Lives To Learn From: Gamaliel

Lives to Learn From: Gamaliel 
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There are many ways that we can lead or influence people – Seniority, title, friendship etc. But the true test to know if influence is from God is to test if it is in line with what we already know of God, and if it endures to fulfill His purposes. Gamaliel was a man who knew a “God thing” when he saw it.

Lives to Learn From pt 6 - Barnabas, Ananias & Sapphira

Lives to Learn From in the Book of Acts

Pt 6: Barnabas, Ananias & Sapphira
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What is the 'normal' level of sacrifice for a Christian to make in serving God? We sometimes read about people who leave everything to go serve in far away places, or who give everything away to support people in need, and we think 'I could never be like that'. That kind of devotion and self-sacrifice is surely beyond normal - it's freakish! The funny thing is that when you read Acts 4 and 5, that kind of devotion actually sounds pretty common. People really got the Romans 12:1 principle - it's only reasonable in the light of what God has done for us to give ourselves completely to Him. 

Barnabas was one of a bunch of people who sold their possessions in order to give to the poor. We read later in Acts about how he traveled and served God wherever God called him to. A great example! The weird, freakish thing was when a couple of people - Ananias and Sapphira - tried to look like people who were giving it all but were actually holding back for themselves. What got them in trouble wasn't that they held back some of the money they'd got for selling some land, it was that they lied about it. They wanted the credit for something that wasn't true. 

God did not want to see hypocrisy and deceit becoming the new normal in His Church, so He made it pretty clear that this kind of behaviour was not OK and not safe. It's still not safe today. Sure, God might not cause people to die so dramatically very often, but those kinds of attitudes still produce stunted disciples and turn others away from Jesus. God showed his love for the early church and for Ananias and Sapphira by disciplining them and stopping the poison before it spread. He still shows His love for us today by disciplining us when we need it so that we learn not to hold on so tightly to the stuff of this world - so our lives can be purified for His service. If God did nothing, Ananias and Sapphira's legacy could have been that they started a corrupting trend in the church. Because He did something, their legacy is that many people grew in respect and reverence for God and the church continued to grow.  If we assume that Ananias and Sapphira were genuine believers in Jesus who made a poor decision together, we can say that in eternity they will be glad that God intervened the way He did, even though they must be sad that their behaviour made it necessary for Him to do so.

Lives to Learn From pt 5: The Cripple at the Temple Gates

The Cripple at the Temple Gates 

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The story of the healing of the cripple at the temple gates is one of the most memorable in the book of Acts. We love to imagine the joy of being able to walk after 40 years and the life transformation that it would bring in that society. We love to witness the overflowing joy of a former cripple who is "walking and leaping and praising God" as a favourite song describes. 

 

However that's just the beginning of the miracle. The point of the healing was not a better quality of life for one individual for the remainder of his earthly existence - it was part of God's plan to bring Jesus into focus so that many people would have the opportunity to experience eternal life. The rest of Acts 3 and 4 describe the incredible way that the healing event provided an opportunity for Peter & John to boldly testify about the risen Jesus and to see many people place their faith in Him. 

 

Are we so excited about the miracle of new life that God has worked in us that our overflowing praise brings Jesus into the view of all around us so they may also be saved? We're reminded in Romans 12 that offering all our lives to God as living sacrifices is our reasonable response of worship to the One who gave it all for our salvation. What will that look like for you? Will you be one like the cripple whose transformed life captures peoples' attention? Will you be like the Apostles who testified about Jesus despite the threats and hostility of those who opposed them? Will you be like the believers who prayed for the Holy Spirit to empower their witness? All are needed in order to see salvation brought to the lost.

Resurrection Sunday 2013 - Where is God's Power?

Where is God's Power?
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Jesus did many impressive miracles throughout His earthly ministry, but the ultimate demonstration of who He is was in His resurrection from the dead. Similarly, when the Apostle Paul writes about his own life in Philippians chapter 3, he expresses a longing to experience God's power - not through signs and wonders in this life but in his own resurrection to be with Christ. In the meantime Paul's desire was to pour himself out as Christ did for the salvation of all who will believe. That's the most incredible demonstration of God's power: firstly that He would be able to raise us imperishable and undefiled to be with Himself forever; and secondly that in the meantime He can help us to be so transformed in character that we don't live for temporary things any more but only that which will last.

Lives to Learn from Pt 4: Judas

Lives to Learn From in the Book of Acts

Part 4: Judas

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The story of Judas Iscariot is one of the saddest and most confronting in the Bible. It raises all kinds of issues for people, from the simple historical accuracy of two accounts that at first glance don't add up (Matthew & Acts), to more complex issues like the question of whether Judas was merely a pawn in the battle between God and Satan - a victim of a much larger battle than he was aware of. Ultimately though, Judas stands as someone who in many ways represents the person we all can be and the fate we all can share, so it's important to learn from his story. In grappling with the hopelessness of his situation, we learn why there is always hope for us... unless we reject the Saviour King we all need.

Lives to Learn From pt 3: Matthias & Joseph

Lives to Learn from in the Book of Acts

Part 3: Matthias & Joseph

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The story of the two men who were candidates to replace Judas has some great challenges for us to apply to our own lives, such as: 
1) Why did Joseph have 3 names? If we needed to choose another name to identify you, what kind of name would that be? What kind of name should we be known by? 
2) What do we do when a choice needs to be made and there's no clear winner? Even after prayer, reflection upon Scripture and consultation with believers it was not obvious which way to go so a mechanism was found where God's sovereignty could prevail. How does that inform our own decision making? 
3) How would you have responded in Matthias' position or in Joseph's? Would you have become proud? Resentful? Our response to recognition or the lack of it can tell us a lot about the condition of our hearts and our true motivation for service.

Lives to Learn From pt 2: The Holy Spirit

 
Lives to Learn from in the Book of Acts

Part 2: The Holy Spirit

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What does it mean to receive power from the Holy Spirit? In the first chapter of Acts we see Jesus preparing His followers for the arrival of the Holy Spirit, then in chapter 2 He arrives with a bang! How similar should our experience of the Spirit be to what the first followers of Christ experienced on the day of Pentecost? We see through Acts 2 a pattern of the Spirit's work which is repeated throughout the book of Acts. To understand it, we need to remember what Jesus said in Acts 1:4 - that the Spirit would come just as Jesus taught. To understand the work of the Spirit we must remember all that Jesus said about Him.  A great place to start is to look at John 14 to 17 which records the instructions Jesus gives His disciples and His prayer to His Father - all of which give great guidance about the work of the Spirit.

We discover that this work can be summarised like this: The Spirit works to draw people closer to God in Christ and to all those who are in Christ.  He works through us to help others in that same direction also.

Sometimes we get too distracted on the means the Spirit uses rather than the purpose of His work.  We need to diligently apply 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 which urges us to not quench the Spirit but to test everything and hold on to the good.  We must not become overly prescriptive about what God does and does not do beyond what He clearly says in His Word.