Category: Band

Saul was there when the crowds stoned Stephen. He also led and took part in the great persecution that broke out amongst the Christians in Jerusalem. Now, having scattered the believers in several directions, he wanted to go to other cities as well to begin to bring those believers who had fled back to Jerusalem in chains.

Paul chose Damascus as a city where he knew that some of the believers – those of “The Way”, as they called the movement of Christ-followers at that time – had fled, so he went to the high priest to obtain permission and an endorsement that he could show to the priests in Damascus for his mission to imprison and lead the believers back to Jerusalem. But as he was on his way and nearing Damascus, Jesus appeared to him, knocking him down and blinding him with a bright light.

Jesus spoke to Saul, telling him that he is the one that Saul had been persecuting, but telling him little more. He only knew that he would be told what to do.

Meanwhile, interestingly, the people that were traveling with Saul didn’t see the light that had blinded Saul, nor did they see Jesus appear to him, although they did hear the voice. Jesus was very specific in getting Saul’s attention. Jesus specifically wanted Saul for the work that he would set him on. Not any person. Specifically Saul.

Now, as Saul enters Damascus, led by his companions who had gone with him to persecute the believers there, Jesus calls to one of those believers by the name of Ananias. Ananias already knew of Saul. The believers in Damascus had heard of him and knew that he was coming for him, and now Jesus was telling Ananias to go to him. Ananias, of course, has significant reservations, but in the end he is obedient and goes to pray for Saul who receives his sight, believes, is baptized, and receives the Holy Spirit.

So this morning, I was thinking of the evidence of the belief that we see in these two men. We don’t really know how Ananias came to believe in Christ, but I’m guessing that it happened at some point in Jerusalem, and now through the persecution, he has found himself here in Damascus, hiding away from Saul and the others who were persecuting him.

Meanwhile, it is clear how Saul comes to faith, as Jesus himself appears to him to make him believe and find faith.

But this morning, I was thinking that we see significant evidence of both of their faith. From Ananias’s perspective, he knew that he was putting himself in great danger by presenting himself to the man who was there in his city to imprison him. Yet he was obedient to what Jesus told him to do, even though it might mean that he would have to give up his freedom…and possibly also his life.

Meanwhile, Saul is now full of the Holy Spirit and goes into the synagogues to preach – what a change! Those that had been meant to receive him so that they could round up and imprison people of The Way are now the same ones that are hearing the Word of God. I can only imagine that Saul has much to learn, but that which he knows he is speaking. Not in private, but boldly to the people that he knows will be likely to persecute him now as a result of his preaching!

This is true evidence of the faith that these men are carrying. They do not believe a little bit. They haven’t added a little bit of a new religion to their daily lives. They are laying it all on the line. They are showing their faith in their actions. This is evidence of a faith that will last and that God will truly use.

In John 3, as Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus, he said that those who are born of the Holy Spirit are like the wind: you can hear the sound but you can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going. The Spirit moves as it pleases. As much as we might like it to do so, the Spirit doesn’t seem to follow specific rules or recipes about how it works or where it appears.

I was reminded of this again as I read Acts 8. Phillip was evangelizing in the area of Samaria and baptized many different people, including a man named Simon who was a sorcerer, a practitioner of magic arts. However, as several of those people were baptized, none of them received the Holy Spirit.

It wasn’t until Peter and John arrived later, having heard of many people believing in Samaria, that they laid their hands on those who had believed and they received the Holy Spirit.

If I’m speaking openly and honestly, passages like this confuse me at times. If they believed and were baptized in the name of Jesus, as the scripture says why did they not receive the Holy Spirit already before Peter and John arrived? There are certainly several passages that suggest that this is what we should expect to happen.

However, the telling of this story suggests a different scenario altogether.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:14-17

So how does it work? Honestly, I can’t say that I am specifically sure. The Holy Spirit seems to show up whenever it wants to show up. In this story, the Holy Spirit doesn’t enter the people until Peter and John lay their hands on the people. In Acts 10, the Holy Spirit comes before the people are even baptized. In short, it seems to move whenever it wants to move. It comes upon the people whenever it wants to come on the people. As Jesus said, you can hear the sound, but you can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going!

The disciples – now the apostles – had been continuing their work of proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah and carrying their message from house to house and in the temple courts. They were also dealing with persecution from the religious leaders in the Sannhedrin as well as healing people as a miraculous confirmation of what they had been teaching.

And then comes a problem within their own ranks, within the church, where one group of believers, those from a Hellenistic background, began to complain against those from the Jewish background, that their widows were being skipped in the distribution of food and assistance.

The apostles realized that they now have a dilemma. They could stop the work that they were doing and address this issue, or they could trust others to take on this work and manage it well to make sure that it was done correctly such that all of those that were in need would be cared for.

This was a problem in and of itself, of course, but at the same time, they saw a significant number of people who were coming to faith. So there were pressures there as well. The needs for the Gospel to be proclaimed were great as well. In fact, this story starts and ends with a statement that the number of disciples was growing.

The apostles decide that they absolutely must not neglect their time in prayer and their time in preaching and teaching the Gospel. This is their priority. They see that there is a great need for the people to understand who Jesus is. They see that people are coming to faith, and this must be the priority.

Yet they are also concerned that the widows with needs would be taken care of. Yes, the physical needs are important as well, but they can be done by others. They can entrust this work to other people, so amongst them they choose seven men who can do this work.

And what is the result? The widows were fed and the word of God continued to be spread across the city and across the area. And what is more, the disciples multiplied even more, even spreading into the priests where several began to believe.

Catch the right message

I want to make sure that, in this conversation, that we don’t miss an important component of what we read in Acts 6. Yes, the apostles chose these other seven men to manage the ministry to the widows. Yes, they did it well and it allowed the apostles to continue to dedicate themselves to prayer and preaching and teaching the word of God. And finally, yes, it did allow the number of disciples to grow, a beautiful result.

However, does that mean that those seven men were limited to that work? That was their job and their work stopped there?

Absolutely not.

Take a look at who the first man was that the apostles chose to serve the widows. It was Stephen.

Now take a look at who is highlighted next in teaching and is now being persecuted and opposed by the religious leaders. Also Stephen.

Frequently in the church, people are assigned a service job to care for physical needs and their work, either by themselves or by the person assigning them or both, is seen as their work. That their ministry wouldn’t or shouldn’t go beyond that task. But of course, that is exactly the opposite of what we see here in this case.

Stephen is a man that is being opposed by the religious leaders, not because of the work that he is doing in feeding the widows, but because of the preaching and teaching that he is doing. He has learned about Jesus as the Messiah and now he is going on to teach others the same thing, and this is the reason that he is being persecuted and opposed.

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

Acts 6:8-10

Let’s make sure that we connect the dots here. Stephen is not one of the apostles. He isn’t considered to be one of the main ones who is teaching. But he is repeating and sharing what he has learned from others, and in fact he is doing it so effectively that he has drawn the attention of the religious leaders who are now persecuting him as well as the apostles.

So the moral of the story, at least in how I am reading Acts 6 is this: God may want to use you in one way, but that does not mean that you are, or should be, limited to that way of serving. God wants you to be able to also share with others, to learn, for example, how to share the Gospel, and then give it away. To share your testimony of a life changed in Christ. To make disciples, sharing with others what Jesus said to do and who he said to be.

You are not limited to physical service. That is not your only ministry. Every one of us is called to testify to, and to make disciples of, Jesus Christ. Step into that calling that Jesus has given us. Do not be satisfied to allow someone else to do it for you. You are called to do this as well. Each and every one of us.

After the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples in Jerusalem, as we read yesterday in Acts 2, the disciples-now-apostles began to walk and live in the power of the Spirit, doing miracles amongst the people. Aside from the 3,000 people that were baptized on that first day of the Holy Spirit’s broad work here on the earth – an amazing miracle in and of itself! – the first miracle that we see is with Peter and John as they go to the temple for prayer.

As they are going up to the temple, they pass by the gate called “Beautiful” and in that place there was a man who had been lame and unable to walk since his birth. This man asks Peter and John for alms, for money. Peter looks at the man, tells the man to look at them, and then says:

“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

Acts 3:6

Peter is not a rich man. He has left everything to follow Jesus and is now living in Jerusalem without any real job to support him. However, what he does have is a life lived, and true personal experience, with the risen Son of God, with the Messiah himself. And through that experience, he has received the Holy Spirit who is able to heal the man from his infermity.

Peter has the opportunity in that moment to truly change the man’s life forever. He doesn’t leave the man at the gate to continue to beg for money. He gives the man a whole new life.

This is also what we are called to do. So often as followers of Jesus, we think that we are to serve and help someone eat, or have clothes, or to have a roof over their head. And of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with that.

But what if their life changed completely? What if these dear people no longer needed to ask for food, or lack shelter, or receive clothes to put on their back? What if the very thing that prevents them from having these things was completely changed.

What if this man’s legs suddenly began to work? That is exactly what happened. Peter takes the man by the hand, calls him to stand and walk, and that is what the man does. He stands and walks into the temple with Peter and John. Now the man, no longer needing to stay there outside at the gate, can go inside for the time of prayer. His life is completely changed.

This is what we are called to do. As people who follow Jesus, we are called to be agents of transformation here on the earth. God is working, but he seems to always work through people.

Today, as I read this story in Acts 3, I later read this quote from someone named “LaSor” in the Enduring Word online commentary for Acts 3. I really liked it:

It is not the Church’s business in this world to simply make the present condition more bearable; the task of the Church is to release here on earth the redemptive work of God in Christ.

I pray that this is who we would be. Because of our experience in living with the risen Lord…because of our experience in living a transformed life, we can go on to give away the same to others. We don’t want to just make this world more bearable. We want to give the people that we meet a whole new life, a life transformed in Christ.

Sometimes, we as human beings, with our limited understanding, can be very good at missing the point. We misunderstand the things that are happening around us, especially the spiritual things that are happening. We go about our daily lives thinking that we understand, even making decisions that we think are right, when all along we have been foolish, not taking the time to truly open our eyes and understand what is happening all around us in the context of what God is doing.

I think that is what is happening to the two disciples who are headed to Emmaus on the third day after Jesus was crucified on the cross. Let’s recount how we arrived at this place:

First, Jesus is crucified on Friday.

Then, on Saturday, the sabbath, they don’t do anything except observe the sabbath, staying home and resting.

On Sunday, several of the women amongst the disciples wake up early and head to the tomb. They have an encounter with angels who tell them that Jesus is not there, but he is alive. Peter and John run to the tomb to see, but they don’t find him, so they are left a bit stupified about what is going on.

And now, knowing all of this, plus knowing that Jesus had told them that he was going to be raised on the third day, these two disciples give up and head out of town to Emmaus. They are frustrated, and it seems that they have given up. In fact, as Jesus joins them on the road, they ask him a very ironic question:

“Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

Luke 24:18

Cleopas, the one who asks the question, knows the specific events that have happened. He knows that Jesus was betrayed by one of their own group. He knows that Jesus was tried by Pilate, found to be innocent, and then sent to his execution anyway. He knows what Jesus had told them would happen and what Jesus had told them to do.

But then they give up. He and his partner decide that it isn’t worth it anymore. They are out of here.

And in truth, I think it would have been fair of Jesus to ask him the same question in return. Maybe he might have said:

Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what has happened in these days?

These two disciples should have known better. Jesus had been explaining to them all along what was happening, and yet they couldn’t understand it. Or maybe we could say that they wouldn’t understand it.

The Jews were expecting a Messiah that would come and restore Israel back to its former glory. To overthrow the empire of Rome and return the nation of Israel back to its former state.

But that isn’t at all what Jesus’s plan was and he calls the disciples foolish for being slow to believe what he has been telling them. So he starts over, and Jesus begins to explain the story to them…again. He starts with Moses, and then works through all of the Prophets, and explains to them that the Messiah was to come to save the people from their sins and to establish a new type of kingdom, the kingdom of God.

Not the kingdom of Israel. The kingdom of God.

The kingdom that God had desired to establish all along.

Jesus opens their minds and gives them insight to help them understand the scriptures, to help them understand what has been happening around them and to them all along.

How often do we do the same? Not until after something is over do we look back and realize what was truly happening.

There is a saying that says that hindsight is 20/20, meaning that we can see perfectly when we look at something behind us. But when it comes to the things of God, the time is now.

Let us learn from the mistakes of these disciples. Let us stop and read what the scriptures have to say. Only in this way can we begin to understand what is happening around us. Let us not be blinded by the many voices around us, or even the voices in our own minds telling us that we understand what is happening and that we have insight and wisdom from which we can act. Let us instead understand the times in the context of history and the movement of God. He is working and he is finishing his plan. Let us not waste this gift of time that we have been given and instead use it for eternal glory given to God.

The chief priests in Jerusalem brought Jesus to Pilate. They told Pilate that he needed to kill Jesus, accusing him of being an insurrectionist, accusing him of telling the people to not pay taxes to Rome, and accusing him of being the king that would overthrow the Roman government.

Of course, Jesus didn’t say that he would do any of these things. Instead, the Jews twisted his words to make him sound as if he were saying things that he didn’t say.

To his credit, Pilate examines Jesus and even goes through the “proper channels” of sending Jesus to be interrogated by Herod, the governor over the region of Galilee, but in the end, he finds no guilt in Jesus.

Twice, Pilate goes back to the chief priests and says that he is not guilty. In fact, he says that he doesn’t even find a basis for a charge against Jesus:

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.

Luke 23:13-14

In the case, Pilate declares that not only is Jesus not guilty, he says that he doesn’t even find a reason to charge Jesus with a crime. He is innocent!

The difference of innocence

Of course, from a spiritual perspective, the judgment of Pilate makes little difference. The judgment of man is frequently wrong and off-base. In fact, in Luke chapter 23, we see that Pilate later decides to pacify the people and kill Jesus anyway, despite his pronouncement of innocence of Jesus. Clearly this is a wrong judgment. Innocent people shouldn’t die.

Beyond this, the Jewish leaders also used wrong judgment. In their zealousness and jealousy, they created charges against Jesus out of their lies and twisting of the truth.

So, we shouldn’t solely make spiritual decisions based on the actions and judgments of men, just as we see that we shouldn’t based on the judgments of the men in this story. However, it is instructive that Pilate doesn’t find a reason to charge Jesus with a crime because it lends to the credibility of Jesus’s claim of being a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus’s death despite his innocence makes all of the difference.

If Jesus wasn’t innocent, if he wasn’t without sin, his death would be just like any of the rest of us. He would die because he was guilty. But he wasn’t guilty. He didn’t sin. Instead, he was innocent. And because he was innocent, his death could be one sacrifice for all.

Innocent blood is being sacrificed. One sacrifice that would suffice for all who would put their faith and trust in that sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins. Jesus as the Innocent One, takes the wrath and punishment from God for the sins that each of us have committed upon himself. As the Innocent One, Jesus becomes the sacrifice that is substituted for our crimes, our sins, so that we can live.

Jesus routinely attracted people to himself who wanted to know how they could be justified before God, how they could go to heaven. In this particular case, there was a young man who was rich who came to Jesus asking this very question:

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”, he asked.

Jesus begins to talk about the commandments that God has given in what we would today call the Ten Commandments and the man affirms that he has kept all of these commandments, even from when he was a young boy.

But Jesus tells him that he is missing something…

What could it be? Finally, the man may have been thinking, I will understand what I really need to do! I knew something was missing, even though I have been keeping God’s commandments, the man may have thought.

Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Luke 18:22

The young man’s face falls and he becomes sad. He couldn’t do that. That is a step much too far.

Let’s get the right lesson

What is it that Jesus was actually trying to teach the man?

Was he saying that you cannot be rich and go to heaven? No, I don’t think that this was the lesson. King David, while also a sinner, was a rich man and God called him a man after his own heart.

Is the lesson that we must do social justice and through this work we can go to heaven? No, this isn’t the lesson either. The last instruction from Jesus to the man is to follow him, so the issue really isn’t giving money to the poor. Giving the money is just a step in the right direction of following Jesus.

So what is it? What is it that Jesus is really saying that the man lacks?

The problem with this man is that his heart is divided. He loves his life. He loves his wealth. He wants a little bit of God, but he wants all that he has as well. He wants his life AND what God has to offer.

But the problem is this: God does not want to share us. He doesn’t want just a part of us. He wants all of us.

Jesus wants this man to act like the man in the parable that Jesus recounted in Matthew 13. He said that the kingdom of God was like a treasure that a man found in a field and, with joy, went and sold everything that he owned to buy the field and obtain the treasure. Jesus wants this rich man to act like the man in the parable. He wants the man to recognize that eternal life is worth everything that the man has to offer. It is worth selling everything to obtain that treasure. He wants the man to give himself completely to Jesus.

But the man won’t do it. When he looks at the treasure in the field, in this case inheriting eternal life, he doesn’t think it is worth it. Instead, he has decided to believe that his riches today are worth much more than living with God forever.

And for us?

It might be easy for us to criticize this man. How could he be so stupid? Doesn’t he realize that he is turning down an opportunity to live eternally? How short-sighted could he be?

But don’t we do the exact same thing?

Don’t we make decisions every day based on short-term thinking?

Don’t we often value the things of today instead of eternity?

My physical life of a few short years instead of my spiritual life of eternity?

Yes, of course we do. We frequently live like this rich young man. We frequently think like him.

Let’s instead live like the man who found the treasure in the field. Let’s live like the one who values the kingdom of God above all other things. Let’s live as a people who are willing to sell it all, give it to the poor, and go and follow Jesus wherever he may lead.

Most of us don’t realize that we need to repent.

“I’m pretty good,” I might think. Or, “I’m certainly not as bad as that other guy,” and in the eyes of other people, that might be correct.

But there are some important things that we need to remember. While we might think that other people are the ones that we need to impress, they are not. Other people will pass away just like we will. God is the only one that will continue on and last forever. He and his kingdom will never pass away.

And knowing this, it becomes even more important that we understand what king David said in Psalm 5:

The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong;

Psalm 5:5

If we truly believe what David says here, then we should immediately be concerned. He says that anyone who does wrong, anyone who sins, is hated by God. That doesn’t mean anyone who sins a lot, God hates. It means, if you have done wrong…you are hated by God.

In fact, it gets worse. If you are arrogant, you can’t stand in God’s presence.

And I think that this is the crux of what it means to come before God. We each have sinned. No doubt about that. And we each deserve punishment for our sin. No doubt about that either. But as we come before God in our sinfulness, are we arrogant? Or are we repentant? That is what makes all of the difference.

When God sent Jesus, he sent a man named John the Baptist to go before Jesus and call people to prepare the way for Jesus to come. And what was John’s message? He called the people to repentance. Their repentance would be the attitude, the only attitude and state of their heart, that would allow Jesus to be known to the people. Without repentance, they couldn’t know him.

Jesus preached a similar message. Over and over he called the people to repentance and through his calling them and their repentance, they could approach him. Look at the message of the parable of the prodigal son:

The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Luke 15:21-22

Jesus tells this story, this parable, showing that this younger son was repentant of what he had done. He had taken half of his father’s wealth, gone to a distant land where he wasted the money on drinking and on prostitutes, and then returned back home because he was out of options. He could no longer eat, and this drove him to repentance, to admit his sin, and to even ask his father to become one of his servants instead of being accepted back into the family as the father’s son.

But the father wouldn’t hear it. He immediately called his servants to set up and throw a party. He was so excited that his son came home, so excited that he came in repentance and not in arrogance, so excited that he was lost but now was found again.

So God puts an incredibly high value on repentance. He doesn’t want, and won’t put up with, arrogance that suggests that we are in the right. We are not. He knows it, and we know it. But someone that will approach him in repentance, he will immeditately accept him and rejoice over him!

Jesus had sent out his disciples to the various villages where he was going to proclaim that the Kingdom of God was near. When he did so, he gave them the power to heal the sick, to raise the dead, and to drive out demons and when the disciples returned, they rejoiced together because the disciples were successful in their mission and were able to drive out demons, just as Jesus had been doing and gave them the power to do.

Jesus even went on to say that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. He saw Satan’s downfall in the midst of the work that the disciples were doing.

But then Jesus goes on to explain to the disciples that it is important that they rejoice for the right things. Yes, they have the power to drive out demons, but this isn’t the main reason that they should be happy and rejoice:

However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Luke 10:20

Jesus knows that it is easy for people to be confused. We get excited about the possibility of riches. We get excited about popularity and fame. And we get excited about power. These are the things that our hearts easily chase after, and Jesus knows this to be true.

I think that this is why he tells his disciples that they should not rejoice that the spirits submit to them, but instead that they should be excited that they will be in heaven with him.

To be with him, to have eternal life, to be able to live forever enjoying to the presence and glory of God – these are the things for which we should rejoice. Money, fame, and power are all fleeting. We will one day die. All of us. 100% of us. And the money, the fame, and the power that we have experienced here on earth, or not, will mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. But those things that have eternal significance will be the things that will live on because the life of our spirits will be eternal, in heaven with Christ.

This morning, as I read Luke 8, I was struck by verse 14. It says:

The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

Luke 8:14

Jesus is explaining the parable that he gave to the crowds about the four different types of soil where the farmer had scattered the seed. In this particular case, it was the third soil where the seed was scattered and then took root and grew. So far so good!

But as the seed grew, there were weeds and thorns that surrounded it and choked the plant. Jesus said that those weeds and thorns are the things that we worry about in life – our riches, our pleasures.

This struck me for two reasons.

First, I see it everywhere. Whether it is in the US or here in Sicily where I live, I see it. Whether you speak of someone who is already rich, or you speak of someone who is poor and wants to become rich. I see it. Whether you speak of people in the church or outside of it, I see it.

The Word of God, and what it tells us to be or to do, is routinely choked out by the things of this world. As a people, we are much more concerned about our riches or our status in these few years that we have here on this earth than we are living for eternity.

The second reason that this struck me is that I see it in myself. I get worried about our finances. I get worried about whether or not we will be able to do something or not do something. I get worried… And this is, as they say, a long step off of a short pier. It doesn’t take much to lose focus on the things that matter, those things of eternal value. It is easy to do, so I must continue to focus on what God has to say so that I don’t become entangled in the thorns of this life and become choked out by those things that are temporary here on earth.

I am, instead, inspired by what Paul had to say in his letter to the Philippians. He said:

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:21

Paul is indifferent to the things of the world. He knows the supreme and everlasting power of living in the Kingdom of God. He understands that there is one thing to live for, and that is Christ. Everything else is second, and in fact, if he is killed for what he is living for, that is even better. The world has no hold upon him.

This is how I want to live and the attitude that I want to carry with me each day. God help me to live in this way and not be choked out by the temptations of the things of this world!