Monthly Archives: August 2013

If God Be For Us

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IF GOD BE FOR US

“The captain came up and put Paul under arrest. He first ordered him handcuffed and then asked who he was and what he had done. All he got from the crowd were shouts, one yelling this, another that. It was impossible to tell one word from another in the mob hysteria, so the captain ordered Paul taken to the military barracks. But when they got to the Temple steps, the mob became so violent that the soldiers had to carry Paul. As they carried him away, the crowd followed, shouting, ‘Kill him! Kill him!'” Acts 21:33-36 (The Message).

How many times had Paul been in a similar situation? In almost every city he had preached in, he had faced being lynched, either by Jews or enraged Gentiles stirring up violence against him for some perceived grievance. This was religious bigotry at its worst.

His ploy to appease the opposition hadn’t worked. They were not taken in by his shaved head and pathetic attempt to convince them that he was a good Jew. His reputation had gone before him and it took only one tiny spark of hatred to set the whole city alight. Roman soldiers or no Roman soldiers, the mob was determined to get him this time, once and for all.

It was only divine intervention that could save him, and it came to him in the form of Roman authority which, at this moment, was on his side. This little Jewish colony was a constant thorn in Rome’s side. There had to be a strong military presence here to keep the volatile crowd from erupting over any little religious nit-picking especially when it came to the issue of Jesus of Nazareth.

Some thirty years before, representatives of the city had made their choice. ‘His blood be upon us and upon our children,’ they had yelled at Pilate. Not only had they chosen to speak for themselves but they had also implicated their descendants in their decision to reject their Messiah and consign themselves to the unbelief that has dogged their nation down the centuries.

For Paul there was one tiny light at the end of the tunnel — Rome. He was not going to die here at the hands of the Jews, no matter their intention, because God had assured him that he would testify to His grace in Rome. As scary as his situation was, he was assured of divine protection and he could rest in the presence and promise of God.

“When they got to the barracks, and were about to go in, Paul said to the captain, ‘Can I say something to you?’

“He answered, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you spoke Greek. I thought you were an Egyptian who not long ago started a riot here and then hid out in the desert with his four thousand thugs.’

“Paul said, ‘No, I am a Jew, born in Tarsus. And I’m a citizen still of that influential city. I have a simple request. Let me speak to the crowd.'” Acts 21:37-39 (The Message).

Surprise! The Roman captain thought he had to do with yet another marauding gang leader, not an educated, Greek speaking, respectable citizen of an influential city in the Roman Empire. That put a different slant on things. God was slowly building His protective shield around Paul, growing respect for him in the heart of the Roman captain which would stand him in good stead in days to come.

Once again Paul was learning that the safest place to be was in the will of God because he was untouchable in the worst of circumstances as God’s plan for him unfolded. When David was a fugitive from the murderous hatred of Saul, he also experienced a safe place in God.

To Abiathar, son of the murdered priest, Ahimelech, he said, “‘Stay with me, don’t be afraid. The man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also. You will be safe with me.” 1 Samuel 22:23 (NIV).

Really, Paul!

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REALLY, PAUL!

“‘We’re worried about what will happen when they discover you’re in town. There’s bound to be trouble. So here is what we want you to do. There are four men from our company who have taken a vow involving ritual purification, but have no money to pay the expenses. Join these men in their vows and pay their expenses. Then it will become obvious to everyone that there is nothing to the rumours going around about you and that you are in fact scrupulous in your reverence for the laws of Moses. 

“‘In asking you to do this, we’re not going back on our agreement regarding Gentiles who have become believers. We continue to hold fast to what we wrote in that letter, namely, to be careful not to get involved in activities connected with idols; to avoid serving food offensive to Jewish Christians; to guard the morality of sex and marriage.’

“So Paul did it — took the men, joined them in their vows, and paid their way. The next day he went to the temple to make it official and stay there until the proper sacrifices had been offered and completed for each of them.” Acts 21:25-26 (The Message).

Really, Paul! A few days before, you spoke such noble words. You were not concerned about your safety — you only wanted to be obedient to the Lord. And now this! Vows! Sacrifice! Was this what God wanted you to do or was this just human wisdom and bad advice? Look at the outcome. Did it work for you?

Paul was just as human as we are and, in a moment of fear, tried to duck out of what he knew was coming. By associating himself with men who were still following old ways, was he compromising on the very thing he was so earnest about defending? Since Jesus was an all-sufficient Saviour, what place did vows and sacrifice have in his life any longer, especially as he was simply going along with others and not acting out of his own conviction?

It is easy to have noble intentions when we are not in the thick of difficult or dangerous circumstances. We know what we would say or do but, when it comes to the moment, it takes great courage to carry out our resolve and not to cower and back down. Have you noticed how easy it is to rehearse in your mind what you would say or do, for example, when you have to confront someone with a confession of guilt, or with the truth? When the time comes, and you are in a face-to-face situation, your courage fails and all the things you wanted to say evaporate from your mind like the morning mist!

Perhaps Paul was eager to concur because his fellow believers were far more aware of the danger of his situation than he was. For a moment he had forgotten that his life was in the hands of God, and that he still had a purpose to serve, even in the circumstances that lay ahead for him. The Holy Spirit had forewarned him to prepare him so that he would not be caught off guard. A little deception to put his old adversaries off the scent was not going to change God’s plan for him.

Whether his plan worked or not, Paul was a marked man, not marked by men but by God because He wanted him to testify to His grace in Rome also. Paul may not have liked the process that got him there, but God needed him in the very precincts of the palace itself so that the message of Jesus would not only be spoken but lived out in the presence of the highest authorities in the land.

What might have looked like a tragedy in his eyes was a triumph and an honour for a man like Paul. Once he got his perspective right, he would rise to the occasion, correct his wobble, and become exactly what his Master intended for him to be — a beacon of hope for Rome also, and a source of knowledge, strength and comfort for the recipients of the letters he was able to write at his leisure, right down to the present.

“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone, that I am in chains for Christ, Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.” Philippians 1:12-14 (NIV).

What Have I Done To Deserve This?

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WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?

“Soon the whole city was in an uproar, people running from everywhere to the Temple to get in on the action. They grabbed Paul, dragged him outside, and locked the Temple gates so he couldn’t get back in and gain sanctuary.

“As they were trying to kill him, word came to the captain of the guard, ‘A riot! The whole city’s boiling over.’ He acted swiftly. His soldiers and centurions ran to the scene at once. As soon as the mob saw the captain and his soldiers, they quit beating Paul.” Acts 21:30-32 (The Message).

‘So where was God in all this?’ This is the first question we are likely to ask.

If Paul was God’s servant, carrying out all His instructions faithfully, why didn’t He protect him from this kind of trouble? Why did He allow Paul to go through all this, just to get him to Rome? Couldn’t he have just hopped on a ship and sailed there in peace?

Questions like these open up the age-old issue of suffering — why does God allow suffering? We all experience our own version of this universal problem, and there are probably as many solutions as there are experiences, but do they really give answers that satisfy?

The problem for believers is that the Bible itself does not give us an answer. It may address some peripheral issues like, for example, that we live in a fallen world; that Satan is the god of this world; that his intention is to kill, steal and destroy; that God has given human beings the freedom to choose and that people do bad things to each other and God does not interfere because we are not puppets.

But these do still do not answer the central issue: why does God allow these things to happen? Paul experienced God’s protection again and again during his travels in Europe and Asia Minor. When people rioted against him and tried to kill him, he escaped. God caused an earthquake to set him free from prison in Philippi. He raised him from the dead when he was stoned at Lystra. He survived hardships of many kinds, but now he was under arrest and in the hands of Roman soldiers. What next?

Apart from Jesus, Job probably suffered more than anyone whose story is recorded in Scripture. He went from being a fabulously wealthy man with a big family, a name and prestige in his community to a pathetic pauper sitting on an ash heap, ill and in pain, and not even a wife to comfort him because she had turned against him as well. It is quite natural that he would ask why.

His so-called friends didn’t help him either. They insisted that God had done this to him because he had secretly sinned, an accusation which Job vehemently denied. In all his ranting and railing, God said nothing. He allowed Job to get it all off his chest until he had nothing more to say. When He did finally answer him, God was angry. He didn’t speak gently to him; He came at him out of a storm!

What He had to say had nothing to do with Job’s demand to know why. He overwhelmed Job with the majesty of His power over nature. “‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.'” Job 38:4 (NIV). On and on He went until Job was struck dumb. What was the point of all this?

There is a sense in which God was telling Job that he was too puny to understand His ways. There is no answer to the question ‘Why?’ that we humans can grasp because God is painting His picture on a canvas as big as the universe itself. How can we possibly stand back far enough to see the whole scope of what He is doing?

The real issue is not ‘why are you doing this?’ but ‘what must I do in this situation?’ I can either become embittered, turn my back on God and never experience the grace He promised that sets me free from my emotional pain or I can trust Him because I know that He is a loving Father who is painting me into His big picture and will never do anything to harm or destroy me. It’s really my choice!

Assuming Is Lying

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ASSUMING IS LYING!

“When the seven days of their purification were nearly up, some Jews from around Ephesus spotted him in the Temple. At once they turned the place upside-down. They grabbed Paul and started yelling at the tops of their lungs, ‘Help! You Israelites, help! This is the man who is going all over the world telling lies against us and our religion and this place. He’s even brought Greeks in here and defiled this holy place.’ (What happened was that they had seen Paul and Trophimus, the Ephesian Greek, walking together in the city and had just assumed that he had taken him to the Temple and shown him around).” Acts 21:27-29 (The Message).

Well now, here’s an interesting situation! Seeing Paul in the city with a Greek was a far cry from seeing him in the temple with the same man. They assumed that Paul had taken him into the temple, and acted like hooligans on their assumption.

Assuming without listening is a dangerous thing to do. By assuming, these men were doing exactly what they were accusing Paul of doing — telling lies! Because they had not listened to Paul’s message in Ephesus and had even possibly been part of the riot there, seeing the whole city was in an uproar, they had certainly not grasped the truth of his preaching or his credibility as a servant of God.

They assumed that Paul was trying to discredit the Jews and their God; they assumed that he was trying to turn the Gentiles against the Jews; they assumed that he had turned against their God himself, and of course they assumed that he was a dangerous man and needed to be eliminated. From where did these assumptions come? From the “father of lies” of course! Anyone is open to these kinds of assumptions if he does not have a heart for the truth.

These Jews were in the grip of both tradition and religion that had turned them into bigots and potential murderers. It was they, not Paul, who were misrepresenting the God they were supposed to be worshipping. It was their agenda, not God’s, they were fighting for because, if they had understood the God who had revealed Himself to them through their history with Him and His law, they would have known Him to be a God of mercy and compassion who had a heart for all people, including the Gentiles.

Their own Scriptures foretold a time when Messiah would come and change everything; when the nations would stream to Jerusalem to be part of the universal worship of God.

“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Micah 4:1-2 (NIV).

If these men, who were so zealous for their religion, had done more listening and less assuming, they would have recognised that they were uniquely privileged to a part of a new era of God’s grace.

The tragedy is that people get hurt when we assume without verifying our facts. Our assumptions are often based on our inborn desire to be one up on other people. How often do we assume things that are to the detriment or ourselves and the advantage of other people?

If we are to be true followers of Jesus, we must cultivate a generous and honest heart that assumes nothing but gives people, even those we don’t like, the benefit of the doubt. To take the trouble to be sure of our facts will offset a whole lot of pain, for other people as well as ourselves, and contribute to peace instead of conflict, which is the life we are called to live.

Daddy Didn’t Tell Me To Do That

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DADDY DIDN’T TELL ME TO DO THAT

“They had a story to tell too. ‘And just look at what’s been happening here — thousands upon thousands of God-fearing Jews have become believers in Jesus! But there’s also a problem because they are more zealous than ever in observing the laws of Moses. They’ve been told that you advise believing Jews who live surrounded by Gentiles to go light on Moses, telling them that they don’t need to circumcise their children or keep up the old traditions. This isn’t sitting well with them.'” Acts 21:20-21 (The Message).

Tradition versus truth; culture versus Christ. This issue is as old as the church itself and older. It was the struggle Jesus had with His religious opponents then, and it continues to this day.

The Judaisers were a sect of Christianity which insisted on obedience to the Mosaic law as a condition for salvation. They not only adhered to it themselves but they also imposed it on Gentile believers. The sign of their compliance was circumcision. Gentiles had to submit to circumcision first before they could be a part of the church.

Paul quickly recognised the danger in this practice. He wrote a heated letter to the church in Galatia which was being harrassed by these false teachers, exposing the error and implications of this teaching. To add anything to the work of Jesus on the cross was to nullify the grace of God and plunge people back into slavery to the law which was unable to deliver them from the power of their sinful natures.

Tradition can a powerful weapon in the devil’s arsenal if it believed above the Word of God. Take, for example, the so-called “Christian” festivals of Christmas and Easter. The very names of these seasons have deep roots in pagansim and the occult. If anyone mentions this truth, the heckles of many Christians rise, and they fiercely defend what they are doing because they believe they are celebrating the birth and death of Jesus.

But the church is doing exactly what God hated and opposed in His own people. In both kingdoms, Judah and Israel, the people worshipped God, so they thought, by doing it their way, mixing their pagan practices with the God who had revealed Himself to them. What was the fruit of this mixture? Social injustice, oppression of the poor and wicked living. They even went as far as burning their children to the god, Molech in the name of wroship.

We only have to look at the fruit of these “Christain celebrations” to identify their root — wasteful use of God’s resources, drunkenness, gluttony, debt, carnage on the roads, loneliness, suicide, greed, discontent and so much more. The fruit always exposes the root.

If we have embraced Jesus and bowed to Him as Lord, we don’t need a day or a season to remember either His birth or His death. Who He is and what He did is woven into the very fabric of our lives. He told us how and when to remember His death — through baptism and the Lord’s Supper. “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV).

Jesus told the Pharisees, ‘You nullify the word of God by your tradition.’ It is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that gives us access to the Father and to the grace that accepts us because of Him. Any effort on our part to win the favour of God by obeying laws or trying to impress Him by our “goodness”, cancels His grace, puts us back into slavery, and separates us from Him again.

Slavish adherence to traditions like Christmas and Easter are only the tip of the iceberg. How many other traditions have crept into the church from the world that have nothing to do with what Jesus came to do and to tell. How much religion is there is our belief systems that occupy us and distract us from the true worship of God.

James puts it in a nutshell: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27 (NIV).

We must never fall for any lie that overrides God’s Word and sets human wisdom or tradition above what He has said. His Word is our standard. Let’s follow our Master who told the devil, ‘Daddy didn’t tell me to do that!’