Either the Law or Love

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

EITHER THE LAW OR LOVE

Acts 23:23-35

23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, "Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide mounts for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix." 25 He wrote a letter as follows: 26 Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him. 31 So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. 33 When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. 34 The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers get here." Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace.

NIV

And so the long-drawn-out set of circumstances that will bring Paul to Rome had begun with this letter to the Governor Felix. The case against Paul will soon begin, but he must wait for those accusers, those liars, to come and present their false charges. Paul will be able to speak up about Jesus and the resurrection of the dead, but the righteous and the wicked. We will get to that soon enough, but what can we learn from this narrative? The letter made it clear that the accusations were based on Jewish law, not on any action against the government under Roman rule or against Caesar. We wonder why, then, a Roman governor sits in the judgment seat against a dispute among the Jews. Of course, the Jews have no authority to sit in judgment because they are an occupied people, under the rule of Roman law. What comes to mind is that we appear to live under two sets of laws, but in reality, there is only one. There is the law of God that demands we obey the law of the land. Nevertheless, we should not confuse the law of God with some set of rules and regulations we set upon ourselves. Jesus made that clear enough when he was questioned by an expert in the law about the greatest command in the law. Jesus told him that the greatest command was to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind, and the second was to love others as we love ourselves. We wonder why we put ourselves under the yoke of bondage to the law, or some set of rules we think makes us look holy or righteous. Sure, we want to live in a manner that pleases the Lord, but if we live under the principles of love, then we would be pleasing the Lord. All the laws we could come up with, some of the truths in the scriptures that we want to apply to ourselves, and others, are all covered under the law of love. It always comes down to either the law or love. 

Law Breakers

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

LAW BREAKERS

Acts 23:12-22

12 The next morning the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. 13 More than forty men were involved in this plot. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. 15 Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here." 16 But when the son of Paul's sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him." 18 So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, "Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you." 19 The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, "What is it you want to tell me?" 20 He said: "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. 21 Don't give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request." 22 The commander dismissed the young man and cautioned him, "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me."

NIV

These forty men who took an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul may have thought it was a secret, but their sin was exposed. How is it that men who were raised in the Jewish traditions, who were supposed to live by the Ten Commandments, one being, "You shall not murder," formed a conspiracy to murder Paul? They were judging Paul for speaking out against the law that they had decided to ignore or purposely break. Sinners calling someone a sinner and worthy of death is bizarre, yet that is exactly what the Jews did in their conspiracy against Jesus. That is why Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. In essence, they were the lawbreakers, not Paul.  We should be extremely careful not to get caught up in that kind of thinking. There is a difference between the church and the world as to how we treat each other. The world does not abide by any biblical principles, so anger, hatred, unforgiveness, criticism, judgmentalism, back-biting, and even murder are standard practices. Sure, there may be some exceptions, with some being rather nice people, but their refusal to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior still puts them in the category of lost sinners. We within the church are simply found sinners, as we have accepted Jesus and make every effort to live in accordance with the law of love that Jesus established when he set the first aside. The question is: are we, in some way, similar to whitewashed tombs? Have we developed attitudes toward other believers that do not apply to the law of love? Do we become judgmental of other believers whom we think have broken the rules we established as the standard to live by? Do we hold any grudge or resentment against another believer that we think has offended us? Are we willing to forgive instantly, or do we want to dwell in our hurt feelings? They plotted, their conspiracy was found out, exposed, and foiled. Now, how were they going to go back on their bond, their oath? Because they were unable to fulfill their oath, they would either have to starve to death or break their oath. How foolish it is to live as they tried to. We are believers in Jesus and have decided to follow Jesus. We have decided to love each other, and therefore all our thoughts, attitudes, words, responses, and behaviors are guided by love. We could never be a part of a conspiracy, even if it were a conspiracy of one against anyone. Love covers a multitude of sins. Because we live under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with the command of Jesus to love God with our whole being and love others the same way we love ourselves, we live forgiven and forgiving. In that way, we would never be considered lawbreakers. 

Testify

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

TESTIFY

Acts 23:11

11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome." 

NIV

We have dealt with these preceding words twice, but now we come to what God spoke to Paul about having testified regarding Jesus in Jerusalem, and now he was going to Rome to testify about Jesus. The parallel that comes to our mind is the difference between the Jewish world and the Gentile world, which is like the church world of believers and the world of non-believers. It is absolutely fine for us to share our testimony about Jesus within the community of faith, the church. In fact, we should all consider how the Holy Spirit broke into our lives, bringing us face to face with our sinfulness and need for repentance. We should want to tell our story of how Jesus came into our lives, how he made us new people, and saved us from the penalty of death. When we testify about Jesus, we encourage one another, building each other up, strengthening each other's faith. We should not assume that everyone in church knows that we are born again, filled with the Spirit, or that everyone in church is born again and filled with the Spirit. That is why we should testify whenever we can, to everyone we can. However, Paul was being sent by God to Rome to testify. We could see that as our being called to share the gospel message with those outside the church. That is not as easy as it sounds, for as a general rule,  we believers do not associate very closely with the outside world. We shop in stores or maybe work there, but do we speak about Jesus openly, boldly, and with confidence? Sometimes it is difficult to join a conversation at the checkout or as we walk through the store. Have we just resigned ourselves to silence? We notice the use of the word "must" when the Lord tells Paul he must also testify in Rome. Have we, as believers, been told to preach the gospel and make disciples in all nations? Have we resigned ourselves to giving some support to missionaries who, some might testify, bear witness to Jesus? In contrast, others work in ministries that are not in direct contact with people from around the world. If we never testify to anyone, what does that mean? We believe we should testify, but are we? We might say that God is good, and he is, but are we testifying about how Jesus saved us, or that he changed our lives, and that he can change anyone's life? We need to testify. 

His Pleasure

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

HIS PLEASURE

Acts 23:1-11

23:1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!" 4 Those who were standing near Paul said, "You dare to insult God's high priest?" 5 Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'" 6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead." 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.) 9 There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. "We find nothing wrong with this man," they said. "What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?" 10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks. 11 The following night, the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome." 

NIV

Because there are many truths within this narrative and we only touched on fulfilling our duty to God, we wanted to focus for just a moment on not speaking evil about the ruler of the people. Paul should not have spoken to the High Priest, and he recognized he was in error, so he stepped back, then went on about the resurrection. Interestingly, the Greek word translated as ruler has a direct meaning of a first in rank or power, such as a king, prince, chief, president, etc. If we attempt to apply this truth to our lives, then as believers, we will never speak evil about anyone who is first in rank, such as the president, still more importantly, God, because there is no one more first in rank than Him, but within the context, it refers to a human ruler or leader of people. When Paul mentioned that he was a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee, and that he was on trial because of his hope in the resurrection of the dead, it sparked a dispute. We know, as Paul did, that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but the Sadducees did not. How is it that there can be that much of a difference in beliefs among the same people whom God delivered their forefather out of Egypt, bringing them into this land of milk and honey? How can there be such a significant dispute over the resurrection of the dead? What did the Sadducees think happened after they died? Were they just dead, end-of-life dead, with nothing after death? If there are no angels or spirits, did they believe in God? All believers in Jesus also believe in the resurrection of the dead because Jesus told us it would happen. That brings us to ask, what is the purpose of our lives? If there is no resurrection, why do believers bother to try to live according to the truth of God? But there is a resurrection; however, the point of our lives is for the pleasure of God. He is pre-existent, before he created anything, he is. Jesus did not say that he was the I AM, or that he is, I AM, always was and will always be. He decided to create all that is created for his own pleasure, not that he needed to, but it just pleased him to create, and he made a man, a human in their image, and breathed life into Adam, or man, for his own pleasure. Have we lost sight of that truth, trying to live for our pleasure when the meaning of our lives is for the pleasure of God? His pleasure is to resurrect those of us who accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, to live with him forever in the place Jesus prepared for us. That is His pleasure. 

Fulfilling Our Duty

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

FULFILLING OUR DUTY

Acts 23:1-11

23:1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!" 4 Those who were standing near Paul said, "You dare to insult God's high priest?" 5 Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'" 6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead." 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.) 9 There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. "We find nothing wrong with this man," they said. "What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?" 10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks. 11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome." 

NIV

Should not that be our desire, to fulfill our duty to God in all good conscience to this day? Then the question is, what is our duty to God? That could be seen in two ways. First, our duty, generally speaking, as Christians or believers. Second, what is our duty as individual members of the community of faith or the body of Christ? As believers, do we fulfill the command of Jesus to love the Lord our God with all, which means not some, but all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and do we love everyone else as we love ourselves? We know we can all get tied up with so many other rules and regulations about what we are not supposed to do, that we might be too distracted from what we are supposed to do, to fulfill our duty.  As individuals, we need to listen to the voice of the Spirit, or His inspiration. We might use the term "our calling" to describe how we fit into the temple of God as living stones. What is our particular function in the body of Christ? How do we serve others? What benefit do we have to the other members of the body of Christ? When we make that parallel between our bodies, the feet take us places, but the eyes allow us to see where we are going. The mouth tastes the goodness of food, but the hands are needed to bring the food to the mouth. On and on, we could see how each member of our body benefits the other members, and that is how we should be as one member of the body of Christ. This also bears out as the high priest ordered that Paul be struck on the mouth. They must have thought that the only way to fulfill their duty to God was to obey the law, which they were not doing. This should also serve as a lesson for us that we must not stand in judgment of others or how they are or are not fulfilling their duty to God. One thing we know is that we are to encourage each other. Because the Greek word parakaleoo, used as "encourage," has a deeper meaning of calling to one's side, inviting, exhorting, and admonishing, it can also be seen as comforting or encouraging in the sense of building another up and telling them about the benefit they have to others. It is more than the good deeds, but if, and that is a big word, we can love one another, then we would be fulfilling our duty to God. 

Knowing the Truth

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

KNOWING THE TRUTH

Acts 22:23-30

23 As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and questioned in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25 As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?" 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "This man is a Roman citizen." 27 The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes, I am," he answered. 28 Then the commander said, "I had to pay a big price for my citizenship." "But I was born a citizen," Paul replied. 29 Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains. 30 The next day, since the commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.

NIV

We have come to the place in the life of Paul that had been brought to a boil, so to speak. We do not understand why the Roman commander thought it was necessary to flog Paul, just because the crowd was yelling and shouting, "Rid the earth of him, his not fit to live." However, it is not legal to flog a Roman citizen without a proper trial. So now we are at the point where we will see the Roman commander take Paul to speak before the Sanhedrin, but for now, what do we learn for our lives from this situation with Paul and the Roman commander?  First, the angry mob of Jews did not have the full story, the full truth about Jesus, although Paul tried to explain Jesus to them. They were driven by either fear, because their way of life had been threatened, they were resisting change, or their hatred for the Gentiles, whom Paul went to, drove them to respond ungodly, whom they professed to worship. Second, the commander acted as he believed was justified, but he did not have the whole truth about Paul, including the fact that he was born a Roman citizen. Our lesson is about how we act, or respond to situations we face in life, including within the community of faith. Do we allow any anger to well up within us because someone said something we vehemently or fundamentally disagree with?  Do we respond or take action either toward or against someone, such as gossip about them, without knowing all the truth about them? In all reality, gossip is sort of a flogging without the whip, although the tongue is a form of whip. Everything about the situation Paul was in lacked the truth that Jesus taught about love. When we live within the command of Jesus, knowing the truth about loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and body, and loving our neighbor, that is everyone, as we love ourselves, then all our actions and responses are driven by love, not anger. We must always live according to the truth. 

Sent

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

SENT

Acts 22:12-22

12 "A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see him. 14 "Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.' 17 "When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the Lord speaking. 'Quick!' he said to me. 'Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'  19 "'Lord,' I replied, 'these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.   20 And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.' 21 "Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'" 22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!"

NIV

After Paul finished his testimony about how Jesus intervened in his life and how he turned from persecuting the people of the Way to becoming one of them, he told the crowd, who had been very silent up to then, that God sent him to the Gentiles. That is when their hatred boiled up once again, shouting, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!" Something like this would never happen today, as we believers hold no hatred for the Gentiles, who in our day would be the non-believers, for in the truest sense of the word, we are all Gentiles, or non-Jews. However, in another sense, we are true Israel because we have circumcised hearts. In our world today, there are only two types of people: those with circumcised hearts and those with uncircumcised hearts. The Jews held such a hatred for the Gentiles because they thought God was only for them. He was the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Issac, their forefathers, and He performed miracles only for the Jews. He was their God and no one else's. Of course, we do not think that God is only on the side of us believers and that he would not do anything for those dreaded unbelievers. However, we were once among those dreaded unbelievers until Jesus intervened in our lives, as he did for Paul, changing us. We wonder why we do not show the love of Jesus to those whose hearts need to be changed, as much as we love other believers. We wonder why we only keep to ourselves, almost as if we lock ourselves inside the church, keeping the sinners locked out. Have we not been sent out to be a witness to the mighty acts of God and His free gift of salvation through Jesus? The Jews hated the Gentiles to the point that they considered them enemies, even enemies of God, just as they were told to drive them out of their lands. We are told to love our enemies, even those who have chosen to be enemies of God. He loves them just as much as he loves us, and he sent Jesus for them as he sent him for us. We are all the same, the creation of God. Let us be his servant, his witness to whoever he opens the door to. We need to be proclaiming his free gift, his grace, Jesus. We have been sent.