There is so much to digest in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus sets the standard of living in all aspects of life and slowly combats the legalistic Jewish culture of his time. Our Messiah makes us aware that His Father can see through our actions, straight to the root, or better yet, the heart of our motivation; this is truly convicting. What may look like altruism or mercy from the outside may, in fact, be manipulation and control in the mind. Out of all the qualities in the Beatitudes, it may be most rare to find someone who is pure of heart.
In Genesis 5, the great-great-great-great-grandson of Adam, Enoch, is given more than the standard father/age line. It states that Enoch walked faithfully with God and then God took him away. Many times the discussion around Enoch prioritizes “Where did he go?” The more important discussion is “How was he so faithful in his walk with God?” I don’t really have an answer to either question, but I will make an inference about the latter based upon the promise within the Beatitudes. Enoch faithfully walked with God because he was pure of heart and he has seen or will see God (Hebrews 11:5-6,39-40).
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” – Psalm 51:10-12
To gain further insight into what exactly is a pure heart, we can ironically turn to David at the moment he felt the most disconnected from the Almighty. David had accomplished so much in the name of the God of Israel. Fighting a giant in faith, leading Israel into battle, giving mercy to God’s anointed, becoming king of the chosen people, and writing a myriad of worship songs in honor of the Lord, yet, in his most impure moments, he had committed adultery, was responsible for a cold-blooded death of a man, and was delivered a bleak message by God through His prophet, Nathan. In reflection, David indirectly states that a pure heart is steadfast, focused on the joy that comes from God, and is in tune with the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, David is restored through repentance and the mercies of God and is still considered a man after God’s own heart, the purest of them all.
So what exactly does it take for each one of us to be pure of heart? First, we must be motivated by and steadfast in the love of God. If we are motivated for the glory it will bring to ourselves or in the indulgences of our flesh, we will never be satisfied. There are not enough likes or followers to replace the unconditional attention of your Heavenly Father. Next, we must be joyful in all seasons. When we become motivated by God, we are no longer victims of circumstance but part of God’s salvation plan. Our pressings and persecutions become opportunities to share our promise. Finally, purity is finding and following God’s will through receiving and responding to His Holy Spirit. Let His power lead your feet and the Gospel message . By remaining pure of heart, walking with God, we will see God move and experience the fullness of Him and live with the hope that our faith will be made sight, seeing Him face to face.
-Aaron Winner
Reflection Questions
What grade would you give your heart’s purity (or lack thereof)? For you personally, what motivations, behaviors, attitudes get in the way of having a pure heart? In what ways can you work towards a more pure heart?
How would you describe each of the other Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12 – and the reward for each?
Why do you think Jesus started his sermon this way?
The most formidable opponent to our righteousness is the person reflected in the image of a mirror. Being solely tempted is not sin in itself, but it means that we will soon enter the ring or octagon for a fight. The attack will come at the points where we are weakest. Our pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, or laziness are soon exposed and without the proper guidance by the words of God, we will soon leave ourselves fully exposed to a finishing move. No matter where the dragging and enticing draw from, submission to temptation to serve ourselves rather than submitting to our Heavenly Father’s will, leads down the slippery slope away from the Kingdom of God.
“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” – James 1:13-15
“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” – Genesis 4:7
We see this pattern unfold in Genesis 4 when Cain is issued a warning directly by God to stop jealousy in its path. God states that “sin is lurking at the door.” By giving temptation a place to live, Cain and each one of us are inviting sin to be the next resident. What started as an unchecked emotion, turned into temptation, which led Cain to selfishly taking the life of his brother. Temptation must be addressed and combatted, otherwise we will find ourselves on a path, either through deliberate action or indecision, that leads us far away from the Will of God.
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let’s hold firmly to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need.” – Hebrews 4:14-16
Jesus, as always, provides our example of dealing with temptation because he was tested in every measure. Specifically in Matthew 4, Jesus is tested in the desires of his flesh, the integrity of his faith, and his pride. Jesus meets each one of these temptations head on, attacking them with words of his Father. In doing this, he removes himself from temptation by placing himself closer to God Almighty. By remaining perfect and being raised to life, He now sits at the right hand of God understanding our struggles and weakness. Christ intercedes on our behalf and beckons us to remember that we have the advantage that Cain did not: we do not have to go through it alone.
The Apostle Peter is no stranger to succumbing , and in all reality, he is the disciple with whom we most identify. His advice to those scattered about Asia Minor in his first letter is to remain watchful and alert for the threat that may approach us. He likens our Adversary to a lion, crouching in the savannah, waiting for our guard to be down and becoming the next prey devoured. We have to be ready for the attack, by remaining sober-minded even in the duress of physical, spiritual, or mental stress. We do this best by filling our hearts with the words of God and repeating them time and again, so temptation is at bay, and when it comes, like Jesus, we are ready to strike it down with the Sword of the Spirit.
-Aaron Winner
Reflection Questions
There is a lot to think about in the following sentence: “Temptation must be addressed and combatted, otherwise we will find ourselves on a path, either through deliberate action or indecision, that leads us far away from the Will of God.” What examples can you think of from your own life?
What temptations do you need to address now?
With what 3-5 specific ways can you combat this temptation?
What roles can God’s Word and God’s Son play in your spiritual battle against sin?
The SeekGrowLove Bible Reading plan is ready for 2024! Join with us as we read through the Bible in a year – with three readings every day:
Old Testament – 1-3 chapters a day, with the books of the prophets chronologically arranged amongst the books of history (with thanks to Bob Jones for his help setting that up)
Poetry – reading Job through Song of Solomon, usually one chapter a day, but often repeating a Psalm two to seven days in a row to really get to know it more
New Testament – often reading one chapter a day, but sometimes slowing down to read a shorter passage or even one single verse a day (for instance for Jesus’ parables, fruit of the spirit, armor of God, churches of Revelation, etc…)
If you haven’t yet, visit SeekGrowLove.com to find daily devotions and reflection questions based on the Bible readings . You can also subscribe to receive the daily devotions in your email every morning.
Have you ever been a witness and had to testify in court? I have. I once witnessed a crime while I was on vacation at the beach. I was called to come back and testify at the trial. I didn’t mind, it was a free trip back to the beach.
There are different kinds of witnesses. If you ever watch television shows that feature courtrooms like Law and Order or CSI you know that different people are called to witness different things. You can have a character witness who tells about the defendant as a person. You can have forensic witnesses to talk about evidence. Maybe the most important is the eye-witness, who talks about what they saw with their own eyes. If you get two or three eye-witnesses who testify the same thing, there’s a good chance the defendant will be found guilty.
In today’s reading from Acts, we get a small glimpse of what Jesus was up to during the first 40 days after he was raised from the dead. He went around showing his disciples that he was still alive. Luke, who wrote Acts, says that Jesus gave “many convincing proofs” that he was alive.
Most of my adult children live a good distance from me, in another state, and one lives in another country. If I haven’t heard from one of them for a while I will text them and ask for “proof of life” which means- “send me a text, call or Facetime with me so I know you’re doing okay.” Fun fact: Dads are happier when they can see proof that their kids are okay (even if their kids are in their 20’s and 30’s and have kids of their own.). A phone call, text, or Facetime is pretty low level proof of life, but I doubt that anyone is kidnapping my kids and doing a deepfake proof of life. If I can see their face or hear their voice, I’m good.
For the disciples in the first century, they had proof of life right in front of them. Jesus was there, in his newly resurrected body, still bearing the scars from his crucifixion. They were eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus. But it wasn’t enough for them to just see for themselves that Jesus was risen, he told them that they had an important mission. They were to be his witnesses. They were to take the story of his life, teaching and resurrection to the whole world. And they did. That is why, 2000 years later there are people all over the world who follow Jesus Christ.
The disciples also witnessed Jesus ascend up from the earth through the clouds to heaven where he now sits at the right hand of God. As they were eyewitnesses to Jesus ascending, they also witnessed the angels who assured them that Jesus would return in the same way that he left, visibly, in the clouds. For 2000 years the church has kept alive this testimony from the eyewitnesses: Jesus died on the cross for our sins, God raised Jesus from the dead and many people saw him in his risen body, Jesus ascended to heaven and we heard the promise that he would one day return in the same way. Each generation of Jesus’ followers have kept this message alive and spread it. Now you have received it, it’s up to you and your generation to continue keeping this eye witness testimony alive, until Jesus returns.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
If you were called up as a character witness for Jesus how would you describe him? What do you know about Jesus as a person?
If you were called up as a forensic witness testifying to the evidence of Jesus what would you say? What convincing proofs do you have that Jesus is alive?
If you were called up as an eye-witness for what Jesus has done for you what would you say? How is your life different because of Jesus?
Who needs to know what you know about Jesus, about the evidence surrounding his life, death, resurrection, ascension and coming return, and about how you have experienced Jesus and what he has done for you? How will you share?
It feels funny to be talking about Jesus’ death and resurrection during Christmas week. Sunday we were expecting a baby to be born, Monday the angels were singing to the shepherds announcing his birth. Here it is Friday and he has already been crucified and his cold, dead body lies in a tomb. It is kind of jarring to go from celebrating a baby born to be king to suddenly mourning his death.
Life is often experienced as a kind of emotional roller coaster. Something great happens, and you are laughing and joyful. Then, suddenly you are hit with bad news and the laughter turns to tears. The events we have been reading about took place over 30+ years from the time Gabriel first appeared to Mary with the announcement that she had been chosen by God to bear his son, the Messiah until she stood at the foot of his cross and watched him die. As you may recall, there was death surrounding Jesus right from the beginning, as King Herod was trying to kill him when he was a baby, when the little innocent baby boys of Bethlehem were slaughtered. Jesus warned in John 10:10 that “the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy”. Right from the beginning evil was out to destroy Jesus. It took 30 years, but finally Jesus was dead. The rejoicing has turned to weeping.
The good news of the Gospels is that death doesn’t have the final word. Evil doesn’t win. God wins! At the Last Supper just before Jesus was arrested he laid out for his disciples what was about to happen:
16 Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. (John 16:16-20).
This brings us to today’s reading in John 20. As we saw yesterday, Jesus was unjustly killed for political reasons. The principalities and powers tried to buttress their own power and control and they saw Jesus as a threat, so they had him unjustly killed. However, it takes more than the death of his son to thwart God’s plan. As it turned out, the powers who orchestrated Jesus’ death played right into God’s plan that goes back to the very beginning. That’s right, since the time of Adam and Eve and the Fall, God’s plan to defeat evil included the sacrificial death of the one who would be the son of God and Messianic King. Revelation 13:8 speaks of the “lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.” Before Jesus ruled as King, he first had to die as sacrifice, as savior, as redeemer. He died to bear our sins as Isaiah 53 prophesied would one day happen.
God raised Jesus from the dead. Death did not have the final word, God has the final word and it is life. Along with life, Jesus offers the gift of forgiveness. When you believe that Jesus died and was raised to life and give your loyalty to him as your king, you will share in that blessing Jesus promised. Your sins will be forgiven and you will have your fellowship with God restored. The result of this restored fellowship is peace, the peace that only Jesus can give.
Jesus points out to the disciples that they came to believe in him by seeing him in person after the resurrection. Thomas even had the benefit of physically touching Jesus’ scars to help him accept the truth of the resurrection. Jesus points to those who will believe in him without the benefit of having seen him after his resurrection. Those who have faith in the message of the gospel passed down for 2000 years in the Bible from the first eyewitnesses to the risen Jesus. The good news is, that is you, if you believe that God raised Jesus from death to life, you receive the blessing Jesus promised. I hope you believe, I know I do.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
What do you love about God and His plan as revealed in John 20? What questions do you have about God and His plan and Jesus’ part in that plan?
What has Jesus offered to you? Have you accepted these gifts? Why or why not?
What is the next step in God’s plan and what is your role in it?
I love baseball.(If you don’t please hang in there, you’ll still see the value in this illustration) I used to play baseball all the time when I was a child. I went to my first professional baseball game with my Dad when I was just 5 years old- the Seattle Pilots were playing the Washington Senators. (Fun fact, neither of those teams exist anymore and if you do some detective work you can figure out what year this was as the Seattle Pilots only existed for 1 season). I say this because today is the 2023 baseball All-Star game.
When I first discovered baseball, the Washington Senators were the closest team to my Virginia home and my Dad brought me to several games. So I became a Senators fan. But then disaster struck and the unthinkable happened, the owner of the Senators moved the whole team away from Washington to Texas. No more Senators. What would I do with my baseball loyalty? The next closest team was the Baltimore Orioles so we began going to Orioles games and I became a big Orioles fan. This was easy to do because in the 1970’s the Orioles were the best team in baseball. They were in 4 World Series from 1969-1979 and had some of the best players in baseball. They were fun to watch and they won a lot.
Time went on. I moved away from home to attend college and got busy, got married, had children, and moved overseas for a while, I still watched baseball but didn’t have a lot of time to be a fan or follow my team closely or go to many games. During this time the Orioles sadly went from being one of the best teams to one of the worst. They became harder to get excited about. My Orioles fandom began to waiver. Then, a miracle happened. The Montreal Expos moved to Washington DC and became the Washington Nationals. After more than 30 years, DC had a baseball team again. Not long after, I moved back to Virginia to pastor a church and work as a hospital chaplain. Now there were 2 baseball teams nearby, the Nationals and the Orioles and I could watch both games on local tv. I began to follow both. The Nationals kept getting better and better, the Orioles kept getting worse. So by the late 2010’s I was pretty much a Nationals fan and looked upon the Orioles with pity. And then the Nationals had their miracle season and won the World Series in 2019. Life was truly great! And then Covid happened. Even baseball got canceled for most of 2020. After the Covid shortened year the Nationals franchise collapsed and they got rid of all their great players like Max Scherzer and Juan Soto. Meanwhile, the Orioles went through a rebuild and suddenly they were a really good team again, the tables were turned and they were fun to watch while the Nationals were the team to be pitied. As of now, I find myself watching more Orioles games than Nationals. I’m still a Nationals fan, but very half-hearted on most days.
Sorry, that’s a long set up and if you’re not a baseball fan, thank you for hanging in there with me. The point is that my baseball loyalty has gone through periods of waxing and waning, with shifting loyalties. When you have no options, you have to stay with your team through thick and thin, the good times and bad times. (I know some of you are football fans who follow the Lions or the Browns so you’ve had to stay loyal to terrible teams for 50 years… good for you). When you have options- Orioles and Nationals, the temptation is greater to pay more attention to the winner, the more successful team.
What does this have to do with today’s readings? 1 Timothy 4:1 says: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith…”. Paul is here warning Timothy that even as followers of Jesus, there is the danger of letting go of our allegiance to Jesus Christ as our Lord. This rarely happens in an instant. Just like with my baseball fandom, where I slowly, gradually shifted my loyalty from the Orioles to the Nationals, it didn’t happen instantly. It was a process that I didn’t really even notice happening, but little by little I found myself caring less about my fan commitment to one team and more to another. Now, in the big picture, baseball doesn’t matter and it makes little difference to my life if I’m an Orioles fan or a Nationals fan (but if I ever cheer for the Yankees, put me in a home because I’ve lost my mind.)
But the danger of losing our loyalty to God our Father and Jesus Christ our savior and the Kingdom of God as being first in our hearts has eternal consequences. I’ve been around long enough to see Paul’s warnings to Timothy actually happen to people I know. I’ve seen students who attended FUEL faithfully, know their Bible, do Bible quizzing, and excel at their knowledge of the scriptures abandon their faith. I’ve even known people who served as leaders of the church, even a few pastors who went from preaching and teaching God’s word every week to walking away from their faith in Jesus Christ.
Sadly, I’ve experienced it even in my own family, people who I love the most, reject the faith of God’s Word. For most, this didn’t happen overnight. A thousand little decisions over time happened until one day they realized that they no longer loved or followed or even believed in God or God’s word or Jesus’ way. Maybe it was making moral compromises and they could no longer sustain the cognitive dissonance of saying one thing but doing another. Maybe it was adopting a worldly ideology of the meaning of persons or identity and finding it incompatible with God’s word and then choosing to reject God’s word instead of their worldly ideology. Maybe it was because they grew bored with God and became captivated by the shining idols of the world.
The Fastest growing religious segment in the United States over the past 20 years is the “Nones”. People who say they have no religious loyalty or affiliation. This is heartbreaking.
Paul warned that people would abandon the faith in large numbers. We see it happening today. I don’t want it to happen to you or any of the people I care about.
Here are a few suggestions I would offer to help you avoid joining the ranks of those who are abandoning the faith.
Remember, no one is immune: “So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall.” -1 Corinthians 10:12. Never assume that “it could never happen to me.” It can happen to anyone.
“Fix your eyes on Jesus”. Hebrews 12:2. Jesus started his ministry with the words “Follow Me”. Later he said, “I am the way”. If you want to get where you want to go, you need to keep your eyes steady on the one who knows the way and how to get there, Jesus.
“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11. Pay attention to the examples of how it happened in Israel. Remember all these Old Testament passages we are reading, including this week’s stories in 2 Chronicles of how even good people like King Jehoshaphat can make compromises that lead them and their people away from God. Read the Bible and learn from their examples of what NOT to do to stay faithful.
Don’t give up on going to Church. “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25. The church is not perfect, I get it. Christians aren’t perfect, I get it. Sermons can be boring at times, I get it. Other options for how we spend our time on the weekends can be very attractive, I get it. But don’t give up on Church. Don’t give up meeting with other believers. We need others to help us stay faithful to God and not abandon our faith.
Don’t adjust your faith and beliefs to accommodate the values of the world. “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4. As the world is moving further away from a Biblical worldview and God honoring teachings we cannot follow the world, because the world will move us away from loyalty and faithfulness to God.
Who will get my ultimate loyalty, the Nationals or the Orioles? Who cares? In the scope of eternity it doesn’t matter. Who will get YOUR ultimate loyalty, Jesus Christ or The World? That matters more that ANYTHING. Don’t abandon your faith.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
Why do you think, especially among people under 30, so many are abandoning their faith?
What is the biggest temptation/danger area in your life that could lead you toward abandoning your faith?
What positive steps will you begin to take TODAY to make sure that you continue to follow Jesus faithfully?
Acts 15 is a chapter of disagreements. Our first disagreement comes within the larger church and is about the rules for Gentiles regarding circumcision. Some of the church had been instructing new Gentiles to be circumcised and debate arose amongst the apostles and elders. Paul, Peter and James all make statements that are recorded in this chapter.
I’m going to bring up a couple of highlights from this chapter that may or may not be related. In verse 8 the marker that Peter uses that Gentiles are now welcome to the family of God is that the Gentiles recieved the Holy Spirit, the same way that the Jews did. The Holy Spirit being a marker for Gentiles is a significant statement about how critical the Holy Spirit is to Christianity. This statement shows that the apostles had a high view of the Holy Spirit.
At McGintytown we are currently revising our constitution. If any of you have been a part of one of these committees you know how much work it is. One of the questions that gets brought up is how much power should each individual person or group have over the church. Acts 15 is an interesting case study of this because of the scope of the decision being made. The decision the apostles and elders are making for Gentiles is going to affect ALL Gentiles. The apostles and elders are representing God for his people.
In verse 28 we have the reason provided for this decision. The apostles told the Gentiles that it seemed good to them and the Holy Spirit. If I were them I would want some sort of lighting bolt or some Gideon like signs or maybe having God rewind time like he did for Hezekiah. The apostles and elders feel good imposing only four rules on the Gentiles.
How could the apostles be so confident that they were doing what God wants? In Dallas Willard’s Hearing God he presents the idea that the same way that you may know what a friend or spouse or boss would want done in a situation, that as we progress in our spiritual lives, that we should know what God wants. This is why having a daily progressing relationship with God is so important. It is impossible to know what God would want if we don’t know God. This doesn’t mean God won’t continue to speak to us, it just means that we don’t need to be paralyzed by decisions. That is as long as you feel you know what God would want.
We encounter situations that the Bible doesn’t necessarily give us a direct command about. As long as we are spending time with God and have a sense of where he is leading us we don’t need to wait for some miraculous sign to make a decision. Being led by the spirit doesn’t mean having to pray what cereal to eat, what route to take to work or how to handle work decisions. We can lean in to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and proceed.
-Daniel Wall
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
In this chapter, what can we learn about handling disagreements that arise in the church? Consider how they handled the question of circumcision as well as the debate over John also called Mark.
How do you tend to handle disagreements? What can you put into practice next time?
Would you consider yourself more Spirit led, or self led? What’s the difference? When making decisions and living your life, how important is it to you to be doing what God wants? How do you work at knowing what He wants?
After the events of the day of Pentecost, the healing of the lame man, and the great response of multitudes in Jerusalem, the church faced life in the world of that day. A world of darkness, and difficulty. And yet met it with a flowing out of the life of Jesus Christ. This is ideal Christianity, true, genuine Christianity. Unfortunately, there is also a counterfeit Christianity. It came in shortly after this in the early church, and evidence of it will be seen throughout the book of Acts. Wherever the true church has gone throughout the world, counterfeit Christianity has gone right along with it. How can you tell true Christianity from counterfeit?
Counterfeit Christianity can be recognized externally as a kind of religious club where people, largely of the same social status or class, and bound together by a mutual interest in some religious project or program, meet to advance that particular cause. That is part of Christianity and let’s face it every group that gets together. But that is a far cry from all that true Christianity is. True fellowship consists of individuals who share the same divine life, who are made up of all ages, backgrounds, classes, and status-levels of society, and who, when meeting together, regard themselves as what they really are, brothers and sisters in one family. With that mutual background of love and fellowship they manifest the life of Jesus Christ.
That is what we have here. The key idea is community, commonness, everything in common. They were of one heart and mind. Here were people who, by the Holy Spirit, had been united into one life. They were of one heart. At the very deepest level of their lives they belonged to each other, and that is only possible by means of the Holy Spirit. They did not need to have met someone before to recognize that if he or she is a believer they belong to each other, they are of the same family and they always have the most important thing in common. This was true of these people.
Not only did they have it, but it also manifested itself in the fact that everyone had a new attitude toward the material life. This is not a forced distribution of goods. It is not an attempt to make everyone give up their material things and redistribute them to others. No, it is a change of attitude, saying, nothing that I possess is mine, but everything that I possess is God’s, and therefore it is available to anyone who needs it. So here were these early Christians, one in heart and mind and body, united together. That is the church as it ought to be.
-Andy Cisneros
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Don’t point the finger at others – but look at yourself. How authentic, true and genuine is your Christianity? Are there any areas where you slip into a counterfeit Christianity? What would the fix be?
How will you practice unity of the church body this week? And next week?
What do you “possess” that is God’s? (Hint: it should be a pretty long list – but go for it – no one word answers here.). How can you show that these belong to God and make them available to anyone in need?
The first few verses of chapter one constitutes an introduction to the book of Acts, giving us the key to the book. Here we have revealed the essential strategy by which Jesus Christ proposes to change the world, a strategy which is the secret of the character of the church when it is operating as it was intended to operate. I strongly suspect that most Christians suffer from a terrible inferiority complex when we confront the world around us. We have bought the idea of many around that the church is quite irrelevant, an archaic group that is irrelevant today. That view is false. The church is the most important body in the world today because whatever happens in the world happens because of something that is, or is not, happening in the church.
Now, in his first statement here, Luke gives us the great strategy by which the Lord works among mankind. He says, “In my former book…I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach… ” The Gospel of Luke is the record of the Son of God. Jesus, the man, came to begin something, to do and to teach, and the record of that beginning is in the Gospels. But this second book is the continuation of what Jesus began to do. In a very real sense, Acts is not the acts of believers, but the continuing acts of Jesus. It is an account of what Jesus continues to do and to teach. In the Gospels he did it in his physical body of flesh. In the book of Acts he is doing it through the bodies of men and women who are followers of him and endowed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Whenever God wants to get a message across to men, he does not simply send someone to announce it; his final way of driving it home is to express the message in flesh and blood. He takes a life and aims it in a certain direction and, by the manifestation of his own life through the blood and flesh of a human being, he makes clear what he has to say. That is the strategy of the book of Acts. It is the record of followers of Christ endowed in the Holy Spirit; men and women, owned by him, and thus manifesting his life. That is the secret of authentic Christianity. Anytime you find a Christianity that is not doing that, it is false Christianity. No matter how much it may adapt the garb and language of Christianity, if it is not the activity of human beings possessed and indwelt by the life of Jesus Christ it is not authentic Christianity. That is the true power of the church, as we shall see in this book.
The book of Acts therefore is an unfinished book. It is not finished but is still being written. The book abruptly closes with an account of Paul in the city of Rome, living in his own hired house. It just ends there as though you might turn over the next page and begin the next adventure. What is your act?
-Andy Cisneros
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
What is your act?
How would you rate yourself as a follower of Christ? What role does the Holy Spirit have in your life?
Looking at Acts 1 what do you find the disciples of Jesus doing? What is their mission? What is their hope? Is this an appealing group to be a part of? Explain.
In Jeremiah 27 & 28 we have a meeting of two prophets. It’s kind of like Good Prophet/Bad Prophet. One prophet, Jeremiah, was sent by God to warn the children of Judah that if they continue along the path they are on, things will not go well with them. In fact, it says that the Lord tells them in chapter 27:5 “I have made the earth, mankind, and the animals which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. And now I have handed all these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have also given him the animals of the field to serve him.” They have had years to make a decision to change and they didn’t so now it’s time to pay the piper. Jeremiah also tells them that the vessels in the temple will be taken away to Babylon and they will remain there until God brings them back. Verse 22 says “They will be brought to Babylon and will be there until the day I visit them,” declares the Lord. “Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.” Now to be clear, Jeremiah is not just making up prophecies on his own. He just tells the people what God has told him to say.
At the same time that Jeremiah is explaining what is going to take place, a false prophet, Hananiah, arises. He is telling them things that are more pleasant for the people to hear. They do not have to change their evil ways, and they do not have to worry because God will not allow the Babylonians to take over and cart off their important vessels. So, Jeremiah and Hananiah have words and Jeremiah tells the people that they will know which prophet was sent from God by what happens.
Then there is a showdown in chapter 28: 15 & 16 “Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah: the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you spoke falsely against the Lord.’” Hananiah died in the seventh month of that year. God has a way of dealing with people who try to go against his Word and plans. They do not prosper. And in the end everything that Jeremiah prophesied happened.
Hebrews 5 ties in so well because the writer of Hebrews is writing to the early Christians and explaining how much better they have it now and how Christianity is better than Judaism in so many ways. He explains that the priests were called by God back in the day, and Jesus was also called by God. Hebrews 5:4-5 “And no one takes the honor for himself, but receives it when he is called by God, just as Aaron also was. So too, Christ did not glorify Himself in becoming a high priest, but it was He who said to Him, ‘You are My Son, Today I have fathered You.'” Jesus did not choose to be the Son of God, he did not ask for this job, in fact, Jesus prayed for God to deliver him from death but he obeyed the will of God and died on the cross. He lived a perfect life so that he could be our sacrifice and we can be forgiven for our sins. And those who accept and follow Jesus will receive eternal life.
Just like those listening to Jeremiah, the early Christians and us today, we become dull of hearing. Hebrews 5:14 sums it all up for us. “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.” We need to constantly be aware that there is good and evil in the world, and we have to practice distinguishing between the two. It may not be popular and what the world wants to hear but as Paul said in Acts, “we have to obey God and not man.”
-Sherry Alcumbrack
Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway.com here – Jeremiah 27 & 28 and Hebrews 5
Seek Grow Love 