I remember when the Berlin Wall came down. What an amazing event that re-drew the maps of Eastern Europe and signaled the end of the Cold War as I had known it all my life. A wall of division was removed and a whole new world of freedom was dawning for the people of East Germany.

We’re going to be reading Acts 10:1-23 this Sunday, where another kind of wall came down 2,000 years before. A wall that Paul described as a “wall of hostility” in Ephesians 2.

In Acts 10 we are introduced to a new character in the story – Cornelius, the Roman centurion living in Caesarea.  He is described as a “God-fearer”, meaning he was a gentile who had been attracted to the Jewish faith but had not become a Jewish proselyte. He prayed regularly and was generous with needy people. He was conscious of God, spiritually minded and kind. Sounds like a good man. Yet when the angel appears to him it’s not to tell him he’s fine just as he is, but rather to point him towards Peter. What does that tell us about what it actually is that God wants for humanity?

Like a movie, our story cuts to Peter who has a highly unusual vision. A sheet with all sorts of animals that were off the menu under the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law. Where does the sheet come from, and what does that indicate to you? God commands Pete to “kill and eat”, but he recoils from this picnic of uncleaness. Peter protests with the words “I have never eaten the common or unclean things”. God’s response is powerful and important. Obviously, given the entire context, this was about more than food (it included food), this was about people and the end of the Old Covenant restrictions. This was a long held belief on Peter’s part that God had to up-end. God tore down the wall of hostility. As I contemplate the ramifications of what God is saying in this passage, I feel compelled to examine my heart. Are there people who I still consider common or unclean? What beliefs or traditions have you felt God challenging you about in your Christian journey? How should we understand God’s priorities when it comes to religion and people?

The whole story of the church changes at this juncture. The impact of this chapter is still felt by us today. I think this will be a fascinating study – hope to see you there!

 

 

I remember overhearing a conversation between a few people at a gathering I attended where one guy was telling another guy just how important he was. The evidence he provided was the fact that he had over 1,000 Facebook friends and well over 2,5000 followers on Twitter. That sounded like a lot to me, but in many circles, that’s small stuff. It’s just weird to me that we would ever present that as some sort of indication that we were somehow impactful in this world.

Even among those who have a disdain for social media, there can be a tendency to assign the most importance and influence to those who do heroic things or find cures for diseases or start huge charity organizations.  Not that there is anything wrong with any of that – it’s wonderful stuff to do if the opportunity presents itself. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a lot of Facebook friends either.

But the text we’re going to read this Sunday reminds us that we don’t have to do great things to make a big impact on the world around us. As Mother Theresa is attributed as saying, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love”. This Sunday we’ll be reading Acts 9:32-43 – which include two accounts of healings done by Peter.

The temptation is to focus in on the healings and the amazing miracles God did through his apostle. But I’d like to look at something else. I’d like to look at these characters who are described in the text as “saints” and “disciples”  and consider the implications of what a saint and a disciple looks like in real life.

It’s quite possible to read Acts and get all excited about the big stuff that was happening and forget that the church was largely made up of people unknown to the text, who carried out the Kingdom Project in obscurity. This is the actual heart of the church.

As you read these two accounts, we realize that even saints and disciples suffer from paralysis and sudden death. How can that help us to better evaluate the quality of our Christian walk? Stephen didn’t get delivered from death, but here, Dorcas does. What can that tell us about hardships and troubles for Christians in this life?

I love how Dorcas is described. She’s called a “disciple” – and the word used there is unique, appearing only one time in the New Testament.  What was she known for? Her ministry was so important to the widows of that town they lamented and hoped it was possible for God to raise her back to life.  We don’t know anything about what she ever said – only what she did. What things are in front of you that you could set your hand to in making a difference in this world? Do you ever look past to help out in some way that seems insignificant while you wait for some big opportunity to witness? What can Dorcas teach us?

Both Eeneas and Dorcas have their situations reversed, reminding us of the nature of God’s kingdom – he brings wholeness and life. How can we cooperate with God’s work to bring wholeness and life in our own situations and in the world where we’ve been placed?

I hope this proves to be an encouraging exploration of this section of Acts. Hope to see you there!

Sorry about that title.

Honestly, I was just stumped. We’re going to be reading an account that includes a eunuch in our passage this Sunday, as we explore Acts 8:26-40.

We read about Philip last week as he took the gospel north to the region of Samaria. As we pick up the story we find that while this big evangelistic effort is going forward in Samaria, God has another plan for Philip’s ministry.

In this account we find the Holy Spirit directing Phil to head south, but without any real instruction as to why. Have you ever felt led to do something that seemed unusual at the time, but unfolded as being an important move in some way? How easy or hard is it for you to follow those inward nudges of the Holy Spirit to change your immediate course or do something for reasons that aren’t very apparent? How can we be more open to those types of Spirit-inspired events?

Phil is directed towards the limo of an Ethiopian court official, who is described as being a eunuch.  The Ethiopian was returning from worshiping in Jerusalem, making him either a “God-fearer”, a gentile who had taken an interest in the Jewish faith; or a gentile proselyte who had converted to Judaism; or one of the Ethiopian Jews of the Beta Israel community. He’s reading the scroll of Isaiah – so no matter what his connection to Judaism, he is a seeker.

The thing is, as a eunuch, he would not have been allowed into the temple to worship and would have been excluded from the larger community of faith. I wonder if he knew that before going to Jerusalem to worship?

Lets think about this guy. He’s an outsider racially as an Ethiopian. He’s an outsider physically because of the condition of his genitalia – he doesn’t fit the model of created order for males. He’s an officiant in a pagan culture. He may have wealth and position…but from the religious perspective he is sequestered in the margins. He is an outsider.

God told Phil to leave the exciting work of leading all those Samaritans to Jesus in order to go find this one man…one outsider.

What can we learn about advancing the kingdom of God from Philip’s experience? In what ways will we need to look past the outsider status of people in our world to share the hope of Christ with them?

How did Philip begin his interaction with this man? What can we learn from that?

When the Ethiopian saw some water, he asked what prevented him from being baptized? Depending on what translation you read, Philip either said “simply believe on Jesus with all that you are”….or he said nothing, just jumped in the water with him. What can that teach us about how willing we should be to include others in the family of God?

It will be a challenging yet encouraging study this week. Hope to see you there!

 

People love street magic, don’t they? It always amazes people and the person doing the stuff always has such an air of mystery and power about them. It’s intriguing to observe how quickly we assign importance to people who can entertain us, isn’t it?

This Sunday we’ll be reading Acts 8:4-25 and we’ll encounter a magician…more appropriately, a false prophet who held sway over people until the Kingdom of God invaded his space.

As you read through the text, do you see any contrasts between Philip and Simon? What did Philip preach, and what did Simon present? What was the result of Philip’s message and power compared with Simon’s?

Do you read anything in the text that would make you suspicious of Simon’s conversion experience?

Peter is harsh with his response to Simon’s offer – what message do we get from that? Is there anything in our contemporary understanding of church and Christianity that we should examine in light of Peter’s sharp rebuke?

It’s interesting that Simon appears in several other non-Biblical writings. One of the most intriguing to me is Justin Martyr’s mention of him in his second apology. I wrote a paraphrase of that section several years ago – if Justin’s record is correct, it would seem that Simon didn’t follow Peter’s instructions.

Let’s seek better things in our experience of following Jesus – let’s learn our lessons from the story of Simon.

Hope to see you this Sunday!

Have you ever had someone get really mad at you…I mean, really mad, to the point that they seemed like they were snarling? I’ve only had that happen a few times in my life, as I recall. It’s not pleasant, is it? What about a whole group of people, snarling and raging and in your face with anger…ever experience that? How would you feel in a situation like that? What would you want to do? Calm the situation by trying to reason with the people? Run?

I can think of few things that seem more frightening than an angry mob.

This Sunday we’ll be reading Acts 7:54-8:3 in our study of the Ragamuffin Revolution – the book of Acts.

We’ll continue the account of Stephen, one of the first “deacons” – a person who was attending to the needs of the church community. In the story so far, he’s been accosted by his fellow Jews for his preaching of Jesus as Messiah, he’s been brought before the Sanhedrin to stand trial for false charges that he is trying to introduce a whole new religion among the Jewish people, he’s preached the longest sermon in the whole New Testament…and in this section, we’ll see the resulting action of that sermon (spoiler: it is not repentance and acceptance).

As you read about what it is that Stephen suddenly sees in v56, how would what he perceived have helped him endure this unjust treatment?

Stoning is a grizzly business and a brutal way to die. Astonishingly, it is a punishment still meted out by some nations to this day. Stephen was likely young…this would have taken some time to bring him down, hence the men strip off their coats because this type of murder is a sweaty business.

What do you think of the young man in v 58 who is more interested in the safety of the coats than the man in the ditch being pummeled mercilessly by rocks? What should God do to a scoundrel like that?

In v59 Stephen prays for himself. In v60 he prays for someone else. Who does he pray for? What does he pray for them? Who does this remind you of? Do we see a pattern that deviates from the world’s normal patterns in this? How does it challenge us in our own heart’s response to the villainy we see perpetuated against our fellow believers in other parts of the world?

Chapter 8 brings us back to that young man again, the one who guarded the coats. Does he seem to feel bad for what happened to Stephen? He seems pretty sold out to his destructive worldview and the path it puts him on. What do you think God should have done to him in light of his continuation of this wicked intent?

Oh yeah…and where do you think Christianity would be without that young man?

This will not be an easy study….just sayin’. Maybe this article (which is more like a punch in the head) can help us get ready for it.

Families just fight sometimes, don’t they? I have yet to meet a family of humans who didn’t have a few tensions somewhere along the way. When a family finds itself at odds with each other, it doesn’t always mean something is drastically wrong, the issue is, how to handle the dispute. The family of God is really no different, and we are bound to disagree with each other along the way – but how do we go about handling those differences?

We’re coming back to our study in Acts this Sunday, and we’ll be looking at Acts 6:1-7.

As the church has gotten bigger it’s started to experience growing pains. A dispute arises that ran across cultural boundaries: the Hellenistic Jewish people were feeling mistreated by the Hebraic Jewish people, a subject you can get a little more insight about at this LINK.

As you read this section consider how you would feel if it seemed like you were being unfairly ignored by the church. What would you do to address it?

Often times, when there are differences of opinion or a divergence in cultural tastes, the church has historically divided up. Does that seem to be an option for the church in Jerusalem? What can we learn about the basis for our unity from this passage?

What solution did the apostles arrive at? How important do you think the teaching of the Word and prayer are for the life of the church?  In what ways can we all begin to see ourselves as minsters that promote the well-being of the church? How can we create a culture that facilitates and encourages an expansion of ministry in our church?

The apostles didn’t get angry because people complained. They didn’t get defensive or demand unquestioning loyalty. Instead, they chose people from the very demographic who felt marginalized to represent the ministerial response. What can we learn from their attitude and action?

Let’s get inspired by our older Brothers and Sisters and see how we can follow the path that they blazed!

 “…life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, life finds a WAY!” ~ Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

I really like that movie – and I always enjoy Dr. Malcolm’s description of the power of life. He, of course, is couching his description in the course of natural evolution – but I like to imagine his description applying to The Life – the redeemed life found in Christ. And it’s not so much that God’s life finds a way, but that God makes a way.

We’re going to be reading Acts 5:12-42 in our study this Sunday, continuing our way through the book of Acts.

Luke again repeats a pattern started in chapter 4, where we see the good being done by the infant church resisted and opposed by the powers that be. We can get the message…this new life that God is forming in us is going to be resisted by the systems and patterns of this broken world.

What are the ways, besides just human antagonism, that we can find ourselves being resisted in our journey of faith in Christ? Have you ever been moving in the right direction only to find everything going wrong in your life? What is your greatest temptation in those times?

I love the words of the angel in this passage:  “Go to the Temple and take your stand. Tell the people everything there is to say about this Life.” What encouragement can you derive from those words?

The speech given by Gamaliel in the final section of this passage is quite profound. “If this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.” In other words…this Life is unstoppable. His words were spoken over 2,000 years ago. If 2,000 years of hardships, pressures and persecutions could not stop this Life…what will be able to stop God’s redeeming life in you?

Hope to see you this Sunday!

 

What is the most common complaint leveled at the church throughout history? “Church is just full of hypocrites”, right? It’s not an unreasonable complaint, it’s just that the scope of that observation is too narrow, because, really, the whole world is full of hypocrites. We’re just prone to that folly as humans.

In our study of Acts this week, we’ll be reading chapter 4:32 through chapter 5:11. It has one of the most somber warnings about hypocrisy in the whole New Testament…maybe the whole Bible.

Chapter four ends on a really high note, describing how the infant church went about caring for each other in community. V 33 says that “great grace was upon them all” as a means of explaining the impetus for this sort of interdependent care. Why do you think experiencing God’s grace is a significant factor in community care and concern?

Chapter four is sort of the set-up, the backdrop for the events that unfold in the first eleven verses of chapter 5.

This is pretty difficult stuff to process. The question that persists is: why would God treat this particular sin so severely and immediately? It is a good question. Contrary to popular opinion, this sort of prompt judgment is highly unusual in the Bible. As best as I can tell, this sin was dealt a quick strike because it sets the tone for the intended character of the church. It never happens again in the New Testament – not sure about the church through history. Obviously, if God decided to strike down everyone guilty of sin in the church, none of us would survive. This particular event must be intended to send a strong message…one we need to pay careful heed to.

The issue doesn’t seem to be about the amount of money given or withheld, at least according to v4. The real issue seems to be in v3.  A deception wrapped in spirituality. Religious hypocrisy.

When we think about it, who did Jesus level his most serious charges against? Prostitutes? Tax-robbers? Adulterers? No, he seemed to treat them with surprising tenderness. In actuality, Jesus reserved his strongest rebukes for the Pharisees. What did he often call them? What does Jesus warn about in Luke 12:1?

Why do you think religious hypocrisy such an important threat to the church that God would have dealt with it so severely in this passage? What does the nature of this judgement tell us about why hypocrisy is so dangerous to us?

What ways can you think of that we can avoid religious hypocrisy in our church community? What about in our individual lives?

It should prove to be a thought-provoking study!

Have you ever been mistreated by someone else?

Ha! That was a rhetorical question. If you’re reading this it means you are from planet earth, and if you live on planet earth you have been treated poorly by someone, somewhere along the way, because that’s just how things work on a broken planet.

How did you feel when you were ill treated, misunderstood or unjustly marginalized? What did you want to do in response?

It’s hard to experience something like that, largely because we feel so out of control. We are in a section in our study of the book of Acts where the leadership of the first church has now experienced unjust sanctions against their ministry by the powers that be. This Sunday we’ll be reading about how they  responded to such mistreatment, as we explore Acts 4:23-31.

In our text, who did Pete and John go to as soon as they were released from captivity? Do you think the alliances we choose in times of trouble can dictate the course we take in response to that trouble?

When they all get together and hear the threat leveled against them…what do they do? Is that a natural response for you to have when someone has hurt you?

What is it about God’s nature that they remind themselves of in v24? What bearing does that have on their situation?

They go on to quote Psalm 2 in their prayer. They see it as a forecast of things that have already taken place in the experience that Jesus had before Pilate and Herod, as well as the mob. Read that psalm in it’s entirety. What sort of picture do you get from v4 of that psalm? How can it comfort us to gain a picture of what goes on, behind the scenes, when we are faced with bad treatment and difficult people?

When the prayer ended, the room got shaken and they got stirred. In their prayer, did they ask for deliverance from persecution? Did they ask for vengeance on their oppressors? What did they ask for? What did God do for them to embolden them in their mission? What does that tell us about our source of strength to overcome difficulty, and how would you go about asking God for that source?

That was a lot of questions, I know. Hopefully it will prove to be an encouraging study as we learn from our older brothers and sisters of the early church. See yer’ Sunday!