Acts 26: Paul testifies of his conversion

Scripture

¹ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”

Observation

This statement jumped out at me straight away this morning, so much so that I almost didn’t read the rest of the chapter, in which Paul explains why he’s been doing what he’s been doing preaching about Jesus. He explains how he changed from being a Christian-persecutor to a Christian himself, and then someone who takes the message out to those who don’t yet believe. But what an invitation to open the chapter with – and for those of us who live in a country where explaining our faith is legal (which, obviously, is not everywhere), we have the same general invitation.

Application

All Paul does, really, is explain what happened to him and the difference it has made in his life, in terms of his beliefs and subsequent life. At this point, he doesn’t go into a major explanation of how Jesus fulfils Old Testament prophecy, or the theological implications of this, that and the other – which I’m sure he could have done, being the learned Jew that he was! But no, he tells Agrippa and Festus just enough to let them know how important Paul considers his new faith, and explains that he may not have done enough persuading to get them to convert straight away, but that he’s praying they might in the future. What a great example. God doesn’t call us to know EVERYTHING about the Bible, or the ins and outs of Jewish law, but he does ask us to speak about him when we can, especially when invited, and tell people what difference it has made in our lives. Personal stories cannot be denied, and there may be enough of a seed in the telling that encourages others to keep thinking about Jesus.

Prayer

Father, remind me to speak about you whenever I can, to tell my story and what you have done for me. And when we are invited to explain our faith, let us not shy away from that responsibility, even though we may not feel like we know enough about you to do that. Frankly, we will never know enough about you until we get to heaven, so help us not to waste time! Amen.

 

Acts 27: The Shipwreck

Scripture

²⁹ Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.

Observation

Reading the chapter this verse comes from feels like you’ve suddenly shifted into Moby Dick or something – there is so much about what the sailors do with the ship, when these and those anchors are dropped and cut, where they managed to find shelter and where they didn’t on their perilous journey to Rome. It’s very dramatic! And in the middle of it all, we have Paul, quietly telling the sailors and centurion in charge of him that everything’s going to be all right – just trust God, do what I say and you will be saved. But it was verse 29 that stood out to me, simply because of the juxtaposition of the practical with the spiritual. The sailors did what they should do with what they had around them, and then they turned what they couldn’t control over to God.

Application

What a great example. People (well, Christians!) often talk about ‘the storms of this life’, and we know that our journey through life is not all roses and rainbows. Or if it is, we’re ignoring the rose thorns! But these sailors have given us a good model to follow. They realise that Paul is right, and do their job while leaving the big stuff up to God. They don’t just rely on prayer. They don’t just rely on their own actions. They combine the two, and lo and behold, they are saved. I feel that we should do the same! It’s not easy to remember to pray sometimes – we were talking at my church housegroup this very week about situations we’ve had where someone else saying ‘have you prayed?’ is a big thumping reminder to us of something we should have done at the beginning! But also, don’t ignore the actions we can take – God gives us brain and body for a reason, so let’s use it!

Prayer

Thank you Lord, for my body and brain, and that you have given me the power of rational thought and decision-making – please help me to use those skills wisely! But also help me to call on you more often, and remember that you love to help your people when they call on you.

 

Acts 17: Scenes from Paul’s Missionary Journey

Scripture

²¹ (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

Observation

Athens was a place of communication. In this chapter, we see Paul arrive there after experiencing riots in Thessalonica and a warm reception in Berea, quickly disturbed by Thessalonican Jews who just hadn’t had enough rioting! So Paul heads for Athens, capital of Greek culture and ideology, and finds a set of people ready to listen to ideas of all kinds. The verse I’ve picked out above sounds pretty derogatory on the author, Luke’s, part, but it tells us some key things I think. I’ll get into that in a second. So anyway, Paul goes to the Areopagus, the Greek High Court, and talks to the members there about his ideas, which are enough to pique the interest of some. And, famously, he uses the empty altar dedicated ‘to an unknown god’ as the basis of his preaching.

Application

So what is it that Paul is doing? He is putting the gospel into context. He is presenting the message of Jesus in a way that those around him could understand, and he was a master at this – he always went to the Jewish synagogues, to persuade the Jews, and then to non-Jewish gatherings as well. Of course, there are still some who won’t accept it, but if, say, he had attempted to show the message of Jesus in Athens through good works and actions, he might not have got the point across. He knew this lot placed great value on talking and listening about ideas, so that’s how he did it. This idea is totally applicable today. Whatever context we live in, be it inner city estates or country villages, and whatever context we work in, be it with lots of people at a time or just one, we need to ask God to help us find ways to communicate the gospel in context. We would not say the same thing about Jesus, probably, to a curious teenager as we would to a curious 50-year-old – their spiritual context is totally different. But if we want to see people saved, we need God’s help to find the right words and actions to speak and show the truth of Jesus.

Prayer

Lord God, please be with me as I share my knowledge of you and the difference that has made in my life with the people around me – with my colleagues and pupils. But for whoever might read this, I pray the same thing for their personal context, that they might, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, find the right way to communicate the good news of Jesus.

 

Acts 16: The Jailbreak

Scripture

³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

Observation

So Paul and Silas are in jail, basically because they freed a slave girl from an evil spirit. Of course this evil spirit-possessed girl was being used by her owners to make money predicting the future, and they are miffed that this little earner has disappeared. So they have Paul & Silas arrested, flogged and thrown into jail. They start singing and praising in jail, an earthquake occurs which enables all the prisoners to escape – but they don’t, presumably because of the example of the two apostles. Instead, the jailer is so moved by this whole event that he asks them how he can be saved, so they duly pray for him. And the first thing he does as a Christian is wash their flogging wounds.

Application

This guy has got it, hasn’t he? He seems to have instantly understood that turning to God, being forgiven for his sins and washed clean himself, is an incredible act of compassion, so he responds in kind. Presumably this means that since their flogging Paul & Silas had been sat in their own blood, filthy and in pain, and yet still praying and singing hymns – there’s an amazing response to persecution for a start. But the jailer sees their need and responds appropriately before anything else has happened. Very simply, as Christians, we ought to follow his example – show compassion, meet people’s needs, do what we would want to be done for us. I know, it’s not rocket science, but it stood out to me in this story.

Prayer

Lord, make me a Christian who sees and responds to the needs of others, whether I’m busy doing something else or not. Amen.

 

Acts 9 – Paul’s conversion

Scripture

Acts 9:17

“So Ananias went to the house of Judas. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus sent me. He is the one you saw on the road on your way here. He sent me so that you can see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.””

Observation

So Ananias, Christian in Damascus, had just been told by God that Saul, a Christian-hater and persecutor, was on his way, and that, unbelievably, Ananias was to go and welcome him into his home. Understandably, he was a bit reluctant, and reminds God of what he’s heard about Saul. God reassures him, so Ananias plucks up the courage to go and meet the now blind Saul. It was the first word he speaks that really struck me – he calls him ‘brother’.

Application

To me, this is an amazing act of courage and boldness on Ananias’ part. He overcomes all his worries about this dangerous man, and welcomes him as a brother first of all, which must have spoken volumes to Saul about what it meant to be a Christian. God calls us to this kind of Christian boldness in whatever aspect of life we are currently in. The sensible choice for Ananias was to hide his Christianity and stay indoors, but he follows the Lords’ instructions boldly and fearlessly – can we do the same in our Christian walk, no matter what areas of life he calls us into? I pray that I can, and I am grateful to God that being a Christian in the UK today doesn’t get me killed, because that is not the case everywhere in the world.

Prayer

Father, thank you for the right to worship you as I want to in this country, and I pray for endurance and boldness for Christians in other parts of the world where making a stand for their faith is a dangerous thing to do. Thank you for the example of Ananias, who stepped out in boldness and spoke with love to welcome Saul as a brother – give me the same boldness to stand up for what I believe when required.

 

1 Thessalonians 3-4

Scripture:

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

¹¹Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, ¹²so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Observation:

These words, in the middle of a letter from Paul to one of the earliest churches in what is commonly thought to be the earliest of his letters, should make one stop and think, as they did for me. They don’t sound the same as ‘go out and win people for Christ’ to me (but they do sound like what we as Christians often settle for instead of that). But of course, ripping them out of context and applying them to our lives because they sound comforting is not acceptable. Why did Paul write this to the Thessalonians?

Well, we can guess / assume various things from these 2 verses – presumably there were people in this church who were not working, and living off the kindness of others, which wasn’t the example of Christian living that Paul wanted to cultivate. We get more clues in his second letter to the church (2 Thess 3:6-15), where Paul develops the theme, and makes it very clear indeed what he was referring to! So far from being an instruction to live one’s life in secret, the original verses from 1 Thessalonians were an instruction to those Christians to abhor idleness and get on with life without sponging off others.

Application:

Paul’s application, from 2 Thessalonians, is simple – if you don’t work, you don’t eat. Simple, clear, economically sound! For me, this is another reminder of context being vital in understanding and applying Scripture. I can imagine Christians (new or otherwise) reading the verses I selected and applying them to their lives for ever, leading quiet Christian lives that don’t bother anyone because that’s what Paul teaches. But that doesn’t match with the whole of the rest of the Bible, which challenges us continually to ‘get out there’ and spread the good news. I have been very challenged about this recently, through my Bible reading, my Bible listening which I have recently started (podcasts from www.dailyaudiobible.com – I’m not a big fan of the presenter’s delivery, or the occasional cheesy ‘I love you all’ message at the end, but it is really uplifting to listen to the text of the Bible regularly, and I love the fact that they use a different translation each week – keeps it varied), and sermons at church. Now I need to do something about it…

Prayer:

Lord, praise you for the whole of Scripture, and that we have instruction and teaching that matches up – please help us to use your word responsibly, and apply it to our lives with wisdom. And Lord, please help me to listen to you and do what you’re asking me to, in terms of spreading the gospel to friends who I want to know you.

 

Acts 19-20

Short post today – mainly for comedy value!

Acts 20:7-9

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.

Observation

People may have fallen asleep while I’ve preached, but I’m delighted to say that none of them have died in the process!

PS It’s okay after this - Eutychus was raised from the dead!

 

Romans 1-2

Scripture

 

Romans 2:28-29

A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

 

Observation

 

After having greeted the Romans, and explained how humanity got into an awful mess of sin (basically, through rejecting the idea of God in hearts and minds), Paul begins to write about how the Christians in Rome are to respond to the questions of the law (ie. the Jewish law, the Torah, being the first 5 books of the Bible, which gives the code of conduct by which Jews were supposed to live. This was seen as one of the things that made Judaism unique and gave Jews special access to a relationship with God). There were clearly Jews at that time who lived however they wanted, but relied on the fact that it was their race who had been specially selected to receive the law from God, and that was enough to save them from the sin that entangles everybody (Paul will go on to write in chapter 3 about all people having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God). Paul clearly states in these verses that the law is not enough, nor are the other Jewish rituals – salvation and access to a relationship with God depend on faith in Jesus Christ and the attitude of the heart.

 

Application

 

This is so easily applied to current Christian life. Every denomination has its own rituals and liturgy, be it confirmation, confession, prayers for certain days & times, hymns, praise songs, notices, ten-minute homilies, hour-long sermons (!), or baptism – and is that infant or adult, sprinkling or immersion? Ooh, careful! None of these are intrinsically bad, of course, and some are very good in my opinion. Some have been the source of debate as to their necessity throughout the ages, but I think they are all similar to the Jewish law in Paul’s eyes. There is no way we can rely on any of them for our salvation, if we don’t have faith in God, belief that Jesus was His Son, and subsequently an attitude that reflects his love.

 

Prayer

 

Lord, keep me focussed on you in my Christian life, not in how I am different or the same as other Christians. Jesus, I believe in you and want you to be centre and Lord of my life, and that is the basis of my salvation, and nothing else. 

 

Romans 13-14

Scripture

 

Romans 13:1-2

 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

 

Observation

 

This must have been very hard for Paul’s readers in Rome to swallow. There were many times in the early life of the church when its members were under serious persecution from the Roman authorities, so reading something like this must surely have been difficult, especially the part about God having put these leaders, who had made laws allowing Christian persecution, in their positions of authority. But Paul had been there, had done exactly what he’s writing about here, and had found that it worked, and was blessed by God for it.

 

Application

 

Not being in a nation where Christians are persecuted by the authorities, as they are still in some parts of the world today, it’s would be easy enough for us to disregard this stuff. But my application of verses like these, and there are several examples in the NT, extends to the laws of this nation that the rulers have put in place, whether I like them or not. So, for example, if I stick to the speed limit in my car, I am honouring God and the authorities of our nation. If I choose to commit benefit fraud, I am clearly not.

 

Prayer

 

Father, help me to always see those who govern the land as put in place by you, and respect them accordingly, as Paul did.

 

Romans 11-12

Scripture

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 
      How unsearchable his judgments, 
      and his paths beyond tracing out! 
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? 
      Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God, 
      that God should repay him?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Observation

What’s interesting to me about this passage is less the content than the context in which Paul writes this. He has just completed a section in chapter 11 all about the Jews, how they fit into God’s plan for salvation, and how the Gentiles are not to look down on them because they havn’t yet understood the truth about Jesus. What seems to happen is Paul sort of write himself up into a frenzy of praise just thinking about the way God has planned it, and can’t help but let out this doxology. He then calms down a little and goes into how, therefore, the Gentile believers ought to live worshipfully in every way, so as to be a shining light and an example to Israel.

Application

A few things:

1. I wonder whether I have ever worked myself up into praise through thinking about God’s orchestration of events, in the same way that Paul does here. Possibly I am too English and unemotional (an accusation I have heard once or twice from certain people near me), or possibly  I could do with just letting some praise out a bit more forcefully now and again.
2. I too, as a Gentile, need to follow Paul’s advice about not being haughty re: the Jewish faith. If it weren’t for the nation of Israel, at least as it was in the 2,000 years or so before Christ, I wouldn’t be here writing this today. I don’t have nearly enough knowledge about the current nation of Israel to try to apply the passages to that situation, and I’m not sure they even do apply – Paul is writing much more about faith than about any geographical notions.

Prayer

Help me, Lord, to praise you when I am in wonder about what you do! And help me to do it fearlessly, boldly, and unhindered – this is the maker of the Universe I’m praising, so it’s worth getting worked up! And teach me how to regard Judaism correctly, without pride or judgmentalism, but with humility and gratefulness.