Guided reading plans to help you read and understand the Bible.
Unless you were a geography major, you’re probably a little lost with all the movements of Paul as he goes about the ancient world preaching Jesus Christ. You may have some maps in the back of your Bible, which are great resources, but I also found some animated maps that may be helpful in placing Paul in his ministry.
You’ll find all his missionary journeys here.
As I mentioned yesterday, the early church struggled over what laws still apply to converts to Christianity, and we see that in the first chapter from this week’s readings from the book of Acts, chapter 15. Some among the Pharisees thought the Gentiles needed to first be circumcised, or in other words, the Gentiles had to become Jews first, to be followers of Jesus. The council in Jerusalem took time to decide matters and believed God was taking away any distinction between Jews and Gentiles and that all are saved by God’s grace, not the law.
The believers sent out delegates to bring this news to the early church, and this group included Paul and Barnabas (v.25). The news was met with rejoicing in the churches and Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch to continue teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.
Having just made a proclamation of unity to the churches that signified that the council was of one accord and that two groups who had been at odds were now being brought together, a sharp division arises. Paul and Barnabas intend to return to the churches they have ministered to, but Barnabas wanted to bring along John (called Mark), and Paul is not pleased by such a choice. Paul’s objection is that John has left them previously (Acts 13:13), so it would be better to choose another. We are not told explicitly why John left, but perhaps he returned to Jerusalem because he was uncomfortable with the mission Paul had to the Gentiles. This causes “sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas, causing them to separate–Paul goes with Silas, and Barnabas with John.
Do we lament that division followed such unity? I don’t think that needs to be the response.
This was not a break over what the council had just decided. They do not disagree on their mission, just on the manner in which they will carry it out. Certainly it would have troubled these men to part over such circumstances, but even though they were divided, they still shared unity in their purpose. They both were committed to bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever they went and continuing to care for his church. God may have even been able to use them for a greater good given that these two esteemed disciples divided their time and energies to reach different geographic areas. It also gave opportunity for Paul and Barnabas to take on new partners with whom to serve.
God is given glory in the unity brought about in the work of Jesus Christ to break down barriers that had once separated peoples. That good news is heard by the churches as the Jerusalem council sends word and the people rejoiced. But I do not think God’s glory is diminished when two faithful servants of the gospel part ways and divide to spread their ministries in new directions. God still worked great deeds in and through these early missionaries, and the story even has a happy ending. Paul’s letters reveal reconciliation with John (Mark), and he has changed his view of his role in the ministry. In 2 Timothy 4 Paul calls for him to be brought back because he believes that John is of great use to the work of God.
I’ve had questions recently about the laws of the Old Testament and how do we know what remains binding for us now. If you’ve kept up with Year in the Bible then you have come across dietary restrictions or requirements for personal hygiene that do not sound like something the church currently upholds. Do we just pick and choose which laws we follow? Do we select some of the Ten Commandments, then neglect ritual cleansing and stoning, then find some other codes that help us to judge others by some moral standard and keep those?
I’ll provide a quick answer, then point you in the direction of a couple of resources I’ve found helpful. To (perhaps over) simplify, there are different sorts of laws in the Old Testament, laws that had different purposes and held different roles. There were laws that dealt with the rituals of Israel, that made the people ceremonially clean or symbolized forgiveness of sin. There were laws that helped to divide and set apart Israel as a people unlike the pagan nations that were a people of God’s own choosing. There were civil laws, since Israel was a political group as well as a religious one. Then there were also moral laws that guided the people on how to live the way that God intends.
What we see in Jesus Christ, who says it in his own words and whose actions are described elsewhere in the New Testament, is a fulfillment of Old Testament law. He came to be our sacrifice, once for all, so why would we need to continue making sacrifices for our sin? By his death, a death that cleanses us of our sin, we are given access to God. Why then would we need to follow ritual laws that enable entrance into the tabernacle? Christ did not cast aside or overthrow the law, rather he fulfills it. And this was all God’s plan for us.
It still isn’t always to clear to the reader what is to be followed and what no longer applies for Christians today. So ask the questions, what sort of law was it? Was its purpose fulfilled in Jesus Christ? What does the New Testament have to say about it? Read through books like Acts and Hebrews to see the way in which early Christians struggled with these very same questions. What Jewish customs do we carry with us, what laws have had their time but are no longer of value? If the book of Acts instructs us about dietary laws, then we can confidently follow its interpretation on how Old Testament laws relate to us now.
One more point before I link to two articles. If looking at the Old Testament laws lead you to think that some part is no longer binding because it was part of the ritual laws, make sure to look at the entire witness of Scripture. If it is a part of God’s Word for his people throughout the Old and is found as well into the New, do not be quick to think we are in a different time and different place and different culture, therefore we can ignore that law. If Scripture is consistent from start to finish, I’d be inclined to say that law is still given for the church today.*
For further reading:
Old Testament Law and the Charge of Inconsistency, Tim Keller
How Do We Know Which Old Testament Laws Still Apply to Christians, Eric Snow
*And of course, remember that these laws are given as a way to live in response to God’s grace, not as something to merit it. Obedience is our gratitude to God’s grace.
We’re now beginning one dozen weeks of spending time focusing on reading God’s Word. I’m sure you’ve had up weeks and down weeks, when it has been easy or hard. Maybe this is a week that you want to catch up a bit. Each of your experiences are probably very different, but what is the same is the same commitment to set aside a part of our busy lives to be devoted to God.
I’m sure God has blessed such devotion and I’d love to hear if you have stories to share.
This week we have some more of the same as we continue Deuteronomy and Acts. If you’re new, I’ll pass along the advice I heard this morning. Read Acts 7.
It is not in this week’s assignment, but go back and at least read that. It’ll do a great job of catching you up on so much of what we’ve read in the Old Testament. If you feel like you still have gaps or questions, send them my way. I’ll work hard to get to an answer this week and post about it. This site is to be as great a help as possible–and that can only happen if you let me know what you need.
Hope you enjoy.
We’ve now gone through almost half of Deuteronomy and half of Acts, and we’re getting ever closer to the end of our first quarter. We’ve read in Deuteronomy how Moses is making final preparations for the people before they (and not he) enter into the promised land. He is restating the law making bold reminders that they are not entering into the land as people deserving, nor as a righteous people. God has done the work and it is by his grace that they will receive what is coming their way.
God, too, is doing the work through Acts by the Holy Spirit. Men and women are being taken up in service to the church of Jesus Christ, and by his name are doing great works and preaching the good news to both Jews and Gentiles.
Deuteronomy 8 also is the original location of the words that Jesus quotes when he is in the desert, tempted by Satan, “Man does not live by bread alone.” The Israelites are reminded by this that their needs are greater than food, more than the food they had in Egypt. They have a great need and reliance upon the Lord our God.We learn this lesson as well in Acts as all that is done is done by the power God gives and it is for God’s glory. The Spirit comes and gives the disciples the ability to work miracles, these signs are done in Jesus name, and it is all in God’s plan. The needs of the disciples move beyond bread alone, as they give up their material goods to serve others and support the new found community. If it were all about bread, or stuff, they would horde and keep to themselves, instead they sell their possessions and give to those who have need.
They do, as we read earlier in Acts, spend time breaking bread, but the church is more than that and they are devoted as well to the teachings of God. The church of Acts demonstrates well the second half of that line from Deuteronomy 8, “but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
I love the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8. In a nutshell it is a story of Philip telling this man the good news of Jesus Christ, but it is much more. There are details like how Philip runs in verse 30 when the Spirit tells him to go to the chariot. He doesn’t just walk, but he runs in obedience to the Spirit. This story is a great testament to Jesus’ fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in that Philip teaches Isaiah as speaking about Jesus. There is great urgency from the Ethiopian at hearing and believing the good news as he wants to immediately be baptized. Then at the end Philip is carried away by the Spirit never to be seen by the other man again, and then finds himself in another town.
Like I said, a great story. And it also a great challenge to us to heed the words of 1 Peter:
…Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
Would we have been prepared to instruct someone reading Isaiah with such questions? Are we equipped when someone asks us to tell them about our faith? Can we do it and will we do it with such enthusiasm that we run to those opportunities?
About one year ago I preached on a text we read this week from Acts 9. It is the famous conversion of Saul, but instead of placing focus there, I gave more attention to an overlooked character of the story, Ananias. He’s the one given the task by God to welcome in a great enemy of the early church, the persecutor, Saul.
I set the stage like this:
Could you imagine? God comes to him in a vision, speaking his name, and Ananias responds, “Here I am Lord!” Then as the conversation continues he’s a little caught off guard. “You want me to do what? To Saul? I’ve heard of all the evil he is doing. You do realize that he has the authority to bind all (and by all, that means me!) who call on your name?” This has to be terrifying for him. We have the benefit of knowing the full story of Saul, how he is transformed by God and becomes a great servant of Jesus Christ. We know him much more as Paul the Apostle. Yet all Ananias knew was Saul, Saul the Persecutor of Christians, Saul the Enemy of the Church. Who really had persecuted the young Christian church more than he? Who had directly overseen more arrests and imprisonments? And that Saul is the one Ananias must lay hands on and heal.
Ananias has a tough task ahead. It boils down to the call we all have to love our enemies, as Jesus commanded in Matthew 5. We aren’t to return love to only those who love us. No, we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Saul fits that description quite nicely.
I finished the message with what we can learn from Ananias’ example of following Christ’s command, and in truth, Christ’s model of loving enemies.
…I don’t claim to excel at loving my neighbors, let alone loving my enemies. This is a challenge for me. But I don’t think many of us have enemies we encounter greater than what Ananias had in Saul. I don’t think our excuses for not obeying Christ’s command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute would match up with any of the excuses I’m sure Ananias could have come up with. But he didn’t make excuses. Christ is Lord, he trusted in him–he trusted that no matter how things might have appeared, God is in control, and he obeyed.
I wrote recently that our attention is one of our most valuable possessions, and we should be very careful in regards to what takes our attention. In my reading I came across a couple more articles that help encourage this point, as well as one that emphasizes the value of memorization. One is a quicker overview citing sources like the book The Information Diet, Scientific American, and Time Magazine. The second is the cited article on memorization from Scientific American. Here’s a quote from that article from memory whiz, Ed Cooke, about the value added by using memorization and associated techniques:
Gradually the memory technique gives way—having acted like a scaffold—and you just know the contents. There are other positive things about this: the process of learning forces a depth of pattern perception that means you *truly* engage with the material.
Have you ever memorized verses of the Bible? Or how about asking it like this: Have you memorized any Scripture since being a child in Sunday school classes?
If you have a desire to memorize, let me know. Let’s challenge each other to do so. It’s harder to do it alone, so maybe the two (or more?) of us can do it together and get our brains working hard, in order to better understand and retain God’s Word in us.
Year in the Bible 