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Immerse Day 11 Observations

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1- 7:40 (pp. 125-135)

  • Overview
    • Corinth was a Greek city famous for its immorality.
      • The people there had many non-Christian cultural influences.They were trying to meld their new faith with their established culture.One area this bore out had to do with understand what were good and permissible and honorable ways to honor their bodies.Paul wrote this letter in AD 50. He had stayed in Corinth for a year and a half before moving on to Ephesus. They had corresponded with him while his was in nearby Ephesus.Paul wrote them in response, and addressed several (12) topics of importance to the congregation in Corinth.
  • Paul identifies himself as the letter’s author, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ. Sosthenes is listed as being present, too. There is not agreement about whether or not this is the same Sosthenes mentioned in Acts. If it is (the same Sosthenes), it would indicate him being a Jewish believer.
  • He addresses this to God’s church in Corinth. God has called these people to be believers. The church is not a human-conceived or organized institution. Jesus makes his church holy.
  • In his general benevolent greeting, Paul mentions how the people of Corinth have been blessed with every spiritual gift needed, and that God will keep the church strong until the day of the return of Jesus.
  • He appeals to the church to live in harmony with one another, to be unified and free from divisions. The congregation was divided, creating artificial and unnecessary schisms around following Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, or Jesus. Paul corrected that by reminding everyone of the preeminence of Jesus, and the singularity of the Gospel of Christ resurrected.
    • He reminds them that he came to them with the simple message of the Gospel.This simple message is considered foolishness to those who are perishing (who consequently don’t receive this message as truth). Yet, for those who are being saved, this Gospel message is the power of God.Here, the Gospel is presented in terms of power and wisdom, perceived as weakness and foolishness toward those who are powerful and wise (from a worldly perspective), but eternally mighty and wise to those who are weak and unimpressive to the world. God regularly uses the weak and unimpressive things of this world; accordingly, this keeps people from boasting. If you boast, boast only in the Lord
    • Paul reminds them of his coming to them in the simplicity of his message, relying only on the power of the Holy Spirit to be effective.
  • He explains that when he is with mature believers, he does use words of wisdom (to speak of more in-depth matters)
    • He explains this wisdom is articulated in the mystery of God; that is, the church. The plan of the church had been hidden from the beginning of time, but now was being revealed.
    • He further explains that nobody has ever understood this or comprehended it (for if they had, they would have misused it).
    • God has revealed these things now, to the church, and to the Jewish and Gentile believers alike.
      • God has revealed these things by the power of the Holy Spirit.
      • We learn here that the Holy Spirit is the revealer of the secret things of God because the Spirit alone knows God’s deepest thoughts.
      • understated points: God has given you His Spirit! This Spirit, who alone knows and reveals God’s secrets, lives within the believer and communicates with you these very details!
      • This is why we can say confidently that we speak with God’s wisdom and with God’s power.
      • Succinctly stated, we can have the mind of Christ.
      • understated points: the entirety of the triune godhead is present and available to you -knowing God’s thoughts (secrets), thinking with mind of Christ, and receiving the Spirit’s wisdom and power.
    • Despite all this, Paul acknowledges having had to speak to the Corinthians not as mature believers, but as spiritual infants, using simple words to communicate foundational truths. He gives as evidence of their immaturity:
      • They are jealous of one another and quarrel.
      • They unnecessarily divide over which teacher/leader they follow.
        • Paul reminds them that all these teachers work in union under the primary headship of Jesus. They have different responsibilities towards a common goal (that is, making and maturing believers)
        • He compares his efforts to constructing, in them, a building of faith. He explains that he has laid the foundation; that is, Jesus.
        • Other teachers are now building atop this foundation, and he warns the people to be careful with what how allow their faith to be constructed, because any other faith where Jesus is not the cornerstone will not survive God’s judgment.
        • Furthermore, the very things that any person uses to construct their own lives (so to speak) serve as the building blocks of life (in this construction of faith). The totality of all these things will be judged, too. If any of these things are on a different foundation (meaning they aren’t built upon the premise of Jesus), they will not pass through judgment.
        • Conversely, anything that is “of faith,” it will pass judgment and be rewarded.
        • Paul makes it clear that a person with a solid foundation of Jesus is still capable of building foolishly upon it. In these cases, the person will survive the judgment because their foundation is secure, but suffer the loss of everything foolish that was built upon it (that is not of faith).
        • Paul reminds the reader, “you are the Temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives within you.”
        • From this reminder, Paul tells the Corinthians to stop deceiving themselves with their own sense of self-importance and misperceptions of being wise…encouraging them to pursue the simple wisdom of God that is perceived as foolishness by the world.
Better that the world thinks you a fool and God makes you wise, than be wise to the world and a fool before God
  • Paul keeps progressing, encouraging the Corinthians to be faithful before God, and not to be distracted by judging others (or even self). Paul learned he can’t even trust his own conscience, but he wholly trusts the Lord to examine him.
    • Toward this end, he encourages people not to judge others prematurely.He employs some hyperbole and sarcasm as literary devices here to drive home the point that the Corinthians had “not yet arrived,” and weren’t as rich or authoritative as they thought themselves to be.To offer a stark counterpoint, he offers himself and the apostles for consideration.
      • To the world, they were the spectacles on display living under the sentence of death. They were perceived as fools to onlookers (while the proud Corinthians proclaimed themselves to be so wise). The Apostles were perceived as weak, in contrast to the Corinthians who presented as being mighty. They were ridiculed, while the Corinthians were honored.They were starved, beaten, homeless, overworked, cursed, abused, and mistreated. To the world, they were scum.
    • Paul tells them all this because he is uniquely positioned as their spiritual father to tell them…and he encourages them to imitate him, because in so doing, they will honor God.
      • This is why he sent Timothy to them, to remind them of these matters.
      • He loves them enough to tell them these hard truths.
  • The fact is, these hard truths are necessary because they are living immorally, with sexual practices that not even the unbelievers were doing.
    • He mentions specifically a man in a sexual relationship with his stepmother.
    • Not only is this man guilty, but the church, too, for not mourning over this sin.
    • Paul says this man should be ejected from the faith community.
    • This is a challenge for me. Not because I don’t agree with it, because I do. I’m just having a challenge reconciling this with the earlier exhortation he gives not to judge to prematurely. I ultimately resolve this challenge by the nature of the offense listed, that it is so patently egregious that it demands a response, as an expression of God’s clear opposition to the evil being committed.
    • Paul makes clear that this expulsion not punitive in nature, but to drive the man to the end of self, so that he may ultimately be saved.
    • His admonition points to the church itself in its culpability regarding this offense and offender, in that its coddling of him and unwillingness to be humble and pure created and environment where this type of evil could flourish.
    • This sinful environment is seen in the church’s willingness to boast about allowing such licentiousness in its midst (thus cheapening the grace of God).
    • He compares this sin to a yeast that works its way through an entire lump of dough. He exhorts them to get get fresh dough (so to speak) that is without yeast (or sin); in this, he is pointing the church to return to the simple foundation of holy Jesus Christ.
    • He clarifies here that these exhortations regarding a pure sexual ethic are specifically targeted toward believers.
    • Then he drops this truth bomb…and it addresses my earlier challenge, somewhat…that Christians are called to judge those inside the church, but not those outside the church.
      • This judgment means to be able to rightly pass the judgment of God because of alignment with truth.
      • It doesn’t mean having a judgmental attitude or a critical spirit.
      • It requires knowledge of truth, a humble attitude, and a restorative, gracious spirit.
  • He chides the believers who have made a practice of dragging other believers to court. We mustn’t do that, because when we do, we allow the unbelieving world have judgment over us, and we are operating out of order. We betray our faith in this regard, and we convolute and distort the order of God by abandoning the sense that God’s wisdom is superior to man’s wisdom and God’s outcomes are superior to human outcomes.
  • This teaching is accompanied by a listing of the types of carnal behaviors typified by the lost person that will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul reminds his audience that they are not like the unbelieving world. They were made right with God by calling on the name of Jesus.
  • Paul returns to a brief discourse on fleeing sexual immorality, because the notion that we have the liberty to do anything we want (particularly with our bodies) is wrong. He makes the point that fornication and adultery are unholy unions that corrupts the sanctity of marriage.
  • Sexual immorality is a sin against a person’s own body (which is the Temple of God, the God who lives within you).
  • understated point: you are not your own. you have been bought for an expensive price, so honor God with your body.
  • Paul then moves into answering some questions that had been posed to him:
    • Abstinence was virtuous.
    • So is monogamy.
    • Mutual submission in a marriage relationship is honoring of one another and functionally beneficial.
    • Depriving one another (husband and wife) sexually is not good.
    • Singleness is virtuous, but not realistic for all people.
    • If you can’t live a virtuous single life, pursue marriage.
    • For those who marry, stay married.
    • Abandoning a spouse is not good.
    • If you leave your spouse, don’t make matters worse. Either stay single or eventually try to reconcile.
    • If you are married to someone who is an unbeliever, stay married.
      • There is a chance your unbelieving spouse will come to belief.
    • However, if your unbelieving spouse leaves, you are no longer bound to the spouse who abandoned you.
    • Generally speaking, try to live in the circumstances in which you find yourself. Strive to be faithful in the circumstances of where you are.
    • Reiterating: don’t idealize or idolize marriage. Singleness is beneficial if you can thrive in it. Marriage offers benefits, but also its own challenges.
    • Marriage relationships are for life, but when the life of a spouse ends, the marriage commitment ends. A widow/er is free to remarry, but must remember to marry a fellow believer. (There’s no expiration date for the truths of God).
whether this or…
this, honor God with your life.

Immerse Day 9 Observations

More than 3500 people at  Scottsdale Bible Church are reading through the New Testament together over 8 weeks.

Text: Acts 19:21-28:31 (pp. 95-110)

  • Following Ephesus, the Holy Spirit led Paul to return to Macedonia and Achaia, and then compelled him to go to Rome. We see the narrative swelling toward its apex.
  • Timothy is now presented here as an assistant (along with Erastus). They were being sent ahead to Macedonia.
  • Trouble, though, was brewing back in Ephesus, where the movement of Christianity posed a serious threat to the economy of pagan worship (and the sales of idols).
  • Demetrius, an Ephesian silversmith, complained that the Gospel’s advance came at the expense of Artemis worship (and related commerce). The complaint was rooted in a sudden loss of prosperity, but couched in religious language.
    • This riled up the local community, and chaos ensued.
    • Eventually the mayor was able to settle them down, under concerns that the growing anarchy was putting them at risk with Rome.
    • understated points: false gods need humans to support and promote them in order to exist. In this, Artemis is a counterfeit god, and really just the mask of the more insidious false god of the love of money. People have the remarkable capacity to make ignoble things seem more noble. Doing this doesn’t make those ignoble things noble.
  • Paul left for Macedonia, then went on to Greece for three months. When a plot to kill him was discovered, he went back the way he had come, and eventually ended up in Troas, where they stayed for a few days.
    • On the eve of his departure, Paul was preaching an extended message, where a young man named Eutychus fell asleep and fell 3 stories out a window to his death.
      • Welcome to the Scripture that has served as a pun-rife warning against long-winded preaching ever since.
      • Paul went down and took him into his arms. He was alive.
      • They all went back upstairs, celebrated the Lord’s Supper, and ate together.
      • And Paul kept preaching until sunrise.
“Nothing slowed him down.”
– Eutychus (probably)
  • Paul pressed on toward Jerusalem, stopping in Ephesus to encourage them by saying:
    • the Gospel is the same for the Gentile and the Jew: salvation is available through Jesus.
    • Life offered suffering for the Gospel, but that the only value in life is to be found in obeying God’s will and doing the things God has established for you to do.
    • To the elders:
      • Guard yourself and God’s people. The church is God’s flock. They need guidance, provision, and protection.
      • There would be opposition, some of which may come from surprising internal sources (people looking to gain their own following, disregarding that the congregation is God’s, purchased by the blood of Jesus).
    • He closed with an exhortation for the people to work. Christians ought not be lazy or noncontributory to the community’s well-being. Be givers, not takers.
  • He then bid a fond farewell and proceeded to Jerusalem.
    • He stopped in Caesarea and visited Philip (the deacon-turned-evanglist), who was now ministering here, along with his four daughters.
obligatory Deacon photo, who had some of his own challenges contending with a devil.
  • Another prophet named Agabus, foretold that Paul would be seized by the Romans in Jerusalem, and handed over to Gentiles. This caused everyone else to worry, but Paul would not be dissuaded.
  • understated points: even godly people will sometimes see adversity as indicators of a need to stop moving forward. Expect adversity and go forward in faith. God wants to deliver you through adversity, not around it.
  • They finally arrived at Jerusalem, and were met by the church leaders there.
    • Paul recounted his experiences.
    • The leaders talked about the challenges they continued to have regarding Gentiles and expectations placed upon them.
    • They asked Paul to participate in the cleansing ritual so others would see he had not abandoned his Jewish heritage and identity, and that the expectations placed upon the Gentiles would remain has had been earlier stated (to honor the moral laws of abstaining from immorality, violence, and idolatry).
    • Paul did as requested.
    • Some Asiatic Jews later recognized Paul and formed a mob, accusing him with lies and unfounded assumptions.
      • They dragged him out of the Temple to stone him.
      • They only stopped when the Roman guard intervened.
      • The mob was more afraid of their earthly occupiers than of their divine sovereign.
      • The Romans arrested Paul. Then they tried to figure out charges.
this doesn’t add up
  • Paul made it clear he was a Roman (to the Romans who thought he was Egyptian), then he spoke in Aramaic to the Jews (their native language).
    • He gave his defense, and they fell silent until he said that God’s grace was being offered to the Gentiles, too.
    • At this, they called his message worthless and determined again to kill him.
      • Removing their coats would make it easier to throw stones.
      • Throwing dirt may by symbolic for their low regard for his message, or it may be what they threw at him because there were no rocks to be found there.
    • Continuing with judicial practices that kept Paul bound in shackles of irony, the commander ordered to have Paul whipped until he confessed to something. That’s when Paul, not rhetorically, asked if it was copacetic to be beating a Roman citizen without a trial?
you know, hypothetically
  • So, the soldiers stopped those plans.
  • The next day, Ananias the high priest and the Jewish high council arrived. Paul addressed them.
    • Ananias ordered Paul to be smacked in the face.
    • When lies and accusations and mob mentality all fail, the carnal mind resorts to inducing fear, violence, and intimidation.
    • Paul, in turn, turned his own strategy to turn the two schisms (the Pharisees and Saducees) against each other by highlighting that all he was doing was preaching that resurrection from the dead was legit.
    • This tactic worked, in that it caused some Pharisees to support him, but it also caused the room to grow increasingly volatile.
    • Roman soldiers extracted Paul.
    • That night, the Lord visited Paul and encouraged him with the revelation that his mission would continue all the way to Rome.
  • The conspiring Jewish leaders further developed their plot to kill Paul. Yet, Paul’s kin became aware of the plot and alerted the Roman commander, who increased their protection of Paul, and ordered that he be delivered to the Roman governor Felix for trial.
    • Felix agreed to hear the trial when Paul’s acccusers arrived.
    • Ananias and crew showed up five days later, along with a lawyer who tried to establish a case against Paul using lies, slander and hyperbole, supported by a liars’ choir singing a chorus of false testimony.
    • Paul took his turn and set the record straight.
    • Felix (who was familiar with Christianity) determined to delay his verdict.
      • In the next few days, Felix showed up to Paul, bringing his wife Drusilla, and Paul talked to the both of them about matters of faith.
      • What a picture of the sovereignty of God to bring the Gospel of peace to Roman leaders, drawing them to visit an imprisoned Jewish believer!
      • Felix had hoped that Paul would bribe him. This was common practice of that day. This commentary also gives us a peek into the mind of Felix, that even though he knew Paul’s testimony to be true, he was skeptical of spiritual matters (perhaps because so much of religion was corrupt, as were so many who represented faiths of different sorts). In fact, Felix kept calling on Paul to talk with him, giving Paul ample opportunity to make such a bribe.
      • The delay extended 2 years, because justice delayed kept Paul in prison, which pleased the Jewish authorities, which brought favor to Felix.
    • Yet, Felix was succeeded by Festus, and the Jewish leaders quickly approached him to revive their plot to kill Paul, trying to force Paul out into the open where he could be murdered.
      • Felix held a new trial, and floated the consideration of having Paul go back to Jerusalem to be tried (which was what the Jewish leaders wanted).
      • Paul forcefully declined, pressing his right to be tried by Caesar in Rome.
      • Felix was bound by the laws to honor Paul’s rights, so he agreed to Paul’s demand.
    • Soon after, King Agrippa (II, the son of Agrippa I who had ordered the Apostle James killed) arrived with his sister Bernice (with whom he was having an incestuous relationship). Festus talked with Agrippa about Paul, and Agrippa determined he wanted to hear from Paul, so they arranged the parties to convene.
      • This gathering took place the next day. Festus actually declared Paul’s innocence in this setting, in introducing Paul. Paul then spoke, recapping his testimony.
      • Festus exclaimed that Paul was crazy, which Paul rebutted, then appealed to Agrippa to concur with his theological conclusions.
        • This was savvy of Paul, because if Agrippa had agreed, he would have the highest Roman authority (present at that time) on his side (which was much more about Agrippa being self-declared in agreement with Paul’s teachings about Jesus).
        • Agrippa understood this, and wasn’t willing to identify as a Christian. Note, he didn’t disagree, either. He was determined to remain impartial and not personally identify with either side.
        • understated point: Paul was doggedly determined to share Jesus as the Way with everyone he could, regardless of heritage, title, rank, or position. He only cared about other people knowing Jesus the way he knew Jesus and relating with him the way he related with Jesus.
        • The leaders all agreed that Paul had done nothing deserving death or the treatment he had been receiving, and commented that they would have freed him if it weren’t for his demand to be tried in Rome in front of Caesar.
        • This brings to a close Paul’s third missionary journey, detailed here:
Paul’s third missionary journey, courtesy of conformstojesus.com
  • Paul (and some in his party) were set on a boat for Rome, along with other prisoners. Julius, the captain of the Regiment, showed kindness to Paul on the journey.
    • They ran into bad weather, and Julius put the prisoners on a different ship sailing to Rome.
    • They hit more bad weather. Paul foretold that proceeding into the weather would bring shipwreck, loss of cargo, and endangered lives. The sailors proceeded anyway.
    • The bad weather carried them out to sea. As winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began dumping cargo (✔).
    • The storm raged for days. The crew didn’t eat. They began to despair. Paul told them to be encouraged, because he had been shown that none would die from this adversity…but they would be shipwrecked.
    • On the 14th day of the storm(!), they thought they were approaching shore, but soon found themselves driven against the rocks. Paul advised them and kept them safe – , but they were shipwrecked (✔✔).
    • As they were approaching the shore from the shipwreck, officers wanted to kill all the prisoners, but the commander remembered Paul and kept him safe – all 276 lives were saved (✔✔✔).
  • They had landed at Malta, where the locals met the crew and party. At a campfire, the initially thought Paul was evil, but as he survived a venomous snakebite, they then considered him a god.
    • Paul prayed for and healed the sick dad of the Malta’s chief official. That attracted all the other sick, and Paul healed them all. When the time came for them to depart, they were supplied with all they needed.
  • Three months after the shipwreck, they went on to Rome.
Paul and Luke’s Bogus Adventure (courtesy of conformtojesus.com)

Upon arriving, they met other believers and Paul was permitted to have a private (but guarded) residence.

  • Three days later, Paul called an audience with the Roman Jewish leaders, and shared his reason for being there, to be tried by Caesar.
  • The Jewish leaders said they had not received a complaint about Paul, but they did want to hear more about his beliefs.
  • So Paul welcomed them into his lodging and began reasoning with them to illuminate them about Jesus. Some believed. Some did not.
  • When Paul had reached the full extent of being able to speak to the Jews, he explained that he was taking this same message to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.
  • Paul remained in Rome for 2 years at his own expense (not on the government dole). He was faithful in proclaiming Jesus.
  • And nobody tried to stop him.
  • (wikipedia’s account of Paul’s death are available here.)

Immerse Day 7 Observations

More than 3500 people at  Scottsdale Bible Church are reading through the New Testament together over 8 weeks.

Text: Acts 6:1-13:5 (pp 70-82)

  • This reading opens with introducing us to Stephen, described as “full of God’s grace and power.” The miracles accomplished through him demonstrate both of these traits.
    • Men from the “Synagogue of Freed Men” began to debate Stephen. These were Greek Jewish men who had been slaves and were now free, or are descendants of people having this experience. Commentaries suggest that they were known for being more fanatical and regimented about their religious practices because of their exposure to other world views and religious systems, as compared to the norms of the indigenous Jewish believers.
    • In the context of debate, they “couldn’t stand” against Stephen’s insights and arguments. The Scripture is clear to point out that these Freedmen were really arguing (in futility) against the Spirit.
    • So, they employed lying as a tactic.
    • Interestingly, they accuse him of blaspheming not just God, but also Moses. This means that Moses was regarded as sacred, and they were interpreting anything that Stephen said that challenged their established views about him as blasphemous.
    • How tragic to be recorded in biblical history as “lying witnesses.”
    • These opponents made false statements about Stephen regarding Moses and Jesus. Ultimately, they lied about Jesus!
    • When pressed by the leaders, Stephen’s countenance reflected the glory of God and he eloquently responded.
      • He didn’t answer their question. He instead simply gave an oral recitation of Jewish history.
      • Using Abraham, Joseph, Moses and Joshua, and David as references, he made the case for Israel’s pattern of behavior of first rejecting (and even defying or opposing) God (and God’s prophets) before ultimately turning to him (and them).
        • Stephen showed them that their rejections had been faithfully judged by God, often at great consequence to the people of Israel.
        • He made it clear that God’s judgment against Israel for their sin was often to turn them over to their sin and to allow them to persevere in their rebellion.
        • He then issued a polemic that they not only killed the prophets who pointed to the Promised One, but that they also murdered the Messiah.
      • They responded, enraged. In this, I see God again turning them completely over to their sin, and even their subsequent conduct is their condemnable judgment against them.
      • Stephen saw the heavens open and Jesus receiving him.
      • His declaration inflamed them further. They took him out of the city, and began to stone him.
      • Stephen’s last recorded words were an intercession forgiving his murderers.
  • A little out of order here, but the murdering accusers laid their coats at the feet of “a young man named Saul.”
    • I wanted to read this “laying of coats” as some sort of picture of their putting this at his feet in terms of authority. But the commentaries don’t suggest it.
    • Rather, their “taking off their coats” demonstrates that they were stripping off their robes to be more murder-y.
    • This was mob rule, unsanctioned violence illegal by the Roman standards that governed the Jewish people of Jerusalem.
    • Laying it Saul’s feet merely introduces him to the reader. That he approved this mayhem tells us much about him (along with what is still to follow).
      • Saul was a witness to this crime, and was in complete agreement with it.
  • Stephen’s martyrdom was a catalyst to a wave of persecution that scattered all the believers out of Jerusalem (except the Apostles).
    • Saul was a key contributor of this onslaught of ethnic cleansing. His purpose was to destroy the church, literally dragging men and women out of their homes and imprisoning them.
  • As believers dispersed through the region, they brought with them the Gospel of Jesus. They didn’t abandon, conceal, or compartmentalize their faith in Jesus.
    • The deacon Philip is exemplified, preaching and providing miracles in Samaria. His good words and deeds brought people great joy.
    • A local, self-proclaimed “great” sorcerer named Simon was amazed at what he beheld in Philip. He became a believer and was baptized. He is a super-interesting personality, in whom it could be inferred that he followed Philip not because of true belief, but more so out of a charlatan’s awe over the unexplainable feats that he witnessed being performed by Philip.
    • It was a big deal for Samaritans to come to belief in Jesus because of their historic, generational opposition to Israel. So the Apostles sent Peter and John there, where they prayed for the new followers to receive the Holy Spirit.
      • There is much discussion about this baptism of the Holy Spirit among the Samaritans. Some attribute it as a “Samaritan Pentecost” reflective of a development of the Gospel being extended to a new audience. It does appear to be communal in expression, at the revelation of teaching of the Holy Spirit by Peter and John.
      • The laying on of hands should be seen as descriptive, rather than prescriptive (since we see the Holy Spirit bestowed upon belief without the laying on of hands elsewhere in Scripture.)
    • Simon the sorcerer saw this take place and offered to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit from Peter and John.
To suggest Peter reacted strongly would be an understatement
  • Peter told him his heart wasn’t right for making such an offer and directed him to repent of his wickedness.
    • Simon’s offer is indicative of the magicians’ practice of exchanging trick secrets for payment.
    • Peter diagnoses Simon’s offer as an expression not of awe, reverence, or devotion to God, but of bitter jealousy and being gripped by sin.
    • Simon asks for prayer for him, but we don’t get indication that he himself prayed. We don’t hear from him again in Scripture (and history’s accounts are not inclining toward an interpretation of repentance.
  • Attention returns to Philip, being instructed by an angel to leave the good work being accomplished in Samaria to a dirt road. Philip obeys.
    • On this route, he encounters a prominent Ethiopian eunuch, a treasurer in the court of Ethiopian queen Kandake.
      • He had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home.
      • As Philip encountered him, the Ethiopian was reading out loud from the scroll of Isaiah.
      • Philip offered to help him, and the Ethiopian welcomes his assistance.
      • Using the Isaiah scripture as reference, Philip begins teaching him Jesus and sharing the Gospel with him.
        • This exchange confronted virtually every taboo of the day that would have existed as ample reason for the conversation never to happen:
          • racial, social, ethnic, economic, and what we might identify today as gender identity (or perhaps divergent sexual ethics).
          • understated point: yet, these two people saw in the other humanity and a divine appointment. That was enough (and bigger than any human-constructed barrier that otherwise would have prohibited their interaction).
          • The result of this conversation was belief! (reflected in the Ethiopian’s interest in baptism, and Philip’s inclination to proceed with it).
        • The baptism itself should be viewed as prescriptive, rather than merely descriptive.
          • It follows the patterns established elsewhere in Scripture, namely:
            • belief preceding baptism
            • going down into the water, coming up out of the water.
            • a mode of baptism representative of the meaning of the word baptism, that is, “to immerse.”
I suspect Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian was less aggressive.
  • As the Ethiopian emerged from the water, Philip had been taken away by an angel to northern locations (where he continued to advance the Gospel). The Ethiopian himself returned to the queen, where he is largely credited with bringing Christianity to Northern Africa.
  • The narrative returns to Saul, who is reported to have an eagerness to kill the Lord’s followers (and uttering threats left and right)
  • He receives permission from the high priest in Jerusalem to take his pogrom to Damascus, where he could root out more Jesus followers to be imprisoned back in Jerusalem. He was given the permission and he embarked.
  • Along the way, he was struck by a bright light that knocked him off his feet, asking “why are you persecuting me?”
    • Paul asked who had confronted him.
    • The voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”
    • Interestingly, in the next breath, Jesus gave him a command to follow. And he would.
    • understated point: Jesus is Lord, and his authority is objective reality.
    • Saul was escorted into the city by his companions (who heard but didn’t see Jesus).
    • Saul remained blinded for three days, and didn’t eat.
    • I’m assuming Saul had a lot of time to reflect and consider what transpired.
  • As Saul was waiting, Jesus brought a vision to a Damascus believer Ananias (not the same Ananias from earlier, you know the lying-and-now-dead one).
    • Jesus instructed Ananias to go to Saul and revealed he had been sent by Jesus, and to lay hands upon him and return sight to him.
    • Jesus revealed that Saul was his chosen instrument to take the Gospel to the Gentiles and that he would suffer for the name of Jesus.
    • Ananias obeyed, despite his fears over what he had heard about Saul.
    • Ananias brought sight back to Saul.
    • Saul was baptized, and for the first time in days, ate.
  • Saul remained in Damascus, and within a few days, began preaching Jesus in the synagogues. All who heard him:
whaaaa….
  • Amazement soon turned to murder plots, because they couldn’t refute Saul’s evidence that Jesus is Messiah.
  • Saul escaped the murder plot by being lowered out of the city in a basket by dark of night, where he then traveled to Jerusalem.
  • At first, the believers were afraid of him, but Barnabas vouched for him, and upon their respect and trust for him, allowed Saul into their company.
  • Saul stayed with the Apostles, and preached all over Jerusalem. He debated some Greek Jews, and guess what? Yep, they wanted to kill him.
  • At this news, the Apostles sent Saul to Tarsus, his home town.
meanwhile…
  • Peter healed a paralytic in Lydda, which led many to believe in Jesus.
  • Then, he went to Joppa, where he raised Dorcas/Tabitha from the dead. Again, many came to faith.
  • In Caesarea, God brought Peter together with Cornelius (and his family). Cornelius is explicitly described as a devout man, whose actions demonstrated his authentic faith (as compared to ineffectually trying to manufacture faith).
    • As Cornelius’ party was approaching Peter, Peter had a vision (repeated multiple times) that showed Peter that he could no longer call “unclean” the things God had made (and, accordingly, were clean). This was a new revelation for Peter and challenged his traditional appreciation of different things (namely food, but also people, places, circumstances, etc).
    • Peter went with Cornelius’ crew to his house in Caesarea, where the Apostle was received with generous hospitality.
    • This opportunity was Peter’s first opportunity to apply the vision God had given him to his ministry (Such meetings in the past were forbidden).
    • There, Peter preached the Gospel, explaining that God’s salvation in Jesus is available to all people, not just the Jews.
    • The Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and his household. Now…we have seen God’s Holy Spirit gifted to Jew, Samaritan, and now Gentile. Cornelius and his household were baptized, to no objection. Peter remained in his home for days afterward.
  • When Peter returned, the Jewish believers criticized him for his ministry to the Gentiles. So he recapped for them the events. Their criticism quickly turned to praise.
  • Focus shifts to the broader advance of the Gospel. Other disciples shared with Gentiles, too. Barnabas went to Antioch, where he enjoyed great success. He went to Tarsus and brought Saul back with him to Antioch. They stayed there a year (and there the term “Christian” was coined).
    • It was also in Antioch where the Jerusalem drought was prophesied and it was determined to take up a collection for the Jerusalem congregation to meet the needs as a result of it.
  • In passing detail, readers are informed that Herod Agrippa ramped up his persecution, killing John’s brother James and imprisoning Peter. On the night before Peter’s trial, he was miraculously delivered from prison by angelic escort.
  • No small detail: Herod put to death the guards who weren’t able to subdue God’s angel guarding and guiding Peter.
  • Then, this reading closes with Herod receiving the praise of people of having godlike status, which he was proud to receive.
  • So God struck him with a disease, he was consumed by worms, and died.
  • But the word of God spread, and people get getting saved.

Immerse Day 6 Observations

More than 3500 people at  Scottsdale Bible Church are reading through the New Testament together over 8 weeks.

Text: Acts 1:1 – 7:1 (pp. 61-70)

Overview: Moving from part 1 of Luke’s letter to Theophilus to part 2, we transition from the life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to (briefly) the post-resurrection activities of Jesus and the impartation of the Holy Spirit upon Christ’s followers (which is the birth of the Church).

Observations:

  • The book opens with Luke recapping for Theophilus the events that were recounted in the letter that we know as the Gospel of Luke.
  • understated point: Jesus walked among the population for 40 days after his resurrection, using many ways to prove that he was alive.
  • One time while eating with them (something a person who is alive does), Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem, because God would soon be sending them the Holy Spirit (as a gift…not a reward. This is a blessing of grace, not a payment for labor).
  • He told them they would be baptized by the Holy Spirt….literally, immersed in the Holy Spirit. This was not a symbolic or ritual, this was a new experience where they would be spiritually “quickened” through their impending, immersive relational existence within the ongoing presence of God’s Spirit.
  • The Apostles were still fixated on an earthly vision – they were looking to this resurrected Jesus to help them overthrow their Roman occupiers. They asked if the time had come for them to free Israel and “restore our Kingdom?”
  • Question – Did the disciples really appreciate Jesus’ resurrection? They witnessed his tortuous death. They had no doubt about it. They also were experiencing him first-hand resurrected. But they were still processing all these events in the scope of their cultural tensions, pressures and interests. To maintain or persist in this perspective, they had to disregard all the teachings Jesus had given…even his initial call that they would be “fishers of men,” not “overthrowers of governments.”
  • Jesus’ non-answer answer: Only God sets the dates and times, and they aren’t for you to know. Then…one of my favorite passages in Scripture…Jesus answers the question they aren’t asking, saying, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere.”
    • you will receive power – up to now, they’ve been walking in the shadow of Jesus’ power. They’ve been using the power he had delegated or given them. Now, though, they’d be experiencing a new source of power. This also highlights that, on their own, they’d be without power.
    • when the Holy Spirit comes upon you – Jesus returns their attention to what he had been talking about (our human nature regularly takes what God is directing us to and turns it to the things that interest us). Jesus is reiterating that the Holy Spirit will come upon them, and they will experience unprecedented power as a result.
    • and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – the proper use of this power is not to throw out occupying governments, but to tell people everywhere about Jesus. Jesus’ agenda (Kingdom) is bigger than Israel (and certainly, Jerusalem, or Judea, or even Samaria…even to the ends of the earth).
  • After saying this, Jesus ascended to heaven. The disciples watched, amazed, until he disappeared.
well, there’s something that’s never happened before.
  • Two angels said to them that Jesus has been taken to heaven, but he will return the same way you saw him go.
  • The Apostles returned to Jerusalem and returned to the upper room where they had been meeting. Roll call (showing us that everyone except for Judas was still present).
    • Note that several women were present, including Mary, the mother of Jesus. She had been there from the beginning and her inclusion here is a testament to her faith in God and her belief in what God had revealed to her about her son.
    • Also present were Jesus brothers. First, don’t miss that Jesus had brothers. Mary had other kids with Joseph. So technically, half-brothers. But close kin nonetheless. Family. And this was family that formerly didn’t believe in (or follow) Jesus, but now were found in the community of believers.
  • Peter takes the initiative to replace Judas (noting that Judas’ death fulfilled prophecy), and that he needs to be replaced.
    • Criteria for replacing Judas are given: someone who had been there from the beginning, a witness to everything that had happened.
    • Two finalists – Matthias and Joseph (aka Barsabbas aka Justus; he had multiple known monikers/nicknames – Barsabbas means “son of the Sabbath, perhaps indicating his love for worship; “Justus” was a gentile nickname or equivalency of his Hebrew name).
    • They prayed. Then they cast lots. And Matthias was selected. The best I understand this is that in praying, they believed that either man would have been appropriate or fitting, and that whoever was indicated on the lot that was first chosen was determined by God, and reflective of his choosing.
    • Interestingly, little is mentioned of either of these men after this event.
  • Pentecost had arrived (50 days after the 2nd day of Passover). Coincides with the Jewish Festival of Weeks (Shavuot), which as a harvest festival commemorates the giving of the Torah.
    • All the believers were still meeting together in a single place.
    • Inference is, here, that they were continuing in the traditions of their faith
  • Suddenly, the Holy Spirit arrived, as a roaring wind from heaven, filling the house where they were (immersed, baptized, if you will).
    • What looked like flames or tongues of fire settled upon each of them.
    • Each of them was filled with Holy Spirit.
    • The first expression of the Holy Spirit’s filling was that they could speak in “other languages.”
  • “Devout Jews from every nation” were living in Jerusalem, and were drawn to witness the loud noise they had heard. They were bewildered to hear their own languages spoken by the believers.
    • the languages spoken were known languages. They were not indiscernible.
    • The foreign Jews were amazed that the Galileans were speaking in their native languages.
    • They attributed this feat to God, and asked each other what it could mean.
    • When skeptics tried to dismiss it all as public drunkenness among the followers of Jesus, Peter stepped up and spoke out.
      • It was only 9 AM, these people weren’t drunk.
      • This was a fulfillment of prophecy from Joel.
      • He issues the clarion call, “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!”
      • understated points: Peter did, in fact, receive the Holy Spirit’s power, as promised. The power of the Holy gives people their voice.
      • He points people specifically to Jesus, and shows God’s handiwork in the details of Jesus’ betrayal.
      • He unabashedly indicts all the Jewish people in their complicity in the Jesus’ murder and tells them that death cannot contain or impede Jesus (again connecting David’s prophecies to Jesus).
      • Peter preached Jesus resurrected and ascended, then testifies that it is God’s Holy Spirit poured out upon the believers as the crowd has seen and heard, thus articulating the reasonable conclusion that Jesus is both Lord and Messiah.
  • God empowered Peter’s message to have effect. It pierced hearts and they asked what to do in response.
    • Peter instructed them to repent and be baptized and to turn to Jesus.
      • This instruction illustrates that repentance isn’t just “turning away” from sin and self, it is also “turning to” Jesus alone.
    • Peter says if they do this, they, too, will receive the Holy Spirit.
    • Peter continued to preach, to great affect – about 3000 people responded to the message that day.
remember that time that Marvel stole from the Bible?
  • This massive, sudden growth of the community of faith is the birth of the Church.
    • These people are marked, set apart by their common belief in Jesus as Lord and Messiah, and their unity in the experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
    • This community immediately began activities that drew them close together and set the template for the Kingdom of God going forward:
      • They devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching – They submitted themselves to the teachings of this revelatory spiritual experience, no longer content to subject themselves to the religion and empty traditions of their past generations.
      • They committed to fellowship (living in community with each other – they didn’t compartmentalize their faith to one small aspect of their life…their faith gave definition to every other aspect of life)
      • They met together and shared everything. They had a shared identity, and selflessness was a prevailing principle.
      • They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. These are principles that Jesus had taught while living, and with the power of the Holy Spirit, their attention was to sacrificially love and support one another rather than simply look to their own interests.
      • They worshipped together in the Temple. They didn’t abandon their faith….in fact, they continued in it, now with new, fulfilled meaning.
      • They met in their homes for the Lord’s Supper. They remembered the words, teaching, and promises of Jesus, and kept him at the forefront of their faith activities.
      • They shared their meals with great joy and generosity – Their attitude was defined by the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.
      • They praised God and enjoyed the goodwill of the people and each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. People flock to life, and God is actively in the business of rescuing people from death and transporting them into life (life that is experienced in the context of those who are spiritually alive in the Kingdom of God)!
  • On their way to the Temple for prayer, Peter and John were engaged by a paralytic who was begging for money.
    • Peter didn’t have money for him, but instead provided him with healing.
    • The man immediately was healed (from an infirmity that had hindered him since birth).
    • He jumped up, and praising God, entered the Temple with them.
      • For his entire life, he had been relegated to the outside of the Temple, and reduced to begging.
      • His first act of wellness was to enter the Temple to worship!
    • These events created a clamor, and Peter used it to preach Jesus.
    • He reminded them who Jesus was (and their role in putting him to death), and Jesus’ power to overcome that death
    • That same power was the applied to the infirmity of the man, and he was healed.
    • Then he issued a call to repentance, giving references to Samuel and Abraham.
    • Peter and John were confronted by the chief priests, the Temple guard captain and Sadducees for their message, and they were arrested and held overnight.
    • Total count of followers was more than 5000 men…the congregation was huge.
  • The Jewish religious leaders all met the next morning and confronted Peter and John and questioned their power/authority.
    • Peter…filled by the Holy Spirit…reminded them that they were being questioned for performing a miraculous work…a good work.
    • Then he proclaimed Jesus as the source of his good work.
    • He glorified Jesus as the only source for human salvation.
      • God’s Holy Spirit was giving focus and clarity to Peter in the articulation of the Gospel.
    • The response of the religious authorities was amazement.
      • These men were ordinary and without special training.
      • But they had been with Jesus.
      • And the evidence of the healed man was undeniable.
      • After a private conference, they called the disciples back in and forbade them to speak of the name of Jesus.
Peter, in reply to the edict
  • This was an easy call for the disciples, who had no fear in disobeying man in deference to obeying God.
    • They said, “We can’t stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”
    • understated point: we should be of this same orientation, where we can’t stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.
  • Ultimately, despite further threats, they let them go because they couldn’t punish them further without starting a riot, due to the widespread positive report of the healing of a man who had been crippled for more than 40 years!
  • Peter and John returned to the other believers and reported on the events.
    • The believers’ response was to pray.
    • They rhavecalled prophecies of David, and saw them fulfilled in Jesus.
    • They asked God for boldness and power to continue to be faithful.
    • God’s answer to prayer was a fresh indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
    • understated points:
      • God often answers prayer with a fresh provision of himself.
      • These aren’t second anointing, but replenishment (of sorts).
      • it isn’t a matter of God’s spirit depleting in us, but more of a renewal of our awareness of and reliance upon his faithful indwelling spirit. (a lot to unpack here, to be sure)
  • The testimony recapitulates the selflessness, magnanimity, generosity, and unity prevalent within the Church community.
    • This is exemplified in the person Joseph (nicknamed Barnabas, meaning “son of encouragement”).
      • He was a Cyprian Levite. Atypically, he was a Levite who actually had land, which makes it even more provocative the he selflessly sold the land and gave the proceeds to the Apostles.
  • Barnabas’ practice is juxtaposed to that of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, who are indicted here for the crime of lying to the Holy Spirit. They, too, sold some property, but lied about the proceeds and wittheld some of the money. They also lied to the Apostles, but the indictment is for a crime against God.
    • Peter makes the point that the land was theirs to keep or sell…there had been no pressure for them to sell it. Likewise, they could have kept all the money for themselves. The crime was against God because they took the initiative to do these.things but misreport the result and withhold some of the blessing. Ultimately, stealing the money was a representation of the larger crime of attempted theft of God’s glory. Peter said, “you lied to God.”
    • Ananias immediately fell dead.
    • Three hours later, Sapphira was brought in, and (ignorant of her husband’s death), she perpetuated the lie, repeated the offense.
    • Again, Peter re-framed the offense as a conspiracy against the Holy Spirit, and she, too, fell dead.
    • As a result, great fear gripped the church and all who heard
      • this reminded me of an adage: “fear as a byproduct of faith is a tool fit for constructing a right framework of devotion, while fear as a byproduct of doubt is tool useful only in constructing idols.
  • The ministry flourished, miracles abounded, people were healed. Teaching continued. Salvations accumulated.
  • Even as people were freed from evil, the high priest his officials were filled with jealousy. They jailed the Apostles at night. An angel freed them before daybreak.
  • The Apostles obeyed the angel and proceeded to teach in the Temple the next morning, where they were re-arrested. They were not trying to hide from or even avoid the Jewish authorities. Their accusations:
    • You are teaching what we forbade you from teaching.
    • You are holding us responsible for his death.
  • The Apostles’ reply:
But did we obey God?
  • They affirmed they obeyed God rather than men.
  • Their testimony was true. Their assignment of guilt was accurate.
  • Their witness is affirmed by the Holy Spirit – who is given by God to those who obey him.
    • This incited the high priests…they were ready to kill the Apostles.
    • A respected leader amongst them Gameliel spoke, and told them
How ’bout we consider something less…murder-y?
  • Gameliel reminded them of earlier revolutionaries whose followings fizzled out, and advised to let this play out, too.
    • If it isn’t of God, the movement will fade.
    • If it is of God, though…watch out. Not only will it not fade, but you may find yourself fighting God!
    • They accepted this…but still had the apostles flogged.
    • The Apostles left the temple….PRAISING GOD…that God found them worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus. And they kept teaching every day.
    • While I’m inclined to think people are “soft” today, it could be that I feel this way because we don’t face this risk in my context.
  • This segment closes with an account that as the congregation rapidly grew, a complaint arose that the Greek-speaking widows were being discriminated against in deference to the Hebrew-speaking widows.
    • The Apostles, recognizing that this conflict (while important) was a distraction from their primary responsibility to teach the Word, convened and determined to appoint 7 respected, wise, Spirit-filled men to address this need and the emerging practical ministry challenges.
    • These men were the first deacons.
obligatory Deacon photo (portraying 1st century widow)
  • They were effective, for the final statement here is direct: The number of believers greatly grew in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
  • Understated points: God’s Word not only confronts and changes the irreligious, but it also impacts those who are familiar with faith. God convicts and saves whoever he wants. NOBODY is beyond the reach of his gracious message of love and relationship.

Immerse Day 2 Observations (part 1)

Immerse is an 8-week (40 day) reading campaign, where we (our church, Scottsdale Bible Church) is encouraging everyone to read through the New Testament together. To date, we have approximately 3500 people who have expressed intent to participate.

Text: Luke 4:14-9:50 (pp. 13-27) Part 1 of this recap will cover 13-19

Before beginning, the detailed observations, an overview: Wow! Talk about jumping in the deep end! We meet the protagonist (Jesus), the antagonist (Scribes and Pharisees) and the drama gets underway. Healings, miracles, teachings all commence, as does the conflict and conspiracy. So much happens in these 14 pages…my habit is to want to camp out at each passage, so it’s a new effort (of sorts) to read it all in context together. I’m really appreciating how reading it this way gives a “30,000-foot view” of Jesus’ efforts and interactions. The perspective is refreshing and challenging.

Observations:

  • Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit’s Power. Boom! There is no mystery of why or how Jesus does what does…He has total unity with the Holy Spirit.
    • He taught regularly and was praised by everyone. At the onset, when he taught about God, the people universally loved him.
    • He went “as usual” to the synagogue. Jesus’ spiritual disciplines were genuine expressions of his authentic life.
  • “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” – Jesus reads the first two verses of Isaiah 61.
    • He is announcing himself as the fulfillment of this prophecy.He is revealing the good work that is accomplished in him.He explains this prophecy as fulfilled, not “going to be fulfilled.He puts a period here, where in Isaiah there is not one. (Indicating to me that he will fulfill verse 3 in his return, and that we’ve been living in this white space of Scripture for 2000ish years! )
    • Everyone still spoke well of him after this pronouncement…”the world” can get behind a gracious message that intends to make the world a better place.
  • Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote this proverb, ‘Physician heal yourself.'” All the warm-fuzzies are about to shift. He’s telling them that the same ones smiling at him today will be in 3 years telling to bring himself down from the cross. He’s not mesmerized by their praise.
    • He then gives them the history lesson of Elijah and Elisha, and angering them by pointing out how only foreigners (Gentiles) benefited from their ministry.
  • This infuriated the synagogue. The love affair….brief as it was…was over.
    • They went from love to hate in an instant. They “connected the dots” and caught the dis.
  • Question: Was Jesus’ mentioning the heavens being closed 3 1/2 years an oblique reference to his own impending ministry and the Jewish leadership’s rejection of him (and it)?
  • Jesus went to Capernaum….and he taught with authority. He was no wallflower.
    • There, he was in the synagogue and confronted by a demon-possessed man. It is possible for evil to be found in spiritual places. The demon publicly testified to the divinity of Jesus. The spiritual beings had no confusion about who Jesus was.Jesus cast out the demon. The demon obeyed Jesus. He was powerless in Jesus’ presence.
  • Jesus then “rebuked the fever” in Simon’s mother-in-law. So in back-back-anecdotes, we see Jesus’ power of the spiritual realm and the physical realm.
  • The people of Capernaum begged Jesus not to leave. “But I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God.” This is Jesus message.
    • The synagogues were his primary (but not exclusive) mission field.
  • Preaching on the shore of Galilee, he now showed his power over nature (with the fish/boats). This was no small miracle…he showed his provision of abundance.
    • Simon’s response was one to the external righteousness that had been ingrained in their culture…that favor only fell to those who earned it. He knew is own sin was unfamiliar with grace.Jesus’ response was evocative of Gabriel’s to Zechariah and shepherds: “Don’t be afraid.” Grace not only blesses, but extends the invitation to be included in the work God is doing.Their invitation to join in fishing for people is being heard in the context of their seeing boats FILLED with fish.
  • Jesus met a man with leprosy. The man said, “If you’re willing…” He didn’t question if Jesus was able.
    • Jesus showed he was both willing and able.
    • Jesus sent him to the priest…not the doctor…and to bring along the offering associated with healing. Here, Jesus is tying the physical healing to the spiritual approval of God. Jesus was fulfilling the law, not challenging it.
    • Jesus told him not to tell anyone, but that his offering would be the testimony.
    • DESPITE the effort to downplay, the good news spread. That’s what good news does…it spreads.
  • Here…almost out of place…a statement that Jesus often withdrew to pray. The world is noisy. Even amidst good things happening. Solitude helps us hear God’s voice for the context of life.
  • Continuing…in the context of teaching, we are introduced to the Pharisees.
Meeting the Pharisees.
  • Continuing…in the context of teaching, we are introduced to the Pharisees.
  • They’ve joined the following…but for different reasons than the rest of the crowd.
  • They’re witnessing the pressing crowd where a paralyzed man is lowered through the hole in a roof.
  • Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven!” instead of “Be healed!
  • Jesus knows their thoughts, so calls them out, and then heals the man of paralysis to prove his point!
  • Everyone was all…
  • (pg 16) – Jesus called Levi (Matthew) to follow him.
  • Levi had a banquet, filled with tax collectors.
    • Pharisees griped about it…that this holy man Jesus hangs out with sinners.
    • Interestingly, they complain to the disciples…like they think they can “hem them in” or corral them back by shaming them into compliance.
    • Jesus tells them, basically, “my message isn’t for you. It’s for the people who know they’re sick and need to repent to be healed.”
  • Jesus explains why his followers aren’t being as “externally religious” as other followers.
    • It’s interesting to me that John’s followers are more closely identified in conduct with the Pharisees than they are with Jesus, though he clearly pointed to Jesus and not the Pharisees.
    • Jesus explained that his followers were celebrating, and that fasting was an expression something other than celebrating. Then, explained further by using the illustrations of the new patch on an old garment and new wine in old wineskins. His point: the old can’t contain the new. Trying to meld/merge the new into the old destroyed both.
    • understated point: the new isn’t for people satisfied with the old.
  • Jesus and crew scrounge up some grains on the Sabbath. Get accused of harvesting on the Sabbath.
    • Jesus responds to the accusation by both pointing to King David as historical precedent and then identifying himself as the Son of Man, Lord over the Sabbath.
  • At a later Sabbath, a man with a deformed hand was in the crowd.
    • “The Pharisees watched Jesus closely.”
    • Is the deformed man “a plant?” Not that he’s a conspirer, but that he’s a pawn being used by those who want to invalidate Jesus.
    • Again, Jesus upsets their apple cart, reveals their motives, and heals the guy any way.
    • This further enrages the pharisees…who begin to conspire against him.
  • Jesus went up on the mountain to pray – not to be closer to God, but to be in solitude.
  • He prayed to God all night. He was in perfect relationship with the Father…and they stayed up all night talking together. WHAT A CONVERSATION that must have been.
    • The next morning, he called the 12 up to the mountain…chose them to be his apostles. The first ministry retreat! Bonding experience!
    • The parentheticals give relational context to Theophilus (and us). Judas Iscariot known historically as the betrayer of Jesus…also intentionally included from the onset. No effort to scrub him from the historical account.
  • They came down from the mountain, and was met by a multitude. The people came to listen and to be healed.
  • People clamored to touch him, because his power went out from him. He healed everyone.
  • He preached to the multitude (“Sermon on the Mount”).
    • Blesses theses who are poor…the Kingdom of God offers material provision that is greater/better than worldly materialism.
    • Blesses the hungry…God promises to satisfy physical need.
    • Blesses the sorrowful…God promises emotional provision.
    • Blesses those who are:
      • hated
      • excluded
      • mocked
      • cursed because of Jesus
        • – They will be rewarded
        • the ancestors of the guilty have been behaving this way for generations.
        • To this group, God promises relational provision.
    • Then Jesus flips the script, addressing these same four areas, promising judgment upon those who are living carnally – materialistically, gluttonously, hedonistically, and relationally indulgent.
    • Jesus challenges the audience to divest in worldly ways:
      • love your enemies
      • respond to violence with peace
      • return curses with blessings
      • Intercede for oppressors
      • Give generously to the takers/greedy.
      • This ethic undergirds “the golden rule.”
        • Living this way reflects your relationship with God, or more important, how God relates with you.
        • This compassion exemplifies God’s compassion.
      • More manifestations of this:
        • Do not judge
        • Do not condemn
        • Forgive
        • Give
      • We can’t get this from the world (“blind leading the blind”)
Me helping others with their splinters.
  • Don’t be distracted (“speck in the friend’s eye”)
  • further explains that living this way isn’t external effort, but natural “fruit” from being rooted in God. “Good fruit” comes from a “good heart.” God alone is good, and God alone makes bad people good.
  • Closes this sermon with the challenge to apply what they’ve heard.
    • Don’t call Jesus “Lord,” and live disobediently.
    • A disobedient hearer is a person who willfully lives foolishly.

Read part 2 here.

Immerse Day 1 Observations

Immerse is an 8-week (40 day) reading campaign, where we (our church) is encouraging everyone to read through the New Testament together. To date, we have approximately 3500 people who have expressed intent to participate.

Can’t promise I’ll be able to do this every day, but I’ll try to do so as often as I’m able…

Text: Luke 1:1-4:13 (Immerse introduction – p. 12)

  • Acts (to be addressed after Luke, paired with Luke’s Gospel in Immerse) reveals 6 barriers of Gospel advance (1 linguistic, 4 geographic, and 1 cultural).
  • “Many people” acknowledged by Luke wrote alternative accounts of the events detailed in his writing. These events were widely-known and reported. Luke himself undertook a thorough investigation, and his account is attested to be accurate.
  • His account was written so Theophilus could be certain that everything he had been taught was true.
  • Framing the events in the time of Herod was a time frame, a political frame, and a cultural frame.
  • Zechariah’s placement in the Temple was the result of casting lots. It seems random, but the events that unfold reveal that randomness is a phenomenon often attributed due to a lack of perspective.
  • Zechariah was a holy man. Righteous in God’s eyes. YET…he was shaken and overwhelmed with fear at the sight of Gabriel. We scarcely fathom the significance of holiness.
  • The Holy Spirit is mentioned…a lot…in these first pages. He is at work, a co-agent in the activity of the Lord.
  • John is revealed prenatally to be about the work of preparing people for the coming of the Lord….this work that would transform hearts and restore relationships is in harmony with the will of the Lord and the way of the Lord.
  • John, Gabriel promised, would be filled with the Holy Spirit for his task. John did nothing on his own, apart from or independent of God’s Holy Spirit.
  • Zechariah was more concerned about the birth of John than of the ministry or blessing of John. His response is judged as non-belief.
  • Gabriel recalibrates Zechariah…reminding the man of the angel’s proximity to and delegation by God…and of the certainty of what is prophesied.
  • Gabriel then visits Mary; her response is of confusion and disturbance. Yet, her response is not credited as disbelief. Perhaps a good explanation is that “opening the womb” was not unprecedented, while a virgin birth absolutely is.
  • When Mary visited Elizabeth, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and received divine insight to the nature and personhood of the baby in Mary’s womb. Mary’s response is fully of faith.
  • Zechariah and Elizabeth’s naming of John went against cultural expectation. John’s name (in Hebrew) means “God is gracious.” This man’s name was his message.
  • Zechariah, suddenly able to speak, prophesied about John. Interestingly, his prophecy focused primarily on Jesus, and only later on John’s role in preparing others for the Messiah.
  • The story transitions to the birth of Jesus. Shepherds are mentioned being “terrified” by the appearance of Gabriel. God’s holiness is unmatched in our human experience.
  • Jesus’ birth was received with great joy by Anna and Simeon…two people whose lives had been devoted to spiritual awareness.
  • Little is mentioned of Jesus’ youth/adolescence. This isn’t the stage of life that matters most…only a single anecdote to affirm that his attentions to God were consistent and increasing. He was unique.
  • Luke’s extensive list of Roman authorities and Jewish religious leaders offers a precise triangulation of the historicity of Jesus.
  • John (now an adult) is seen fulfilling the promises that had been foretold of him. Jesus inaugurates his ministry by being baptized. Not for need, but to exemplify the salvific nature of his ministry.
  • His genealogy offers a clear trail of his origins to Adam. Jesus is fully man.
  • This reading closes with Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, having been led by God (!) to it. He resists and overcomes his adversary solely through the power-filled Word of God. God’s truth overcomes all carnal assaults.