Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Up
- Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship. If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position. Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up. This is why God needs to be in our Up position.
Up represents our spiritual origin. It also represents our spiritual
destination. God is the source of our
identity, the focus of our obedience, the foundation of our authority, and the basis
for our power. Up should be where we
find God.
I can’t help but wonder what was Up for Ananias and Sapphira. On one level, I genuinely believe that they
loved God. After all, why would they
sell land and bring it to the apostles if they didn’t love God in the first
place? But on the other hand, why would
they imply they sold the land for one amount while keeping some of the money
back for themselves? Why would they lie
if they genuinely were worshipping God?
Why wouldn’t they give what they can, be honest about what they are
doing, and allow God’s name to be praised?
The truth is that while I do believe they were in a relationship with
God on one level, they were still worshipping the money in their life, too.
On the other hand, what about Gamaliel? Sure, he was a wise member of the
Sanhedrin. Sure, he found himself on the
opposite side of the fence as Jesus’ disciples.
But he does seem to be a man who pursued God’s truth. He tells the rest of the Sanhedrin to not
persecute the disciples for two significant reasons. First, if Jesus’ disciples are right, then
the Sanhedrin will find themselves struggling against God and that is no place
to be. Second, if the disciples aren’t
of God then they’ll eventually fade away like a bad fad among the people. Here is a man who is focused on seeking out
God and God’s wisdom – even if he didn’t get it all perfectly right. But then again, who does, right?
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