Monthly Archives: May 2013

Back In The Limelight

Christian Life, , ,

BACK IN THE LIMELIGHT

“Peter went off on a mission to visit all the churches. In the course of his travels, he arrived at Lydda and met with the believers there. He came across a man — his name was Aeneas — who had been in bed eight years, paralysed. Peter said, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!’ And he did it — jumped right out of bed.. Everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him walking around and woke up to the fact that God was alive and active among them.” Acts 9:32-35 (The Message).

With Saul safely out of sight for a while, Peter was back on centre stage. There was no getting away from the fact that he had spent three years in the company of Jesus. He may not have understood all the implications of what this Man had said and done, but Peter had been absorbing it all, none-the-less.

Healing seems to have been his speciality. He had watched Jesus, healed under supervision with Jesus and gone on preaching and healing tours with the other disciples with Jesus’ authorisation. He was trained and equipped to do the works of the kingdom and he was not afraid to get his hands dirty.

Peter may not have been an educated man or a polished preacher but he did what he had been trained to do. Under the unction of the Holy Spirit, he put his Master’s glory on display by applying the rule of God to suffering people. He never let an opportunity go by to dispense God’s mercy to sick people and, by doing so, he could not escape the attention of the people around him.

Where Saul’s fiery preaching aroused opposition, in a less confrontational way so did Peter’s healing ministry. Jesus was alive in the transformation of people through the truth proclaimed and in the healing of the sick and disabled through the demonstration of the power of His name, and no one could dispute that.

The religious authorities had no answer for these phenomena and it put them in a very bad light. They were the ones who had discredited Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and put Him to death for blasphemy without a careful and honest evaluation of the evidence. As hard as they tried, they could not put out the fires of faith and loyalty to the risen Jesus. They had lost face and their grip on the people. It would not be long before their fury would break out again.

In the meantime the church was enjoying a lull in the storm. The apostles and the believers were making use of every opportunity to spread the Word. The movement was gathering momentum and churches were popping up everywhere. They were dependant on the propagation of this message by word of mouth. They had no convenient Bible to turn to for instruction.

Peter made it his business to move around from church to church to check on their progress and to teach them from his own knowledge and experience, and from his understanding of the Scriptures. Even at this early stage of the church’s history, there were those who slipped in to sow lies and discord among the believers. It has always been so and will always be so.

Like newborn infants, these little groups of believers needed to be nurtured and protected, and the church leaders had their time cut out taking care of them. This was the nature of the first century church — not large congregations meeting in ornate buildings and guided by theologically trained ministers, but little groups of people meeting in homes and doing life together.

Their leadership and lives were simple and unsophisticated. They worshipped and prayed together, shared their experiences and their resources, and encouraged one another as best they could according to their understanding of this new Way. They loved and protected one another in a hostile environment.

This way of life was so foreign to the average person that they were attracted to it and many joined the church in spite of the dangers. It was a place of safety and hope in a dangerous and uncertain world since living under Roman domination was no Sunday School picnic.

The Church At Rest

Christian life, Christian Life, ,

THE CHURCH AT REST

“Things calmed down after that and the church had smooth sailing for a while. All over the country — Judea, Samaria, Galilee — the church grew. They were permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God. The Holy Spirit was with them, strengthening them. They prospered wonderfully.” Acts 9:31 (The Message).

Whew! What a relief!

Sending Saul back home to Tarsus was a good move for the believers. They were able to stabilise and regroup for a while in preparation for the next wave of persecution which was sure to come.

Luke does not give us a time frame for these events but it could not have been many years before the church had fulfilled at least some of its commission to take the gospel from Jerusalem to the rest of the known world.

Already the three provinces of Israel were saturated with the Message. With the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, there was a witness in Africa and Saul was no doubt actively preaching Jesus back in his home town of Tarsus in Asia Minor. There was already a strong church in Damascus in Syria. Who knows where else it had spread, with believers being scattered through persecution?

What was it about this new movement that made it so powerful? One would have thought that, with all the efforts to exterminate it, people would have been scared off instead of being drawn to it. It is not persecution that kills the church but a deadly disease that destroys the church from within. Like dry rot, which destroys the wood but not the structure, a church may have all the outward trappings of functionality but lack the activity of the Spirit that keeps it alive.

Luke drops a few clues that give us insight into the nature of the early church. Whether they were in a phase of peace or persecution, there was an inner resilience that came from the heart attitude of the people.

“They were permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God.” Could it be that this is one of the most important ingredients missing from the church today?

This was Paul’s diagnosis of the terrible state of the world he lived in — and he was quoting a psalm which reflected the times of the psalmist!
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:18 (NIV).

That should tell us that this is an inborn characteristic of humankind which comes from Adam himself when he chose to disregard God’s authority and go his own way. The history of God’s own people was evidence of a massive disrespect for God which they lived out in sinful rebellion and blatant disobedience to His Word.

The symptoms of this disease are easily recognisable. Number one is treating God like a mate or a servant. It’s “God, do this, and God do that,” and if He doesn’t, they call His character into question and even walk away.

Number two is usurping His authority in the church. How many church leaders are attaching people to themselves, acting like dictators and twisting God’s word to suit themselves, garnering the spoils of their greed to feather their own nests?

God’s response is clear and sobering. “What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? …These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. Consider this, you who forget God or I will tear you to pieces with none to rescue. He who offers thank offerings honours me and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” Psalm 50:16b; 21-23 (NIV).

But there is another response from God to those who give God the honour due to Him. “The Holy Spirit was with them strengthening them. They prospered wonderfully.” The Holy Spirit has not left the church but He is often quenched or grieved into silence because He is no longer honoured in the church.

A Hot Potato

Christian Life, , ,

A HOT POTATO

“After that, he was accepted as one of them, going in and out of Jerusalem with no questions asked, uninhibited as he preached in the Master’s name. But then he ran afoul of a group called Hellenists — he had been engaged in a running argument with them — who plotted his murder. When his friends learned of the plot, they got him out of town, took him to Caesarea, and then shipped him off to Tarsus.” Acts 9:28-30 (The Message).

What does one make of this scenario?

Saul was emerging as a powerful leader of this new movement. His highly trained legal mind and Pharisaical upbringing wrestled with the implications of the life, death and resurrection of the Man he had met on the Damascus road. As he preached and taught, he was formulating his defence of the gospel and pitting his new understanding against the best brains of his day.

He was drawing a great deal of attention from fanatical Jews and particularly those who were Greek-speaking and had embraced a much more “broad-minded” religious outlook on life. His debates with them had become so one-sided and hot that they could not out-argue him so they decided that the best way to win the war of words was to eliminate him.

One wonders about the wisdom of Saul’s actions. Was there any value in stirring up the kind of opposition that drew too much attention to the followers of Jesus and put their lives in danger? Up to this point Peter and John had been the natural leaders of the church. They had fallen foul of the authorities by preaching the resurrection of Jesus, implicating them in His death.

The crippled beggar’s healing outside the Temple put the cherry on the top. The Jewish religious leaders thought they had safely disposed of Jesus and intimidated His followers into silence, but now His uneducated Galilean peasant disciples were publicly insisting that Jesus was alive and doing the same things as He had done. The movement had become unstoppable.

When Stephen had publicly accused them of being in league with their forefathers who silenced every prophet that indicted the people of God for their stubborn disobedience and rebellion against God, they were so incensed that they stoned him to death. The set off a wave or persecution so fierce that the believers had to flee Jerusalem.

Now Saul comes along and stirs up more trouble by his fiery debates with these Hellenists. It’s no wonder the believers in Jerusalem shipped him back to Tarsus where he was safely out of their way!

We have to admire Saul’s zeal and his courage but we must also remember that he was a young man and a new believer. Sometimes the fire of youth does not always match the wisdom of experience. Amazing how God uses everything for our good! Perhaps the time Saul spent back home in Tarsus gave him opportunity to think through his own understanding of the gospel.

When the right moment came, he was available to join Barnabas and accompany him to Jerusalem on a mission of mercy for the suffering believers. Perhaps a little tamer and a little wiser, he was ready to embark on his calling to take the message from Jerusalem to Rome.

The Tables Are Turned

Christian Life, , , ,

THE TABLES ARE TURNED

“After this had gone on quite a long time, some Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul got wind of it. They were watching the city gates around the clock so they could kill him. Then one night the disciples engineered his escape by lowering him over the wall in a basket.” Acts 9:23-25 (The Message).

What a turn-around! The persecutor becomes the persecuted!

Nothing short of a miracle could have put Saul in this predicament. The suffering the Master predicted for him had begun. Saul’s brilliant legal mind had already come into play in Damascus. His grasp of the gospel put him in the forefront of its defenders and brought him into the firing line of the fanatical Jews he once led.

Fortunately for Saul, he was securely connected to the fellowship of believers in Damascus. He had proved the genuineness of the change in his life by his bold challenge to the Jews he once stood with in his opposition to the Way. Just as he was putting his life on the line for the Master, so they were willing to put their lives on the line for him. The story of the church can easily rank among the best of modern thrillers!

“Back in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were afraid of him. They didn’t trust him one bit. Then Barnabas took him under his wing. He introduced him to the apostles and stood up for him; told them how Saul had seen and spoken to the Master on the Damascus Road and how in Damascus itself he had laid his life on the line with his bold preaching in Jesus’ name.” Acts 9:26-27 (The Message).

Strange, isn’t it, how quickly bad news travels? The believers in Damascus knew all about Saul, the persecutor. And yet, in Saul’s case, the truth of the good news of his transformation had not yet penetrated the church in Jerusalem. In spite of his activities in Damascus and the circumstances of his departure from that city, the believers in Jerusalem were still suspicious of him.

It took the action of another big-hearted brother, Barnabas, like Ananias, to vouch for him. Barnabas not only befriended and defended him in this situation. He also became a life-long friend and partner in the gospel, travelling and suffering together with him across Asia Minor in the cause of the gospel.

What were Saul’s credentials that vouchsafed his true conversion? He had met with Jesus and become His witness in spite of the opposition and the death threats that drove him out of Damascus and would hound him across Israel, Asia Minor and Europe and put him in jail more than once.

It was this hatred and opposition from his own countrymen that bit deeply into his soul and caused him to cry out to God for deliverance. Like the idolatrous Canaanites who so harassed the Israelites in their conquest of the Promised Land that they became a thorn in the side of God’s people, Saul’s own people became his worst nightmare in his quest to win them for his Master.

It was the Jews who stirred up riots against him, who turned Roman officials against him and who eventually had him arrested in Jerusalem, and imprisoned and tried in Rome as a dangerous criminal who had no right to be alive.

But whatever was done to him in the name of religion could not take from him the reality of that moment when he saw the risen Jesus and heard His commission to take the gospel to the world. Nothing would cancel out that command, not even the hatred of his own people, the suspicion of his fellow believers and the threat of death itself.

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him…” Philippians 3:7-9a.

What will it take for Jesus to have followers like that…especially in the western world where comfort and convenience are the great enemies of true disciples?

Convinced and Converted

Christian Life, ,

CONVINCED AND CONVERTED

“Saul spent a few days getting acquainted with the Damascus disciples, but then went right to work, wasting no time, preaching in the meeting places that this Jesus was the Son of God. They were caught off guard by this and, not at all sure they could trust him, they kept saying, ‘Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem among the believers? And didn’t he come here to do the same thing — arrest us and drag us off to jail in Jerusalem for sentencing by the high priests?’

“But their suspicions didn’t slow Saul down for even a minute. His momentum was up now and he plowed straight into the opposition, disarming the Damascus Jews and trying to show them that this Jesus was the Messiah.” Acts 9:19-22 (The Message).

“Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am?” That was Jesus’ question and challenge to His disciples at Caesarea Philippi, Israel’s “red light” district where both Caesar worship and the worship of the goat god, Pan, and his associates, took place.

This “worship” was accompanied by the most blatant expressions of sexual perversion, co-habiting with goats to lure the evil spirits from their winter hiding place in the underworld. A cave in the rock from which a natural spring flowed to join the melting snows of Mount Hermon to source the Jordan River was regarded as the “gate of hell”.

It was here, in full view of the goings on, that Jesus asked His question. If He was not the Son of God in an environment like this, what power did He have to rescue people from their sordid and perverse religion and behaviour and bring them back into fellowship with the Father?

It was here that He assured His followers that He would build His church and not even the place which the devotees of Pan believed to be the “gate of hell”, the place of access to the underworld, would be able to withstand the power of who He was and what He came to do.

How subtly the proclamation of the gospel has changed from the the focus on who Jesus is to what He can do for us? Saul’s message in Damascus was not, “I received Jesus as my Saviour”; “I asked Jesus into my heart”; “I prayed the sinner’s prayer” or even, “I was born again.” Like Peter on the Day of Pentecost, the message of the early church was, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

What are the implications of that confession? Everything that we experience and receive through Jesus comes to us because of who He is. Our response should never be what He can do for me but my attitude of absolute reverence, submission and obedience because He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. How He treats me flows from who He is, not from the demands I make on Him because I have done Him the favour of believing in Him.

Could it be that His church would become again what it was at the beginning if we trusted Him, not because of what He can do for us but because of who He is? Would we still bow the knee and acknowledge that Jesus is Lord if He never ever did another thing for us? He doesn’t have to, you know!

The world is offering us many counterfeit “lords”, which are all Satan’s subtle way of usurping Jesus’ place. If we continue to live our self-centred and self-absorbed “Christian” lives, expecting Jesus to serve us, we will miss the purpose for which He came, for which He died and rose again and for which He rescued us from the clutches of the devil, transferred us into the kingdom of God and supplies us with everything we need to live this life.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV).