Monthly Archives: May 2019

THE BOOK OF ACTS – REALLY BLIND BLINDNESS

Bible Study, ,

REALLY BLIND BLINDNESS 

‘The governor invited Barnabas and Saul in, wanting to hear God’s Word first-hand from them. But Dr Know-It-All (that’s the wizard’s name in plain English), stirred up a ruckus, trying to divert the governor from becoming a believer. But Saul (or Paul), full of the Holy Spirit and looking him straight in the eye, said, ‘You bag of wind, you parody of a devil — why, you stay up nights inventing schemes to cheat people out of God. But now you’ve come up against God Himself, and your game is up. You’re about to go blind — no sunlight for you for a good long stretch.’ He was plunged immediately into a shadowy mist and stumbled around, begging people to take him by the hand and show him the way.

“When the governor saw what had happened, he became a believer, full of enthusiasm over what they were saying about the Master.” Acts 13:7-12 (The Message).

What a story! This was a David-and-Goliath scenario in the spiritual realm, not “spiritual warfare” but simply taking the spoils of Jesus’ victory. Paul did not engage in a stand-off with the magician. He passed sentence on a verdict already given by the man himself. Since he was already spiritually blind and trying desperately to keep the governor in the dark, his physical blindness was a fitting sentence for his crime.

God, through His faithful missionaries, was giving Sergius Paulus an opportunity to weigh up the evidence, after hearing what they had to say, and reach his own conclusion about Jesus. This is God’s way. He forces no one to believe. He honours His gift of choice, regardless of which way it goes.

The magician was a servant of Satan, operating under Satan’s power; force and control. The devil held this man captive by his lies and used him to ensnare others.  While Paul and Barnabas were speaking about Jesus, he tried to distract the governor and stop him from hearing and believing the truth.

This was a clash of two kingdoms and Paul immediately recognised its source. Like David, he was not put off by the size of the enemy. He understood both his authority and his victory and took action in the name of his Master.

This is what Jesus was speaking about when He was with His disciples at Caesarea Philippi. In spite of the terrible things people were doing there in the name of their god, Pan, holding sexual orgies with goats in public to “honour” him, Jesus assured His disciples that not even that would stand in the way of His church. Everything built on lies has no substance and will eventually collapse.

This little stand-off was a parable in action. The sorcerer was spiritually blind but he was trying to force the governor to follow him. Jesus told what the outcome would be. If the blind try to lead the blind, they will both fall into the ditch. Paul simply confirmed his blindness by speaking physical blindness on him. Now he had no option but to rely on someone else to lead him.

Peterson’s interpretation in The Message puts an intriguing slant on the outcome. “He was plunged immediately into a shadowy mist and stumbled around, begging people to take his hand and show him the way.” What a pity he had not recognised his spiritual blindness instead of relying on lies and asked someone to lead him, like the governor was doing. Had he listened to Paul and Barnabas instead of opposing them, they would have taken him by the hand and shown him the Way.

Instead of humbling himself, he was humiliated through his own actions. It takes humility to own one’s blindness and ask for help. One wonders whether he ever saw the light, both physical and spiritual. He would have had plenty of time to think about it, seeing that he was now dependent on others to lead him.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – CALLED AND COMMISSIONED

Bible Study, ,

CHAPTER 13

CALLED AND COMMISSIONED

“The congregation at Antioch was blessed with a number of prophet-preachers and teachers: Barnabas, Simon nicknamed Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manean, an advisor to the ruler Herod, and Saul.

“One day, as they were worshiping God — they were also fasting as they waited for guidance — the Holy Spirit spoke. ’Take Barnabas and Saul and commission them for the work I have called them to do.’

“So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on them and sent them off.” Acts 13: 1-3 (The Message).

Is there a clue, in these three opening verses of chapter 13, to the success of the church which is largely missing today? It would seem that this group of leaders, incidentally made up of an interesting cross-section of black and white, were aware that they must embark on another phase of outreach and growth. Barnabas and Saul had spent time instructing the new believers and it was time to move on. Who would go and who would stay?

What did this group of leaders do? Did they call a church meeting and take a vote? Did they meet in a huddle and draw straws? They worshiped, fasted and prayed and kept doing that until the Holy Spirit spoke to them. He had his men and it was up to them to find out who they were.

It was this intimate fellowship and co-operation with the Holy Spirit that gave Paul and his companions the courage and confidence to do what they did in spite of opposition and persecution. They did not quit because they knew they were called, ordained and accompanied by the Holy Spirit on a divine commission that could not fail.

“Sent off on their new assignment by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went down to Seleucia and caught a ship to Cyprus. The first thing they did when they put in at Salamis was preach God’s Word in the Jewish meeting places. They had John along to help out as needed.” Acts 13:4-5 (The Message).

Commissioned by the Holy Spirit and in partnership with Him, Barnabas and Saul made their way to the nearest sea port, Seleucia, and set sail for the largest island in the vicinity – Cyprus. Why there? We are not told anything about their planning and strategy before they left. They must surely have sat down together and discussed where they would go and how they would go about their mission, assuming that they would always be led by the Holy Spirit.

They did not go in the direction of Saul’s home city because, obviously, he had thoroughly saturated it with his teaching while he was there. There would be no necessity to go over that ground again. They trusted the Holy Spirit to redirect them if they went off course and set off in the confidence of His presence with them.

Their strategy – the most obvious place to start would be the synagogue, the place where Jews met regularly for worship. They were guaranteed a ready-made congregation of their own people who would already be familiar with the Scriptures — no need for lengthy instruction in the basics.

“They travelled the length and breadth of the island and at Paphos came upon a Jewish wizard who had worked himself into the confidence of the governor, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man not easily taken in by charlatans. The wizard’s name was Bar-Jesus. He was a crooked as a corkscrew.” Acts 13:6-7a (The Message),

So far so good! They traversed the island, preaching in synagogue after synagogue with no incident. The Cypriot Jews were seemingly more open-minded than their Judean cousins. In the main centre, however, they ran into a rather unusual fellow countryman, of all things a magician; not a magician practicing illusion, mind you, but a Jew who dabbled in the occult.

As if that were not enough, he had wormed his way into the confidence of the Roman governor — a dangerous situation if ever there was one. This man must have been so convincing that not even an intelligent man like Sergius Paulus saw through him. Imagine the influence he must have had on the governor himself, something akin to the tactics of Hitler who was deep into the occult.

“The governor invited Barnabas and Saul in, wanting to hear God’s Word first hand from them. But Dr Know-It-All (that’s the wizard’s name in plain English), stirred up a ruckus, trying to divert the governor from becoming a believer.'” Acts 13:7b-8 (The Message).

Once again the first sign of opposition on the island of Cyprus came from a Jew. Satan’s emissaries are taken from all people and all walks of life. The governor’s interest in the gospel touched a nerve ending and Bar-Jesus immediately raised a very vocal protest, trying to divert the governor’s attention from the truth.

This was the smooth-talking imposter’s undoing. Thankfully his influence over Sergius Paulus had not yet deadened the governor’s appetite to hear the truth. What Paul and Barnabas had to say awakened in him the awareness that these men had a message that rang true and he wanted to know more. Truth and lies banged heads, and alerted the two missionaries to a very real enemy that needed to be dealt with.

Light and darkness cannot co-exist. Darkness is merely the absence of light and as soon as the light is turned on, everything that is hidden in the darkness is exposed. The light of God’s truth shone into this man’s heart, exposing him for what he really was and his reaction was to fight back violently.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – HEROD’S STICKY END

Bible Study, , ,

HEROD’S STICKY END

“At daybreak the jail was in an uproar. ‘Where is Peter? What’s happened to Peter?’ When Herod sent for him and they could not produce him nor explain why not, he ordered their execution. ‘Off with their heads!’ Fed up with Judea and the Jews, he went for a vacation to Caesarea.” Acts 12:18-19 (The Message).

Judgment on Roman soldiers who didn’t do their job was swift and sure. No commission of inquiry, no lengthy probing into the reasons why Peter had disappeared; the soldiers failed and they must pay for their neglect. Of course they had no answer for Peter’s disappearance. It was a supernaturally orchestrated escape, outside the power of the soldiers to understand or prevent.

In typical ‘Herod’ fashion, because his plan to entertain himself and his Jewish subjects by murdering Peter was thwarted, sixteen innocent Romans had to do instead of Peter. To cool his anger he took off for Caesarea for a breath of sea air!

“But things went from bad to worse for Herod. Now people from Tyre and Sidon put him on the warpath. But they got Blastus, King Herod’s right-hand man to put in a good word for them and got a delegation together to iron things out. Because they were dependent on Judea for food supplies, they couldn’t afford to let this go on too long. On the day set for their meeting Herod, robed in pomposity, took his place on the throne and regaled with them a lot of hot air. The people played their part to the hilt and shouted flatteries. ‘The voice of God! The voice of God!’

“This was the last straw. God had had enough of Herod’s arrogance and sent an angel to strike him down. Herod had given God no credit for anything. Down he went. Rotten to the core, a maggoty old man if ever there was one, he died.” Acts 12:20-23 (The Message).

God’s cup of wrath finally spilled over. Herod’s curriculum vitae was filled with acts of violence and arrogance that clearly indicate who he worshipped – himself! There was no-one quite like him in his eyes. He was so blinded by his self-importance that he didn’t even realise that the people of Caesarea were mocking him, not praising him. He absorbed their flattery like a sponge and displayed like a peacock.

How many times had God given Herod an opportunity to repent? He had had numerous encounters with God through Jesus and through His people but he was so filled with self-importance that he missed every one of them. Just one encounter with Jesus should have been enough to shake him off his pedestal. He was too blind to see his opportunities.

Others in Jesus’ earthly ministry had been transformed by their meeting with Him; Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, Nicodemus, the dying thief, a multitude of unnamed people who had been healed, the Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, and even the Apostle Paul en route to a mission of destruction in Damascus had met Jesus and never been the same again.

Herod’s meeting with Jesus when He was on trial for His life had left him untouched – just as arrogant, blind and wicked as before. Why? He was too enamoured with himself to need another God to worship. When he foolishly accepted the title of “God”, it put the signature of God Himself to his death sentence. In one swift action, God showed him who was God.

How many times does God give us opportunity to repent and how many times do we miss it because we are too full of ourselves to recognise God’s grace. Pharaoh had at least ten opportunities and he threw them all away. The list of Bible characters who signed their own death sentence is endless.

But others saw and seized the chance to lay hold of God’s mercy. One man immediately comes to mind — David. In spite of a list of heinous sins; lust, adultery, trickery, murder and lies, his immediate response to the prophet Nathan’s challenge was: ‘I have sinned!’ He could not escape the consequences of his choices but he was restored to fellowship with God who was more precious to him than life itself.

What opportunities to experience God’s forgiveness and grace are we missing because we are blinded by arrogance or no sense of need? We must be careful that, like Herod, we do not miss our last opportunity to repent and the hammer falls!

“Meanwhile the ministry of God’s word grew by leaps and bounds.

“Barnabas and Saul, once they had delivered the relief offering to the church in Jerusalem, went back to Antioch. This time they took John with them, the one they called Mark.” Acts 12:24-25 (The Message).

Barnabas and Saul — up to this point Saul was still the learner. Barnabas had been the teacher and initiator and Saul the follower. His apprenticeship would soon come an end and he would become the strong leader of the missionary enterprise that would take the gospel into the heart of the Roman Empire – the very household of Caesar.

Barnabas and Saul fulfilled their commission to take help to the church in Jerusalem. They quickly returned to Syrian Antioch which was fast becoming the new centre of the church, away from Jewish persecution and far more open-minded than the Jerusalem church which was still Jewish at heart.

Another character enters the story — John Mark, a relative of Barnabas. His name has already popped up in Luke’s record, as though he was known to his reader. Who was John Mark? Traditionally he was the unknown youth who fled naked into the dark during Jesus’ arrest. His mother’s home was a gathering place for the church in Jerusalem, where they prayed when Peter was in prison at the hands of Herod.

 

He was also traditionally the author of the second gospel, having at some stage either accompanied Peter or laid his hands on a copy of Peter’s memoirs which he used as a basis for his gospel story. He had a chequered career as a companion of Barnabas and Saul for a short time on their first missionary journey, and a quitter who was the cause of a serious rift between Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Mark were later reconciled and he became a valuable asset to Paul in his ministry.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – FAITH AND UNBELIEF

Bible Study, ,

FAITH AND UNBELIEF

“Still shaking his head, he went to Mary’s house, the Mary who was John Mark’s mother. The house was packed with praying friends. When he knocked on the door to the courtyard, a young woman named Rhoda came to see who it was. But when she recognised his voice — Peter’s voice — she was so excited and eager to tell everyone Peter was there that she forgot to open the door and left him standing in the street.” Acts 12:12-14 (The Message).

Peter was free but vulnerable. How long would it take for the Roman guards to rouse from their stupor and realise that Peter had disappeared? He had to get off the street and quickly. A lone man wandering around in the dark would be suspect, to be sure. Of course, there were no electric street lights and many dark corners, but daylight would soon reveal the fugitive when the soldiers were sent out to comb the neighbourhood, and they would be ruthless in their search.

Peter made a beeline for Mary’s house knowing he would be safe there for a short while. Although he did not know it then, many of his friends were assembled there, praying up a storm for his release. His urgent knocking was answered by a young servant girl who was obviously very much part of the praying.

Luke adds a human touch and a little humour to his story. Rhoda recognised Peter’s voice and was so ecstatic about the miraculous answer to their prayers that she left him outside and rushed into the prayer meeting with the news that Peter was free. Unlike the “holy books” of other religions, little incidents like these link us to the sheer humanness of the story. This is God’s story, but it is about people just like us.

“But they wouldn’t believe her, dismissing her, dismissing her report. ’You’re crazy,’ they said. She stuck by her story, insisting. They still wouldn’t believe her and said, ‘It must be his angel.’ All this time poor Peter was standing out in the street knocking away.” Acts 12:15-16a (The Message).

It seems strange that the believers were praying for Peter’s release but, when it happened, they could not take it in. One wonders what they were expecting to happen. Perhaps they had some prescribed notion of how it would happen instead of letting God do it His way.

Aren’t we just like that? Instead of letting God be God, we tell Him what to do and how to do it and then we put our faith in our expectation instead of in God to do what He wants to do His way. So much of our disappointment with God is tied to our expectations of what He will do and the way He will do it instead of putting our trust in Him and His wisdom and love. How often I hear this statement: “I’m trusting God for….” instead of “I’m trusting God,” period

Somehow we have the capacity to turn faith into unbelief when we limit God to our way of thinking and our way of doing things. What if, instead, our heartfelt confidence in the will of God frees Him to act when, how and where He chooses so that our insignificant concerns become a part of the bigger picture of His kingdom?

“Finally they opened up and saw him — and went wild! Peter put up his hands and calmed them down. He described how the Master had gotten him out of jail, then said, ‘Tell James and the brothers what happened.’ He left them and went to another place.” Acts 12:16b-17 (The Message).

Having told his story and concluded their mission to pray him out of jail, Peter left Jerusalem, putting distance between himself and the murderous intentions of Herod. From here on, Luke turned his attention to Paul and his commission to take the gospel to the whole Roman Empire. Peter appears briefly in Acts 15, but for the rest, Paul and his companions are the focus of the missionary enterprise.

If we take a step back for a moment and take in the ebb and flow of the infant church, it’s a story of vulnerable human beings caught up in the cosmic war between God and His arch-enemy, the devil, with human beings the prize. There is suffering and victory, death and life, pain and joy, but all the while the church inches her way across the empire, person by person, city by city, through the courageous witness of men and women who were not afraid to pay the price for their faith in a living Saviour.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – WHILE THE CHURCH PRAYED

Bible Study, ,

WHILE THE CHURCH PRAYED

“Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill. That night, even though shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, Peter slept like a baby. And there were guards at the door keeping their eyes on the place. Herod was taking no chances!

“Suddenly there was an angel at his side and light flooding the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up: ‘Hurry!’ The handcuffs fell off his wrists. The angel said, ‘Get dressed. Put on your shoes.’ Peter did it. Then, ‘Grab your coat and let’s get out of here.’ Peter followed him but didn’t really believe it was an angel — he thought he was dreaming.” Acts 12:6- 9 The Message).

While the church prayed, God was up to something! There were a few unusual things about this scenario. Firstly, Peter was on the eve of possible execution yet he was asleep and the guards were awake. Shouldn’t he have been awake, given the circumstances, tossing and turning with anxiety about his fate on the morrow? What does that say about Peter’s state of mind?

Was he, like Paul in similar circumstances later on, at perfect peace knowing that God was in charge? Whether he lived or died was not the issue. To live was Christ and to die was gain. That tells us a whole lot about Christ’s victory on the cross. “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2:14-15 (NIV).

While Peter slept, the church prayed. The guards were watching; the church was praying; and God was working! He dispatched an angel and set the ball rolling for an amazing rescue. The prison cell was ablaze with light, yet the guards saw nothing. The angel woke Peter and spoke to him; his shackles clanked to the ground — yet the guards heard nothing. Were they blind and deaf?

Peter responded like a sleepwalker — no questions, no protests. Like a robot he got up, put on his clothes and shoes at the angel’s command and followed him out of the prison cell while the soldiers kept on guarding him! He thought he was dreaming — wouldn’t you?

Even though he had slept like a baby, what was going on in his subconscious mind that would trigger dreams? In the natural, he would probably have been morbidly dwelling on the outcome of tomorrow. Nightmares, not dreams, should have plagued his sleep. But he didn’t. Instead, he thought he was having a pleasant dream about being rescued.

“Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own and they were out on the street, free as a breeze. At the first intersection the angel left him, going his own way. That’s when Peter realised it was no dream. ‘I can’t believe it — this really happened! The Master sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s little production and the spectacle the Jewish mob was looking forward to.'” Acts 12:10-11 (The Message).

While the guards continued to watch, Peter and the angel slipped quietly out of the prison, locked doors and gates opening and closing for them, and neither guards nor prisoners stirred. Only when the cold night air touched his face did Peter realise that this was no dream. He really was free! God had miraculously thwarted Herod’s little macabre entertainment and left a whole group of soldiers with egg on their faces.

It is God’s way to partner with His people in getting His will done on earth. John Wesley said, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” The church in Jerusalem did not need to be made aware of Peter’s situation. They prayed and God acted. And that’s how God still administers His will on earth today.