Acts 16:1-10 Be Filled with Joy!

Acts 16:1-10  Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek.  The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.  Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.  As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.  So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.  Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.  When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.  So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul's second missionary journey was now with Silas and not Barnabas.  Barnabas and John Mark set out for Cyprus, which was Barnabas’s home area, but Paul went through Syria and back to the cities in Turkey that he and Barnabas had ministered to on the first missionary trip.  For some of these communities this is the third time Paul will visit the believers in Lystra, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch.  Paul and Barnabas had met fierce opposition in all three of these cities.  In Antioch, the Jewish leaders of that community, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.  So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium.  And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.  (Acts 13:50-52)  Then in Iconium, after performing many miracles and doing good to the people there, the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.  (Acts 14:4-5)  They fled to Lystra; and in Lystra they healed a man who had been lame from birth.  Initially because of this mighty miracle, the people of Lystra believed these two disciples were two Greek gods, for only their mythical gods could perform such marvelous, supernatural deeds.  When Paul and Barnabas heard that the Greeks were proclaiming them to be two of their gods, they persuaded the people to understand that they were just ordinary humans, not gods.  Understanding that the two disciples were but humans, they then turned on them viciously.  They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.  But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.  (Acts 24:19-20)  In these three communities in spite of much opposition to the Good News, many Greek and Jewish people came to the Lord.  In Lystra, Timothy, a young man, joined Paul and Silas in their missionary journey to other communities.  Timothy's mother was Jewish and a believer but his father was a Greek.  Because of the delicate nature of ministering to the Jews in these communities, he circumcised Timothy because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.  The divide between the Jews and the Greeks was an ongoing struggle in these communities.  Their relationship with each other was tentative at best, so Paul did not want Jews to reject the Good News because of their prejudicial ideas about Gentiles.  By kowtowing to the Jews, he was altering in some ways the  promise given to Abraham that he would bless all nations through his descendants.  Jews and Gentiles would become one in the name of Jesus.  The Good News was for all people everywhere; therefore, both the Jews and the Gentiles would become God’s children, his special people, enlivened by the Holy Spirit within them.  As Jesus said, born-again people.

We might consider that the opposition to the message of THE WAY was not in God’s plan for the disciples.  But we know the Holy Spirit was leading these evangelists on an intricate path.  In their visitations in these communities who just recently had displayed much opposition to Paul's ministry, there were many believers.  Therefore, they desired to give these believers in these communities the news from the Jerusalem council about circumcision, a divisive teaching that had invaded the church.  This message from the elders in Jerusalem was very direct, simple, and cohesive in manner: telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.  For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.  (Acts 15:20-21)  This good news was happily received, strengthening their faith.  After delivering this message to the established churches in Turkey, Paul and his companions were seeking out new territory in Asia to preach the gospel.  As of yet, the disciples' ministry was primarily in Asia.  Now in Troas on the coast of the Aegean Sea, Paul receives a vision for a new area to minister the Good News.   During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.  For Paul this was a sure sign that the Holy Spirit wanted him in Europe.  He would cross the Aegean Sea and spread the Good News of redemption to the communities of Europe.  Since being led by the Holy Spirit, one might think that the ministry would meet little opposition, but this is not true.  They immediately ran into adversity in Phillippi.  They were stripped and beaten with rods because they had cast out demons from a lady who was making money by her divination for a man who controlled her.  This man complained to the Phillippi authorities that these disciples had ruined his life by casting out the demons in this lady.  The disciples were thrown in jail and beaten.  However, the gospel made inroads into Phillippi and Europe.  Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, became the first convert in Europe.  Spreading the Good News from the beginning was always dangerous to the apostles.  At the very beginning when Peter and John healed the lame man at the temple gate, danger and threats to their lives entered into their existence.  They were arrested, put in jail, and then came before the Sanhedrin, and were warned not to speak the name of Jesus again in the streets of Jerusalem.  Of course, they refused to be quieted.  They were released, but they knew they would need boldness to continue their ministry of spreading the Good News of eternal life to all who would believe in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Therefore, they prayed for this boldness.  Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.  Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.  After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.  (Acts 4:29-30)

Paul and Silas were now in Europe because of the leading of the Holy Spirit.  However, they found themselves in jail, stripped and beaten.  If you were in their shoes what would you be thinking, body sore from the beatings, shamed because you were stripped naked, and now lying in a dank and dark dungeon.  You might be thinking is God good or is this truly the message God wants us to spread to the world?  But this is not what they were thinking; they were singing and praising the Lord in their shackles, so loudly that all the other prisoners were hearing their worshipping of God.  But from the very beginning in fulfilling God’s commission to believers, pain and hardship accompanied this task.  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:18-20)  The question is, is God with these two disciples as they sit in this dark dungeon, in pain and bruises?  Yes!  Jesus had promised them, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.  To the natural unredeemed man or woman, their situation does not seem to fit well with God’s great commission to them.  But God has always demanded faith, in the wilderness without food or water or in Canaan, where the land is rich and the water cool.  Now we see the disciples in Europe, seemingly without the blessings of God on their lives.  But the Holy Spirit was with them, singing out the praises of God in that horrible place of confinement.  When we see God’s leading, we need to see his leading necessary in every part of our lives, good or bad.  The disciples faced this difficult situation right away in their propagation of the word, serving the will of God.  The disciples met every day at the Temple in Solomon’s Colonnade.  They were attracting large crowds.  This caused the Sadducees angst, for the Temple was their responsibility.  These rebels were contaminating the Temple with their constant teaching about Jesus being the Messiah.  Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.  They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.  But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.  “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”  (Acts 5:17-20)  Why should they go back into the Temple and minister about this new life?  Why place their lives in danger, to even be killed by the authorities.  But these twelve men heard an angel tell them to go back to the temple and tell the people all about this new life.  This next step in their lives was God’s will for them.  This next step also got them arrested again, and this time the sentence came down from the Sanhedrin to kill all twelve of the disciples.  Gamaliel, a highly respected Rabbi, Paul’s teacher, convinced them not to kill the apostles.  But still, God’s will for them was to be beaten and then released.  It might have taken some time to beat all twelve, but they were finally released, with the threat, do not speak of this Jesus again to the people.  However, after their release from a place of extreme danger, we see them rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.  Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.  (Acts 5:41-42)  Now Paul and Silas are called by the Holy Spirit to Europe.  The disciples after their imprisonment will go on throughout the regions of Greece to preach the gospel.  They will go with the name of Jesus on their lips.  They will face other difficulties in other communities, but the name of Jesus will never fail to escape their lips.  Dear friends, the calling of God is not always easy on our lives, and especially the name of Jesus on our lips will cause us opposition.  So often friends, we omit the name of Jesus when we testify of our Christian walk.  We tell others how our lives have improved because of Christianity.  We tell others that our Christian beliefs have brought peace and success in our daily walk.  The world will accept that as just another belief, just like the many beliefs they have, but when you mention the name of Jesus and the necessity of believing Jesus as Lord and Savior, opposition will rise.  Critical words will be spoken and maybe even curses will be hurled against you, for Christ is the dividing point between eternal life and damnation.  This name of Jesus is a necessary component of the Christian life, but it is not often well received by a sick and dying world.  Thank the Lord today that He has brought you from darkness into the light of his mercy and grace through the name of Jesus Christ. 

 

Acts 15:30-40 Encourage and Strengthen!

Acts 15:30-40  So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter.  The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.  Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.  After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them.  But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.  Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”  Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.  They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.  Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.  He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.  

In this focus, we see Paul and Barnabas separating over whether Mark should accompany them on their next missionary journey.  Paul was upset that Mark abandoned them on their first missionary trip.  We may assume this was part of God’s plan, separating these two pioneers of missionary work for the furtherance of his kingdom.  In going their separate ways, they could minister the Good News to more people.  We do not know who was right in this dispute, but we do know that God worked out the situation for his glory.  Barnabas and Paul were fervent believers, fearless in presenting the Good News to a dark and dangerous world.  Both of them had faced persecution and harassment from the opposers of THE WAY.  They preached that Jesus Christ is God’s answer for eternal life and that his death on the cross delivered men and women from their sins.  This was a strange message to the Greeks, for they were embedded in the ethereal notations that the meaning of life came through the discipline of thought and the controlling of natural instincts.  They revered their philosophers who taught that people should establish their ways of living on foundational ethics of life: virtue, wisdom, justice, moderation.  To be truly happy and prosperous, one must live lives of positive thinking, controlling the errant desires of the fleshly body.  For them, thoughts and philosophy carried the meaning of life, of a happy existence.  For the Greeks to think of a physical man bringing eternal life to them was unimaginable.  So to the Greeks and Romans who based the meaning of life on their philosophies, the idea of faith in the man Jesus and his works bringing meaning to their creation was extremely strange and maybe dangerous.  To the Jews, the law and its concomitant good works was the only journey to God—no other way could please a righteous God.  Works preeminent was their way to God; every other way was too easy and unimaginable.  Both the Greeks and the Jews had what they thought good reasons to oppose this religion of following Jesus Christ, the man.  For them their opposition to THE WAY was quite reasonable.  They both pressured the ministers of the Good News to leave them alone.  However,  Paul and Barnabas were willing to advocate Jesus as the redeemer of mankind even under the threat of death.  Some of the early believers in this new religion wanted to combine their old religion with Christianity.  The Jews interjected circumcision as necessary to be a valid Christian.  The Greeks proposed Jesus as just being somewhat of a hologram, carrying good thoughts and ideas, but not being a real man in flesh and blood.  John railed against this belief that Jesus did not come in the flesh as a man.  He categorized this belief as anti-christ, against the purity of the gospel of Christ the man, living and dying for the sake of mankind.  For John, claiming that Jesus was an apparition of some sort was destroying the truth of the gospel, for Jesus had to die as a man to be the true ransom for men and women’s souls.    Every belief that contaminates the message of Christ alone as the sufficient sacrifice for the sins of men and women is an anathema to a righteous God.  Belief in Jesus and his works is the only way to a holy and perfect God.  The philosophies of men or the works of men will never satisfy a holy God.  These efforts of men will always fall short of pleasing the Creator who has no shadow of injustice or lack of holiness in his being.  God’s perfection is presented to mankind through the sacrifice of his sinless Son on the cross.  This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD,  and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  (Romans 3:22-24)  Paul and Barnabas are divided physically, but not in their message to the world.  They both will carry this message of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, to a lost and angry world.

Jesus addresses the idea of some Greeks believing reality comes through the spirit of man and his thinking processes and not through a real Creator.  Reality for them exists in a disciplined mind, controlled by goodness, positive thinking, spiritual awareness.  Jesus to them might not be anything more than some 3-D hologram, a collection of right thinking or good ethics, not a real flesh and blood person.  In John 9, Jesus destroyed that idea about him being just some apparition or spirit.   In this chapter we see that the man blind from birth who Jesus healed was thrown out of the synagogue by the religious leaders.  Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the SON OF MAN?”  “Who is he, sir?” the man asked.  “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”  Jesus said, “You have NOW SEEN HIM; in fact, HE IS THE ONE speaking with you.”  Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.  (John 9:35-38)  Jesus says clearly in this passage, I am man!  I am not a collection of good thoughts or right ethics; I am the man who healed you, and subsequently the man worshipped him.  The man, Jesus, possessed supernatural powers, changing what was to something different: blindness to sight.  This powerful miracle disturbed the priests greatly; in fact, they asked the blind man a couple of times, how did Jesus do this?  Did he do this with some incantations or a witchcraft brew?  How did He do this, for He is but a man just as we are men.  Yes, they were right, but wrong, for Jesus was imbued with the power of God, the fulness of the Holy Spirit.  His authority came from God his Father; He always did what the Father asked him to do.  Even his death on the cross indicated his faithfulness to his Father.  God made Jesus the caretaker of his loved ones.  Jesus is the shepherd of God’s flock.  The sheep know his voice and follow him.  Jesus knows their names, each one’s name.  Jesus is the gate to their freedom.  They are no longer confined to the sheep pen.  Maybe this is analogous to our dwelling on earth.  But the sheep follow the shepherd, go with him, go where He is, where green grass and cool waters exist.  However, on the journey through life there are wolves who bother the sheep.  They are aggressive and desire to destroy the sheep.  Sin is aggressive, destructive and leads to death.  Jesus, the Shepherd, places his body in-between the destructive nature of sin and his sheep.   The Father asked his Son to place his life between the wolves of death and the sheep.  Jesus died on the cross.  He ransomed many from the terror of the wolves.  Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people: (He gave himself for all the sheep.)  (1 Timothy 2:6)  Jesus, the man, gave his life for men and women, so that they need not to die for their sins.  He suffered the agony of death for others, so that they who are part of the sheepfold would not have to face death, only sleep in their demise.   Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”  (John 11:11)  Later Jesus talks about death to Martha.  Jesus knows his death will pay the price for all people’s deaths.  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.  Do you believe this?”  (John 11:25-26)  This is the good news that Barnabas and Paul were spreading throughout the world; God through the man Jesus Christ and his death has paid for the sins of people, giving all who have faith in his works, eternal life.   

Before the split of Barnabas and Paul, the church was together in gladness, knowing the idea of circumcision was put to rest.  Faith in Christ's works alone brought the kingdom of God to them.  They had some stipulations given to them by the Jerusalem Council: abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.  For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”  (Acts 15:20-21)  The Jewish converts were very familiar with these regulations, for they were taught in their synagogues every Sabbath.  So to keep cohesion within the church of Greeks and Jews, they asked all believers to obey these few stipulations.  Paul emphasizes the need for continuity when it comes to eating and drinking within the context of the church.  If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.  But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.  I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours.  For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience?  If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?  (1 Corinthians 10:27-30)  Paul concludes his remarks on eating and drinking by saying that all things should be done for the glory of God.  In the Corinthian church, Paul desired togetherness; he did not want believers to be judging others for what they ate, for the sake of cohesion, they should allow some of their freedom to be curtailed.  The people in Antioch were encouraged by the news from the Council.  The Jerusalem elders substantiated their Christian walk.  In addition, they received encouragement from the two prophets: Silas and Judas.  These prophets said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.  The church in Antioch because of this struggle about circumcision comes out much stronger, sending out evangelists to propagate the Good News everywhere.  They were a large church, so they had many who functioned strongly in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We who are around this breakfast table are an extension of the early church.  They had many struggles as they learned Christ.  We too struggle sometimes as we battle for the truth in our communities of believers.  But in all things we should rest with the purpose of God, to spread the Good News to all people everywhere.  We will not let our egos or sensibilities get in the way of cohesiveness.  We do not major on disruptions and trials, but we major on the grace and mercy of God that has been so freely given to us.  Yes, Paul and Barnabas split, but the purpose of God to spread the Good News was not quelled by this division; it was expanded.  The gospel message went forward as God intended just as He wills today.  

  

  

Acts 15:22-29 Do Well!

Acts 15:22-29  Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.  They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers.  With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.  We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.  So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.  It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.  You will do well to avoid these things.  Farewell.

In the above focus we see wolves already invading the church for their own purposes.  These men have little or no authority in the body of Christ, yet, they went to Antioch, Syria, to claim that a believer in Christ must be circumcised.  This was a huge distortion of the purity of the gospel.  Salvation is a product of believing in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, given to people by God as a propitiation for their sins.  So as Paul says to the Romans, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.  For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”  (Romans 1:16-17)   Circumcision was not a way of grace but a way of works.  Their teaching would discount the work of Jesus on the cross.  Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because He was without blemish.  In the Old Testament, we see that God would not accept or honor any sacrifice that was not perfect.  Every animal or bird given to him as a sacrifice had to be perfect, without blemish.  We know the Bible says that all have sinned; all have fallen from the perfection of God.  God has never changed; He demands perfection if we are going to be in his presence.  Only Jesus fulfilled God’s demands on people, to be completely holy and righteous, a static quality, never wavering.  Jesus himself said, No one is good—except God alone.   A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  (Luke 18:18-19)  A good teacher is but a good teacher, but not good in reference to God’s holiness or goodness.  He is but a teacher who knows a lot.  But Jesus is separating himself from just a teacher; He is claiming to be God in this context.  He is more than a man of wisdom, knowledge and miracles; He is the Son of God sent as a ransom for men and women’s souls.  The man who addressed him with this question was probably a Jew in good standing, a circumcised man, yet Jesus informs him that no man or woman is good, only God.  The men who left Jerusalem to interfere with the message of pure grace in the Antioch believers were propogating that circumcision had something to do with being acceptable to God or “good.”  Which was a lie from the pit of hell, for their claim was that there was something needed other than faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus told the Jewish people that nothing more was needed than trust in Jesus’ works.  Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”  (John 8:51)  What is the mainstay of Jesus’ words; what is needed to be obeyed?   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.  (John 3:16-18)

Paul and Barnabas considered these propagators of circumcision as necessary to be right with God as wolves.  Already in the nascent church, wolves were prowling around to destroy the purity of the gospel.  Later in his ministry, Paul tells the Ephesian elders that wolves would invade the church.  Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.  Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.  For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.  Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  So be on your guard!  Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.  (Acts 20:25-31)  These wolves carry the logo of antichrist, the devil’s design.  Paul and Barnabas were fighting the addition of circumcision to be saved.  In 1 John 4, John is battling the ideas that Jesus did not literally come in the flesh.  This was a deletion of the truth, removing Jesus from being a human in the flesh.  Jesus had to be the fulness of God in the flesh or his sacrifice would be made of no affect.  Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.  This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.  (1 John 4:2-3)  Peter also knows that wolves will be in the midst of the church.  They will be boastful, capricious and not afraid to attack leadership in the world and the church.  These false prophets will allow for licentious living, promising much to believers, but in reality corrupting the purity of the gospel of love and grace through Jesus Christ.  They are false teachers, promising liberty to the people but they themselves are bound by their own corruption.   But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  (2 Peter 2:2-3)  In the above focus, already there are people in the church who are willing to distort the gospel of faith in Christ Jesus alone.  Paul and Barnabas know that circumcision is a real work, but not of the cutting away of the flesh.  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.  He is the head over every power and authority.  In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands.  Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.  (Colossians 2:9-12)

After hearing the disciples' account of their first missionary journey and of the trials they endured to spread the gospel to Greek communities, the elders of the whole church of Christ decided to write a letter to the believers in Antioch.  Greetings.  We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.  So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.  As true elders of the church, who want the best for all believers, they are sending this letter of encouragement to the faithful in Antioch of Syria.  This city was the third largest city in the area, only Rome and Alexandria were bigger so there are many believers in that city; the home base for Paul and Barnabas.  The church elders did not want these believers to be corrupted by the idea that circumcision was necessary to be right with God.  If they incorporate the law in their beliefs about salvation, they will be bound again to keeping the Sabbath holy and to other regulations of the law.  They will evaluate people not on their beliefs in Christ but in how well they keep the law given to the Jews.  The corrupt Pharisees were the religious police of Israel, evaluating people by how they observed the law.  Even Jesus was evaluated that way.  Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”  (John 9:16)  When Jesus knelt down and mixed his spital with dust, making mud to be placed on a blind man’s eyes, He was condemned by the Pharisees for working on the Sabbath.  They cared little that this man had been blind from birth; they only cared that Jesus worked on the Sabbath.  Paul, Barnabas, and the elders of the church knew this kind of hypocrisy would contaminate the church if allowed to spread.  However, even though the law was a danger to faith, the church concluded their letter to the believers with these words.  It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.  You will do well to avoid these things.  Why?  Because these practices were part of the pagan world.  Many Jews were believers in Antioch.  Therefore to abstain from doing these things was very important to the Jewish believers.  The elders end their letter with You will do well to avoid these things.  They did not say you will lose your faith if you don't, only that you will do well in life if you avoid these activities that can harm you and your testimony of faith in Jesus Christ.  Dear friends, we do well if we follow Jesus with our whole heart, soul and strength.  We do well if we love God with a passion and others with a passion.  We do well to keep the purity of the gospel in our minds and life all the time.  We do well when we sing of God’s glory early in the morning and late at night.  Friends around the breakfast table: DO WELL!    

 

Acts 15:12-21 Bring Good News!

Acts 15:12-21 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.  When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me.  Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.  The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent.  Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’—things known from long ago.“  It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.  Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.  For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.

Some Jewish Christians demanded that the tenants of Judaism should  be followed by the Gentile converts.  Because of this demand by the Christian Jews, Paul and Barnabas were before the high council of the church in Jerusalem.  They were there defending the Good News that salvation comes through faith not by works.  They were convinced that the cross made people right with God; only the efficacious work of Jesus on the cross is needed to be in the kingdom of God.  Circumcision was not a necessary step to be born again.  If cutting away of the flesh was a necessary act to be saved, then all their work in the Gentile communities was a waste of time. They were convinced that faith in Jesus Christ was sufficient alone for the work of salvation in a person’s life.  “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.  (Galatians 2:15-18 )  Peter had already told the Council and the Jewish accusers in the gathering that none of them has been able to follow all the requirements of the law.  And if not, as James talks about the law, they are guilty of breaking every commandment of God.  God is perfect, holy, and eternal, no man or woman who is not absolutely perfect can ever have access to God’s dwelling place.  Where God is, his kingdom, perfection is demanded.  Any blemish or imperfection will face eternal judgment.  The tabernacle in the wilderness had to be built in a precise manner, no sloppiness in the measurements; all of it had to be built as God demanded.  Perfection, preciseness are demanded by God.  Consequently, Peter implies to the Jewish accusers of Paul and Barnabas, if they are not perfect in following the law, then God does not abide within them.  The Spirit of God will not tolerate those who are not perfectly constructed.  Now in the above focus, we see James, the brother of Jesus, who once saw Jesus as being emotionally sick, reminding the council of Peter’s trance.  Peter saw a blanket full of a variety of living animals and birds descending to him from  heaven.  In this trance, God told him to eat all the creatures he saw, even those who were forbidden by the law given to Moses.  In this trance he was told to get up and kill and eat them.  Of course, many of these living things were repugnant to Peter, horrid to look at and especially horrid to think of eating them.  But God told him in his trance to get up and eat anything on the blanket, for God has made them clean; therefore, they are clean indeed.  He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.  It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.  Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter.  Kill and eat.”  (Acts 10:11-13)  Of course at the end of the trance, Peter received an invitation to go to a Gentile’s house to talk to him about salvation.  As Peter talks to them, the whole gathering of people at Cornelius’ house was filled with the Holy Spirit, revealing clearly that they were counted as  worthy to be in God’s household.  Therefore, showing the Jews that Judaism and its commandments and regulations are not necessary to be accepted by God.  James tells the high council that in his judgement, the Jewish believers whose lifestyles are still wrapped around Judaism, should forgo their demands that the Gentile Christians should be circumcised.  Only the Holy Spirit who fell on the Gentiles in Cornelius' house, determines rightness with God, not Judaism or obedience to rules and regulations.  Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, no other road leads to the eternal kingdom of God.

Paul and Barnabas were fulfilling the message of the angel who talked to the shepherds in the field outside of Bethlehem.  He tells them that this little baby that they will discover in Bethlehem in a stable will bless all people in the world.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that WILL CAUSE GREAT JOY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD.   (Luke 2:8-10)  Paul and Barnabas are actively bringing this great joy to all the people of the world.  The angel had announced the Good News to mankind: eternal life can be theirs through this baby Jesus.  Later, after this baby was birthed by Mary, we see them in the Temple of God.  Jesus had to be consecrated to God for all first-born Jewish boys belong to God.  As in Egypt, without the blood on them, the first born were killed.  Only the lamb’s blood over the doorway could prevent the first-born boys from being killed.  From that time on, all first-born Jewish boys had to have blood sacrifice for their atonement.  Mary and Joseph were not wealthy, so they had two doves or pigeons sacrificed as an atonement for their baby boy.  This act was done in the Temple.  In the Temple they met a righteous man who God had honored with the knowledge that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.  (Luke 2:26)   On this day of Jesus’ dedication to God, the Holy Spirit summoned Simeon to go to the Temple.  He met Mary and Joseph and took the baby from the arms of Mary and presented him to God.  ”Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of ALL NATIONS: a light for revelation to the GENTILES, and the glory of your people ISREAL.”  (Luke 2:28-32)  We see in Simeon’s prayer that he is stating the same thing that God told Abraham, that his Seed, Jesus, would bless all nations.  Now Simeon is closing the book on that promise because the Seed has not come through the womb of Mary.  The Holy Spirit would be present with men in the reality of Jesus the Christ being on earth.  And we see that when Jesus is ministering to people.  The Spirit of God heals everyone who comes to Jesus.  When Anna who is in the Temple hears Simeon’s praise to God for the baby Jesus, Anna is probably over a hundred years old, for she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.  She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.  (Luke 2:36-37)  Anna was there for a special reason: she was out of the tribe of Asher who was the eighth son of Jacob; now she sees Jesus, eight days old.  Asher means happy.  Anna was happy after hearing Simeon’s prayer fill the Temple with the happy news of the child Jesus.  Because she never left the Temple, all the people who talked to her in the Temple heard her happy account of Jesus the baby and Simeon’s prophetic words.  Paul and Barnabas are now bringing Simeon’s words to fruition.  They are reconciling the Gentiles to God, breaking down the barrier between the Gentiles and God.  Their message of Jesus Christ alone as the avenue to God is received by many in the Gentile communities.  Miracles and signs follow them in every city.  God was in the business of fulfilling his promise to Abraham that his SEED would bless all nations.  The angel and Simeon in their prophetic words confirmed that now was the time that God would bless all people He created.  Salvation had come to earth to dismiss the devil’s reign over mankind.  

What do these new Christians reveal about God?  What does the Holy Spirit implant in their hearts?  How are they different from the seed of Adam?  First, in power, the new creatures founded by faith in Christ Jesus would demonstrate the power of God.  Jesus had authority over every demon and every sickness.  His followers would also cast out demons and heal the sick.  We see Paul demonstrate this power of God in him in Lystra.  In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked.  He listened to Paul as he was speaking.  Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.  (Act 14:8-10)  Paul cast out demons from Bar-Jesus on the island of Cyprus.  Later on in his other missionary journeys, even his handkerchiefs or aprons brought healing to people who touched them.  God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.  (Acts 19:11-12)  Born-again people through faith in Jesus Christ were powerful in the Spirit of God.  What they prayed for in the will of God took place.  These new creatures in the kingdom of God also displayed a change of heart by the way they dealt with people.  People are aggressive and hurtful as God states before the flood.  Now 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)  Now because of Jesus’s work on the cross, redeeming mankind from destruction because of their sins; we see a new likeness in these converts to Jesus.  We see in the fruit of the Spirit, He who confirms their salvation.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  We see lambs, not wolves who set out to destroy others.  We see the Lamb of God in them, willing to die for others, even their enemies.  The new creatures in God are willing to allow God to justify their lives.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.  On the contrary:“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  (Romans 12:17-20)  As sheep in God’s pasture they allow the shepherd to defend them and to protect them from the wolves in the world.  Paul and Barnabas’ first journey illustrated their willingness to allow God to defend them.  As they were chased out of one city after another, they just moved on, willing to take the rebuke of the hostile people who opposed them.  They did not gather their supporters in those cities and attack their enemies.  In each community they presented the cause of Christ without fear, for they had heard the message of God in their hearts.  They were energized by the word of God and they were willing to announce TO ALL what they heard in their spiritual ears.  Greek and Gentile would hear the way to salvation through their lips.   So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.  What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  (Matthew 10:26-28) Friends around this breakfast table, are you boldly proclaiming the Good News that you hear in your hearts?  Are you afraid to announce the Truth and the Way to all people?  Are you still bound by the rules and regulations of religion?  Dear friends you have been set free to announce the Good News to all people.  Simeon and Anna in the Temple, motivated by the happiness in them, told everyone they met about this little baby Jesus Christ.  They knew through this eight-day old baby that the kingdom of God has come to earth, a message that Paul and Barnabas reveled in.  May we greatly rejoice in this truth.  Amen!