Acts 18:18-23 Share Blessings!

Acts 18:18-23   Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.  Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.  They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila.  He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.  When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined.  But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.  When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.  After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

In the above focus we see Paul on the move.  He had spent a year and a half in Corinth; his ministry there was very fruitful.  He leaves an active congregation, displaying the fruit of the Spirit in their meetings.  Before he leaves to go back to the continent of Asia, he has his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.  We do not know the content of the vow, but we do know that Paul was earnest in reaching all kinds of people.  In Corinth, Paul had removed himself from teaching in the synagogue because of threatening opposition to what he was advocating.  Because of that, he might have lived more like the Greeks, allowing his hair to grow longer than what was acceptable in a Jewish community.  Now that he is moving back into Asia to minister the Good News in synagogues in various communities, he might have felt his appearance ought to conform more to the Jewish expectations.  What he vowed we do not know, but he was willing to adapt his living standards according to other people’s expectations.  Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.  I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.  (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)  Paul's adaptation to the lifestyle of other people was for him the best way possible to reveal Christ’s love for them.  Paul’s faith was not static, merely in his head.  He expressed God’s efficacious work through Christ by traveling from one city to another, allowing God to use him.  In those cities he performed many miracles and ministered the Good New of Jesus of Nazareth being sent to the world for its redemption, to be reunited with God the creator.  James says that if works do not accompany your faith in God, your faith is dead.  Definitely Paul’s faith was not dead, for he was moving from one city to the next with the sole purpose of introducing the Good News of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross.  In every community he would face death threats, mainly because the Jews in those cities believed Paul was an apostate, teaching Jews to serve multiple gods.  The Jews were monotheistic, serving the Creator only who made all things and who has chosen them as his special people out of all the people on the earth.  Consequently, Paul and his aberrant gospel to them must be destroyed, a godly assignment for any Jew faithful to the law.  But this constant threat of death did not deter Paul from entering their synagogues and engaging the people with the idea that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  To the people of the law, Paul presented Christ as their Messiah who at last has come to restore the Jews to their prominent place in the world.  To the Greeks who were in impenetrable darkness, Paul presents Christ as the light of God, a way out of their hopeless existence.  For both the Greeks and Jews, Paul was bound to Jesus as his slave, with the message of eternal life on his lips.  He had no other life to live, but to live presenting the Good News to all people.   I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20 KJV)  

Paul consider his life as lost to everything but Christ and to ministering The Way.  The vow he took before entering Asia once again reveals his total dedication to God.  As a rabbi, he knew the seriousness of a vow to the Lord.  Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: “This is what the Lord commands: When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.  ( Numbers 30:1-2)  Serving the Creator of all that is made is a serious matter.  When a commitment is made to God, it must be kept.  God is not like men and women who sometimes feel they can break their covenant and vows cavalierly.  All statements and promises to God are on the books of heaven forever.  God remembers our pledges, our vows, even if we do not.  God’s own words do not change; neither does He feel that our words to him should change.  Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  (Matthew 5: 17-18)  In today's focus we see Paul making a vow before God.  God will hold him to his words.  Serving a righteous and perfect God is a serious matter under the law; violation of the law in any way can mean eternal death.  Our words to God should be kept.  Jesus refers to the seriousness of taking vows before God Almighty.  However in our rebellious flesh, vows, oaths and pledges are loaded with the intentions of man to fulfill them in his or her own strength.  Or they can be considered under the umbrella of people saying to God, I can fulfill them by my own strength.  This is the keystone of rebellion to God, “I will be God in my own strength; leave me alone God; I can do it.”  Jesus has something to say about that attitude.,  “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’  But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.  And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.  All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.  (Matthew 5:33-37)  Do not say that I can fulfill a vow as sure as heaven and earth or I exist because you cannot change anything: even the hair on your head; only God can do that.  Then, what about Paul and his oath.  He merely is expressing to God how serious he takes his purpose on earth for the sake of Christ.  He knows full-well that God is in control of every aspect of his life, even his daily existence.  Paul believes strongly as James said,   Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else.  All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.”  Otherwise you will be condemned.  (James 5:12)  Paul learned on the road to Damascus to say “yes”.   I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.  “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  (Acts 9:5-6)  From that time on Paul followed Jesus not with vows, oaths or pledges but by the constant voice of God in him.

Paul was well versed in the law and its regulations; he knew as the ancients that serving God was a serious matter, for the God he served made everything that is or ever will be.  In Nehemiah 9  we see in the prayer of the Levites who the God is that they serve.  Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.  You alone are the Lord.  You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.  You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.  (Nehemiah 9:5-6)  As a learned rabbi, Paul knew the God he served was the Creator of all things, so he did not nonchalantly serve God.  Sometimes Christians in their intimate walk with God through the presence of the Holy Spirit in them forget that God is Almighty, controlling their very breath.  In Nehemiah, we see the Israelites gathered together to hear the book of the law read to them by Ezra.  They stand in place for THREE HOURS, not wandering around as one would do in a concert.  They stood in place because of their respect for the law.  Then for three hours they fell on their faces and repented, confessed their sins and worshiped God.  How many of us would stand in place for three hours to hear the Bible read to us?  Serving God is a serious matter.  Of course, since the death of Christ and the subsequent coming of the Holy Spirit to us, we are constantly in the presence of the Lord; we are endowed with his voice, but still, do we give God the honor and awe He deserves in our lives.  The Israelites chose not to obey the law or to honor God in their lives.  They had the ability to live for their God, but they chose rebellion instead.  However, God is forgiving, gracious, and merciful.  He is slow to become angry and is rich in unfailing love.  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  (James 1:19)  We see this God manifested  in Peter’s life.  Peter swore probably by the heavens above that he did not know this man Jesus.  He made the strongest plea possible so that the people in the courtyard of the High Priest would not turn him over to the authorities who had arrested Jesus.  Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.  ”He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!  ”After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.  ”Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”  (Matthew 26:69-70)  He began to call down curses; only God can curse people, so he claimed God would back up his lie, such a blasphemous claim.  Peter had walked with Jesus, saw all of his wonderful miracles, but under pressure wanted to live his life the way he desired, for sure in safety.  We see the Israelites in the wilderness who saw all the marvelous acts of God for their best interest deny God in their lives, refusing to live their lives as God desired, even claiming other gods delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh.  But God is steadfast in his love for people.  Paul carried this message of God’s goodness in a dark, violent world.  He knew Peter was forgiven of his blasphemous talk; he knew he had been forgiven for battling Jesus’ church, even sending some believers to their deaths.  Paul and Peter gave their lives for their Lord Jesus.  We who are Christians around this breakfast table have been given the baton of life.  This baton has been handed to us from Peter, Paul, and many others.  May we carry this baton to others, so the Good News can be passed down from generation to generation.  CHRIST IS RISEN.  HE IS RISEN INDEED!  May our run in life display this truth to all we meet.  

 

Acts 18:1-17 Don't Be Afraid, Keep on Speaking!

Acts 18:1-17  After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.  There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.  Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.  Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.  When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.  But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads!  I am innocent of it.  From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”  Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.  Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.  One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”  So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.  While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.  “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”  Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you.  But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves.  I will not be a judge of such things.” So he drove them off.  Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.

In the above focus we see Paul in Corinth.  He did his best in Athens, even preaching to the leaders of Athens, but the majority of the people sneered at his ministry because he mentioned the resurrection of Jesus.  For them that exceeded what a rational mind could believe, so most of them rejected the Good News, but some did believe.  Probably Silas and Timothy stayed longer in Athens than Paul because of the need to encourage those who chose to believe the Good New—follow up is always necessary with new converts.  Now in Corinth, Paul is once again teaching in the synagogues.  In doing so, his ministry was even accepted by Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, but for most of the Jewish community, Paul’s Good News of Jesus being the Messiah and the Son of God was an anathema to them. “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”  For them, to teach anything else than there is only one God was so horrendous that the man should be destroyed.  The cardinal basis of the Jewish religion is that there is only one God and that He created everything.  Any other teaching is corrupt and can be considered devilish or apostasy.  Any teaching such as the Trinity, considered to be multiple gods by the Jews, must be eradicated quickly.  It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere.  Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. — Any prophet or dreamer who tries tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow.  You must purge the evil from among you.  (Deuteronomy 13:4-5)  Consequently Paul’s life was always being threatened by the Jews for this sentence of death was the appropriate judgment for anyone who dared to preach something they considered to be contrary to the law.  As God’s chosen they had already received the correct way to serve God through the law.  In the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, they are enlightened about how special God considers them.  Moses, before the Israelites crossed Jordan into Canaan, reminds the Jews of their chosen position in God’s eyes.  He reminds them of the miracles and wonders God performed in Egypt to deliver them from slavery and of the umbrella of God’s protection through the wilderness: the cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night.  You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.  From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you.  On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire.  Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.  (Deuteronomy 4:35-38)  With all of this understanding of God’s love for them, the Jews in the synagogues that Paul dealt with were not going to change their minds about there being only one God to serve.  Consequently, they were poison to Paul’s very existence.

In 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, we read how dangerous the Jews were to Paul.  The Jews were Paul’s chief opponents to the Good News.  They hated him because he seemed to be preaching another message from the one they had internalized all their lives.  For them, Paul seemed to be teaching about multiple gods when he talked about Jesus as he Son of God.  In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul recounts how dangerous his situation was in Arabia.  In Arabia the Jews opposition to what he was teaching was so strong, with so much hatred towards him, that his life was never safe.  He never knew whether he would have another day to live.  We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia.  We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.  In fact, we expected to die.  But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.  (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)  In his letter we see how desperate and dangerous Paul’s existence was in Asia.  In the olive grove called Gethsemane, we see Jesus under the same pressures that Paul endured in Asia.  

He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.  He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me.”  (Matthew 26:37-38)  Jesus’ soul was crushed, smashed; he knew what lay ahead of him; he even asked God to consider his plight and maybe 

if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.  (39)   In Arabia, we see Paul submitting to God’s will, not relying on his way, his strength and knowhow.  We stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.  Paul believed as Jesus said, not my will but your will be done.  Of course, Jesus went to the cross that day.  He had not another day to exist.  However, Paul expected to die at any moment.  But he was spared of a violent death for many years.  But his soul was crushed, smashed, almost daily.  A target of death was on his back all of the time.  Yet he said, not my will be done but yours O Lord.  Paul was a Hebrew scholar; he knew that to the Jews he was ministering apostasy.  He was preaching the worst thing that a Jew could hear; for them he was talking about serving multiple gods.  Consequently, he deserved the sentence of death.  However, God told Paul not to be afraid in Corinth.  Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.  Even though the Jews frustrated Paul in Corinth, there were many Christians in Corinth.  He would find safety in numbers.  Nevertheless, he chose to leave the synagogue and minister elsewhere.   Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.  But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads!  I am innocent of it.  From now on I will go to the Gentiles.  Paul stayed in Corinth ministering the Good News for a year and a half.       

Paul stayed in Corinth a long time ministering the Good News to the community.  He was fulfilling God’s commandments to his apostles to go into all the world and preach the message of the cross and the subsequent resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus came to earth as the Messiah that God had promised long ago to the Jews.  He would fulfill the promise that God made to Abraham that his seed would bless all the nations of the earth.  Jesus the Lord’s ministry did not last long.  However as John states: Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.  (John 21:25)  Paul also did many miracles to validate the truth of what he was preaching.  These miracles he performed opened the eyes and ears of the people in these various communities where he ministered.  As Jesus ends his time on earth, He prays for his apostles and for the believers who would know him as the Messiah, the Lord God.  I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.  (John 17:11)  The Good News of being one with God is wrapped up in the understanding that God is redeeming his creation to himself.  He sent his Son to be the sacrifice for the sins of all people.  God is a just God, and sin cannot go without punishment.  Every sin, every deviation from the nature of God must be dealt with justly.  Eternity with God is a holy existence.  Jesus paid the price for this oneness with a holy God.  Paul also paid the price of suffering to bring the knowledge of Jesus Christ to the world.  Jesus told him that he would pay a heavy price in ministering the Good News, consisting of the knowledge of the cross and the resurrection.  Paul in his life was always swimming upstream against a heavy, violent current.  He opened the door to something the Jews considered an anathema to the God they served.  But God assigned him this purpose for this life.  Paul was a disciple out of season; He was called especially for this work to the Gentile world. Jesus revealed himself to Paul so that he would know Jesus as the Savior of the world.  On the road to Damascus, he found the reality of Jesus, the Christ.  Paul now understood that Jesus was sent by God to redeem the world.  As Jesus prayed for his apostles, so was he praying for Paul, the apostle out of season.  Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”  (John 17:25-26)  Jesus made himself known to Paul, just as he made himself known to the disciples who walked with him daily for three years.  They learned that Jesus was not just another man, but he was God in the flesh.  Paul learned about Christ through the things he suffered.  As the disciples who walked with Jesus, he learned that he had to be completely dependent on God’s will in his life, as Jesus  expressed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Your will be done, not my will.   Dear friends around this table, may you express the will of God in your lives, regardless of the cost.  Let God dwell richly in you each day.  As Paul said about his own life, I stopped relying on myself, my knowledge and abilities, and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.  Let us do likewise, so the world will see Jesus in us.  Amen!     

   

 

Acts 17: 24-34 Don't Sit, Serve!

Acts 17: 24-34  “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.  Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.  God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.  ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’  “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.  In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.  He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”  When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”  At that, Paul left the Council.  Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed.  Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

In the above focus we see Paul talking to the members of the Areopagus.  These people are the ruling and spiritual leaders in Athens.  Their ideas of a spiritual existence rest in their worshipping many gods.  They have made many idols and shrines to these gods in Athens.  Some of the Athen citizens had erected an altar to a god they called unknown.  Paul uses this idea of an unknown god to introduce the Creator God.  The Athenians' lifestyle revolved around exploring the meaning of life.  Before the Areopagus, Paul introduces Christ to them.  A few of them had already met Paul in the marketplace where they had debated him about his  "babbling” ideas about the man, Jesus of Nazareth.  Paul begins his presentation to the Areopagus by talking about God who is so great that He does not live in shrines, altars or idols.  The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.  Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  Paul narrows down the idea of many gods that must be served to one God, the Creator of all things.  For in him we live and move and have our being.  Paul relates to them that even some of their own philosophers understand that humans are his offspring, in his likeness.  Therefore, people should not think that God can be depicted in an image made by human design and skill.  This eternal God is far beyond man’s imaginations.  Paul then presents the reason they should believe in the God that he is presenting them.  For this God raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead.  To the Greeks this was a startling statement, one that surpasses their philosophers' ideas of what it means to be human with a rational mind.    Even their gods they serve have prescribed reasons for existence; they do not change the nature of what it is to be human.  When the Greeks heard this idea about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered.  Paul knew the Greeks would receive his message of the resurrection with difficulty, for he was raised in a Greek community.  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.  (1 Corinthians 1:21-23)

Apostle John in ministering to the church at large said that this fact of a physical resurrection of Jesus has to be accepted by all Christians; otherwise, they are supporting an antichrist view of Jesus.  The way to eternal life comes only through the resurrection of Christ.  Paul is very explicit in the necessity of believing Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.  But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.  And if Christ has not been raised, YOUR FAITH IS FUTILE; you are still in your sins.  (1 Corinthians 15:13-17)  The Greeks in Athens were stumbling over the fact that flesh could be brought back to life after death.  Yet, some of them wanted to hear more about this resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  We want to hear you again on this subject.  But others who were drawn by the Holy Spirit to the reality of Paul’s ministry became Christians.  Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed.  Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.  As Paul moved through the Gentile world, he was constantly confronted by idol worshipping.  This old trick of the devil was everywhere in the Gentile world.  Even the Israelites swallowed this deception, serving idols most of their existence.  Jeremiah warned them about this betrayal of the God of Creation.  He told them that God would not tolerate long the Israelites' adulterous lifestyle.  Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am going to bring calamity upon them, and they will not escape.  Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries.  Then the people of Judah and Jerusalem will pray to their idols and burn incense before them.  But the idols will not save them when disaster strikes!  Look now, people of Judah; you have as many gods as you have towns.  You have as many altars of shame—altars for burning incense to your god Baal—as there are streets in Jerusalem.  (Jeremiah 11:11-13)  The Israelites fell into the abyss of creating numerous gods after their own imaginations.  Idols and shrines were everywhere in their environment.  They chose these false gods to serve other than the only true God, the I AM who called their ancestors through the faith of Abraham.  They, unlike the Greeks, had been brought to the light of God through the law and the prophets.  God had revealed clearly to them his holiness and also his enduring love and mercy to them.  They were delivered from slavery; they were given a land of milk and honey.  They, a small Semite people, became a powerful nation.  However, instead of honoring God, they chose to honor and serve gods made out of their own imaginations.  The Greeks were not so privileged by God; they lived in darkness and deception, always steeped in idol worship.  Satan's deception ruled their lives, even sacrificing their own children to these idols.  As Jesus said to the wayward Pharisees and teachers of the law, your father is the devil.  For Paul to bring light to the Gentile world was a dangerous mission; Jesus told Paul at the very beginning of following him that he would suffer much in delivering light to a dark and threatening world.  Jesus knew this same darkness that was in the Greeks existed in the Jewish religious elite.  The priests loved the deference of the people, playing the role of super spiritual people with long prayers and holy blessings.  However they were acting like the Gentiles who lived in darkness.  Jesus scolds them for their pretentious behavior.  When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on BABBLING LIKE THE PAGANS, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  (Matthew 6:6-11)  Paul was dealing with a very religious city of Athens.  Many philosophers telling the way to true life.  Many priests of shrines and altars instructed people how to have a meaningful life.  Paul came to them with a very simple message: Christ crucified and his subsequent resurrection are the way to eternal life with the Creator God. 

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus the Christ.  “I baptize you with water for repentance.  But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  (Matthew 3:11-12)  Jesus becomes the ministering Messiah after He is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Immediately after his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus is led into the wilderness, tested by Satan to give up his ministry to the world.  Jesus’ manifesto to Satan, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.  (Matthew 4:4)  All people who trust in Jesus’ work will fulfill this manifesto.  They will be born again, becoming a tree that produces good fruit, imaging God on earth. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, as I also remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  (John 15:3-5)  As Jesus walked through the next three years, He expressed the will of God for all people; restoring them to God, becoming his children in the holiness of Jesus.  By believing in Jesus and his works, the eternal plan of God for people to be born again in his image becomes a reality, producing the works of God as a good tree produces good fruit.  In the above focus we see Paul introducing Jesus, the vine, to the Greeks.  He is offering them a new life, a transformative life.  In abiding in Christ, their intrinsic nature will be changed.  They will be imaging God in their lives.  The Greeks in their lifestyle were then as people who now during Christmastime hang bobbles on the tree to make it beautiful.  But bobbles do not change the basic nature of the tree.  Jesus came to change the intrinsic nature of the tree.  As we see Jesus in the holiest day of all creation celebrating the Passover with his disciples, a time when He drinks the cup of wine and eats the bread with his beloved disciples to commemorate what will happen later on that day, we see his disciples not focusing on the upcoming event, Jesus’ immanent death, but on themselves.  IN THE MOST HOLY OF DAYS, WE SEE THE DISCIPLES FOCUSED ON THEMSELVES, THEIR FLESHLY DESIRES.  A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.  Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.  But you are not to be like that.  Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.  For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?  Is it not the one who is at the table?  But I am among you as one who serves.  (Luke 22:24-27)  Their focus was not on Jesus the Great Servant, but on themselves as being greater in this world.  What is in this cross for me?  How does the Passover benefit me?  We see the IDOL OF SELF rear up his evil presence in the upper room.  We see the shrine to self being manifested in that occasion.  Jesus was forgotten as they fixed their desires on themselves; who is the greatest, who does Jesus love the most?  Where am I in this Christian thing?  Jesus desires for them to be servants, for He came to serve the world, and now He will die for every man and woman who has ever lived.  Paul is giving the Greeks an opportunity to know the living God.  If they would believe on Jesus’ works on the cross, they would be created anew.  He is telling them to put away their idols, their adulterous lifestyle, and live for Christ.  Some believed that message of Paul’s but many did not.  They continued to hang bobbles on their lives but failed to be born again, new creatures IN CHRIST.  Friends around this breakfast table, your lives have been bought with a high price: THE CROSS.  Therefore, celebrate this Passover season by serving others rather than yourself.  Give what Christ has given to you.     

    

  

  

 

Acts 17:16-23 Idols Do No Harm and No Good!

Acts 17:16-23  While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.  So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him.  Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?”  Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.”  They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.  Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”  (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)  Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens!  I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god.  So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

In the above passage we find Paul in the city of Athens; his companions on his missionary mission had escorted him from the city of Berea where he personally was facing threats on his life.  Athens was a powerful city-state in the Greek world.  Paul was comfortable in this prestigious city, for he had been raised and educated in the Greek city of Tarsus.  As Paul was strolling through the city, he noticed the people in this city were very religious, for it was full of idols.  The Athenians were interested in the meaning of life and the purpose of existence.  All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.  Their darkness in them of knowing God, their Creator, greatly distressed Paul.  Their attempts to understand life revolved around serving idols.  Paul of course was in the Greek world to reveal the true God, so he began to minister this truth in the synagogue and the marketplace.  The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated Paul about the meaning of life and how to have a pleasurable and good existence.  The Greek philosophers were heavily into the ideas about how to have a rich and fulfilled life.  The Epicureans were focused on living life richly by taking full advantage of satisfying one's life with the best of foods and entertainment, however, with moderation.  The Stoic’s were more introspective, facing life under the dictates of reality and fate, accepting  the world as it is, living at peace with your existence.  Paul talks about the Greek’s strong desire to live under the stipulation of the rational mind.  For them, wisdom and common sense should be the controlling forces in a successful and peaceful life.  In analyzing the Jewish society and the Greek society, Paul distills the differences between them spiritually by saying, Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.  (1 Corinthians 1:22-25)  The Good News does not need to be verified by signs, miracles, and wonders; neither must it be designed around the rational thinking of men and women.  The true way to God comes only one way, through Christ crucified and his subsequent resurrection.  Paul knew as he walked through Athens that the Athenians were trying to open another gate to the kingdom of God through their rational thinking, but Satan’s control over their minds had led them into great darkness and deception.  Satan was playing his old tune that man can find God through his own wisdom and strength.  His scheme is to convince men and women that they possess god-like power and wisdom—that they too can be like God through elevating their own attributes.  But Paul places the correct perspective on man’s insignificance when it comes to comparing himself with God: the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.  This darkness of the self-importance of men and women, their power to be like God had captivated the Athenians' minds.  Paul knew their estrangement from God was great.  He tells them that their altar to the unknown god is really a shrine to the living Creator.  

The intellectual elite in Athens wanted to hear about this strange babbling of Paul; for them it seemed as if Paul was talking about some other God that existed.  They invited him to speak to the Areopagus, the governing council of Athens, consisting of the elite of the city and philosophers.  They wanted to hear about this new god or thoughts that Paul was so enthused about.  May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.  This of course was an open door to the people of Athens.  By convincing the Areopagus of the Good News, he could reach into the depths of the society with the message of Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the world.  Paul uses their altar to an unknown god as a way to introduce the God of Creation to them.  I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god.  He told them they were very ignorant of this god, but this god they have an altar to is the God he served.  Paul said, He has come to reveal himself through his Son Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  Jesus, the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  (Colossians 1:15-17)  This revelation that Paul had of Jesus Christ is now told to people who exist by their own rational thinking; their own contrived light.  Now Paul is telling them, your way of living is darkness and futility.  A hard message to accept in their riches of philosophy.  However, Paul was raised and educated in the Greek way of thinking, so he was able to debate them about life and the meaning of life, but what they thought and what the Jewish elite thought about life, Paul had abandoned and counted it all as dung, worthless trash.  I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.  (Philippians 3:8-11)  Paul was sent to the Gentile world, and he would experience the suffering Christ experienced, even his death by violent men.  However, as he addressed these elite and learned men of Athens, he knew their darkness was very great.  The devil had deceived them into idol worshipping, an irrational way of thinking about God.  For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.  They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.  Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk.  Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”  (Jeremiah 10:2-6)  In Athens, a bastion of deep thinking, the people were captivated by the darkness of idol worshipping, deceived by the devil.  

Paul’s call to the Gentile world mirrors greatly with Jesus’ call to the Jewish people of Palestine.  Jesus came to minister to the elect, the descendants of Abraham.  The Gentiles carried a derogatory name by the Jews: dogs.  In healing a demon possessed child of a Gentile woman, Jesus refers to the Gentiles as dogs in his dialogue with the mother of the child.  Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”  The woman came and knelt before him.  “Lord, help me!” she said.  He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”  “Yes it is, Lord,” she said.  “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”  (Matthew 15:24-27)  He heals the child, but his primary focus on earth was to the Jewish people.  Paul’s calling by God was to the Gentiles.  “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me.  ‘Quick!’ he said.  ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.”  "Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.  And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’  “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”  (Acts 22:17-21)   After Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, he went back to Jerusalem, his home.  But God had other purposes for Paul than staying in Jerusalem, where he felt at home.  No, Paul, over his protest, was sent by God to the Gentile world, going from city to city ministering the Good News of Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.  He had to leave his home to fulfill God’s purpose in his life.  We see Jesus also leaving his home to go from city to city in Israel to minister about God’s goodness and love for the Jewish people.  After an early morning prayer in Capernaum, Jesus was called away from his home base where He and his disciples were living.  His disciples were not too happy about leaving their homes, but they followed Jesus.  Jesus had a target on his back throughout his whole ministry.  Paul in the Gentile world had a target on his back all the time he was fulfilling God’s call on his life.  Both Jesus and Paul were warned by their followers not to go to Jerusalem at the end of their ministry, but both went.  They were fixed on going to Jerusalem.  Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, and Paul was chained, imprisoned, sent to Rome because of the Jewish pressure to kill him.  Both Paul and Jesus died violent deaths.   Jesus was called to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles.  Of course Paul’s excursion into the Gentile world was for the cause of Jesus Christ, to introduce the Redeemer, sent by God to all the world.  As God does with all people, He has a mission for people to fulfill in their lives.  It is so interesting that God has a time schedule for all of us to follow, no lolly-dallying around when dealing with God.  We see God telling Paul, Quick!  Leave Jerusalem immediately.  Not tomorrow, but TODAY.  We see the angel when delivering Peter from jail, “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.  Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so.  (Acts 12:7-8)  No messing around, hurry!  Jesus tells those who want to follow him, you cannot go back and bury your loved ones or say goodby to them.  No, you must hurry and follow me; no sign is needed.  Often we want reinforcement in our decisions, but if God asking you to follow him, then do it with faith.  Paul went into the lion's den; the Greek world.  He was there in constant danger; never knowing if he would have the next day to live.  But God had said to him, quick, go, leave your comfort zone.  How hard that is for us; how hard it was for the disciples to leave their loved ones, their homes, the places where their ancestors were buried, but they did.  They gave their lives for the purposes of God.  Breakfast companions, you are the salt of the earth, the light to those who live in darkness.  God tells you every day, Quick, Go, Tell the world about me, for I have a timetable for everyone you meet.  This is your day to spread the Good News.  God bless you richly.