These chapters offer some clues as to how the Gospel spreads, and I want to think about that in print in just a minute. But first let me record some verses that caught my attention today:
This probably happens to you sometimes too. You are reading along and you say to yourself “that’s worth remembering” but then as you continue on you lose track of what you wanted to remember. Okay, okay…..maybe it’s just me. Whatever.
Anyway, here are several verses that I read today and wanted to remember:
4:12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
This eliminates all religions that teach salvation in a different name, or who accept another way to heaven apart from Jesus. No other name has been given to us. Jesus is the only way into heaven. Remember the door on Noah’s ark? There was only ONE door. The ark saved all who were inside, but you entered through the same door. Jesus himself said in John 10:9 “I am the gate, those who come in through me will be saved.”
4:32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. I don’t necessarily think that we all need to sell what we have. What caught my attention here was that the believers no longer saw their possessions as their own. It’s easier to share something when you don’t see it as “yours alone”. I wonder if this was a key element in the spread of the Gospel. In other words: “how far will the Gospel spread if each of us considers what we have to be “ours”?”
5:29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”
The verses that follow are far more important, because they talk about Jesus, but for some reason I settled on this verse today. I have no real idea why. Another similar thing happened with the verse that speaks about how the religious leaders were jealous of the disciples. I didn’t include it because on it’s face it’s not a good “stand alone” verse. Maybe I was embarrassed that I saw that verse and not the ones around it that seem to be more important. Then again…is there any part of the text that isn’t important?
5:41 The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.
Punishment and even torture didn’t seem to stop the apostles from sharing. It didn’t even damped their joy…in fact, their joy seems to have increased. If I were a member of the high council I think I might have said “stop beating them, it’s making them more committed”.
6:2 “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program.”
Ouch. I run a food program. So when I read this I immediately began thinking “the food program isn’t what someone like me should be doing” and just as quickly Jesus said “you’re not an apostle”. That isn’t meant to be mean, it’s meant to help me thrive. The military has many different style of helicopter, some are used strictly for hauling cargo, others are “gun ships” and still others are used for observation. Each type is constructed for the specific part of the mission that it is needed for. Every part of the mission is critical, and no one would ever consider any of those helicopters less valuable than another. The only thing you don’t want is an observation craft when you need to move heavy equipment, or a big gun ship when you want to be nimble and sneaky and scout ahead. In the same way, there are different ministries within the church..”offices” I think they are called. The best that any of us can do is to be aware of our “office” and serve to the best of our ability there. This isn’t like the business world, where you get promoted to something more important and higher paying if you do a good job. Whatever job God gives is the job you should excel at. Your reward will be equal to the reward for any other job that God calls another person to do. There simply aren’t jobs that are “more important”. I have no need to strive and pine away wishing that I were an apostle. I’m not gifted for it, not designed for it. I am a ……hey you know what? I can’t find a title for the guys who oversaw the distribution of food. Do we get a title? Maybe not…that’s going to have to be okay as well. Titles aren’t important. And I don’t think everyone in the church walked around discouraged because they “weren’t apostles”.
I also noted that in 6:7 it says that a great number of priests were converted. I seem to spend a lot of time clucking about the priests, and how closed minded and arrogant they were. This verse helps me remember that isn’t the whole picture. How wonderful it must have been to sit under the ministry of a priest who truly embraced the Messiah, and who had such an understanding of the Old Testament. I think that’s probably what God intended from the beginning. I wonder how these priests saw their new role in the body? I wonder if they were priests who offered sacrifices, or priests who played instruments…maybe the priests who built and carried things. Somehow I think that they might have been the priests who were responsible for singing and worship…..although I have no basis for the thought. Probably my prejudice showing through.
One quick final observation:
The Gospel spread rapidly, with thousands being added daily. Maybe that’s because the believers didn’t claim ownership of their stuff, met together often to fellowship and pray, willingly took on whatever job they were assigned, and didn’t break into factions when they felt they were being treated unfairly. Oh, and maybe it’s because they rejoiced when they were beaten and oppressed, or because they shared the Word so boldly that it led to beatings and oppression.
Maybe that’s what led to a world-wide revival…..just sayin’.
Faithfully,
PR