Calloused Heart

I remember as a kid, whenever I’d meet one of my dads friends, they’d extend their hand to shake mine. It always amazed me how big and hard the guys’ hands were. From working on cars or in the fields, their hands would all be rough and calloused. I still notice it to this day whenever I shake a man’s hand. I know, I tend to work in an office all day, so my hands probably feel soft in comparison. I don’t do enough manual labor to really build up the callouses on my hands, but you can always tell those who do such work by their hands.

It’s a sort of protection mechanism of our bodies to develop these callouses. They protect us from harm. When we repeatedly scrape and rub our hands and feet, we begin to develop a callous. That hard layer of skin helps to keep those rocks or tools, or whatever it is, from hurting us. Some people end up getting callouses in places they’d prefer not to and desire nothing more than to get rid of them. In fact, the beauty industry has a hundred and one different creams, soaps, and stones to help you get rid of those unwanted callouses.

Now, I’m sure each of you understands where I’m going at this point. The title of this message is “Calloused Heart.” You know that at some point I’m going to make the transition from talking about calloused hands to a calloused heart. And that transition will take place right about… now.

Just like with our hands, we can develop a callous on our heart. When abrasive things happen to us, when we’ve been hurt too many times, or when we just think we know what we’re doing and don’t want to listen to anybody else, our hearts can become calloused like our hands. Just like with our hands, it can be a sort of protection mechanism, but there are times when it’s not good for you to be calloused.

In our journey through Acts, we come to the end of the book. In the final recorded message of Paul, we see him preaching the same message he’s always preached. However, this time he ends it a little differently (Acts 28:25-28). He quotes a passage from Isaiah 6:9-10 that Jesus is recorded as quoting in most of the gospels. It’s kind of a sad truth really. Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah. The Jewish people had waited for centuries for this messiah to come, yet even while God was telling them what to expect, he also told them, “Many of you just aren’t going to get it. The messiah will come and he’ll do everything I said he was going to do, but your hearts will be so calloused that you won’t understand.”

This isn’t an issue of not being able to hear or not being able to see. I remember growing up, on more than one occasion, after the tenth time my mom had told me to do something, she’d say, “You’re not listening to me.” Of course, as an obstinate child I’d respond, “I am too listening. You said…” and I’d rattle off whatever she’d said. Inevitably she’d come back saying, “Yes, you heard me, but you’re not listening.” There’s a difference between listening and hearing. If you’re in a room and somebody is talking loudly, you really have no choice but to hear the person speaking. The sound waves travel from the person’s mouth or from the speakers across the room and into your ears. Unless you put your fingers in your ears or put on earmuffs or headphones, you really have no choice but to hear. The sound waves will reach your ears and stimulate the ear drums. While it’s not your choice whether you hear, it is completely up to you to choose to listen.

We’ve all learned how to do that, especially us guys. We’ve learned to tune out an unpleasant noise, whether it’s the humming of the light or the kids screaming. We call it selective hearing. If there’s an unpleasant noise, we have trained ourselves to tune it out. It’s an intentional thing. It’s not that we can’t hear it anymore; instead, it’s more that we aren’t listening. As we can see from the scripture here, the calloused heart that God is speaking about through the prophet Isaiah is a completely intentional thing. Again he states, “They hardly hear with their ears” and “they have closed their eyes.” If you can “hardly hear” it’s because #1, you’re not listening, or #2 you’ve put something in the way of your ears, whether it be your fingers or headphones, to keep yourself from hearing. Maybe this could be explained as an unintentional medical issue, but if you’ve closed your eyes, that is an entirely different story. You don’t accidentally close your eyes.

We often look at passages such as this and point fingers outside the church saying, “See! Those people have calloused hearts, because they aren’t listening to God,” but we inside the church are just as capable of having calloused hearts. God brings someone to speak truth into our lives and we completely dismiss them. Do any of these sound familiar?

“They’re just clinging to the way things used to be. They need to learn to change with the times.”

“I’ve been in this church for 10, 15, 20 years, and we’ve always done it this way. ”

“Who are you to tell me that I need to change. Look at your own life.”

It’s not because we can’t hear or we can’t see, it’s because we don’t want to hear and we don’t want to see. We do this to ourselves because, “We’re right.” We do this to ourselves because, “They just don’t understand.” We harden our hearts and turn away from God because we simply don’t want to listen to what he has to say to us. “Otherwise [we] might see with [our] eyes, hear with [our] ears, understand with [our] hearts and turn, and [God] would heal [us],” and many times, we like the way things are. We like the way we are, and we don’t want to change even if it’s for the better.

But how do we do that? How do we choose to see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and understand with our hearts? Paul doesn’t give us the solution here, but God gave it to us way back in 2 Chronicles 7:14. This is a favorite verse in Christian circles. We typically look at this verse and focus on “repent and God will save you,” but we skip over the “how.” I found it interesting how when I read this verse in 2 Chronicles, it almost seemed to mirror the words God gave to Isaiah. “If we see, hear, understand, and turn, God will heal us.” “If we’re humble, pray, seek, and turn, God will heal us.”

The first and greatest roadblock is humbling ourselves, admitting that we weren’t paying attention, admitting that we had our eyes closed and didn’t want to listen to God. When we’ve convinced ourselves that we’re right or that others are wrong, it takes quite a bit of humility to admit that we were the ones that were wrong and were the ones holding on to what we wanted, ignoring the wise counsel from those around us. Admitting that we don’t quite have it all together and humbling ourselves before God is the first step.

The next two go together. In order to hear with our ears and understand with our hearts, we must first pray and seek God. When you’ve gotten so used to tuning out a sound, whether it’s the kids or the humming of the lights, you don’t just start hearing them again without making a conscious effort. That’s why it’s important that we seek God and pray to him. Actively seeking to see his face, hear his voice, and understand what he’s trying to tell us, because it’s this closeness that will help to keep us from tuning him out again. When you have that regular conference with God, you will know his voice, and you’ll be able to pick it out in a crowded room. No longer will you tune it out as background noise, but you’ll be listening for that voice in every situation.

And finally, when we’ve humbled ourselves, prayed, and sought God, when we’ve seen, heard, and understood, we will turn away from the wickedness that God has been calling us away from, and that’s when the true healing begins

Many different things will lead to a hardened, calloused heart, whether it’s that of a believer or an unbeliever. When it comes to the heart, there is nothing you our I can do to soften another person’s heart. We can love them, we can talk to them, we can show them mercy, but ultimately it is not within our power to soften their hearts. While a person lives in that condition, they will not listen to the truth of God. They simply can’t. As Isaiah said, “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’ For this people’s heart has become calloused.” A person in that condition simply won’t allow themselves to understand.

Don’t be discouraged. Continue to love a calloused person and be willing to share the truth with them, but don’t let their rejection discourage you from sharing with others. There are many people out there whose hearts are not calloused. There are many people out there that are desperate to hear the truth. Too often we let the rejection of some keep us from sharing with others. As here with Paul, when the message was rejected by the Jews, he turned to preach to the Gentiles. There is always someone willing to listen, and we can’t let the rejection of some and the fear of the rejection of others keep us from proclaiming the truth of God’s love..

While we may not be able to do anything to soften the hearts of others, the condition of our own hearts is completely up to us. Sin, pride, selfishness, each of these can cause our hearts to be hardened, can cause us to separate ourselves from God. The only way for a heart to be softened, whether it’s yours, mine, or somebody else’s, is to humble ourselves, pray, seek God, and turn from our wickedness. Then, and only then, will we be healed.

Proof By Deeds

Last Saturday, October 31st, was an important holiday. It celebrated a Christian tradition that was started nearly 500 years ago, and no, I’m not talking about the tradition of giving out candy to children or dressing up in costumes. October 31st, is referred to as Reformation Day. This celebrates the occasion on which, on October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg.

Martin Luther took issue with many of the practices and teachings of the church. One such practice was that of indulgences. The idea behind indulgences, if I have my history correct, is that you could pay money to the church to help your loved ones get out of purgatory. The reason that Martin Luther took issue with this teaching, among others, is because he believed, as the Bible teaches, that we are not saved by works but by faith alone. Faith in Jesus Christ as savior and not good deeds is what brings about salvation. In fact, Martin Luther even pushed for the removal of certain books of the Bible from biblical canon. He primarily took issue with the book of James due to its emphasis on works and good deeds.

Ever since Luther’s time, there have been theological debates citing both Paul and James (the brother of Jesus) and their views on salvation by grace versus the necessity of good deeds. Our reading in Acts this week we get a glimpse of Paul’s message. We can read through his letters which give us a better picture, but in Acts 26:20 we see Paul summarizing the message that he preached, “that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” Clearly, Paul is not advocating for a life devoid of good deeds. When we look at the letter of James (James 2:14-17; 26) we see his side of the debate. However, just as Paul was not pushing a doctrine of faith without works, James is not pushing for a gospel of works without faith or salvation by works. If we were able to sit these two men down together, I believe we’d find that they are arguing the same point, just from two different sides.

As I’ve talked to people here at the church, I’ve found that I can often determine a person’s passion after only a couple of conversations. People tend to talk about things that they’re passionate about. If I told you that I’m an avid fisherman, you might believe me for a while. However, as the conversation continued and I wasn’t able to tell you my favorite fishing spot, when I confessed that I don’t own a single rod or reel and that I never go fishing, you’d probably question just how much of an avid fisherman I was. This is because when you’re an avid fisherman, those other things just come along with it. An avid fisherman knows the best times and places to catch certain kinds of fish. An avid fisherman has the rods and reels to go fishing, and an avid fisherman actually goes fishing. These things prove an avid fisherman. If you’re a fisherman, you do these things. It’s the same thing that Paul is saying. If you have faith in Christ, you will prove it with your actions.

On the other hand, James is approaching it from the complete opposite direction. Instead of saying, “You have faith, now prove it,” he says, “The good deeds that you do are a natural result of your faith.”

As my son gets older, we try to allow him to take on more responsibilities. In the process of teaching, I know my wife and I have muttered more than once, “You’re doing it wrong.” For example, he will be trying to tie his shoes and say, “It’s not working.” We’ll go over to him, have him show us what he’s doing, and inevitably say, “That’s because you’re doing it wrong. Here, do it like this.” Apparently we’ve said it so much that now he just knows what we’re going to say, so when he can’t do it he instead says, “I’m doing it right, but it’s not working.”

Now, there’s an inherent problem with that statement. If he were tying his shoes correctly, then it would work. The reason that it’s not working is because he’s not doing it right. Those of us who’ve learned to tie our shoes know this. If you do it right, then it’ll turn out the way it’s supposed to, and the end result of having a tied shoe proves that you did it right. If you didn’t do it right, you wouldn’t end up with a tied show.

This is the route that James is taking. If you have faith, you’ll have good deeds. You can’t say, “I have faith,” without having the deeds to back it up. It’s like saying, “I tied my shoes correctly, but it didn’t work.” It’s just not possible. Either you tied your shoes correctly and it worked, or you didn’t tie your shoes correctly and it didn’t work. Either you have faith and therefore have good deeds or you don’t have faith and therefore don’t have good deeds. You can’t say, “I have faith, but I just don’t do any good deeds.” It doesn’t work that way. Good deeds are the natural result of faith. Having a fishing pole and going fishing are a natural result of being an avid fisherman. You can’t have one without the other. This is the point that James is trying to make when he says, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I’ll show you my faith by what I do.” (James 2:18)

Our faith and our deeds go hand in hand. Deeds without faith are meaningless, because we can never do enough good deeds to earn our salvation. It is only through faith in Christ that we are saved. However, simply stating that we believe, simply going to church, is just as meaningless. True faith, the faith that changes the heart and brings salvation, brings about more than a heart change. It changes our whole lives. This change is manifested by the way in which we live our lives. Good deeds, good works, are the evidence of the faithful heart, for a heart that truly has faith will be driven and compelled to live out that faith, whether it’s through serving meals to the hungry, clothing the naked, or accepting the outcast.

My challenge for you today is this. Live out your faith. Don’t just come to church and say you have faith. Live it out in your daily life. As Paul said, “repent and turn to God and prove [your] repentance by [your] deeds.”

Following God’s Path

One thing that we as parents often strive for is for our children to obey, and preferably the first time. I heard a story about a family that was doing some work on their roof. The wife was in the yard with the child and the husband came down to take a break. A few minutes into the break, they noticed that their son, he was about four years old, had somehow made his way up the ladder onto the roof. He was walking around oblivious to the danger but was very close to the edge, only about a step away. The father hollered up for the child to sit down, and immediately he child sat down where he was, no questions asked, right on the edge of the roof. The father quickly went up the ladder and retrieved the child. If the child had not been taught from an early age that the parents expected swift and unquestioned obedience, it’s very likely that the oblivious child could’ve walked off the edge of that roof, being severely injured or even killed.

But it’s more than just obeying to keep from getting hurt. When we lived in Colorado, my son had always wanted to hang a bird feeder on a tree just outside our patio. He would stand there and watch it, just waiting for the birds to come, but of course, they would never show up while he was standing there. One summer day, we had the patio door open. I was sitting in the living room and look out the screen door to see a squirrel eating from the bird feeder. Squirrels are jumpy, so I tried to quietly call my son. I called his name, and from the other room he hollers back, “What?” I quietly tried telling him to come quickly and quietly. I’m just waiting for him to come bounding into the room and scare away the squirrel, but he quietly comes out and is able to see the squirrel eating all of our bird seed.

We all know it’s important for us to listen and obey, but how do we get to that point of first time obedience? How do we bring ourselves to the point where we can listen and obey, not only to supervisors, mothers and fathers, etc., but also our heavenly father?

In our reading this week we see Paul saying his goodbyes to the elders in Ephesus (Acts 20:18-24). He knows that he is to go to Jerusalem and that hardships and prison await him, but he is compelled to go. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a place where you know without a doubt that God is telling you something. Maybe it’s been about helping somebody, giving money to someone or something, or teaching a Sunday School class or a new ministry at the church. If you’ve had an experience like that then you know what I’m talking about.

I’ve had times when every piece of logical reasoning inside of me says, “No, don’t do that,” but then there’s that part that says, “It’ll be okay, trust me.” The more and more I think about out, the more and more I find that that’s not what I want to do. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t add up. It just doesn’t seem like it’s the logical step to take, but the more I pray about it, the more I seek God’s counsel, the more I know that it’s the right direction to go. This was what Paul was facing.

It’s one thing to know where God is telling you to go and telling you to do, but it’s a different thing entirely when we do it. It’s different when we’re a four-year old standing at the edge of that roof oblivious to what’s going on around us when God tells us to sit down, and we do it. It all comes down to trust. Why does the child obey their parent without asking questions? Why did Paul follow the leading of the Spirit to Jerusalem even though he knew that he’d face hardships and prison? It all comes down to one simple word, TRUST. The child obeys the parent because they trust that obeying is the best course of action. They trust that listening to their parents, even if it’s not fun right now, will be better than disobedience.

The same is true with Paul. He trusted God. He knew that he served a good God, a loving God. He knew that God would not make him go through prison and hardships unless something good was going to come out of it. He put his trust in God and was therefore willing to go to a place that made no logical sense. “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)

I grew up in the church of the Nazarene doing children’s quizzing and caravans, and to this day I still remember the caravan motto, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV. They don’t say it in King James any more, but the message is still the same, trust in God and follow his path. Things may seem scary, you may not know what’s going to happen next, but if you trust in God, he will direct your path.

Paul knew where God was leading him, and he knew what awaited him there. Yet he was compelled to go. He was compelled to go towards the trials and hardships because he trusted the one that was leading him. It’s a whole new adventure when we decide to follow God wherever he decides to lead us. That’s part of what we talked about last week, loving and trusting God so much that we’re willing to give him control of our lives. We’re willing to sign a blank contract and allow God to fill it in later. You don’t know where you’re going or how you’ll get there, but I can testify to you that it is one great adventure. The one guiding you is faithful and trustworthy. Are you willing to trust him? Are you willing to follow God’s path wherever it may lead?

Thessalonians vs. Bereans

They say that in our modern world we have more information available to us than ever before. We don’t remember things because we have the answers readily available to us. One of the things that I’ve talked to the teens about in Confirmation class is that we need to understand what the Bible actually says. With that in mind, I figured it’d be fun to take a little quiz to see how well you really know your Bible. Answer TRUE or FALSE to each of the following statements:

1. The serpent tempted Eve to eat an apple
2. God told Noah to take two of every kind of animal onto the ark
3. Jonah was swallowed by a whale
4. In the story of Jesus’ birth, there were three wise men

The answer to each of these statements is false. The Bible refers to Adam and Eve certainly ate the fruit, but we’re never told specifically what kind of fruit it was. As for the animals on the ark, while in Genesis 6:20 God tells Noah two of every animal, in Genesis 7:2 Noah is told to take seven pairs of each clean animal and one pair of each unclean animal. Jonah was swallowed by a big fish, but the Bible does not specify that it was a whale. In addition, some scientists have argued that no known whale could have swallowed a man due to the structure of their mouths. Finally, in regard to the wise men, no number is ever given. They brought three gifts and so many have speculated that there were three, but no official number has ever been given.

In our journey through Acts this week, we see the importance of studying the scriptures. After leaving the prison in Philippi, Paul and Silas continued their journeys and came to the city of Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-4). The people welcomed Paul’s teaching, and he taught in their synagogues for three weeks. However, he was forced to leave, as was often the case. He and Silas journeyed the approximately fifty miles to Berea. There the people eagerly received the message of the gospel (Acts 17:10-12).

Now, when the scripture states that the Bereans were “noble,” it’s not saying that they were the rich aristocrats of the area. As a strict translation, that’s what it means, but more often it was used to refer to people who were open-minded, generous, and tolerant. They had qualities that were associated with “good breeding.” They were all around good people.

We see this evidenced by their willingness to accept Paul’s teaching. He preached this new gospel to them, and rather than ignoring it and saying, “That’s not the way we’ve always done it, so you must be wrong,” they eagerly accepted it. Where it took three weeks of preaching from Paul to get the Thessalonians to believe his words and accept the truth, the Bereans were willing to consider it from day one. However, they didn’t just blindly accept Paul’s words as truth. They sought to verify what he was saying against the scriptures, the word of God.

Typically this seeming lack of trust would be a bad thing. When we see movies and TV shows, we typically see it’s the bad guys that tell their recruits, “Don’t trust anyone,” while the good guys maybe pass trust around a little too freely.  

But it’s not that the Bereans didn’t trust Paul; they simply wanted to verify. They wanted to find out for themselves, and this is a good thing. As Peter writes (1 Peter 3:15), “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” I mean, how good of an answer would it be for you to ask one of the Bereans why they believe in Christ and their answer is, “Well, you see this guy named Paul told us that scripture says Jesus is the messiah, so we believed.” I mean, seriously. If somebody told you that the scripture indicates that Barack Obama is the descendant of Jesus, would you believe them? No! After you finished laughing you’d ask them to show you in the scriptures where that was said. Then you’d read it for yourself, and if it seemed like that was a valid interpretation, you’d probably start asking around, asking me, asking elders in the church, etc.

The Jews in Berea seriously studied that which was taught to them. They didn’t take three weeks like the Thessalonians but studied for days to discern the truth. As a result, many discovered the truth and came to believe in Christ. You see, the doctrine of Christ does not fear inquiry. The true gospel does not fear people studying and testing the scriptures. The true gospel does not fear people knowing the truth, because, as the scriptures say, the truth will set you free (John 8:32). But how are you going to know what it says unless you study it?

Each of us has a responsibility, a duty, to seek out the truth. The topic of God is too important to take any chances. Honestly, I’m glad and honored that you trust me, but please, for your sake and mine, verify that what I’m saying is true. Is it bad or is it wrong to trust your teachers and believe what they say? No. Nobody here is condemning the Thessalonians for their trust in Paul. Instead, I commend those that are so devoted to the truth that they took it upon themselves to study God’s word and verify the claims that Paul was making.

I would encourage you to seek out the truth. Read through your Bible and verify that what you’ve been taught is accurate and that you have understood it correctly. Be like the Bereans and study God’s word, examine God’s word, and know God’s word so that you might not be deceived.

 

You and Your Household

We in the church, for quite some time, have been preoccupied with the millennial generation. This isn’t a new thing. We end up doing this with every new generation. Every generation brings a new point of view, both of the church and society. Now it’s happening again with the millennials. We see study after study stating that this generation is leaving the church and not returning. Many churches have tried to make themselves more contemporary or become less harsh on certain sins in order to attract the younger generation, yet if we look within our own churches at the millennials that have remained, as many surveys have, the statistics help to tell us why it is that so many are leaving, a strong, godly focus within the home.

In our scripture this week (Acts 16:25-34) we find Paul and Silas in prison. They have been beaten and chained. Yet as they sit in prison we find them singing praises to God. In the middle of the night, a great earthquake shakes the prison and releases all of the prisoners. The jailer, having seen what has happened, plans to end his own life, for the jailer was responsible for all prisoners in his care. If any of them escaped, his life was forfeit.

However, Paul cries out to him and stops the jailer from carrying out his plans. Immediately the jailer comes to Paul and Silas and asks what it is that he must do to receive salvation. Paul replies, “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household” (Acts 16:31). When I first read this passage, this verse jumped out at me. Was Paul trying to say that because this man believes, his entire household will receive salvation? This would include his wife, his children, his servants, his father and mother and grandparents if they’re still living. No, that’s not what it’s saying, but it is saying the same thing that our surveys and statistics are showing. A family that lives with Christ at the center will be saved.

Reality is, we have great people teaching here are the church. Personally, I think the pastor is one heck of a guy, but if you think he’s great, the Sunday School teachers are even better. But we can have the best Sunday School teachers and the best pastor available, but none of that makes as much difference as what happens within the four walls of your home. We can teach them what the Bible says, we can tell them how important it is, we can live it out in our own lives and be stellar examples, but it means next to nothing if it’s not being reinforced at home. What the studies are finding is the same thing that Paul is talking about here. It has to start at home. Your home needs to be a home where Jesus is not some accessory that complements everything else. He needs to be more than a casual side conversation or a reason why we can’t go do this or that. He needs to be absolutely central to everyday life.

The young adults, the millennials, that have stayed in church, the ones that are stepping up as church leaders, driving ministries and making a difference in God’s Kingdom are the ones whose parents made Jesus more than just someone who we talked to on Sundays and at meal times. Their parents took their own faith seriously as well as the command to raise their children likewise. These young adult church leaders were the kids whose parents punished them and held them accountable. They’re the ones whose parents read the Bible to them every night, and they are kids whose parents were tough but who ultimately operated from a framework of grace that held up the cross of Jesus as the basis for peace with God and forgiveness toward one another.

This isn’t a foolproof formula. Kids from good, Christian homes will choose to walk away from God and kids from broken homes that only spoke Jesus’ name as a curse word will find salvation, but it’s far from a random roll of the dice. Kids who are raised in a household that puts God first will grow up to lead a household that puts God first. As it says in the book of Joshua, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

 

Don’t Make It Difficult

I remember the day that I came to know Jesus. I was only eight years old. The pastor spoke about how our sin kept us from God but that Jesus had already paid the price for me. All I needed to do was trust in him. It was a simple message. So simple that even a child could understand. It’s the same message that we preach today and that the early church taught as well.

As we continue in our journey through Acts, we come once again to a topic that we’ve already covered. Back in Acts 10 & 11 we read about Peter and the Gentile Pentecost. It seems things have come full circle. While Paul and Barnabas were teaching in Antioch, those of the “circumcision party,” came preaching that Gentiles must be circumcised before they could receive salvation. The debate became so heated that they took it to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-2).

In the proceedings that followed, Paul explains everything that has been happening, among the Gentiles. He’s not telling the story of what he and Barnabas have been doing. He and Barnabas could circle the globe and tell every Gentile about Jesus and they could receive it, but this debate isn’t about whether Gentiles can believe in Jesus. This debate is about whether the Gentiles need to be circumcised, whether they need to convert to Judaism, before they become a Christian, so Paul tells the council not what he and Barnabas have been doing and about their ministry but about how God has been working and the miraculous signs and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:3-4). 

Following Paul’s testimony, a spokesperson for the circumcision party stands up and testifies the basis of their position (Acts 15:5). You can almost picture a courtroom scene where each side is presenting their case before a jury of apostles and elders.

Then, Peter, the spokesperson for the apostles, stands up and gives his opinion on the topic (Acts 15:6-12). He recounts the events discussed in Acts 10 & 11 and closes with the comment, “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of or Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

We then have James, the brother of Jesus and the spokesperson for the elders, stand up and give his opinion on the matter (Acts 15:13-21). He relates the same message as Peter and even refers back to Old Testament scripture to support his view before rendering his final judgement in Acts 15:19-21. I love the way that James phrases this, “we should not make it difficult.” It’s almost as if he’s saying, “We’ve lived our lives under the rule of the law, just as Peter said. We’ve seen that it cannot be done. Why then, having experienced the grace of Jesus that set us free from the law, should we make it difficult for others by requiring that they live up to the law that even we couldn’t live up to?”

At this point we might look at those in the circumcision party and wonder why this topic is still being debated. We start to think, “What is with these people? Why can they not just accept this? Why do they have to try to make it difficult for people to come to God?” But we forget that these were real people. We often hear one side of a story and, intentional or not, begin to demonize those on the other side. We can’t see how any rational person would even think to act like they are. But again, these are real people.

I highly doubt that they were simply trying to be difficult, to make it harder for people to come to salvation through Jesus. In fact, if we think about it, we find ourselves doing the same thing on occasion. We’ve been Christians for a long time and understand how God wants us to live, so we try to tell others how they need to live in order to please God. We build for ourselves a mental picture of what it looks like to be a Christian. God hates murder, so a Christian must be against abortion. God loves us and wants us to remain pure, so a good Christian stays away from sexual immorality. God has given us these bodies and resides in them as his temple, so a good Christian must not defile their body by doing drugs, smoking, or chewing tobacco. God hates lies, so a Christian must not be a politician (okay, maybe that one was a bit of a stretch).

But we paint this picture of do’s and don’ts, and we live our lives according to this list because we love God and want to please him. The problem comes when we try to push this list upon Christians still in their infancy. We try to make people conform to our list before their own love for God compels them to do so. 

Don’t make it difficult. Jesus gave two commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31), yet many times we try to make it more difficult than it needs to be. We need to help guide people as they seek to love God, not lay rules and regulations upon them in order for them to love Him. The gospel that has been given to us is so simple that a child can understand it. Jesus died as payment for our sins so that we can be reunited with God. All we need to do is trust in him. Let’s not make it any more difficult than it needs to be.

Hardships

As we continue in our study of Acts, I’d like to take a moment to look at a scripture from Romans. Paul, who we’re reading about in Acts, is the writer of the letter to the Romans, so we can glean some insights into what he’s doing and saying in Acts by looking at what he was saying to other churches.

When reading Romans 8:16-17 we typically focus on the fact that we are heirs with Jesus. As such, everything that Jesus inherits will also be ours. All the glory, all the majesty, the amazing riches and the streets of gold will all be ours because we are heirs with Christ. However, it is often overlooked that along with inheriting glory and riches along with Jesus, we also must inherit his trials and suffering.

This is the same message that Paul was preaching to the churches during his first missionary journey. We see in Acts 14:21-22 that Paul is “encouraging” the churches by telling them that they must face many hardships. This seems like anything but encouragement, but as we look throughout the Bible we can see other instances where this same idea is expressed.

James is one of my favorite books of the Bible. As the brother of Jesus and a patriarch of the church, he had many great things to say about the topic of trials and hardships in the beginning of his letter (James 1:2-3). As he explains, going through these trials and hardships helps to develop perseverance. Now, the word here translated as “perseverance” is translated differently in different Bible translations. Some say perseverance, some say endurance, while others say patience. This is typically an indication that the English words we’re using aren’t quite satisfactory to get across the proper meaning of the original Greek word. The word in Greek is hypomonē and it actually means all three of these words, perseverance, endurance and patience. It’s the idea of all three of these words together. It’s not merely the idea of endurance, being able to take on trials and hardships without breaking. It’s not just the idea of perseverance, having the will and fortitude to keep going. It’s all three, having the patience to wait it out, having the perseverance to keep pushing forward, and having the endurance to hold strong without breaking. But still, it’s more than that.

In the early centuries of Christianity, Christians were being persecuted, tortured and martyred for their faith. However, the thing that astonished those that were persecuting them was not that they held to their faith despite the torture and death. It was not how well they endured while being tortured, but it was how they did it. There are stories of men and women who are in the process of being burned alive, and all the while they’re smiling and singing to their Lord. When asked why they were singing they replied, “I saw the glory of God and was glad.” These people weren’t crazy. They simply understood what it was that James and Paul were writing about and teaching (James 1:4). These trials and hardships, they’re the pain that we must endure in order to reach our end goal. We do it, not so that we may learn to endure more; not so that we might become more patient or learn perseverance, but we do it that we might become more mature and complete, not lacking anything. God is honing us and shaping us into the perfect image of Christ, and it is through trials and hardships that he does this.

This is what James is saying here, and that’s why Paul was encouraging people telling them, you’re going to face hardships. You’re going to run into trials, but be thankful, consider it pure joy, because it’s training to make you stronger, to help you to better persevere, to better endure, to be more patient so that you can endure the trials and hardships that are to come that are a part of your inheritance, “provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him.” That’s the whole reason for these trials and hardships. Not so that we may endure more hardships, but so that we might be made mature and perfect just as God intended us to be.

The God of Second Chances

After graduating high school, I, like many other teenagers, had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I liked computers, and the only computer related degree offered at the community college was Computer Drafting. To my adolescent mind, it seemed like the perfect fit. However, near the end of my two-year degree, I knew God was calling me into the pastorate. As any good church kid would do, at the next opportunity I changed schools and majors to follow God’s plan.

As I journeyed toward God’s plan for my life, I began to worry. I liked computers. However, I had never seen a pastor use a computer for more than word processing. This was not what I wanted for my life; I didn’t want to give up my passion in order to be a pastor. I ended up abandoning that path in order to attain a degree in computer science and become a computer programmer.

I hadn’t turned my back on the church, but I definitely put God in a box. I was so afraid of what he would do in my life that I ignored his plan in favor of my own. That obviously isn’t the end of the story. Being the pastor here at Faith Community Church of the Nazarene, we can see that I eventually accepted God’s plan. Fortunately for me, we serve a God of second chances. God gave me a chance. I began to follow, but my own fears of losing something important to me began to get in my way. I fell off the track and began heading my own direction, but the God of second chances, in a roundabout way, brought me back to where I needed to be. He gave me a second chance.

We see a similar story this week in Acts 13:6-12. We catch up with Barnabas and Paul early on in their first missionary journey. They’re travelling across the island of Cyprus when they meet a sorcerer named Bar-Jesus. We looked at similar encounter with Peter back in Acts 8 which we discussed a few weeks ago. However, Bar-Jesus is a little different. We’re told in the scripture that he is a Jew. With the number of synagogues in the area, it’d be a safe bet to say that he grew up learning about God (Yahweh). Yet somewhere along the way he decided to make his own route. Maybe he was lured by money, maybe God was telling him to do one thing but he didn’t want to listen. Whatever the reason, he grew up learning about Yahweh but somewhere along the line decided to make his own path, and it brought him pretty far. He was the adviser to the proconsul (governor) of Cyprus.

Now, he had a pretty good thing going on here. Deep down he must have known that Yahweh was the true God and that He revealed things to his prophets, not some sorcerer reading the stars in order to make a profit. He knew deep down that what he was doing was fake and wrong, so when the proconsul wanted to hear what Barnabas and Paul were preaching about, Bar-Jesus became worried. The proconsul was a smart man. If he heard what Barnabas and Paul had to say, he’d likely believe them. If he believed them then he’d eventually see that Bar-Jesus was merely a charlatan, so he does everything in his power to stop Barnabas and Paul from reaching the proconsul.

As he tries to stop them, Paul, much like Peter with Simon the Sorcerer, sees what he’s trying to do and calls him out. He lectures Bar-Jesus and strikes him blind. However, just as Peter tells Simon, “repent and pray to the Lord that he might forgive you,” indicating that forgiveness is possible, Paul makes Bar-Jesus blind saying, “You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” This wasn’t a permanent thing.

As we see with Bar-Jesus and Simon as well as Paul (Acts 9:1-19), and most notably Jonah (Jonah 1:1-3:3), we serve a God of second chances. I am a living testament to that fact. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve strayed. This isn’t to say that you’ve been completely denying God. Maybe you’re like I was and just simply don’t want to go where he’s leading you. Maybe you know there are things in your life that aren’t quite right. If you still have breath in your lungs today, it’s not too late. God is offering you a second chance, but it’s up to you to accept it, to repent and pray to God that he might forgive you, to get on the right page and follow him. You might be afraid that he’ll make you give up something you love or enjoy, but I can promise you, he gave you your desires, and he is more than capable of fulfilling them.

The Power of Prayer

The story of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison is one that is often told within Bible studies and Sunday School classes. We often focus on Peter’s escape. Sometimes we’ll look at the part about the people praying that didn’t believe he’d escaped and laugh and joke about how naive they were; how they didn’t realize how powerful God really was. However, these people fully understood the power of their God. As we look more deeply at the story, we can see that we often find ourselves in the same place that these people were on this night.
We first see the people praying in Acts 12:12-15. They are gathered together praying and don’t realize that Peter has escaped from prison and is at their door. As much as the servant girl, Rhoda, emphatically tells them, they dismiss her claims saying, “No, you’re mistaken,” or “It must be his ghost.” However, if we back up the story to Acts 12:2, we begin to see the big picture and the reason behind their skepticism.

James the apostle, the son of Zebedee, was captured by King Herod and ultimately killed. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he figured he’d give the people an encore with Peter. Due to the Passover feast, Peter’s execution was delayed. We see in Acts 12:5 that the church was praying for Peter during his time in prison. We can easily reason that the same people had done the same thing when James was put in prison. While we may not attest to seeing many miracles now, these early Christians were no strangers to miraculous signs. Already in Acts 5 we saw an angel deliver the apostles from prison. We’ve seen people healed and raised from the dead. These early Christians were well aware of the power of their God. As such, I’m sure they fully expected James to miraculously escape from prison. After his death squashed all hope of that, it’s likely that many of them expected him to be raised from the dead. However, that didn’t happen either.

When Peter is thrown into prison, these people set to praying; however, this is the second go-round. They’d been in the same situation before, and it didn’t end as they had hoped. I know that I’m not alone when I say that I’ve had these same feelings. When I set to pray for healing or for the salvation of a loved one but in the back of my mind I’m preparing for the worst. I’m preparing for the sickness to end in death at the same time as I pray for healing.

These people were earnestly praying, but deep down they likely didn’t believe that it would make a difference, so when their prayer was answered, they didn’t believe it at first. Now, I could try diving into some explanation about why God seems to answer some prayers and not others, but honestly, that’s not the focus of this scripture. Are we to say that God loved Peter more than James or that the people praying lacked faith when they prayed for James but had faith when they prayed for Peter? No. All we know is that they prayed. Maybe they weren’t completely convinced that God would answer their prayers the second time around, but they believed and trusted in God. We can see that they believed because if they had been completely without faith, they wouldn’t have even bothered praying.

In the end, that’s all that we can do, pray to God and place our faith and trust in Him. There is power in prayer. While each of us has examples of prayers that maybe God didn’t answer how we wanted, we also have examples of prayers that God has answered, some of them he’s even answered in glorious and spectacular ways. There is power in prayer. It’s not a wishing well or a magic genie. Just because we pray doesn’t mean that something will happen, but I can tell you with certainty, if we don’t pray, nothing will happen. Our job is not to understand the reasoning behind what God does. Our job is to trust him and rest in his mercy, bringing to him our heavy burdens.

This week I would ask that you join me in lifting our burdens to the Lord, for those sick and hurting in our community, for families that have recently lost loved ones, for the changes in our community that are just upon the horizon, and for our Christian brethren across the world that are facing the ultimate test of faith, between choosing Jesus and choosing life. Let us lift up our burdens to the Lord. He is big enough to take them all.