Acts 9:1-19

 Acts 9:1-19

 

There is hidden in plain sight a sentence in this passage that we wish was not there. Spoken about Saul, it has application for all disciples. It is one concept of following that we genuinely wish was not there if we are honest. It is never shared with those we talked to about the church and never spoken about with Christians as we talked about growing in the faith. That phrase is, "…for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake”.

When was the last time any of us heard a lesson, teaching, or were told that to be a disciple will mean suffering for the name of Christ? In fact, the presentation used by the church is almost exclusively "Come to Jesus and get what you want”. We hear teaching about, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper…” a text taken out of context so it is little more than a pretext for our own wish dream. We hear, “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full,” but we never ask, What life is Jesus talking about? To a great degree we have presented a bait-and-switch gospel, inviting people to come to Jesus and only later mentioning there will be some commandments and expectations, if they are so inclined.

Not so with Jesus' in His planned conversation with Saul. In verse 15, Jesus says that Saul will be a significant part of the gospel’s proclamation. But Jesus also promises to show him about suffering. This was a lifelong lesson. In 2nd Corinthians 11:16-33, Paul recalls his suffering, and this was just the first part of his ministry. Notice Jesus used three words: “He must suffer.” It doesn't appear that this was optional equipment. Discipleship and our daily ministry will mean suffering. Perhaps not like Saul, but nonetheless to be a disciple means that in some ways we will suffer.

Could it be that the reason the church and America are in decline is because in the cost-benefit analysis we have failed to consider and study the cost side of the equation? And in so doing we have been more like marketers and less like disciples. If you want to follow Jesus, you need to ask Him:

"Lord, what must I suffer for your namesake? AMEN”

Acts 8:26-40

 Acts 8:26-40

 

The contrast between two people could not be more dramatic than the contrast between Simon, the former sorcerer, and the Ethiopian treasurer. Simon the Sorcerer had an agenda of power and self-aggrandizement the treasurer is seeking from an apparently honest and sincere heart. The humility of the treasure is seen in verse 31. This is profound and should not be too quickly overlooked. 

The treasure was in the right place: the word of God. He was doing the right thing: honestly seeking. Into this combination the Lord sends the right man: Philip. That is God's consistent pattern. The treasurer is humble enough to admit it, but he couldn't understand without someone's help. We need to take a moment and remember who these two people are. All the symbols and evidence of power rested solely with the treasurer. Who was on foot and who was in the carriage? Who was wealthy enough to own a personal copy of scripture? Who was a royal official? Who had attendants to drive while he read? Who had the financial recourse to take a trip from Ethiopia to Jerusalem? This was a trip of about 1500 miles, or roughly from Tampa, FL, to Portland, ME. The treasurer was, by all visible measures, the superior in this encounter. Nevertheless he was humble enough to admit that without help he would not understand what he was reading.

We often have difficulty in seeing beyond the externals. We look at a person and have a hard time seeing beyond their race, gender, age, class, etc., to perceive their situation. It is not uncommon for us to have the same difficulty in seeing beyond our own externals. Because of the externals we have or perceive, we can’t see our own need. The wealthy, powerful, accomplished royal adviser asked a lowly, humble, lone, itinerant preacher to explain the Bible to him. That was a mark of great humility. That is lost on many of us. Which explains why so many of us are lost. 

"Lord, grant me the grace of humility in the life of faith. AMEN"

Acts 8:1-25

 Acts 8:1-25

This chapter is a study in contrasts of two men: Simon the wizard and the Ethiopian treasurer. The context is the bitter persecution of the church and the aftermath of “Stephen's murder. Philip has gone down to Samaria, and one of the converts is Simon. Simon saw the power of God at work and was "constantly amazed”. Simon was no dupe who was easily impressed. He was, before his conversion, a powerful agent of magic and supernatural demonic power. He was not a man who would be easily impressed; nevertheless, he saw in the ministry of Philip a power that was supreme and vastly superior to the power he had wielded in his former life. Simon had no doubt learned his magic arts through a long and costly process of study, apprenticeship, and practice. When he saw that power was available by the free gift, the grace of the laying on of hands, he wanted to have that authority. He wanted not only to have the power to do great works but also the power to pass on that same power to others. He could become the headmaster of his own magic school and ultimately a magic empire. He wanted God, and God's power, to be mean to his own ends.

We are not unlike Simon oftentimes. We are less bold and are less inclined to pursue grand things. We are interested in having God’s power at work and our lives at our command to accomplish our purpose. We view prayer as a way to manipulate the natural world to reorder it to suit us. We “claim” the promises of scripture, but only in the sense of our benefit. We determine what is “good” and “bad” based on our agenda, attempting by spiritual means to gain that “good,” just like Simon.

What was absent in Simon and in us is the fundamental point of being a disciple. “Dying to self.” To the degree that our faith and practice are about using God, Scripture, and “spiritual power” to manipulate life and circumstances to bend them to our will, we are Simon. We are attempting to practice witchcraft in a Christian variant. There is a powerful life as a believer, but it is fundamentally the power to die to self and live what God gives.

" Lord, help me to die to myself in all ways. AMEN"

Acts 7:39-60

 Acts 7:39-60 

Jesus is the ultimate point of division. That moment of the division may be postponed or delayed, but it will ultimately come. Jesus himself said. “… I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Mt 10:34. The murder of Stephen is just such a moment. Before this moment, the rift was there; the fault line was obvious. But at this moment the division erupted in the rage and fury of the mob.

So what was the point of conflict? It was Jesus himself! Stephen recounts the history of Israel and shows how since the time of Moses, Israel had constantly turned away from God's purpose. Stephen explains that God's purpose was to bring the Messiah, that is, Jesus. And true to their family heritage, the Jews of Jesus's day rejected Him. Their fundamental problem was their sin-filled life and heritage, or, as Stephen put it, “stiff neck and uncircumcised hearts and ears.”.

Nothing infuriates a highly hypocritical religious person more than to show them and to tell them that their religion is a fake. The very thing on which the Jews base their religion and pious reputation was Moses and keeping the law he delivered. When they were told that the whole point of the work of Moses, the law, and all the prophets was Jesus and that they betrayed and murdered Him, it was the final straw. The division was complete; the sword came out.

The greatest resistance to the advancement of the Gospel today is not the world, the flesh, or the devil. Those are enemies of our own discipleship and personal holiness. The place where the gospel gets bogged down today is the church. Focused on our own agendas, power plays, politics, and intrigues, the church neither makes disciples nor allows members to make disciples or even supports those who are making disciples. Having become set in its stagnant ways of the local congregational life, the church is emotionally more like the Jews than Stephen. It is a constant and desperate fight to resist the drift into the institutionalism and power structures, the things that actually become a resistance to the work of Christ. But it is a fight we must constantly wage.

"Lord, help me keep the main thing the main thing in my life in the church. AMEN"

Acts 7:1-38

 Acts 7:1-38

One gets the idea that Stephen had a different perspective on God's direction for our lives than many contemporary church leaders. Today we are told that God primarily wants us to be happy, and healthy, and wealthy, and blessed, and highly favored. Some teach God has provided a formal formula by which we can increase the abundance of what we want. Passages of scripture to prove this understanding are quoted, taken out of context, and distorted beyond recognition. Stephen was apparently unaware of this approach to the Christian life or to the treatment of scripture.

As we read through Stephens retelling of Jewish history, we do not see a list of ever-increasing prosperity, peace, and affluence. We see that the critical moments that were often gut-wrenching and heart-challenging moments of difficulty. Abraham, for all his wealth, owned no real estate, “not even a foot of ground.” If we read this passage with candor, we see a story of hardship, slavery, famine, infanticide, murder, and rejection. Hardly is this a prosperity plan, and it is nothing near the American dream of having more for ourselves. 

The reason that Stephens's portrayal of the history of God's interaction with man is so different from what we see in ‘the name it claim it’ preachers today is the focus. Stephen is building a case that will ultimately focus on Christ and His death on the cross. This focus is a universe away from a focus on getting us what we want. Any teaching that doesn't ultimately bring us to the cross is a misguided teaching. The message of the cross for us is not personal peace and affluence but rather to come to the dying Lord and join Him in His death.

 "Lord, help my focus always be on the Cross and the salvation it brings.  AMEN"

Acts 6:1-15

 Acts 6:1-15

What does an angel look like? The answer to that question tells us more about our opinion of angels than it tells us about angels themselves. At the end of this chapter, with the prosecution having presented its woefully weak case, the high court looks at Stephen, and his face was "like the face of an angel." What did they see? We can rule out the depictions of artists who, over the years, have presented angels as everything from naked, chubby, long haired babies with wings to columns of fire with arms. Understanding that there are numerous kinds and ranks of angels, we must realize that a one-size-fits-all visual concept will never be adequate. Stephen’s appearance did not terrify them, which is the most common reaction in scripture to seeing an angel. So in what way was Stephen's space like that of an angel? 

Precisely we do not, and will never, know; however, there are things we do know that might give us a clue. We know that angels of God are supremely loyal to God; they did not join the satanic rebellion and by that become fallen angels or demons. They are supremely confident in God's ultimate victory; there is never any question in their mind of who will win the ultimate cosmic battle. Their lives, if that is the right word, are marked by praise and service; the idea of an idle angel is foreign to scripture. Rather than go on, which we could, this summary of an angel is that of resolve, peace, and eager service. 

At that moment, Stephen is not intimidated or panicked. He may have looked on the proceedings with an air of confidence, as if he had called the assembly together to instruct them. Whatever else marked his appearance, there was certainly a mastery of the circumstance that came from a profound confidence that history, circumstances, life, and all moments are in God's gracious control.

"Grant me Lord to, like Stephen become angelic.

 

Acts 5:17-42

 Acts 5:17-42

 

The effect of the event of Ananias and Sapphira was not what we expected; the church grew. What can be expected when there is meaningful and healthy growth and maturity in the church? Jealousy. The word here may mean ‘religious zeal.’. They may have been trying to secure the traditions of Judaism from the threat of this new teaching. The Sadducees, who controlled the temple, saw the church as a threat to their power and control. Jealousy will never sit silent and passive, so in this case the apostles are put in the public jail.

Having been released from the jail by an angel, the apostles return to the temple at dawn and begin again to teach. When challenged by the authorities about their preaching, “Peter and the apostles answered and said, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” That is the summation and ultimate expression of what it means to be a disciple. The pressure to compromise our faith and life will come from almost every direction and will face us at every turn. Sometimes it will come in terms of compromise of personal holiness and moral conduct, and sometimes it will come in terms of external pressure to conform. But whether it happens as temptation for secret sin or public compromise, the answer of a disciple is always, “I must obey God rather than men or my own desires.” 

Such an answer will never be well received by the powers that oppose us. Without the Holy Spirit leading, convicting, and converting them, they will never be changed. They will never be satisfied with a ‘live and let live’ kind of relationship. They will always, as the Jewish leadership did here, attempt to silence the opposition. In verse 33 it says the leadership was “cut to the quick.”. They had a genuine and heartfelt response to the apostles’ message. The word is only used here in the N.T. It was used in secular Greek to describe the ways a saw cuts lumber. Rather than a heartfelt tenderness for their past sin, this describes a heart that is angry and hurt but clearly unrepentant. Not all heartfelt reactions to the Gospel lead to repentance. Some authentic heart reactions are filled with anger and violence. We must never assume that a person will, if we present the Gospel correctly, respond in faith. Sometimes we will respond with murderous intent. 

It is interesting that a voice of wisdom was heard in the Senate that day. Gamaliel gave counsel to take a wait-and-see approach to the disciples. If they were just another bunch of rabble-rousers, they would come to nothing on their own. If they were acting at the behest of God, to oppose them would be to oppose God. His words are timely. This senate may have believed that they had the right to order capital punishment, but Gamaliel’s question resulted in the apostles not being put to death. They were beaten and then sent on their way. Tradition tells us that Gamaliel became a disciple and, having been baptized by Peter, he worked on behalf of the church in the Sanhedrin while keeping his faith a secret. The evidence for this story is ambiguous at best.

What is clear is the response of the apostles. They rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer hardship for the Cause of Christ. In a day where the church works hard at making it easy to be a believer, we should perhaps revise our attitude so that we see hardship for the Kingdom as something to be embraced. 

"Lord, help me to love even the hardest of times that I have in the work of the Gospel. AMEN"