Daily Archives: April 14, 2013

What’s Going On Here?

Christian Life, ,

WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?

“Meanwhile, the Chief Priest and his cronies convened the High Council, Israel’s senate, and sent to the jail to have the prisoners brought in. When the police got there, they couldn’t find them anywhere in the jail. They went back and reported, ‘We found the jail locked tight as a drum and the guards posted at the doors, but when we went inside we didn’t find a soul.’

“The chief of the Temple police and the high priests were puzzled.’What’s going on here anyway?’

“Just then someone showed up and said, ‘Did you know that the men you put in jail are back in the Temple teaching the people?’ The chief and his police went and got them, but they handled them gently, fearful that the people would riot and turn on them.” Acts 5:21-26 (The Message).

What an impossible situation! How could these puny humans think they could challenge God? Surely this crazy turn of events should have warned them to back off!

After considering everything that God has done to restore us to fellowship with Himself and all the possible adversities and reverses we can experience in life to cut us off from Him again, the Apostle Paul came to this conclusion: “What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?….I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:33, 37-39 (NIV).

The story of Jesus’ apostles takes many twists and turns. They were jailed and sometimes supernaturally released, like Peter and John, and sometimes stayed incarcerated for a long time. Some were executed, like James and Stephen while others were released. Doesn’t this seem a rather unfair and arbitrary way for God to treat His followers?

Paul’s ringing testimony negates a silly conclusion like that. “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NIV). It all depends on one’s point of view.

If we are in it for what we can get out of it, life’s vicissitudes will be very frustrating. It is difficult to get God to do what we want when He has a different agenda. We can “name it and claim it” or practise our faith techniques all we like, but God happens to be in charge and He is painting on a bigger canvas than we can see.

When we finally come to the conclusion that He is not obliged to do anything for us, life begins to make much more sense and the joy of being free to love Him because He is who He is, is a glorious experience. What we deserve is what Jesus suffered for us. What He does for us is entirely out of grace because He wants to and not because He has to.

The apostles were free to enjoy their journey because they could trust the One who was in charge. As long as they were alive, they got on with the job at hand. If their lives were cut short, as many of them were, they enjoyed the reward for their obedience and the benefits of the kingdom they represented.

There is both pathos and humour in the story. The Jewish hierarchy was playing cat and mouse but its “mouse” had the unfair advantage of having God rooting for them. Their quarry was not at their mercy but in the safe hands of God who was both using them for His purposes and honing them as sons for His glory.

Don’t Mess With God

Bible Study, , ,

DON’T MESS WITH GOD

“Provoked mightily by all this, the Chief Priest and those on his side, mainly the sect of Sadducees, went into action, arrested the apostles and put them in the town jail. But during the night an angel of God opened the jailhouse door and led them out. He said, ‘Go to the Temple and take your stand. Tell the people everything there is to say about this life.’

Promptly obedient, they entered the Temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.” Acts 5:17-20 (The Message).

When would these religious leaders ever learn that no one can mess with God and get away with it? They tried it with Jesus and lost, and now they were at it again.

It seems that the High Priest had the ear of the Sadducees. They were a wealthy and powerful political sect whose main religious claim to fame was what they did not believe, not what they did believe. They vehemently defended their denial of the supernatural in general and the resurrection in particular. Why would the High Priest be in bed with them – money, power? Support them and they would support him.

But they had a serious problem. The man they killed was alive again, or so His followers were saying, and to prove it, supernatural things were happening. The very things they were conveniently believing so that they would not have to have dealings with a supernatural God, were happening under their noses. To stop it was like trying to put a cork in a volcano!

But they were trying!

Step one — silence the leaders. If they abused them enough, they might silence them, so they thought. Put them in jail, threaten them, intimidate them enough to shut them up. They had already tried that once but it only resulted in another wave of miracles and an influx of new believers.

Step two — increase the pressure. The apostles had taken no notice of their bullying tactics the first time. They were accountable to a higher authority. They had their instructions and they were not about to renege on their commitment to Jesus as rightful Lord, not any Jewish council or political power.

The one ally the High Priest and his cronies had not reckoned on was the army of heaven. It only took the action of one angel to unravel their plan. Jail the apostles and an angel had the key. In fact, he didn’t need a key. No jailhouse door could keep an angel out or the apostles in! How was that for civil disobedience!

The angel’s instructions fall strangely on the ears of a modern western church bent on preservation rather than propagation. “Go back and teach in the Temple,” he told them. Sitting in jail for a night was an unforeseen interruption in their assignment. There was no time to go home and lick their wounds.

This was spiritual warfare at its best. Paul understood the truth about “spiritual warfare” — not the idea that we have to engage the enemy by all manner of futile activities like Jericho marches, prayer walks, binding and loosing, taking authority, rebuking the devil, identifying and pulling down strongholds etc. It all sounds very “spiritual” but amounts to nothing since Jesus has already exposed and made a fool of him at the cross.

Paul said, “Stand!” That’s all! Peter said, “Submit to God!” That’s all! Just keep declaring and living the truth regardless of the interruptions. The battle is the Lord’s. If as much time were spent preaching the Word of God as is spent on all these useless activities in the name of spiritual warfare, the lives of many more would be changed, bringing the kingdom of God where it is needed most.