My heart is breaking for the families of the victims of the racial terrorist attack in South Carolina last Wednesday. Only the grace of God will heal these wounds – it’s hard to imagine how God could bring something good out of this act of evil.  As followers of Christ, let’s remember that racial prejudice has no place in God’s kingdom. It is a malevolent evil that God will surely judge. Let’s be quick to reject all forms of it – and through it all, let’s pray for peace.

This Sunday we’ll be reading Acts 16:11-40. It’s a passage filled with irony, and we’ll consider the way God seems to employ irony in the way he leads us through this adventure. Situational irony is when a series of events lead to an unexpected result.

For instance, gunpowder was discovered in the process of looking for the elixir for immortality. That’s irony.

In the section we’ll be reading we’ll see several examples of “divine irony” – where expectations get upended and surprising results are revealed. Paul and Silas go to Philippi in search of a man Paul saw in a vision only to find a group of women, one of whom God plants the 1^st church of Philippi through.

A girl is demonically inspired to declare the truth about Paul and Silas and Paul, an emissary of truth stops her from saying it.

The same girl is set free from spiritual bondage which results in a loss of physical freedom for Paul and Silas.

Paul and Silas are in the worst of situations and use it as a cause for singing praise songs.

An earthquake opens the jail doors and breaks the chains but Paul and Silas remain inside the jail.

The man who does great harm to Paul and Silas is warned not to harm himself.

In all of these things God is using terrible situations to shape beautiful things. It’s just his way. How has life gone a different direction than the way you expected – how can factoring in God’s employment of irony help us to cope with bad situations?

Have you ever gone to a party thinking it was a casual get together only to find that everyone has arrived in formal attire? Have you ever been to a wedding thinking it was formal, only to discover that everyone was wearing casual clothes? How did you feel in those experiences? It’s a pretty uncomfortable feeling, isn’t it? It’s sort of how the gentile Christians of Syrian Antioch must have felt when, while they were all stoked at embracing salvation through Christ, some people came telling them that they were still not dressed right for the occasion – that their failure to keep the Law of Moses was making them conspicuous outsiders.

That is the stage on which our text for this week (Acts 15:22-35) is set.

The Jerusalem counsel decided that it wasn’t right to lay a further burden on the gentile church of keeping the law – so they drafted a letter to explain that, but instead of just emailing it to Antioch or sending an emoji text to explain things….they sent personal delegates from their church to confirm the acceptance of the gentiles. How do you think it must have felt for the gentiles in Antioch to get this news personally? Considering what a huge deal it was for Peter to even go into a gentile’s house (Acts 10), what message was this sending to them? What can we learn from this model about how love is to be expressed on a community level?

V28 indicates that this loving desire for harmony between very different churches was inspired…by Whom? Harmony in the face of disagreements is something that doesn’t just occur spontaneously, it has to be orchestrated (It’s interesting that you never read bumper stickers that say “harmony happens”). Spirit-led love will still hold fast to the truth (v24) but will seek harmony in the process. That is what rescues our expression of love from shallow sentimentalism or emotional groupthink. How can we cooperate with the Holy Spirit when we are confronted with disagreements in the community?

In v 31-32, what word is repeated twice? Between v31-33, what words are used to describe the nature and effect of this mission of reconciliation and harmony? What should we look for in evaluating our own ministries within the church community? How does this provide an example of a loving ministry?

Hope you’re enjoying the Book of Acts as much as I have been! – See you Sunday!

 

 

The Bible Project has this really great overview of the book of Leviticus – you should really take the 7 minutes to watch it before continuing to read. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

“Why did we watch that Rob?”

I’m glad you asked. I wanted you to see that the Law of Moses wasn’t some mistake God made in the past, but that it had a real point and message to it.  It succinctly sets up the crisis of how a sinful humanity is supposed to come into a relationship with a holy God.  The Law of Moses provided a system that gave Israel the confidence to believe that they could live near God’s presence even in their imperfection.

But along comes Jesus and the Good News of the Kingdom of God – and Jesus fulfills all the promises made to Israel about the removal of sin by going to the cross, and taking all the consequence of our sin on himself – thus making a way into God’s presence that requires nothing from us except faith.  It is a salvation and redemption by grace alone – based solely on God’s unmerited love for us.

Now frankly, this has been a struggle for the church all through it’s history to this very day. We don’t seem to track well with this concept. And right at the outset the gentile church in Antioch faced the challenge of a mounting legalism, which we’ll be reading about this Sunday in Acts 15:1-21.

Many scholars believe that the events of Acts 15 are the same that Paul described in Galatians 2:4-6.

Paul doesn’t mince words there. He calls these people spys, spying on the freedom that the church in Antioch was enjoying. They felt it was still necessary to obey the Law of Moses in addition to believing on Jesus. It was a Jesus plus gospel…Jesus + keep the law = salvation. That is the basic formula of legalism.

Legalism feels the need to impose a standard on others, as we see in the case of those who came to Antioch. Why do you suppose that is? When, if ever, have you been tempted to get someone conformed to your convictions? What was the result?  Have you ever been on the receiving end of that kind of pressure? How did it make you feel?

How can we avoid this sort of trap? What did the early church do and what can we learn from their conclusion?

I’m really looking forward to this study – as a recovering Pharisee myself, I feel like this is in my wheelhouse!

Hope to see you Sunday!

This Sunday we’ll be reading about the further adventures of Paul and Barnabas as they continued their missionary journey in the region of Galatia. We’ll be reading all of Acts 14.

As you read this, v4 tells us that the gospel had a familiar effect as it was introduced to the city of Iconium, what is it? How would you feel if you were these guys and constantly facing opposition for their faith? What does this tell us about the nature of the gospel and what we can expect as we attempt to represent it in this broken world?

There’s a humorous little story when they get to Lystra. An amazing healing takes place which results in people making an assumption that Hermes and Zeus have appeared in human form. They start the process of sacrificing a bull and celebrating and feasting…while Paul and Barny tear their clothes and plead with everyone to cut it out. It’s sort of alarming the things that can happen when people try to co-opt the gospel and insert it into a preconceived belief system. Have you ever seen that happen in our own world of 21st Century America? What examples can you think of that would represent a twisting of the gospel to promote an element our culture?  The gospel confronts our established belief systems – it doesn’t provide a way to manage our old gods.

in v15-18 we have an example of how Paul framed the gospel message for an uninitiated gentile audience. He declares that there is one God who is Creator. Then he describes the ways in which this God has left clues about his existence. If you were to use a single word to describe the tone of his message, what would it be? Have you ever thought about God demonstrating his reality through a good meal (v17)? There is something so clean and uncomplicated about this message, I really love it.

The gospel still ends up getting Paul in trouble – he’s dragged out of town and stoned. Miraculously, he doesn’t die…but I imagine he’s pretty busted up. When he gets up, where does he immediately go and what does he do? Is he like Kurt Russell shouting “Tell ’em I’m comin’, and Hell’s comin’ with me! That doesn’t seem to be the gospel approach. What does Paul do? What is the most natural response to mistreatment? Does this example encourage you…or overwhelm you? What can we learn about the way the gospel is made known?

Welp…hope to see you Sunday! Have a great Memorial Day weekend, and please pray for those who’ve lost so much in our national conflicts – and above all, pray for peace.

Sometimes we repeat the old adage, “Want to make God laugh?”…..”Tell Him your plans.”

We say those kinds of things because we are implying that first, there is a God, and second, He has a plan of His own and third, His plan supersedes our own plans. That would be a scary thought if we weren’t sure about this God’s intention toward us. On the other hand, if there were some way to know if this God wanted what is best for us, the thought that He had an immovable plan in action would be of immeasurable comfort, wouldn’t it?

We’re going to continue our study in the book of Acts this Sunday, and we’ll be reading Acts 13:13-52.

It’s a lot of verses – but it’s mainly one long sermon by Paul – the first one he delivers in Acts.

Paul, like Peter and Stephen before him, starts his presentation of the gospel by going way back into Israel’s history? Why do you think they do that? What can that tell us about God’s plan for the human race throughout history?

When Paul culminates the story in v38-39, he says that forgiveness and freedom are found in Jesus and not in the Law of Moses. What does that tell us about what has happened with the story in the past and the story in the present? How huge would that statement be to Paul’s Jewish listeners?

The sermon Paul gives slices through the group and divides them into two categories: those who embrace God’s plan and those who don’t. Barnabas gives some strong warnings to those who reject God’s plan. What future ramifications do we discern from this text about how we respond to God’s plan?

This Sunday is our first Surf-N-Grill of 2015 – pray that the rain stays away! See yez Sunday!

There’s a phrase we say sometimes, though it may be slipping into antiquity: “He/she is from the wrong side of the tracks”. It was a phrase used to describe a person who came from an undesirable part of town, back when railroad tracks often divided towns between the upper, middle class residential areas and the lower income, industrial sections. A person from the wrong side of the tracks was looked down upon because of economic, cultural or ethnic status. Often all three of those went together.

We’ll be returning to our study in the book of Acts this Sunday after an awesome Easter service. We’ll be continuing the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10:24-48.

Clearly, God’s love is loose in the world, smashing through boundaries both ethnic and religious. Peter makes the profound statement “God is no respecter of persons”. This is a message that has been presented all the way through the Old Testament to the New – God doesn’t judge by outward appearance like we do, he discerns the heart. If we are called to emulate God, how well do we do this? Are there people you’d rather avoid, people who are defined in your thinking as “them”? How easy is it for you to depersonalize someone if they hold a different set of values than you or have a worldview you are unfamiliar with? What steps can we take to recapture this revelation of Acts 10:34?

As you read through v36-43, how would you summarize Peter’s presentation of the gospel? What words does he use that would lead you to believe that this news is good? How much does Peter say to Cornelius about hell, or heaven for that matter? What do you discern as the emphasis of Peter’s description of the good news about Jesus? What can we learn from this section about how we represent the gospel in the world in which we’ve been placed?

In v44-48 an amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurs, hearkening back to the events of chapter 2. When Peter sees that the same Holy Spirit has been given to this Roman soldier and his family, he calls for  immediate baptism, accepting them into the community of God. What does his lack of other requirements say to us about who we should welcome into the family of God? This immediacy is a repetition of the Eunuch’s baptism in chapter 8. Does this repetition say anything to you?

Hope to see you this Sunday!

 

 

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!