So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. (Acts 12:5) In Acts 12, Herod goes on a rampage and kills James and then proceeds to arrest Peter. How Peter is able to escape from prison is truly an amazing story. In summary, while he is sleeping between two soldiers, suddenly an angel appears who “struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the chains fell off his hands.” What a rude way to be awakened. But then we are told that the angel simply leads him past the sleeping guards, opening the gates ahead of him, and then leads him out into the city street and leaves him there. What so often gets overlooked in this amazing story is a little phrase in v.5—"but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.” And then we are told in v.12 that immediately after the angel sets him free from prison, he went to the house of Mary “where many were gathered together and were praying.” Amazing things happen when God’s people come together in one place and pray. Yet often I have been disappointed by the very few who show up to prayer meetings. ‘If there is going to be some amazing Bible teacher, great!’ ‘If there is going to be coffee and donuts, I’ll be there!’ ‘If all we are going to do is pray, no thanks; I’ll skip that.’ I was once invited by a friend to attend a prayer meeting held at his rather large church every week. Four people showed up. I was one of the four, and I was not even a member. It is sad how often Christians say we believe the Bible is the very authoritative word of God, and yet we don’t believe Jesus when he says, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (Jn. 14:13-14). Or, “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you” (Jn. 15:16). Or, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (Jn. 16:23-24). I certainly don’t ascribe to “name-it-and-claim-it” theology, but Jesus’ words must have meaning and weight. Otherwise, why did he say them? I don’t fully understand how prayer works, but I believe it does because Jesus said it does. So the next time you have an opportunity to join together with a group of believers to “just pray”, I hope you will, and then be amazed at what God does.
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In Acts 9 we are given the story of the Saul’s conversion, who becomes Paul the apostle. We are told that he was so full of anger and rage against Christians that he “went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” Essentially, he obtained warrants for the arrest of any Christian he might find. Yet, while on the way to Damascus he is stopped by Christ on the road who says to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he says to Jesus, “Who are you, Lord?” Then Jesus says, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” Later in the same chapter we read that Jesus then speaks to a man named Ananias and tells him to go and lay hands on Paul and pray for him. When Ananias is reluctant because of the rumors he has heard about Paul, God says to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (9:15). What is so amazing about this story is that Paul was not looking for Jesus. Paul was not interested in learning more about Christianity. Yet, God stops him on the Damascus road and essentially says to him, ‘You! You are not only going to place faith in Christ as your Lord and Savior, but you are going to be my apostle to the Gentiles.’ There are multiple lessons we can learn from this event but one that is abundantly clear is that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. This should bring us all great encouragement and comfort as we pray for our friends and family that they might come to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. If you have been praying for the salvation of someone for years, keep praying. Don’t give up. If God can and was willing to save Paul, he can save anyone.
In Acts 10 we are given the story of Peter being given a vision by God of a sheet coming down from heaven with all sorts of unclean animals in it and then a voice from heaven saying to Peter, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” Of course he refuses because, being raised a good Jew, he says in v.14, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” But then the voice responds, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” Often this passage is cited to defend the idea that Christians are no longer forbidden from eating whatever they like. We are no longer bound to the dietary laws of the Old Testament. However, while that is certainly true and there are plenty of passages in the New Testament from which we can make that argument (Mk 7:18-19; Rom 14:6; 1 Cor 8:4), this is not one of them. This is where the rule of interpretation that we should always interpret scripture in light of its immediate context is important to follow. If we keep reading we discover that God spoke to a Gentile named Cornelius and tells him to send men to Joppa to fetch Peter and bring him back so that he might more fully explain to Cornelius the gospel of Jesus Christ (vv.17ff.). Peter, having been raised as a devout Jew, would have had a difficult time entering into the house of a Gentile. This flaw will appear later when Paul has to rebuke Peter for his hypocrisy in Galatians 2:14. Thus, the vision is not so much about dietary laws as it is about racism and prejudice and the fact that regardless of ethnicity or political, economic or social class, when God redeems a person, that person becomes a full member in the covenant community of God. The gospel transcends cultural boundaries and brings people together of every tribe, nation, and tongue.
The story of Gideon laying down a fleece in Judges 6:36-40 is a curious event because Gideon is doing this in order to determine if it is God’s will for him to go up against the Midianites. What makes this story so curious is that God had already clearly told Gideon in 6:14 that he was sending him to deliver Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Yet, back there, Gideon replies by saying, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” In other words, ‘You’ve got the wrong man!’ ‘I can’t possibly do this!’ Then God says to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” Still Gideon wrestles with doubt and a lack of faith in God’s word. Then Gideon lays out a fleece not once but twice in order to be absolutely sure this is what God wanted him to do. As if God were not clear enough when he said to Gideon, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?" Yet, how often do we do the same? How often do we question the word of God, not believing that turning the other cheek when we are insulted or sinned against is really the best approach (Matt 5:38-42), not believing that submitting to one’s husband in “all things” really means that (Eph 5:24), not faithfully tithing because we are not entirely sure that “God will supply all your needs according to his riches and grace” (Phil 4:19). The word of God contained within Holy Scripture is just as clear and authoritative as God speaking directly to Gideon. “All scripture is God-breathed”—the very breath of God (2 Tim 3:16). Scripture is not simply a record of what God has spoken--scripture is God speaking.
In Judges chapter 4, we are given the story of how God calls Deborah and Barak to deliver the people of Israel from the oppression of Jabin king of Canaan, whose commanding general was Sisera. What is so interesting about this story is that Barak gathers an army of 10,000 troops and is able to route Sisera at the battle of Mount Tabor. However, Sisera flees and is able to escape from the battlefield, and while fleeing he comes to the home of a woman named “Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite” (v.17). What is fascinating about this woman is that Judges chapters 4 and 5 are the only places in the entire Bible where this obscure woman is mentioned. Who is she? Where does she come from? There is very little that is known about this woman. Yet, this woman comes to Gen. Sisera and offers to hide him in her tent from Barak. He takes her up on the offer, goes inside her tent, and she covers him with a rug, which all sounds like a great idea to Sisera. But then we are told in v.21 that “Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, 'Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.' So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.” God commands Barak to muster an army of 10,000 troops (v.6) but then kills Sisera by the hand of one obscure little woman. This is, however, God’s typical style. Throughout redemptive history God uses the weakest and smallest and least expected to do great and amazing things. Moses believed he was wholly inadequate for the job God was calling him to (Ex 4:10), Gideon believed the same (Judges 6:15), David was the forgotten son of Jesse (1 Sam 16:11), Isaiah was horribly sinful (Is 6:5), and Jesus was the son of a lowly carpenter, of questionable birth, and from Nazareth of all places. Why does God operate this way? “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27-29). God desires to receive all the glory and praise for everything he does in this world, and he alone is deserving of it. But it is also encouraging to know that if God can use an obscure little woman like Jael to kill a commanding general of an army for his glory and to accomplish his purpose, God and use you and me. In the end, it has been rightly said that God is not as interested in ability as he is in availability.
In 2 Corinthians 5:21 scripture says, “God made him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” What does this mean? To answer that, it is important to understand that the text is not saying Christ became sinful. Christ lived a sinless life and died a sinless sacrifice. This is often the mistake that many Christians make in their understanding of the atonement. I have heard it said that God took our sin and placed it on Christ, that he took our sin upon him. In one sense that is true; however, in another sense that is not true. But first, we need to understand what sin is. According to the catechism our children have been going through, question #30 asks: “What is sin?” Answer: “Sin is any transgression of the law of God.” Then question #31 asks: “What is meant by transgression?” Answer: “Doing what God forbids.” Thus, when we talk about sin, we are talking about actions, behavior. We are not talking about a substance. Sin is not something you can handle with your hands or put in your pockets or place on the shoulders of someone else. Thus, God did not take our sins and give them to Jesus or set them on Jesus. Jesus did not come into possession of our sins. Then what does 2 Corinthians 5:21 mean that “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us”? It means Jesus was imputed with our sins, which is another way of saying he was credited with our sins. He was credited or imputed with the guilt of our sins. In other words, God made Christ to be the object of his wrath toward sin for us. Christ was treated as though he was sinful on our behalf. He took the penalty for our sins. He absorbed the wrath and anger of God the Father on behalf of those for whom he died. In Romans 5:8 the apostle Paul puts it this way, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He stood in the place of sinners. We are the ones who should have been hanging on that cross with God the Father directing his anger and fury at us. Christ moves us out of the way and steps into our place. Christ who knew no sin became sin for us. This wonderful truth should compel us to love Christ more and want to serve and glorify him more in our lives.
*This post was adopted from a sermon delivered on November 22, 2020. |
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