21:5,6 - I think this is such a beautiful picture of what Christianity should look like. As families, they walk the brothers out of town and they all kneel together and pray for each other. What a great goodbye. It seems like we are so overly-connected through phones, computers and the ease of travel (Though you could say we have substituted technological connection for real relationship sometimes, but that is a different topic) - that we take parting someones company for granted...we are just gonna see them or talk to them tomorrow anyway. I think we are missing out. I think we should take more opportunities to prayerfully say goodbye, because in all reality we never know when or if we will ever see anybody again. Do we live like that? Do we pray like that?
21:13 - All of us do this...we allow our own frailty, fear and selfishness to become an obstacle for ourselves and others when it comes to giving everything to God and stepping out boldly in his name. I love the question that Paul gives them, "Why do you break my heart...why do you cry for me...don't you know that I am willing to go to jail or even die for Jesus?" Is that the attitude that we bring into our own lives...into the lives of our families...our kids? It's scary to think about - but if we really believe it has to come into play.
21:22ff - This sounds strange when you first read it...why is Paul going through these Jewish law rituals when he has already made it clear that he knows it is not the law that saves, but Jesus Christ. The Jewish council has voted and decided that Gentiles do not have to follow the law and get circumcised to be Christians. Why does Paul go through with what the leaders want him to do and bow to the requirements of the law in Jerusalem? (See I Corinthians 9:20) He is staying consistent to the message that he preaches throughout the New Testament. He does not want to be a stumbling block...he will become all things to all people (With the exclusion of blatant sinning - he's not going to do heroin to reach drug dealers), to further the message of Jesus Christ. Do I have the same attitude? Do you? Or do we, like the Jewish Christians, want others to do Christianity exactly like us, or not come to Christ at all?
Chapter 22 - There are some aspects of who Paul is that really jump out at me in this chapter, and I think they set a great example for what Christians are supposed to look like when we walk through this world. We are supposed to be bold. Check out the end of chapter 21 and the beginning of chapter 22...Paul has almost been torn apart by an angry mob, yet he immediately asks if he can go and address the same crowd that was calling for his head. That is bold. He has a message that he wants them to hear. As Christians I hope that we can bring that same boldness to the table. Do you love the lost people of this world enough to boldly chase after them? Paul did. We are supposed to tell our story. Paul gets up in front of a group of people that want his head, and he starts to tell them the story of his life. That sounds really awkward and weird, but he connects to them using their language and he tells them how he came in contact with the Way and how it changed him. We also need to be telling the story of how God has changed our lives. We also need to speak to the people we come in contact with using their language. We are supposed to be intelligent. Paul is strapped up and about to be flogged when he decides to let the guards know that he is a Roman citizen, and they really have no right to do that to him. He is not manipulating...he is not conning anybody...he is using his knowledge of the world he lives to the advantage of his life and the advance of the kingdom. There seems to be a belief in the world that Christians are delusional simpletons that answer any question about their faith with, "Because the bible says so." We need to know our faith and know our world and use the knowledge that we have to our advantage and to advance the kingdom, just as Paul did.
2 comments:
vs 20 - 25: It is fun reading the bible, especially when you see that human nature is no different today then it was thousands of years ago. The news that thousands of Jews have turned to Christ, while they still remain zealous for the law (eventhough they know at this point the law does not save them, but faith in Christ does). Human nature is to hold on to the things you are used to and expect others to do the same. Paul does the right thing and prevents a spilt. This didn't happen in the early part of the 1900's. I'm no expert on recent church history, but parts of the Christian church in america split over if it was OK to have musical instruments in the church during worship service or not. Early in my childhood this division was deep. Hopeful with what appears to be an emergence towards the 1st century church this division is not as deep. I pray that it is turning into a preference and not a "law".
I agree that it is awesome that when Paul is being beaten by a crowd that when he was saved from that crowd, he petitoned to speak to them and not curse them. I pray that my passion for the lost could be as genuine and if persecuted I plead for them to turn to Christ instead of cursing them.
I haven't been keeping count, but how many times has Paul used his personal testimony as he speaks to a crowd? Goes to show you that it is one of the most powerful tools we have to witness to others.
I love your point, Brandon, about how being a Christian does not mean we need to know less of the world. I feel that we've allowed being a Christian and its reliance on faith to pave this road of apathy and settlement. Because we are a part of something Bigger and we can't do it ourselves, we just need to be around and willing. After all, God wants our hearts. The problem I have with this is that we let ourselves get complacent and begin to do things halfway. We live under the notion that God doesn't demand perfection from us. As true as that is, people forget to say that God does demand our best. Being a Christian does not mean we get to put in a half effort. Being a Christian means we are dependent on Him, but we still need to do our best. From knowing our culture and world, to putting the necessery time and effort into everything that we do, we need to do all things as if we were doing them for Christ. Funny, I think that's in the Bible... (1 Peter 4, I think)
Post a Comment