Thoughts From Acts 20 - Part 2

 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. 14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. 15 The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Chios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. 16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 18 When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. Acts 20:14-24

         One man changed the world. Okay, 2 men but one was Jesus and He was a man*. (He gets an Asterix) I'm talking about Paul. He saturated the known world with the gospel and it transcended racial lines. How did he do it? It's all he thought about. He says that the only thing that matters in his life and the only reason he is alive is to spread the gospel of God's grace. That gospel or good news is that we need to turn toward God and say we are sorry for going our own way and trust in Christ's sacrifice for our sins alone to restore our relationship with Him. The one thing that we tend to miss in the gospel in verse 21 is "Lord" Jesus. That's not His first name just like Christ isn't His second name but rather a description about how we receive Him. By faith we receive His forgiveness of sins but then Jesus becomes our Lord or master. This is why the road is narrow because everyone in the Bible Belt seems to have at some point prayed to Jesus for forgiveness of sins but how many, like Paul, have said my life is now defined by completing the task my master has given me?

      One of the ladies helping my wife at the homeless meals told her that she is having a good time hanging out with the Lesbian couples at the Methodist Church. They are so nice, fun, and friendly and they all love Jesus. It makes you wonder are we adding stuff to salvation? Don't we just have to confess that we are a sinner and trust Jesus for forgiveness of these sins? Do we have to add "and not be a Lesbian"? Is that adding to salvation? Yes, except for that one word "Lord". Jesus is now your master. Jesus said to the false followers in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?" In other words, saying "No, Lord" is an oxymoron. If He is your master, then you can't say no. Once we trust Jesus we must do what he says and like He says to the woman caught in adultery, "Go and sin no more." He gives a frightening warning in Matthew 7:21-23 that on the last days a lot of people will be shocked to be excluded from Heaven and He will say "I never knew you, you evildoers," even though they were calling Him Lord.

     Paul says to the church in Corinth in 1Corinthians 6,

"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

      And Jesus says in the last book of His word,

 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

         Salvation, the Gospel, includes the "washing of robes", the "were" of our lifestyle. It's accepting Jesus as master and saying what would you have me do and He says to stop practicing things that He calls sin. No we aren't adding to salvation but if He expects "them" to change, He also expects us to conform to His image. Paul made Jesus his Lord. Have we?

Thoughts From Acts 20 - Part 1

When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3 where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Eutychus Raised From the Dead at Troas

7 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. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 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. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. Acts 20:1-12

          When I copy and paste the Bible verses in this blog, I usually delete the big headers like "Eutychus Raised From the Dead" because I think those are added by editors to God's word. Today I'm leaving it in because that header is the point. The editor could have just as easily said "Eutychus Falls Asleep in Church" which was just as true and would relate to all of us much more than the first header. And this is my point - God takes our failures and uses them for His glory. 

         One of my stories that I have shared countless times in my life was the first time I scrubbed into surgery. I was between years of college pre-med Chemistry in the summer and I was invited to observe a surgery by a noted Surgeon from my church who knew I was interested in medicine. After changing into scrubs in the locker room I followed him to the scrub sink where I grabbed a hard plastic "brush" with one side having plastic spikes. After cleaning my fingernails, I foot-pumped pink liquid soap on this brush and scrubbed my hands and arms until the 10 minute timer went off with the pointy part of the brush. My arms were bright red and actually hurt. I then backed through the door and after I dried with a sterile towel I grabbed my gown and touched a table. The head nurse yelled, "CONTAMINATED!" and I looked around to see who the idiot was that contaminated things and they were all looking at me. Surely after 10 minutes of scrubbing to the point where my epidermis layer was about removed, I was germ - free, right? Wrong. I learned quickly that no matter how much you scrub your germs can't be fully removed.

       That great failure has become a great story to tell about all our efforts can't remove sin from our lives and pointing to the need for Christ, our atonement covering like a gown, glove, mask, and hat to be applied to us to cover over our guilt and sin which allows us to come into the holy presence of God like a sterile OR. Just like one germ can kill a person in surgery, one sin can keep us out of the holy presence of God.

       One of my most embarrassing failures Jim Contaminates the OR becomes the headline Jim Demonstrates That Works Can't Remove Sins, Only Christ's Covering Can. I wonder if I'm the only one with blunders or lemons turned into lemonade by Christ. My wife shares her story of being told by her 2nd grade teacher that no one was to get up while she left the room for 2 minutes and Karen, even though she wasn't thirsty was drawn to the drinking fountain in the room and got sent to the principal's office for it. She relates this to our sin nature especially Romans 7.

      On a practical note, if you are ever asked to share a devotion, share a story of humiliation not of success. People relate much better to our failures and will listen much more intently. Also, God tends to teach us a lot more through our failures than successes. What's your failure story? I can't wait to hear it!

Thoughts From Acts 19 - Part 3

About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24 A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. 25 He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27 There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31 Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.32 The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. 33 The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. 34 But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”35 The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash. 37 You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. 38 If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. 39 If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. 40 As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.” 41 After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.  Acts 19:23-41

         Did you see that in the first verse Christianity was called "The Way"? The Mandalorian would often explain his moral code by saying, "This is the way." Believers follow the Bible and even though it conflicts with modern morality, we do what it says because, this is the way. The problem arises because people that don't follow the way say, "Well, that's your way, not my way. I don't follow your God." God gave everyone free will to be able to say that. He doesn't force Himself on anyone - well maybe Paul. But Christianity doesn't claim to be "a way", it claims to be "The way". People say "Your God" but they're mistaken; He's God, there is no other. People say that's not "my" truth but they're mistaken; there is just truth. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me." It was astute of the Ephesians to call it "The Way" because they understood what Christians were saying.

         And they understood its exclusivity because it didn't make room for other gods like Artemis. You couldn't own idols or books on witchcraft because One God, One way, One truth doesn't allow for that - not in a militant way but in a nonsensical way. It made them mad because it was saying their way was the wrong way. Back in the day, we used to pile our kids in the conversion van and take trips to Florida. I got wash off paint and I painted John 14:6 on the side of the van, the verse that I quoted at the end of the previous paragraph. Boy did I get the finger a lot. There is probably no more offensive verse to the world than that. The Ephesians knew it and were ready to rip people limb from limb.

        This is what we believe. This is the way. Understand that. Don't compromise. Accept the fact that people aren't going to like it.