The Significance of the Jerusalem Council and Paul’s Approach with the Athenians

The decision that was made in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem council was a powerful one. It would change the way believers were supposed to interact with one another. While some Jews wanted to keep Gentiles fully excluded from the faith others wanted to put a yoke upon them that even the Jews themselves could not keep. But, there were those men who had seen what God was doing first hand who felt that Gentiles should be fully included in the blessing God was handing out. Fernando states it like this,

“In arguing for the full inclusion of Gentiles into the church Peter appealed to direct guidance and intervention from God, and Barnabas and Paul appealed to God’s confirmation of their work through signs and wonders. James appeals to Scripture, showing that “the words of the prophets are in agreement with [symphonousin] what has happened (v. 15).”[1]

While we may not fully understand the way the prophets spoke of Gentile inclusion, because so often we better understand the Messianic prophecies. Bock points out,

“This fulfills not only the promise to David about his line but also a commitment to Abraham that through his seed the world would experience blessing (Gen. 12.3; Acts 3:25-26; Gal. 3). Thus James argues that this Gentile inclusion is part of the plan of Davidic restoration that God through the prophets said he would do.”[2]

So by having the leaders of the early church validate the Gentiles inclusion showed a shift in those who were to be called God’s people. The council did not just allow the Gentile to walk in and take over; however, they did put a few stipulations on them for the sake of the Jews. Fernando notes, “If there was going to be openhearted fellowship between Jewish and Gentile Christians, there would have to be some sensitivity to Jewish scruples by the Gentiles.”[3]

Paul shared his faith with the Athenians like he would with everyone else with a fervorance and passion to help them understand their need for Jesus’ redemptive power. Fernando sums it up like this, “Paul’s speech before the Areopagus remains a model of sensitive but forthright confrontation of an intellectual audience with claims of the gospel.”[4] Paul spoke to them in a way they could relate, much like the USA, Athens was tolerant of many “gods”. Paul would go on to use their idols to give them the gospel. According to Bock,

“Their idol to the “unknown god” allows Paul to open the door for discussing the one true God of creation. Paul is not equating the god worshipped here by the Greeks and the God he will preach, but the altar is a segue into discussing the one true God.”[5]

So much like Paul told us in 1 Cor. 9:22 we should “become all things to all people”, so we can meet them where they are. We should not expect the same gospel presentation with an eight your old as we would a Wall St. business man. But, the core issue should always be the same and that is what Paul demonstrated with the Athenians.

Bibliography

Bock, Darrell L. Acts. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing, 2007.

Fernando, Ajith. NIV Application Commentary: Acts. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.

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[1] Ajith Fernando, NIV Application Commentary: Acts. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998) 418.

[2] Darrell L Bock, Acts. (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing, 2007)504 .

[3] Fernando, Acts, 419.

[4] Ibid, 475.

[5] Bock, Acts, 564.

Persecution of the Early Church and in the Christian Life

The persecution that fell on the early church was extremely important to the church as a whole. Until the church began to feel this persecution they were living in a very happy tight nit community that was not doing as it was told by Jesus in the beginning of Acts. “And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” (Acts 8:1b ESV) While those persecuting the Christians in that region thought they may destroy them, they only helped in spreading the gospel. Polhill says, “They were scattered like one scatters seed. But scattered seed grow, and the irony is that the persecution and scattering of the Christians only led to their further increase.”[1] So like the evil planned against Joseph, this evil will bring about an ultimate good by pushing the gospel out into the world.

One of the signs to show that we are Christians is the persecution we face especially in today’s society. I say that because of the very words Christ says, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15:20 ESV) So yes, persecution for a Christian should be normal and expected. We should learn to look at our persecution as a tool for the gospel. John MacArthur has said, “Paul said that he gloried in infirmity, tribulation, necessity, even in persecution, because when he was persecuted, people got saved, and that is good.”[2] When we are not looked at as one of the in crowd because we are Christian that is a form of persecution and we should count ourselves blessed. And if we are not being persecuted because of our faith, are we sharing it enough so people know where we stand?

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[1] John B. Polhill. Acts. (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 1992)211.

[2]John MacArthur. (Found: God's Will. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1977) 51.

Getting to the Heart of God’s Will

According to Pastor John MacArthur there are five aspects to finding God’s will. These aspects include salvation, being Spirit-filled, becoming sanctified, learning submission, and being willing to suffer. If we live according to these five things we are going to be well on our way to living in the will of God.

If we do not live for God how can we think we are living in his will? Pastor John says, “If you are stumbling around in life and tossing up some periodic prayers to God but have never come on your knees to the Cross and met Jesus Christ, then you are not even in the beginning of God’s will.” (MacArthur 1977, 11) It is hard for me to see someone that you know and love rejecting God and then blaming Him for what he has not done for them. MacArthur goes on to explain, “If you have never committed your life to Jesus Christ, you cannot expect anything at all from God. He owes you nothing. He is not obligated to you in even the slightest sense.” (MacArthur 1977, 13)

The next successive step we should take is to live a Spirit-filled life. And upon hearing that statement you may become rather confused, but MacArthur defines it like this, “The Spirit-filled life is yielding every decision to the control of the Spirit.” (MacArthur 1977, 21) When we surrender our desires over to the Lord we become more empowered to lead the Spirit-filled life because, we will be “…living every moment as though we are standing in the presence of Jesus Christ!” (MacArthur 1977, 26) By us choosing to live our lives as though we are living our lives in front of Christ, we will be more vigilant not to live by our fleshly impulses.

The next step is our sanctification which is very crucial because it involves work on our part, and not only using the gifts we have received from God. We must guard ourselves and work toward growing closer to the Lord. Pastor John in this area focused a lot on sexual purity, but it goes so much deeper than that. When we live our lives in the pursuit of sanctification, “You can be blessed by God only so long as you are controlling what you do for His honor.” (MacArthur 1977, 33) We can only be of benefit to God when we grow to look more like Christ himself and that can only happen through the sanctification process. MacArthur quotes McCheyne as saying, “Mr. Edwards, you are God’s chosen instrument. According to your purity, so shall be your success. It is not great talent; it is not great ideas that God uses; it is great likeness to Jesus Christ.” (MacArthur 1977, 35)

One of the more difficult steps in this process at least for many of us will be learning how to be submissive. Since the garden rebellion is in our nature, we want to do things our own way and having to submit to anyone is a challenge. Because of our bent to want to live our own way “… sometimes the world can’t distinguish us from itself.” (MacArthur 1977, 40) Once we learn how to live our lives in a submissive manner the world will notice that something is different about us. According to MacArthur, “… God wants us to be the kind of citizens in the world who will draw the attention of the world. We need to be different. We need to have the qualities of salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16).” (MacArthur 1977, 41) Living in this manner will not be easy, but if we are surrendering to the Spirit and longing to be sanctified it sets us up to move into this area because Christ in the garden showed us his submission (Matt 26.39).

The one aspect that none of us look forward to is suffering, no matter what forms it may take. In America we have been fed the fallacy that if we chose to follow Jesus our lives are going to be smooth sailing from there on out. We couldn’t be more wrong. MacArthur says, “Suffering is linked with faith. The Bible never sees a Christian at any time who doesn’t suffer—because anybody who lives a godly life in the world will get the flak that the world throws back.” (MacArthur 1977, 45) As Christians we are to be bold and make a difference in the world. As Americans, “You may not get the physical flak but may suffer intellectual persecution instead. You may be quietly ostracized from society. You may be politely shunned at the water cooler. People may take a “there-goes-the-weirdo” attitude.” (MacArthur 1977, 51) All of these types of sufferings are more than acceptable because we stood up for our faith and belief in Christ Jesus.

Learning to live our lives and applying these “laws” we can gain clearer understanding of God’s will in our lives. I personally feel as though I am staying in the will of God. I gave my life to the Lord approaching nine years ago now. I try my best to live in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, and being sensitive to the leadings of the Spirit. I attempt to spend time in the Word daily, while I may struggle with a regular prayer life I can tell when something is of the Lord. For a long time I struggled with an addiction to pornography and by God’s grace have had victory over it. I don’t allow myself to get caught up in movies or things that might drag me back into that lifestyle.

Bibliography

MacArthur, John. Found: God's Will. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1977.

The Significance of Acts 1:8 & the Tongues of Pentecost.

Acts 1:8 is very significant because it falls right in line with the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19). Acts 1:8 states, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ^[1] So in knowing these things we are called to be his witnesses to the end of the earth, meaning we must speak of him everywhere. Longenecker suggest, “It comes as a direct commission from Jesus himself—in fact, as Jesus’ last word before his ascension and, therefore, was one that is final and conclusive.”[2] Since Jesus thought missions to be important we as the church, must not lose sight of its importance. Bock goes on to say, “The church exists, in major part, to extend the apostolic witness to Jesus everywhere.”[3] Without this verse we may not have fully understood the importance of the Spirit and the responsibility we have to speak of Jesus everywhere.

The topic of speaking in tongues is a very touchy topic. However, when we are dealing with a specific portion of scripture we can try to be less emotive about our response. Acts 2:6&8, “And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language…. ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” ^[4]gives us a pretty clear indication that these were national languages. Verses nine through eleven go on to list upwards of sixteen different languages. I believe that since people were able to understand the languages there were no “heavenly” languages being spoken. Fernando supports this with, “But the sign mentioned in Acts 2 is different to that discussed in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, for the language there was not understood by the people.”[5] If there had been a heavenly language the gospel would not have gone as far, however, “God is using for each group the most familiar linguistic means possible to make sure the message reaches to the audience in a form they can appreciate.”[6] This therefore leads me to understand that there are heavenly tongues they just were not present on the day of Pentecost.

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^[1] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ac 1:8.

[2] Longenecker, Richard N. The Expositors Bible Commentary- Acts. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981) 256.

[3] Bock, Darrell L. Acts. (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing, 2007) 66 .

^[4] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ac 2:6–8.

[5] Fernando, Ajith. NIV Application Commentary: Acts. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998) 91.

[6] Bock, Acts, 102.

Communicating Through the Chaos

We all struggle with communication at our core. While most of us may struggle with top down communication; we all tend to struggle with male to female communication. Hans Finzel in chapter 7 of his book The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make tells us of the struggles that come when communication breaks down. While most of us training to be pastors and leaders think we communicate effectively and well, Finzel says, “We never communicate enough, and we usually communicate way less than we think we do.” (Finzel 2007, 149) I personally struggle in this area with my wife; I can talk a hole in her head sometimes and still not communicate what I wanted her to hear.

In reading chapter seven of Finzels book, another very important point he makes is that the size of the company and the way communication takes place is vital. When you are smaller you can make major decisions on the fly and in informal ways; but as you grow and become larger your communication must become more formal. Finzel says, “Communication chaos begins when small groups start getting larger.” (Finzel 2007, 131) You may have been doing great conveying your thoughts in a smaller setting, but, “That which had worked so well informally had to be formalized.” (Finzel 2007, 133) Finzel explains that with the more people involved you need to make sure everyone is kept up-to-date with any changes that involve them.

Finzel also warns us about the dangers of leaving things vague. If all you do is make a statement in passing the chance of confusion becomes greater. So, “Sooner or later you must put your plans down in writing and spell out your direction clearly. That doesn’t mean that the plans won’t change, but it does mean that everyone knows the rules of the game.” (Finzel 2007, 135) One thing every leader needs to make sure they cultivate is the ability to listen, Finzel points out, “Nothing stops the progress of an organization more quickly than leaders failing to listen.” (Finzel 2007, 140)

Both Finzel and Robbins express the importance of listening and the difference it can make. Sometimes we can just be hearing what the person has to say, while trying to formulate what we are going to say next. That makes us bad listeners; we are no longer being active in the conversation. We should become active listeners, “As an active listener, you try to understand what the speaker wants to communicate rather than what you want to understand.” (Robbins 2008, 110) Robbins also gives eight types to be better listeners (Make eye contact; exhibit affirmative head nods and appropriate facial expressions; avoid distracting actions or gestures; ask questions; paraphrase; avoid interrupting the speaker; don’t over talk, and lastly make smooth transitions between the roles of speaker and listener.).

Robbins in Truth 29 points out that there is certain information that needs to be conveyed in specific manners. He refers to the way the message is relayed as richness meaning, some “(1) handle multiple cue simultaneously, (2) facilitate rapid feedback, and (3) be very personal.” (Robbins 2008, 114) He tells us that for more routine messages we can choose things that are less rich in communication such as e-mail. But for the more important things you would do better using richer methods such as face-to-face.

In Truth 31 Robbins ties into where I initially started that the make-up of men and women have us communicating differently. He does not say that it is a bad thing it is just a difference in our being. He says that women generally speak for understanding and men speak to show our status. As men we like to feel in control so when a woman tells us of a problem we want to fix it, while she is just looking for some form of affirmation. So he summarizes it like this, “Mutual understanding is symmetrical, but giving advice is asymmetrical—it sets up the advice giver as more knowledgeable and more in control. This contributes to distancing men and women in their efforts to communicate.” (Robbins 2008, 122)

Lastly Robbins brings it home in Truth 32, the old adage that actions speak louder than words. He digs into showing us that we can say one thing and then do another and damage our credibility with those around us. Just like as a parent I do not like telling my two boys do as I say not as I do because it sends the wrong message. Robbins reinforces that sentiment by saying, “It’s hard for employees to trust a manager who says one thing but does another.” (Robbins 2008, 127) If we want to be an effective leader anywhere we must be willing to do what we say we are going to do. A rule I live by is don’t make a promise you are not sure you can keep. Because in breaking promises you set yourself up to say one thing and end up doing another.

I hope these things have helped and if there is more I can do please feel free to ask.

Bibliography

Finzel, Hans. The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make. Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2007.

Robbins, Stephen P. The Truth About Managing People. Upper Saddle River: FT Press, 2008.