The Acts of the Apostles 58

Subtitle: The Jerusalem Council I

Acts 15:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 8, 2023.

The early Church was spreading rapidly, and it was becoming clear that there were some very different ideas on what Gentiles had to do in order to be saved. 

Of course, God was never confused, or unsure of their salvation.  It was the preachers, teachers, and elders who had some conflicting ideas.  To be fair, most of the conflict is caused not among the apostles, but from a group of Pharisees who had become believers in Jesus as the Messiah.

The church in Syrian Antioch had become the main hub of ministry to the Gentiles, specifically through the missionary work of Paul and Barnabas.  Thus, they are the ones who are going to present this conflict before the apostles and elders of Jerusalem because the Church needed to be united on such an important doctrine, salvation itself.  However, that unity needed to be founded upon what the Lord would have them teach.

This issue of unity is important.  Unity is good when it is united upon a good thing.  However, unity around a bad thing is at best a house of cards.  This world cannot deliver anything without God, but an implosion of ideas, activity, and culture.  In reference to the end times, Paul tells the Thessalonians that when the world says, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them.

The key here is determining what God expects from the Gentiles who are coming into the new covenant.  This will even have implications on what God expects from Jews as well.

Let's look at our passage.

A conflict arises regarding Gentile salvation (v. 1-5)

At the end of chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas had come back from their missionary journey in Asia Minor.  They reported to the people all of the amazing things God had done among the Jews and Gentiles there.

It then says that they stayed there "a long time."  Luke is good at giving general statements that make it hard to nail down a perfect timeline.  However, from analyzing the book of Acts along with passages in Galatians that giving timing information, we can determine that within the next year certain people from Judea arrive in Syrian Antioch.  They have some strong opinions on what Gentiles need to do to be saved, which causes a big conflict.

Before we look at this conflict, I want to point out one of the schemes of the devil.  Whenever God's people see a big victory, there will always be a spiritual counter-attack from the kingdom of darkness.  Another thing to keep in mind is that he doesn't always use pagans, witches, and satanists to do his bidding.  Of course, he does use them.  Yet, at the same time, the devil is always on the prowl for unstable Christians who are not grounded in the Word of God, and are not led by the Holy Spirit.

The devil finds fertile ground in these men to stir up conflict in the church even though they are believers in Jesus.  This is why it is important for us to pay attention to what the Bible says about our relationships in the Church.  We do need to be forgiving and work for reconciliation, but we also need to be firm on the truth.  This helps to defend against the devil's ability to find leverage within someone's heart and mind.  He knows how to ask slippery questions that get us second guessing, and thinking that we know what others are thinking and what their motivations are.

These Jews from Judea, the area surrounding Jerusalem, were teaching that a Gentile had to be circumcised in order to be saved.  However, circumcision was just the cause célèbre, the tip of the conflict.  Notice that verse 1 mentions that the custom of Moses is why they think that.  Of course, Moses instituted other customs as well.  We will see in verse 5 that they believed Gentiles should obey the whole Law of Moses in order to be saved.

It is important to understand what they are doing.  If you think about it as a formula, it would look like this.  Obeying the Law of Moses + Believing in Jesus = Salvation.  To them, Jesus is simply an addendum to the Old Covenant made with Israel through Moses.  They fail to see that this is a new covenant altogether.  It is based upon God writing laws upon our heart instead of on stone tablets.

Verse 5 also relates that the source of this persuasion are a group of Pharisees who had become believers.  Of course, the apostle Paul had also been a Pharisee who came to believe in Christ.  However, Paul learned his lesson about kicking at the goads of the Holy Spirit the hard way.  They on the other hand have not. 

Now at the first, this argument of the Pharisees might sound wise.  They would just cast the aspersion against Paul and company that if a person is merely saved by faith in Jesus, then they can sin with impunity.  Of course, this would be an error.  You can say that you believe in Jesus, but have you really put your faith in Jesus?  God knows.  He is not playing a game of words.  He deals in reality and truth.  However, let's keep walking through the passage.

Paul and Barnabas quickly get wind of what these guys are teaching and a strong dispute breaks out between them.  Neither side is backing down.  

Let me just remind us something Paul taught in Acts 13:39 when he was in Pisidian Antioch.  He said, "and by Him [Jesus] everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."  So, Paul does not just see this as an issue for the Gentiles.  He sees it as critical to understanding even how Jews are made right before God.  There were certain things that the Law of Moses could never justify.  Only God's perfect sacrifice could make right those things, and that is Jesus.  The Law's weakness is not what it says, but that I cannot fulfill it in the flesh.  I need a redeemer, and that redeemer alone can make me right with God.

As I said before, if we make unity the cardinal doctrine, we must make it a unity upon what God is saying and doing.  This is why it is a good thing, a necessary thing, to stand strongly against those who teach error, especially when they claim to be believers.  These men were in danger of supplanting the truth in the hearts and minds of the believers of Antioch, and anywhere else they would go.

In Galatians 2, Paul refers to these men as false brothers (in the same fashion as the Bible speaks of false christs, false prophets, and false teachers).  He most likely did not call them that up front.  But later, he would see that many of them never truly embraced the grace of Jesus.  They were more about keeping the Law and its traditions than they were about coming into the new covenant.  In Galatians 2, Paul says that they did not submit to those false brothers for even one hour.  In our day, he would probably say not for one nano second.

When it is clear that neither side intends to relent, the church of Antioch decides to send Paul, Barnabas, and some others to Jerusalem in order to talk with the apostles and elders there.  This issue had to be ironed out now.

It is interesting to me that Paul and Barnabas did not jump on a ship to Jerusalem, which would have been quicker.  Instead, they travel down the coast through Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon) and Samaria (northern Israel).  As they travel, they share with the churches they find about God's gracious work among the Gentiles.  We are told that this brings great joy to the believers.  It is always wonderful to hear stories of God moving powerfully anywhere in the world today.

I think the main purpose was to counteract any of the false teaching that may have happened by this group of men who had stirred up so much conflict in Antioch.  By the way, the term "Judaize/Judaizer" is often used of Christians who teach others to obey the Law of Moses in addition to believing on Jesus for salvation.

This group from Antioch is received by the Jerusalem church like any group of believers coming from abroad.  Paul and Barnabas share all that God was doing through them, particularly among the Gentiles.

This initial report is quickly resisted by a group of Pharisees who were now Christians.  In verse 5, we have their main argument.

First, they state that "it is necessary..."  Necessary things have no wiggle room.  They are not saying that they think it is wise for Gentiles to do this.  There are thing that I myself choose not to do out of wisdom, not because I believe they are necessary.  I will not drink alcohol because of the damage it did in my life before I surrendered to Jesus.  I do this not because it is necessary for salvation, but as a matter of wisdom.  I've never looked back.  Yet, they are emphasizing that there are some things that the Gentiles necessarily have to do.

Now, let's be honest.  There are some things that God says are necessary, and when He does, we do well to pay attention and obey.  Acts 4:12 says, "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  Jesus is a necessary condition to salvation.  This cannot be rejected without losing salvation.

Second, the first necessary thing is circumcision, according to the Judaizers.  Circumcision was a sign that you were under the covenant of Moses.  They believed it necessary for Gentiles to be circumcised to be saved.

Third, which actually incorporates the second, the Gentiles should be commanded to obey the Law of Moses.

This contention precipitates a gathering of the apostles and elders.  It is not referred to as a council in Acts, but historically it is viewed as an official gathering of the leaders of the Church to hammer out doctrine, so it qualifies as such.   They gather to determine exactly what should be taught to Gentiles in regard to salvation.

We should note that the kingdom of God is not about a democracy where everyone votes, and each votes is equal, regarding what we are going to teach.  What we teach must be based upon the decrees and work of God, and it should be led by spiritually mature believers.  Like a family, we would not expect the toddlers to help with the security and provisioning of the household.  Moms and dads are accountable before God to make decisions that are in conformity with God's Word for the sake of the children in their home.  Similarly, the apostles and elders are supposed to be a safety, and a help, to the new believers coming into the Church.  Of course, those elders would one day pass on, and young believers would become the elders of tomorrow.

They gather in order to make a decision (v. 8-12)

Luke tells us that there was much dispute, and then he gives us three testimonies that seem to have helped the group make their decision.  It is not important what all the intricacies of the arguments were.  Rather, Luke gives us the important testimony.  He gives us what we need to know.

The testimony of the apostle Peter is given first.  He was one of The Twelve taught directly by Jesus, and God had worked powerfully through him in Jerusalem and the surrounding area.  He also did not represent the "extreme" of the position of Antioch.  He was from Jerusalem, not one of "them."  Of course, the position of Paul and Barnabas, even that of the Antioch church, was not "extreme."  It is only extreme to a person who is unwilling to listen to God, and continues to resist what He is doing.  If God is moving and we are dead set on staying still, then even He will seem extreme to us.

So, what is Peter's argument, and which side does he take?

Peter points out that God's ministry through him made no distinction between Gentiles and Jews, especially in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  They knew the story of Peter's vision of the sheet let down from heaven and how God told him to go to Caesarea and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles there.  In fact, even before he finished his sermon, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon those Gentiles in the same manner as had happened to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost.  Peter says that God, who knows the heart of a man, poured out the Spirit upon them.

How do you argue against that?  So, you are left with disagreeing that God had actually led Peter to do this.  However, that leads you to having to deny that they actually received the true Holy Spirit.  They would have to reject Peter's clear ability to know what God is doing before everyone.

Peter was not participating in an intellectual exercise of who-can-outwit-whom.  He was dealing with the reality of what God was telling Him, and what God was doing among Gentiles.  Jesus was saving and filling Gentiles with the Holy Spirit without them being circumcised.  This is a bigger deal than we might think.

Peter then says that God purified their hearts through faith (verse 9).  How could God take up residence in an unclean vessel (Gentiles were considered such under the Law)?  God had to purify them first.  On what basis?  Purely on the basis of their faith in Jesus.  There is no way theologically around this except calling Peter a liar, which would not be based in reality either.

In verse 10, Peter clearly separates himself from those who are pushing for Gentiles to be circumcised and follow the Law.  He asks them why do they "test God" by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples that even we Jews couldn't carry.

This phrase "testing God" is loaded with the connotation of Israel in the wilderness where they tested God.  Those who tested God in the wilderness perished while others went into the Promised Land without them.  These Pharisees may not have known it, but they were acting the part of their forefathers in the wilderness.  They were rebelling against God.

Peter could not have put this in clearer terms.  He is firmly on the side of Paul and Barnabas, but really on the side of Jesus.  He believed it to be dangerous to persist in requiring Gentiles (or Jews) to follow the Law of Moses in order to be saved.  Why would it be dangerous?  This is the argument Paul makes in the book of Galatians.  It is dangerous because it teaches you to lean upon all the wrong things for your salvation.  It diminishes Jesus to something less than your total hope of salvation.  Salvation belongs to the Lord, and is not a work of man, though we can work with the Lord in it.

Peter ends his testimony in verse 11 by giving a summary that parallels that of Paul in Ephesians 2:8,9.  "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they."  When you couple that statement with the statement earlier that they were purified by faith, we see the grace of God working through our faith in Jesus to save us.  "Not of works lest any man should boast," as Paul would later say.

Peter had come to see salvation as a gift, a grace, of Jesus, and that even Jews are saved in the same manner as Gentiles.  There are not two paths to salvation: one for Jews, and another one for Gentiles.  In Jesus Christ, we are saved the same way, into one body, the Church (English), the Ekklesia (Greek), the Qahel (Hebrew), the People of God.

After Peter's testimony, we then have Barnabas and Paul testify.  Instead of focusing on a biblical argument, they give evidence of the work of God among the Gentiles.  In a sense, they are packing the testimony of Peter, which involves the work at one point in time among one group of Gentiles, with that of many groups of Gentiles, and many points of time, and many different places.

This creates a mounting question that is harder and harder to overlook.  Why would God fill Gentiles with the Holy Spirit and do miracles among them, if they now needed to be circumcised?  If circumcision was needed at all, then God would not do the other.  They would not be fit for service, and for His presence.  A holy God filling an unclean vessel would have been a concept that was anathema.  The vessel is cleansed first, and then it can be holy unto the Lord for His work.

The Pharisees are faced with either obeying God in this matter, or continuing to hold on to their traditions and points of pride.

We will finish up with the council next week.  Yet, let us notice that the freedom of Christ for believers is often put in contention with obeying the Word of God.  However, this is a false dichotomy.  We who have put our faith in Jesus have been purified by faith and now stand in a place of safety, on a foundation of salvation.  From that safe place of Jesus, we are enabled to partner with the Holy Spirit and follow the commands of Christ.  We are enabled to walk out the righteousness of Christ by the grace of God.

You will notice that the moral aspects of the Law (forbidding sexual immorality, murder, hatred, dissensions, etc.) are all restated in the New Testament.  However, the dietary laws, the temple ordinances, the special days of observance, et. al. are not reiterated as obligations of believers.  However, regardless of this, even the moral requirement to love one another is not a work I am doing to obtain salvation, but an act of love out of thanks for salvation.  Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commands."  Let us love the Lord our God with all our heart.  And, if we stumble, let us confess our sin, repent of it, and let him do his work of cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

Jerusalem Council I

The Acts of the Apostles 50

Subtitle: The Fallout of God's Help

Acts 12:12-19.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 6, 2023.

I have used the term "Fallout" because it features the repercussions or consequences of powerful actions.  When God acts, it is more powerful than a nuclear bomb, and yet more controlled than them as well.  Thus, it is much better than a nuke.  Still, there are powerful consequences to all involved when He gives His help- helpful to some and as devastating as a nuke to others.

The Bible makes it clear that God will eventually do something that sweeps aside all of the great power of man regardless of the period of time in which we live, or the part of the globe in which we live.  People have always been born and raised in situations of powerful governments and people that appear unlikely to ever change.  You can live your life and die without them changing. 

To our limited minds it appears they are immovable.  However, take heart.  God is doing something that is bigger than you, than a family, than a nation, a republic, or a world.  He will step in and judge the wicked at some point in a powerful act of His Sovereignty.

This can be hard on our faith in between the time of suffering and God's help.  Yet, in countless many little ways, God helps us even in times when it appears that the wicked are untouchable.

When God sweeps away their power structures and authority, it is a source of rage and frustration for the wicked, but it is simultaneously a source of joyful amazement for the people of God!

Let's look at our passage.

The believers are astonished (v. 12-17)

Peter has been freed from prison by an angel of God. As is often the case with prayer, God can astonish us simply by doing the thing for which we are praying.  This surprise can be because of the quickness of the answer, or because it is answered at all.  There is a level of weak faith in this matter.  However, this is not the hardened unbelief of the lost.  Rather, it is a remnant of our close connection to a lost world.  We grow to expect certain things from God, just as we do from certain people.  This doesn't make a person a failure as a Christian, but rather a human in need of God's grace.

The believers of Israel in the first century were not used to angels helping people out of jail.  So, in one sense, we can give them grace.  God was on the move with powerful works and they were not used to it.  However, in another sense, we can see that they have had three and half years of the miraculous ministry of Jesus followed with about ten years of God doing powerful things through the Apostles of Jesus.  Perhaps, they should be softly rebuffed with the response, "Ye of little faith!"

The believers who had been praying for Peter would have presumably been praying for God to spare Peter from execution and enable him to be released.  We can pray things with our mouths that our heart does not expect to happen, i.e., "It would take a miracle...and God hardly ever does that."  Sigh. 

Let us always remember that the simple thing and the impossible thing are both easy for God to do.  God isn't sparing with miracles because they are hard to do, but because they don't always help our faith. Yet, I think that God enjoys astonishing believers from time to time.  He likes to give us surprises from time to time.

Our sanctified minds are not perfect at analyzing God's purpose and plan.  With the execution of the Apostle James, it may have appeared to them that God had finally moved them into martyr-mode.  Others had been killed, but the apostles had been spared up until now.  How quickly our faith meter can rise and fall based upon what we see on the ground.  As the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by faith, not by sight."

Finding himself in the street at night, Peter naturally goes to a place where believers would gather.  In those days, this would often be the home of a believer that was large enough to accommodate a bigger group.  One of those places in Jerusalem was the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark.

By the way, there are a lot of women in the New Testament named Mary.  It can be hard to keep them clear.  There are at least six or seven with three different Mary's at the cross when Jesus died.

The believers were in the habit of gathering together and praying together, especially when there was trouble like Peter being in jail.  It is important for us to develop the discipline of praying for one another, but also to pray with one another.  Such a disciplines will serve us well in times of difficulty.  If you wait until trouble hits to reach out to others and try to pray, you will be less likely to do so, and do it effectively, when it comes.

Thus, we should have intentionality in our prayer life.  I don't want to pray only when I feel like it, or I think I need it.  In truth, we always need to pray alone, and to pray with others.  God help us to develop a disciplined relationship with Him through prayer.

As Peter knocks on the door of the gate (verse 13), a young girl named Rhoda answers.  She is so excited about it being Peter that she neglects to open the door and let him in.  She runs into the house and tells everyone that Peter is at the gate.  However, they think she is crazy.

When we are not inclined to believe something, we will grasp at every alternate explanation that we think is more believable.  However, the only evidence they have is that someone claims that Peter is currently at the door of the gate.  Rhoda, who is probably a teenager, claims that Peter is at the door.  She has seen him.  Yet, they say that she is crazy.  The word literally means that she is beside herself.  Of course, their only evidence of her being crazy is that she claims to have seen Peter. 

Think about it.  It is one thing to be skeptical and want to see for yourself.  However, if you were not there when Rhoda claims to have seen Peter, you can't use that as evidence of her being crazy.  You are the one who doesn't know anything.  You have to investigate.

Of course, because she insists that Peter is at the gate, they then change their charge to the idea that she has only seen "his angel."  What do they mean by this?  It is most likely a reference to his spirit, i.e., he must have been killed at the jail and we are being visited by his spirit.  Angels were spiritual beings and the term was sometimes used for all spirit beings by extension.  It is also possible that they are thinking it is Peter's guardian angel.  But, why would the angel look like Peter, and be at their door?

They have put forward the statement that Rhoda is either crazy or has seen Peter's spirit, but in no way, has she seen Peter.  We may not believe everything that everyone says, but we should be careful of making pronouncements about things that we did not see.  You should go and check it out yourself, or hold your peace.  By the way, this has led many an atheist to Christ (checking it out for themselves).

God is not stuck in your boxes.  I am the servant, and He is the master.  We should walk more humbly among one another than that.

Peter, of course, is still at the gate and continues knocking.  He has escaped from prison, and is now standing in the street in the middle of the night.  If the guards come looking, they will find him easily.  The believers finally open the door and now they are astonished.  There is some irony here.  They thought that Rhoda was mad, but now they are "astonished."  This word means to stand outside of one's self, but it didn't have the connotation of actually being crazy.  It meant something more like being amazed at something that seems incredulous.

No matter how much faith you have, you are still a human being who is mortal and framed in by limitations.  However, God isn't.  When He moves, it is often mind-blowing even to His people.  If you think about it, even just the normal activity of God's creation is amazing.  On top of this, He does astonishing things when we are not expecting it.  God has made astonishing promises to believers that are easy to talk about, but do we really believe?  The general resurrection of believers into immortal bodies seems incredulous to 21st century humans, but it is God's promise to the saints of every age.  Prepare to be surprised, and astonished!

Yet, if God could spring Peter with an angel, why not James?  That is the question isn't it.  Why does God do what He does, and not do what He doesn't do?  You will never be satisfied with an answer in that area.  Besides, from another perspective, we could say that James has been promoted to the side of Jesus, but Peter has been left on the earth to continue working.  James' testimony is that Jesus is worth dying for, and Peter gives the same testimony.  Yet, he is spared this time.

It is the privilege of the people of God to be amazed at the grace and mercy of God.  It is our privilege to be amazed from time to time as we pray for God's help.  We can shout together, "That's our God!  That's the One that we've been talking about!"  Let us praise our amazing God, and our amazing Savior!

After explaining all that has happened, Peter tells them to let the other apostles know that he has been freed, and then leaves.  This is one of those "underground church" lessons.  They would be looking for Peter at any time.  The first place that the gestapo will look is at the homes of your known associates.  We must be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.

The wicked are frustrated (v. 18-19)

We will now look at how God's activity affects the wicked.  Of course, the wicked are always upset when God helps the righteous.

We are told that there is no small stir among the soldiers.  When they awakened and saw that their prisoner was gone, they knew this was a matter of life and death, theirs.  This was the day that Herod intended to try Peter, and execute him, no doubt.  Guards were always under threat of death for losing a prisoner, but especially a prisoner like Peter who "disturbs the Roman Peace."  They would have only so much time to look for Peter and then they would have to come clean to Herod.  They would not be able to sweep this under the rug.

Herod is finally told.  Verse 19 says that Herod searched for Peter and couldn't find him.  Of course, this means that he sent people out to search for Peter.  When they came up empty handed, Herod interrogates the guards and then has them executed.  He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.

Man's military operates much like a machine.  It is very methodical and all about function.  It is not a place of grace and mercy, but of harsh realities.

Though military language is used of believers in the New Testament (i.e., the armor of God, spiritual battle, etc.), God is not a man trying to act the part of God.  Of course, this is what generals, kings, and presidents do.  God is not desperate for you to never fail.  He can afford to have mercy and grace upon those who are more than His spiritual warriors, but are also His children.

This brings us to a principle.  When you are on the wrong side of God, you had better get used to frustration and rage.  Herod ends up with egg on his face and doesn't like it.  He sends a message to the other soldiers through the execution of the guards, and he sends a message to the people of Jerusalem as well.  This is no laughing matter.  Herod will not be made into a spectacle!  He may suspect that the guards had to have helped Peter escape.  Regardless, he is finding out the hard way that it is no fun to be fighting against God.

We are told that Herod then goes down to Caesarea.  It was no longer fun and rewarding to go after these Christians in Jerusalem.  It was fun for a time, but then God stepped in.  Yet, not all of the enemies of God's people are so easily dissuaded.  It is not always fun for believers either.  Yet, we always have the confidence that our God loves us and is working all things for our good.  He fights our battles!

This is the destiny of all the wicked, to be frustrated, and at the mercy of the cruelty of one another.  We could even say that Herod is "beside himself" in anger.  Yet, there is coming a day of great shame and loss for the powerful people of the earth and their armies.

Believers must once again take hold of the truth that God has not given this world to the wicked.  It may appear so, but it is only temporary.  They are taking advantage of God's grace and mercy.  Yet, they will be judged in the end.

God has particular judgments throughout history in which things changed overnight that people though would never change.  On top of this, God has a final day of wrath that will bring this Age of Grace to a close.  What will we choose, desperate frustration and shame, or the joy of amazement as our Savior steps in?  Those who choose the Lord Jesus will not be put to shame in the end!

Let me end by reminding us of the War of Independence.  When the united colonies won their independence from Great Britain, it was a big deal, a judgment of God.  But, it is a drop in the bucket to what Christ will do when He comes back to liberate humanity from the usurpers and their sycophants.  We must choose which side we will be on.  Some will always choose the side of the wicked against God.  Yet, in His mercy, He has given us this Age of Grace so that men can choose.  Choose this day who you will serve!

God's Help audio

The Acts of the Apostles 46

Subtitle: Peter Defends the Work of God

Acts 11:1-18.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 9, 2023.

There is a lot of water under the bridge within Christianity.  We can find ourselves in situations where some Christians are saying one thing about whether or not God is moving, and other Christians are saying the opposite.

This precise situation developed during spring this year at Asbury University.  Reports began to circulate that a revival was happening.  Some Christians were quick to embrace it.  However, other Christians began with a more stand-offish approach and generally rejected it as a true revival.

We could be tempted to think of this as a Wesleyan Holiness-movement/Pentecostal issue.  Those in this camp would naturally embrace it as a revival and non-Pentecostals would tend to reject it.  However, this happens even within the Pentecostal camp.  The Toronto "Revival" of the 1990's saw different Pentecostal groups for and against calling it a revival, even within the same denominations.

We should also note that it is possible to have true revival, but also have fake activity attaching itself to it due to pretenders.  This should cause us to pause and think about whether or not we should be pronouncing judgment upon what is actually happening in these cases.  Many Christians can find themselves maneuvered into making a judgment when they were not there and most of their evidence is from people who were either biased, or not there either.  This is called hearsay.  In many cases, there is no reason for me (i.e., the average Christian) to make a judgment, yea or nay.  Perhaps, if you were a pastor in the town, or a denominational leader whose churches were being impacted, you would need to do some due diligence and find out for yourself what is really happening.  Yet, most of us should simply pray that it really is a revival.  Ultimately, my biggest concern should be whether I am "revived" in the Lord myself, as opposed to worry about what is happening elsewhere.

We Pentecostals have a certain group of us who act like "roadies" of revival.  Whenever they get wind of something "happening" somewhere, they jump on a plane, in a car, etc. and head towards the latest report of the "fire of God."

This reminds me of the gold rush towns in the American frontier.  In fact, I grew up in an old gold town.  When word was spread that there was gold in Pierce, Idaho, over 5,000 people made their way into the hills of central Idaho, about 3,000 of them were Chinese.  Within short order, the easy gold would be played out, requiring much harder work for much finer gold.  Of course, then word would come around that there was gold in Elk River, and many of the people abandoned the area to go to the next rush.  "Wait, now there is gold in the Yukon!"  Many ran after the gold that was larger and easier to get.  However, it has been said that the Chinese, who stayed behind in Pierce and did the hard work to capture the "flour" gold after the rush had left, were able to take more gold out of that area than during the rush.

I don't believe that this is what God intends for His people, chasing after a rush of the Spirit.  Rather, in Scripture, we see a people who are seeking God and waiting upon Him for His seasons of refreshing.  Of course, this book, The Acts of the Apostles, was such a time of God's favor and refreshing.  

We are told that there will be much deception and confusion in these end times, and if I am chasing after every cry of "spiritual gold in them there hills," I will not spiritually mature in the ways that make me look more like Jesus.  I will then become fodder for the deceptions and confusion that will only grow stronger.

We should note that the Apostle Paul, in what he believed to be his last opportunity to speak to the elders of the Ephesus church, warned that wolves would attack the church from outside, and perverse men would rise up from among their ranks.  They, we, would need to be vigilant to help protect the people and teach them to be wise, discerning.

Our cynical side can scoff.  How can I know?  In our spiritual immaturity, we may feel like God has not made it clear enough and the confusions are too many.  However, Christ promises those who follow him that he will be with us to the end of the age.  He promises that the Spirit of Truth will guide us.  We need to be a people who are growing in our knowledge of God's Word, and in our experience of the work of His Spirit.  Don't settle for anything less than the real thing.  May we be a people who are being revived daily as we lean upon the Spirit of God in our current situations.

Let's look at our passage.

Peter returns to Jerusalem  (v. 1-3)

We were told at the end of chapter 10 that Peter stayed with Cornelius and crew for a "few" days.  However, the word is far more indefinite than the word "few."  It would be like saying that he stayed for a certain number of days.  It could be days, it could be weeks, yet, probably not years.

Peter has been on the road for a while encouraging believers, and yet the Holy Spirit had also done some amazing miracles through him.  Aeneas was healed of paralysis at Lydda.  Tabitha was raised back to life in Joppa.  The miracle of people believing upon Jesus and being saved occurred everywhere he went, and now, Gentiles have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Peter now returns to Jerusalem.  Have you ever noticed that other people can be busy spreading rumors and a case against you when you are focused on doing a good thing for the Lord?  Many times the people who do the most to spread a rumor were not there.  They heard a story from someone who heard a story.  They can also have an ulterior motive, which leads them to focus on things that were not the main thing.  They may even home in on things, magnifying them above what is the truth.  We should be very slow to make any judgments from such "witnesses."

Verse one tells us that the apostles and the brethren of Judea had heard the news about the Gentiles receiving the Gospel.  However, there seems to be a particular group among the believers that has been developing along with the Church as it grew.  This group is referred to as "The Circumcision" by Luke and Paul.

During this transitional period, the Church was finding it bearings in regards to what Church would look like.  Would they continue on much the same way as before, obeying the Law of Moses, but believing in Jesus?  The apostle Paul was strongly against such ideas from day one (see Galatians 2:5).  Others like The Circumcision group were the opposite. We do not have an idea what percentage they were of the group of believers or of the apostles themselves.  However, Peter represents that man in the middle who wants to obey God, but is unsure what God is doing in this regard.  He starts out cautious, and yet, God faithfully teaches and leads him to the truth.

As Peter comes into Jerusalem, we are told that those of the circumcision group contend with him over his contact with the uncircumcised in Caesarea.  I believe that Peter would be meeting with the church of Jerusalem and, in that context, a subset of the group forces this issue to be front and center.  To quote their accusation against Peter, "You went into uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

It is quite telling that they do not mention the faith of the Gentiles at Caesarea.  They don't mention that the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles just as He had upon the Jews at Pentecost.  It may be that this part of the news never travelled to Jerusalem.  Regardless, they are focusing on the fact that Peter had dinner with these Gentiles.  Why?

I mentioned previously that the Law of Moses shows that there are things that are holy and things that are unholy.  We most likely have a knee-jerk definition of "unholy."  It is easy to see it as something that is evil, but that is not what it means.  To be holy is to be set apart for God's purposes.  Those who are unholy are not set apart for God's purposes.  You can picture a bowl in the temple.  It is holy, i.e., set apart for God's purposes in the temple.  The holy priest that uses a holy bowl within the temple for God's prescribed worship is serving God's purposes.  He no doubt has a bowl back at home, which his wife uses to serve him soup.  That bowl is not holy, i.e., unholy.  It is only for common purposes.  It would be just as wrong to use a common, unholy bowl in the temple as it would be to take a holy bowl home and use it for your own common purpose.

This brings up the issue of clean and unclean.  A holy person, or object, must be ritually clean to do whatever God's purpose is.  The holy thing can become unclean for various reasons.  In that unclean state, the holy thing cannot be used for God's purpose.  However, there is a mechanism by which the holy thing or person can be made clean again .  Thus, uncleanness can come from something sinful, or from something that isn't.  A case in point, if a family member dies and you help to bury them (note: that this is not a sinful thing to do), you could not participate in a temple ceremony until you had gone through a cleansing ritual.  Contact with Gentiles was similar.  Gentiles were unclean and often did "unclean" things (sinful, or not).  Many traditions had been built up over the years to avoid such uncleanness, and one of them was to not have close contact with Gentiles (like going to their house and eating with them).

This would have been ingrained into the Jewish person from childhood, and would not come easy to most.  It is amazing that through Jesus, the Gentiles were now considered holy.  I don't mean they were all now saved, but that they were all now set apart for the holy purpose of God.  They need to then come to Jesus and be cleansed from their unclean state so that they can now serve God in Spirit and in Truth.  

This is the issue that they are having difficulty accepting.  Those of the circumcision are stuck in this old construct of Gentiles being unholy and unclean by virtue of not being Jews.  They want to make salvation and full access available only to those who obeyed the Law of Moses and believed upon Jesus.

Peter explains himself (v. 4-18)

I titled this sermon, "Peter Defends the Work of God."  It is better to see it as an explanation of what God did.  I mean, who can defend God?  God is His own defense!  Yet, we can engage with one another over what God is doing, even persuade one another in how to understand it.

If God is doing something, all of us should refrain from resisting and fighting against it.  It just seems to be a no-brainer for a Christian to support what God does.  We could also simply be apathetic to it.  I know that this is not what God wants for us.  We need to be supportive and joining God in what He is doing.  That is the best case scenario.  Of course, the age old question, "How can I know?"  We will come back to that.

Peter simply gives a chronological description of the reasons for his actions.  Yet, I think it is important to pay attention to the categories of "evidence" that God uses to convince Peter.  God was giving Peter some facts, or evidence, so that he could understand the God-given conclusion.  This is important.  It was not man's natural ability to reason and make good conclusions that brought the Church to embrace Gentiles who believed upon Jesus.  Rather, God used the fact that we can reason and see conclusions to show Peter what was right.  From the very beginning of this issue, we will see that God lays the conclusion on the table up front.  "What God has cleansed you must not call common (unholy)."

The first evidence is the vision that he had at Joppa.  In this vision, God used the same issue, but with the area of foods.  Just as Gentiles could defile a person, so certain foods could defile a person.  Jesus had not only made all people holy unto the Lord, but he had also made all foods holy unto the Lord.  The message of the vision was clear.  If God makes something clean, we must not try to say it isn't clean.

Peter also tells them that the vision was repeated three times.  God only needs to say something once, but He knows that this is a tough issue to swallow for Peter and other Jews.

I would categorize this as personal teaching, or leading, from God's Spirit.  Of course, Peter is not a new Christian.  He is an apostle hand picked and trained by Jesus Christ in order to help establish the faith once and for all delivered to the saints in that generation.  Peter's experience is quite objective to him, but we label it subjective because no one else saw it.  There is nothing wrong with subjective personal experience, but we must be careful in this area.  It needs to have other confirmation.

In verses 11-12, Peter states that the three men from Caesarea show up immediately following his vision.  At this point, Peter has another personal leading directly from the Spirit of God.  Peter has demonstrated an ability to know when the Spirit of God is speaking to Him.  The Spirit tells him that men are arriving to ask him to go with them.  He is told to go with them "doubting nothing." 

We should also note that the timing of this is also part of the evidence.  It is said that "coincidence" is not a kosher word.  Sometimes coincidence is only that, a coincidence without any common causality behind them.  However, it is part of the evidence.  They show up immediately after he has this strange vision.

We should also note that Peter wisely takes some unbiased witnesses along with him on this journey of faith.

Peter also tells them about the angelic appearance to Cornelius in verses 13-14.  The angel is the one who told Cornelius where Peter was and that Peter would tell him the words by which he and all his household would be saved.  Notice that this turned out to be correct on both accounts.  This has three aspects to it.  Cornelius had his own personal leading directly from God.  Yet, it also has a corroborating affect upon what God is teaching others.  Thus, I will label this confirming personal leading of another person who is a believer in God.  We also have knowledge supplied by God that proves true.

In verse 15, Peter explains that the Holy Spirit came upon them when he began to preach to them.  Peter could not deny what he saw happening to these Gentiles.  I would call this an objective work of the Holy Spirit.  Though Peter and the men who were with him could not deny this was the Holy Spirit, there are always people who will deny the undeniable.  Yet, for those who had an inkling of the Spirit of God, it was obvious.  No one had coached these Gentiles on what "should" happen.  Peter had not even described or talked about the Promised of the Father, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.  This is a sovereign action of God through the Spirit.

I believe that verse 16 is critical.  We should note that Peter does not speak "ex cathedra," that is, from the chair of his position.  He is simply a man being led by the Spirit of God.

We don't know why God used Peter greatly among his fellow Jews.  Why wasn't it John "the beloved?"  From a standpoint of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth, Paul was the most used of God than any of The Twelve. 

It is not about position, or an office, or who received the baton from whom.  It is about the Spirit of God working in and through people to accomplish the will of God.  Peter clearly knows this in this moment.

He reminds the group that the Lord Jesus had told him (and others) that "John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1:5).  Of course, we should add the testimony of John the Baptist in Mark 1:8.  He referred to Jesus as the One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.  On top of this, we could add the many verses throughout the Old Testament that emphasize Messiah's salvation going to the Gentiles.  An example is found in Isaiah 49:6.

"Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

I would categorize this evidence as the Word of the Lord.  Subjective experiences that are of God will line up with His Word. 

Some may say that we are no longer in that transitional time.  Yet, we do have transitional times as an individual where God starts to do something different in our lives.  In those times, it is critical that we know how to hear from the Lord and to be led by Him.  We don't want to be fighting against what God is doing in our life, but yielding and serving His purpose.

This same dynamic happens in families, nations, even republics, and the whole world.  It is interesting that the world is describing this time globally as a time of transition.  It is important that we be connected to the Spirit of God, and hearing from Him.  Otherwise, we may find ourselves being deceived by the spirit of this age.

We may complain that one person says this and another says that.  How can I know?  Yes, this is true.  There are all kinds of voices "out there."  Jesus never sent us to the voices out there to find truth.  He said that He would lead us by His Spirit.  You need to know for yourself.  You can hear what other think, but you won't do what God wants by following what others think.  You have to hear from the Lord yourself.  At the most, the thinking and experiences of others can only be a confirmation of what God is doing in your heart and mind.

Verse 17 gives the logical conclusion to so many lines of evidence.  "Who was I that I could withstand God?"  Peter knows that he truly is nobody without Jesus.  In and of ourselves we are all nobody to stand against God.  And yet, there was still a call of God on Peter's life.  That call doesn't bless everything Peter thinks.  No, it is, "Peter, come follow me!"  Peter had enough time being rebuked by the Lord that he knew he didn't want to fight God on this.

There are too many in the Church who are elevating their thinking over the work of God.  We must be careful.  Be careful of thinking such and such simply because a great person says we should think a certain way.  Some have developed a cult-like adherence to men (living or dead) who may be smart people, but they are nothing without the Spirit of God, especially in resisting the Spirit of God.  We can even be guilty of using the words of men who followed the Holy Spirit in their day in order to resist following the Spirit of God in our day.

This is the call to spiritual maturity.  God gives the truth to these Gentiles through Peter, but this doesn't mean they forever have to go through Peter to know the truth of God.  We need to come to know God for ourselves.  This takes time.

Why would I want to resist the work of God?  If you heard that God was working in your town, or even your family, wouldn't you be excited?  In fact, God is doing something today.  Maybe I have fallen asleep to what He is doing.  Maybe I am not sober enough to recognize it.  Worse, I may not even have a spiritual pulse.  Yet, God in His grace wakes the sleeper, sobers the intoxicated, and raises the dead to new life!

Jesus had baptized these Gentiles in the Holy Spirit.  Who was Peter to forbid them to be water baptized?  The answer is simply no one.  He had tried rebuking Jesus before, and he was not going there again.

More than this, who was Peter to continue to try and keep a distinction between himself and them because they were not circumcised?  It was clear that God did not treat their uncircumcision as a mark of impurity.  Of course, again, he is no one.  And, to do so over the top of the leading and teaching of the Lord by His Spirit, would be rebellion.

You need to know where it comes from when people who are resisting God's work despise His work in you.  In John 9, a man who had been blind from birth is healed by Jesus.  He is later interrogated by the Religious Council.  They pressure him to "Give God the glory!  We know this man is a sinner!"  He then tries to explain to them how what Jesus did had to be of God.  This only made them angry.  “ 'You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?' And they cast him out."  Notice that this man is a nobody in their eyes, and they are quite the somebodies.

The blind man accepted that he was a nobody.  "Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know.  One thing I do know; that though I was blind, now I see."  This man had a personal experience with Jesus that no amount of cynicism, bullying, or theological treatises could take away.  He was a nobody who had been touched by Jesus.  At that point, he became greater than all the "great" learned ones of Israel.  He sees Jesus as Messiah, and they want nothing to do with Jesus.  What would you rather have: the touch of Jesus or the approval of such men?

To their credit, the men became silent.  We know from the other passages in the New Testament that some of them would still chafe at this.  However, they had nothing to say.  The conclusion was clear.  "God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

We can focus so much on what people are doing (and that can be important), but it is better to focus on what the Lord Jesus is doing by His Holy Spirit.  We are not the Apostles laying down the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints.  However, like Peter, we can do our small part.  Peter simply went with the men, heard the story of Cornelius, and began to preach.  God did the heavy lifting because Peter and Cornelius did their small part.  It wasn't Peter, it was Jesus.  It isn't you, and it isn't me.  However, it is us doing our small part, in the harness with Jesus!  Don't you want to be a part of what God is doing?  Pray and ask God's Spirit to help you first see, and then courageously step forward to work with Him in the field.

There are times in our personal life, in the life of our family, our church, or our republic, where it is critical to discern what our Lord desires of us.  God uses personal leading of His Spirit, His confirming leading in the lives of others, the timing of events, His own sovereign works, and the Word of the Lord in order to teach us.  May God help us to wake up to all the ways that He is trying to teach us.  May we be a people of the Word, a people of prayer, a people of the Spirit and a people of the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

Work of God audio

Touching the Untouchable

Mark 1:40-45.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 10, 2019.

Today’s passage deals with a man who has leprosy.  In the Bible leprosy can be connected to a similar disease today called Hansen’s Disease.  However, it is clear that the Bible uses this term for far more than what would be considered Hansen’s Disease.  It was more of an umbrella term that was used to describe a range of skin problems, and even molds and mildew on stone or wood.  The man in our story appears to have a skin problem.  How bad his case is and how long he has had it we do not know.  This much we do know.  In the ancient world, the only answer for leprosy was a miracle.  Short of a miracle, a person was doomed to a life of being ostracized from society.  Lepers had to live outside and away from the dwelling places of the uninfected and they had to warn people if they approached.

This in and of itself would be bad enough, but then we must add the human element.  Humans added to the difficulty of lepers by showing little to no compassion.  Self-preservation was the order of the day and it was often laced with a derogatory hostility.  They were often seen as deserving of a punishment from God.  It is true that the Bible records some situations where a person who was rebelling against God came down with leprosy as a punishment.  However, this does not mean that every case is the result of judgment.  In general sin is in the world because humanity is fallen.  It is a result of the general sinful condition of mankind.  Though God can direct disease as a primary force, He typically allows proximity, DNA, and chance take its course.  Though we may wish God would protect everyone, or at least children and the helpless, etc., He has a plan to make us like Him.  If we are protected from the results of our fallen nature then we will never grow to become like Him.  The first reaction of Christians to disease should be the same compassion that we see in Jesus in this passage and the attempt to do for them what we can, both physically and spiritually.

An Untouchable approaches Jesus

The event begins in verse 40 and happens somewhere outside of a city because none is mentioned and lepers were very limited in where they could go.  In Matthew this same story is recorded right after the sermon on the mount, which happens near Jerusalem on the Mt. of Olives.  Therefore, it is likely that Jesus is outside Jerusalem, but we cannot know for sure.

People who had contracted leprosy were supposed to keep their distance and shout “Unclean! Unclean!” as a warning to people.  However, this man knows the reputation of Jesus as a healer and breaks protocol.

He kneels down and implores Jesus to heal him.  Now, kneeling for a person with leprosy can be a dangerous thing.  These diseases typically are caused by bacteria that attack the nerve endings and work their way to the core of the central nervous system.  The lack of feeling is as much responsible for their wounds as any cellular deterioration.  Yet, this is a desperate man.  He pleads with Jesus for help. 

If leprosy symbolizes sin then we should recognize that this man’s knowledge of his own condition, his own helplessness, and just who could help him, is symbolic of the answer to sin.  Only God could help this man wracked by the ravages of a disease.  Only Jesus had given him the hope that something could be done about his condition.  The same is true for us and our own sinful condition.  Without Jesus, we are at the mercy of sin and our selfish flesh.  They drive a wedge between us and the relationships in our lives, making us numb to life, and eventually destroying all hope.  We cannot approach Jesus with proud demands, but if we approach in brokenness and humility, we will find Him gracious and willing to help us.

Let’s analyze the statement the man makes.  First, he states the conditional, “If you are willing.”  This is enlightening.  He knows that God can heal him, but up to this point it hasn’t happened.  When he hears about Jesus, he has hope again, but still doesn’t know if Jesus is anymore willing to heal him.  There are some today who answer this question by saying Jesus is always willing.  If you are sick and come to Jesus, you should always get healed.  If not, then there is something wrong with you not Jesus.  Let’s lay this larger issue aside for a second and recognize in this moment how critical that question is to an individual.  It is often the result of countless hours of beating yourself up with the hopelessness of your situation and the idea that God doesn’t care about you.  Jesus was probably the first time that this man felt any hope that it could happen, but it hinges on the willingness of Jesus.

The second part of his statement is this.  “You can make me clean.”  It states an unwavering belief (faith) that Jesus had the power to heal him.  Of this, he seems to have no doubt.  Now, we have no indication that Jesus has healed other lepers up to this point.  He is the first recorded in the gospels.  However, it is possible because of all the blanket statements that say that Jesus healed all who were brought to him (at a particular instance).  Regardless, he believes.

The word clean is used because biblically the person with leprosy was declared “unclean.”  This was a ceremonial declaration that they could not participate in any temple rituals, whether to offer sacrifice or whatever.  Also, those who were ritually clean could not touch them at risk of becoming ritually impure themselves (note: mere touch could only cause temporary uncleanness, but contracting the disease would create a permanent uncleanness without healing).  So, the use of the term has two meanings.  The man could not be declared clean by the priests unless he was first healed from the disease.  He wants Jesus to heal him so that he can then be declared clean. Once he is clean, he can take his part in the heritage of Israel and go to the temple for worship and sacrifice.  It would open the door of access for him. 

The same is true for us today.  Without Christ, we are still in our sins and shut out from God’s heavenly temple.  Only Jesus can clean us from our sins.  However, even more than that, only Jesus can restore us to a position in which we can participate in the heritage that God has for His people today, that heritage that will take us into eternity, and the new heavens and the new earth.  Christ has not come just to rid us of the bad, but also to restore us to that good thing that we have been missing in our life.  Fellowship with God the Father and the Power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to image the Father to this broken and lost world.

Jesus responds to him

So, let’s look at the response of Jesus to such an approach.  Does Jesus respond with fear and calling for the stoning of such brazen audacity and wanton disregard for scriptural protocol?  I am not exaggerating, because historically certain rabbis have gone on record of responding with such reactions towards those with leprosy.  Of course, Jesus does no such thing.  Verses 41-42 show us a powerful scene of compassion.  We must be careful of brushing over such moments in the Scripture too quickly.  We are told that Jesus is moved with compassion.  The word for compassion speaks of a very deep emotion that comes from the guts.  We often have compassion on people, but typically it is for those who are very close to us, or the compassion is not very deeply felt.  Here is a man who has no connection to Jesus other than to be a fellow Israelite.  Yet, Jesus is moved with deep emotion for this man and his condition.

Do you believe that God is deeply moved by compassion when He looks at the world and its bondage to sin?  We only need to look at the cross and see the suffering of Jesus in order to know that He is deeply touched by our sin.  He does care.  He hasn’t abandoned you.  Put your trust in Him and He will never fail you.  He won’t do everything you tell Him to do, but He will be faithful to you to the very end.

We also see that Jesus was not afraid to touch the man.  There is great significance in this touch because Jesus did not have to touch him in order to affect a healing.  He is powerful enough to just think it and it will happen.  On top of this a person with leprosy were basically like a dead person.  If you touched a person you would be ritually unclean, and even worse, you could contract the disease.  In the case of a dead person, someone from the family has to bury the body.  However, Jesus didn’t have to touch the leper and yet He does.  Put yourself in the sandals of this man.  No one had touched him for years and here is a powerful prophet touching you in the name of Father God.  It must have been powerful.

Here is a brain bender.  Is Jesus ritually impure when He touches the man?  He would be technically.  However, the guy is made clean by the touch.  So, shouldn’t that disqualify the touch as making Jesus unclean?  Of course, I am treating this a problem for priests who are trying to follow the Law of Moses.  It is clear that when the Holy One, the Clean One of God, touches a person, the impurity of the person does not affect Him, but His purity affects the impurity.  That is how powerful the life of Christ is.  For us as humans, we cannot conquer someone else’s disease with our own health.  We can only hope to fight off the disease that they may have and could still succumb to the disease, no matter how healthy we are.  With Christ, this is not so.  The power of Jesus disintegrates the bacteria in every cell that is ravaging this man.  Jesus shows the true purpose of the purity laws.  They are not about walling us off from each other and from God, but rather about turning our eyes towards and connecting with the only One who can truly make us clean!

The man is instantly healed

Jesus was willing to heal the man, O, happy Day!  How those words must have washed over the man.  We are told that the man is instantly healed, which is saying a lot for a disease that would have been ravaging his whole body.  There would not only be destruction of the invading bacteria, but also reconstruction of destroyed cellular tissue. What a powerful healing.  So, what happens next?

Jesus warns the man not to tell anyone.  Of course, the man is extremely excited.  Why would Jesus give such a command?  Doesn’t this run counter to our duty to tell the whole world about Jesus?  Jesus is trying to minister somewhat under the radar of the religious authorities.  He knows that if He “pokes the bear” too much and too quickly then their attempts to kill Him would begin too soon.  God had a particular timing and purpose for the ministry of Jesus.  It is now clear that He needed to minister for 3 ½ years before He was to be killed.

Of course, today we are not under such a command from Jesus, although people sometimes act as if they are.  Jesus continually told His disciples that His death and resurrection would be the turning point for them to go public, declaring Him as the Messiah and Savior of the world.

Jesus also tells him to go and show himself to the priest as a testimony to them.  This was the requirement of the Law of Moses for anyone cured of leprosy.  They had to present themselves to the priests and go through several protocols that would determine whether they were truly healed or not.  Can you imagine what it must have been like at the temple that day?  Keep in mind that it is highly doubtful that the priests had ever had to perform this ritual.  There was probably a frantic scrambling around of priests trying to figure out what to do.  Yet, all of this was to be a testimony to them.  God was moving and there was a God in Israel who was making lepers clean.  Who had ever heard of such a thing (only a couple of times in the Old Testament)?  It was very rare.  The greatest testimony to the world of the power of Jesus is your own life transformed from sin and cleansed to be like Jesus.  None of us are perfect, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can walk in truth and righteousness before the world, and yet, also be compassionate and life-giving.  We don’t have to fear anything, even incurable diseases.  Sure, some people reject the testimony, but some are shocked and believe.  Others may tuck it in the back of their mind and it comes to fruit later.  Regardless, may we be a true testimony of Jesus Christ.

Next, we see that the man didn’t listen to Jesus and tells everybody what He did.  Here we see that even a good thing can be a bad thing if it is not exercised in wisdom.  Thus, we must learn to trust the wisdom of Christ and His representatives, the Apostles, rather than our own mind.  He knows better than us.

I said earlier that they are most likely outside of Jerusalem.  Thus, it is most likely the city that He couldn’t openly enter.  The passage tells us that Jesus goes north to minister in the Galilee region again.

Here we have a story about our broken and rotten condition without God meeting the compassion of God in Jesus.  If you are a believer today then I encourage you to remember that you were such a spiritual leper, being ravaged by sin, before you met Jesus.  He had the compassion to touch you!  He loves you.  However, we must also see ourselves in the place of Jesus.  Ask Christ to build such a deep compassion in you for those who are broken around you, whether they deserve their situation or not.  Pray that you may have such an impact upon the lost.

If you are not a believer in Jesus, then I encourage you to search your heart and see your true condition with Jesus.  You are being ravaged by a spiritual disease of sin that has deeply infected you to the core.  It will isolate you from everyone that you love, and destroy your life one cell at a time, until you are completely destroyed.  However, Jesus loves you and wants to touch you too.  If you will only fall down before Him and ask for His healing touch.  Lord, Jesus heal me of all my sin and make me clean that I may take my place in the heritage that belongs to God’s people, instead of being shut out and excluded.

Untouchables audio