The Acts of the Apostles 69

Subtitle: The Gospel Goes to Corinth

Acts 18:1-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 23, 2024.

We continue our look at the Apostle Paul on his Second Missionary Journey.  At the end of chapter 17, Paul had ministered in Athens, where there were some who believed.  However, Paul then left Athens and went to Corinth. 

We have two letters written by Paul to the church that he started there in Corinth (1^st and 2^nd Corinthians).

It would be helpful to bear in mind the tension between the good response to the Gospel in Corinth and the sinful culture that was still impacting these believers later when Paul writes to them.  Following Jesus is a new way of life in which we are transformed from a person who is animated by self to a person who is led by the Spirit of God to live like Jesus.

Let’s look at our passage.

Paul meets Aquila and Priscilla (v. 1-3)

When Paul arrives in Corinth, we are told that he finds a couple named Aquila and Priscilla.  Aquila is a Jew who was born in Pontus on the south side of the Black Sea.  Though it is not stated, it seems apparent that Priscilla is not a Jew.  They had come from Rome to work in Corinth as tentmakers.  This has led some scholars to make the connection that her name is a diminutive form of an important family in Rome called the Prisca Family.  This may explain why her name is put first 50 percent of the time when they are mentioned in the Bible (3 of the 6 times).  This was not normal and points to something being important about her.

We should also note that it tells us why they left Rome.  Claudius Caesar had issued a decree for all Jews to leave Rome.  This is attested by the Roman historian, Suetonius.  He lived from 69 AD to 122 AD.  He mentions that they were kicked out of the city because of riots over a man named Chrestus.  It is clear that this is talking about Christ (Greek is Christos).  Though it is tough to nail down exactly what year this decree was given, it would have been around 49 AD ( 1 or 2 years earlier than our story).

Paul made fast friends with these two.  They were tentmakers like him and Aquila was a Jew like him.  Paul was having to work and minister at the same time, so they were a perfect help for him.

Luke’s account is unclear when they became Christians.  In fact, it is quite possible that they were already Christians.  It has been 20 some years since the death and resurrection of Jesus.  News travelled fast and Rome was the capital of the empire.  We also know that the Jews were kicked out of Rome for rioting over a man named Chrestus (Christ).  Regardless, they not only become fast friends, but also fellow-workers in the sharing the Gospel.

It is important that people put their faith in Christ, and that is what an evangelist focuses on.  However, the Lord sometimes connects us with people who can help us in the ministry.  It is important to be led by Christ and to work with others who are led by Christ in this mission to take the Gospel to the world.  Jesus is the Anointed One of God to save the world from its sins and from the destruction we are hurtling towards.

Paul’s ministry in the synagogue (v. 4-6)

As was his pattern, we see Paul focusing on the synagogue first.  It would actually have Jews and God-fearing Gentiles who were attached to it.  They would know the Scriptures and more readily understand what Paul was teaching.  This makes it easier to communicate the Gospel, compared to speaking to an atheist, but it doesn’t ensure that a person will believe and be saved.

This is a practical reason to start in the synagogue.  However, Paul went to the Jews first because he also had a duty to share the good news with them.  They had served as God’s people for nearly 2 millennia.  They had been waiting for Messiah to come.  Many Jews had been dispersed through the centuries.  They needed to hear that all that service had been worth it.  Messiah has come!  It would be immoral to refuse to tell them, or try to avoid them.

At some point, Silas and Timothy show up from Berea.  We are told that this allowed Paul to minister full-time, but the reason is not explained here.  This is most likely because of money supplied by the believers in Philippi.  Paul mentions such a situation in 2 Corinthians 11.  There he challenges the Corinthian church with the fact that he could have expected them to take care of him when he ministered there.  However, it was the Philippians who covered his costs while he ministered among them.

Paul’s speaking in the synagogue eventually wears out his welcome.  We are told that some of them opposed him and blasphemed him (reviled him, spoke abusively against him).  This comes to a head where Paul shakes out his clothing and makes a public declaration that he is done coming to the synagogue.  This is a cultural thing that is related to the commands of Jesus in Matthew 10:14.  There he speaks of shaking the dust off your feet when you leave a place of people who reject your service for Jesus.  It is a symbolic gesture that serves as a witness against those you spoke to.  This dust testifies that it was on my sandals as I came into your midst to share the Gospel.  It also represents that he is leaving without taking anything from them.  Here, have your dirt back.

His statement does not mean he will never try to reach Jews again, or will not go into any synagogues.  Rather, this is clearly about the synagogue in Corinth, and we can imagine that he may have done so in some other synagogues as well.  Paul will continue to reach out to Jews in new cities and go into their synagogues, as we will see next week.

Paul continues to minister in Corinth (v. 7-11)

Sometimes the plan that we are following doesn’t go the way that we had hoped.  But, that doesn’t mean that God isn’t with you, or even helping you.  If you always interpret resistance as a sign that something is out of the will of God, then you will most certainly not fulfill what God has for you to do.  Did Adam and Eve give God any resistance?  What about Jesus and his crucifixion?  Surely God was not with such a man, and yet He most definitely was.  You will run into resistance in this world.  They key is to always look to Christ and His Holy Spirit to lead you in such times.

Paul most likely took time to pray about God’s direction for the ministry.  He had been successful to convince some of the Jews, even Crispus the ruler of the synagogue.  He had also convinced some of the God-fearers.  Thus, they begin meeting at the nearby home of a new believer, Justus. 

It is at this time that Paul has a vision of Jesus. The message of Jesus has four points to it.  First, don’t be afraid, which is another way of saying, “Fear not!”  This is a theme throughout Scripture.  If we are to do God’s will, then we cannot be driven and dissuaded by fear.  It may be scary, but you don’t have to be scared of it.  It may be fearful, but you don’t have to fear it. 

Jesus is not saying this like somehow Paul (or any of us for that matter) can reach a state where he never feels fear again.  Fear is a lot like whack-a-mole.  It is going to crop up from time to time because we are still mortals in the flesh.  However, we can take hold of that fear and put it on the altar before God.  Lord, I don’t want to be a fearful man!  Help me to overcome my fears and walk out your will! 

In fact, our flesh is not just fearful of the leading of the Holy Spirit.  It is downright hostile towards the things the Spirit wants to do in us.  When you go to pray, your flesh will fight you.  It will be a battle.  It will fight you to either quit praying, or it will convince you to pray only in ways that bring you glory.  Over time, we can develop a discipline in prayer, and in taking hold of our fears.

How does a person not fear?  You look to Jesus, ask for his help, and then do what he has told you to do.  You repent quickly when you miss the mark, and then you get back to doing his will.  Jesus is greater than anything that you will ever face.  They are all under his authority and answer to him.  Of course, they are not submitted to him, but he is still their boss.

Secondly, Jesus tells Paul to speak and not be silent.  I like the positive and negative way of saying the same thing.  This is just what it takes to get our flesh to move in the direction that God wants.  Open your mouth, and cease saying nothing!  Get out there and say something.  You may feel that it falls flat and is ineffective, but at least you are doing what the Lord has said.  He will continue to lead you and help you to know what to say.

Thirdly, He tells Paul that he is with him.  It is hard on our flesh that we cannot see Jesus.  We are told that he is with us and that we are authorized by him to take the Gospel everywhere (even communist countries).  Our flesh complains that it cannot see him.  It complains that Jesus being with us by his Holy Spirit isn’t the same as him being with us physically.  Yes, its not the same.  In fact, its better!  We will learn to lean upon God better.  We learn to grow in intimacy with him much deeper.  We also develop a much stronger faith.

Lastly, Jesus tells Paul that he doesn’t have to worry about being harmed because he has many people in this city.  When the mob grabs hold of you and drags  you through the streets, it is a relief when they take you to the courtroom.  They could do much worse things, and have throughout history.  Jesus gives Paul the understanding that he doesn’t have to fear such things in Corinth.  He would have freedom to minister, if he has faith to believe Jesus.  Isn’t this so true for all of us.

It is one thing to have a vision from Jesus in the night.  However, when you wake up in the morning, you have a decision to make.  Am I going to speak and not be silent today?  We can do this same thing with church and Sunday services.  We can find it easy to sing songs, praise God, worship, and say bold things for Jesus in a church service.  However, on Monday morning, our knees go wobbly and our hands hang down and our mouths stay silent.

This is where prayer is so important.  Take time to talk to Christ about your fears and your silent mouth.  Tell him that you don’t want to be a fearful person, and ask him to help you gain your voice.  Yet, in our immaturity, we want Jesus to zap us with courage.  This isn’t how it works.  If you are fearful, then Christ has strength for you.  Yet, it will come to you little by little as you choose to obey him.

Know this.  When you feel alone, God has people all around you and all around this world.  It is amazing how you can meet another Christian, half way around the world, and still have deep and meaningful conversations with them, even though you have never met them before.  This is because we have been serving the same Jesus with the help of the same Holy Spirit!

Corinth was a very sinful place.  Yet, God had a lot of people there.  Imagine that!  He even has Caesar kick the Jews out of Rome so that Paul will have some help when he arrives.  God is always working.  He just wants us to boldly join Him in the field.

Are you in doubt about this world today?  Do you feel like the Gospel doesn’t work anymore?  We can become fearful.  But always remember this.  If God is the one telling you not to be afraid, then who is telling you to fear?  The devil has a vested interest in stirring up your fears.  He uses governments, people in authority, media, friends, and even your own flesh to cause you to fear.  Our technology even makes it easier to pump us full of fear.  Perhaps, it is time to disconnect from the purveyors of fear and open our hearts to the one who can help us to boldly work for the souls of the people around you.

Gospel in Corinth audio

The Acts of the Apostles 67

Subtitle: The Unknown God

Acts 17:16-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 2, 2024.

Today, our problem is not that God is unknown, but that we have not taken time to know the God who is now known.  However, in first-century Athens, the One True God was all but known to them.

Athens was full of idolatry, temples and shrines.  We are not sure who made the first idols, but we do know that false gods were part of the Tower of Babel.  The people of the earth were rebelling against the instructions of God to Noah and his sons.  They built a city and a tower called Babel, which means “gate of god” or “a god gate.”  Since they are in rebellion to the One True God’s instructions, we know they are attempting to connect with fallen “gods,” which are not really gods.

They end up being judged by Yahweh and scattered through the confusing of their languages.  He also casts them off and gives them over to those spiritual beings that they were seeking.  He then turns to Abram and proceeds to make a new nation for Himself.

Being cast off is a theme within the Old Testament.  Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden eastward.  Cain was later cast out even further east.  This is most likely the reason for the orientation of the Temple of God.  It has him seated in the temple looking to the East awaiting the return of His wayward children.  Of course, the Holy Spirit is out there working on the hearts and minds of the lost to bring them back.

It is in this environment that the nations develop false religions that involve idols and sacrifices to spiritual beings that are actually demons, and or, fallen spiritual beings.  Most likely, these are the result of the “doctrine of demons” talked about in Scripture.  False religion and idolatry is not truly religion.  It is actually a permission system that allows spiritual beings to manipulate and control the individual.  If enough people follow these systems, then they can manipulate whole cities, nations, even a whole world.  Remember this.  When Jesus came, it wasn’t just the Gentiles who were completely manipulated by these fallen spiritual beings.  Even Israel had been corrupted and harnessed to do the work of these beings.  Yet, these spiritual beings are merely creations of God who are in rebellion to Him.

Let’s look at our passage.

The Gospel comes to Athens (v. 16-21)

Paul had left Silas and Timothy in Berea and sailed 300 miles south to Athens.  It appears that he planned to wait for them.

Athens was home to the Acropolis, a raised area within Athens that had the Parthenon, a large temple to the false goddess Athena (for which the city is named).  To the northwest was a smaller, rocky hill that was called the Areopagus (Greek for Mar’s Hill).  The Areopagus was an open-air forum for the philosophers of Athens.  They would gather there to present new idea and to debate.

While Paul is waiting for Silas and Timothy, he notices the heavy idolatry and false religion that it has.  Of course, this is no surprise for a city named after a false goddess.  Yet, let’s recognize that Paul preferred to minister with other people, rather than doing so alone.  We could imagine the help of the gifts of the Holy Spirit through others.  We could also imagine the encouragement in ministry when one labors with other believers.  Still, Paul’s default is to minister in groups, as opposed to going solo.

We are told that the city was “given over to idols.”  The words give the picture of being covered in idols, or inundated with idols.  They were everywhere he looked.  There were not only temples to the various gods that were recognized by the Greeks, but there were also shrines to these gods throughout the city to enable convenience in worshiping these false gods.

We are told that Paul was “provoked” by this heavy idolatry.  He is not provoked to anger.  Perhaps, if he saw such in Jerusalem, there would be cause for righteous anger.  This is a provocation to action that would be similar to waiting for the EMTs to arrive while noticing that the wounded person is bleeding out in front of you.  You would be provoked to action.

Such spiritual provocation is an evidence of the Holy Spirit within us.  These people have been lost for centuries, even millennia.  They are in dire straits and desperately need the good news about Jesus the Christ.

Have we become so anesthetized to the sin of the world around us that it no longer provokes us to action?  Is it not a big deal to the Church anymore?  We should desire and pray for the Holy Spirit to provoke within us a heart for those who are lost.  We need to have enough of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit within us that we cannot help but be provoked to evangelism.

Thus, Paul begins preaching Jesus.  It wasn’t the ideal situation, but something had to be done.  He was alone as a human being, but the Lord Jesus was with him through the Holy Spirit.  Paul first goes to the synagogue and reasons with the Jews and the Gentile God-fearers that were there.  However, he was also going into the marketplace each day and reasoning with the people there.

I love the phrase in verse 17, “those who happened to be there.”  Have you ever just happened to be somewhere, whether for good or for bad?  Perhaps, it was just the normal day that they went to the market, or perhaps, something had happened to change the day, delay the time, etc.  Regardless, some people “just happened” to meet a man named Paul in the marketplace, and he struck up a conversation with them.  Such coincidental meetings are not by accident.  The intersection of a Spirit-filled believer’s life with the lost is never by chance.  God works through such “chance” meetings.  We need to be quick at recognizing this.

At this point, several philosophers run into Paul.  Philosophers love to talk, to hear themselves talk, and to hear new ideas.  Luke mentions two different philosophical schools that he interacted with: the Epicureans and the Stoics. 

The Epicureans were materialists who saw happiness as the highest goal in life.  Though this meant they were into the pleasures of the flesh, they also recognized that such pursuits in excess always led to diminished happiness.  Thus, they promoted a moderated pursuit of pleasures that involved self-restraint.

The Stoics are best known for their great control under pressure.  Someone could be screaming and spitting in their face, and yet, they would remain calm, cool and collected.  They valued self-control, wisdom, justice, and courage.

Luke mentions two different responses to Paul by these philosophers.  Some said, “What is this babbler trying to say?”  This is a negative response.  “Babbler” was a term that referred to a small bird that would flit around the marketplace grabbing seed and food from whatever happened to fall on the ground.  When used of a person like Paul, it pictured him as a guy who traveled around and had gathered a large amount of curious ideas from other places.  He is not an original thinker, or the adept of a particular philosophical school.  He is just like that little bird picking up whatever has happened to fall in front of him.  They are clearly dismissively putting him down.

The second response is just on the positive side of zero.  They believed him to be proclaiming some foreign gods.  Thus, they wanted to hear more of what Paul was talking about.  A marketplace is not conducive to learning about new things, so they invite Paul to the place in town where such ideas could be heard and debated, the Areopagus.

However, notice that verse 18 ends with this, “because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.”  Paul did not change his message because he was in Athens.  He doesn’t water-down the message to make it more appealing to them.  He was telling them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

We must never lose sight that all people need to hear about Jesus.  We can debate with people on the demerits of idolatry and false religions, but more than this, they need to hear about Jesus and what he has done for them.  No matter what culture the person you address comes from, the Gospel of Jesus has a way of cutting through to the heart of them all.  The life, death and resurrection of Jesus hits home on the great questions of life that all cultures can understand, even though the noise of that culture can make it hard to hear the truth.

Paul preaches at the Areopagus (v. 19-23)

We won’t get into the meat of Paul’s sermon today.  I will leave that for next week.  However, let’s recognize that God gives Paul the opportunity to address some of the most important thinkers of Athenian society, and Paul doesn’t hold back.

If you are worried about what gives you the authority to stand up within foreign cultures and call them to believe on Jesus, then understand this.  We are authorized by Jesus who has been given all authority over the heavens and the earth.  We don’t force people as individuals, nor do we seek to use the power of government to force the masses to conversion.  No amount of force upon the flesh can change the heart of a person.  Christians are not to operate in the power of the flesh, but rather, to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul first points out their high degree of religiosity.  Cities like Athens would have temples for each of the main gods of their pantheon, along with multiple shrines throughout the city for convenience.  This would be multiplied greatly in the cities that had a long history of rich commerce, and military stability.  Paul is not really complimenting them, but they most likely took it that way, at least at first.

Instead, Paul is trying to connect with their mindset.  He had been doing some reconnaissance while waiting for Silas and Timothy.  He noticed that they were so religious that they even had an altar with the inscription, “To the Unknown God.”  Apparently, six to seven hundred years earlier, a plague had come upon the city.  The elders were perplexed at what to do.  A man named Epimenides counseled them to release a flock of sheep.  Wherever the sheep would stop, they would then be sacrificed at the nearest temple or shrine.  Of course, some of these sheep did not stop within town and went into the country.  These were then sacrificed to “the unknown god,” in the hopes that it would be accepted as a humble entreaty.  The plague came to an end, and sacrificing to “the unknown god” became a part of Athenian culture.

Paul uses this to gain a better hearing from them.  They clearly do not know about Yahweh.  Yahweh is not just the God of Israel.  He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and everything that is within them.  He tells them that he plans to reveal who this God is that they have been ignorantly trying to worship.  Sometimes, it is better to find a place of common ground that can serve as a vehicle for gaining a hearing and delivering the truth.  We should not “find common ground” in order to dilute the Gospel.  This is not what Paul is doing.

In the end, no one can come to faith in Jesus, but by the help of the Holy Spirit.  Thus, a brute-force attack on people and their ideas is generally not effective.  It just riles up their flesh, which is already hostile to the things of the Spirit of God.  Paul is led by his love for Jesus, and the love that Jesus has for these Greeks.

There were good reasons why these Athenians didn’t know the One True God.  Their ancient fore-fathers had rebelled against Him at the Tower of Babel.  Even following their judgment, they refused to repent and wait for God’s salvation.  Rather, they cast off restraint and were led by demons into false religion and idolatry.  Later generations would be born into darkness without any true idea about how these religions had come about in the first place.  The truth of these false religions is that they are permission systems that enable spiritual beings to manipulate whole societies.

Notice verse 21.  “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”  We are not much different today.  Our culture is always seeking something new.  With the rise of the internet, we are able to drop into the modern equivalents of the Areopagus and hear all the latest and greatest trinkets from around the world.  In truth, we can become the babblers that the philosophers accused Paul of being.  We have become a people trapped in our sins and trapped within philosophies that do not give us the truth, but rather, give us a lie.

Instead of being a person trapped in bondage to sin and to philosophies, Jesus calls us to be a free person used by the Holy Spirit to set such slaves free.  May God strengthen our hearts to rise up courageously in this generation to share the Good News about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and what it means for our future!

Unknown God audio

The Acts of the Apostles 66

Subtitle: Those Who Turn The World Upside Down

Acts 17:1-15.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 26, 2024.

We have made it back to the book of Acts.  We are in the middle of Paul’s 2^nd Missionary Journey.  It began at the end of chapter 15 following the Jerusalem Council.  This was a gathering of the apostles and elders of the early Church to make sure they were all on the same page regarding what Gentiles needed to do in order to be saved.  Thus, Paul’s 2^nd missionary trip serves to visit churches that he had started on the first missionary trip and share the findings of the Jerusalem Council.

This would be important because, up to that point, there were individuals that were telling the Gentiles that they needed to follow the Old Testament, i.e., become Jews through circumcision, and obedience to the stipulations of the Law of Moses.  Essentially, they were teaching Gentiles to first become Jews, and then, they could become a follower of Jesus.

After Paul had worked through these towns in central Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey, or Türkiye), the Holy Spirit leads him and his company to travel westward until they ended up in Greece.  In Chapter 16, Paul and company minister in Philippi where they are whipped and put in the jail.  However, an earthquake leads to them being freed and the Philippian jailor and household becoming Christians.  Paul then reveals that they have beaten him against the law of Rome because he has Roman citizenship.  This causes the magistrates to apologize and beg Paul to leave the city.  They then met with the believers, encouraged them and then, headed westward towards Thessalonica, which is where we join them in Acts 17:1.

The Gospel comes to Thessalonica (v. 1-9)

They travel west through two cities, Amphipolis and Apollonia, which roughly divide the 100 miles to Thessalonica into thirds (around 33 miles between).  Paul may or may not have preached in these cities.  It is not mentioned.  However, Luke focuses on what happened at Thessalonica next.

We have two letters (epistles) written by Paul to the Thessalonians in the New Testament.  Here is something that Paul later said of the church that would be started there.  1 Thessalonians 1:8, “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place the news of your faith toward God has gone out.”

From this, we can see that Paul doesn’t have to preach in every city (whether he did or didn’t).  The churches that he started would become hubs of shining the Gospel into the region.  May our church be a church with such a strong faith that the area knows it, and they will have hear the “Word of the Lord.”

Now, Thessalonica was the main city of that region.  It had a synagogue and that is where Paul began.  We are told that he preached for three Sabbaths (weeks), reasoning with them from the Scriptures.

There are two verbs that are used to describe this.  In the NKJV, they are interpreted as “explaining” and “demonstrating.”  The first one has the sense of opening the Scriptures up for them, but also opening their understanding of the Scriptures that they no doubt knew.  The second word has the sense of setting something before the people.  In food contexts, it is used of a hostess placing food before guests.  In this setting, we are talking about teachings regarding Christ that are set before them, i.e., demonstrated to them from Scripture.

The two main teaching mentioned here are that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise again from the dead.  We are not told the Scriptures that Paul used, but Isaiah 53 could easily have been one, also Psalm 16:10-11.  The second teaching is that Jesus of Nazareth is that Messiah and fulfilled these things.  Notice the logic of this.  If you don’t recognize or accept the first teaching, then you will not be able to see Jesus as the Messiah because he did suffer, die, and yet, rose again from the dead.

The response is good, but it is split up into three parts:  “some of them were persuaded,” “a great multitude of devout Greeks,” and “not a few of the leading women.”  In light of the mention of Gentiles in the second part, we can safely assume that the first part is speaking about the Jews who attended the synagogue.  So, it appears that there was a better reception among the Gentiles than among the Jews.  We are told that those who believed “joined” Paul and Silas.  It is most likely that they were connecting with them throughout the week in order to learn more, and unknowingly laying the foundation for the first church of Thessalonica.

We are told in verse 5 that those who were not persuaded by the Gospel preaching became “envious.”  This envy leads to them stirring up a crowd, a mob, from the marketplace in order to apprehend Paul, Silas, and Timothy. 

The source of the trouble is envy, and would, no doubt, be led by the religious leaders of the synagogue.  The problem was not Jews.  Paul is a Jew as well as Silas.  Some Jews were persuaded by Paul.  The problem is envy, and envy plagues every ethnic group under the sun.

You can imagine that they had worked hard to share the Law of Moses in Thessalonica and had even drawn many devout Greeks to attach themselves to the teaching of the synagogue as God-fearers.  When someone else comes into town and begins to persuade people in a new teaching, it would be natural to be defensive.  This is the same dynamic that led to Jesus being rejected by the leaders of Jerusalem.  Yet, the problem is not that their lack of being persuaded.  It could have stayed at the level of arguing your case from Scripture and rejecting Paul’s teaching.  They might even stipulate continued synagogue attendance on the rejection of this new teaching.  However, something darker comes forth because envy is a dark vice.  You may not even know you are being envious as it happens.  Envy is never good, and only leads to overt sin and pain.

A mob is stirred up, and we should take a moment to remind ourselves about the spirit that affects a crowd.  A crowd takes on a nature that is larger than any one person within the group, even those who started it.  For example, when you push against a large rock that is on a hillside, you will notice that there is much resistance at first.  You are choosing to keep pushing, or get help from more people, etc.  In a way, you are still in control.  However, there is that moment in time in which gravity takes over, and you are no one is in control.  Dangerous things can happen, especially if there are unwitting people down the hill.  The same is true spiritually, for good or for bad.  People within crowds will often do things that they would never do on their own.  In fact, contrary to the analogy, there are often spiritual dynamics at work even in “pushing the rock” in the first place. 

There is a theme in Scripture: don’t focus only on what you can see because you will miss the spiritual things that are happening.  This can be the good work of God, the evil work of the devil and his angels, or the spiritual condition of a person we are dealing with.

We do not want to be a people who are easily motivated to riot and attack others (even metaphorically).  We must understand what spirit is motivating us in our decisions and actions.  Is it the Holy Spirit, or the spirit of this world?  Believers in God, in Jesus, are those who are led by the Holy Spirit, rather than the ill-winds of this world.

We cannot fault the Jews of Thessalonica for not having a relationship with Jesus, but we can see that they had not been tuned to the Spirit of God.  Otherwise, they would have responded with joy.  Yet, they respond with envy and seeking to banish or jail Paul and company.

This is the battle between a desire for truth and the envy of our ego.  We all have ego that gets hurt from time to time, but believers are called to purify their hearts through repentance and works that are worthy of such.

The group ends up at the house of a man named Jason.  He most likely had been persuaded and was housing them.  However, when they arrive, Paul is not there.  Then, they drag Jason and the “brothers” (i.e., believers in Jesus) before the city rulers to make accusation against them.

The accusation is that they are breaking the decrees of Caesar by saying Jesus is “another king.”  In some ways, Jesus is not a threat to Caesar.  He did not instruct his followers to defeat the Roman empire.  Instead, he told them to love their enemies and preach the Gospel to them.  Yet, Jesus is a threat to Caesars in general.  The kingdoms of this world are destined to belong to him.  The kings of the earth are warned to “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.  Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” Psalm 2:12.  Still, Jesus is not a threat in the way that they are presenting. 

They stir the pot through this aspersion, “these who have turned the world upside down have come here too!”  This is intended to be a negative, but it shows the powerful effectiveness of the early Church.  Actually, they were not turning the world upside down.  The world was already upside down from the way that God had created it due to human sin and spiritual interference.  Jesus Messiah was sent to begin righting the ship.  That righting of things begins in the heart of the individual.  He has come to set our hearts right side up before God. 

Yet, this creates a polarization in families, towns, nations, even the world.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’” He is quoting Micah 7:6.  This is the polarization that we see happening in this synagogue and the city as a whole.  Some are embracing Christ, but others who were their friends were not.  This situation has continued throughout the earth to this day.

The rulers of the city take security (money) from Jason and send them away.  This security is probably not a bond for showing up to court.  Rather, it is most likely so that they won’t cause another riot.

The Gospel comes to Berea (v. 10-15)

“The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.”  The label of “brethren” means that these are people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah.  A good group of believers has been started, and the hot tempers among the town calls for Paul to move on.  However, the Gospel has not left the town.  It has been sown and taken root in many hearts.  Berea is a town that is about 45 miles west of Thessalonica.

Luke notes that there was a very different mind-set, or attitude, within the Berean synagogue.  Different versions describe them as “more noble,” “more fair-minded,” and “of more noble character.” The word literally means “well born.”  It pictures a person who has been born into a good family, has been taught good morals, and lives these out in society (aka Not the kind of people who riot).

What won them this descriptor? First, they were ready to hear what Paul had to say.  Yet second, they searched the Scriptures to check the veracity of his claims.  They were not ego-driven, but instead, desired to know the truth.  We can be a slave to passions that drive us.  In such cases, we can be blind to the truth.  However, what makes a person reject the Gospel one day, but accept it later?  There is a mystery to the way that the Gospel impacts people. 

We are told that many of them believed.  There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile this time.  Of course, Jesus and his apostles were not creating another religion by twisting Judaism.  The teaching and the work of Jesus flowed directly from the Law and the Prophets.  He is the fulfillment of all it points toward, which was there for anyone who would honestly seek out the truth.

Without any meddlers, there would not have been any problems in Berea.  However, the Jewish leaders from Thessalonica showed up and caused trouble for Paul and Silas in Berea.  No doubt, word had traveled back to them that Paul was in Berea and that many people were listening to him.  Again, the men from Thessalonica stirred up a crowd from the marketplace.

Note to self: don’t be the kind of person who is sitting around looking for a cause and a crowd to join.  Fleshly people, who are only focused on the lusts of their flesh, are easily stirred up.  If you are busy doing the work of the God, the Lord Jesus, then you will not be easily stirred up by others.

Again, the “brethren” send Paul away.  However, this time Paul goes by himself and leaves Silas and Timothy behind.  The heat seems to focus on Paul.  Silas and Timothy could stay under the radar and help the believing community of Berea grow in their understanding of the Scriptures and the work of Jesus.

Thus, Paul ends up on a ship to Athens, which is 300 miles away.  Most likely, they believe this will settle down the crowds rioting against Paul.

In some ways, we should recognize that, in order to turn your life right-side up before the LORD, it is going to feel like you are turning it upside down.  At salvation, a person senses the Holy Spirit calling them to put their faith in Jesus, but the flesh is generally scared at the thought of this.  Yet, for those who follow the Spirit, they enter into a life-transforming relationship with Jesus, the Spirit, and the Word.

When you feel that emotion of fear, or apprehension, towards something that the Holy Spirit is leading you to do or stop doing, take time to pray for clarity about the direction and courage to obey.

Paul could have focused on the negative.  Everywhere he went, people were causing trouble and mistreating him.  In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul lists all of the things he has endured in taking the Gospel to the nations.  Yet, these things were not enough to persuade him to quit.  He saw himself as a slave of Christ, even wishing that he could be cursed so that his countrymen could be saved.  The Holy Spirit had led Paul to these places to preach the Gospel.  Many wonderful people were saved through his ministry.

May God help us to see the need of a lost world and God’s love for them.  Yes, we will run into resistance and difficult things, but we will also see wonderful things.  Some will believe, and we will have fellowship with them.

How does a person turn the world upside down?  They do it by not focusing on trying to turn the world upside down.  Instead, they listen to the Holy Spirit and give themselves to the work that He gives them, no matter what the scope.  The Apostle Paul started by turning his own little world upside down on the road to Damascus when he believed in Jesus.  That became the foundation for what came later.  You can trust the Holy Spirit in you.  Just remain faithful to Jesus in your work.

Upside Down audio

The Incarnation of Jesus

Galatians 4:1-7.  This Christmas sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 24, 2023.

It is an amazing reality that the Creator of all things took on the nature of a human in the man called Jesus. 

It is called the incarnation as a reference to God coming in human flesh.  He did not come merely in the appearance of human flesh.  Neither did he materialize like angels do. I am referring to the fact that angels can take on material form, and when they do, they look like men (i.e., humans).  Yet, it is always clear at some point that they are not men when they do things that men cannot.  A case in point would be the Angel of the LORD in Judges 13.  When the “man” ascends into heaven in the flame of a sacrifice, they know that this is not a human (i.e., a man of human flesh and bones).

This is a very important point.  Jesus didn’t even jump in as an adult.  Rather, he went through the full gestational process, was born, and experienced all the things that we experience as humans.

Have you ever had someone complain that, “You don’t know how it feels to have (insert tragedy here) happen in your life!”  This is often used to shelter a person from any input in their life from others.  There can be some truth to this, but, even with other humans, this is often over-played.  A man doesn’t have to carry a baby for 9 months and birth it in order to understand that this is simultaneously a difficult and wonderful thing.  Yes, he can’t know exactly how it feels, but he doesn’t have to in order to empathize.  If a man has his arm hacked off by a sword, everyone on the planet who saw it, or the aftermath, can empathize with the horror of what has happened and the urgency of medical attention he needs.  We don’t have to have an arm hacked off to deeply understand what a trauma this person is going through.

If this argument fails to completely hold water with humans, how much more the Creator of the Universe?  To everyone who would shout, “God doesn’t know what it is like!”  He is God.  He created all the sensory perception that you have.  Does He not know what you are feeling?  Yet, in the incarnation, God has completely taken it off of the table.  Not only can he understand your pains and difficulties, the chances are that He endured far worse than you did.  Maybe, it is us who can’t understand God.

Still, we should notice that God didn’t have to do this in order to counter our complaint.  Yet, in His grace and mercy, He takes on the nature of a human and goes through life.  In Jesus, God lets us know that He knows it is tough, and that life can cause you to want to quit believing.  Yet, there Jesus is, hanging on a cross, bidding you to pick up your cross and follow him.

Yet, Jesus came to do far more than just let us know that he is aware of how difficult it is.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus came when the time was just right (v. 1-5)

Paul is writing to the churches in the interior of what we call Turkey today.  The Christians there have been told by certain itinerant teachers that they had to obey the Law of Moses in addition to believing upon Jesus in order to be saved.  Paul was writing to counteract this teaching with the truth about why God gave Israel the Law, and how it functions for Jews and Gentiles.

This is an important point because we can have large assumptions about the purpose of the Law without even knowing it.  Did God give Israel the Law to save them?  Were Israelites saved by keeping the Law?

Paul uses the analogy of a tutor, or governess, for a minor child who would first step into the family business at adulthood, and then later inherit it all.  Paul is essentially describing this setting as a picture of what God the Father was doing with Israel His son.  The Law was given to be a tutor, a schoolmaster, to help Israel be ready for the day when they would be ready to step into adulthood.  This is where we are at in chapter 4 of Galatians.

Even though he is an heir, the child has a status that is like that of a slave.  They have to listen to a teacher, who may themselves be a slave of the child’s father.  This status of a slave is temporary and Paul equates it to the period from Israel’s establishment at Mt. Sinai to the presentation of Messiah Jesus.  This is over 1,400 years.  During this period, God has been using the Law of Moses to teach Israel some things so that they will be ready for the day when Messiah appears.

This brings us to the statement in verse 4 that Jesus came at just the right time, “in the fullness of time.”  There is a quantitative aspect to this because it is time, but time is not the essential element.  There is a qualitative aspect that has to do with learning that is even more important. 

We might argue against this claim of perfect timing.  In fact, Israel herself often complained of God’s timing.  They felt God was taking too long.  Perhaps, we feel that he came to soon.  Maybe that is a sign that this was the perfect timing.  Yet, the perfect timing has nothing to do with what we, or the ancients, thought about it.  For us, yesterday is the perfect time for a savior to come forth from God.

This is a statement from God’s perspective.  Notice how verse 2 reads.  Paul states that it is the Father who determines the metrics for the timing of when the young man is ready to step into adulthood.  Though Paul doesn’t mention this, we can also add that this doesn’t mean the son quits learning.  It is simply that he is no longer under the tutor, but begins to help out in the family business. 

From God’s perspective, the Law had taught Israel all it needed to know in order to embrace Jesus as Messiah, and then, to move forward in what God had for them as adults who were no longer in a slave status.

We  have been talking about Israel as a whole, but the truth is that lessons are learned individually as we corporately walk through things.  Not everyone really understands what the lesson was teaching.  Some people perhaps “learn” that they are tired of listening to a boring teacher and would rather do other things.  Others may “learn” things that are quite wrong.

Is the Law necessarily teaching that God doesn’t love the Gentiles because He never gave it to them?  Does it teach that they are irredeemable because they weren’t given the Law? 

In fact, we might ask just how the Law “teaches” us?  I would say that the Law teaches us each time that we sin, and also in the times that others sin.  It teaches us each time the prophet calls us to repentance by pointing back to the Law, and forward to right relationship with God.

This demonstrates the great wisdom of God in setting the exact right timing for the things that He does.  It is right because the experience of the “child” will have done its proper work to prepare them for the decisions to which God will bring them.   Paul boils this argument down in Romans 1 through 3.  In chapter one, he establishes that the Gentiles were separated from God by their own actions of exchanging the One True God for worshipping created things.  Every Jew would be giving a loud amen at this point.  Yet, in chapter two, Paul turns around and demonstrates that the Jews are also separated from God and guilty before Him because they have broken the Law.  Those under the Law are guilty because they have broken the Law, and those outside of the Law (Gentiles) are guilty for reasons outside of the Law.  They are both in the same place of guilt.  Chapter three follows up with a powerful statement of the purpose of the Law in Romans 3:10.  “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”  There you have it.  The purpose of the Law is to show even the relatively “righteous” of the world that they are sinners in need of God’s mercy.  Israel had been under slavery to a law that showed them their failures at every turn long enough.  It was now time to receive God’s mercy in Jesus.

We see this perfect timing concept in other areas.  In Genesis, God tells Abraham that He would give the land of Canaan to his offspring, but not until 400 years had passed.  This was because the “sin of the Amorites” was not yet complete, or full.  They were already sinful, but it wasn’t the perfect time to judge them yet.  God would give them the perfect amount of grace, and even a witness of Yahweh through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his family.

Another example of this is given by Paul in Romans 11.  There he talks about the partial blindness of Israel in rejecting Jesus as Messiah.  Paul tells us that this blindness to Christ would not be forever.  When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then Israel as a whole will have their eyes opened to who Jesus really is.

We could even ask ourselves this.  What if Jesus had been born to Adam and Eve instead of Cain and Abel?  Would they really have understood the depth and the seriousness of the problem of sin and its solution?  I don’t think so.  In fact, as I said above, not everyone learns the lessons as they should.  Even today within His Church, there are those who do not treat the problem of sin as a serious issue.

If God had seasons of learning for Israel under the Law, wouldn’t it make sense that He also has seasons of learning for the Church.  We are waiting for Christ to return, and he will do so at the perfect time.  Yet, that time is connected to God’s people and the world being taught some things.

The early Church saw persecution up into the early AD 300’s.  Think about the lessons regarding enduring persecution and the reward for those who are faithful until death.  By the end of the 300’s things changed drastically as Theodosius I became the emperor of the Roman Empire.  He was raised a Christian and even outlawed paganism.  This is why historians to this day will treat this era as the end of the Roman Empire and speak of a “Byzantine Empire.”  Pagan Rome under pagan Caesars was very different from the Christian Empire.  Yet, they are one and the same.  This season of the Church seems to teach some new lessons.  What will Christians do when they are in charge of the Empire? 

Christianity was very successful within Europe due to this turn of events.  It is interesting that Christians continued to be enamored with kings, monarchies, and emperors, and it makes sense.  God allowed Israel to have kings, and Jesus is the king of kings.  Yet, we see over and over again that no amount confessing Christ, or becoming the “Defender of the Faith,” can make a man really be like Jesus.  For 1400 years Christianity doubled down on kings, until 1776.

Did American independence transition us into a new period of learning about self-governance under “No king, but King Jesus”?  I think so.  I believe that God allowed us to establish a new kind of government that was not the failed democracies of the past, and uniquely modified the Republics of the ages.  We would now be a self-governing people with constitutions that put our servants on notice of how they were to operate.  The true human sovereignty was now collectively held by The People.

What lessons are we just beginning to understand now?  It is easy to say, “No king, but King Jesus!”  However, it is harder to live that out.  Is Jesus the king of America?  Yes, he is in position by God’s decree, but not in practice of its people.

The return of Jesus has an aspect to it in which there are lessons that we need to learn.  Yet, it also has an aspect of the fact that God will not judge the world until the sin of the nations has reached its full.  May God help us as believers to be learning the lessons while rescuing sinners out of a spiritually decaying humanity. 

This Second Coming of Jesus is a transitional point for the world.  Yes, it seems like God is taking too long, but in truth, God has just the perfect time for it to happen.  It is not ours to worry about the timing, but to be faithful to what God has given us to do for now.

Is it possible that I am spending far too much time complaining to God that He is taking too long?  Perhaps, I even have hints of threatening to leave the faith under my complaints?  Would I not do better to spend more time seeking the Holy Spirit to open my mind to the lessons that God is teaching us through His Word, and through the history and activity around us today?  Yes, I am very sure that I would.

Jesus was sent forth to redeem us

It was at this perfect time that God sent forth Jesus in order to redeem us.  There is a lot happening in that sentence, so let’s begin with the fact that Jesus was sent.

The Gospel writer clearly show that Jesus was not doing his own thing.  He was on a mission for God the Father.  Of course, this is a common problem of all the human servants of God, mixing our plans and purposes with God’s.  This is true even of the political “saviors” who rise up in our Republic, or around the world.  Ultimately, they are doing their own thing and coming in their own name.  Yet, Jesus said that he would only speak and do what the Father had sent him to say and to do (John 5:19-20; 12:49-50).  The cross itself becomes the proof that he was not just talking smack.  He put his body where his mouth was.

God wanted something done, and it wasn’t pretty.  Have you ever had something that you knew God wanted you to do, but it was a difficult thing?  Think about Mary and Joseph.  As the angel explains to Mary that she will become pregnant, but not by a man, rather, a miraculous conception, she can look ahead and see all the ways in which her society will not accept such an explanation.  She can imagine the heavy price that she is going to pay if she goes along with this.  Yet, she responds, “Let it be to me according to your word.”  Similarly, the angel appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife.  Joseph knows exactly what others will say and do, if he marries her.  They will see it as admission of unrighteous, sexual activity.  He too will have to pay a price.  Yet, he marries Mary anyways.

Now, Israel knew that Messiah was coming, but they believed his mission would be all about putting down the Gentiles and lifting Israel up over them.  To be sure, that is part of the work of Messiah.  We can be guilty of crying out to God for help with a long list of the things that we think He should do.  Yet, many times we do not understand what is best for us.  The first coming of Jesus is a rebuke that tells us that our greatest enemy is our own sin and its spiritual tyranny.  Only having defeated that enemy can we even talk about tyrannical forces outside of us.

This is politics in our Republic, and in any nation end up being.  A stomach churning event in which we all point the finger at the other side, or other nation.   “You are the problem!” “No, you are the problem,” comes the reply.  “Let’s lock up those people, kill that guy, etc.”  Of course, the targets of today will change tomorrow in a never ending circus of avoiding the true enemy, the sin of my own heart.

In the Bible, deliverance from spiritual tyranny is pictured as redemption.

Just what is redemption?  It starts with a person who has fallen into a state in which they have lost their inheritance, and are too poor to redeem it back.  That is, they are unable to pay the price to get it back.  The book of Ruth pictures this perfectly.  Ruth will not only be unable to pay for her husband’s inheritance in order to get it back, but she has no children to give it to.  The solution in that case had to be another Israelite who was a near kinsman, and who would be willing to pay the price of buying the land and marrying her in order to raise up a son to inherit it.

If we take that story and lay it over humanity and our sin problem, then you begin to understand why God’s solution involved incarnation.  Sin is so bad that we are debtors to God with no means of making it right.  The problem is that many humans do not believe that they are that sinful, or that sin is a big deal.  We have been cut off from our inheritance as humans (not just a problem for Israelites) because of our sins.  We are spiritually poverty-stricken and are in need of a redeemer.  This is where Jesus steps in.

Jesus qualifies to redeem us.  He is a kinsman (for Israel, a fellow-Israelite, and for the rest of humanity, a human).  This is why Paul emphasizes in verse 4 that Jesus came forth “born of a woman and born under the law.”

Being born of a woman, ties back to the original promise of God when He cursed the serpent.  He said that the seed of the woman (one from her line) would crush his head, even though he would crush the seeds heel.  This mortal wound versus an injury is the promise that a deliverer would come.  Jesus qualifies as a seed of Eve.  God could not just wave a scepter and whimsically decree that sinful humanity should have its birthright back.  A price had to be paid, and we had to agree to the terms of that payment.

Being born under the law, ties back to the covenant that God had made with Israel.  Israel saw itself as righteous among the nations.  They could understand that some Israelites needed redemption, but that as a whole, the nation was righteous before God.  It was really Gentiles who needed redemption.  Yet, the death and resurrection of Jesus under the law, and the rulers of the Law at that time, is proof that perfect laws (a divine source) can not make us righteous, or help us to inherit eternal life.  The sin-problem has to be solved.  Of course, humanity seems intent on not hearing this lesson that God has been showing us.  We appear to be doubling down on fixing things by  more and more human laws.  It won’t work because those who operate the system are just as much sinners as those who come under their purview.

Even the Millennial Kingdom shows that if we had a perfect Executive (Jesus), perfect laws, and glorified, perfected administrators (the resurrected believers), it still would fall apart if God wasn’t restraining evil.  The problem will always reside in our mortal hearts, and in the heart of the spiritual interlopers, the devil and his angels.

America is part of God’s argument to humanity about freedom.  It is great to be freed from under a tyrannical power, but now you are responsible.  You can’t blame it on King George III any more.  Politically, we haven’t gotten out of bed in order to go to work.  We’ve allowed a new tyrant class of criminal “servants” to rise up over us.  Freedom is easier said than done.

We have received the adoption of sons (v. 6-7)

We have received the adoption of sons because of what Jesus has done, because of his redemption.  In Ruth, the solution was marriage.  This image is also used of Jesus and the Church, the Bride of Christ.  However, in Galatians the solution is the Adoption of us into God’s family.  Jesus is the one true son, but we are adopted into the family of God through the work of Jesus.  The true son died in order for you to be adopted into a greater family.  When you place your faith in Jesus as your redeemer, the one who paid the price for your sins, you are then adopted by God as His child.  In fact, you enter as an adult-child.

It is one thing to be 19, 22, even 26, stepping into adulthood for yourself.  However, there is still a whole range of adulthood before you with a number of seasons filled with a number of lessons that you will need to learn.  So yes, a new Christian is a baby-adult.  We are not under the Law of Moses and so we are adults, but we have a lot to learn through the world and the Word of God, both by the Holy Spirit’s help.

We still have a lot to learn, and we are not in our glorified bodies yet.  We need to pay attention to Jesus because he is preparing us for an eternity with the Father.

Notice in verse 6 that the same words used of Jesus are used of the Spirit.  He is sent forth by the Father.  The Holy Spirit is on a mission for God too.  When you are adopted into God’s family, His Spirit takes up residence within you in order to help you become like Jesus.  Just as Jesus was on a mission of redemption, the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us to help us walk in faith through the wilderness of this world, this new adulthood.  He helps us to overcome our own sins and to become an incarnation of Jesus by proxy to the world around us.  This is referred to as a down payment on the fullness that we will receive at the resurrection.  So, think about that!

Through Jesus, God has brought you into a familial relationship that is intended to be intimate.  The Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are a child of God, and He helps us to cry out to God in intimate terms, “Abba, Father.” 

It used to be very popular to emphasize that Abba is equivalent to “daddy” or “papa,” something a very young toddler would use.  Of course, that is a beautiful picture, and the word was (and still is) used by little kids for their fathers.

However, we should notice that it is used by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to the Father.  He was asking if the cup of crucifixion might be avoided.  Regardless, we see him resigning himself to doing the will of the Father.  “Not my will, but Yours be done.”  Jesus sweat great drops of blood as he was praying this.  This is no little kid crying out papa in the night.  This is the eternal son of God gearing up to go to war against our deadliest enemy by dying on the cross.  This is one warrior speaking to another warrior.  The word essentially means Father, but it carries with it the complete intimacy of a son, whether child or adult. 

We too can cry out to God in the midst of our difficulties and know that He hears us with full love, even when a difficult task lies ahead (especially when so).

To the world and worldly Israelites, the death of Jesus was proof that He was a sinner and not loved of God.  However, they don’t understand that this is not about the Father’s love.  His love has never been in question.  It has always been our love that fails.  No, the crucifixion is proof of the Son’s perfect love for the Father, and the resurrection is the response of the Father.

Paul ends this section by concluding that the Galatians, and we who believe in Jesus today, are no longer slaves under the Law of Moses.  We no longer need God to give us a bed-time (a superficial law that points to something deeper).  Rather, as adults, we tell ourselves that we had better go to bed because we have a lot of work to do for God in the morning.  We have stepped into the relationship of adult-sons.  We are not running the business yet, but we get up each day and report in to Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  What are going to do today, Lord?

There will be another transition to our relationship with Christ.  Whether we die or not, the resurrection will forever deal with our sinful flesh.  We will have glorified heavenly bodies and be like Jesus, perfectly in his image.

Those lessons learned by Israel over 1400 years of servitude must be absorbed by us today, while also learning the lessons taught by the Lord to his Church over 2,000 years of working for him.  In fact, we need to remind ourselves over and over again.  Praise God that His Holy Spirit helps us to war against sin in our own hearts and minds, and then helps us to be a help to others.  Christians are a people who have learned to go to war, and are still going to war, against the sin of their own flesh.  It is in that bloody battle that the grace of God brings us through, and it helps us to minister to others.

The problem today is that too many people are on the warpath to fix the sin in your life, or worse metaphorically crucify you for it.  Yet, they lack Jesus because they haven’t lifted a finger to fight sin in their own heart and mind.

All through this, Paul has referred to us as heirs of God.  We are spiritual adults, but we have only received a portion of what we will inherit.  It is not yet fully manifest what we are and shall have.  We are to show ourselves faithful with the little that we have, so that God will reward us with much by His grace.

Let every day be an adventure of discovering even more that, if it wasn’t for Jesus, we would still be stuck in a poverty-stricken state of being a slave to sin, and judged by the Law of God as unworthy.

Praise be unto Jesus!

Incarnation audio