Showing posts with label Acts 11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Acts 11. Show all posts

Friday, June 22, 2012

The Gentile Controversy - Acts 11 - The Kingdom of God is Bigger than Us part 6


Acts 11:1-3 (ESV)
Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

The very first Jesus People, called followers of "The Way", all came from a similar background. Before the persecution that initially spread the community over the regions surrounding Jerusalem, all of them were Jewish. The teachings and practices of Jesus himself were all rooted in the Jewish faith. The practice of their faith included strict obedience to the law of Moses, a set of rules and customs by which they would be set apart from the rest of the world, and identified as God's people. These customs taught them how to dress, what to eat, and who to marry. It also taught them to be loving, gracious, and generous. When other nations saw how they were different, those differences would identify them as God's people, Yahweh's people.

Even older than the law code was the very first symbol of covenant relationship with Yahweh, the circumcision practiced by Abraham and all who descended from him. By this clear, dramatic, unmistakable symbol, the people of Yahweh marked their bodies in a way that would clearly show their lives were given to serve Yahweh. In the great diversity among the Jewish Jesus People there were some disagreements as to exactly how to practice the Law code. These differences were transcended. But to welcome people who had never even entered the covenant, never even been circumcised, never even considered the Law of Moses, would have been unthinkable. Before this time, it was even against the covenant law to eat with such people.

But God had chosen to include even the most unimaginable of outsiders. The good news of the Kingdom of God had been offered to the Gentiles. Peter had been witness to the manifest Holy Spirit in a Gentile household (Acts 10). After telling them about Jesus, they heard and believed, and were filled with the Spirit. They had not been circumcised. They had not agreed to follow a law code of any kind. They had not even been baptized. By simply hearing and believing the gospel, Peter had witnessed their transformation into free Kingdom Citizens.

Acts 11:17-18 (ESV)
17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

This step of faith on the part of the early believers, to surrender to God's authority that none should be excluded from God's Kingdom, was unspeakably generous. Sight unseen, they praised God for their new brothers and sisters.

No nation on earth (of which I am aware) will welcome any immigrant to settle without a series of application papers and background checks. Some require an applicant to learn the nation's language. Others expect an applicant to learn the laws and history of the country. Others will not accept someone who is disabled or impoverished.

But the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven are wide open. No one guards the entrance. In fact, it's citizens are commissioned to go and invite anyone to come and join the party. While the powers of the nations of the earth may be concerned about new citizens taking advantage of the nation's wealth, education, or healthcare, the Kingdom of God has healing and provision enough for all. The powers of the nations of the earth make war with nations they deem "terrorists". The Kingdom of God is open to enemies, criminals, and murderers. One such murderer, Saul, had actively hunted and arrested members of Kingdom communities. Once welcomed into the community, he wrote much of the community' first scripture, and he did so from jail.

Acts 11:25-26 (ESV)
25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

Once the doors had been opened, the new believers began preaching the gospel widely among all communities. The News of the Upside Down Kingdom was widely received by many people from many backgrounds. Barnabas, called "the Encourager", traveled and taught the new young Kingdom Citizens. He recognized quickly the need for an intentional traveling ministry to reach and teach all these people with no previous understanding whatsoever. It was an exciting time, but surely a challenging one as well.

Barnabas saw in Saul, the old enemy of the communities, a man with the willingness to tech out and even travel to live out his convictions. Saul was also privileged to be a legal citizen of Rome as well. Barnabas probably thought this most unlikely of converts would be pleased to share the good news to the most unlikely of people.

He was right.

So Barnabas the Encourager and Saul the Most Unlikely Christian became partners. This duo would seek out and share with the broadest and most unreached of nations the new Kingdom Citizens had ever seen.

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Prophesy and Distribution of Wealth (vv27-30)

Here we see the first example of prophesy in the early church after Jesus. The prophesy given is a warning foretelling the future. In response, the early Christians prepare for the prophesied famine by sending financial aide to less fortunate communities through the travelers Saul and Barnabas to distribute.

This incidence of famine foretold and eased by the faith and obedience of God's people reminds us of Joseph in Egypt. Through Joseph's foreknowledge and wisdom, God rescued Egypt and the surrounding nations from a severe famine. In Genesis, this story illustrated the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. He told Abraham that he would bless all nations of the world through his descendants. Here in Acts, we see the promise fulfilled again, as all nations receive the blessing of the Communities of Jesus, descendant of Abraham.


vv1-18 – see previous chapter
v18 – No further objections, and they praised God. Hallelujah!
v21 – The diaspora also sends the gospel to the Gentiles.
v26 – First instance of being called Christians
v29 – More generosity.
(Click here to read Acts 11)
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Saturday, June 16, 2012

The Kingdom of God is Bigger Than Us – series intro - Acts 6-12



The Kingdom of God is bigger than us. In fact, the story of the message, demonstration, and growth of the gospel in Luke and Acts is one of explosive power that simply cannot be contained to one people group or region, whatever the consequences. The good news is that the Good News is for everyone. Our lives are lived out for the justice and love of others, a community facing outward to neighbours, strangers, and even enemies.

It is hard to be inclusive. It is hard to invite someone new into your family. Adoption is emotionally complicated. In-laws are sometimes cause awkward relationships. Our communities and families have histories - shared memories both good and bad. With those we are closest we have experienced the same joys and the same sorrows.

When Jesus spoke to his neighbours and comrades about loving their enemies, he spoke to people whose very identity was formed as a people rescued from slavery. Their nation as a nation was birthed from deliverance out of an oppressive empire that had held them enslaved.

The history of Jesus and all the Jewish people was one of wrestling. They wrestled with God as their forefather Jacob had wrestled with the angel of the Lord until he'd been blessed. His name was changed to Israel that night, which means the one who contends with God.

These Israelites, the God-wrestlers, knew what it meant to follow and honour their deliverer. Yahweh had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, and then clearly defined their relationship by his covenant law. When Israel disobeyed that covenant, they would become enslaved by empire, the Babylonians or the Persians. But then they would repent, and God would deliver them again.

Jesus now spoke to these people, with this rich history, under oppressive and violent occupation by Rome, the new empire and world power. This was a people who knew well who their enemies were. Their enemies had power. They had armies and kings and land upon land. They saw their enemies in uniforms. They were forced by their enemies to carry heavy loads without pay. They were taxed and abused.

It is no surprise that the Pharisees would emerge, this sect of religious people that taught the people to obey every aspect of the law code to the finest detail. They believed that God would rescue them from their enemies, as he had many times before, when Israel would just show their repentance and turn back to their faith, as they had many times before.

The sort of inclusion and universality of love that Jesus preached was so far beyond anything his people had ever imagined, even his disciples did not fully understand until long after Jesus was gone. When Jesus said they should love their enemies, he was including Romans. He was including forgiveness for all those who had ever done them wrong.

The Gospel, the good news of the New Kingdom wasn't only good news for the oppressed and the poor. If they would receive it, the Gospel was also for the oppressor. The good news was that they no longer needed to oppress. They could leave the empire. The good news meant that the rich didn't have to be rich anymore. The uncertain and transient foundation of wealth could be traded for the sure foundation of true, God-empowered life in the Eternal Kingdom. The Great Reversal was good news for any who would receive it, no matter what it cost them. Their power and riches were nothing.

Jesus died an innocent man, betrayed and accused of insurrection, executed unjustly by an oppressive empire like all the ones that had oppressed his people before them. And from the cross, he forgave them. He forgave those agents of the old empire that put him up there on the cross, beat and mocked him, the agents that had refused his message of love.

No injustice had ever been more severe than the one that was incurred by Jesus that day. In forgiving these outsiders, these enemies, Jesus opened the door for every one of those enemies and nations that had come before them. He opened the door to all who would come after.

He recognized the machine. He condemned the machine. He even raged against it. But he forgave the machinists.

This must have been unimaginably difficult for the early Jewish believers to accept. Even on the night of his betrayal and arrest, the followers of Jesus had shared Passover with him. They remembered vividly that they were a people who had been many times oppressed by other nations. Their history, their memory, their everyday experience, their very law code all told them that they must be exclusive to survive.

But Luke, the Greek doctor, writes his letters to the ranking Roman official, Theophilus, because from the first stroke of his pen, the story had already become universal. The code wasn't restricted to the words on stone carried from the mountain by Moses. Moses' first five books, the Torah, the Pentateuch, the Law, were celebrated every year at Pentecost. These boundaries defined in these books made it clear exactly who was in and who was out. They gave foundation for a history that bound families together tightly. But God's story was bigger than one people's history or one ethnicity or one country or piece of land.

This is the radical story of that great expansion of the boundaries of God's covenant. This is the last days, and the Holy Spirit is being poured out on all flesh (Acts 2). The new Pentecost is the law written on the hearts of humankind. The Holy Spirit is the living presence of God that could now speak directly to all people, without priests or veils or temples required. There is now only one mediator necessary, and no other human being or tradition can come between Jesus and those who put their trust in him.

We must never forget as Christians that the revolutionary and even offensively difficult challenge of radically inclusive love is the foundation of our faith. The early church in Acts was continuously challenged with how they may change to include others. They consistently denounced as heretics any who would place traditions or legal restrictions on people who would come to Jesus. The pattern of Luke through Acts is arms opened wider and wider, not boundaries strictly drawn.

Let us never forget how good our Good News is. Let us never forget the spirit in which our faith was planted. God's is a love big enough to include even his enemies. That includes us. The early church were challenged and rejoiced when they realized how wide the saving grace of God was. Let us do the same, welcoming and rejoicing when challenged with God's love for our enemies.

Who is beyond salvation? Who is beyond the love of God? 

Where are the limits of our own love?

I believe the challenge for each of us, and for us as a body is to ask this of ourselves. Is it a people group? A nation with which our empire is at war? Is it a certain people we've judged as especially sinful? Is it the ruling class? The military? The poor? Perhaps our challenge is the same as these early Christians. Let us rejoice to know that freedom from judgment and oppression and fear and even death has been offered as freely to those who we would call our enemies as to us.

Let us find ourselves among tax collectors and sinners and outcasts. Let us share our healing and our love with soldiers as much as widows. Let us live contrary to empire, and see it crumble from the roots of God's love through us. 
New entries in this seven-part series will be posted each day this week at 8am. 
 
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