Monthly Archives: May 2019

THE BOOK OF ACTS – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

“No sooner were these words out of Peter’s mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners. The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on “outsider” Gentiles, but there is was — they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God.

“Then Peter said, ‘Do I hear any objections to baptising these friends with water? They’ve received the Holy Spirit exactly as we did.’ Hearing no objection, he ordered that they be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ.

“Then they asked Peter to stay on for a few days.” Acts 10:44-48 (The Message).

Mission accomplished! Finally the door of the gospel had swung wide open for the whole world. With the Holy Spirit Himself authenticating the next phase of Jesus’ mission, the disciples of Jesus were free to take the message to the ends of the earth.

What an experience for a seasoned Jew! God had got His point across in no uncertain terms and Peter had no option but to fall in and obey. God had once again fulfilled His promise that He would confirm His word with signs following.

My journey through Acts thus far had left me wondering why we are not seeing the same powerful acts of God happening through the church today as it did in the early church. What have we missed, lost, changed or forgotten that has left the church relatively powerless, an organization rather than a living organism and another religion instead of a vital and dynamic relationship with the living God?

In His teaching on prayer, Jesus brings our attention to two destructive forces in our lives and in the world — unforgiveness and the evil eye. Most of His prayer focuses on God and puts us and our insignificant concerns into the perspective of who God is and what His agenda is for us in His kingdom. Our greatest need is not for “things”, needs about which God knows anyway, but for the “daily bread” of His word without which we cannot live.

Unforgiveness wrecks relationships and cuts us off from God’s forgiveness, leaving us bitter and alone. Forgiveness is not about making excuses for other people’s behaviour. It’s about cancelling a small debt because Jesus has cancelled a very big one.

The evil eye, not the Evil One, is our biggest enemy. The evil eye refers to our natural bent towards selfishness and greed. Is it not true to say that the entire world has been ruined and destroyed by greed? And yet these two issues, unforgiveness and the evil eye are as rife in the church as they are in the world.

Jesus calls us as His disciples to be learners and imitators of Him. What were the qualities that He modelled? Humble, gentle and utterly dependant on the Holy Spirit were the hallmarks of His human life.

Among the many reasons why the church is irrelevant today, I see two streams that are disturbing. There is the tendency to “use” the Holy Spirit for doing the spectacular. He almost becomes a spiritual “entertainment” which draws the crowds. In the other stream the Holy Spirit is relegated to a doctrine. Priests and ministers have replaced Him as head of the church and individual believers grieve and quench Him into silence and inactivity.

With our relationships in tatters because we refuse to forgive, and with self with its self-will and greed firmly in the driving seat, it is any wonder that the church no longer impacts the world by modelling the life of God and the kingdom of God.

Just a thought….

THE BOOK OF ACTS – HAND-PICKED WITNESSES

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HANDPICKED WITNESSES

“You know the story of what happened in Judea. It began in Galilee after John preached a total life-change. Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the devil. He was able to do all this because God was with Him.

“And we saw it, saw it all, everything He did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem where they killed Him, hung Him from a cross. But in three days God had Him up, alive and out where He could be seen. Not everyone saw Him — He was not put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand — us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with Him after He came back from the dead. He commissioned us to announce this in public, to bear solemn witness that He is in fact the One whom God designated as Judge of the living and dead. But we’re not alone in this. Our witness that He is the means to the forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of the prophets.”  Acts 10:37-43 (The Message).

If you had stood in Peter’s shoes, what would you have said to that company of Gentiles eagerly waiting to hear your message? Would you have explained that they were all sinners and needed to be “saved”? Would you have given them a gory description of hell? Would you have urged them to repent of their sins and receive Jesus as their personal Saviour?

Peter had so much to tell them and an audience hanging on every word. What was the most pressing thing they were longing to hear? Peter grabbed the opportunity to present Jesus to them, not a Jesus who would deal with their problems and give them peace (which are not the reason but the result of bowing the knee to Him as Lord), but the Jesus who represented a loving God to the world and whom God authenticated by His resurrection to be both Saviour and Judge.

He, Peter, and his fellow disciples were eyewitnesses of the most amazing event in history; God came in the flesh to live among His people as an ordinary man, die the death of a criminal and rise from the dead. They saw Him, they spoke with Him and He ate with Him after He had risen from the dead. What did all that mean?

It meant that everything He said and did was the truth. It all hung on His declaration that He would die and rise again. He had to be whom He said He was to pull that off! And pull it off He did! Not only did He predict that He would do it but the prophets who wrote hundreds of years before He appeared on earth also predicted the same thing.

Surely this Jesus, who did something like that, was to be embraced as the Son of God and His promise believed that forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with the Father was the outcome of His death and resurrection. That was the message of the apostles to the world and that was the explosive power of the good news.

To these Gentiles who had known only the worship of gods who demanded but never gave, this came as a light from heaven. The proof of its truth lay in the evidence of eyewitnesses who were willing to face imprisonment and death rather than deny what they had seen and heard. Through Jesus they could receive forgiveness of sins and a place in God’s kingdom for which they had to do nothing.

What joy it must have given Peter to have the freedom to deliver a message like this to people he never thought would be eligible to receive it! God had forcefully made it clear that Jesus was for everyone, even for Gentiles and Roman soldiers! He had forgotten that the prophets had spoken of this day.

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.” Isaiah 65:1 (NIV).

“And now the Lord says…’It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and to bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.'” Isaiah 49:6 (NIV).

THE BOOK OF ACTS – PETER GOT IT!

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PETER GOT IT!

“Peter fairly exploded with his good news. ‘It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer. God plays no favourites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from — if you want God and are ready to do as He says, the door is open. The Message He sent to the children of Israel — that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again — well, He’s doing it everywhere among everyone.'” Acts 10:34-36 (The Message).

A light bulb moment for Peter!

It had taken years for him to reach this moment of revelation — and he exploded with excitement. He fairly burst with the realisation that this was what the good news of Jesus was all about. The entire story of his people was about this moment when the light of God’s truth would break through the barriers of racial prejudice and religious bigotry and engulf the Gentile world with its message of love and liberty.

Peter, and all those he represented in the kingdom of God, did not have to hate any more. He could throw off his religious rags and embrace people of every nation because God gave His Son for the whole world. Food taboos and religious rituals did not count any more. What Jesus came to do was much bigger than petty scruples and irrelevant externals. The very people he had so hoped Jesus would evict from his country were eligible to share in the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit that he had experienced through God’s unconditional love and grace.

For the first time in his life, Peter fully embraced the truth that Jesus was the Saviour of the world. The confession he had so glibly made at Caesarea Philippi, at that point in his understanding accurate yet misunderstood, glowed with new meaning: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ At last the message he had to deliver was cosmic in his understanding and in its application.

Peter recognised an even greater significance in the life of his Master than he had seen before. This salvation was much more than a personal and individual thing. What Jesus did on the cross had ramifications for the whole creation. This was about reconciling and restoring everything to God, including the natural world which was included in the consequences of Adam’s rebellion.

Jesus did not come to make us comfortable. He came to put God’s cosmic programme back on track.

“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:17-20 (NIV).

Every dysfunctional thing was being restored through the death of Jesus and Cornelius and his associates were part of that new life. Peter would not only be able to share the story of Jesus with this group of people with new understanding but he would also take the same fleshed-out message to the rest of the world.

This is the miracle of walking with Jesus through His Spirit. It is a journey from ignorance to understanding; from the darkness of selfishness and greed to the light of generous love for all people; and from slavery to freedom. It’s a step-by-step moving towards shalom, wholeness and peace.

Religion can never do what Jesus does when He is given access to the very core of our lives. We are swept up into God’s plan of universal restoration and become an integral part of a new order of justice, righteousness and peace which will be perfected and completed when Jesus returns.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – CORNELIUS WADES IN

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CORNELIUS WADES IN

“Cornelius said, ‘Four days ago at about this time, mid-afternoon, I was home praying. Suddenly there was a man in front of me, flooding the room with light. He said, ‘Cornelius, your daily prayers and neighbourly acts have brought you to God’s attention. I want you to send to Joppa to get Simon, the one they call Peter. He’s staying with Simon the Tanner down by the sea.’

“‘So I did it — I sent for you. And you’ve been good enough to come. And now we’re all here in God’s presence, ready to listen to whatever the Master put in your heart to tell us.'” Acts 10:30-33 (The Message).

Finally! Cornelius’ explanation put the last piece of the puzzle in place. Peter had his story and Cornelius had his; the two stories blended into one, and the whole thing began to make sense. God was at it again, moving on people to reveal Himself to a hungry heart.

Cornelius made no reference to Peter’s scruples. He did not apologise for overriding Peter’s inhibitions. It was not an issue to him and he would not make Peter’s issues his own.

What was it that had drawn God’s attention to this ex-pagan Roman soldier? Was God really interested in non-Jews? Idolatry was abhorrent to Him and this man had been born and brought up to worship idols, but at some stage in his adult life he had become disillusioned with his religion and attracted to the Jewish faith.

The Jews worshiped only one God, an unseen spirit being whom they said was the Creator of heaven and earth. Their Holy Book told stories of His power and His interaction with people, including accounts of miracles that showed His love for His people.

Cornelius had never known the love of a god. The Roman and Greek gods were evil, vengeful and capricious. Their worshipers had their time cut out either trying to get their attention or appeasing their anger. They were always demanding and never giving; so unlike the God of Israel who was constantly doing things for His people.

Cornelius had been drawn towards this religion, and the outcome was that he had absorbed its lifestyle and requirements — prayer and generosity had become his way of life. Prayer meant reciting psalms and set passages of Scripture at specific times of the day. Consequently he was laying down a foundation of God’s word in his heart.

Recognising and meeting the needs of people around him, as required by the teachings of the Torah, the five books of Moses, had fostered the kind of generosity that pleased God, breaking his natural human bent towards selfishness and greed and moving him beyond the confines of his own needs and the needs of his family. These were the things that indicated his seriousness towards God.

God responded by setting up a meeting with him through the human agency of His servant Peter. Where supernatural visions and angelic visits were necessary, they happened, to bring the two parties together, Peter with his knowledge and experience of Jesus and Cornelius with his hunger to know the truth.

What an example of God’s personal and intimate involvement with us. He is not indifferent to our unspoken longings. He will never ignore even the faintest cry for Him or the slightest move towards Him. It is His will that everyone should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Unless He intervenes and draws us, we cannot know Him but He intervenes to move heaven and earth so that we will encounter Him and experience the truth.

Peter had every reason, having heard Cornelius’ side of the story, to believe that this meeting was of God and to launch into an explanation of the meaning of Jesus’ life and death so that Cornelius and his household and friends could have an opportunity to believe and receive the truth. He was free to fellowship with Cornelius in his home because God said it was okay.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – PETER WADES IN

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PETER WADES IN

“Talking things over, they went into the house where Cornelius introduced Peter to everyone who had come. Peter addressed them. ‘You know — I’m sure, that this is highly irregular. Jews just don’t do this — visit and relax with people of another race. But God has just shown me that no race is better than another race. So the minute I was sent for, I came, no questions asked. I’d like to know why you sent for me.'” Acts 10:27-29 (The Message).

All is about to be revealed! God’s “conspiracy” is about to be blown open!

It seems that unusual events accompanied the launch of the gospel into each new race group. Pentecost with its high drama set the whole thing going — wind, fire, unlearned languages and supernatural joy exploded in the city of Jerusalem, sweeping three thousand new believers into the kingdom of God.

Dramatic healings, followed by persecution and even the sudden and mysterious deaths of Ananias and Sapphira led to the explosive growth of the church, not the sort of events that would naturally attract new members. However, the church stayed within the confines of the Jewish race until two supernatural events happened that led the church to spill out of its confining racial prejudices into Africa and into the Gentile world.

Angelic intervention sent Philip to intercept a high-ranking Ethiopian official on his way home from worshipping in Jerusalem, resulting in a new convert taking the message of Jesus back to the royal court in Ethiopia. Now another supernatural intervention of God sends Peter into the home of a Roman soldier in response to his search to know the true God.

Peter, to his credit, responded promptly to the vision and to the subsequent whispering of the Holy Spirit to reassure him that he was not having a nightmare after a heavy meal! His initial reluctance to “kill and eat” was overridden by God’s insistence that he drop his inhibitions and launch into the next phase of his missionary calling with the full confidence of God’s command,

For the first time ever in his life, Peter entered a Gentile home without feeling the abhorrence and false guilt of his upbringing. He must have felt much lighter in his spirit, knowing that it was God who had set him free from this ensnaring lie that had bound his conscience since childhood. Another chain had fallen off on his personal journey to freedom.

Everyone is on a journey to somewhere depending on the destination to which our choices take us. There are only two possible destinies — the realm of perfect freedom that follows obedience to the voice of God or the ultimate terrible eternal imprisonment resulting from the foolish choices we keep making in this life.

God’s passionate desire is for His children to be free — not from the restrictions and requirements people put on us, good or bad, but from the inner slave-drivers we acquire on our journey through our choices and responses.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (NIV).

There is only one source of true freedom. “To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,'” John 8:31-32 (NIV).