Thoughts From Acts 6 - Part 2

 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.  Acts 6:8-15

           Not enough is taught about Stephen other than he was the first recorded Christian martyr and (P)Saul was present at his stoning. (spoiler alert). When you look at Stephen you see Jesus in so many ways. Just the last few verses and how he radiated the glory of Heaven and purity as the world hated on him. He performed miracles which I think came from the laying on of hands by the apostles. They transferred apostolic gifts to these seven men. Later we see Phillip and his family with miraculous abilities. They drummed up witnesses to make the same accusations that they made about Jesus - he commits blasphemy, he said he would destroy this temple, he speaks against the law. When he spoke, he spoke with authority and such wisdom that people's only response was not to refute but to curse and try to silence. And lastly the fact that he is about to be a martyr just like Jesus.

        Jesus said in Luke 6:33, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, that's what they did to the false prophets. We have this mistaken belief that when we are wise, humble, care for the poor, and radiate goodness, everyone will love us. No, the problem is that people - I like the irony of the name Freedmen - will be convicted of their lack of goodness and try to silence your freedom in Christ especially when you start talking. If you just are good and don't speak Christ, I think you won't be persecuted. It's the name of "Christ" that incites demonic oppression.

       I know Charlie Kirk was a polarizing figure but in his last days he was arguing a lot for belief in Christ and the devil riled up someone to stop him because people couldn't refute his wisdom. I fear for people like Cliff and Stuart Kenechtle on college campuses arguing the case for Christ with such conviction and wisdom that people can't rebut. Their videos are being seen by the millions and the devil will want to silence them. Pray for their safety. The devil hasn't come up with new schemes in his hatred against Christ. Be on the lookout and be ready. That is, if you aren't on the sideline eating popcorn.

Thoughts From Acts 6 - Part 1

  In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Acts 6:1-7

                The one problem with the church is people. If there were no people, there would be no problems... and no church. So, since there is this "Catch-22", the church, made up of people will always have problems. It's like a doctor who says, "if it weren't for patients, I'd enjoy my job." I guess they become pathologists. The new church experienced the friction of Jewish believers and gentile believers bringing years of dislike into a body that's supposed to immediately forget all differences. The gentile believers felt like their widows were being unequally treated and this discord was slowing the advancement of the gospel and the church. Whether the gentiles were truly being snubbed, we don't know or was it a perceived slighting, we can't tell. Nevertheless, it was a big enough concern that the first deacons were formed. Luke doesn't call them this, but they functioned in a diaconal role.

          The criteria for picking deacons were that they would be men full of wisdom, the Holy Spirit, full of faith, and responsible, and then the apostles laid hands on them and commissioned them. These men oversaw a feeding program for widows that was so successful that this issue never came up again and became a living example of how Christ changes people who were once at odds into people eating the same food at the same table. I've often wondered why the "godly" qualifications for deacons when all they are doing here is organizing meals. Shouldn't the qualifications have been organizational skills and able to cook? Then I started thinking, with 7 deacons how many opinions of how to do things were there? Probably seven. How many wanted to take charge? Certainly, more than one. The cure to the widow problem without Godly men or women leading it, had the potential to become more divisive than the feeding problem.

         Once this issue was handled it freed the "preachers" to study the word and preach, right? Nope, forgetting one more thing - visitation. Nope. Prayer - yes. We forget how essential prayer is to successful Christian ministry and life in general. We forget because it's sitting down or kneeling and not "doing anything". I had a friend at a previous church who was a successful businessman who got things done and he once said to me, "All this church wants to do is pray about things. They can pray and I'll go get it done." In his defense, that can be a cop out for inactivity and lack of decisiveness and direction, but his statement says how we feel about prayer. A growing church with good leaders values prayer and the Word and delegation of church issues. Every church wants to hire a church growth business for $20,000 to come in and redirect. Save the money and follow this example of the early church.

      

Thoughts From 1Corinthians 10 - Part 4

 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. 29 I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

      Not all activities are spelled out in the Bible. For example, sports, movies, video games, smoking, abortion, vaccines, websites, democracy, Halloween - none of that is mentioned in the Bible so when it comes to participating in any of these, we have to use spiritual principles. Andy Stanley had a series about such things called "The Best Question Ever" where he encouraged people not to ask is it a sin but to ask is it the wise thing to do? Paul gives us even more insight on how to determine if it is the wise thing to do in this passage.

     First he says to ask if it's beneficial. For example, does the Bible say buying lottery tickets is a sin? No. Does buying scratch off cards benefit you? No.  Gambling is always designed mathematically to benefit the house not your house. It's a form of entertainment and God isn't opposed to entertainment, but He wants us to manage His money well and this is not wise management. The loss of His money He has given us to meet our needs benefits no one in our family.

      

      Second, Paul asks if it's constructive. For example, will binging a Romcom on Netflix or Prime build up your character or might it soften your views on premarital sex, homosexuality, external versus internal beauty and distort your views on love emphasizing eros over agape? Our goal as Christians should be to become more like Christ which is a building or constructive process. Things working against that should be avoided.

     Third, Paul asks does it affect onlookers negatively either in their growth or their conversion? In the past we might have been able to privatize our activities better, but now with video cameras in everyone's hands and social media a click away from broadcasting our activities to the world, we have to be careful who is watching. Having a Harry Potter birthday party or posting trick or treating videos might stumble someone coming out of witchcraft or the occult. Posting dinner photos drinking wine might stumble an alcoholic. Would posting videos of a Morgan Wallen concert or a Forrest Frank concert bring people closer to belief? Are we thinking about others or ourselves as we exercise our freedom?

 

    Lastly Paul asks does it glorify God? How can we know? One hint is can we do it and thank God for it. Imagine praying, "Thank you God for this joint I'm about to smoke." Can you really in good conscience do that? Maybe, but it seems weird to me. "Thank you, God, for giving someone the mental genius to invent Tik Tok which I'm about to spend 30 minutes on." Can we really say that? Thank you, God, that you supplied me with $200 so I can go hear Taylor Swift sing songs about non-Christian stuff". Ouch. My sister might fight me on that one. She would probably come back at me with "Thank you God that I can waste 2.5 hours a night watching baseball."

       The point is, how badly do you want to become more like Christ? How badly do you want to be His spotless bride when He returns. How badly do you want to bring others along with you? The answer should be "More Than Anything!"

Thoughts From 1Corinthians 10 - Part 3

  I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he? 1Cor. 10:15-22

   There is a lot about eating meat offered to idols in the epistles but this passage seems to be different. This passage is talking about participating in the sacrifices. I don't understand the cultural pressure they were under to do this, but it seems to me that the new believers for some reason were going to church, worshipping Christ, yet still going to the temples and offering sacrifices to idols. They figured, since an idol isn't real and is just a piece of wood or metal, what's the harm in throwing down a slab of meat in front of it? What Paul is saying is that even though that idol isn't real, it represents and in fact is a place of demonic presence that is in opposition to the truth so you can't play both sides.

    I once went to a Hindu birthday party/coming of age celebration. I delivered the child and many more relatives and because of that I had become important to the family so they invited me. They sat around and burned incense and had their Holy man there and I had an eerie feeling that there were spiritual forces there that weren't on my side. It's tough, I honored them by going and kept bridges open to share the gospel in the future, yet I felt like I was in the presence of evil. I have friends whose relative is practicing a homosexual lifestyle and the friends were invited to the same sex wedding. Should they go and express their love for this relative and not burn bridges or should they say that this is participating with evil? They chose not to go.

     Should teens and college students go to drunken revelries and orgies that they are invited to and bring a Godly presence or should they run away? These are all questions and situations that we deal with today. They are not the exact same thing that Paul was dealing with though. I think the best application for us is to say, "Pick a side." If you are a Christ follower, the old has gone and the new has come. You can't hang out with sin and with holiness. What fellowship do angels and demons have or God and Satan? Now we need to flee from all appearance of evil.

     Quit sitting on the fence. Pick a side!

Thoughts From 1Corinthians 10 - Part 2

 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 1Cor.10:7-14

         This passage begins and ends with idolatry. Since we don't have images made of gold to bow down and worship to, although they do in some Buddhist and Hindu nations, we have to ask how does this apply to us 2000 years later? What are our idols? Generally, anything that we worship more than God is an idol. Anything that we put our trust in rather than God is an idol. Although the idols have changed over the years, the temptations are the same. We still worship sexuality and sexual indulgence even though we don't worship Inanna, Aphrodite, Dionysis, Baal, Asherah, Min, Pan, or Xochipilli. Every other post on twitter emphasizes sexuality and women are making millions of dollars a year exposing themselves on Only Fans. We still worship partying and revelry even though we don't worship Bacchus, Silenus, Methe, Ninkasi, Ometochtli, Osiris, or Soma. I'm always amazed at the amount of alcohol people consume on vacation. It's like they vacation for an opportunity to get drunk. We still worship money even though the idols of Lakshmi, Kubera, Plutus, Tyche, Fortuna, Mercury, Caishen are gone. You can check your visa bill to see how much money we spend on ourselves. And although God wants us to trust Him to meet our needs, my 401K eases my anxiety.

       So, since the temptations are common to everyone in all times and settings, we can't claim that our temptations are worse than anyone else's or unique to us. We've addressed in chapter 3 the excuse, "But I'm only human!!" There have been humans throughout time that have defeated these temptations so that excuse is taken away. How do we defeat these idols and temptations?

    First identify your idols. I mentioned anxiety when it comes to money. What makes you anxious? Whatever that is you are relying on it more than God. Second, ask God for strength. He lives inside you and He doesn't want to do those things so surrender control to Him. Lastly, just run away.

I love this Far Side. It is so indicative of our temptations. The real question is why is she even on this street? If she walks down a different street this doesn't even happen. We put ourselves on these streets and wonder why we keep giving in to temptation. God has provided us a way out - it's called "a different street." Use it. This isn't rocket science.

Thoughts From 1Corinthians 10 - Part 1

  For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did 1Cor. 10:1-6

        I once confronted a youth who attended our church, went to the youth group my wife and I had at our house, went on a mission trip with me to Mexico, but now was having sex with his girlfriend and stopped coming to youth group and church. I met with him at his place of work and told him that he needed to stop what he was doing and get right with the Lord. I told him Jesus said that if you love Him you will obey his commandments and how can you call Him Lord if you don't do what he says. I quoted him some verses from Hebrews 10 and 1John which warned him that if he continued on this path, he wasn't really a Christian. In a few days I got a scathing letter from his mom stating how dare I question his salvation. She referenced the time he went forward and got saved and his baptism done by the pastor in our pool. If I forgot she had pictures she could show me. His Bible had the date of his salvation written in it for proof! Didn't I know that you can't lose your salvation?!

      Passages like this one and many others suggest that just because you start on the spiritual journey with Christ doesn't necessarily mean that your final destination is Heaven. The people Paul was talking about were Israelites (members of church), passed through the Red Sea (baptized), experienced the power of God, and yet most never made it to Caanan (Heaven). Why? Because God was not pleased with them, they chose idols and persisted in sin and desired to go back to their old life. I do believe the verses that nothing can separate us from God and no one can pluck us out of His hand. But what if we willingly crawl out of His hands? 

     Lately, in the pool, my young grandkids love this game where I hold them in my arms and say, "I captured you and I'm not letting you go." Then one of the kids has to come rescue them or they have to wiggle themselves or fight to get free from my arms. I see eternal security somewhat like that. If you really want to get free of God's embrace, He will reluctantly let you go but you can't lose your salvation. You can willingly give it up, though.

       Today, this young man is a successful businessman, married, has kids that I delivered but is not following the Lord. His mom is currently not in church. Are they going to Heaven, I don't know. Are Joshua and Caleb the only two of the million that left Egypt that we will see in Heaven? I doubt it. Can they come back to the Lord? Absolutely. Only God knows hearts, but this passage does serve as a warning that just because you "got saved" and were baptized isn't a "get out of hell free" card.

 A saved life is an obedient one. Learn a lesson from the Israelites.

Thoughts From 1Corinthians 3 - Part 4

 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

     I love a good preacher, don't you? I think the best sermons are where the speaker engages you immediately with a story or a thought-provoking question and then proceeds with fifteen or so minutes of scripture interpretation and then ties it up in the end by bringing it back to the initial question and answering it. I still remember hearing a message while visiting my parents at a place called "Bible town", which no longer exists in Boca Raton, and the pastor started, "If you were the richest person on the Earth, how would you raise a child that knew the value of money, understood hard work and didn't grow up to be entitled?" He then developed the idea that God is our Father who owns everything and we are His children who He is raising to turn out not like spoiled brats.

       The question is, how clever, crafty, engaging, deep, flowery do pastors need to be? Does a pastor need to know Plato, Socrates, Kant, Descartes, Nietzsche, or classic literature to be effective? I almost feel like Paul is saying that Apollos was learned and came into Corinth and wowed everyone while Paul came in and shared the basics of the gospel. That may have been why people were picking sides. I love a good Tim Keller message where he quotes C.S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton, but if I would play it for my mom, she would say, "He just needs to stick to scripture." She would pick any J. Vernon McGee message over Tim Keller any day.

     The fact is, no matter how clever or smart or wise you think you are, the wisdom of this age must bow to the fact that what we believe is unseen. We believe in a God who is Spirit who dwells in an unseen Heaven surrounded by unseen angels opposed by unseen demons and Satan, who teaches that dying is the way to living, being a servant is the way to get ahead, being poor is the way to get rich and so on. As Christians we shouldn't be anti-intellectual as knowledge and wisdom is important to allay our doubts and engage with people that are intellectual. However, at some point we need to realize that this only gets us so far. Adam and Eve were much better off before they ate from the tree of knowledge. Jesus said that we must be like a child to enter the kingdom of God. I think He was referring to a simple belief in the unseen. Our mid, intellect, wisdom, learning can only take us to the brink of the cliff as in the 3rd Indiana Jones movie. At some point we need to take that step of faith where intellect screams "NO!!"

There was an old song that went, "Gimme that old time religion

                                                        Gimme that old time religion

                                                        Gimme that old time religion

                                                        It's good enough for me.

  Is it good enough for you?