May 29 - Because He Believed

Acts 9: 20-31

Like it or not, our past follows us. Humans tend to judge others on what they’ve done before. The famous quote, “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior” carries a lot of weight.

This doesn’t mean that people can’t change. The Bible tells of many less-than-savory characters making bad decisions, who later become outstanding champions of Christ. Character transformation speaks to God’s ability to work miracles.

The fact that Saul became Paul is one of the most miraculous transformations in the Bible. Who’d have thought the angry persecutor would become one of the greatest Jesus supporters?! Today’s reading says that even the disciples didn’t believe it could happen. But then Barnabas stepped in and vouched for Saul. Barnabas believed in the Paul that Saul would become. He was Saul’s champion. Often, we just need someone to believe in us – to believe that change is possible.

Do you have a Barnabas in your corner or maybe you’re a Barnabas for someone else?

When our church started exploring the characteristics of a disciple, I thought of Barnabas. The name Barnabas means “Son of consolation or comfort/encouragement” which sums up who he was to Saul and who he was in Christ. Barnabas knew of the transformative power that comes to those who believe. “As you follow him (Jesus), you will find it changes the way you picture yourself and the way you imagine the story of your life.  Your heart, your mind, your hands, and your spirit will transform to be more like God’s” (Portrait of a Disciple, p. 7).

Our God is the God of transformation. Anything is possible. And because of God’s faithfulness in the past, we can predict with absolute certainty His unending faithfulness in the future.

Acts 14: 18-28

Witness, Persecution, and Encouragement

In this passage Paul and Barnabas were together. Paul cured a cripple man, and the crowd that witnessed this miracle began to worship Paul and Barnabas. Knowing that not they, but God was responsible for the healing, they rejected the praise and redirected it to the Lord. Paul also advised them to turn from their worthless things to the living God who created all things. Paul and Barnabas attempted to minister to them, and appeal to their sinful nature, however were persecuted in return. The crowd stoned Paul, dragged him outside of the town, and left him for dead. 

“We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of heaven,” was Paul’s message to the disciples. He picked himself up, and returned to the city! This was not about to stop Paul from preaching the good news. There are people in this world today who risk physical mistreatment similar to Paul’s, and possibly death for the sake of Christianity. Please pray for them.

Though stoning is not the type of treatment we endure, at times we may feel pretty beat up. Christ followers in this country are ignored, ridiculed, put town, verbally assaulted, and at times physically attacked for their beliefs. Many struggle within their own families to hold tightly to the word, when in the midst of relatives resistant to a lifestyle we are called to through the bible. Please pray for them.

Heavenly Father, we praise you and lift our hands and hearts to you for all the goodness you provide. Your loving ways are beyond our comprehension, yet we attempt to understand and minister to others your message of forgiveness, grace, and hope. Please remain with us as we carry on through this journey, and bring us strength to persist as Paul did, to bring your message to those who so desperately need it. Amen.

Listen to/Read Acts 14:8-28

Spinning plates

“They preached the good news in [Derbe] and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.” Acts 14:21-22

It’s hard to believe our society was once entertained by spinning plates!  I’m not kidding. Whether on Ed Sullivan or any other variety show, if you tuned in often enough, you’d see a guy whose schtick was to get a plate spinning on top of a long, skinny, flexible pole ... and then another plate on another pole ... and then another. His objective was to get as many plates as possible spinning at the same time, starting up new ones while reviving others as they began to slow down and wobble, falter and fall. And of course, there was the inevitable shattering of those that didn’t make it. (It was the Cold War era, so we were conditioned to handle such tension!)

Our church’s mission statement – "To be and to make disciples of Jesus Christ" – has a “spinning plates” element to it. We make new disciples, even as we build up and nurture those who have been in Christ for some time. It’s no different than Paul and Barnabas traveling to Derbe “to make” new disciples, then turning their attention to more tenured believers, strengthening and encouraging them to continue “to be” disciples.

Unlike the aspiring entertainer on “The Ted Mack Amateur Hour,” not one of us acts alone in mission. Some of us are the observing eyes that see plates in peril. Some may be the legs and feet that take the body of Christ to to one that is falling. Perhaps we’re the right hand that reaches out to keep a plate twirling, or the left hand that performs the same function elsewhere. Maybe we’re the knees and waist that bend down to pick up a new plate and launch its eternal revolution.

But with so many plates in so many places at the same time, and each varying in velocity, how can we possibly keep it all straight and move each part of the body exactly where it needs to be at the right time? (Rhetorical question.) That would be the job of the head, the brain, always aware and constantly coordinating each member of the body with the others, each doing its part in its time. That would be Jesus, the living Son of God, the head of the church who moves each member as he wills and for his purposes.

Ours is simply to trust him and move where he directs us to move. When he says, Speak," we speak. Where he says, "Go," we go. And as we obey – each doing his or her own part – it is the Spirit of Christ who does the work in people's hearts.

One more thing. Sometimes, we attend to plates, and sometimes we are the plates in need of attention. As we open ourselves to minister to others, it’s also important to open ourselves the to ministry of others.

[Note to husbands: “Spinning plates” is used here only as a metaphor. Don’t spin your plates at home.]

To see today’s full text, Acts 14:21-25, click here.