Joining in God's mission

Acts
Paul's journey to Rome is an excellent example of God's faithfulness.  When we join him in his mission, we'll win every time!  It may not be the way we think we'll win, but it's the best way.  In faithfulness to God, Paul said he would go to Rome to preach the good news and appear before Caesar.  God rewarded that faithfulness and Paul didn't die in the shipwreck (see chapter 27).
What mission are we on?  Ours or God's?  Let's align ourselves with God's mission and see what wonders he can work in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

The coming of God's kingdom and Paul's quick thinking

Key verse
Psalm 37:39 - The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.


Matthew
Matthew 16:28 almost seems like some of Jesus's disciples won't die until his second coming.  But if you compare this verse to its parallels in Luke and Mark, you find out that in fact, it just means that some of his disciples will witness the coming of the kingdom of God through the Holy Spirit.  God's kingdom came with power on the day of Pentecost, and many of the disciples certainly witnessed this event.

On another note, it's a comfort to know God doesn't require us to be perfect in order to participate in his kingdom.  For example, Peter first announces that he believes Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, and will follow him, and then in the next verse, he tries to dissuade Jesus from his mission (perhaps unknowingly) and is rebuked - "Get behind me, Satan!" Jesus says.

Acts
When the text says "Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees...", I could just imagine Paul scheming in his head, thinking, "Hmmm, what will make these people get in an uproar?"  The debate about the resurrection of the dead sure will!

Innocent of the blood of all men

Acts 20:13-38
I must admit that when I first read Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders, I thought that for some reason, the Ephesians were arguing about Paul's previous life of persecuting the Christians.  When Paul said that he was innocent of the blood of all men, I thought that referred to the people he had killed before he became a Christian.  I read a few commentaries on this passage though, such as William Barclay's, Matthew Henry's, and Barnes's notes, and I found out that Paul was actually just saying that he preached the gospel with such dedication in Ephesus that if people weren't saved, it was through no fault of his own.

I hope we can say the same for ourselves.  I was reading Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Church this morning and he was saying that faithfulness does not exclude fruitfulness, rather, it requires fruitfulness.  Jesus said a number of times that bearing fruit is of utmost importance.  In fact, he even cursed a fig tree that didn't have fruit as an example to his disciples about the importance of bearing fruit.  Am I being faithful?  If I believe the answer is yes, is there evidence of my faithfulness?

The 12 tribes of Israel, and Paul and Barnabas

Key verses
Matthew 9:37-38 - Then he [Jesus] said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Genesis
Another curious reading in Genesis - today we find out that Manasseh and Ephraim are adopted by Jacob as his two sons.  This got me thinking about the 12 tribes of Israel, because Jacob already had 12 sons, and I knew that these two sons of Joseph figured in there somewhere.  After some digging, I got to Numbers 34.  Here God tells Moses which people will assign the inheritance of land to the tribes.  Reuben and Joseph are not mentioned, and Joseph's first two sons are.  If you want to read an outside article on this, check out http://www.gotquestions.org/twelve-tribes-Israel.html.

Acts
What a perfect story to demonstrate mob mentality.  In Acts 14, we read about Paul and Barnabas' ministry in Lystra.  They healed a crippled man and the crowd thought they were Hermes and Zeus, which both Paul and Barnabas quickly denied.  Here they are cheering Paul and Barnabas, and then a couple verses later, the Jews from Antioch and Iconium come around and persuade the crowd over to their side (which is against Paul and Barnabas' Messianic message), and the crowd goes from cheering for these two to nearly killing Paul by stoning him!  You've got to have a tough hide to be a missionary.

The silver cup and prayer

Genesis
In reading chapter 44, we see that Joseph had his steward put his special silver cup in Benjamin's bag of grain.  It would be interesting to know what the steward was thinking at this point.  The previous trip that Joseph's brothers had made was already out of the norm, since their money had been returned to them.  This time, would the steward recall that incident and simply take this new action in stride, chalking it up to some strange eccentricity of Joseph?  Perhaps he wouldn't give it a second thought anyway, since it wasn't his place to question his master.  Still, he knew where the silver cup was, and yet he made a show of searching through all the bags, from oldest to youngest, before finally pulling it out.  The steward doesn't really play an important role in this story of God's will coming to fruition, but it would have been neat to be there to see this play out.

Acts
As I was reading Acts 12, the story of Peter's miraculous escape from prison, I was reminded of that lesson about the power of prayer.  Acts 12:5 says that the church was praying for Peter's release from prison.  Lo and behold, he does get released one night during an angelic visit.  He goes to the house of Mary, where a number of Christians were gathered and praying, and when Rhoda answered the door, saw Peter, and exclaimed over who it was, no one believed her.  They didn't realize that their prayers were going to make a difference.
A similar story on prayer recounts a tale of a country church who decided to hold a prayer meeting to ask God for rain to end the drought, as they relied on farming for their livelihood.  Well, all of them show up to the prayer meeting, but only one little old lady brings an umbrella.  All the rest of the people are surprised and ask why she had bothered bringing it, since it wasn't raining.  Well, she actually believed it was going to rain!
Why bother praying if you don't even believe that God might make your prayer happen?  Further still, you should believe that God will answer your prayers, because he does listen to the cries of his children.  There is a lot more that could be said on prayer, but I'll leave it at that.

Persecution and ministering

Isn't it amazing that Saul, only a short while after having persecuted the church, could then minister to the very people who he had first persecuted?  I'm thinking of today's reading in Acts 11:19-30.  This passage begins with "Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch..."  and later this passage reads "Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch...".
I've highlighted some key words here.  Saul had been intensely involved in the persecution of Stephen and his fellow Christians.  Then those who had been persecuted went to Antioch, and then Barnabas and Saul go to Antioch as well, staying there for a whole year doing ministry in Jesus' name.  Isn't that incredible!  That transformation is what can happen when God gets involved in our work and we allow him to be the force behind our ministry.  Saul had a lot of trust to build up with the people he was ministering to, as they had firsthand experience with who he had been before he himself became a believer.
If you think you can't follow through on the mission God has given you, think of this Barnabas/Saul story.  If God worked in the heart of Saul and the hearts of his audience to be able to bond together and learn from each other, God can work in your situation as well.

God does not show favouritism

Acts 10:34-35 - Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right."

Here is an excerpt from Matthew Henry's commentary on this passage: "Acceptance cannot be obtained on any other ground than that of the covenant of mercy, through the atonement of Christ; but wherever true religion is found, God will accept it without regarding names or sects."  (Derived from bible.cc).

Peter's statement reminds me of what Jesus himself said in the Sermon on the Mount.  We read that particular passage a couple days ago in Matthew chapter 5:43-48.  God causes the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous and does not treat anyone differently, as he loves all of us.

Stephen the martyr

This is a picture of Stephen being martyred (a bit ahead of today's scripture reading).  I can see how the Sanhedrin (court of Jewish judges) were up in arms over Stephen and his testimony before them.  Here was a Greek Jew, having grown up outside of Palestine, teaching these judges about Jewish history and how it points to Jesus being the Christ.  It's always a bit humiliating (if we let it) when we claim to be experts on a topic, but someone else comes along and provides a different point of view that holds up under scrutiny.  There are a number of ways that we could react.  We could get angry, like the Sanhedrin, and shun this person and his new ideas (or go to the extreme and actually kill him...), or we could lose our pride and, with a humble spirit, listen to what they have to say.  I think we know what the better option is - conducting ourselves with integrity and humility.  So, let's go out and do it!

Peter's shadow

Key verse
Psalm 8:9 - O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Acts
I found it impressive that people hoped to have even Peter's shadow fall on them as he passed by in order to receive healing.  That reminds me of what Jesus told his disciples before he died: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."  What he says here, though, is linked to asking for anything in his name, so again, as we live out our faith, let's make sure we're living in Jesus' name, his character, and all that he stands for.

walking and leaping and praising God

Silver and Gold Have I None
Peter and John went to pray.
they met a lame man on the way
He asked for alms and held out his palms,
and this is what Peter did say”
Silver and gold have I none,
but such as I have give I you.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, in Jesus’ name rise up and walk.
The man went walking and leaping and praising God,
Walking and leaping and praising God,
“In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, In Jesus’ name rise up and walk”.

The resurrection

Peter talks about the resurrection of Jesus in his speech to the large crowd in Acts 2.  I just read about this passage in a commentary by William Barclay.  Barclay wrote that the resurrection was at the heart of the "early preachers' sermons" because that was what the Christian life was all about.  As a Christian, I know this to be true, but somehow, it's so easy to get caught up in Jesus' birth (especially at this time of year) and his life's ministry.  In the end though, none of that would be worth anything, except in light of the fact that he conquered death.  Because Jesus came back to life, the rest of his actions mean something.  The resurrection is the central point of Christian faith.  Without it, we have nothing.  Thankfully, God did send his son as a baby who was meant to die for us, but not only that - to come back to life!  That's why Christmas means anything at all, because Jesus was born to die... and then live.