Acts 17:16-34

 Acts 17:16-34

Paul is alone in Athens and is provoked in his spirit by the sight of all the idols. As he went about the city, everywhere he looked, he saw idols to the false gods. There were demonic powers behind the idols that controlled Athens, its people, and its influence in the Greco-Roman world. Paul was provoked in spirit at the site. The word “provoke” is an uncommon compound word. The first word is “alongside”; the second word is “sharpen.”. The picture of the word is to jab or stab someone in his or her side. This has a profoundly disturbing effect on a person. Consider the contrast between Paul and us. How often do we look at the degrading circumstances of man, reflected by society and have no emotion whatsoever? There is a tidal wave of the slavery to sin all about us, and we are not stabbed in the side by it. We have a blind spot so that certain sins do not bother us in any way. There are some for whom no sin bothers.

More than being affected by the manifestation of sin, by the apparent action or life, are we concerned for the person who is the slave to sin? Do we look at the idolatry of greed, or gluttony, or pride, or sensuality in a world and feel the stab in the side? We all have our list of vices that we will rail against, but we also have a much longer list of sins that we can easily ignore and some we even coddle. We may harangue against a person who is a drunk and make a hero of the arrogant, self-absorbed celebrity. We hold in derision the flamboyant homosexual while at the same time exulting the false teacher that would pervert the gospel into a money making Ponzi scheme.

There is no evidence that Paul was provoked by some idols and not by others. Rather, Paul was stabbed in the side by any and everything enslaving men to sin and robbing them of the life of the resurrection that is Jesus Christ. By God’s help may we have a conscience and a holiness that is provoked by anything that would keep anyone from their Creator. May we in that stabbing find the prompting to lead men to Christ.

“Lord, break my heart for what breaks Yours.  AMEN”

Acts 17:1-15

 Acts 17:1-15

“But the Jews became jealous…” This is a too-often-repeated theme and occurrence in the history of the church. The word “jealous” is also translated as envy. More often than can be imagined, churches’ power players have driven out leaders who pose a threat to their power and control because they are envious. We often define this as a power play or a power struggle. Whatever we call it, the foundational issue remains the same; when a core group fears losing power, they attack the one who has emerged as a new leader. The pattern continues as we see the old guard dredging up protesters. The term translated “wicked men of the marketplace” is hard to translate from Greek to English. The best idea is to think of shiftless rabble that makes a living protesting for hire. 

The accusation brought against the Christians is that “these men who upset the world” could hardly ever be made of the American church. In many cases, the description of the church today would be “these men who have been compromised by and are just like the world.”.

In Berea we find a rare and striking occurrence: they were “examining the Scriptures daily.”. Two things should be noted: first, the Bereans did not take someone else’s word for their faith. The “apostles teaching” was put to the test of Scripture. How often will people listen to teachers without so much as cracking open a Bible? Silly, stupid, foolish, and even heretical things are said, and believers never use their Bible to verify or challenge what is said. There is a curse on all false teachers, but those who are unwilling to see for themselves are not excused or exempt from judgment. Second, they studied daily. It was not that they read a few verses daily and studied once a week. Reading a passage is not enough, but we need to meditate and delve into it, and this cannot happen with a cursory reading. Reading the Bible as a narrative story has value, but the Word of God is something that we need to study deeply.

“Lord, give me an attitude and hunger like the Bereans.  AMEN”

Acts 16:19-40

 Acts 16:19-40

It was a perfect storm for persecution. Any element would have been cause for opposition, but their combination created a crisis with Paul and Silas in the middle. First was a financial issue. The slave girl’s owners had enjoyed a profit from her possession; now that was lost. There was racism or xenophobia that was common for Jews in the Roman Empire. Anytime there is a “not one of us” attitude, there is a potential for hostility. There was the ever-present aversion to change; “We have never done it that way before” is the rallying cry for the powers that be, to keep their power. With these three elements raging against Paul and Silas, it is not hard to understand what happened next.

Romans handed out beatings like candy on Halloween. Roman soldiers who served as bailiffs in the courts carried rods for the purpose of administering beatings. But a beating could not be administered to Roman citizens. However, everyone else could be beaten for any reason. It appears that from the beginning the strategy of the city authorities was to silence these preachers and get them to slink out of town in the morning with their tail between their legs. This silent retreat would have had a negative effect on the spread of Christianity in Philippi.

In the midst of this persecution, the Lord does three wonderful things. Instead of silencing the message, Paul was given a different audience. In verse 25 we find that the other prisoners were “listening”. This is not the common word for hearing but indicates active listening; the other prisoners were fascinated by the message. Second, the Lord makes a disciple within Roman leadership. The chief jailer in a major Roman colony was not a low-level bureaucratic peon. He was in fact a significant player in the power structure of the regional government. Finally the Lord created a parade for the disciples’ exit. The chief magistrate “kept begging.” The word itself means to ask of someone who has a special position. The grammar indicates it was an ongoing plea. Why did he have to keep pleading with Paul to leave? Because Paul was taking his sweet time to move on. We get the picture that Paul was sauntering around town doing this and that, followed by the magistrates, who kept asking, “Will you leave now?” This is in every way superior to the circus atmosphere that the proclamations of the slave girl would have created. If the goal was to silence the message and make them go away quietly, the effect was the complete opposite.

"Lord, help me to never see the events only of the moment.  Instead give me the patience to see what great things you will do.  AMEN"

Acts 16:16-18

 Acts 16:16-18

We’re not told much about the girl who had the demon that allowed her to prophesy. We are not told her age or how she came to be in her condition, nor what became of her after she was set free. But what we do know is she was powerful. She had a spirit of divination, which was likely associated with Apollo, the god of prophecy. The word “divination” is from the word that gives us the English word “python”. At some point, perhaps, a girl believed that involvement with the demon or fortune-telling was an attractive good thing. But once in the coils of a python escape is all but impossible. When anyone, even a disciple, opens themselves up to the power of the demonic, they can find themselves bound and moving to deeper levels of darkness. To dabble with spiritism is forbidden for anyone who would know God.

She was a profitable slave who made a great deal of money for her owners by “fortune-telling”. This word is used in the Greek Old Testament to describe lying prophets. The lying prophets would spin enough truth in with deception to keep their patrons coming back for more. Motivated by fear and believing that the gods and the universe were a cruel place, the pagans rushed to anyone who might warn them about or help them manipulate the future. As disciples we do see that the world can be a cruel place, but we also know that Jesus has overcome the world. We do not need to attempt to manipulate the future because in each present moment, the Lord Jesus is the victor, and nothing in or out of time can defeat His good plan for us.

Why was Paul so annoyed by the slave girl’s proclamation? First, Paul understood that the demonic always has an evil agenda. What the demon said was true, but there was an evil intent behind it, and unchecked, the demon would turn the proclamation of this good news to evil. Second, consider the duels that have been fought to the death when an evil man has taken the liberty with a name and reputation of a good woman. The word of salvation is too holy for the profane mouth of a demon to speak. Finally, the Gospel is not advanced by a sideshow. The carnival chaos of this demon harangue would draw a crowd but would not make disciples. What about the girl? With her powers gone, did she try to regain them? Did she become a disciple? The Scriptures are silent on this, and that tells us all that we actually need to know.

“Lord, give me the wisdom and will to never dabble with the powers of darkness, no matter what the purpose.  AMEN

Acts 16:1-15

 Acts 16:1-15

Between the calling into ministry and circumcision of Timothy and the Macedonian call, there is a scene that is profoundly important but little noticed. It is the occasion where Jesus is saying “No.”. In verses 6-9 we see that the Lord directs Paul and his companions not to go somewhere and preach. They were traveling from east to west across the middle of what is now Turkey. To the north were cities and regions of unreached people. Nevertheless, God directs Paul and company not to go there. They finally come to the region of Mysia that is located at the northwest edge of Turkey, or what Luke calls Asia. Don’t miss this point: they were “forbidden” by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel in this region. This seems both strange and emphatic. They come to the end of Turkey to the city of Troas and are apparently waiting for instructions. Ultimately it is here that Paul receives what is known as the “Macedonian call.”.

It must have been confusing for Paul and company to have been on a missionary journey and being told not to preach. Before the vision we can wonder if Paul was frustrated and confused. Paul: “Lord, look at all these lost people. Let me tell them about your salvation.”. The Lord: “No, Paul, don’t preach here.” It is not like the Lord gave Paul the big picture of the mission to northern Greece. All he told Paul was, Don’t preach. Certainly Paul faithfully trusted, but we can wonder if he was also confused.

In hindsight we see two key reasons why the Lord refused to allow Paul to preach in that area. First, the expansion of the gospel into the Greek and Roman world is one of the great moments in all of history. The transition from east to west, from the Orient to Europe, was one of the great expansions of Christianity. Second, we see a change of pronouns between verses 9 and 10. There Luke transitions from “they” to “we”. The fact that we are reading the book of Acts and that we have read the Gospel of Luke is in part due to the fact that the Lord prevented Paul from ministering in northern Galatia. Because we can never see the big picture, we must always trust the one who does.

“Lord, when I don’t understand help me to trust. AMEN.”

Acts 15:22-41

Acts 15:22-41

After the letter of the Church Council, we have a story of the first church split. Paul and Barnabas had a major parting of the ways over the role of John Mark in their mission efforts. The disagreement is described as “sharp.”. The language Luke uses reflects an “excitement of the mind.”. This disagreement was intense, with both parties reaching a point at which they could not compromise or budge. Most of the time, scholars and Bible teachers who address this passage take one of two positions. First, this was both a regrettable event and behavior, but it was used by God to multiply the mission efforts, ultimately sending out two teams rather than just one. Second, there was nothing wrong or regrettable in this event, this parting of the ways. Paul and Barnabas both operated with the proper motive of love, and they only disagreed with strong opinions on function. They ultimately agree to disagree and pursue their own missions while mutually supporting each other. Without knowing the heart of Paul and Barnabas, we can’t say which of these interpretations is correct.

However, there is another point to be made here that is almost always missed. The greater context in which we find verses 36-41 is very important. Verses 36-40 could have been left out of the narrative without loss to the mission story that follows. The context of Acts 15 is about the doctrine of salvation by grace and the critical importance of unity on this fundamental point. There is an old saying that may reflect why Luke records this incident: “In matters of faith, unity; in matters of opinion, liberty; in all things, love.”. As soon as Luke concludes the passage about the unity of salvation by grace and not by works, he tells us of an allowable divergence within the function of the team of missionaries.

Oftentimes we have this upside down; we will tolerate very sloppy doctrine or theology while insisting that there is complete unity within the function or practice of the church. There are things about which we must never compromise, such as salvation by grace and not works. And there are matters about which we must allow the space and freedom for different sentiments. Ironically, we are often fighting over unimportant matters of opinion to the point that we don’t know what the truly important matters are.

“Lord, give me to wisdom to perceive what is a matter of faith and what is a matter of opinion,  AMEN”

Acts 15:1-21

 Acts 15:1-21

We love rules, at least the ones that we are good at keeping. Rules are comforting, and rules make us feel good when we keep them. Rules make us feel that we are pretty good people because we have done or not done something. It is important for us to advocate for the rules we keep and believe in, so that others can know that we are the good people. Almost as important as feeling good about ourselves is having others, especially those we like, feel good about us. The church has always had to be wary of falling into rule-keeping as the main objective. Law has its place; namely, it shows us that we are all lawbreakers, and as such we are lost and need a Savior. Law can never save us. Nevertheless, there are always those in the church who want to revert back to, or create new, lawkeeping. There is a direct correlation between how pride-filled, carnal, and worldly a Christian is and how much they will appeal to keeping rules as a means to prove or obtain justification. 

Theologically, this may be the most important chapter in the book of Acts. This watershed event sets the position of the church firmly on salvation by grace, not rule-keeping, and purity of heart by faith, not by ritual. Teaching the false gospel of salvation by deeds condemns any group, church, or teacher that does so as apostate. Interestingly, the council does give three general prohibitions about idols, fornication, and issues of blood. These restrictions are in regard to specific links to the demonic and merit special warnings. Which brings us to the place of holy living for a disciple. Righteous living will never save us from our past sins. But willful participation in sin or with the powers of darkness may lead us to the point of repudiating our Savior. We are not lost by our sins, but the sin nature wants to lead us to reject the One who can save us. So then love God with our whole being and out of that love live a life of good deeds as a thanks to God.

“Help me Lord, to never trust in keeping rules to save me.  Rather, help me live holy as an expression of love and thanks to You. AMEN”