The Bible Recap - Day 327 (Acts 15-16) - Year 4

Episode Date: November 23, 2022

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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Before we popped over to the book of Jacob's Last James, Paul and Barnabas had just arrived back from their first missionary journey in the church at Antioch was celebrating with them. They've been there for a while, and today some guys from Jerusalem show up for a teaching trip. And guess what they're teaching? Circumcision. They start all the drama back up again, saying people have to convert to Judy as a man in order to convert to Christianity. Paul and Barnabas push back. They've already been down this road about a decade earlier. They make a trip back to Jerusalem in hopes of dealing with it once and for all. When they arrive, we find out who is behind this circumcision requirement, the Pharisees.

These are believers who are Pharisees, though, according to 155, people who have the Holy Spirit. Isn't it his job to teach us and help us reach unity? Yes, he totally does that. But like with most things, change happens slowly, not immediately. It's often when we look back over the course of years that we see the fruit. By the way, Paul is a Pharisee too, but he obviously disagrees with this Pharisee in Jerusalem. While they're debating this, Peter says,

Hey, remember when this all started? Remember how God used a Jew like me to preach to the Gentiles? Remember how those uncircumcised people received the Holy Spirit in a way that was so obvious and evident that none of us could deny it? It's clear that God doesn't make a distinction between you and Gentile. He knows all hearts, and He cleans the Gentiles' hearts, too. By saying He requires them to be circumcised, you're doing two very foolish things. You're heaping a burden on them that none of us have been able to bear anyway, and you're

also testing God because He's made himself clear. Knock it off. All who are saved are saved through his grace alone, not by keeping the law. Then Jacob slash James pipes up and says, Simeon reported the same thing as Peter, but this is a new idea. Even the prophet Amos talked about this like 800 years ago. God has called them by his name, according to Amos. Their relationship with God is intact.

So what we should be concerned with are things that disrupt the harmony of our relationships within the church. Circumcision isn't on that list. Our code of conduct should be about creating unity in the family of Christ. Let's figure out what those things are. This sounds like a great idea to the apostles, so they hold a meeting called the Jerusalem Council to decide what to require of Gentiles. It's important to point out that this list isn't given as a way to obtain righteousness. It's given as a way to make sure things go smoothly as the church starts to be filled with people from all different cultures. So the main question is, what are the cultural dealbreakers in our worship?

If we can set those things aside, they won't have the opportunity to cause division in the church. Those things are, eating things sacrificed to idols, eating blood, eating things that have been strangled, and sexual immorality at large. These are all things that Gentile cultures were engaged in and even used in their worship. The Jerusalem Council is trying to figure out how to honor God and live together in harmony. So a Gentile ordering a medium-rare filet while he's having dinner with his Jewish brother in Christ just can't happen, not if harmony is the goal. So the Jerusalem Council concludes that the only parts of their culture new converts have to lay down are the ones that conflict with Christ and the unity of his body.

And the only culture they have to pick up is the culture of Christ and his kingdom, not Judaism. The Spirit doesn't homogenize, he unifies. When the church reads this letter from the council, they're thrilled. Next, Paul and Barnabas decide to visit the churches they met and planted on their first trip. Barnabas wants to bring his cousin John Mark, but apparently something happened during that first trip when he left early back in Acts 13 We don't know what caused that rift Some think since he left around the time they went to the Gentile regions He may have felt uneasy about it

Regardless at this point Paul apparently doesn't trust him and refuses to travel with him again But look at God He uses that division to prompt multiplication because now there are two missionary trips going out Paul takes Silas and Barnabas takes John Mark. But if that makes you a little sad, don't worry, this story isn't over. In Lysra, which is in modern day Turkey, Paul and Silas meet up with a guy named Timothy. He's half Jewish, half Greek. He and Paul hit it off, so Paul invites him to join the trip. But then Paul does something totally unexpected. He has Timothy circumcised.

What? Wasn't Paul the one who just argued against this? Here's what I love about Paul. Remember how he started going by his Latin name so that he wouldn't offend the Gentiles, he was called the minister to, how he tries to be all things to all people and remove any potential speed bumps for the gospel?

That's what he's doing here with Timothy. He knows Timothy will be preaching to Jews, and Paul has seen firsthand how the Jews reject uncircumcised people, so he's taking away any opportunity they might have to discredit Timothy's message. All their steps are carefully directed by the Holy Spirit and visions. Go here, don't go there, and we may wonder why, but all it can do is guess. It reminds me of how Jesus did this a few times, too, the way he waited for Lazarus to die, the way he healed the woman with the blood disease

while the little girl was dying. By the way, this is also where we find out for the first time that Luke is on this trip, too, because he starts saying, we, instead of they, looks like we have an eye witness. They head to Philippi, where they meet a lot of people Paul will later write a letter to, also known as the Book of Philippians. So pay attention to these people because we'll see them again later.

They run into a women's prayer group and meet a woman named Lydia, who, by the way, is from the very city Paul wanted to go to, but the Holy Spirit said no. They start talking to the women and Lydia is intrigued. Verse 14 says, God opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. God is the one who made her interested in and receptive to their message, and we see a domino effect in her whole family. They all get baptized that same day and invite the men to stay at their house. When they go back to the prayer spot later, they encounter a demonized girl who is enslaved because this demon can tell people about themselves and their lives, which is a big moneymaker. Of course, this demon also knows the message of Jesus and one good way for a demon to discredit and disrupt that message among the people is by attaching a demonized girl to it.

She claims they serve the most high God, but to a community that doesn't know Yahweh, this is most likely making the locals think they worship the Greek God Zeus. Paul commands the demon to come out, and when it does, her masters are furious. They do a citizen's arrest and accuse the guys of disturbing the peace. They get beaten and thrown into prison or setting a girl free, kind of like Jesus. But they never waste a jail sentence, they sing hymns and pray, and everyone is listening. Then all of a sudden, there's an earthquake that opens all the doors. But the prisoners are apparently so captivated by the message that they don't even leave. The jailer wants to end his own life at the side of the open doors, but Paul is like,

Hey, buddy, we're all still here. It's okay. The jailer is awestruck. He asks how to be saved, and they tell him, well, first, you have to get circumcised. Then there's this whole list of rules to follow. No, they say, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. That's it. Believe. This echoes what Jesus said in John 6 when the crowd asked him, what must we do to be doing the works of God?

And Jesus said, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. On one hand, this seems really freeing. No long list of laws. But on the other hand, believe seems like an even harder work, right? Have you ever tried to make yourself believe something? I've never succeeded at that. I can much more easily give 10% of my income and rest on Saturday.

How do you believe something? Remember Lydia? Remember how God opened her heart? He does the doing. He initiates it, sustains it, and fulfills it. It turns out, faith is just another one of his gifts to us that we give back to him. And thank God, because if I have to figure out

how to believe something, I'm better off with the list. Paul and Silas preach to him and his whole family, and they all believe and rejoice and are baptized that night. He treats their wounds, they eat dinner together, and then they go back to prison. They were willing to sacrifice their freedom for the jailer's life, because they knew he'd be killed if they disappeared. Fortunately, the magistrate orders him to be set free and even apologizes to them.

Wow! I had one million tea-god shots today, but here's the one I'll share. In 159, Peter says, God cleanses our hearts by faith. God uses faith like I use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, or like a Silversmith uses a furnace. It's a purging fire that purifies our hearts and refines them. Doesn't the presence of a God-ward faith in your heart tend to drive out all the things that need to go? Praise God!

He's the active agent in that, and he's where the joy is. Tomorrow we'll be starting the Book of Galatians. It's six chapters long. We're linking to a short video overview in the show note, so check that out if you've got nine minutes to spare. Christmas is just around the corner. In fact, I know some of you already have your tree up, and there's no shame in that. There's room for all of us here.

But whether your tree is up by Labor Day, or if you don't even bother to hang a wreath, we can all agree that Christmas is about the joy of God the Sun coming to Earth. And if we've learned anything in our reading plan, it's that he's where the joy is. So, we want to give you a few ways to carry what we've learned here into your Christmas deck, or if you have it, and maybe even spread the joy to some others as well. We've just stocked our store with some very classy Christmas ornaments. They're shatterproof, so even your cat can't ruin them, hopefully. We'd also love to be your Christmas card this year, so we've got He's Where the Joy

is Christmas Cards for you in Pax of Tin. You can check it all out at thebibelrecap.com, then click on the store link. And maybe by next year, we'll have gotten around to doing that accurate nativity you've all requested.