Engaging Scripture

Should the church be woke? – Acts 8:4-40, Part 1

I am starting to get woke. Are you “woke”? Not awake, but woke. Maybe you’ve heard that word, as it become popular in recent years. I recently read the book Woke Church by Eric Mason, and in the book he describes “woke” as “to utilize the mind of Christ and to be fully awake to the issues of race and injustice in this country.” (25) In society, to be woke is essentially to be socially conscious. It is not a Christian term, but there is much about being woke that is right in line with the mission of God’s Kingdom. For example, in the book Woke Church, Mason quotes a commentator who describes wokeness, and as I read this, I want you to think in your minds how this description of wokeness might have a connection to the mission of God’s Kingdom:

“To me staying woke means making sure you’re tuned in to your community. That you are doing everything that you can to not only educate yourself but to bring someone else along. To ensure that we all have the same information. It’s not enough to be woke on your own; you need to help someone else along to also get woke. Woke is about a state of mind.”

Like I said, I’m starting to get woke. I think I have a long way to go.

Today we’re going to see how the early church gets woke. And maybe their story will help us too.

We have been studying the book of Acts, which tells the story of the first Christians, and how they lived out their faith in Jesus in the world. The outline of the book is established in Acts 1:8 where Jesus gives the disciples their new mission saying, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

So far in chapters 1-7, we have watched how the church was formed and developed, pursuing that mission, but only to Jews living in the city of Jerusalem. They have not looked outward, and yet Jesus clearly directed them to look outward. As we saw last week through the life and ministry, and sadly also through the death, of Stephen, the church was pushed through that first wall, just like the wall around the city of Jerusalem. When Stephen was killed, we read in Acts 8:3 that a great persecution broke out against the church, led by a guy a named Saul who seems to have been a young, but very aggressive Jewish leader.

For now, open your Bibles to Acts 8 verse 3. If you have been following along with the story of the early church through chapters 1-7, you might get the idea that these very first Christians were living in an ideal situation, led the by apostles who were empowered by the Holy Spirit to do miracles and deliver powerful teaching, and everyone loved one another, and the church just grew and grew uninhibited. That’s just not the case, though.

While there are certainly some wonderful descriptions of that kind of experience in the early church, as we saw last week there is a larger context that is far more ominous. By the time we reach Acts 8, the church is somewhere in the vicinity of 2-3 years old. But by chapter 7, we have seen this relatively young church experience the threat of violence and destruction from the Jewish religious elite in the city of Jerusalem. Twice some or all of the apostles have been arrested and jailed, brought up on trial, and once the religious leaders ordered them flogged, which was a severe beating. Then last week we saw how Stephen, one of the seven deacons listed in Acts 6, was also arrested, falsely accused, and then stoned to death, which sparked the great persecution we read about in Acts 8:1-3, where this guy Saul is hell-bent on destroying the church, which he believed was a cult.

Only the apostles remain in Jerusalem, and the other Christians, fearing for their lives, scatter. How will the Christians handle this? Did some of them give up the faith? Did some think, “This is crazy…my family and I could get killed for this? This is not what I signed up for. I’m out.”? Maybe some did think like that. We don’t know. The author doesn’t say anything like that though. Instead, in this uncertainty, this threat, this great danger, we arrive at Acts 8, verse 4, which says:

“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

The author gives us a brief summary statement about how the persecution, instead of destroying them, spread the church beyond Jerusalem, and the Christians preached the word wherever they went. It’s an amazing statement. Though their location changed, though their situation had changed, they made sure their mission remained their mission. Their world was anything but rosy and happy. It was exactly the opposite.

Imagine fleeing for your lives because your faith in Jesus could get you killed or thrown in prison? Think about what they would realistically be like. It would probably be a very quick, anxiety-filled moment of gathering up a few precious belongings you can carry on your back, making sure you have some food and water, and hightailing it out of the city as fast as you can, hoping that the authorities do not see you or your family, or your friends in the church. I imagine people hiding in wagons, covered with tarps, trying to get beyond the walls of the city unseen, maybe under cover of night. This is what many current refugees who flee persecution go through. I imagine people looking out for this guy Saul and his minions, trying to alert people that he was coming. I imagine Christians wondering if their non-Christian neighbors and friends were going to rat them out to Saul. I imagine them wondering if they would have enough money, enough food, and when this crisis would end. Does that last line feel at all familiar? Read it again. See if it sounds familiar.

It would be super easy to give up the faith, to be very quiet about Jesus, not wanting to tip off anyone about the fact that you were part of this group of people who were Jesus-followers. It would be very easy to take the church underground and wait until the fire passed.

But that is not what the Christians did! First of all the apostles stayed in Jerusalem, which amazes me. Think about that. The most visible, well-known people in the church stayed in the place that was the most dangerous for them. Second, the Christians who fled the persecution were not quiet, but preached about Jesus everywhere they went! What we see from the earliest Christians is amazing courage and boldness, flowing from their faith in Christ, even during a crisis. They knew the real God, they knew his heart and they wanted others to be a part of the beautiful mission he was about. That is very instructive for us. Do we know God? Do we know his heart? It is such a part of our lives we can’t help but to show it to others?

Tomorrow we’re going to meet one of those courageous first Christians who had some fascinating encounters as he preached Jesus along the way. Through this man, it seems like the Holy Spirit wants the church to get woke!

How to be Christian during a crisis (such as global pandemic) – Acts 6:8-8:3, Part 5

How should Christians live in a liminal moment such as our current global health crisis? All week long we have been studying the life and ministry of Stephen, one of the earliest followers of Jesus, attempting to answer that question. If you want to learn more about Stephen, start by reading the first post here. What we have seen in Stephen is a wonderful example of courage and trust in God. Are you willing to be like Stephen? Do you have his heart? It doesn’t mean that we need to be in people’s faces with accusation, though it might mean speaking truth to power like Stephen did. Instead look at Stephen’s heart. His heart was sold out for Christ. 100% in. Willing to sacrifice. Focused on others’ betterment rather than his own.

Or are we quiet about Jesus because we are afraid of some kind of negative response? In many places in the world, this is a very real possibility. In most countries, though, like the USA from where I write, it is highly unlikely that we are going to be arrested and brought up on trial like Stephen was. It is also doubtful that we are going to be physically assaulted like Stephen was.

Perhaps if we are appropriately bold about Jesus, we might get a negative response from some.

For example, a friend of mine described a colleague who accused my friend, “You wear your faith on your sleeve.” What the guy was insinuating was that my friend should have been quieter about his faith.

Another friend who is a retired teacher told me the story about her principal who requested her to remove a silhouette of the Nativity scene she had displayed on a window in her classroom. Rather than wait for her response, she walked into her classroom one morning to discover that the principal had maintenance throw the Nativity scene in the trash. While that is not persecution like we read about it in Acts 6:8-8:3, it is abrupt and can cause offense.

What other such feedback might we be scared of?

Fearful of being rejected.

Fearful of saying the wrong thing and being a poor messenger of Jesus.

We can feel inwardly upset or guilty when we stay quiet in what might be an appropriate moment to share Christ with others.

Another person told the story of playing music at work, and a Christian song came on. He was wondering what the other workers would think. “Are they judging me? Should I turn down the volume? Should I skip the Christian song?” These are normal thoughts we can have. Rather than allow those thoughts to lead you down a road of quiet disengagement, think through what could be the most healthy way to share the hope, love and good news of Jesus.

In the liminal moments we are living in, such as our world now in these days of virus, let us stand clearly for Christ, just like Stephen did, in both word and deed. Let us take necessary precautions so as not to spread the virus, and thus endanger vulnerable people.

Those of you have not lost your jobs or wages during this time, how can you be Christ/have the heart of Stephen and be all in and sacrificial for those struggling, letting them know you are showing the heart of Christ. What will it look like for you to bring his goodness to them? I’m not just talking financially, though that might be an option for some. If you do find yourself “stuck at home”, how can you reach out to others? Have the mind of Christ and show goodness as you share encouragement. How would Christ be? Be all in for him. Be sacrificial with your desires for the betterment of others, be people who regularly call and check on others. Mention your faith in Jesus, talk about it openly. Look for the goodness of God in the midst of struggle and difficulties.

This is our liminal moment! Let’s embrace God and his mission in the midst of it, just like Stephen did.

One suggestion for surviving fear and pain: look outward – Acts 6:8-8:3, Part 4

If you are feeling scared, anxious or even downright terrified by the news of the spread of the coronavirus, what should you do? I feel the weight of it myself. As a pastor of a small church, we’re having to rethink how we do everything, and it can feel like a heavy burden. We’re all wondering, “Will we survive? Will we lose loved ones? Will our economy be destroyed? What will life be like on the other side of this?” Today, as we continue to follow the life of Stephen, I believe we have an answer to how we can think and act when we are confronted by a life-changing situation that has us scared.

In this week’s series of posts on Acts 6:8-8:3, we’ve been learning about the ministry of one of the first Christians, a guy named Stephen. In his final hours, he preaches a bold sermon accusing the ruling elite in Jerusalem of being fraudulent leaders, pointing them to Jesus as the Messiah. They respond in anger, stoning Stephen to death. We noticed the many parallels the author of Acts describes between the deaths of Stephen and Jesus. But Stephen is not like Jesus in a significant way. Stephen was not perfect and did not give his life for the sins of all humanity, and thus Stephen did not rise again. But similar to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, what happened immediately after Stephen’s death brought new life to many. Read Acts 8:1-3 to see what I mean. What happens?

Persecution. And not just any persecution. A great persecution. Wait…how does that bring new life to many? Doesn’t it seem like a persecution would bring pain and death to many? Yes, it does seem like that. Did you notice who is behind the persecution? That guy named Saul we mentioned in the previous post. He is a young man, but a powerful leader who started destroying the church, putting people in prison. He’d had enough of this movement of Jesus-followers. Again, think about how this is a liminal moment for the church! It doesn’t seem like there has been anything good that has come from Stephen’s death.

Interestingly, though awful, this becomes a major turning point for the church. Go back to Acts 1:8. Remember that? There Jesus says to his disciples that they were to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and finally to the ends of the earth. It is an outline of sorts for the whole book of Acts. In chapters 1-7 we have watched as the church started and grew in Jerusalem. To this point in Acts, though, up to chapter 8 the church has never left Jerusalem. But that was not God’s desire, was it? Jesus clearly said that he had the whole world in view. So far the early church is 100% Jewish and located only in Jerusalem, with maybe some followers coming in from the nearby towns around the city. What does that mean? The church is not yet thinking outward like Jesus wanted them to!

That is a problem. Go back to Genesis 12 and study God’s covenant with Abraham where he said he was going to make Abraham’s family into a nation that would bless the world. Then trace that promise to Abraham’s son, Isaac, and his son, Jacob, who was renamed Israel, the father of 12 sons, who pretty much would become the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. Notice how that promise continues to Moses, and through David, under whose leadership the nation of Israel finally reached prominence where it could bless the world. But Israel didn’t bless the whole world. Instead after David, the nation slowly devolved into sin and rebellion and was exiled. Until Jesus came, and there was a new day, a new hope that through Israel the whole world actually could be blessed. This is exactly what Peter refers to in his sermon in Acts 3:24-26. I encourage you to read that. Peter is saying a new day was upon the people of Israel, that through Jesus this promise to Abraham thousands of years before was finally coming true. Through Jesus God was going to bless the whole world.

And yet, what have seen from the early Christians? The Gospel, which was supposed to be good news for the world, the Christians contained behind the walls of the city of Jerusalem. They were vibrantly preaching the good news to Jews in the city, but they had gone no further. Until now. Acts 8:1 is a turning point. A breakthrough. It is horrible that it had to come through a martyrdom and a persecution. But the breakthrough happened as this evil guy Saul was rounding up the Christians in Jerusalem and throwing them in jail, and thus the Christians fled the city, scattering to Judea and Samaria, the territories to the north and around Jerusalem. The apostles, however, stay in Jerusalem, which I take as an act of courage, but many Christians are scattered. At the end of Acts 8:3, it seems like the church is in a very precarious position. In the coming weeks we’re going to find out is that the opposite is true. But for now, we need to talk about persecution.

I don’t believe God ever wants persecution. It is awful. We should pray against it, and we should advocate for international policy against it. Some people say, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” meaning that when people like Stephen are martyred the church grows, as if there is a silver lining to martyrdom or that God somehow blesses it. I want to say that is categorically false. Martyrdom is always awful and wrong, and God does not approve of it. There are plenty of martyrdom stories where the church is exterminated. Gone. Read the book or watch the movie Silence by Shusako Endo about Catholic missionaries in Japan in the 1600s. They are brutally destroyed. It is a hard read or watch. Or read the book The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins. Another hard read, it details the destruction of the church in the Middle East, which was historically the Christian birthplace and stronghold. No longer, though.

In Stephen’s case, his martyrdom and the resulting persecution will have the effect of pushing the disciples, probably fearing for their lives, to do what Jesus said they were supposed to do, be his witnesses in Judea and Samaria and everywhere in the world. I don’t think Stephen intended any of this. He didn’t know that he would be arrested, stoned, and the result would be that the church would finally obey Jesus. He was just proclaiming what he believed in. Who knows…he may have even lost his cool in that sermon. But God redeemed it, as we will see in the coming weeks. Take a peek at Acts 8, verse 4: “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” Though they were in a liminal moment, unsure of what the future held, unsure if they would be thrown in prison or lose their lives, they carried the same heart as Stephen. They looked outward. They looked to serve. They looked beyond themselves.

How do we do this during the coronavirus? We’ll talk more about this in the next post!

What to focus on when you are in pain – Acts 6:8-8:3, Part 3

*Photo by Road Trip with Raj on Unsplash*

When we’re in pain, usually we just want it to go away. At least that’s how I am. I can get very worked up emotionally, imagining that I’ll be in pain the rest of my life. So far, that thought of mine has never been true, as the pain heals. What it reveals is that I think about the wrong things when I’m in pain. It is hard to choose to think differently when you’re in pain, but as we’re going to see today, it is possible.

This week we have been looking at the ministry of one of the earliest followers of Jesus, a man named Stephen, as told in Acts 6:8-8:3, and how we can learn from him how to live in our liminal moment. Not sure what a liminal moment is? Go back and read the first two posts here and here. We’re living in such a moment, as the corona virus affects the globe. Thus far we’ve seen Stephen boldly confront the hypocrisy and fraud of the Jewish leaders. He has said that they are no better than pagans. How will they receive his word of harsh accountability?

Look at Acts 7, verse 54. The leaders erupt in anger. That picture of gnashing teeth is vivid isn’t it? It reminds me of a situation I dealt with a couple weeks ago running with my dog. I can’t begin to tell you how many local farmers let their dogs run free. So we’re running, always on the left side of the road toward incoming traffic, as is normal for runners, and maybe 50 yards ahead on the same side of the street, I see two dogs in a yard. They notice us, and start running toward us. I’m thinking, “Oh man…here we go,” knowing what is coming next. My dog Bentley sees them too. Immediately he pulls hard on the leash toward them, so I start to yank him in the opposite direction across the street to the other side of the road, hoping that those two dogs will not come out onto the road.

The two dogs come right out into the road, and they didn’t look both ways first. One dog, mouth open, teeth bared, goes right for Bentley’s face. I start yelling loudly at the dogs, “No!” Multiple times I yell, hoping to scare them off. It works! The dogs turn and start running back to their yard. But Bentley and I are going in opposite directions now, because he wants to chase the dogs, while I’m trying to run up the road away from that yard. Instead of following me, Bentley lunges in the dog’s direction, gets his head out of his collar, and tears off toward them! I’m left holding a limp leash and collar, thinking, “Oh no…” Knowing him, he was seeing red and wasn’t going to stop until he chased down those dogs. In a split second he had dashed halfway into their yard, so I start yelling at him to, “Sit, Stay!” But I wasn’t sure he would listen. Hearing my commands, thankfully he obeyed and stopped running. Rattled, I put his collar back on, and led him back onto the road.

Those leaders in the Jewish ruling body, the Sanhedrin, were like Bentley. Angry, gnashing their teeth, wanting revenge.

Right at that moment, something amazing happens, an astounding event that can help us learn to think differently when we are in the middle of pain. Stephen, as we read in verses 55-56, has a vision of God. And what’s more, he has the audacity to tell the people what he sees! What can we learn from this? Though he was facing a perilous reality, Stephen is 100% focused on God. In the midst of his liminal moment, he was still attuned to God. That is very instructive for us in our liminal moments. What can it look like for us to focus on God, right in the middle of the uncertainty, the pain, the struggle?

Unfortunately, Stephen’s sermon, message, and now this vision are all too much for the religious leaders. What happens next is awful. Read 7:57-8:1 to see for yourself.

They drag Stephen outside the city, like a mob, and stone him. Stoning was often performed by dropping large rocks on a person. An awful way to die.

Take notice that as he describes Stephen’s horrible end, the author, Luke, does two things with this event.

First, Luke mentions that a man named Saul is involved. We meet him in 7:58, and in 8:1. He is described as a young man, and yet he seems to have some kind of leadership role, though it is not defined. The people put their clothes at his feet, and he is giving approval. Why would they lay their clothes at his feet? The first thing that comes to my mind is that they needed less encumbrance to lift and drop or throw stones. Who is this Saul? More on him in the coming posts.

The second thing Luke mentions is Stephen’s final words. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and then falling to his knees, “Do not hold this sin against them.” Again Stephen is laser-focused on God, though he is now just about to die. Sound familiar? It should. Jesus said nearly the same things for two of his seven last words. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,” and “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” What we see in Luke’s account of Stephen’s death, then, are numerous parallels to the death of Jesus:

The signs and wonders, the powerful speaking which the Jews could not stand up against.
The arrest and false accusation.
An indictment of the leaders as hypocritical and false.
Finally the death, including words that are similar.

Luke is very purposefully making parallels between the two. He is not saying that Stephen is equal to Jesus, but he is saying that Stephen was an amazing disciple of Jesus, willing to give his life for the Kingdom, just like Jesus did. When Stephen gave his life, he suffered a brutal death, just like Jesus’ did.

There is a major difference between the two. Stephen was not the perfect sacrifice like Jesus was. Thus while Jesus rose again, Stephen would not. But there was something that happened after the horror of Stephen’s death. Like a crucifixion and resurrection, what happened next brought new life to many. We’ll look at that in the next post.

For now, think about how Stephen chooses to focus on God, though he is being stoned to death. I don’t know if I could do that. I think I would want to try to run away. Likely Stephen was surrounded, and there was no escape. In that moment, he remains focused on God, and in the process, behaves very similarly to Jesus. Stephen, therefore, is an excellent example for us about how to think in the middle of pain. What are some creative ways you can focus on God in the middle of the pain?

Did Stephen make a mistake in his sermon? – Acts 6:8-8:3, Part 2

How are we to live in liminal moments? As I write this, our world is in the throes of the coronavirus. As we saw in the previous post, the early church experienced a liminal moment of their own, the threat of punishment and persecution from the powerful religious leaders in the city of Jerusalem. How did they choose to respond? That is what the story of Acts chapters 6 and 7 are about, a guy named Stephen and the horrible way it turned out.

Take a look at the description of Stephen in Acts 6, verses 8-10. There are four qualities that the author uses to describe Stephen. In verse 8 we read about the first two. Stephen was full of God’s grace and power. As a result he did great wonders and miraculous signs. In verse 10 we read about the second two qualities, his wisdom and that the Spirit was speaking through him.

Let’s take a deeper look at the first two qualities mentioned in verse 8: he was full of God’s grace and power. It seems these two are connected. Earlier in Acts 4:33 we read a very similar description of the apostles, that “much grace was upon them all.” The word “grace” in Greek is “charis,” which refers to favor. “Much favor was upon them all,” and it was a favorable disposition from God to them. God was graciously empowering them, and he does the same with Stephen. It is very interesting that this empowerment happens after the apostles commission Stephen, along with the other six deacons, which we read in Acts 6:6. What the apostles were doing, performing miraculous signs and wonders favorably empowered by God, now Stephen is also doing!

You might think that this incredible ministry, which likely included the spectacle of healing and exorcism, would have been applauded and accepted by huge crowds. I suspect it was. We don’t hear about that though. Instead look at verse 9, which describes opposition to Stephen. Remember the larger context I talked about in the previous post? Remember the liminality the church was living in? The in-between time?

Here is where we tie in what we already learned about Stephen being a Greek-speaker. It seems that Stephen was especially focusing on ministry to the Jews in Jerusalem who were also Greek-speakers. How do we know this? Because in verse 9 the Synagogue of the Freedman, is mentioned. The author describes it a bit, listing four places where Jews, who were members of the Synagogue of the freedman, came from: Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia, all Greek-speaking places in that day. So Greek-speaking Jews gathered together at this synagogue. There would have been many such synagogues in Jerusalem, likely forming around language groups. Why is it called the Synagogue of the Freedmen? There is speculation that this synagogue was for Greek-speaking Jews who had been freed from slavery throughout the Roman Empire and had come to relocate in Jerusalem. Because of Stephen’s Greek-language focus, of course he is going to minister to the Greek-speaking Jews in the city.

But it doesn’t go well. Why? Stephen not only ministers through the gracious power of the God, but he also preaches the words of the Gospel. This goes to the second group of qualities of Stephen listed in verse 10: his wisdom, and that he spoke by the Spirit. The Jews, like the religious leaders had done with the apostles, disagreed with Stephen’s Gospel message, opposing him. But we read that they could not stand up to him, meaning that he was able to best them in a discussion about the truth. Imagine how this angered them. Read what happens in verses 11-15.

The Grecian Jews opposing Stephen create falsely testimony about him. They seize him and bring him before the Sanhedrin (which was the top Jewish ruling body). Again, the big ominous threat rears its ugly head. Another leader of the church is brought before the powerful ruling authorities. There they proclaim more false testimony against Stephen.

Now look at chapter 7, verse 1, where the high priest asks Stephen if the charges are true. Stephen launches into a sermon reviewing the history of Israel, which is bold of him considering that Stephen is speaking to the people in the nation who would have known their history best. Did the Sanhedrin feel that they were being lectured by a peon? I would think those religious leaders were boiling inside, hating sitting there listening to Stephen tell them what they already knew. Think about how Stephen is responding to his liminal moment. Not running away. Not giving in. But trusting in God, obeying God, and with a heart to be the church, proclaiming the amazing story of hope that there is in Jesus.

Let me summarize the sermon, which runs from verses 2 through 53. Stephen reviews the history of Israel from Abraham, to Moses and the Exodus, all the way through to Joshua, David and Solomon, who built the temple. But then he makes a turn in verse 48 saying that God does not live in houses. He quotes Isaiah 66:1-2 to support this. But why? Why does he bring this up about the temple?

It could very well be that Stephen is now moving his argument toward Jesus. The religious leaders were stuck on the centrality of the temple, which was the central image of the Old Testament religion, and Stephen is about to say that the temple is no longer the center. What he says is so interesting: maybe the temple was never supposed to be seen as so central, which is what the passage in Isaiah 66 refers to.

Luke records that Stephen only quotes verses 1-2 of Isaiah 66, but that’s all he needed to quote. Everyone there would have been quite familiar with Isaiah 66, and the verses that follow 1-2. Read Isaiah 66:1-4 so you can see what the next few verses say, verses that Stephen was bringing to mind just by quoting the first two.

What we read in Isaiah 66 is a prophecy of judgment from the Lord against people who were thinking wrongly about the temple. In 1 Kings 8:27 when King Solomon dedicated the first temple, he said, “Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” Solomon knew. Isaiah knew. And Stephen knew. Together they all bring an accusation against the religious leaders who crucified the Messiah. The religious leaders who Stephen was preaching to also knew that when he used this passage from Isaiah, he was indicting them for being fraudulent, leading the people astray. Again, do you see how Stephen is choosing to live in his liminal moment? With courage, trusting in God.

Then in verses 51-52 he gets really accusatory. He says that those religious leaders are just like their fathers, that they resist the Holy Spirit, and that, just as their fathers killed the prophets, even the ones who predicted the coming of the Messiah, those whom Stephen was speaking to killed the Messiah Jesus.

Those words in verse 51 are bold, aren’t they? Stephen is not holding anything back now, even when he is on trial. What can we learn from this? I don’t recommend that you share the Gospel by attacking people verbally. I don’t know why Stephen goes this route. Maybe it was a culturally appropriate way that Jews spoke, but I doubt it based on the reaction of the leaders, which we’ll see in just a moment. John the Baptist and Jesus would sometimes talk with that kind of bold accusation too, and they, too, weren’t well-received by the leadership. So I have to doubt that Stephen was thinking, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll confront them. A strong accusation will win these guys over.” Instead Stephen seems upset and even angry. To call a Jew uncircumcised is a big punch in the gut, and he is saying to the leaders that their hearts and ears are uncircumcised, meaning that they might as well be pagans. In other words, he is telling them, “You guys are rebellious against God and you are false!” I don’t see any other way around this, except that Stephen is blasting them. And why? Did he not want to win them over? I don’t know. Maybe he has had it with them, maybe he lets his emotion get the best of him, maybe he was at the point where he has been falsely accused and he is done with them. Essentially, like Isaiah, he is proclaiming and prophetic word of judgment over them. Maybe all he is doing is speaking truth to power.

Verse 53 is odd as well, but it fits with Stephen’s flow of thought. These powerful religious leaders in Jerusalem stand in line with the many Jewish leaders before them who, through years, were the keepers, receivers and teachers of the Mosaic Law, which Stephen says was put into effect through angels. Angels? What is Stephen talking about? If you look back into his sermon, in verse 38 you’ll see that there, too, he mentions an angel involved in the giving of the law. Interestingly, the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) doesn’t mention the idea of angelic involvement in the giving of the Law. It was a Jewish tradition that Stephen was aware of.

Why does he bring up the Law at all? His point is that the leaders have not obeyed the Law. Stephen has just unloaded strong accusation on those religious leaders. We can learn from his boldness, his trust in God and his determination to speak truth in the middle of a liminal moment. As he speaks truth to power, how will the leaders react? Thus far, they haven’t received his teaching at all. Will they now? Will Stephen’s sermon cause them to repent and turn to Jesus? More on that in the next post.

The coronavirus is our moment of liminality – Acts 6:8-8:3, Part 1

I have a vocabulary word for you: liminality. Have you heard of that word? The dictionary defines Liminality as “a state of transition between one stage and the next, especially between major stages in one’s life or during a rite of passage.” It is a threshold.

Sound familiar? In the last week or two, do any of you feel like that? I do. In the last week, I think I have received at least 50 emails from different organizations telling me about how they are responding to the coronavirus. I have received multiple similar emails and podcasts from Christian ministries with ideas about how churches and pastors should respond to the virus and the shutdowns and quarantines.

We’re not only facing the virus, we’re also facing the response to the virus. It can feel overwhelming. We’re not where we once were, and we’re not where we’re going to be. The world is changing, suddenly, rapidly, and we are in the middle of it. We don’t know how this is all going to turn out. That’s a threshold moment. That’s liminality.

And that is exactly where the early church was at in Acts chapter 6.

For the last month or so, we’ve been studying Acts, trying to learn how the early church lived out their faith in the world, so that we can learn to better live out our faith in our world. How do we live out faith in Jesus during the coronavirus? I believe what we’re about to read in Acts can really help us. So please open your Bibles to Acts 6, verse 8.

Before we start looking at the events recorded starting in Acts 6:8, I want us to remember the liminal moment that the early church is experiencing. By Acts 6:8, the church is probably no more than 2-3 years old. We don’t know for sure. They started out as 120 followers of Jesus, staying in the city of Jerusalem, and now have grown to thousands of people. Acts 4:4 tells us that just the number of men was 5,000. How many more women and children were there? Not to mention the increase in the church that happened between Acts 4:4 and Acts 6:8. The church was multiplying. But things were not all perfect and happy. Thus far in our study, we have seen numerous crises in the church, internally and externally. Twice actually: once in chapter 4 and once in chapter 5, leaders of the church were thrown in prison, severely accused by the ruling elites, and even harshly beaten. We need to remember this larger context. Though they church was growing, many people in power were strongly opposed to the church, threatening to destroy it. The church knew this. I’m talking about those thousands of people who were part of the church. They knew that the religious leaders were watching them. They knew the Roman leaders had killed Jesus at the drop of a hat, and they could easily purge the church as well. This was their liminal moment. They didn’t know how it would turn out.

While the church was practicing amazing love and generosity to one another, and while the Spirit of God was at work in miraculously ways, and while the church was growing, like the walls of the city of Jerusalem around them there was a very ominous threat that was a part of their everyday existence. The religious leaders had multiple times commanded the apostles to stop preaching Jesus, and multiple times the apostles had disobeyed, and multiple times the apostles had been jailed. The people knew this, and they felt the weight of a very present danger around them. How will they respond to their liminal moment?

In the remainder of chapter 6, through all of chapter 7, we learn about an awful incident that happened to one man in the early church, Stephen, whose story actually begins in chapter 6 verses 1-7. There we learn about one of the three crises in the church that we discussed previously. To review, read Acts chapter 6, verses 1-7.

What the author, Luke, is describing is a social action ministry of food distribution to vulnerable people in the church, widows. This flows from the account of the church’s great love for one another that we’ve seen multiple times already, first in chapter 2 verses 42-47, then again in chapter 4, verses 32-37. This crisis was that the one group of widows was getting preferential treatment, and one group of widows was being overlooked.

These were all Jews who believed in Jesus, but they didn’t speak the same language.

The early church was comprised of Jews from many different countries who spoke different languages. Some were not from Jerusalem or Israel, and thus their first language was likely the language of their home country, and the primary world language of the day, Greek. Many other Jewish Christians in the early church were from Jerusalem or Israel and thus their first language was Aramaic, and maybe Hebrew, but to a much lesser extent Greek. So you have two distinct groups of the people in the early church, separated by a language and cultural barrier. As the church creates this social support program out of love for widows, you can imagine how this unfolds.

Think about how difficult it can be to communicate with a call center in another country. They are speaking English, but their accent is not American, and it can be hard to understand. Faith Church going to be renting a couple rooms of our building to a Burmese Christian church, and it is hard to communicate with them. In fact, when we showed them the space, they called up a translator on the phone, and we communicated via speaker phone using the translator. When I need to contact a company that uses a call center, and now when I communicate with the Burmese pastor, I have found that what facilitates communication is texting. Texting removes the accent, and can be translated easily online. Well the early church didn’t have the benefit of texting or Google Translate. You can imagine how frustrated they might have been, and the result was that the Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked.

What did the apostles do? They told the church to select godly leaders to resolve this. The church selected seven men, and the apostles commissioned them. I want you to notice something in chapter 6 verse 5. The men all have Greek names. That means that the people and the apostles wanted to reach the Greek-speaking people in their church. I love that heart. They knew Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked, so they selected Greek-speaking leaders to make sure there would be equity.

One of those Greek-speaking leaders was Stephen. Stephen, and Philip who we’ll meet next week, were not just chosen because they were good at food distribution. They were chosen because they were godly leaders, and while they were tasked to solve the food distribution problem, they also did much other ministry. That is what the story of chapters 6 and 7 are about, Stephen’s ministry and the horrible way it turned out. In the next post we’ll begin to learn about it.

Important lessons from a food crisis – Acts 5-6:7, Part 5

*Photo by Element 5 Digital on Unsplash*

I don’t really love food crises. At all. But there is one that happened among the first Christians that we can learn a lot from. The sad fact is that there should not have been a crisis at all. They actually manufactured the crisis because of their poor behavior, which might have been some racism or prejudice.

This week we’ve been looking at three crises in the early church. The food crisis is the third one, and it is found in Acts 6:1-7. Before reading further, go ahead and read that.

I love this passage for a number of reasons. Let me count the ways:

First, I love that the earliest Christians had a food distribution ministry for widows. In their society widows could be extremely vulnerable, so the church is lovingly caring for them. This is an important reminder to us, that we are caring for the vulnerable people in our communities: homebound people, widows, single moms, family in need, and seniors. The early church followed the pattern of Jesus who demonstrated a heart for social action.

I also love that this passage reminds us that people are people. Well, I don’t love what happened, but I’m glad that the writer of Acts includes this story, showing us that the earliest Christians had flaws and struggles just like anyone else. We saw that pretty clearly with Ananias and Sapphira, and here again as there was some bickering and infighting. Notice that this quarrel had an ethnic nuance to it. Though they were all Jews, it was the Jews from Greece versus Jews from Israel. The Grecian widows weren’t being treated fairly.

Next, I love how the apostles, when they thought about solving the problem, were clear about their own role and responsibility. They had a leadership role, and it was okay that they didn’t need to take care of this problem. In fact, they identified that if they did try to solve problems like this, they would not have time to fulfill the duties in their job description.

I love that they have a job description: they were to focus on the ministry of the word and prayer.

And I love that the apostles fulfill their leadership role by raising up other people to address issues that are not on the apostles’ job description.

I love that they have a certain kind of person they are looking for. In the NIV we read two qualities of people they are looking for, as we see in verse 3: they must be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. But there is actually a third quality, and you might see that if you are reading a different translation. The NAS for example says, “Men who are of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” They didn’t choose people in the food industry to deal with a food distribution problem. Instead they looked for people with spiritual maturity.

I love that this passage, supported by teaching in other New Testament letters that Paul wrote, gives us a two-part leadership structure in the church: leaders (elders) and servants (deacons). That is why at Faith Church we have a leadership team and we have serve teams. The leadership team leads the church spiritually, and the serve teams lead the church through various serving ministries.

I love that the apostles choose the qualifications, and then allowed the church to choose the seven men who fit those qualifications.

I love that the church chooses seven men with Greek names, meaning that they identified the marginalization of the Greek widows and wanted to make sure it was resolved, as those with a Greek background would be more likely to be extra sensitive to their plight.

I love that the seven Deacons are commissioned by the apostles to serve through the laying on of hands and prayer, those showing the apostolic authority the Seven had.

Finally, I love the result. The church continues to grow! Even if the church hadn’t grown as a result, I love all the previous steps they took to address the crisis. But I must admit that it is affirming to see the principle of “healthy things grow” illustrated here. I know that in the church sometimes getting healthier means a church gets smaller, but even still there is growth, just not growth measured in more bodies or buildings or bucks.

To summarize this week’s posts, in Acts 5-6:1-7, we have seen three crises in the church, and each one had various lessons:

Crisis #1: Ananias & Sapphira – Be generous and loving to your church family, and don’t lie about it or make a show of it. Be ready to give all you have for the Kingdom.

Crisis #2: Imprisonment – keep introducing people to Jesus, telling the story of Jesus, no matter what people do or say to you. Be ready to give your life for the Kingdom.

Crisis #3: Food Distribution – Practice social justice to those in need, and raise up godly leaders to lead and serve the church. Be ready to serve for the Kingdom.

We covered a lot of ground. We’ve watched how the church handled crisis. They didn’t avoid it, but dealt with it. Through it all their focus was on Jesus. They were ready.

Christians, are we ready? Let’s be ready at a moment’s notice to part with our stuff, to give of our lives and our time, because the greater joy is found in seeing Jesus as our King, and serving his mission. I am so thankful that word is already out in our community that Faith Church is a loving church that seeks the good of the community: Good News Club, Summer Lunch Club, CVCCS, Trunk or Treat, Community Picnic, Serving those struggling with homelessness through Breakout’s City Gate outreach, Community dinners, and soon coming ESL classes. All awesome stuff that we actively support. Perhaps your church has a very similar community outreach. But let me ask you this? What if we took it to another level? What if word got out that we were selling off personal property, giving up vacations and hobbies, living very simply, so that we could help others in need? Imagine the impact!

How to introduce people to Jesus – Acts 5-6:1-7, Part 4

Do you ever struggle to talk about Jesus? Religion can be a very difficult thing to discuss. You might want to talk about Jesus, but it can feel awkward, especially when you’re not sure what the people you’re talking to think about faith. This week we’ve been studying Acts 5 through 6:1-7, a passage of Scripture about three crises the earliest Christians faced. You can read about the first crisis here.

Now we look at Crisis #2: Acts 5, verses 17-42. If you’re following the blog series on Acts, you might have noticed that I didn’t write about Acts chapters 3 and 4 (with the exception of the last few verses of chapter 4). I was out of town for a recent weekend, which I’ll talk about more below, and we had a guest speaker preach on that passage. If you want to go back and read Acts 3 and 4, you’ll notice that it has some similarities to what we’ll be studying in this post, the rest of Acts chapter 5.

Here’s a quick summary of Crisis #2, Acts 5:17-42: Because the church is growing, the Jewish leaders arrest the apostles and lock them up in jail. God’s angel miraculously frees the apostles, tells them to keep preaching, and they do just that. The captain of the temple guard finds out and is mystified how these guys got out of a locked jail, so he rounds up the apostles, who by that time were back in the temple courts preaching, and brings them back to the religious leaders. The leaders say to the apostles, “We told you not to preach in the name of Jesus anymore!” Peter responds with what has become a famous statement: “We must obey God rather than men,” and he preaches about Jesus to the leaders, then and there, right to their faces! He is so beautifully bold!!!

Not surprisingly, the leaders are really upset about this, wanting to end this thing immediately by killing the apostles. But one of their members, Gamaliel, intervenes, saying, “Guys, there’s been other movements like this in the past, and when their leader was killed, the movement fizzled. Let’s give it time. If this is truly from God, we’re not stopping it.” Likewise, this new movement’s leader, Jesus, was, in their minds, dead and gone, so the Jewish leaders agreed, had the disciples flogged (which is a brutal whipping), and then once again they ordered the apostles not to preach anymore and let them go. The disciples are scared, freaked out and return to Galilee where they resume their careers as fishermen, and we never hear from them again.

Of course they don’t do that. Instead they say to one another, “That was rough, guys…we dodged a bullet. Let’s regroup. We need to find a way to make sure we’re never treated like that again. Let’s start meeting in secret and in hiding.”

NO! What do they really do? It’s amazing. They rejoice that they were persecuted for Jesus. And they go right back out there and preach anyway. As Peter said, “We must obey God rather than men.”

This passage clearly applies to the many people being persecuted for Christ. There are places around the world today where people are suffering just like this. I encourage you to get in touch with organizations that track religious persecution around the world today. Persecution Magazine and The Voice of the Martyrs are two examples, reporting on the awful persecution happening to our brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe.

But to us in America? Well, being jailed or flogged for our faith can seem so distant. How, then, does this passage apply to us?

Some people say, if we were more bold, like the apostles, maybe we would face more persecution? Maybe. How can we boldly share the story of Jesus, without coming across legalistic or judgmental, but being gracious, loving? Should we all be doing street preaching? No. Not if we are talking about our regular lives. What does it mean to be bold in our regular lives? What does it mean to obey God rather than men at work, in our neighborhoods, at school? It means that we are people who are witnesses, introducing people to Jesus in the places where we live and work.

We recently spent the weekend in Texas celebrating my wife, Michelle’s cousin’s launch of his book (which is excellent, by the way, and I encourage you to read it!). So he invited numerous writer friends to attend various gatherings. We happened to sit near one guy a couple times throughout the weekend, and we got to talking about our lives. At lunch one day, he started asking more about my role as pastor.

To be honest, when I’m in a setting with people I don’t know, and we share introductions, and the conversation inevitably goes to “What do you do?” Or “What career are you involved in?” my answers tend to be conversation killers: “Pastor. Bible professor. Theology student.” People respond with, “That’s great!” as their eyes glaze over, and they start looking around, and you know they’re thinking, “How can I get out of this conversation?”

But it turns out that this gentleman’s wife is very involved in her church, and even studied for ministry for a time. So he asked me how I got into ministry. I was able to share with him the story of how God worked in my life. As I talked I simply wanted introduce Jesus by telling the story of my experience with Jesus. When I finished, hHe said he was very grateful to hear my story.

What can it look like for us to share God’s goodness every place he takes us? What can it look like for us to introduce people to Jesus? You know how you would normally introduce people who are meeting each other for the first time? If you’re the mutual friend, you take the lead, saying, “This is so-and-so, and this is so-and-so,” and as they shake hands, you might say a few things about how you know each of them, and who they are. You can do the same thing with Jesus. Learn to introduce your friends to Jesus.

We have one more crisis in the church, so check back in to the next post!

If you lie, you’ll die? – Acts 5-6:7, Part 3

Do you think the title of this post sounds harsh? I think it sounds very harsh. That’s why I put a question mark at the end of the title. But what does it refer to? If you lie, you die? It refers to the next section of Acts that we’re studying.

So far this week, we’ve seen how amazingly generous the earliest Christians were with one another. What I’ve asked in each of the previous two posts, though, is this: Isn’t it possible that at least some people in the church are having trouble with all this generosity?

In fact, there were. It took a while (see the previous two posts that set this up here and here), but now we’re ready to read the passage that we’re studying this week, and it includes the first of three crises that we’re going to going to learn about through this and the next two posts. The first crisis is found in Acts 5 verses 1-11. Please read that section of verses. You’ll want to read them before continuing with this post, because what you will read there is a freaky situation. Then come back to this post, and we’ll talk about it.

So what do you think about that? If you lie, you’ll die. Really? What is happening in this weird, and kinda scary story of Ananias and Sapphira? The first question that comes to my mind is this: Did Ananias and Sapphira have to sell their land? Considering what we already read in Acts 2 and Acts 4, are we to understand that everyone in the church had to sell off everything they owned? No.

Remember that time where Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor”? Could it be that the first Christians, as they were organizing the church, said, “OK everyone, Jesus said sell everything you have, so that’s what we’re all going to do, period. Get out there, sell all your stuff and bring us the cash.”? Doubtful they said that. Remember that in Acts 4:32, we read they only sold off property “from time to time.” It seems best to understand that the sold the properties on an as-needed basis. But keep in mind that they were clearly ready to sell when a need arose.

Next, look at the questions Peters asks in Acts 5, verse 4. It seems Ananias and Sapphira did have the freedom to choose how to use the property. They could have chosen to keep the property, or if they sold it, they could have chosen to use the proceeds how they wanted.

But they voluntarily chose to sell. And that is great, except for one thing: they didn’t handle it right.

The issue here is that they lied. They said they gave all, when they did not give all. It was a lie. But why lie? It seems they wanted to look good, to keep up appearances, so the rest of the people in the church would think that Ananias and Sapphira were generous people like Barnabas. If the lie worked, they could still benefit financially from the sale of the house.

But God knew. You cannot lie to God.

And then it gets crazy. God steps in and kills Ananias and Sapphira. Or does he?

What does the text say? Not that God killed them. Just that they died. Was it a heart attack, possibly from the shock of getting caught in a lie? Like natural consequences? Maybe. Or maybe Peter killed them. He was an impetuous guy who once cut a man’s ear off. Or maybe Ananias and Sapphira’s deaths were just an author’s literary way to compare the early church to Adam and Eve and their sin in the Garden (see Genesis 3)? There is much scholarly speculation about this. Google it and you’ll see what I mean; you can go down a worm hole for hours. In the end, we don’t really know the answer of how they died. The text doesn’t explicitly say, but the insinuation of the text is that their deaths were connected to their sin.

Am I saying that the moral of the story is, “If you lie, you’ll die”? It rhymes, and it is kinda catchy and memorable, but that’s not what the story is saying.

My personal opinion is that their deaths weren’t God’s doing because God is not like that. Instead I think it is best to focus on what is clear in this passage, and that is the sacrificial love the church had for one another. We can have that same kind of generous love for one another. Likewise, let us avoid deceit, avoid self-righteousness, and avoid making a show of generosity.

So after this first crisis takes place, what happens in the church? You’d think people might be freaked out and get far away. People dying at Peter’s feet? When word got out about that scene, people could easily have been thinking, there is some weird stuff going on with these Jesus people, and want to have nothing to do with them. So far chapter 5 sounds almost cultish. In your Bible, read Acts 5 verses 12-16 to see what happens.

In this brief historical interlude, we learn that the church grows, in spite of the fear. Why? Because God is at work! I love the difference between verses 13 and 14. People are kinda freaked out, not daring to join them, and yet the Christians are so compelling, and God’s power is so clearly manifest in them, that the people can’t help but want to be a part of it all. As a result more and more men and women become followers of Jesus!

It wasn’t happily ever after though. Take a look at the next post for crisis #2.

How the earliest Christians eradicated poverty – Acts 5-6:7, Part 2

Wouldn’t it be amazing if no one was poor? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone had enough? The first Christians found a way to get there! Let’s look at what they did, and perhaps we can make strides to eradicating poverty in our communities.

To do that we need to move on to the second passage that will help us understand Acts 5:1-11. The first passage was Acts 2:42-47, which we discussed in the previous post. There we learned that the earliest Christians were selling off properties to help those in need. Really wonderful generosity, right? Before we look at the second passage that will help us understand Acts 5:1-11, I want to ask, how long did the early church keep practicing the selling possessions and helping those in need? Maybe they only did this common property stewardship thing for just a short time. They couldn’t possibly keep that up, could they?

Well, open a Bible to Acts chapter 4, verse 32, our second passage. Between Acts 2 and Acts 4, some time has passed, but we don’t know how much. Was it a couple months? A couple years? We don’t know. My guess is that it was between 6-18 months. And what do we read in Acts 4:32?

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

It sounds like now they are even more committed to this than they were in Acts 2! Back in Acts 2 the writer mentions that they were together and had everything in common. But here in Acts 4 we have what appears to be an even stronger statement: no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own. They shared everything. It wasn’t forced on them. They were choosing to do this based on the teachings of Jesus. It wasn’t a government program. It wasn’t a political philosophy. Instead it was a voluntary choice to be part of a community of love.

But I still imagine that there had to be some people doubting this idea of seeing your possessions as not your own. Some people had to be uncomfortable with this, right? Or is it possible that I am just thinking about it like that because it seems so radical, so different from us. Maybe it shouldn’t be radical. What they did lines up pretty nicely with Jesus’ teaching to the rich young ruler to sell all you have and give to the poor, and it really expresses his sacrificial love very well.

And what’s more, look at the difference it makes in Acts 4:34-37:

“There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

Wow! The result of their love for one another was that every need was met. Poverty was eradicated. That’s astounding. Remember, this is the church the writer is talking about. He is not talking about the city of Jerusalem or the nation of Israel or Rome. It is very possible that there were still needy persons in the wider community. We don’t know for sure, but I would say it is likely. But in the church? There were no needy persons among them because those who had means did not see their possessions as they own. Instead they saw their possessions as God’s property to be used to benefit their brothers and sisters in need.

Acts 4:34 tells us that it happened “from time to time” meaning that this selling and giving wasn’t compulsory. It was voluntary. It didn’t happen all the time, but from time to time, giving us the idea that it was as-needed. There is a sense that those who had houses and lands were on the ready, so to speak. They did not see their possessions as their own, such that they were ready at a moment’s notice to liquidate their possessions, get the money and lay it at the apostles’ feet so that it could be used to benefit those in need.

That is awesome. What can it look like for us to think like that, to choose to be generous like that? This kind of generosity is not only applicable to people with multiple homes and lands. It can apply to any of us who have lots of extra clothing, cars, gadgets, savings accounts, food, extra rooms, you name it. Use it for the Kingdom! Use it to benefit those in need. Choose to use it for God. None of it is yours anyway.

“Are you saying, Joel, that I might not be able to enjoy life like I used to? Are you saying it is wrong to take vacations, to own multiple properties, to have hobbies, or many other typical American activities, that we can enjoy because of what our American life makes possible?”

I’m not saying that. I’m not saying that God is socialist or communist and wants you to be miserable. Not at all. Instead God wants you to experience a deeper joy, a fulfillment that vacations and properties and hobbies and shopping and cell phones and Netflix can never give us. Sure those things do feel really great for a time. There is a time and season for them. In Ecclesiastes we read that we should “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die.” The writer’s point is that there is a time for celebrating, for joy, and partying and feasting. What I’m saying is that there is a deeper joy.

We see this joy in the early church through their amazing commitment to love one another, consistent with what they learned from Jesus and with how they watched him live, and they found the deepest satisfaction in living that out. Generosity releases us from the bonds of materialism and consumerism, and frees to live a life of mutual love and interdependence in the community of a church family. Therein is found the deeper joy.

Still I wonder if some people were not convinced. Isn’t possible that at least some people in the church having trouble with all this generosity? Well, there were some struggling with this, and we meet them in the next post.