Acts 15

So, apparently, some men were teaching that believers had to be circumcised in order to be saved, which upset Paul and Barnabas. After a heated debate about the issue, it was decided that a few of the believers, including Paul and Barnabas, should go to Jerusalem to discuss the matter with the apostles and elders there. Then it sounds like, as they were describing everything God had done through them among the Gentiles, some Pharisees also brought up the issue of circumcision and the law of Moses. Again, they began debating. Then Peter stood up and reminded everyone that when God had sent him to share the gospel with the Gentiles, He gave them the Holy Spirit too, making no distinction between the Jews and Gentiles. I like verses 10 and 11 of his argument: "Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." Exactly! Why were they pushing the law onto the new Gentile believers when they themselves could not keep the law nor be saved by it?

After Paul and Barnabas described the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles, James spoke up. His verdict was that they shouldn't trouble the Gentile believers with circumcision, but should write and remind them to keep these four laws: to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. So they sent Judas (Barsabbas) and Silas with Paul and Barnabas to deliver a letter with that information. And the people received the letter with rejoicing because of its encouragement.

My thoughts/questions on this chapter: first, why did they decide that these four laws were the only ones the Gentiles needed to keep? Why were they considered more important than the myriad other Old Testament laws? It seems like maybe they realized that circumcision was more cultural than critical to the Christian faith, since God had given the Holy Spirit to the uncircumcised Gentiles as well. But how did they choose which other laws could be dismissed for the Gentiles? And similarly, how do WE discern which Old Testament laws are still relevant and critical for us today (a question I've often pondered and have also blogged about in the past)? And finally, this all just makes me think about how much of the practice of our faith is cultural rather than Biblical. Yet I'm pretty sure that missionaries have often imposed their own cultural Christian practices upon their converts. Just a good reminder that when we go and share the gospel in other countries and among other peoples, we'd better be careful not to push our culture on them in the process of helping them live out their new faith.

Acts 14

In the first few verses, it talks about how Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Iconium when both Gentiles and Jews plotted to "mistreat" them. (I wonder if they were plotting together or if both groups were plotting independently?) So, they fled to Lystra, but "continued to preach the gospel" (Acts 14:7). Such a testimony to the conviction with which they believed their own message, that it was worth risking their lives for!

In Lystra, Paul healed a crippled man and the people of the city thought they must be gods come down in human form. They tried making sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, even when they swore that they, too, were only men. Their message was clear: "we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them" (Acts 14:15). They went on to say that in the past God let them go their own way, but he never left himself without witness: he gave them rains and fruitful harvests to satisfy their hearts. Just makes me think about all the good gifts God has given me and how often I take them for granted, treasuring the gifts above the Giver. And I wonder what "vain things" I'm chasing after now instead of pursuing my God wholeheartedly...

They traveled a bit more, "strengthening the souls of the disciples [and] encouraging them to continue in the faith" (Acts 14:22), and eventually made it back to Antioch, "where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled" (Acts 14:26). They reported what God had done through them and spent some time with the disciples there. It must have been so nice for them to be "home" with the disciples there and share all they had seen!

Acts 13

I've read this chapter several times already, but tonight I actually took the time to record some thoughts on it afterward. I'm thinking there must be something really good in here for me since I've read it 3 or 4 times now... :-)

When I first read verses 2 and 3, I felt a little jealous of the way the Holy Spirit actually spoke aloud and called Saul and Barnabas to his work. "Why can't I hear the Holy Spirit so clearly?" I wondered. But upon reading it again, I noticed that the call was in fact rather vague: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13:2). What work is that? Or had he previously outlined it more specifically? I'm guessing not, because this doesn't sound too different from the call Abraham received centuries (millenia?) before: "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you . . ." (Gen. 12:1-3). It seems God often wants us to follow him without knowing all the details, though I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe we can't handle all the specifics right away, maybe he wants to know we have faith in his leading, maybe... Regardless, it's somewhat reassuring to know I'm not the only one who's a little fuzzy on the details of where God wants me to go.

In verses 6-12, Saul/Paul and Barnabas come across a certain false prophet magician who was hanging around an intelligent proconsul. The proconsul summons Saul/Paul and Barnabas because he wants to hear the word of God, but of course the magician opposes them, wanting to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Then Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, says, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?" (Acts 13:10). He also makes him blind, and the proconsul believes when he sees all of this. How long had it been since Saul himself had been persecuting Christians? And yet here he is speaking with such power and authority. And again in verses 16-41, Paul speaks out in a/the synagogue in Antioch, summarizing God's work from their forefathers' exodus from Egypt all the way through Jesus' resurrection. I love these verses: "And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus" (Acts 13:32-33). Once again, we see someone starting from what his listeners know and understand and explaining how it all leads to Jesus. Beautiful, powerful. And the people wanted more: "As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. . . . [and] the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord." (Acts 13:42, 44). But of course the Jews were jealous and set out to discredit Paul. He and Barnabas thus fulfilled the scriptures, speaking the word of God first to the Jews, but then turned to share the good news with the Gentiles instead (Acts 13:45-49).

It kind of amazes me, too, how confidently Paul speaks out in these two instances. I mean, he had so vehemently persecuted the believers before his conversion, and yet now he preaches with no fear or shame. I often feel unworthy to speak for Christ, and my past isn't nearly as blemished as Paul's (if we can measure or compare sin, which I suppose we can't really). Why does guilt so often linger long after forgiveness comes? Oh, how I long for the confidence Paul displays here!

So, the two lessons I take from this chapter: I want to know and understand and hear and trust the Holy Spirit more. I think that is probably also the key to confidence in Christ. And I want to know and understand and love and use the Scriptures more.

Yep, good stuff.