Category: Devotions

I am like them but I am not like them

Acts 24:14 “However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets”

I am like them but I am not like them.

I am a Pharisee, the high priest and the accusers already know this, he has told them (23:6).

I believe what they do. I hold to the Law and the Prophets as they do.

But I am different.

I do not necessarily hold to their ways and I interpret differently their interpretations of the Law.

More than that, I do all of that as a Christ follower.

I am similar but I am different.

This is what Paul was saying.

You too will find yourself in such a situation where you are repeating those words.

I sadly continue to sit with the hurting people of the world that have been hurt by the Church all over the world. Incredible isn’t it? But it is true. We all know it but we are ashamed to say it. Often the hurting have made things worse for themselves and perhaps their reactions were wrong but nonetheless it should never have happened the way it did. Often the hurting needed to be hurt because they lacked discipline, but no one deserves crushing.

Recently I sat with someone who had been accused of many things and they had no way of defending their case to everyone, “But Paul, these things were simply not true at all”. That person lost everything in one day, their role, their money and worse than those 2 things, their credibility. A little while ago after a Church service I was preaching at I was trying to get into my car to go home when I was confronted by a woman in floods of tears because of the hurt in her life. I asked where her husband was who had previously been a minister of a denominational church and she replied that he now works on Sundays in a job he was never trained for and doesn’t want to do.

In every case my response is the same. I believe in the authority of the Church, I believe in leadership, I believe in those things that actually brought you needless and wrongful hurt. BUT, I am different. I am not the same. The Church you have described and experienced is not the Church I hold to. I am like them but I am not like them.

Paul was as passionate about the Jewish way as he was about the Way. He followed the Way through the way he had lived and believed in all his life. He was the biggest critic of the Pharisees and yet he was one himself.

We too should not shrink from confronting the Church if it is needed and at the same time stand up for the Church, to love it and be the Church we are called to be.

 

 

Fake news

Acts 24:13 “And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me. “

Show me.

That is Paul is asking.

Give me the evidence.

We are in the most interesting of times.

Over the last decade with the rise of the internet there was the opportunity for accurate, incorruptible journalism. At a click of a button we could fact-check the facts! This was a new era of honesty. It hasn’t turned out like that has it?

We have new words like ‘fake news’ emerging because world leaders tweet about it all the time.

Recently a UK TV station, Channel 4, brought out statistics that show only 4% of the UK population can spot fake news as fake! Are we so gullible?!

Research is everything.

Let us not believe everything we hear, especially when it is targeting someone else. It might sound amazing and shocking and we may like the headlines, but it could be fake and there can be not a scrap of evidence for it.

Let us people of the truth. Truth takes longer than fake but that is the journey we need to be on.

Don’t make it easy for your accusers.

Acts 24: 12 “My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city”.

Paul was accused of being a troublemaker and stirring up riots.

Paul says it was a lie.

I have always been brought up to not sin but also not to fall into the appearance of sin. People are watching you. It has been quite a pressure to try and be perfect!

But actually that is the truth. People are watching.

Those outside are looking inside.

The non-churched at the church.

Those who would be the first to point the finger are waiting for you to slip up.

Today what will people see? You can be strong without breaking someone. You can win the argument without arguing. You can influence without offending.

Nice isn’t weak.

Don’t give your accusers ammunition to use against you. They have enough already. When they try and accuse, you can stand and say ‘that is a lie’, I know what I did and what I said. I was in control.

Hold on, it can all change in a moment.

Acts 24:11 “You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.”

It is unclear whether Paul was saying he had been in Jerusalem only 12 days or whether he was saying 12 days ago he had arrived into the city. What we know from verse 1 is that Paul had now been waiting for the trial to start for 5 days. So whether or not it was 12 days or 17 days, the point is in less than 3 weeks his life has been turned upside down.

We often say that it’s good we do not know what tomorrow will bring. It doesn’t take long for everything to change. It doesn’t take 3 weeks, it can take one day.

Some suffer for years and they think things will never change. Some go through life with no cares and then are hit by a sudden storm they think they will never get through.

You are one touch from the King for your miracle. You may walk on a precipice and are one slip from failure. Your life can change in a moment, for the good and the bad.

So move on from yesterday, live for today and prepare for tomorrow by keeping hold of the Master’s hand because the time really is short.

 

Your time will come

 

Acts 24:10 “When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defence.”

 

We do get our chance.

We might be silenced at the moment and the accusers may hold the floor, they may voice their chants of slander at us, but we will one day be given our voice.

They may hold their positions of power and you may feel vulnerable and weak but these positions are not eternal and your day of rising will come. The oppressed will speak again and like Isaiah the prophet we believes for the coming day of vengeance. (61)

1. Stand your ground, hold your tongue, wait for the sign. The sign will come and your chance will be upon you.
2. Let your accusers finish their speech, let them run out of words to say. It will soon be over and then it will be your turn.
3. Listen to the lies and no matter if it hurts, understand what is being thrown at you.

 

This is your moment. There may not be another. So use it.

Which side?

Acts 24:9 “The Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true.”

Who are you joining with?

Are you on the side of the prosecution?

If so, be very careful that the reason why you are pointing the finger is true and accurate.

The Jews never saw Paul in the temple.

They never saw Paul take any ‘unclean’ person into the temple to defile it.

They believed what others had said.

They joined in the lie.

 

Who are you joining with?

Who do you walk with?

Who do you stand with?

Who do you sit with?

Psalm 1:1

 

Are they worth it?

Can you trust them?

Do you believe in them?

Do they build or knock-down?

What do you want to be known for?

The right question

Acts 24:8 “By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

Tertullus ends his prosecution. He hasn’t brought any witnesses. He hasn’t brought any proof, he just sounds convincing or at least convinced that Paul is guilty. Now he tells Felix to examine himself. Was he hoping Paul would trip himself up under examination? However what he says is a lesson for us today:

Examine for yourself.

Don’t believe everything people say.

Learn what is true.

The key to this is not to focus on the right answer but the right question.

The right question does more than unearth the answer but it brings to the surface a greater understanding for everybody, even the one answering the question.

The master of this was our Master, Jesus. I am not sure how many questions he asked, I am sure some Bible search engine has that number recorded, however, we only marvel at how skilled he was. These questions are for every generation as well. When you see a few I have listed below, how would you answer?

  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? (Matthew 5:46)

  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:27)

  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3)

  Why are you so afraid? (Matthew 8:26)

  Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? (Mark 9:50)

  Why are you trying to trap me? (Mark 12:15)

  Are you asleep? (Mark 14:37)

  Could you not keep watch for one hour? (Mark 14:37)

  Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46)

  Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? (Luke 14:31)

  Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? (Luke 15:4)

  For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? (Luke 22:27)

  Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for? (John 20:15)

  Friends, haven’t you any fish? (John 21:5)

  Do you love me? (John 21:17)

  What is that to you? (John 21:22)

So today find the right question, examine yourself, bring in to the light the truth and understanding that everyone needs.

Don’t let me progress too much.

Acts 24:6 “He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.”

The only time Christians are referred to as Nazarenes is here in this accusation of Paul being the leader of the Nazarene sect. The word sect at that time meant simply a group that has divided from something, namely Judaism.

So what was the Nazarene sect?

They were not Jews because they held to Jesus the Nazarene being the Messiah.

They were not Christians as we know it now because they held to the Laws of the Torah, to circumcision, Sabbaths etc.

They were persecuted.

They fled Jerusalem just before its fall in AD70 and spread but declined in number as the ‘Church’ distanced itself from their original beliefs and practices.

Evolution is a beautiful thing. To see generations of development from an original creation whether in works or thought is amazing. We are thankful for the development within the medical fields, look how far advanced we have become?!

But don’t you ever feel the pull back to the beginning, even only a couple of generations where the Christian belief and practice seemed sterner perhaps, maybe too legalistic for today, yet clearer, unmuddled and simple? Have we progressed too far?

Distance isn’t always a good thing. Development isn’t always right though we are told it is. We think what we have now is what Paul had and what Jesus had, it isn’t. Yet we say we are influenced by Paul and we follow Jesus the Nazarene. But do we?

Today I am conflicted. Do I run forward or turn back?

Today a colleague and friend begins a fast and his action reminds me that the practices of old are still essential for today.

Let me grow but let me not break from the foundation of my faith. Let the house I build compliment the foundation. Let me not progress too much.

 

The plague

Acts 24: 5 “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.”

The Message says, “We’ve found this man time and again disturbing the peace, stirring up riots against Jews all over the world”

The Amplified says, “For we have found this man to be a public menace and one who instigates dissension among all the Jews throughout the world”

A troublemaker, a disturber of peace, a public menace, stirring up riots and instigating dissension, this is the accusation labelled against Paul’s gospel work.

These are the comments from people who are afraid of the power of the gospel.

Tertullus uses a word meaning ‘plague’ that the NIV has translated ‘troublemaker’. Paul carries a plague and is infecting people all over the world. What is that plague? The gospel of Jesus Christ! The reason for this approach is two-fold: 1) It was true to some degree as we have seen in the effects from Paul’s preaching in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Thessalonica, Berea and Corinth and 2) It appeals to Felix’s desire of keeping peace within its empire.

Why are the gospel messengers being persecuted in many parts of the world? It is because they are speaking the gospel and the gospel disturbs. It disturbs culture, tradition, the way of life and even laws of the land. There is no soft gospel. There is no gospel that accommodates. The gospel is the message of surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. It demands change. It demands our all. It will change everything.

St. Augustine knew what the gospel could do. He had lived a wicked life before he became a Christian. Somewhat later one of the women who had been involved with him in his youthful sins spotted him on the city streets. She called, “Augustine, Augustine, it is I.” Augustine began to run way from her, and as she followed him he finally looked back over his shoulder and said, “But it is not I.” He was not the man he had been, the man she had known. The gospel had changed him. It changes all of us if we give it a chance in our lives. There will always be people who will oppose that change.

So what are you carrying? A soft gospel? Or a gospel that disturbs? The good news is that sin can be defeated in a person’s life and they can be reunited to God through Jesus. Any other gospel that has sin removed or that doesn’t demand the Lordship of Jesus isn’t good news at all.

So today let us join forces with gospel-carriers all around the world who are disturbing the religious and non-religious but who are bringing joy, love, peace to many people. Let this year be a year of disturbance. Let us be a menace to Satan. Let us cause trouble in hell and on earth for those who want to walk away from Jesus. Let the good news resound!

 

 

Cut to the chase.

Acts 24:4 “But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.”

Happy New Year!

Why did Tertullus think he was wearying Felix after only speaking 2 sentences which were praising his work as the governor of the province?

Permit me some reading into the text here … but I don’t think the flattery was working, something was showing on the face of Felix that he was either bored already or that he was not interested in long introductions, he wanted to get to the matter and get it over with. He had already hoped to be able to pass this case on to someone else but finding out Paul was from Cilicia meant he had to deal with it. But he would deal with it quickly.

Between Christmas and New Year I filled the car with rubbish and took it to the rubbish tip. It is what I always do at this time of the year as we accumulate so much rubbish. Once again the vast majority of the rubbish was packaging from either food or gifts. The food and gifts are always smaller than the packaging. I wondered at what the cost would be if I totalled my plastic throw-away. Whatever it was it would be a substantial amount. I knew that what I was doing that day was adding to the world’s problem of what to do with all the plastic? The Ellen MacArthur foundation recently produced shocking results from their research:

• 95% of plastic packaging material (worth $80-120 billion each year) is thrown away after one single use.
• After 40 years of recycling only 5% of plastic is recycled into a similar quality item.
• If plastic leakage is not quenched by 2050 the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by weight.

On a return flight from Indonesia recently I stopped over in Bali for several hours and went down to the nearest beach looking forward to some idyllic picture that we all dream about. I was horrified to see the whole beach inches deep with plastic waste washed up from the sea.

Plastic waste is a problem.

So is plastic packaging that comes out of our mouths at times.

This year I want to commit to less plastic waste. What I mean is this: I want to listen to less plastic-waste that comes out of mouths in order to package up the real reason for speaking and of course I want to speak less plastic-waste myself. In other words I want to:

Cut to the chase.

In films, when one scene ends and another begins the action is said to ‘cut’ from one scene to the next. If a film ‘cuts to the chase’, it moves onto a car chase scene for example. The expression compares the important matters to be discussed to a car chase scene.

This year I want to cut to the chase.

I want to get to the point.

I don’t want to waste time listening to plastic words about me or anyone in order to flatter the situation. What is the heart of the issue?

Encouragement alone is good.

Encouragement with a motive-to-get is flattery. This is plastic and it cannot be recycled for anything.

I reckon I am going to save a lot of time this year by cutting to the chase. Will you join me?