Engaging Scripture

How to listen to sermons (or any teaching from the Bible) – Acts 17, Part 2

In the summer between my sophomore and junior year of college, I was on a college ministry team that traveled around the Northeast USA spending 10 weeks ministering at summer camps. One week we served at Camp Berea in Maine. Camp Berea gets its name from the people we’re going to meet today as we continue studying Acts 17. Why? Because the description of the people in Berea is what the camp wanted its campers to become: good listeners of sermons.

Really? A camp wanted its campers to be good listeners of sermons? Well, kinda. Keep reading, and I think you’ll see what I’m getting at.

In the previous post, we learned that Paul and Silas were forced to leave the city of Thessalonica under cover of night. They travel to Berea, about 45 miles, a full day’s walk. There they enter the Jewish synagogue, and something extraordinary happens. See for your self in Acts 17:11-12.

What was so extraordinary in Berea? The people!

First, the Bereans were of more noble character.

Second, they received the message with great eagerness.

Third, they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Here we have a wonderful example of how to listen to sermons, to teachings, to posts on social media or any place we hear the teaching of the Word of God. As pastor and teacher, I have to admit that there is part of me that gets a little nervous about people who are like the Bereans. I can think, “What if they find a mistake in my sermons? What if their understanding of a passage is superior to mine?” Believe me, both of those have happened, more often than I care to admit.

At Faith Church, we have worship first, and classes afterwards. One of our classes is sermon discussion group, and I love it. I don’t prepare for sermon discussion class. Instead it is an open discussion where anyone can attend and talk further about the sermon. I have two goals in the 45 minutes allotted for sermon discussion class: 1. Talk about the Scripture passage and 2. Seek to apply the scriptural principles from the passage to our actual lives. I usually start by asking, “What’s on your mind? What questions or concerns or comments do you have about the passage?” From there sermon discussion is a freewheeling flow of thought that can take us all over the biblical, theological, and cultural landscape, sometimes far from the main themes of the sermon, including people sometimes pointing out my mistakes! You know what? I’m okay with that. In my way of thinking, that’s very much in keeping with what the Bereans were doing in Acts 17. Listening, thinking, researching, questioning, discussing. These are the raw materials for deep learning.

Notice how the Bereans respond to Paul in verse 11. Did the Bereans receive the message with great skepticism, with mistrust, or with a critical spirit? No, they received it with great eagerness! Do you think that would make a difference? I can tell you from the perspective of one who does teaching, including when the students point out my mistakes, and maybe especially when they point out mistakes, it makes a great difference when the students are eager to learn!

Are you eager to receive the word? What the Bereans demonstrate is a teachable heart. Can you say that you have a heart that is teachable, ready to learn what God is saying to you in his word?

Sadly, after that initial great response of eagerness from the people in Berea, things go south. Look at verses 13-15. The Jews from Thessalonica show up in Berea and stir up the crowds against Paul. So Paul heads to Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy in Berea with instructions to meet him as soon as possible.

Be like the Bereans, eager to receive the word. Be willing to do the work of testing what you hear. It is a tricky balance between trust and accountability. I’d like to believe you can trust that what I write here is faithful to the Scriptures, but I also invite you to ask questions, to research for yourself, and let me know if you disagree or find mistakes I’ve made.

Also, I encourage you study God’s word with other people. At Faith Church, this is why we have sermon discussion class and small groups. It is highly likely that what the Bereans were doing in groups. Be eager to study God’s word within a community, a church family.

Why is it so hard to talk about religion? – Acts 17, Part 1

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How do you feel talking about Jesus or about religion? Do you find it easy or difficult to talk with others about these topics?

When it come to talking about Jesus, I had a bit of a reality check this week. As a pastor, you can imagine that I talk about Jesus a lot, but something happened that had me feeling nervous about talking. Faith Church’s Outreach Team made gift baskets that anyone in the church could give to neighbors and friends, simply to encourage people during the pandemic. I ordered three of the baskets to give to my neighbors. I also ordered 6-7 more to give to the neighbors around the church who I’ve met over the years, including some neighbors who have newly moved in this year. The Outreach Team made the baskets, and they looked great, filled with candy and items to spread joy during the pandemic. It was a great way to connect with people.

But when I saw the baskets on the floor of the church lobby, waiting to be picked up and delivered, I realized I now would actually have to give mine out. Part of me didn’t want to! Part of me started feeling like I wished I hadn’t asked for the baskets. I love the idea, but I realized now I would have to do something about it, and that shy, introverted side of me was feeling squeamish. I would have to go a bit outside my comfort zone, walk up to neighbors’ homes, ring their doorbells, and talk with them. Have you ever felt that unease? I wonder how much of that is an inner desire for the mission of God to be easy or convenient.

But we don’t live in the days of years past when the mission of God was a more common part of our culture. In the past, you could build a church building, and people would fill it up almost naturally. Or in more recent years, if a church had great kids programs and music, it seemed people would join the church. But our culture has been changing, rapidly. In October 2019 the Pew Research Center reported that “the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular,’ now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.” From 17% to 26% in ten years! We live in a culture in transition. How do we respond to that?

One way to respond is to pray for revival. This past year I studied the Great Awakenings in American history in the 1700s and 1800s, when the Spirit was at work for revival and thousands of people came to Christ. I am part of the Evangelical Congregational Church, and our predecessor denomination was formed in the early 1800s during the Second Great Awakening. Today Christians would love for God to bring revival again, and we are right to pray for it. But until that time, we must face the reality that our culture that is rapidly changing, and we have to think about how to share the good news of Jesus in a way that makes sense to that culture. So what do we do? Interestingly, the Christians in the early church faced a similar situation.

Last week in Acts chapter 16, we studied Paul & Silas’ missionary adventures, culminating in a very dramatic situation in the city of Philippi. Chapter 17 picks up where 16 concluded, and there we’ll see how Paul ministers in a very unchristian culture. How he speaks to his culture is very instructive for us as we seek to tell the story of Jesus in our culture.

First, we read that Paul and Silas travel to Thessalonica (vs. 1-9), which is in modern-day Greece and is still a bustling city today. There you can also visit ancient Roman ruins dating back to Paul’s day. As was his custom, in Thessalonica Paul heads first for the Jewish synagogue, sharing with the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah the Jewish people had long been waiting for. Some believed, as did some Greeks, including some prominent women.

What happens next is becoming a pattern in the book of Acts. The Jews who don’t believe become jealous and they start trouble. I find it interesting that the Jews say the apostles were causing trouble “all over the world” (vs. 6). Talk about exaggeration. Isn’t that so like us humans, to make things sound way worse than they really are, a tactic we utilize when we’re trying to prove our point?

Notice what the Jews claim was the crime the apostles committed (vs. 7): “They are defying Caesar’s decree, saying there is another king, one called Jesus.” While it is true that the Jews are jealous and exaggerating, in making this charge, they are right on the money. Defying Caesar’s decree is exactly what Paul was doing, saying that Jesus is the one true king. This is a serious claim, as the Jews well know, because if proven, it was a violation that could lead to the death penalty for Paul. The Roman Caesars were generally intolerant of contenders to their throne, and they made laws against such things. What the Jews are doing is saying that Paul has committed treason, and thus you can understand why it whips the crowd into a frenzy.

As a result Paul and Silas flee leave the city under cover of night (vs. 10). Stayed tuned. The story of Acts 17 will unfold, following the apostles as they continue traveling and talking about Jesus. How Paul, in particular, chooses to talk about Jesus will be very helpful.

For me, I let those gift baskets sit for a few days. Once the weekend neared, I finally mustered up the courage to drive them around to the church neighbors. And then on Saturday handed out a couple to my own neighbors. I will admit that the deadline of Sunday loomed over me. I didn’t want to tell the story of baskets without a resolution. If someone asked, “Well…did you hand them out?” I wanted to be able to say, “Yes!” I wish I didn’t have to admit that I wasn’t 100% eager to give out the baskets. Looking back on it, I feel embarrassed a bit. It wasn’t like I was doing anything other than blessing people with a small gift. How hard could that be? Why did I make it so difficult?

Maybe you’ve experienced similar thoughts and feelings. I’d be interested in hearing your stories. What convicts me is the reality that because I believe in the good news of Jesus, and the ramifications of that good news for people to have abundant life now and eternal life after death, then I should be much more passionate about sharing the good news. What do you think?

What we will see is that Paul, in Acts 17, continues to be passionate about talking with people about Jesus, and he does something that is uniquely creative that I believe we can learn from. More on that as we continue studying Acts 17 in the next posts!

Make the choice to rejoice – Acts 16, Part 5

*Photo by Jonathan Sebastiao on Unsplash*

Our study through Acts 16 has been filled with drama, and in the final verses, 35-40, there’s one more dramatic loose end to tie up. Though the local magistrates give Paul and Silas their freedom, Paul says, “No. We’re staying.” What? He voluntarily stays in prison? Why? Paul is making a point, letting the magistrates know that this whole process was not handled properly. Paul is advocating for justice. As Roman Citizens, they should not have been beaten and thrown in prison without a trial. And yet that’s what happened. The magistrates had treated them very unjustly. Paul suspects the magistrates know this, and want to sweep the injustice under the rug and just have Paul and Silas leave.

Paul says, “No way.” Paul knows that it isn’t right, and justice must be given. Additionally, think about the ramifications of this situation to the new group of Christians there in Philippi. If their church was started by a guy who was punished as a criminal, imagine what that could do to the church? It could delegitimize them. Paul doesn’t just want to be free, he wants the whole city to know that he and Silas should never have been in prison, which will give the fledgling church a clean record. So he says, “No way, we’re staying here until the magistrates themselves come in person and escort us out.” It seems that Paul is going for a solution that would atone for the injustice. In other words, by coming in person and escorting them out, the magistrates would be forced to admit their fault for all to see, thus exonerating Paul and Silas. And that is exactly what happened.

The magistrates do ask Paul and Silas to leave the city, however, which I find a bit humorous. The magistrates want peace, and upheaval seems to follow Paul wherever he goes. It is the righteous upheaval of the Kingdom of Jesus bring truth and justice to the brokenness of society. People can become so accustomed to injustice, thinking it is normal, that when Jesus breaks in, it can feel like he is messing things up, when actually he is making things right. So after meeting with the new Christians at Lydia’s house, Paul and Silas leave.

As we have seen through Acts 16, Paul and Silas’ visit to Philippi shows us a stark example of the difference that Jesus makes, particularly when we go through difficult times. Can we rejoice during the upheaval of 2020? How are supposed to rejoice in the midst of difficulty?

“Rejoice in the Lord, always, and again I say, rejoice!” (Philippian 4:4) Paul wrote that while in chains on house arrest! Just as he and Silas prayed and sang to God after being beaten and thrown in prison.

We can learn to rejoice in all circumstances. It is a choice we must make, to rejoice even when we don’t feel like it. I get how hard this can be. And yet we can practice it. Our circumstances do not need to rule us.

And here is the beautiful thing, people are hungry for joy. We crave it. Let us be known as the ones who choose joy. Let us be so filled with the joy of the Lord, that it can’t help but flow out.

What will I tell my grandkids in the coming years when they study 2020 in their history classes? Will I tell them that it was horrible and awful and terrible? I hope I tell them the truth about the difficulties, but I also will remember the campfires with friends and the laughter. I will remember the Zoom sessions with my classmates in my doctoral program, just laughing. I will think with joy about the additional family time.

I will share with my grandkids about the hardships that we faced and yet brought to light in our world. I look forward to the resolutions for racial justice I can share with them that by that time have come to pass. I am expectant of good things coming to light in the midst of such pain for so many. I am expectant of redemption, and that brings joy and praise in the midst of pain and sorrow. Remember joy is not the same as happiness. Joy can be felt and experienced in the midst of deep pain and difficulty.

We see in this passage the transformative ability of joy. We read that joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit, as Paul taught in Galatians 5. When we are so filled with the joy of the Lord, it flows naturally out of our lives, even in times of difficulty. And that joy has power to transform the darkness, just as we saw in Philippi.

When you and I are joyful in the midst of pain and hardship, God is not only at work in us, but also through us. I recently saw photos of a baptismal set up at the sight of George Floyd’s death; there was singing, there was rejoicing, and there were people seeking Jesus and coming to know him. They were being baptized. That is deep joy in the midst of deep pain. It does not mean that the struggles are over. But joy was found in the midst of it.

A person is baptized at the site where George Floyd was killed on Memorial Day at the hands of police officers. Several groups are holding daily services at that location offering hope and healing.

How can you bring the transformative joy of the Lord into the darkness? I know that there is a time to weep, to cry, to lament. Those are needed and good. But we also need to see there is a time for joy! And joy can be found in the midst of difficult times. Joy does not mean all is well. Joy does not mean conflict is done. Joy is from the Lord. It is deep, it is strength. “The Joy of the Lord is my Strength.” No matter what is coming next in our world, in our homes, let’s remember to rejoice in the Lord.

How to have hope even when it seems all is lost – Acts 16, Part 4

Have you ever lost hope? You might know the feeling, either from something in real life when disaster has struck, or maybe you had one of those vivid nightmares that seem totally real, and you wake up, sweating, heart racing, so thankful it was just a dream. The loss of hope can cause us to despair. But it is possible to have hope, even when it seems all is lost.

We see this in numerous ways in the next section of Acts 16. The apostles have been beaten and thrown in jail, then something unexpected happens. If you have a Bible, please read Acts 16 verse 26.

An earthquake breaks the apostles out of jail! Amazing. Simply amazing.

Except that one person there didn’t think it was so amazing. Now read verses 27-28. The jailer does not think this is amazing. If you’re the jailer, when the earthquake hits, and you see the prison doors open, you’re thinking one thing: “My life is over.” Why? In fact, the jailer is so distraught, he draws his sword to take his own life at this moment. Clearly he is thinking that the open doors of the prison mean that the prisoners have escaped. You and I might respond to him, “Wait a minute, buddy, this was no fault of your own. This was, in contemporary insurance lingo, an act of God. No one’s going to hold you to that. I mean, how could you have done anything to prepare for, or avert, an earthquake? Calm down, man.”

If we are thinking that way, we aren’t understanding the expectations of that culture. In the Roman system, if a jailer or guard lost a prisoner, that jailer or guard’s life would be demanded in his place. So rather than go through the indignity of being killed, the jailer apparently thinks he is just going to get it over with. It is hard, maybe, to put ourselves in his shoes, but that is how emotional he is, assuming that all is lost.

But all is not lost. In fact, nothing was lost. So Paul quickly calls out, telling the jailer, “Don’t harm yourself!,” because all the prisoners are still in there. When I read Paul saying that in verse 28, I think, “Really? Not a single prisoner took off?” I don’t know what is more amazing: that Paul and Silas were praying and singing while in suffering, or that an earthquake blew open the doors of the prison and loosed their chains, or that none of the prisoners fled the scene.

Why did the prisoners stay put? We don’t know. Some people have speculated that Paul and Silas made sure all the prisoners remained. The text doesn’t say that though.

As you can imagine, the jailer is dumbfounded, incredulous, and quite happy. See for yourselves by reading verses 29-34. The situation shook him to the core, and falling before the Apostles, he asks them what he needs to do to be saved. Saved? What did he mean by that?

Look at verse 17 again. Remember the slave girl possessed by the Spirit? She kept yelling out that these men, Paul and Silas, were servants of the Most High God who can tell people the way to be saved. That is exactly what Paul and Silas were doing, day after day, in Philippi. My guess is that word had gotten around about the message that Paul and Silas were preaching, the message of good news in Jesus, of what being saved meant. The way Luke tells the story, it seems likely that the jailer lived near enough to the prison that he could have heard as Paul and Silas were praying and singing, after being beaten, after being thrown in chains. Did their choice to pray and sing in the midst of difficulty make an impact on the jailer, if he heard them? It seems to me it must have. I can imagine the jailer thinking, “Clearly these Jesus people are different. They get treated so miserably, and yet they pray and sing?” The other prisoners hearing them were probably thinking, “Either these guys are off their rockers, or Jesus makes a major impact on the lives of people.”

And then the earthquake wrecked the jail, and the prisoners stay put. Imagine going from the horrible certainty of thinking that your life is over, to the hard-to-believe surprise that your life is actually not over, because all of the prisoners are still there! That’s what the jailer is experiencing, and his conclusion is that the apostles have the true story about life. These guys are different from anything he has previously encountered. Whatever this Jesus and salvation is that they are talking about, he wants to know more. He wants what they have. So he asks for salvation, and the apostles share the gospel to him and his whole house.

The jailer washes their wounds from the beating. Then he and his whole family are baptized, immediately. With a new joy in his heart, he invites the apostles into his house for a meal. It is an astounding turn of events.

The story concludes with even more good news, and we’ll learn about that in the next post.

For now, I wonder if you know the hope of salvation in Jesus? What the jailer in this story found, you can have too. Comment below if you’d like to learn more!

How to respond when your world is suddenly shattered – Acts 16, Part 3

Have you had one of those days where things are going so well, and all of a sudden, something happens and your life is turned upside-down? Maybe it is when the boss walks in, says “We’re letting you go, please turn in your key and company credit card, and collect your things.” Maybe it is a close friend who says, “I’m moving away.” Maybe it is a bad report from the doctor.

As we learned in the previous post on Acts 16, Paul & Silas and their missionary friends journey to the city of Philippi, and things are going wonderfully. Read verses 16-24, because things are about to take a turn for the worst.

The apostles, we read, encounter a slave girl who had a spirit enabling her to predict the future. Scholars tell us that she was essentially a fortune-teller, and her owners profited greatly off of her ability.

She decides to follow the apostles and their friends, shouting that they are servants of God, and that they have the message of how to be saved. Imagine that scene! That had to be super awkward for Paul and Silas. They wanted everyone to become followers of Jesus, so did they try to gently ask her to stop? Or were they glad she was telling the truth. Did they view this as help or a hindrance? Did they discuss among themselves what they should do? Did she cause a commotion? It’s a strange situation.

After a few days of this, Paul clearly views this as a hindrance, and he turns to the slave girl and commands the spirit to leave her. Immediately the spirit is gone. The power of light over the power of darkness! She was free! Good news, right? Wrong.

Now that her abilities were gone, her masters could no longer profit from her. They are angry! Her owners take drastic action, essentially performing a citizen’s arrest on Paul and Silas, accusing them of unlawfulness before the local magistrates. Paul and Silas are stripped and beaten with a severe flogging, and thrown in jail, with their feet in stocks. This is awful, awful stuff.

When I envision Paul and Silas in that prison, I think of images from Sunday school lessons that I heard as a child. I have those images in my mind, and usually Paul and Silas are sitting on the floor, feet in stocks, but they don’t have any wounds. In verse 23, we read that they took a severe flogging. This is similar to what Jesus received before his crucifixion. We need to see Paul and Silas with blood all over them, hurting badly, probably in pain every move they make.

Paul and Silas are in a really bad predicament, but in verse 25, we read something astounding: they are praying and singing to God.

Come on. Really? Singing at that moment? Think about it. Falsely accused, beaten to a pulp, thrown in prison, feet in stocks, and why? Because they are serving the Lord! But they are still praying and singing to him?

When I have the smallest medical problem, I can start to think that my life is ending. That might sound dramatic, and I suppose it is to a degree, but I have to admit that can really allow my thoughts to get out of control. Near the beginning of quarantine, I started having a cough, and my mind went down a dark path. I thought, I must have Covid-19, and this is the end of. Then I heard the reports about younger people, including people who were physically active, getting Covid and dying fast. And my mind and emotions spiral. Have you ever experienced that?

Yet here are Paul and Silas, in the middle of their pain, in prison having been beaten badly, and they are praying and singing hymns! When you read that word, “hymns,” it is not referring to a particular genre of songs, as if they had hymn books. In fact the original language doesn’t tell us what genre they were singing at all. This phrase is better translated simply “they were singing.”

So what kinds of songs were Paul and Silas were they singing? We don’t’ know. Might have been psalms. It is possible that they were singing psalms of lament, crying out to God to rescue them. Or maybe they were singing psalms of praise. They might have been singing new songs that the Christians had created. The biblical scholars who study the text of the New Testament find a number of passages that are possibly lyrics from some of these early songs.

Speculate with me a bit here: since Paul and Silas are in Philippi, wouldn’t it be cool if they were singing a song that Paul writes about in his later letter to the Philippian church? Is there such a song in the letter to the Philippians? There almost certainly is: Philippians 2:5-11. A song about Jesus and the victory of Jesus! When Paul and Silas are stuck in prison, perhaps they were singing about the victory of Jesus! Interestingly to me at least, in his letter to the Philippians, Paul mentions rejoicing a lot! Eight times, in fact; more than any of his other letters, including the famous Philippians 4:4, where he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice!”

And get this…guess where Paul was when he wrote the letter to the Philippians? In chains again. He says so in Philippians 1:13-14, which took place years later in a different city, and was likely house arrest and not prison. But he was still in chains.

Isn’t that interesting? Paul’s interaction with the Philippian Christians potentially involves a lot of rejoicing while in chains. Perhaps in the prison that night in Philippi, and certainly later in his letter, Paul is almost certainly teaching by his example and by his writing that it is possible to rejoice in the midst of suffering.

In the next few posts we’ll talk more about how it is possible to rejoice in the midst of suffering, but first, something unexpected happens to Paul and Silas, and we’ll find out what that is in the next post!

Do you struggle to hear from God’s Spirit? – Acts 16, Part 2

Have you ever wished God could just be like Siri or Google, at your beck and call for answers and guidance whenever you need help? We Christians believe that God is always present with us, and in fact, that the Holy Spirit lives within us. There is plenty of teaching in the Bible that God speaks through his Word, through the Spirit, through nature and many other ways. But as you read that, maybe you’ve wondered why it can feel like God’s communication is so inconsistent. If you’ve thought something like that, you’re not alone.

As we continue following Paul and Silas on their missionary journey in Acts 16, in this post we next read verses 6-10, and what we find is that this section features the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit keeps them from preaching in Asia (verse 6). The Spirit would not allow them to enter Bithynia (verse 7). Paul then has a vision of a man from Macedonia (verse 9), which they conclude is a message from God calling them to preach there. Amazing. In these verses it seems like the Spirit is obviously right there, and we compare that to our lives, and we can feel like the Spirit is distant or confusing or mysterious.

To me the questions are twofold: what should we expect from the Spirit? And what should we expect of ourselves as listeners of the Spirit? What I’m getting at is this: should we expect the Spirit to always speak so clearly to us as he does to Paul? My answer is no, because even in the book of Acts, the Spirit doesn’t guide Paul every single time.

Remember last week and the Jerusalem Council? When faced with a difficult decision, how did they church decide what to do? Did the Spirit speak to them? Let’s scan through that chapter to see how the Spirit was involved. In Acts 15:2, Paul and Barnabas were appointed by the church in Antioch to travel to Jerusalem to deliver their concern. No mention of the Spirit. In verses 6-7, the leaders in Jerusalem met and had much discussion. Still no mention of the Spirit. In Acts 15:19, James says, “It is my judgment.” In Acts 15:22, the council “decided to choose.” In verse 24, the all agreed to choose. Not a single reference to the Spirit in their decision-making process! If all we are ever supposed to do was pray and listen for the guidance of the Spirit, you’d think that would be mentioned so far in Acts 15, right? But the Spirit is not mentioned. Instead, the church leaders use wisdom based on biblical principles to make a decision. Then look at Acts 15:28, for how they describe their decision-making process, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”

In other words, they give credit to the Spirit for the decision-making process they utilized, but they did not specifically hear the Spirit. Instead they assume that the Spirit was present and at work through the community of believers. Their hearts were attuned to the things of God; they were seeking wisdom and following Biblical principles. It seems to me that since their hearts were right, if these decisions would have been hurtful to the Kingdom, the Spirit would have brought that up to them, since they were all seeking him anyway.

That we understand the apostles as seeking the Spirit’s guidance is key. Clearly in Acts 16:6-10, the Spirit is able and willing to speak and guide through supernatural means, but as we saw in Acts 15, that is not always the case. So when we are making decisions of our own, we need to be people who are attentive to and listening for the Spirit, but we would do well to follow the community-based decision-making process, as long as the community is full of people who have their hearts set on Kingdom ways and are humble and teachable. Back in Acts 16, the Apostles follow the leading of the Spirit, and they continue on their missionary journey.

This is no small journey. Remember they are on foot. They are walking northwest through modern-day Turkey headed toward modern-day Europe. From Syrian Antioch, which was their home church, to get to Macedonia, where the Spirit directed them in the vision, they will have traveled a total of about 800 miles. When they receive the vision from the Lord, they have already traveled about 600 miles.

Remember that Paul and Silas are not alone. Timothy is with them too. And other people join the group as well. Notice the word, “we” in verse 10. This is the first time that the third-person pronoun is used to describe the group of people traveling with Paul. That means the author is including himself, as he was part of the group at this point, possibly joining the group in the city of Troas. We believe that author was Luke, who is referred to as a medical doctor in Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

With new direction from the Holy Spirit, read what happens next in verses 11-15. The apostles and their companions travel to the ancient region of Macedonia, which is not the same as the modern nation of Macedonia, and they go to the Roman city of Philippi, whose astounding ruins you can still visit today in Greece.

In verse 13 we read that the apostles go outside the city to find a place of prayer by the river, which is a curious idea, isn’t it? Why would they expect a place of prayer by the river? There was no synagogue in Philippi, so Jews in a city without a synagogue would customarily gather by running water for prayer on the Sabbath. Some scholars believe that the running water would have been used for the ritual cleansing that was a standard element of Jewish worship.

There the apostles start talking with women, as apparently no men were around. To us that is no big deal, as men talk with women all the time. But in that society, this mixed-gender conversation could have been seen as risky and counter-cultural. Men didn’t talk with women, who were considered below men. So it is important for us to see how Paul lives out what he would later teach, that “in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ.” In God’s Kingdom there is total equality.

One woman they meet is Lydia, a seller of purple cloth, which indicates wealth, as purple or maroon dyes were expensive and those color cloths were used by royalty. So Lydia is a businesswoman, and she is also a worshiper of God. Notice verse 14 where we read that God opens her heart and she believes and her whole family is baptized, and she invites the apostles to stay in her home. Amazing! The apostles have followed the leading of the Spirit, and God is at work as another church is being started. Things are going wonderfully in Philippi…but not for long, as we will see in the next post.

How should Christians respond when our world falls apart? – Acts 16, Part 1

It’s been quite a year already, hasn’t it? And we’re not even halfway through!

We started the year in political turmoil with a presidential impeachment hearing and the normal increased intensity of election year debates. Then Covid-19 hit, and we were in quarantine, including a near total shutdown of the country, for months. Then multiple incidents of injustice and crime toward people of color led to nationwide protests and the call for sweeping change.

Any one of these situation in any other year would have been major news for a long time. But this year, so far we’ve all three, and all three are still ongoing: political upheaval, worldwide pandemic, and mass protests. Every day the news is chock full! Have you been feeling the discouragement and frustration of it all?

That is not to mention the very real personal pain that many of us have encountered. From the loss of sports seasons, loss of income, health concerns, and the loss of loved ones. Or the intensity and anguish of trying to figure how to do school online, how to go grocery shopping with masks, or how to handle our businesses or churches during a quarantine. Consider the many difficult conversations that seem to happen incessantly about whether or not our leaders are making good choices or not. It can be very easy to just get angry, complaining and bitter.

How are Christians to respond when our world falls apart? Turn to Acts 16, as we follow the second missionary journey of Paul, because he tended to be a magnet for trouble, and his world is about to fall apart.

Chapter 16 picks up where chapter 15 left off. Paul and Silas have already headed out on a missionary trip. In this post we’re focusing on verses 1-5.

The apostles end up visiting Derbe and Lystra. Do those city names sound familiar? In Acts 14 we read that these were towns where Paul and Barnabas had previously started churches. In Derbe, their ministry went really well. But Lystra was the town where Jews from other cities showed up in opposition to Paul and Barnabas, inciting the crowd to stone Paul, to the point where they thought he was dead. Imagine. Paul is going back there again!

Good thing, though, because a guy named Timothy lives there. We just read that Timothy is a disciple who was spoken well of. Except for one detail. Look at verse 3. Paul wanted to bring Timothy on the mission trip, so he circumcised him because of the Jews in that area. What? Paul circumcises a grown man? That is a crazy sentence to read. Is this a contradiction of everything we heard last week in Acts 15 when the Jerusalem Council said Gentile Christians do not need to be circumcised? Is Paul going rogue?

No. Actually, what Paul intends is likely to set Timothy up for success in ministry, knowing Timothy will be ministering to Jewish Christians, and thus, if he is circumcised, he wouldn’t have to deal with Jews for whom that was an issue.

Still, imagine that conversation between Paul and Timothy. “So, pal, we need to talk. I have an idea for you…” I wonder how Timothy responded to the ensuing conversation when Paul says that Timothy should be circumcised. Did he argue? Did he bring up the fact that circumcision is precisely the issue in Acts 15 that the church leaders in Jerusalem said was not necessary?

The fact that Timothy goes through with the idea says as much about Timothy’s humility and teachability, as it does Paul’s persuasiveness and his passion for the mission.

After Timothy’s surgery, the apostles travel through more towns they had previously ministered in, and they continue to inform the Christians in those towns about the letter from the leaders in Jerusalem. The churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily! Notice the connection between chapters 15 and 16, then. In 15 the leaders in Jerusalem provide direction, and it leads to gladness and growth of the church. God is at work, and things are going so well. What do the apostles do once they have visited most of the churches where they had previously started churches? In the next post we’ll continue reading Acts 16 to find out.

If you’re feeling discouragement or frustration about 2020, keep following this series of posts on Acts 16. It is an amazing chapter, with string of fairly wild events. The first one, which we read in verses 1-5, is the circumcision of a grown man. It’s about to get even crazier. But in the end, we’ll learn a very important and practical approach to responding to life when it is thrown into upheaval.

A testy parting of ways – Acts 15, Part 4

Editor’s Note: This series of posts on Acts 15 is written by guest teacher David Hundert. Thanks, David! The series of five posts begins here.

Saying “goodbye” is rarely easy, especially when it comes on the heels of brokenness. Maybe you’ve experienced one of those goodbyes. As we continue the story of Acts 15, the Apostle Paul has a goodbye like that.

Let’s take a moment to review what have we seen so far in Acts 15. Men tried to cause division within the church at Antioch. The church responded by asking for help from church leadership in Jerusalem. There the apostles and elders called a council to respond to the dispute. At the council, both sides said their piece, and a biblical answer, acceptable to both parties, was reached. The council then issued their findings in the form of a letter, and they sent the original committee from Antioch back, with two additional members from the leadership council, to present its decision to the Church in Antioch as well as to the Christians in that part of the world.

I have been so blessed to be a part of the EC Church, because like the interaction between Jerusalem and Antioch, the EC Church is firmly rooted in following biblical standards and tries to apply Scripture to every situation that may arise. Like the early Church, our denomination’s leadership will send delegates to a congregation and to our annual National Conference to help sort out the tough issues and find a biblical solution.

In the process of finding their resolution, and as a good example for all of us, when the disagreement arose in Antioch, the Jerusalem council’s solution was delivered with, and was evidently full of grace. They council could have issued an edict and it would have driven the church apart. Instead they found a solution that worked for everyone.

So how does the chapter end? With another disagreement! Read Acts 15, verses 36-41, and we learn that, “Sometime later,” Paul suggests to Barnabas that they revisit all of the towns where the Word of the Lord was preached. However, John Mark winds up as the center of a conflict between the two.

First off, it is possible that Mark is Barnabas’ relative (see Colossians 4:10, although ancient sources dispute if the Mark mentioned in Acts 15 is the same Mark mentioned in Colossians 4:10). Barnabas wanted to take him along with them, but Paul didn’t want him to come, because Paul felt as though John had abandoned them in Pamphylia during their first missionary tour (see Acts 13:13).

Second, it is possible that there was an additional source of tension between Paul and Barnabas. Paul would go on to write in Galatians 2:11–13 of an incident that took place in Antioch. Evidently, after the Jerusalem Conference, Peter and Barnabas gave in to pressure from “certain men from James”, and they withdrew from the table of fellowship with the Gentiles. Paul sharply confronted Peter on that occasion for his “hypocrisy” and was none too happy with Barnabas for following Peter’s example. Even though Paul had now been sufficiently reconciled to Barnabas to request his companionship on this mission, there may have been a lingering wound.

Regardless, Paul did eventually become reconciled to John, and mentioned him as a coworker in several of his letters referring to him as “Mark”. And standing in the background was Barnabas, always the encourager, showing faith in Mark, when the others had lost theirs, and ironically for Paul, eventually redeemed him. Barnabas and Mark then departed for further work on Cyprus.

Though disagreements are regrettable, at least in this instance there was a fortunate outcome. Now there were two missions instead of one. Paul needed a suitable replacement for a traveling companion, so he chose Silas.

For this journey, Paul had pretty much made the decision to go, on his own. However, just like the first mission, he had the support of the Antiochan church and was commended by the brothers and sisters there to the grace of the Lord, for his new journey. Paul and Silas headed north from Antioch by foot and visited the churches of Syria and Cilicia along the way. Since the “apostolic decrees” were originally addressed to all the churches in Syria and Cilicia, one would assume that Paul and Silas shared these with them. This is all the more likely, since Silas, was one of the two originally appointed by the church in Jerusalem, to deliver the decrees.

What we see in this story is that God can always redeem even the most difficult situations. Is this a case of Paul or Barnabas being stubborn? Unwilling to forgive? Possibly? Should they have handled their disagreement better? Possibly. Disagreements can be complex and conflicted. What will it look like for us to be people who choose humility and forgiveness?

A letter for unity – Acts 15, Part 3

Editor’s Note: This series of posts on Acts 15 is written by guest teacher David Hundert. Thanks, David! The series of five posts begins here.

Are you experiencing a disagreement with someone? Brokenness in a relationship? What will it take to reconcile or pursue unity? As we have been seeing in this series of posts about Acts 15, the earliest Christians faced a major disagreement in their church: should non-Jewish Christians adhere to Jewish customs and practices? The Christians formed a church council to discuss this question. In the previous post, we learned how the Apostle Peter spoke up to tell the story of his interaction with Cornelius.

So now, the next thing that we see in verse 12, that Paul and Barnabas spoke up as witnesses of what God was doing in Gentile lands. They weren’t specifically members of the council; they were there to plead their case to the council, which they did. Verse 12 reads,“The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.”

Then, in verses 13 through 21 the eyes of all turned to James, the brother of Jesus, a man who enjoyed widespread respect and confidence. If the elders of the Jerusalem church were organized as a kind of Nazarene Sanhedrin, James would be considered their president. The church’s readiness to recognize his leadership was due more to his personal character and record than to his blood relationship to the Lord. One thing I find interesting, is that James uses the word laos, “people,” to describe the Gentiles, a term used to describe Israel in the ancient Greek translation of Old Testament, the Septuagint. What James is saying there is that the term used to describe the returning exiles of Judah, or “the people who I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise” as it’s written in Isaiah 43:21, also applies to the Gentile converts to Christianity. He agrees, that there should be no differentiation.

So now, the council makes its decision, which we read in verses 22 through 35, including writing the following letter to be read to Christians in non-Jewish lands:

The apostles and elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.

We have heard that some went out from us, without our authorization, and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men, and send them to you, with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul—men who have risked their lives, for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth, what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

James had provided a suitable solution that didn’t jeopardize the mission to the Gentiles or the fellowship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. All parties seem to have been satisfied and to have agreed to James’s suggestion. They not only wrote the letter above, but also sent two delegates from the Jerusalem church to Antioch, along with Paul and Barnabas. The two delegates, Judas and Silas, would be able to give their personal interpretation of the letter’s contents and of the conference in Jerusalem. This way, if any questions arose, they would be there to answer them. They were there to lend credence to the truthfulness of letter’s contents.

I find it interesting, that Judas and Silas were referred to as church leaders in verse 22, however in verse 32, they’re referred to as prophets. What is a prophet? In 1 Corinthians 14 verse 3, Paul write, “But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.” Verse 32 of Acts 15 makes it clear that this is exactly what Judas and Silas did. The letter and visit brought relief to the Gentile Christians, by relieving them of the burden of having to be circumcised, but at the same time, in order to maintain the ability of fellowship between Jewish and Gentile converts, the letter asks them to follow four proscribed rules, not as “Apostolic law or decree”, but as a basis for fellowship.

Do you need to write a letter like this? Notice the heart for unity in the letter. Notice the desire of the church leaders in Jerusalem to keep the focus on Jesus, rather than on following Jewish law. Sometimes in disagreements we can have tunnel-vision, missing the larger important truth of love for one another and unity.

What do we have to do to become followers of Jesus? – Acts 15, Part 2

Editor’s Note: This series of posts on Acts 15 is written by guest teacher David Hundert. Thanks, David! The series of five posts begins here.

How do people become disciples of Jesus? What do they need to do? This was a hotly debated question in the early church, as the good news about Jesus expanded beyond the borders of Israel. As non-Jews began to accept the message of good news in Jesus, did they need to adhere to the Jewish law?

Jews had always demanded of all Gentile converts the requirements of circumcision and rituals of the Torah. Why should any of this change for the followers of Jesus? Remember the story of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10? To summarize, Cornelius was a Roman centurion; possibly a Gentile, but certainly according to Acts 10, he was not a Jew. Peter shared the story of Jesus to Cornelius and his family, and they believed and became followers of Jesus, but they weren’t required to undergo circumcision. Also, as we have seen in recent chapters in Acts, Paul, even though he was a Pharisee trained by the famous Pharisee, Gamaliel, had led many Gentiles to follow the way of Jesus, and they weren’t circumcised, so why the concern about circumcision or socializing with Gentiles?

Also in Acts chapter 10, Peter tells Cornelius in verse 28, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.” This requirement isn’t specifically mentioned in the Old Testament, but it is spoken of in the Jewish “Talmud” or the collection of laws that expound upon the Old Testament Laws. They are just as sacred and binding on a Jew as the Old Testament itself. So if Jews then, were forbidden to associate with Gentiles, then how could Christians of both backgrounds fellowship?

In Acts 15, as we learned in the previous post, Jewish Christians from Jerusalem traveled to Antioch saying that Gentile Christians there needed to be circumcised. Paul and Barnabas argued with these men, because they were trying to impose the act of circumcision on Gentile believers. These false teachers even went so far as to claim that if you weren’t circumcised, you’re not saved. The church in Antioch then sends Paul and Barnabas, along with some others, to travel to Jerusalem to bring this dispute to the apostles and church elders.

In Jerusalem, Acts 15, verse 5 tells us, “Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses’.”

Their answer was simple. Since so many Jews had failed to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, they would have conceded the necessity of admitting Gentiles into the messianic community in order to make up the full complement, and they would be forced to concede the work of God and the Holy Spirit in the work that has been done so far by Paul and Barnabas. But their stance, was that those Gentiles should be admitted on terms similar to those required of new converts to Judaism: they must be circumcised and assume the obligation to observe the Mosaic law. Those that were “saved Pharisees” believed that requiring conversion to Judaism was the way to go.

At this point, verse 6 states, “The apostles and elders met to consider this question.” So, they heard the issue, and met separately to discuss it, and then they addressed the rest of the council. Then Peter speaks up. In verses 7-11, we read that Peter, reminded the assembly of his own experience in the household of Cornelius. Even though his visit to Cornelius was “some time ago” (vs. 7), possibly as many as ten years before, the experience had made a real impression on Peter. God had chosen him to witness to the Gentiles. Peter could expect the Jerusalem Christians, including the circumcisers, to remember this account, because he had given them an account after he returned from Cornelius’ house, as we read in Acts 11:1-18. At that time, Christians in Jerusalem had aired their concerns about Peter and Cornelius eating together. Peter explained how God had directed him through a vision, how he had shared the story of Jesus with Cornelius, and how the Holy Spirit had come and filled Cornelius and those in his house, clearly showing that they had become true disciples of Jesus. Upon hearing this amazing news, the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem said, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18). But now, “sometime later”, they seem to have forgotten, and are sharing the same concerns again.

What Peter had learned on that occasion, was that God looks on the heart, not on external things. God is no respecter of persons. Perhaps Peter had in mind, the distinction made by the prophet Jeremiah, that God does not look to the external circumcision of the flesh but the internal circumcision of the heart. God had convicted Cornelius, looked to the inner circumcision of his heart, and accepted him on that basis. God had proved his acceptance of Cornelius, and the rest of the Gentiles at his home by granting them the gift of his Spirit. God only grants his Spirit to those he has accepted. The fact that they had received the Spirit just as Peter and the Jewish Christians had, was proof that God had accepted Cornelius and his fellow Gentiles on an equal footing. He “purified their hearts” by faith. Peter undoubtedly was thinking of the vision he had on that rooftop, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

For the Jew, circumcision was a mark of sanctity and purity, of belonging to God’s people and being acceptable to him. But in Cornelius, God had shown Peter that true purity comes not by an external mark, but by faith. In the account of Cornelius in Acts 10, his faith is never specifically mentioned, but is certainly evidenced in his following, without question, every instruction God had given him. Here Peter made explicit what was implicit: Cornelius had been accepted by God on the basis of his faith.

And that is what true disciples of Jesus embrace. We become his disciples by faith, not by following rituals.