Acts 24:1-27

So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. (v. 16) Just a quick comment… Paul preaches repentance and forgiveness. This verse seems to indicate that he also practiced the same. One does not arrive at a clear conscience unless s/he has gone to the Lord in prayer asking God’s forgiveness for mis-doings and seeking His will as they move forward.

Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings. (v. 17) I would not have known it, but my Study Bible pointed out that this verse is the only reference in Acts to the collection that Paul had organized that he had brought to Jerusalem just a few days prior. Everything else that we know about that collection comes from comments in Paul’s letters. (See e.g., Romans 15:26, 1 Cor 16:1–4; 2 Cor 8:1–9:15.) Interesting…

See also:

• July 24 (2020) / Acts 24:1-9
• July 25 (2020) / Acts 24:10-27

Acts 22:30-23:35

Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush… (v. 16a) Just five verses earlier we have the Lord speaking to Paul and telling him not to worry, that He had things under control. So He makes things happen in His own unique way. Paul was from Tarsus; did Paul’s sister live in Rome? Nothing is said explicitly about Paul’s sister; maybe she still lived in Tarsus and Paul’s nephew had come to Jerusalem to study, just as Paul had done years before. Three times in this reading Paul’s nephew is referred to as a “young man” (vv. 17, 18, 22). I’m thinking teenager or pre-teen. How could this young man even be nearby to hear this plot? More evidence that he was studying under one of the Jewish leaders…? Did no one of the leaders or from the crowd recognize him as Paul’s nephew? Finally, how could a “young man” get through the Roman security to see his uncle? Then beyond all that, I discuss in the second link below Paul’s influence with the Roman authorities. With his nephew’s message, I’m sure Paul reflected back to the Lord’s words to him the night before. I hope we look back regularly to see how the Lord worked in our lives when we faced difficult times!

See also:

• July 21 (2020) / Acts 23:1-10
• July 22 (2020) / Acts 23:11-22
• July 23 (2020) / Acts 23:23-35

Acts 22:1-29

Carol and I are on the road, heading home, and me with a (physically) broken laptop, so no posting today, only my comments from last year imbedded below. Blessings!

See also:

• July 19 (2020) / Acts 22:1-21
• July 20 (2020) / Acts 22:22-30

Acts 21:27-40

Following on John’s comment from yesterday (the parallel between Agabus’ prophecy as to Paul’s danger and Jesus’ prophecy as to His own crucifixion), today I’m thinking of another parallel between Acts and the Gospels: Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. (v. 30a) Here is one of the accounts of Jesus’ arrest: And immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas … came up, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who were from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. (Mark 14:43) Both “mobs” in these two accounts arise from the Jewish leaders – their jealousy of Paul’s and Jesus’ following and their fear for their own loss of power and influence. But then the paths between Paul and Jesus diverge. Paul is now allowed to speak to the crowd while Jesus was simply arrested and taken away. The parallel picks up again later when both Paul and Jesus are brought for trial before the Roman authorities. I wonder how often Paul thought, “This is what happened to Jesus.” If he did think that, then he was consoled that his future was secure – maybe not his earthly future but certainly his heavenly promise.

See also: July 18 (2020) / Acts 21:26-40

Acts 21:1-26

Agabus, the prophet in today’s reading who prophesied about Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-11) – if that name seems familiar to you, we’ve seen him before, back in chapter 11: Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. (Acts 11:27-30) This little tidbit is about more than just relating back to Agabus. From the chapter 11 verses noted above we see a donation being sent from Christians in (Syrian) Antioch to Christians in Jerusalem, carried by Barnabas and Saul.

Now Paul, on his third missionary journey has collected funds and with eight brothers is bringing those funds with him for the relief of the Christian brothers in Jerusalem. As he began this collection, no doubt Paul remembered this donation from years before and was following up from that memory. Interesting. But then again we have Paul in his letter to the Galatians noting that a request had been made by the Jewish elders for Paul and Barnabas … to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. (Galatians 2:10) So it seems that collections for the saints in Jerusalem was an ongoing thing. And this collection from two millenia ago is now carried out every month at St. Andrew’s when we send our tithe check to ADOTS for their continuing work in our Diocese and for their own support for ACNA in the whole USA and around the world. We support our ADOTS and ACNA leadership every Sunday, whenever we make our own donations to St. Andrew’s. Awesome!

See also:

• July 16 (2020) / Acts 21:1-16
• July 17 (2020) / Acts 21:17-25

 Acts 20:17-38

I comment in the link below on verse 35: …by working hard…we must help the weak… Carol pointed out to me that the pandemic has done for lower income workers what legislation has never done – to raise their wages. Jessamine County is looking for bus drivers – $16.64 per hour, four hours a day guaranteed, paid holidays, health insurance, and other benefits. Not bad! A strange outcome…! In my mind, raising these low wages is one of the many “blessings” from this pandemic.

I know that after my departure … from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. (vv. 29-30) Too true! Maybe not in our own St. Andrew’s congregation or in ADOTS or ACNA, but certainly in the denomination we left behind. “…twisted things…” Sad.

See also: July 15 (2020) / Acts 20:17-38

Acts 20:1-16

And a young man named Eutychus … fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” (vv. 9-10) You may recall that Peter had raised Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:40), so now we have Paul raising this young man from death. Bible naysayers will argue that this account did not happen, but was made up so that Paul could be set on equal footing with Peter. But I believe in the healing power of the Holy Spirit. Not a problem for me…!

Troas… We’ve seen Troas before (Acts 16:8-11) on Paul’s second missionary journey. Presumably Paul was prepared to spend time there years before when he was called from Troas to Macedonia. There is no account of him returning through Troas – from Corinth he sailed directly to Ephesus, then on to Jerusalem and Syrian Antioch. Now finally he is back in Troas and spent a full week there, no doubt preaching and encouraging the believers there. I wonder how often Paul thought about that earlier calling away from Troas, whether it was in his mind to get back to Troas if ever the opportunity arose. And I wonder about things that I/we have left undone as we moved through life. Something to reflect on during our travels today…

See also: July 14 (2020) / Acts 20:1-16

Romans 16:1-27

It takes a bit of reading and some helpful Study Bible hints to understand that in Romans 16:3-15 Paul is sending greetings to a number of Christians who are (presumably) living in Rome. Then in Romans 16:21-23 he sends greetings to the Romans from people who are with him, presumably in Corinth. From both lists it is clear that Paul is well tied in with those of faith in the northern Mediterranean world!

So we leave Romans with a good closing in verse 27: …to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. GLORY!

See also:

• July 12 (2020) / Romans 16:1-16
• July 13 (2020) / Romans 16:17-27

Romans 15:1-33

Paul mentions the Gentiles five times in Old Testament scripture verses (vv. 9, 10, 11, 12). But in reality, the word that he uses for Gentiles is translated “nations” in these OT writings, and my sense is that the OT use of “nations” has a very global perspective. I don’t suppose that there is any misinterpretation of these verses by Paul, but he is clearly using these verses to support his ministry to Gentiles within his geographic sphere. Just that…

I appeal to you … to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea… (vv. 30-31a). Paul’s wishes here were not granted as we will see shortly as we read on in Acts. He was fully delivered to the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem, who sought even to kill him, but he was saved from their hostility by the Roman authorities. Surprisingly, however, he did make it to Rome later as we will read further on in Acts, but not as he had planned as a stop on his way to Spain (vv. 22-24). We do not have Biblical record that Paul ever made it to Spain, but later when we read I Timothy I will share with you some scholars’ work arguing that Paul did, in fact, make it to Spain.

See also:

• July 9 (2020) / Romans 15:1-13
• July 10 (2020) / Romans 15:14-21
• July 11 (2020) / Romans 15:22-33

Romans 14:1-23

Again, as with yesterday and the day before, an item for today: For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. (v. 7) I’m going to express an opinion here, my own observation on vaccinations. To me it’s a public health issue more than an individual decision. For none of us lives to himself… We may choose to get vaccinated so as to protect ourselves from COVID-19. But in doing so, we are also protecting one another. For none of us lives to himself…! Carol and I were COVID-vaccinated as early as possible – no doubt with our own health in mind. But as the number of vaccinated people surged we began to think of “herd immunity” – that the virus would die out for its inability to spread itself if a significant percentage of the population were to be vaccinated. Yet we have failed to reach that threshold because of the large number of people who choose not to be vaccinated.

Paul asks, Why do you pass judgment on your brother? (v. 10a) So where is “judgment” in all this? It truly is hard for me not to be judgmental against one of my brothers and his wife who refuse to be vaccinated. To me they simply seem to have an attitude, kinda like “No one can tell me what to do!” The answer lies in each of us seeking the Lord on each and every issue and decision in our lives. In truth, whether we live or die in this life matters not with respect to our eternal outcome. Again, Paul says it best: For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (v. 8) Simple: We live to the Lord! Still, we need to be honest with ourselves IN THE LORD when we make our choices.

See also:

• July 7 (2020) / Romans 14:1-13
• July 8 (2020) / Romans 14:14-23