Tag Archives: James

ACTS THE SEQUEL…THE TRAP WAS SET – 54

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“When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you…”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭21‬:‭17‬-‭23a ‭NIV‬‬

The trap was set…the enemy had his men…armed with lies and false information…ready to pounce!

Paul’s associates in Jerusalem were well aware of the danger Paul was in. After all, was he not the one who had persisted in preaching to the Gentiles? Was he not the one who had abandoned the law the Jews, even some Jewish believers in Jesus, cherished? Was he not the one who was teaching both Jews and Gentiles that Jesus, a Jewish rabbi who had been crucified for blasphemy, was the Son of God and that, because of His death for sin, it was no longer necessary to keep the law to gain God’s approval? Was he not the one, by his message, had brought reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles?

Perhaps Paul could dodge the bullet by pretending to be true to the law…so his brothers and fellow elders cooked up a plan. 

“There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.”

Acts 21:23b-24 NIV

This ruse, this human plan,

 didn’t work! 

“The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them. When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭21‬:‭26‬-‭29‬ ‭

Acting on false information and assumptions…always dangerous and the devil’s way…Jews from the province of Asia went crazy. They shouted…they accused…they incited to riot…they grabbed Paul…

“The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭21‬:‭30‬ -31 NIV‬‬

“Where was the Lord in all this?” we ask, appalled at the sudden turn of events. After all, wasn’t Paul supposed to be showing these Jews his faithfulness to the law by following the advice of the elders? Wasn’t he supposed to be under God’s protection? 

How quickly we judge situations by our own assumptions without regard to the bigger picture? We cannot see, from our perspective, that God was right in the mix, moving His plan along, step by measured step, in perfect harmony with His will. 

Our vision and our interpretation are clouded by human reason and emotion instead of giving God space to be God and to finish what He started. As the story unfolds, including the drama and the suffering, the uncertainty and even the fear…we see the absolute sovereignty of the God who works all things according to His will and purpose. 

In the end, despite the many tests of faith and faithfulness Paul had to endure, all the glory went to the God who worked out His perfect plan. 

God has His agents. He  Intervened!

“While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭21‬:‭31‬-‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, Paul was in custody, just as the prophecies along the way had foretold. 

To be continued

THE BOOK OF ACTS – ONE

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ONE

“We saw that we weren’t making even a dent in his resolve, and gave up. ’It’s in God’s hands now,’ we said. ‘Master, you handle it.’

“It wasn’t long before we had our luggage together and were on our way to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and took us to the home of Mnason, who received us warmly as his guests. A native of Cyprus, he had been among the earliest disciples.

“In Jerusalem, our friends, glad to see us, received us with open arms. The first thing next morning, we took Paul to see James. All the church leaders were there. After a time of greeting and small talk, Paul told the story, detail by detail, of what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. They listened with delight and gave God the glory.” Acts 21:14-19 (The Message).

Jesus’ first words to would-be disciples on the brink of His public ministry were, ‘Follow me,’ and His final instruction to them on His return to the Father was, ‘Go, and make disciples.’ In the intervening years, the apostles carried out His mandate faithfully. Now, as they met together in Jerusalem many years after that day, they were sharing the stories of their obedience.

Not only were there pockets of disciples in many cities and towns across the Roman Empire, but they were also all disciples — followers of Jesus. The apostles were careful to attach people to Jesus and not to themselves, and they also ensured that God’s Word was their source book, not human reason or personal interpretation or experience.

The result was that the church was one body made up of cells all over the empire. There is no evidence of conflicting denominations or fragmentations based on human leaders pulling people away from Jesus. The potential was there; the writers of the New Testament letters were careful and diligent to put out the fires of division and conflict that were constantly being lit by unscrupulous counterfeit disciples.

But among the true believers and the church leaders there was unity based on their loyalty to and love of one Master. When Paul told his story to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, they could celebrate and rejoice with him because they shared the joy of what God had done through him. It was not Paul’s work. It was God’s work and Paul happened to be one of the vessels God had used.

But Paul was only one among many who were sowing the seeds of God’s Word wherever they went. He blazed the trail for others to follow. He wrote letters to churches that other faithful evangelists had founded and he was not slow to acknowledge their ministry. This was not a competition but a partnership because the kingdom they represented was not theirs but God’s and their mandate was not to build the church — Jesus said He would do that — but to make disciples, and that’s what they were bent on doing.

There is a feeling of camaraderie and oneness among these people as we read the account of Paul’s reunion with the church in Jerusalem. They were all in it together and Paul’s success was their success.

What went wrong that the church is so fragmented and that there are so many different streams of thought and practice in the church today? Jesus made it very simple:

  1. He said, ‘Follow me; learn of me; obey me.’ His intention was that we be bound to Him as our model and our mentor, not any human being who thinks he can be a substitute for the Master. We are heading off in the wrong direction if we let go of Jesus.
  1. He gave us His written word as our source book. We have access to everything about Him in His Word. When we choose to ignore His Word and substitute human words for His Word, we are on the wrong track.
  1. He gave us His Spirit as His indwelling representative — another just like Himself — whose role is to teach us about Him and make Him real to us so that we can follow Him.

When we ignore the Holy Spirit or try to squeeze Him into who we think He is or what we think He ought to do, we lose the one person who can make unity possible.

Jesus’ impassioned plea to the Father was “That they may be one, Father, just as we are one.” That can never happen until we return to the simple basics of following Jesus, listening to the Holy Spirit and sticking to His Word.

The Cup And The Crown

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THE CUP AND THE CROWN

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’

‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He asked. They replied, ‘Let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at you left in your glory.’

‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said. ‘Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?’ ‘We can,’ they answered.

Jesus said to them, ‘You will drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit on my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they are prepared.’ When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John (Mark 10: 35-41).

What a cheek! James and John were shameless in their attempt to get ahead of their fellow disciples. Up to this point the disciples had jockeyed among themselves for the highest position in the kingdom of God. Jesus often caught them arguing and tried to instil in them the values of the kingdom but, apparently to no avail. In the same way as they ignored His repeated warnings about His impending death, they were deaf to His teaching about leadership and greatness.

Now James and John went straight to the top. One would have thought that they would have been careful about approaching Jesus on this subject seeing that He had clearly taught them not to seek greatness. The way up was down, He told them, but they had obviously not got the message.

Did you notice how they approached Him? “Will you say yes to whatever we ask you?” That’s what children do. They want to secure the parent’s agreement before they ask what they want. Jesus was smart. He was not about to fall into their trap. “Tell me what you want first and then I’ll give you an answer.” Their response was bold and brash. They had obviously schemed together to secure their place in the kingdom before the other disciples got in. “Promise us that we will have the places of honour beside you when you are crowned king.”

“You guys just don’t understand, do you?” I can imagine that Jesus was annoyed with them. What would it take to get it into their thick skulls that they had no right to ask for what they were asking? Matthew mentioned that their mother accompanied them when they came to Jesus with the request and voiced it for them. Did they think that their mom had more clout with Jesus than they had? This had even become a family matter.

Jesus’ response cut right across their way of thinking. There was a cup to drink and a baptism to be baptised with before they could receive a position of honour like that. What was the “cup” to which Jesus referred? It was a cup and a baptism He, first of all, was about to endure before they could experience it themselves.

Throughout the Old Testament the “cup” is mentioned – both the cup of God’s wrath (Jer. 25:15) and the cup of salvation (Psalm 116: 13). Without going into great detail, “cup” is a euphemism for the full experience of either wrath of salvation. Paul uses the same expression to refer to God’s blessing (1 Cor. 10:16). To “drink” implies to take it into oneself with all its effects.

“James and John, before you can participate in any glory that belongs to me, you must first drink the cup I must drink. Can you do that?” How blasé they were in their reply. “Yes, we can” they replied, yet they had no clue about what they were saying. Sadly Jesus agreed that they would drink the cup and go through the baptism but to give them the assurance of the honour they requested was not His right.

Jesus’ position of honour was given to Him by the Father but earned by His humiliation and suffering. He drank the cup of God’s wrath to the dregs so that He could offer the cup of salvation to anyone who received it by faith. Mere association with Jesus did not qualify the brothers. Only full participation with Him would allow them to share in His glory. The cup first and them the crown.

At that moment they had no idea what He meant but they would one day. John was killed at the hands of the despotic Herod and John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos. Yes, they had a cup to drink – the cup of suffering because they had been baptised into identity with Jesus.

Each of us has our own cup to drink and our own baptism to be baptised with. Only when we submit to Jesus and embrace the cup will we have a share in what has been prepared for us.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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