Tag Paul

The World is Watching

Todd R 1 Comment

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the young church in first-century Philippi, he wrote: “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”[1]

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

When Paul wrote this, the gospels of Mark and John probably weren’t written yet, and the other two may not have been broadly available.  New Christians couldn’t easily read about Christ, so Paul recommends learning about Him through His other followers.  What can people learn about Christ from us on our blogs, social media, and elsewhere?

“Out of a hundred people, one will read the Bible, and the other ninety-nine will read the Christian.” – Dwight L. Moody

[1] Philippians 3:17

Forgetting What Lies Behind

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Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians from a Roman jail, to encourage them to continue forward in the faith.  In it, he wrote: “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made [Christs righteousness] my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”[1]

In Paul’s life, “what lies behind” includes overseeing the stoning of Stephen recorded in Acts 7:57-58, and “ravaging the church, and entering house after house, [dragging] off men and women and committ[ing] them to prison.”[2]  We all have different shameful things in our past, but God forgets them.  His purpose is to always make us more like Christ, even when we struggle to move forward.  The prize is worth it, therefore we “press on toward the goal,” even if our current situation is discouraging and seems hopeless.

After all, Paul knew that even prison was temporary and God could wash away all the sins of his past, present, and future to make him righteous like Christ.

[1] Philippians 3:13-14
[2] Acts 8:3

Limited Boasting

Todd R 2 Comments

I took a strategy class years ago in business school, but about the only thing I remember the professor saying is (paraphrasing): “Strategy includes not only doing our best at what we do but also deciding what not to do.”  There were a couple of points to this.  One, it’s important to not get distracted in order to do the things that need to be done.  Second, and more importantly, it’s essential to be deliberate and intentional about what we should not be doing.  We should know what things ours are to deal with and which things aren’t.  Not that we can always avoid things, but strategy involves knowing what those things are.

The apostles Paul and Peter understood this principle.  In Romans 11:13, Paul referred to himself as “an apostle to the Gentiles.”  Of course, he often preached in the Jewish synagogues of the towns he visited, but he knew his emphasis should be on getting the Gospel to the Gentiles.[1]  On the other hand, the focus of Peter’s ministry was the Jews.  When he wrote 1 Peter, he addressed it to the “Dispersion,”[2] referring mainly to Jews living outside of Palestine, but he also knew Gentiles would benefit from it.

It is this division of labor that Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 10:13 – “But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.”

Paul did not boast in his own work but freely boasted of the work of God through him.  He wasn’t being arrogant, but giving God the glory for anything he succeeded in.  But even so, Paul knew his boasting had to be limited to work that was specifically his to do, in this case taking the gospel to Gentiles in Corinth.

If Peter and Paul had limits, each of us do as well.  God understands this better than anyone, since he is the one working through us and also defining those limits, or our “area of influence.”  Warren Wiersbe, commenting on the verse, wrote: “God is not going to measure us on the basis of the gifts and opportunities that He gave to Charles Spurgeon or Billy Sunday. He will measure my work by what He assigned to me.”[3]

It’s a shame in our culture that we have phrases like “silence is complicity,” as if every problem is every person’s problem to solve, and as if speaking out about problems is as good as actually doing something about them.  It’s also a shame that over-emphasis on other people’s problems can easily, and often, keep us from dealing with things right in front of us.  But how do we know what to deal with and not deal with?  Our social media feeds are not the answer.

Knowing our “area of influence”, in my experience, requires constant cultivation of our relationship with God.  Bible study, prayer, meditation, fellowship.  When I’ve made those investments, it’s been amazing how what God says to me has application to specific life situations.  Maybe when I read about patience, I find myself in a situation where it’s hard to be patient.  Maybe I read about holiness, and it makes me confront some sin or bad habit in my life.  Maybe I read about forgiveness and think of someone I may be ignoring or holding a grudge against.  Maybe I learn about a new way to express my spiritual gifts or find a new person to share them with.  Maybe I read about caring for widows and orphans and I learn about a single mother who needs help.

Not all tasks are ours to do, but it’s important to note that we are accountable for the tasks God has for us.  “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).  While he doesn’t call one person and ask them to do everything, He does call many and gives them their roles.

But the point of this post is that we can’t do everything.  Many situations require prayer that God will provide someone to help.  Someone to bring Christ into that situation.  Sometimes I’ve come across the solution later or found someone else who is in a position to help, but still, I’m not accountable to God for being perfect, for helping everyone I come across.

If we’re paying attention to the “area of influence” in front of us instead of every possible problem in the world, God can do great things through each of us.  But if we don’t intentionally decide to strategically leave some problems alone, we may find ourselves aimless and spinning our wheels.

May God give us all direction.

“But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.”

[1] See also 1 Timothy 2:7
[2] 1 Peter 1:1
[3] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Encouraged (2 Corinthians) (1994).  P. 136. 

Peacemaking Stones

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In the Old Testament, King David wanted to build a temple for God, reasoning that people lived in houses, but God has only ever lived in a tabernacle (tent).  Why should people live in a nicer place than God?  However, David was not allowed to build the temple, but God said his son Solomon would build it.  David gives the reason in a speech to Israel from 1 Chronicles 28:2-3:

“I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.  But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’” (emphasis mine)

Since becoming king, David had to fight many of Israel’s neighbors in order to establish peace, which was accomplished by Solomon’s time as king.  But David was not idle regarding the temple; he made many preparations to make Solomon’s job easier when the time came.  After David’s death, Solomon, preparing for construction, worked with Hiram king of Tyre to secure lumber.  In his letter to Hiram, Solomon wrote:

“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.  But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.” – 1 Kings 5:3-4

God wanted His temple – His dwelling place – built under peaceful conditions, by a peaceful leader, not by a warrior.  Under Solomon’s leadership, God’s temple was completed.

Solomon’s temple is no more, but God is now building another temple – another dwelling place – His church.  How do we know this?  Peter wrote that Christians as “living stones are being built up as a spiritual house”[1] and Paul that Christians “also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”[2]  God now spiritually lives in and among His people, not in a physical building.

What does David and Solomon’s experience teach us about the temple God is now building?  We know that Solomon’s temple had to be built by peaceful people, and Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:9, that:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

In the Greek language used in the New Testament, the word for peace comes from the verb “to join,” so peacemaking has to do with joining people together.  Between believers, this means that the more we live like Christ, the more we are able to join together in unity.  From believers to unbelievers, this “joining” means we offer them the love Christ gave us and hope and pray they will join with Him.  When discussing all issues non-essential to salvation, this means we seek to join and not separate, to promote peace instead of discord.

So, with God now building a temple of peacemakers, Paul urges us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”[3]  Pray that this Spirit can grow in each of us and in His people worldwide!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

[1] 1 Peter 2:5
[2] Ephesians 2:22
[3] Ephesians 4:3

Radical Forgiveness

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Sometimes in the Bible events are simply recorded without much commentary on their significance, but if we look hard enough, there’s often context somewhere else in the book.  An example of this is Acts 21:8, which says:

“On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.”

Here Acts is telling us about one of Paul’s last missionary journeys, and the “we” included a few people, including Luke, the author of the gospel by his name and of Acts, and Paul, who we know as the author of much of the New Testament and as founder of many of Christianity’s first churches.  Luke doesn’t seem to think of the verse above as very significant since he spends so few words on it.  There’s really no further comment on this living arrangement.  However, there’s more to it.

The apostle Paul didn’t always go by that name and if we investigate his past, we uncover more of the meaning in Acts 21:8.  The first time he appears in Acts is as Saul, who presided over the death by stoning of Stephen, a prominent Christian disciple.  After Stephen gave a public sermon to a Jewish crowd in Jerusalem, the crowd took what he said as blasphemy, and then Luke wrote this: “Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”[1]

While we don’t read of Saul actually casting stones, he approved of Stephen’s death and likely saw it as a great victory because at this time, Saul was a zealous Pharisee and persecutor of the young church.  Just a bit later in Acts (and right before his conversion) we read of Saul “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”[2]  Saul certainly would have loved to get his hands on one of the 12 apostles, but others close to them would be fine as well.  Killing Stephen, as one of the 7 original deacons of the church, would have pleased Saul.

Who were these deacons?  We learn, also in Acts, that the widows of Greek-speaking Jews (Hellenists) “were being neglected in the daily distribution.”[3]  The apostles had stretched themselves too thin, so distribution of food and other aid was being neglected.  The solution was to name “seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom”[4] as deacons to better handle the distributions, allowing the apostles to focus on their preaching ministry.  These seven men were “Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.”[5] [bold mine]

So, Stephen, who Saul/Paul was pleased to see martyred, and Philip served together as deacons in the Jerusalem church.  We don’t know if they knew each other before this or how long they served together, but there must have been some kinship there.  Serving together creates bonds of fellowship.  And this brings us back to Acts 21:8.

“On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.”

Luke doesn’t describe what was going on in Philip’s head, but from the rest of Acts above we know that Philip was welcoming a murderer into his house who oversaw his associate’s death.  Luke records no tension, no confrontation, no hard feelings.  Just that Paul (no longer Saul) was able to stay with Philip for some time.  What he doesn’t explain is that these two evangelists love Jesus and are able to forgive each other any sin because of the forgiveness Jesus gave to them.  Instead of bitterness, Philip may have instead felt joy that God was able to work so powerfully in Paul’s life.  The former murderer of Christians was now a Christian missionary.

This reminds me of a saying I found online (unsourced):

“The apostle Paul entered heaven to the cheers of those he martyred.
That’s how the gospel works”

In the gospel, all sins others commit against us are forgivable, just as Jesus can forgive us any of our sin because He paid the price for all of them.  In Philip’s case, even though Paul murdered his friend, God gave enough grace that Philip could forgive, and Luke can record Paul moving in without any additional comment.  Also, even Stephen is able to forgive Paul.

It’s hard to love someone if you can’t first forgive them, and we’re commanded to love everyone.  So, is our ability to forgive as radical and complete as Philip’s?  Are we willing to welcome into the church, and into heaven, our worst enemies?  Maybe we have someone specific in mind as we read this who drives us nuts.  Can we forgive them?  For most of us, these are very hard questions, therefore, pray that God can show us more of His grace and enable it to share it with others.  Whoever they are.

We know it’s possible with God’s help.

[1] Acts 7:58
[2] Acts 9:1
[3] Acts 6:1
[4] Acts 6:3
[5] Acts 6:5