Acts 17:1-9

But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob… (v. 5) This sounds so much like the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem bringing a mob to Gethsemane to arrest Jesus! (BTW, both the NASB and NKJV translate “of the rabble” as “from the marketplace”.) Clearly the synagogue was split; the previous verse had said, And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. (v. 4) The “them” in “some of them” refers to Jews from the synagogue, since Greeks and leading women are also included in that verse of those who were persuaded. From his teaching/preaching, some Jews were persuaded, but not all. My sense is that it was the Jewish leaders who were not persuaded and who became jealous (v. 5) when the less-learned Jews were persuaded; the leaders probably feared that they would lose many from their congregation.

Paul explains three distinct items to those attending in the synagogue: (1) that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah) and (2) that as the Christ He had to suffer and (3) that as the Christ He had to rise from the dead. Verse 3 says that Paul not only explained these things, but that he also proved them. As a young rabbinical student Paul was well trained in the Old Testament and could cite “chapter and verse” from …Moses and all the prophets… (Luke 24:27), especially Messianic verses from Isaiah. So he was able to prove to some of the Jews that their long-awaited Messiah had come. That would have taken a major leap of faith for those Jews who joined Paul and Silas to leave behind their Jewish friends (and leaders). Paul must have been very convincing!

The Jewish leaders speaking: …they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. (v. 7) My Study Bible pointed out this Messianic preaching from Paul was blasphemy to the Jewish leaders, but also that the Thessalonians were under Roman rule and that this claim from the Jewish leaders was effectively a charge of treason against Paul and Silas. The very first verse in tomorrow’s reading says The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night… (v. 10), clearly to avoid having to face that charge before the Roman authorities.

Slava Bohu!

Acts 16:25-40

I was re-thinking my post from yesterday, as to why Paul and Silas accepted the beatings from the Philippian magistrates instead of claiming their rights as Roman citizens. Then this morning I remembered the following verse, where the Lord is speaking to Ananias as He is sending him to visit Paul after Paul’s Damascus road experience: For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. (Acts 9:16) So Paul knew that he would be suffering as he spoke about Jesus; maybe he was just accepting that beating in stride, knowing the Lord had told him it would be so.

Today I’m thinking about Lydia. It was on the way to their prayer meeting that Paul and Silas were apprehended, beaten and put in jail. So Lydia and her household and any other converts would have known about these events and very likely would have been praying for Paul and Silas – for their comfort and maybe even for their deliverance. So yes, Paul and Silas …were praying and singing hymns to God… (v. 25), but prayer on their behalf was probably being offered by the Lydia crowd. I can imagine the Lydia crowd rejoicing when Paul and Silas arrived at her house; I can hear them reporting about their own prayer time. And now as Paul and Silas have …encouraged them and departed (v. 40), the Lydia crowd can hold on to and regularly recall their prayer time and the Lord’s deliverance. Yes, I’m reading into the text thoughts that are not explicitly there, but there’s a point worth making: our prayers matter! Pray without ceasing! (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Slava Bohu!

Acts 16:16-24

I’ve always wondered at Paul and Silas allowing themselves to be beaten, when (as we will learn tomorrow) they were Roman citizens and should have been tried before a judge and jury before being punished. I feel like I would have claimed my Roman citizenship immediately. But maybe it happened all too quickly and they were set upon by vigilante justice.

And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. (vv. 23-24) These verses are ESV translation; the NASB translates “to keep them safely” as “to guard them securely”. That seems a better translation, since the jailer seems to have been more concerned with security than safety. He put them in the INNER prison, a much more secure location than the “entry-way” cells, and he put their feet in the stocks. All that seems excessive for two men who hadn’t even been formally tried! But then again, it makes their release that much more powerful! But again, I’m getting ahead of today’s reading.

Verse 18 has a small item, And this she kept doing for many days. The slave girl had been crying out to Paul and Silas as they were on their way to the place of prayer – every day!! That is, the slave girl “kept doing” her crying out “for many days”. I find myself impressed at Paul’s and Silas’ dedication to evangelism. With Lydia and her household already converted, Paul and Silas must have seen an opportunity for more converts. And even if no one new showed up, they could still share more with Lydia and her household, increasing their faith. This evangelistic ministry was a daily activity for them. So what about us?

I find that I want to keep encouraging all of you, all of us, to keep speaking out. It’s really not that difficult. Today I took a trailer load of trash to our county-wide dump station building in Nicholasville. Two truck-trailer loads were already dumping and I was next in line. Two days earlier I had gone to the same dump station and had to unload my trailer by myself. (Normally men from the detention center are there to help.) So after waiting a few minutes, I decided to offer my help to one of the people offloading their trash. The man was quick to grant permission for me to help. After working opposite the trailer from him for seven or eight minutes and exchanging a few pleasantries I asked him, “Are you part of a local church?” It was an easy question to ask and there would be a yes-or-no answer – and hopefully a follow-up conversation to either answer. He said, “Yes, we attend Southland Christian Church.” I could tell that we both rejoiced at our shared faith! We parted ways with warm expressions of that shared faith – by the both of us. Bottom line – it was an easy question to ask. We can do this!!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 16:6-15

So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (vv. 8-9) What’s strange to me in these two verses is that Paul is even at Troas. If you look at a map, the Galatian cities of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe are in east-central modern-day Turkey, directly north of Cyprus, very far inland from the western coast of modern-day Turkey. In fact, Galatian Antioch is closer to Syrian Antioch than it is to Troas. So, having visited those four Galatian cities where he had preached before, Paul continues northwest through Phrygia and Mysia. Paul had been prohibited by the Spirit to speak further in Asia (modern-day Turkey), so he was intending to go to Bithynia, on the northern coast of modern-day Turkey (the southern coast of the Black Sea), a couple hundred miles east of Istanbul. But he was prohibited by the Spirit to go there also. So his only course was westward, to the west coast of modern-day Turkey, where Troas was located. And at Troas, as fortune (and the Holy Spirit) would have it, he gets the call in a dream to cross the Aegean Sea to go to Philippi, a city in what was then Macedonia and is now in the northeastern strip of land in modern-day Greece.

Why is this strange to me? It took two prohibitions from the Holy Spirit and one dream to get Paul to where the Lord wanted him. That is, Paul had made his plans, but the Lord took over and gave Paul His plans! I look at Paul’s change-of-plans and compare his journey to how Carol and I have found our way to St. Andrew’s. I failed at Texas A&M University – I was denied tenure in 1990. I failed at the University of Delaware – I was not hired into an open position in 1996 even though I was a visiting professor there. And the Episcopal Church failed to follow Scripture faithfully in 2003, leading to St. Andrew’s being formed and forcing us to look for fellowship outside the Episcopal Church. Three major failures and here we are!! Each of those failures was heartbreaking at the time, but the Lord had His plan for us. Blows me away when I really think about it…!! GLORY!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 15:36-16:5

Back to Acts! I’ve always been troubled by Paul and Barnabas separating over the issue of John Mark going along. But you may recall that Barnabas was John Mark’s cousin (Colossians 4:10, translated as uncle only in the KJV), so family ties would have prompted Barnabas to have Mark along. And as I ponder this further, I always remember Barnabas as an encourager; even his name translates as the “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). So I see that Barnabas wants John Mark to go along as an encouragement to this young missionary. But Paul is adamant against him going along and they separate. But in fact, even as our Men’s Group split into a Versailles group and a Keene group and each group added new members, so Paul and Barnabas going different directions meant a doubling of missionary activity. So, not all bad…

And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (v. 41) Syria is the region where the major city Antioch was located, inland from the east-northeast coast of the Mediterranean sea. Cilicia is the region where Tarsus (Paul’s hometown) was located, on the north-northeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Paul and Silas walked through these regions on their way to the cities in Asia Minor that Paul had visited on his first missionary journey. The verse cited above mentions them strengthening the churches along the way, but we have no mention of any of Paul’s earlier missionary activities in Syria and Cilicia. Still, it could have been other missionaries or Paul on his own missionary activity. It’s interesting that Paul and Silas likely traveled to and through Tarsus on their way to Derbe and Lystra, but there is no mention of Paul’s hometown in this passage.

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. (v. 3) I imagine you wonder, along with me, as to why Paul had Timothy circumcised when the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) said there was no need for Gentiles to be circumcised. But Timothy’s parents were Jewish and Greek, so he did not fall fully into either camp. My Study Bible suggested that it was for the sake of expediency, so that Paul’s work among the many Jews in that region would be more effective.

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. (v. 4) There has been a lot of discussion among Bible scholars as to when the Jerusalem Council met. I won’t go into all that, but it seems clear from this verse that the Council met sometime between Paul’s first and second missionary journeys. If Paul is bringing the decisions of the Council to these cities, there is a clear suggestion that he had not had those decisions the first time he visited these cities. Small point…

It’s nice to be back in Acts!!

Slava Bohu!

James 5:12-20

So today we finish James. It’s been a good ten days!

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him… (vv. 13-14) How fitting are James’ words for the current time in which we live! There are probably a number of people in our church who are “suffering” to some degree, maybe laid off from work or frustrated being homebound. I don’t know of anyone sick. And I hope that most of you are cheerful. Whatever our situations, our elders are taking James’ words to heart. Our church leadership team has taken it upon themselves to check on everyone in our congregation. They have divided up our church directory, everyone they can think of, and are making phone calls at least once a week checking up on our corporate welfare. They’ve got a series of questions to ask to guide their conversations and, at a minimum, will be praying for our welfare. So if you haven’t already, you’ll soon be getting a phone call. And if you don’t get a call by the end of this week, let me know and I’ll check up on it for you.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (v. 16) I’ve been attending our 12-Step group, Freedom Road for the past two years. AA seems to have taken James to heart. They are big on confession, with mentoring. They would maintain that it is difficult for an alcoholic to go “cold turkey” without someone to walk alongside, encouraging them as they go. And no, their success rate is far short of 100%, but their program seems to work better than anything else out there. A first cousin to this confession and mentoring that we emphasize in many of our small groups is accountability – again, a one-to-one or one-to-a-group responsibility that a person places on himself or herself to stay on a right path, for whatever issue has been troubling them. It’s a good model to follow. I would hope that each of you is accountable at some level to another person or to a larger group. It’s a good discipline to own.

Slava Bohu!

James 5:1-11

Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged… (v. 9) The word “grumble” is also translated “complain” in the NASB and the NKJV. I had never noticed this before, that our grumbling/complaining against one another will be held against us, will be judged. I think James is speaking specifically about grumbling/complaining “within the body” – wherein lies that judgment. So does that free us up to grumble and complain “outside the body”? No judgment there…? Maybe, maybe not… But what gain is there for us to grumble and complain about anything, inside or outside “the body”? James suggests patience instead of grumbling and complaining. In fact, he mentions patience in three verses – vv. 7, 8, 10. I think he is trying to make a point!

James distinguishes between patience and endurance (v. 11). Yes, there is a difference! My Study Bible makes the point that Job endured, but he was certainly not patient! Paul lists patience as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), so we have it as a praiseworthy virtue. But endurance (also translated perseverance and steadfastness) is also highly regarded. One source I found online lists ten occurrences in the Epistles where the writer encourages endurance (https://walkinlove.com/blogs/walk-in-love/10-bible-verses-about-endurance). In fact, you may recall that James begins this Epistle with a call for endurance (James 1:2-4). So, it looks like we may get a pass if we are a bit impatient – so long as we endure those difficulties set before us. Just kidding. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. Seek it.

Slava Bohu!

James 4:11-17

Today’s topics: Judging, boasting, “profiteering” (v. 13, “…spend a year…trade…profit…”)… Judging and boasting are fairly clear to us, I think. But this “profiteering” item made me wonder what James meant by that. I think it’s more than simply being an entrepreneur. I think it’s going off on our own, making our own plans, seeking an advantageous situation in “this world” (possibly at the expense of others?), and not seeking the Holy Spirit as to where we should go or what we should do. We admire the entrepreneurial spirit here in the USA and, fundamentally, it’s what leads our economy. But there are right and wrong ways to be entrepreneurial. Taking advantage of others’ misfortunes is wrong. But serving society as one moves forward is quite another. I have three cases in mind – Todd, our daughter Rachel, and our son-in-law Junior.

Todd has his own financial services business. He’s had this business all along, but only as an aside; he was working full time for the state until the change in governors left him without a job. So now his business is full time self-employment. I expect Todd to be market-oriented in how he charges for his services, but I also know that he will be fair and that he will work hard for his clients to do the best he can for them. He has already sent a note to everyone that we have listed in our church directory advising them of tax implications of this current Covid-19 situation. He is performing a service that people need; he is an entrepreneur, but not a profiteer!

Rachel owns her own flower shop – now six years successful. She loves what she does and her clients love her work. Much of her revenue comes from weddings, and she is always concerned to offer brides (and their mothers!) the most beauty and the best value that she can find for them. She also has funerals and again is concerned to suggest the proper arrangement in keeping with the somber tone for some or the resurrection theme for others. She also gets orders for flower arrangements for birthdays, anniversaries, and general occasions, again offering her clients the most beauty for the best value. Finally, she has hired a part-time worker, Grace who will be full-time in a few weeks when Rachel delivers our first granddaughter. And with this Covid-19 situation, Rachel is committed to keeping Grace employed so she does not lose her only income. Again, like Todd, Rachel is performing a service that people need; she is an entrepreneur, but not a profiteer!

Finally, Junior wants to start his own business. He currently has a full-time position, but truthfully at a lower wage than his abilities warrant. Junior is a repair person – he repairs appliances, computers, cell phones, televisions, flat screens, whatever. In our throw-away society, many (most?) of us simply buy new equipment when our old stuff fails. However, not everyone can afford this throw-away lifestyle; repairs are cheaper than new equipment and this is the client body that Junior hopes to serve. He will profit, but not excessively so. A large part of his motivation to own his own business is to let our daughter, Nancy, quit her high-stress job and become a stay-at-home mom. So he is now self-employed, part-time, and waiting for a time, like Todd, when he can afford to go out on his own.

Most of us are not profiteers – but there’s more than just our finances. We might be profiteers in some other sense – maybe working on our own efforts and not giving the Lord our most beautiful selves to HIS service and not trusting Him for the value that only He can give. If we’re to profit from knowing our Lord, let’s trust Him to invest us in His most profitable venture and serve Him to the best of the abilities that He has given us. His resources, His grace, His working through us…! GLORY!

Slava Bohu!

James 4:1-10

The ESV titles today’s reading, “Warning Against Worldliness”. With that in mind, verse 5b struck me when I read it in the NKJV: The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously. This verse is translated very differently in the ESV and the NASB. Not knowing which is the more correct, I liked the sense in which the NKJV pitches this verse – that the Holy Spirit within us is jealous of our affections for the world around us! James follows that thought up with an uplifting verse, But He gives more grace. (v. 6a) If the Holy Spirit within us is jealous for our love, God grants us more grace so that we might have a greater sense of the Holy Spirit within us and yearn more for Him. It’s hard for me to imagine God jealous for my love!

My Study Bible guided me a bit on verses 8-10, herein edited to highlight the commands: Draw near to God … Cleanse your hands … purify your heart … Be wretched and mourn and weep … Let your laughter be turned to mourning… Humble yourselves before the Lord. Pull all these commands together and it becomes a serious call to repentance! If the world is our lover, we need to repent.

Slava Bohu!

James 3:13-18

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. (v. 14) As I first read this verse I immediately thought of politicians (across the board, some more than others) boasting about their accomplishments and either outright lying or stretching the truth or cherry-picking data to show the results they want us to see. I don’t know about the jealousy part, but clearly selfish ambition (reelection, personal advancement) contribute to their boasting and lying.

Then I let James’ words come a little closer to my own life – more personal. Again, I’m not sure about the jealousy; I’m too blessed in so many ways that I don’t see envy as a problem for me. But the selfish ambition – the NKJV translation says “self-seeking” – too true for me! And boasting… Way long time a problem for me and still a problem today. Years ago when I was a graduate student the leader of our Bible Study, a dear friend, counseled me about “tooting my own horn”. That pattern goes back to my childhood; there was clearly some personal motivation that kick-started it, but boasting and conceit were serious problems that finally began to diminish when I came to the Lord – but even then, I spent many years in the Lord before I began to see the Holy Spirit working in me to deal with those problems. Even today those issues remain, with my still wanting to be noticed for my accomplishments, for anything good that I have done. I am too fond of “the praise of men” (John 12:43). I battle constantly with my need for approval by others, even though it should be enough that the Lord loves me…!!

Verse 17b, here edited, offers an interesting list of traits in believers who seek “wisdom from above”: …pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, merciful, fruitful, impartial, sincere. Many of us have memorized Paul’s fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23); I’ve never heard James’ list cited, but it certainly is worthy! Makes me (and you?) want to seek more of that “wisdom from above”…!!

Slava Bohu!