Acts 11

Read Acts 11

"Now those scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch . . . Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch."

Stephen was a remarkable man with tremendous potential. There is no telling what impact he would have had upon Jerusalem had he lived longer, but he didn’t. In a horrendous hate crime his life was snuffed out. From a human perspective, it didn’t make any sense. Why would God allow such a thing to happen? Things often don’t make sense from a human perspective precisely because it is a human perspective, and by definition that means limited, finite, and tainted with sin. Nevertheless, for some reason we arrogantly cling to the opinion that if it doesn’t make sense to us, then it is clearly senseless. This text, however, says that an apparent senseless death was a catalyst to world evangelization.

The persecution that arose over Stephen forced the Jewish believers to leave Jerusalem and travel to various parts of the known world. Even in doing so, the church was still limited to Jewish people (11:19). Some in Antioch bravely took the daring step of presenting the gospel to Greek-speaking Jews. God shook them up some more with the conversion of Cornelius, a Gentile God-fearer (someone who followed the teachings of the OT but was not circumcised). Each of these stages were major steps, yet to this point no one could possibly conceive of the gospel going to uncircumcised, pagan Gentiles. That is, until Saul or Paul came on the scene. Saul was instrumental in Stephen’s death, and now he is intimately involved in the mission work that erupted as a result of Stephen’s death. The greatest missionary the world has ever known, the one who first took the gospel to total pagans was a product of the martyrdom of Stephen.

It is almost impossible to calculate what would have been had Stephen not been martyred. Who knows how long Christianity would have gone before it spread outside of Jewish circles. The ripple effects of Stephen’s death are simply massive. The greatest impact that he had on the world was in his death. Why do we question the wise plans of an infinite God when we have so little knowledge with which to judge. Our present affliction may seem senseless at the moment, but who knows God could be changing the world through it.

Acts 10 and Cultural Transformation

Acts 10 (Click to read)

Jesus left his disciples with the promise that they would be “his witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” There was one major problem with this world changing plan. The disciples were Jews. Now of course there is no inherent problem with being Jewish. However, at the time there was weaved into Jewish cultural identity a certain hubris about their moral superiority. You can see this in Peter’s comment: “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate wit or to visit anyone of another nation”(10:28). Unlawful? Good luck trying to find that in the OT law. But it was very prevalent within the Jewish religious tradition and culture. Now if part of your core identity is never to taint your holiness by associating with anyone not of the same nationality as you, becoming a witness to the ends of the earth seems pretty unlikely. The conviction that non-Jews were “unclean” was so ingrained in Peter’s mind that questioning it probably never occurred to him. So God’s response is to shake up Jewish cultural values and transform them, at least for Christians, into Christ-centered values.

What happened with early Jewish Christians happens everywhere the gospel makes inroads. There are so many values and beliefs ingrained in us by our culture that we never think to question them. These values are what we have always believed to be true, and we never even think whether Christianity changes it. For example, rugged individualism, a value of a particular view of freedom, our consumer mentality, dislike and distrust of other cultures, unquestioning commitments to certain economic philosophies, etc. can become such a part of our identity that we never think to question whether they are right and Christ-centered. The transformation of our cultural habits is perhaps the most profound and difficult change for no other reason than we are often ignorant that a change is needed. So there are several valuable lessons to learn here.

First, culture is not neutral. Our national heritage is not a benign influence. Indeed, there is no such thing as a neutral value. It is either good and Christ exalting, or it is wrong and Christ belittling. We cannot assume that because our parents believed something and everyone around us believes it that it is therefore right and true. God alone determines what is clean and unclean. Secondly, our cultural biases often greatly diminish our effectiveness as witnesses for Jesus Christ. American individualism, for example, disables the transformative influence of the church, a community. Thirdly, we are often blind to the detrimental values of our particular culture. It virtually impossible for us to critique our cultural biases. Even when we turn to Scripture, our understanding of Scripture is effected by our cultural perspective. And fourthly, Christ must transform us deep down into even our cultural identity. The gospel doesn’t just transform immoral people into moral people. It transform idolaters into worshippers of Christ, and that means that idolatrous culture must change into Christ exalting culture.

So how does the gospel transform us that deep? How do we seek to dig out the deep roots of sinful culture that has flourished in us since we were born? Obviously, I don’t have all the answers, but here are some ideas.

First, bombard your mind with the Scriptures. But don’t just read the Scripture, seek to uncover the cultural context of the Bible. The Bible is after all a product of a foreign culture. As you reflect on it, it will force you to reflect upon your own cultural identity.

Second, read broadly. Interact with the literature and history of other cultures. Read early American literature and history, British, French, Russian, African, Asian, etc. literature and history. Read ancient Christians, the Reformers, Puritans, and Christians of other nationalities. Of course, this takes time, lots of time. But don’t restrict your reading to contemporary American writing, even if it is Christian writing.

Thirdly, seek out friendships with peoples of other religions and cultures. We have a greater opportunity than ever to do this, since America is becoming more and more diverse. Don’t begrudge this. Embrace it as an opportunity to grow in Christ.

Fourthly, when you get the chance ask missionaries all the questions that you can about the cultures they are trying to reach, and their thoughts about American culture. You will discover that these individuals who are constantly faced with their own biases coming into conflict with those of another culture have some deep and excellent insights. If any one else has more ideas, I am open to them.

Driscoll on Hard Words

Mark Driscoll will be speaking about the use of harsh language at the upcoming Desiring God National Conference. Here he offers some provoking thoughts about God's use of harsh and cutting communication. As a preacher, I am certainly very interested in these kinds of issues. However, though I do use some shocking language sometimes in preaching, I find that I need to use some of the harshest remarks in one on one conversations. So I don't think this is a preachers only issue. I would love to hear of experiences where someone needed to use harsh language to communicate truth.

Acts 9 and the Adventure of God

Acts 9 (Click to read)

There are few passages of Scripture that display the unpredictability of God as clearly as this one. Paul was the greatest missionary in the history of the Christian church, the embodiment of Christian humility, compassion, and zeal. Indeed, Paul’s ministry is so stunning that we often forget what he never forgot, that Paul was once Saul. Saul was the greatest enemy of the early church. It seems he orchestrated the stoning of Stephen. He ravaged the homes of Jerusalem Christians and drug men and women, fathers and mothers, off to the dungeons for their commitment to Jesus.

We’ve already read of some peculiar divine strategies like sending Philip into desert to meet a eunuch. In fact, the whole book of Acts is an exercise of unpredictability, but this blows everything out of the water. The Pharisaical terrorist, the number one perpetrator of anti-Christian hate crimes in a moment is converted to faith in the Jesus he hated. So outrageous is God’s plan that Ananias can’t believe it, the apostles and Christians in Jerusalem can’t believe it, even Peter who in next few verses has the faith to raise a lady from the dead just can’t believe it. But God is a God without limitations to his power. He can raise dead people, and he can transform evil people. When you work with a God like that, there is no telling what will happen. Standard procedure may be tossed out the door at any given moment.

It’s a scary business working for such a God, for who knows where and to what he will call you. But it is a exciting adventure. It makes me wonder. Is this sense of adventure, this anticipation of the unpredictability of an almighty God often lost on us? I was pondering the other day what would happen if I prayed, like Peter, for a person who just died to come back to life, and it actually happened. Though you could never say until it happened, my guess is that most Christians would not meet the news with grateful joy but with cold skepticism. They’d think I’m nuts or a liar. Of course, I’m not advocating that we throw discernment aside and eagerly accept all claims of supernatural acts. But it seems that we almost presume to know the full agenda of God. We know exactly where he is going and how he is going to get there. There are certain lines that he simply cannot cross. I mean everybody knows that once an auditorium is 80% full people will stop coming, that only 10% of your congregation will ever be evangelistic, that mortally sick people don’t get well, and dead people don’t come back to life. Certainly there does seem to be common patterns, but as co-workers of the Savior of the world maybe we should assume that those lines are pencil not ink. Ink lines are predictable and safe, but when the lines are in pencil a knock on the door, a text message, a trip back home could change your life forever and all the world with it.

Acts 8 and Church Strategies

Acts 8 (Click to read)

"Ch _ _ ch - What’s missing? U R.” I can’t recall how many times I’ve seen this corny message displayed on a church sign. I’ve even come across a beautiful wooden church sign with this message permanently carved into it. It makes you wonder whether churches really think that a passerby is going to read the sign and think, “Oh that’s rich! Didn’t see that one coming at all. And yet it’s so true. I should be in church. I’m going to that church this Sunday.” Of course, many churches and church growth experts are much more sophisticated in their endeavors. They speak of the marketability of the church, run publicity campaigns, and even tailor their services to appeal to a certain slice of the surrounding population. But how biblical are all of these approaches? What is the role of human strategy, publicity, and human initiative in the spread of the gospel? And what does it have to do with Acts 8?

One thing is certainly clear in Acts 8. The advancement of the kingdom of God is foremost God’s initiative. In this chapter, the gospel expands rapidly into all Judea and even Samaria. An influential official of the Ethiopian government is converted and no doubt takes this news of a Savior back to his homeland. Jesus promised that his salvation would spread throughout all Judea, Samaria, and into the nations (1:8), and it’s already happening. But what brought it about? I really can’t help but notice that their is really very little publicity, strategy, or any human initiative. The church expands because it had to. Persecution made the church scatter. The Holy Spirit lead Philip into the desert to meet a eunuch. Who would conjure up that strategy? “I know. I’ll go off into the middle of nowhere, meet a eunuch, and tell him about Jesus.” Perhaps, though, the most striking statement of the chapter is from Peter when he rebukes Simon saying, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought that you could obtain the gift of God with money!” Peter’s problem was not the offer of silver. It was with the mentality that God’s power, God’s gift could be controlled by human devices. Simon thought he could take what belonged solely to God and wield it at his will.

Of course, there is human effort and strategy in this chapter. The church did proclaim the gospel, the disciples did plan a prayer trip to Samaria, and Philip did start up a conversation and explain Scripture. But all strategy and all effort was placed under the umbrella of God’s sovereign control. And harsh rebuke meets Simon the moment he considered the primacy of God’s sovereign power subservient to the initiatives of men.

It's unbelievable how much mail I receive every day from Christian organizations informing me of the new strategies and programs that are going to fill my church with people. There is nothing wrong with strategies or publicity. But when those human endeavors start taking center stage, when all our hopes get placed upon new programs, when we begin to equate evangelism with being cutting edge, we are in very dangerous waters. May our programs, initiatives, strategies, publicity campaigns, technology, websites, concerts, dramas, bands perish with us if we think we can obtain the gift of God through them.

Acts 7

Acts 7 (Click to read)

I would guess that for most people today understanding the point of Stephen’s sermon is a bit difficult time . Why is he rehearsing this long stretch of historical facts that his audience had probably heard since they were children? The reason we don’t get it is because today history is at best some interesting stories that might provide some good or bad examples for us to emulate or not emulate. That wasn’t the case for Stephen and the early church. History, and especially the inspired interpretation of history (i.e. biblical history), was seen not as historical facts and examples. Rather, these early Christians, and Jews for that matter, saw history as providing a story that gave the proper framework to understand all the world, past, present, and future. They looked back to understand what was happening now. This is a huge divide between the way they understood life and the way modern people do. When they encountered life, they didn’t look inside themselves to find answers. They looked to history to find answers.

Stephen, then, is looking to the past to interpret his present circumstances. He rehearses Israelite history, but he comes to very different conclusions than those of his hearers. Israel, at this time, reveled in their privileged position as God’s chosen people and of their descent from the great Abraham. However, Stephen points to another very clear fact in their history. Regardless of God’s gracious election of them, they have always rejected God. They rejected Moses and the oracles that came through him. They rejected God after His miraculous and awe-inspiring deliverance of Israel from Egypt. They rejected God when they entered into the promised land. They rejected all the prophets that foretold of the coming of the “Righteous One.” So, says Stephen, it is not surprising that when the Righteous One comes, they reject him. Their current behavior accords perfectly with history. Israel is God’s elected people, but they are also the same wicked, stiff-necked elected people.

But perhaps the most amazing part of Stephen’s sermon is that he combines a demand for repentance with a humble and compassionate heart. Stephen confronts them boldly and clearly about the seriousness of their sin. He tells them not only that they are wrong, but that they are in perverse rebellion against the God they claim to worship. Today, we are told that such talk is arrogant, narrow, and even hateful. Yet the same Stephen who shouts condemnation also prays, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Compassion and hard truth are not at odds in Stephen’s heart. In fact, they work in perfect harmony. He confronts because he sees the massive rebellion of their ways, and the condemnation that awaits them unless they repent.

Here are two excellent principles for the church today. If we want to spread the glory of Christ in this world, we need to learn the full story of the gospel, and we need to proclaim clearly as truth with compassion flooding our hearts. We need to look into the story line of the Bible to interpret our lives and our world, and not to contemporary culture or to our own hearts. Then we need to bring this biblical interpretation of the world to the ears of our neighbors. We must be uncompromising, but we must also burn with compassion for them. We need Stephens. May God bless his church with multitudes of them.

Won't Find a Savior On Capitol Hill

With all the political buzz (vast understatement) surrounding the upcoming presidential election, Derek Webb offers this helpful reminder.

Acts 6

Acts 6 (Click to read)

The priority of proclaiming God’s truth was a clear passion of the early church. Acts 6:1-7 make that evident as much as any other passage in the book. This first church had a major concern for the poor and destitute (2:44; 3:1-7; 4:32, 37; 5:12-16). And the apostles certainly seemed to lead the way in this concern as picked up where their teacher, Jesus, left off. Yet the burdens of the people, due most likely to the amount of people, became so great that preaching and prayer were getting neglected. What is evidenced here is not just good management strategy. The apostles refused to lay off the task of preaching for the task of caring for physical needs.

This priority of God’s truth is further seen in the following account of Stephen. If ever there was a man in this group that resounded love, integrity, graciousness, and joy, it was Stephen. Luke deliberately draws attention to the links between the injustice done to Stephen and the injustice done to Jesus. Both were tried on trumped up charges. Both were totally innocent. Both had false witnesses accuse them. And like Jesus, Stephen’s “face was like the face of an angel.” Okay, that was never actually said about Jesus. But the point, I think, of the statement is that like Jesus Stephen overflowed with kindness, love, and grace. He was so clearly innocent that even his enemies, though blinded by hatred, could see the goodness of this man. Just like Jesus, he was not being tried because of his love for the poor, his kindness to widows, or even for the miracles that he did. He was going to die because he spoke truth. His enemies instigated his demise simply because “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking”(6:1). They couldn’t refute him. They knew what he said was true.

So why do people kill other people for saying what they know is true? The answer is that human beings don’t care so much about what is true, but about what they want to be true. Such is the nature of all mankind. So what do you do with people who not only don’t believe the truth but don’t even want to believe the truth? The early church’s answer was quite simple. You proclaim truth, you trust God, and you expect to suffer. Two things always happen when God’s saving truth is proclaimed: 1) God uses the truth to make unbelieving hearts believe (“And the word of God continued to increase . . .” 6:7), and 2) individuals harden their hearts against it and lash out at you. So these first Christians merely made known God’s salvation and expected both of these to happen. And so should we.

Acts 5

Acts 5 (Click to read)

If there is anything clear about the early church it is that it was thoroughly God-centered. Peter and the apostles’ response to the Sadducees sums up the church’s perspective well: “We must obey God rather than man.” These first Christians were deeply impassioned to bring people to salvation. They were not at all concerned whether they were popular or liked. At least it seems that if they were they wouldn’t say things like, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree,” which predictably elicits the Sadducees enraged desire to kill them (5:33).

In fact, it is the love of popularity that consumes Ananais and Sapphira and brings their destruction. Certainly, they were judged because they lied about the property they sold, but what drove them to lie was an obsession to appear as thriving, generous Christians. God’s response to their sin may seem harsh, but we must understand the full atrocity of their actions. What they did undermined the very heart of grace and salvation. The good news of God’s grace is that he is taking those worthy only of his condemnation and instead giving them his love. It is that Jesus dies for those who are his enemies. In other words, not being what you should be means, at least in God’s economy of grace, that you get what you don’t deserve. Not being what you should be simply means you need grace, which through Jesus is amply supplied. Pretending to be what you are not is the greatest of evils. Not only is your pretense deceit, but it is also a rejection of grace. He who pretends to be what he is not, also pretends to have no need of grace.

If you are merely concerned with being liked, the true message of grace will not be what you proclaim nor what you live. And you won’t be God-centered, for to be grace-centered is to be God-centered. I must be clear here, because I don’t think that the story of Ananais and Sapphira speaks primarily to morally loose, uncharitable hypocrites. The message is for those who have made their faith into being moral, being charitable, and even being sacrificial. But their Christianity is a Christianity about them, and what they are doing. It is not about God and what he in his grace is doing. Their faith is about appearing faithful and not about faith in Christ.

Malwebolence and Worldviews

Ran into this article yesterday, which catalogs a new form of internet malevolence. What is most interesting is not just the cyber crimes, but the worldviews behind them. What you think is not neutral.

Malwebolence - The World of Web Trolling

Francis Schaeffer on Lex Rex

One of the leading Christian philosophers of the twentieth century was Francis Schaeffer. In this clip, Schaeffer points out the worldview that lead to the greatest political project in the history of the world to date, the American project. The foundation, whether directly or indirectly, stemmed from a biblical worldview.


View a clip from How Shall We Then Live

Acts 4

Read Acts 4

Notice that it was for the preaching the resurrection of Jesus that Peter and John were arrested (4:2). They by no means overlooked the death of Jesus (4:10), but it was his resurrection that caused such consternation. It is of course understandable since Jesus dying was the wish of the religious leaders, but his resurrection was something that cast both doubt upon them and gave authority to this Jesus and his comrades. Jesus death means nothing if there were no resurrection.

The apostles had an apocalyptic air about everything they said and did. The coming of the Spirit was fulfillment of Joel’s “last days” prophecy (2:17-21). They preached repentance that times of refreshing might come from God’s presence and all things might be restored in Christ (3:19-20). They even proclaimed that the healing of the lame man was by the power unleashed by Jesus death and resurrection (3:15). It’s no wonder. They believed that the Author of life was killed and rose from the dead. This power of the resurrection was turning the universe upside down. It was beginning to penetrate into men’s bodies and into their hearts.

It seems the church thinks far too little about the resurrection. We put too little thought into God’s power over death, evil, and the forces of darkness as revealed in the resurrection. The resurrection says evil is coming down, and its coming down now. Slowly but surely, patiently and powerfully the evil and death that binds this world in its iron clasp is being eroded by fierce rains of grace streaming from the resurrection. Peter and John believed this heart and soul and so could say in essence to their bullying authorities, “Do you what you must with us, but we cannot help but tell people what we have seen and heard.” The church embraced this and so instead of praying for the fires of persecution to be quenched cried out, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness”(4:29). May we also constantly live with resurrection power on our minds.