jews so much, the church sent Saul back to his home in Tarsus.  Now we see Barnabas going to Tarsus, bringing Saul to Antioch, to help him minister the Good News to the Greeks in Antioch.  Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.  So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.  Both of these men had surrendered their lives to Christ.  These Jewish men were once faithful followers of Judaism, now they were sold out to Christ.  As Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”  (Galatians 2:20–21)   Barnabas and Saul were brothers IN CHRIST, and they would face great persecution because of preaching the Good News.  Often they were figuratively in the dens of fierce lions, preaching the Good News to those who wanted to tear them apart.  However in all those dens there was always a third person who protected them from death.  These two men as lights in a dark, heathen world carried the power of God to people, healing them, saving them, restoring them to eternal life.  Now in Antioch before their missionary journeys, they were learning to work together as instruments of God, calling a dark world to the Heavenly Father.

Suffering would be an integral part of Saul and Barnabas’ lives.  They forsook their former lives, putting aside their affections and possessions of their former lives.  God was defining a new way of living for them.  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 2:16-17)  For Paul and Barnabas to face the daily threats on their lives, they needed a new focus in their lives and that was Jesus’ life.  Jesus faced the constant danger of death as He ministered to the Jews.  The elite of Israel hated him; He was threatening their place of deference with the people.  Jesus was drawing huge crowds to himself.  The people saw his miracles and heard his teachings that were powerful.  He spoke as no other man had spoken to them.  The people were so enamored with Jesus that they pushed and shoved to get near him.  The elite, the priests, the teachers of the law saw this affection for Jesus; consequently, they harbored death for Jesus in their hearts.  And eventually they convinced the Romans to crucify Jesus.  Barnabas and Saul, later named Paul, knew Jesus lived with constant threats on his life, and they understood, the servant is not greater than his master, so they lived as Jesus, under the the daily threat of death by the hands of evil men and women.  When Saul was called personally by Jesus, He made Saul cognizant that he would suffer much by following Jesus.  This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”  (Acts 9:15-16)  Jesus told his disciples that things would get so bad for them that their persecutors will think that they are doing God’s work by killing them.  They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.  (John 16:2)  Of course, this prophetic word of Jesus happened to Paul.  He was thrown out of synagogues, and he was chased from city to city by religious zealots who wanted to kill him for God’s sake.  In Antioch among the Greeks and their Jewish enemies, they understood well the forces of evil against them, but they were children of the light.  They were followers of Jesus Christ's mercy and grace by faith.  This message of the Good News was uniting former enemies, the Jews and the Gentiles.  The Good News they spoke of had the basic belief that God loved all the people in the world.  The Antioch Christians, Gentiles and Jews, were being exposed to the light of God’s love, delivering them from their former thinking, embedded in darkness.  God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  (1 John 1:5-7)  To be God’s children, to be called Christians, they must walk in the light; they must express love towards all people, Gentile and Jew alike.  They must be willing to fellowship with one another.  If they harbor hate towards others, then the love of God is not in them. 

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.  Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.  They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.  (1 John 2:9-11)  Hate and dislike of others will cause a person to stumble and walk in darkness, for God is love.  In Antioch we have former enemies living together in God’s light.  In an active church, there are many gifts, and one of them is the gift of prophesy.  We see a prophet from Jerusalem coming to Antioch to give a word from the Lord.  Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.  (Acts 11:28)  His prophesy activated the believers in Antioch to help the Jerusalem church.  They decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.  (29)  The Christian Jews in Jerusalem had lost everything; for the persecution against them was very great.  For many of them, they lost their inheritance, their families, their jobs, their homes, their positions in Jerusalem.  We know the majority of the church in Antioch were Gentiles.  Before their conversions they would not have ever thought about taking care of Jewish people in times of draught, but now we see them send money with Barnabas and Saul to the church in Jerusalem.  Their compassion and concern about the Jerusalem church reveals a wonderful transformation that has taken place in the  hearts of the Gentile Christians in Antioch.  They were not fixated on the division between the Jews and the Gentiles, but were focused on the unity of all people IN CHRIST.  Nothing in the scriptures is not inspired by the Holy Spirit.  In the above passage we see the Holy Spirit tell the church, all barriers should be broken down between Christians in the church of the living God.  Brothers and sisters should not be associated with hurt and anger towards other Christians, but instead should be in unity with love and caring for others.  How great it is to read about Gentiles considering the Jews before themselves.  A draught would put pressure on their lives too, but instead of considering only themselves, they were looking after people who were once considered their enemies.  So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  (Galatians 3:26-29)  As we see in all of scripture, the same scripture Jesus uses in his ministry that we are to take care of those who are struggling in society: the needy, the poor, the widows, the orphans, the immigrants.  In Antioch, the Christians’ hearts were open to the needs of the Jewish church in Jerusalem.  They sent Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem to help the Christians there to survive the draught.  We who are in the church of the living God now should stress unity in the church.  As with the Gentile church in Antioch, we should be concerned about others, and we should express the love of God to all brothers and sisters who dwell IN CHRIST, the body of the living God.  This is our privilege and our responsibility as members of the living church of Jesus Christ our Lord.    

Acts 11:19-24 Fill Your Life with Love!

Acts 11:19-24  Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.  Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.  The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.  News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.  When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.  He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

In the above focus, we see in Antioch the beginning of an active ministry to the Gentile world.  Jesus in his life primarily ministered to the Jews, healing and doing wonderful miracles.  However, He did interact with the Gentiles at times.  He told a Canaanite woman that his ministry was to the Jews, not to the Gentiles, those who are outside of God’s law and regulations.  “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”  He did deliver the woman’s daughter from demon possession because of her statement to him that even the dogs eat the scraps from the table.  Also we find Jesus healing a Centurion’s young servant who is paralyzed.  Jesus healed this Gentile's servant because Jesus was amazed by the strength of the Centurion's faith.  I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.  (Matthew 8:10)  Jesus then told his listeners that many Gentiles would be in the kingdom of God.  I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 8:11)  In this morning’s focus we see Jesus’ words being fulfilled in Antioch.  The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.  These Gentiles were no longer dogs, a derogatory description, but now people by the grace of God transformed into a new people, forever known as children of the living God.  Jesus said you must be born again to be right with God.  When right with God, Gentile and Jews will occupy the Kingdom of God, for all born-again people are God’s children.  No longer are they separate, but in the house of the Lord, they are one people.  After Stephen’s martyrdom, the Jewish Christians did not have this vision of the oneness of both Jews and Gentiles in Christ.  The Jewish Christians were spreading the Good News of Jesus being the Messiah only to other Jews.  For them the Good News had restrictions, for Jesus came to them, not to the Gentile world.  He was their Savior, not the Savior of the outsiders.  However, Peter in a trance received an expanded vision of God’s grace.  Christ's death and resurrection was for all humankind.  God told him in his trance not to call anything unclean if God has made it clean.  The Gentiles were no longer to be considered unclean dogs, scavengers, but people who God desired as his own.  When Cornelius’ household was baptized by the Holy Spirit, Peter had to accept the truth that the Good News was for the Gentiles too.  But many Jewish Christians were reluctant to believe faith alone in Christ’ work on the cross would bring complete acceptance by God.  For a while they held onto a belief that faith in Christ plus the law brings righteousness to people, but now we see in Antioch the uncircumcised coming to the Good News with glad hearts.   

As with the introduction of the Good News to the Jewish people, healing and miracles accompanied the ministry.  Paul’s ministry was so powerful that even aprons and handkerchieves that touched his body brought healing and deliverance to the Gentiles.  This reminds us of Jesus’ ministry; people gathered around him, pushing and shoving to get close to him.  The woman with the issue of blood for many years found healing by touching Jesus’ garment.  Jesus radiated power from his being, so did the disciples.  The Spirit of God was actively supporting the Good News with supernatural happenings.  In Jesus’ life God was doing marvelous deeds, beyond what any man could do.  By and through these works, God was validating Jesus as being the Messiah, sent from above to give life to anyone who believed In Jesus and his works.  Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.  Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.  (John 5:19-21)  In Antioch and throughout the Gentile world, disciples of Jesus were ministering the Good News with power, the same power that Jesus manifested, given to him from his Father.  The disciples were displaying the power Jesus had to a dark and dying world.  To open the eyes of the blind, the world had to see miraculous deeds done in the name of Jesus.  People had to know that God sent these disciples to them.  They had to realize the voice of God was being heard from these followers of Jesus, that they spoke words empowered by the Spirit of God.  Jesus had castigated the leaders of the Jewish society because they ignored the works of God manifested through him, choosing to have their fleshly ears stopped to the Good News of the Messiah in their midst.  By not accepting Jesus as the Messiah, they were deaf to God’s voice and blind to his deeds.  The Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.  You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.  (John 5:37-38)  In the above focus, we see the Gentiles' ears being opened.  They are seeing the nature of God through the miraculous deeds performed in their midst.  They see lives transformed from darkness to light; all of this accomplished by faith in Jesus Christ.  The persecution of the church in Jerusalem spawned the ministry to the Gentile world.  Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.  Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.  At the end of Stephen’s life, we see Stephen asking the Lord to forgive those who killed him.  Stephen’s request was probably honored, but the Lord had greater plans than just to forgive his killers; he would use this killing as an avenue to reach the Gentile world. 

These new believers in Antioch, Jews and Greeks alike, would spread the Good News to the world.  They would be imitators of God, displaying the nature of God to the whole world--a new people had been born.  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.  He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.  (Ephesians 5:1-2)  A new people had to be born, for the nature of men and women since the fall has not been pleasing to God.  Before Noah’s time, the nature of people had become so much unlike God, that He repented of creating humans.  The earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  (Genesis 6:11-12)  Violence and corruption had permeated men and women completely.  To the Christians in Ephesus, Paul tells them to discard their old nature.   Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  (Ephesians 4:21).  Instead, clothe yourselves with the nature of God: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22)  Jesus understood well the nature of flesh so He said, You must be born again.  Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.  (Ephesians 4:24)  Of course the new nature comes only through the presence of the Holy Spirit in lives.  Human's volition is never taken away, but faith in Christ’s work on the cross brings the Holy Spirit to us.  With the Holy Spirit’s residence, we have the ability to be kind and gentle, even to our enemies.  The Ephesian Greeks were learning to take on the likeness of God, jettisoning their old nature of darkness and death.  All humans without God in their lives live in ignorance to God’s light and life.  But even the light of the law did not deliver the Jews out of their fleshly darkness.  They chose to reject the goodness of God, serving the wickedness of their neighbors' gods.  In Zechariah 7:8-10 we hear the prophet revealing the evilness of the Jewish society.  The Jews were violating the likeness of God by not administering true justice, by not showing mercy and compassion to one another, oppressing the widows and the orphans, the foreigners and the poor.  All of these attitudes and actions God hates, so judgment rained down on them.  They finally were dispersed to other lands, once again slaves to foreigners.  But now in the above focus, we see Good News has come to all people, whosoever will is the call to all people.  All who come to the Lord in faith will find the God of mercy: the God who transforms the very nature of human beings.  These Antioch Christians discovered a new way to live: lives of blessing and love to all people, the poor, the orphans, the widows, the foreigners.  No longer would despicable actions and attitudes of hate and anger fill their hearts, for the Holy Spirit has come to them to teach them of a new way to know God.  However, even in Christians, volition is never taken from people, but Paul encourages all Christians to keep in step with the Holy Spirit.  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.  He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.  (Ephesians 5:1-2).  Let us be a sweet aroma to God, not a sour and distasteful smell to God and to the world.  Each day provides a new opportunity to show forth the love of God and the fruit of the Spirit to a hurting world.  Bless you today!  

 

Acts 11:1-18 Families Shall Be Blessed!

Acts 11:1-18  The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.  So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.  ”Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision.  I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds.  Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter.  Kill and eat.  “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord!  Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’  “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’  This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.  “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.  The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.  These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.  He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.  He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’  “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.  Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  ’So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?  ”When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

In the above focus, Peter recounts to the Jerusalem believers his reasons for going to Cornelius’ house.  Six Jewish men accompanied Peter to Cornelius’ house in Caesarea.  These six men would verify Peter's account of the happenings there.  This experience of Peter was hard for the Jews to accept.  Gentiles for generations had been considered by the Jews to be outside of knowing the God of creation.  For the Jews they were God's chosen people; they had the law; they had the light of God.  This light was given to them on Mount Sinai.  The law was specifically for them and their households.  To them, the Gentiles lived in darkness.  Before the Israelites entered Canaan, Moses and Joshua warned the Israelites not to associate with the Canaanites when they entered the Promised Land.  They were instructed through war and violence to cleanse Canaan of the wicked six tribes that existed there.  This did not happen, and what followed was the contamination of the Jewish people by the wicked influences of these six tribes.  The corruption of God’s chosen people was so complete that God finally dispersed the Israelites to the surrounding countries; once again they became slaves to foreign people.  This history of the Jews falling from the grace of God by associating with the Gentiles was ingrained in the Jewish Christians.  Consequently, they needed real proof that God was opening salvation to the uncircumcised.  After hearing Peter’s account of what happened at Cornelius’ house, they had to conclude: even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.  This battle of acceptance of the Gentiles into the household of the redeemed of God was not easily won.  Not even in Peter’s heart, for Paul had to confront Peter directly in Antioch when Peter chose only to eat with the Jerusalem Jews and not with the Gentiles of Antioch.  When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.  For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles.  But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.  The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.  (Galatians 2:11-13)  Even Barnabas was led astray whose primary mission was to preach to the Gentiles.  However, for centuries Jews were considered to be a separate people from all others on the face of the Earth.  In the Old Testament, Ezra, a head priest in Israel, lamented over the wickedness of the remnant of Israel who were allowed to occupy Judea again.  He observed that the remnant were contaminating themselves by marrying the Gentile women of the land.  Because of this wickedness, he feared God would disperse again even the remnant from the land.  But now, our God, what can we say after this?  For we have forsaken the commands you gave through your servants the prophets when you said: ‘The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples.  By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other.  Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.  Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them at any time, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it to your children as an everlasting inheritance.’  (Ezra 9:10-12)  This condition of not associating with the Gentiles had held for many centuries.  Now Peter is telling the Jews that God has opened the door of salvation to all people, very hard tor the chosen to conceptualize.

The gift of God, the infilling of the Gentiles with the Spirit of God with evidence of tongues, was the convincing element that the grace and mercy of God had come to the uncircumcised.  As with them on Pentecost, all of the disciples of Jesus were filled with the Spirit, no exceptions.  Now they hear that all the household of Cornelius and all of the others in his house were filled with the Spirit of God, no exceptions.  The gift of the Spirit was given to all of them as was true on Pentecost.  When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  ALL of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  (Acts 2:1-4)  Therefore, as with the Jews, all the Gentiles in Cornelius’ house who believed that Jesus is Lord received the gift of the Holy Spirit with no exceptions.  This infilling verified what Peter saw in his trance: Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.  As Peter was explaining the way of salvation to the Gentiles, the Spirit filled them, indicating they believed that Jesus is the Son of God.  Their faith in Jesus as the Son of God made them right with God.  For part of knowing Jesus is to accept his work on the cross, the cleansing of the soul through his sacrificial blood.  The Spirit of God abides in a cleansed soul.  The evidence of the purity of their souls is the infilling of the Spirit.  A pure soul allows the Spirit of God to come and change the very nature of a person.  As the Christians heard this news of God’s favor on the Gentiles, they realized God shows no special favor to just the Jewish people.  All people are open to God’s love and mercy; all are open to eternal life with him.  The blood of Jesus has paid the price for sin, for all people.  The Jews who are listening to Peter’s account of what has happened at Cornelius' house realized that a place of being right with God does not come from being a chosen people or from having the law of God directing their society.  Being right with God comes through accepting the gracious work of Christ through faith.  They could not deny this fact, for the Cornelius household received the infilling of the Spirit.  How could they hold out that only the circumcised can know God.  No longer would salvation come only to the circumcised.  The cross broke down all separation between people: all can know God.  The truth of the promise given to Abraham has come to fruition through the work of the cross. “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.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.  (Genesis 12:2-3)  Abraham’s name is great because he carried the Seed of redemption: Jesus Christ.  Through Abraham's lineage Jesus would come to earth.  This lineage would be called The Chosen, those who carry the Seed of eternal salvation to all people, everywhere: all the families of the earth shall be blessed.  Now, the early Christians understood this promise had been realized.  The story of Cornelius and his household being filled with the Holy Spirit was the fulfillment that all nations will be blessed by THE PROMISE given to Abraham.  Abraham was a man of faith.  Now all those who receive THE  PROMISE, Jesus Christ, by faith will be blessed as Abraham was blessed with eternal life.  As with the infilling of the Holy Spirit, there will be no exceptions.  

What is the key to knowing God, to being right with God, and to experiencing eternal life?  Why was the whole household of Cornelius infilled with the Holy Spirit?  Their faith in Christ’ work and not their own works brought salvation to them, causing them to be filled with the Spirit of God.  In Luke 16, we see Jesus warning the disciples about the leaven of the priests.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees had seen and heard of Jesus’ marvelous acts: his healing of people, delivering people from demons, and performing many wonders.  Yet, they would not believe in his divinity or that He was sent to them from God.  In this chapter, we see the disciples arguing amongst themselves about not having bread on their journey across the lake.  Jesus hears them and warns them of the yeast of the priests: unbelief.  He asked them, why are you arguing, have you forgotten already that I am with you.  Did you not see me provide 4,000 and 5,000 with bread?  Do you not believe in my divinity, that I am in this boat?  Your faith is like the Pharisees and Sadducees, ignoring the works I have done that no man from the beginning of time has done.  In today’s focus, the Jerusalem Jews cannot ignore the work of the Holy Spirit baptizing the Gentiles with the Spirit of God.  The baptism reveals the door of salvation has been swung open to the uncircumcised.  The truth is that Jesus is in the boat of the Gentiles and the Jews.  There can be no arguing of that now after the Gentiles are infilled with the Holy Spirit.  The truth is that Jesus is accepted by the Cornelius household as the Son of God.  They accepted what Peter said about Jesus: You are the Anointed One, the Son of God.  Jesus tells Peter the Spirit of God has said these words through you.  Yes, your proclamation is true and upon this proclamation I will build my church.  This proclamation will be called, Peter, the rock.  I will bind or release people based on the truth that I am the SON OF GOD.  I can do anything God asks me to do.  In today's focus we see Jesus releasing a whole group of people from darkness: the Gentiles.  They will know him as the Son of God through faith in his works and not their own works.  As with the believing Jews, the Gentiles will be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Their abiding faith in Christ will sustain them through every vicissitude of life.  The yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the doubting of God’s work in Jesus Christ, will not be their inheritance, for that leads to eternal death; instead, their inheritance will be eternal life through the works of Jesus on the cross.  Forever, the redeemed Gentile and the redeemed Jew will abide with God.  The door to eternal life has been forever opened up to all people, everywhere.  Today, praise God that you have entered that door, that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that your inheritance is secure.