Year 4, Day 273: Judges 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Chemistry

• Chemistry asks whether the person in question can work with the other people that God has called.

In Judges 12 we get another opportunity to look at Jephthah.  In my theological commentary from 3 years ago, I was reminded about the fact that the Ephraimites came up against Gideon as we heard in Judges 8.  I was reminded how Gideon diffused the situation by humbling himself whereas Jephthah reinforces the conflict and fighting breaks out.  42,000 Hebrew people die because the situation cannot be resolved peacefully.

This led me to think about the idea of chemistry.  Does a person have what it takes to work with other people?  Does a person have what it takes to build relationship with others?  I believe we all have this ability, but some of us are able to do it on a much larger scale.  After all, some people have hundreds of friends and everyone seems to like them.  Others of us seem to have only a handful of friends, but those friendships run very deep.  All of us have the ability to have chemistry with others; we just have it in differing degrees.

Clearly Gideon had lots of chemistry.  Gideon was able to finagle his way into becoming the king of the Hebrew people – attested by his son’s name!  Jephthah, however, doesn’t appear to have much luck with chemistry.  His own people drive him out as we saw in the last chapter.  They only take him back when they need him.  Now the Ephraimites come before Jephthah and Jephthah doesn’t have the chemistry to diffuse the situation.  It’s a tough lesson for Jephthah to learn about himself.

But here’s the neat thing.  In the end, God still works through Jephthah.  God doesn’t only use the high-chemistry people like Gideon.  In fact, one might argue that in the end of his life Gideon’s high chemistry actually got him and the Hebrew people under him into quite a bit of spiritual trouble!  This isn’t true about Jephthah.  He may make people mad and not have the chemistry to fix the situation, but neither does he lead the Hebrew people away from God, either.  In this respect, Jephthah is not too unlike Samson, who we’ll meet shortly.

One doesn’t need high chemistry to follow God.  One simply needs to use what you have and follow God’s leading.  Where God leads, He will equip you to do the work that needs to be done.

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Year 4, Day 272: Judges 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

Jephthah is an interesting character, whose life is filled with interesting choices.  We get to see three perspectives on character today.  First of all, we get to see the character that is thrown upon him.  He is the son of an ungodly sexual union.  Gilead – Jephthah’s father – has sex with a prostitute and Jephthah is the product.  Jephthah’s life is cast by this decision.  He is expelled from his community.  All sorts of rabble gather around him.  After the first third of this story, it would be easy to judge from a human perspective that Jephthah would have a shady character of ill-repute.

But this is not what we see.  The elders come back to him when they are under oppression.  They ask Jephthah to lead them.  Here is where we get proof of his character.  Had Jephthah been spiteful, he could have refused them outright.  But he does not.  Had Jephthah been nefarious, he could have accepted for his own benefit, his own fame, and even for his own extortion of their money.  But he does not.  What does Jephthah do?  Jephthah turns, gives glory to God, reminds the elders about God, and then says that if God wills it, he will become their leader.  That’s character.  Jephthah had every opportunity to have bad character develop within him.  But he demonstrates good character instead.

Then we have the tragic story of Jephthah’s daughter.  It was a silly and foolish vow.  But I’m going to take a very unpopular decision from the world’s perspective.  He and his daughter both honored the vow.  The fact that his daughter so willingly embraced the honoring of the vow causes me to support her in spite of Jephthah’s foolish vow.  Not only did Jephthah demonstrate character in dealing with the elders but he has raised a daughter with character, too.  No doubt that Jephthah’s daughter is still embraced by God as a woman who loved her God more than her own life.  Now that’s character.

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Year 4, Day 271: Judges 10

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.

What a neat chapter of Judges.  The reason I love this chapter is because it is here in this chapter that we see the stern face of God.  It is here in this chapter that we see God tell the Hebrew people, “no.”  So often we come to God with an, “Oh God, give me” mentality.  Sometimes we come to God with an attitude that He will forgive anything we do and we take Him for granted.  Here in this chapter we hear about a Hebrew people that create their own mess and God tells them to lie in the bed that they’ve made.

This is such an awesome chapter!  God knows when He really is in our Up position and when we’re just fooling Him.  God knows when we really want to submit to Him and when we just want Him to save us without really changing us.  God knows.  He cannot be fooled or mocked.  This is an awesome chapter to remind us why it is important to have God in our Up position.

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Year 4, Day 270: Judges 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

Joshua 9 gives us a break from the typical judge stories so that we can remember what it looks like to have a man of utter incompetence in charge.  Abimelech – a name that means “My Father is King” – is utterly destructive as a ruler.  The question we should all ask upon this realization is what about Abimelech makes him such a bad ruler?

I think the answer is fairly simple.  Abimelech is only concerned with his needs and his desires.  After all, who goes and kills their whole family except the person who is so concerned with legitimate rivals legitimately laying claim to the kingship that Abimelech wants?  Who sows salt into a perfectly good field – effectively making the soil unable to sustain life – except the person who is solely concerned with hurting the people to whom the field belongs and not concerned about the other effects of their destructive choice?  Time and time again Abimelech makes choices in which the only person that he considers is himself.  He is self-centered to the core.

It is this that makes him utterly incompetent as a leader.  Yes, leaders do have to make hard decisions.  Furthermore, very few decisions will make all of the constituents happy.  There will always be people who grumble against any decision.  But the truly poor leader is the leader that only makes decisions based on their own desires and their own interests and their own whims.  The more self-centered we become the less competent we are for leadership.

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Year 4, Day 269: Judges 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

In Judges 8 we get two very interesting perspectives on identity.  Let’s start with the perspectives of the leaders of the towns of Succoth and Penuel.  Where is their identity?  Their identity is in their affluence and their success. How do I know this?  It’s pretty easy to see it.  The towns of Succoth and Penuel are unwilling to part with their resources unless the return on their investment is worth it.  They will not support Gideon until he has already proven himself a winner.  Unless their support increases their fame by partnering themselves with a proven winner, the leaders of the towns of Succoth and Penuel would rather keep their stuff.  They clearly value fame, reputation, and prosperity.  That is the source of their identity.

Then we turn to Gideon.  This chapter is painful for me to read.  Gideon showed such promise as a fledgling follower of God.  He was willing to listen.  He was willing to be encouraged.  While he needed help, he was willing to follow and be obedient.  But in this chapter, what is it that we hear?  We hear that Gideon makes a golden ephod – a symbol of being a priest – for himself.  We hear that the ephod caused all of Israel to whore after Gideon.  And perhaps worst of all, after telling the people “God is your only king,” we find out that Gideon actually names one of his sons Abimelech, which means “My Father is King.”

As much as I would love to report that Gideon’s identity was coming from God, at the end of Gideon’s life it does not appear to be that way.  Gideon appears to have become king – supplanting God’s rule over the Hebrew people.  Gideon seems to get his identity from the wealth and fame of being victorious.  Gideon is human after all.

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Year 4, Day 268: Judges 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Power

• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

Judges 7 grants us a natural lens through which we can view power.  Judges 7 is all about the rout of the Midianites at the hands of the Hebrew people.  It is also about Gideon learning to rely upon the power of God and not his own strength.  It is about learning to trust in God as king.

Look at what happens here.  God tells Gideon that he will deliver the Hebrew people.  32,000 soldiers march out, but 22,000 leave because they are afraid of what the battle might bring.  From the 10,000 that are not afraid, 300 are selected by God while the rest are sent home.  Gideon watches his military force be taken from 32,000 to 300 in a very short span of time.  I can only imagine how this fledgling leader felt.

But look at where God goes with this.  God is essentially asking Gideon to rely upon Him as king.  God tells Gideon to rely upon His power.  God even sends Gideon a dream to bolster his confidence! 

How does Gideon respond?  He worships God!  Gideon turns the corner in his spiritual relationship with God and truly believes.  He truly embraces the mantle of leadership.  He understands that the power that comes from having God as king is far more significant than the power that comes from ourselves.  He marches out in confidence with his greatly reduced force and finds absolute victory.  What an amazing story!

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Year 4, Day 267: Judges 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Guidance

• Guidance: God grants us His guidance.  Sometimes this guidance is God leading us away from temptation.  Sometimes this guidance is helping us to follow in a direction for which He has chosen.  Our default position should be to wait for God’s guidance and then follow when it comes.

Gideon is a disciple in the earliest stages when we meet him here.  He is timid enough to only be obedient to tear down the foreign altars under the cover of darkness.  When God asks him to deliver the Hebrew people he not only asks for a sign – he asks for the same sign repeated in an opposite effect.  But Gideon isn’t reluctant.  He is not being disobedient.  He is timid and uncertain.  He lacks the confidence of a well developed leader.

This is a really neat perspective to put on this story.  For God is patient with Gideon.  God accepts that Gideon follows His directive under the cover of darkness.  God accepts that Gideon needs a sign or two.  God embraces Gideon’s sacrifice.  And when Gideon is shown that he is speaking to a messenger of God, God accepts his humble repentance.  God doesn’t mind that Gideon is new and hesitant.  God embraces Gideon and guides him.

Again, this is a really neat perspective.  God doesn’t ask us to have it all together.  Neither does He ask Gideon to step out in bold confidence and draw all sorts of tribulation upon himself.  God embraces Gideon and guides him as he is.

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Year 4, Day 266: Judges 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

In my theological commentary, I spend a significant amount of time pulling apart the social commentary that Deborah puts into her song about why the Hebrew people fell away from God.  The short answer is simple: the Hebrew people fell because they adopted new gods.

That leads to two greater questions.  First, why did the Hebrew people adopt new gods?  This question is a little more difficult to answer. 

• Part of the answer to this question is their proximity to the Canaanites.  Their proximity meant that they had access to those false gods.  This is a tough message for Christians to hear because we know we are to be in the world. But we are also to not be of the world.  There isn’t anything inherently wrong with proximity to sinfulness; the problem comes when we allow proximity to sinfulness to lead to internalized sinfulness.
• Part of the answer is also because following human-made gods is always easier than following a true God.  Humans make gods that make sense to us.  Humans make gods that encourage success, winning, power, fertility, fruitfulness, prosperity, etc.  Humans make gods that allow us to be who we are.  Following the true God means casting off ourselves to become who He wants us to be.  It makes sense that people trade in belief in the true God for false human gods far more readily than people trade in belief in false human-made gods for belief in the true god.

There is a second question that naturally comes out of this discussion.  What is the effect on community of choosing new gods?

• The effect is disastrous.  As people begin to follow new gods, people also begin to follow a new ethic.  As they follow a new ethic, new morality comes in.  Society restructures itself.  Soon people are allowed to care more for themselves than the foreigner, orphan, and widow among them.  People are allowed to use business models that crush their competition and leave them unable to support their family.  People are allowed to care only about their own land while the highways become treacherous to travel.  Society crumbles as people turn more and more inwardly focused upon their own success.

This is a problem with identity.  Who or what I worship says a lot about me.  Am I interested in the other or am I interested in pursuing my own goals?  Am I willing to follow the greater designs of a God that knows what humanity really needs or will I take matters into my own hands?  Am I willing to submit or will I choose false gods that allow me to assert myself however I choose?

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Year 4, Day 265: Judges 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up, Father, King

• 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.
• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.
• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

This is an awesome chapter through which we can be challenged about our perspective in this world.  Am I really obedient to the identity that comes from the Father?  Am I really living out the authority and power that comes from the king?  Is God really in my Up position?  Am I really willing to follow?

Look at Barak in this chapter.  God has told him to go up and rout Sisera.  We know that, because Deborah comes to Barak she says to him, “Has not God commanded you to go up against Sisera?”  God has already told Barak what to do before Deborah steps onto the scene.  The issue is whether or not God is truly in his Up position.  Is he willing to live out of the obedience that comes from the identity that God desires to give to him?  Is he willing to live out of the power and authority that comes from God the king?

The short answer is no.  Barak isn’t willing.  Even when Deborah comes to him, Barak is unwilling.  He tells Deborah, unless you come with me, I won’t go.  Essentially, Barak is saying to Deborah, “I don’t believe in the identity God has for me and I don’t believe that I can live out of His power and authority.  So hold my hand for me, please.”

That’s utterly pathetic.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that new people in the faith shouldn’t walk beside their spiritual mentors so they can train and learn.  That’s not what we have going on here!  Barak is already a leader of the people.  After all, how likely is it that an unknown person would be able to raise up an army of 10,000 Hebrews on a whim?  No.  Barak is trained to lead and the people know him.  He’s just being a wimp.  He’s not willing to see the identity that God has for him in order to live out of it.  He’s not willing to live out the power and authority that God has placed in his life.  He needs his hand to be held – or perhaps he needs to be dragged into God’s will kicking and screaming. 

Either way, the sad reality of Barak is that he doesn’t follow God until challenged and provoked to do so.  Even then he follows hesitantly.  So Deborah and Jael will get the glory that God desired to lavish out onto Barak.  Deborah and Jael get to live out the identity, authority, and power that God – our Father and King – intended to lavish upon Barak.  All because Barak was unwilling to have God truly be in his Up position.

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Year 4, Day 264: Judges 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

This is a pretty cool chapter to look at the lens of identity.  We have two positive examples and two negative examples.  Let’s start with the positive examples.

In this chapter we have two major judge stories.  Othniel and Ehud are called upon by the Lord to rescue the Hebrew people from oppression.  Both of these judges are up to the task and they accomplish the work.  When our identity comes from the Lord and we find ourselves doing what the Lord asks, we find success.

And then we look at Eglon.  Here is a man who seems to have everything in control.  He’s even dominating over the Hebrew people.  From a perspective of the world, he had everything he could possibly have wanted!  But where is his identity?  Does the fact that he has everything support that God loved Him?  No, actually the opposite is true.  Because he has everything, he finds himself in a position of judgment by God.  Ehud runs him through with a sword and he dies in his identity.  Just because he has everything and finds himself in control of others doesn’t mean his identity is right.

Now, stop and ask yourself why it was that the Hebrew people needed a judge in the first place.  Didn’t God say that if they were faithful to Him that God would defend them Himself?  Absolutely!  So this points us to the fact that the Hebrew people were not faithful.  The Bible tells us that much plainly.  The Hebrew people turned away from the ways of the Lord and rebelled.  They needed a judge because their identity was in the wrong place.

Truthfully, how often is this true about me?  Don’t I need rescue most often because my identity is coming from someplace that it shouldn’t?  The times that I need a “judge” most often in my life are those times when I have strayed far enough that I need help discerning God’s truth.

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Year 4, Day 263: Judges 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

I know I talked about obedience yesterday.  But Judges 2 has such an incredibly similar theme as Judges 1 that it cannot be helped.  The issue with the Hebrew people is their obedience.  The angel of the Lord says as much in Judges 2:2.  “You have not obeyed my voice.”  The issue is obedience indeed!  The Hebrew people are not obeying the Lord.  They are choosing to obey themselves and their own agendas.  So the Lord chooses to not drive out the people before them.

The people mourn.  They grieve.  But as soon as Joshua dies we can see their true colors.  Their disobedience flares up once more.  It’s the same old story.  So God sends in a judge.  The Hebrew people capitulate to God so that they can be delivered.  But as the end of the chapter indicates, this is a cycle that happens again and again.  This is the cycle of the book of Judges.  Disobedience leads to bondage.  The people cry out in bondage.  God delivers them.  They capitulate – put on a face of obedience – while the one who delivered them is around.  Then they fall away into bondage of their sin and the cycle repeats.

The only way to stop that cycle is to change to whom our obedience flows.  We are obedient to our identity.  So if our identity leads us into bondage, change our identity!  Instead of rebelling against God, we should embrace God and His ways.  If we find ourselves in bondage, the only way to not end up back there is to get our identity from God so that we can be obedient to Him!  The only way out of bondage to our sinfulness is to change from where our identity comes!

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Year 4, Day 262: Judges 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

As we turn back to the book of Judges, we are reminded of real life.  When we last read in the Old Testament, Joshua was completing the initial conquest.  However, we know that God promised them more if they would remain faithful to Him.

Unfortunately, we know how just about every story in Judges will come at us.  “The Hebrew people turned away from the Lord.”  Difficulty will come against the Hebrew people.  They will cry out, and a judge will rise up and save them in battle.  But what is the reason that the judges are necessary?  The reason they are necessary is because the people are not obedient to the Lord.

We see evidence of this is this opening chapter.  Look at how many of the tribes simply do not complete the conquest of their portion of the Promised Land!  God promised that it would be completed if the people would simply obey the Lord.  It doesn’t happen.

Of course, I do not have any right to complain, either.  I’m not always obedient.  I don’t conquer the sin in my life like I should.  I sometimes live outside of the obedience of God myself.  And quite often there are consequences to my lack of obedience as we see in this chapter, too.  This will be an interesting read through the judges as it will continue to reinforce our collective need for obedience chapter after chapter.

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Year 4, Day 261: Acts 28

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.

I am amazed at the ending to the book of Acts.  First of all, I am surprised that Luke does not think it necessary to write what happens to Paul when he gets to Rome.  Personally, I think the reason he doesn’t write it is because Paul lives, is released from his bondage, he moves on (probably to Spain), and Luke doesn’t go with him so he doesn’t know the rest of the story.  Either way, Acts ends in a way that leaves us hanging because we don’t know what really happens to Paul.

But when we look at what Acts 28 does tell us we see some amazing things.  First, the people of Malta initially reject Paul because of the viper incident.  But they quickly receive him and those who are with him.  They even put him on a boat and help him continue his journey!  The Gentiles completely receive Paul.

When Paul and his friends get to Rome and meet with the Jews, however, the story is reversed.  Yes, a few believe Paul.  But eventually the Jews ultimately leave Paul and don’t listen anymore, causing Paul to quote the same passage from Isaiah that Jesus and Peter quote elsewhere in the Bible.  The traditionally religious just don’t get Paul and what God is doing in Paul through the Holy Spirit.

Which causes me to really think about Up.  Am I really following God?  Am I approaching God with the perspective of saying, “Here is my life, God.  Strip away everything that you do not want to use or you cannot use.  I’ll be content with whatever is left and whatever you see fit to put in my life to replace that which you took away.”  Am I really living that life out?  Am I really submitted to God in that manner?

Or am I coming to God and saying, “God, I want you in my life but I also want all of this other stuff, too.  I’m not going to surrender my life to you, but I will try and squeeze you into my already full life.  You can’t touch the stuff that I like and you don’t, but I will give you some time where you and I can be together.”

You see, the first position – the position of complete surrender – is the position that truly has God as my Up.  The second position – squeezing God into my life – doesn’t have God as my Up.  Truthfully the second position has myself as the Up!  In the second position I’m not surrendering myself to God and allowing Him to be in control, I am allowing Him into a portion of my life while I remain in control.  In the second position I’m not worshipping God, I’m allowing myself to think I am worshipping God but I’m really still worshipping myself and my own agenda.

Who is in my Up?  When the Holy Spirit comes into my life, am I like the people of Malta who are willing to consider this fresh wind and a new perspective?  Or am I like the traditional Jews in Rome who are willing to listen a little but unwilling to change in the end?  What does that say about who is truly in my Up position?

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Year 4, Day 260: Acts 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

Here’s a neat chapter near the end of Acts.  We are getting to the end of the story – at least the part that we have recorded in the Bible.  Paul is still arrested.  But let’s look at how God provides protection for Paul throughout this chapter.

Of course there is the story about the shipwreck.  Paul and his friends and shipmates could have easily drowned.  But they did not.  In fact, there was not even the loss of a single life in spite of the ship beings torn apart by the storm and the reef.  Now that’s protection!

However, it goes deeper than this.  Paul is delivered by God into the hands of a Roman centurion named Julius.  He seems to respect Paul.  He allows Paul’s companions to journey with him in spite of the fact that Paul is a prisoner.  God not only protects Paul physically but he also protects Paul’s need for companionship.

God is a God who cares way more than just for our physical needs – although they are often on our mind and certainly are important.  God is a God who is capable of protecting our social, emotional, and spiritual needs, too.  He cares for us more deeply than we could possibly imagine or hope.

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Year 4, Day 259: Acts 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

As I read my theological commentary from three years ago, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Paul’s circumstances.  Paul gives this appeal in the midst of Agrippa II.  This is the son of the man who had James beheaded and who planned on doing the same to Peter.  This is the grandson of the man who killed scores of babies in an attempt to eliminate Jesus at His birth.  Paul knows who this Agrippa is and what he will do to stay in power and earn the favor of the people.

Paul also knows Festus.  He’s a Roman governor, sent to keep peace.  Being a Roman governor, he doesn’t care about Judaism.  He cares about keeping the populace happy.  Plain and simple, he’s living from a perspective of doing whatever he can to stay in power for as long as he can without needing Rome to send and army to keep the peace.

In that circumstance Paul gives his testimony.  In that circumstance Paul speaks about the resurrection of the dead and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Could there be a more dispassionate audience?  Yet Paul still speaks the truth.  Paul still confesses to desiring the conversion of Festus – if it were a genuine possibility.

Festus calls Paul insane.  From the worldly perspective, he is.  But from the perspective of the divine that same insanity is actually obedience.  Paul has the character to be obedient even when obedience appears to be insanity to the world around him.

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Year 4, Day 258: Acts 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

We are in the middle of a series of about three chapters that are not particularly theological in nature.  Rather, their nature is about showing the process of Paul’s journey to Rome.  These chapters are about the influence of humanity in the midst of God’s hand at work.

Felix – from the last chapter – kept Paul around hoping for a bribe.  In the last chapter and in this chapter we see that the Jewish leaders wanted Paul to come to them so that they could ambush him along the road and kill him outright.  Felix wants to try Paul in Jerusalem so that he can gain favor with the Jews.  Everyone has an agenda.

But look at Paul and the example that he sets before us.  He sticks to the truth.  He doesn’t deny anything that he has done, but he does refute the trumped up and impossible charges of the Jews.  He sticks to the work that his true king – God, the Father – has placed before him.  He lives out of the authority and power that his true king has granted to him.

Even when Paul appeals to Caesar, he is living out of the authority that God the king has given to him.  God desires Paul to go to the Gentiles, not the Jews.  God desires Paul to even proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ all the way up to the household of Caesar himself!  When Paul appeals to Caesar, Paul is living out God’s plan for him.  Paul is living out the authority that he has been granted.  Even in this chapter that is largely about the worldly agenda around Paul, we see that Paul is still living out the desires of the king.  God is still in charge in Paul’s life even though human agendas seek their own end for Paul.

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Year 4, Day 257: Acts 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Capacity

• Capacity asks whether or not the person has the time in their life to obey God.

I don’t talk about capacity much on this blog, so this is a great time to bring up the topic.  Note that when I speak about capacity I’m not talking about ability.  That would be competency.  When I speak about capacity I am speaking about the amount of time that a person has and whether they use the time for doing the work of God.

We’ve seen Paul apply capacity all throughout his life in the book of Acts.  Everywhere he went he actively sought out opportunities to talk about Christ.  He sought out the women in Philippi and found a great friend in Lydia.  He sought out the Philippian jailor.  He sought out Timothy and actually brought Timothy along with him.  He sought out the people in Athens.  He found Gentiles in Corinth.  He found the disciples of John the Baptizer in Ephesus and helped them find the Holy Spirit.  Wherever Paul went – he always was seeking time to find God’s work.

This is no different in Acts 24.  Paul is in a difficult spot.  He’s arrested.  He’s on trial.  He could be looking at the end of his life.  And then he finds himself in a holding pattern while Felix seems to be waiting for a bribe to either kill Paul or set him free.  But look at what Paul does.  In the time where his case is not advancing he is talking to Felix – and likely his court and household.  Paul could be getting angry at God that his case isn’t going anywhere and he could be mad at God that his life feels like it is on hold.  But that’s not what he does.  Paul sees his life through the eyes of God and realizes that God has given Paul the capacity to speak into the life of Felix and his household.

We don’t speak often about Paul’s ability to use his time to disciple others, but he was a master of capacity.  When Paul had an opportunity, he took it.

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Year 4, Day 256: Acts 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

From a spiritual perspective, there isn’t much going on in Acts 23.  Paul goes before the Sanhedrin again and divides them.  Then we have the story of the plot to kill Paul.  Paul is moved from one place of Roman protection to another place of Roman protection because Paul is a Roman citizen.  It seems like a fairly unspiritual chapter.

That being said, there is an overarching theme of protection within these words.  God has already protected Paul from the beating in the temple.  Twice now Paul has been protected by God before the Sanhedrin.  When a plot arises to kill him, Paul is protected once more by God through Claudius Lysias.  God continues to watch over Paul.

But here’s the thing.  This might seem like a no-brainer idea because we know the story so well.  Looking back at it in hindsight we see God’s hand all over these actions.  But remember Paul’s circumstances.  He went from being a free Roman citizen proclaiming God’s Word to a man arrested and bound and on trial for his life.  It would be so easy for Paul to miss God’s protection because of the greater negative circumstance taking place.  But just because Paul’s temporal life appears to be crumbling around him doesn’t mean that God isn’t still there holding him up in protection.

Sometimes we have to look past the events of our life to see God’s hand of protection still at work within us.

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Year 4, Day 255: Acts 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

Imagine that you’ve been arrested.  Imagine that the crowds want you dead.  Imagine that you are going to be subject to the political ruling of a judge that really doesn’t care for theological debates.  Do you see how bleak that future is?  How would you respond?

How does Paul respond?  He steps up and proclaims the truth.  He certainly knows the future is bleak and the only way out of the hole that he has dug is to backtrack against the truth.  But he doesn’t want out of the hole.  Paul knows that God has called him into this pit.

This chapter is about competency.  Paul could have capitulated.  Paul could have backtracked.  Paul could have recanted to save his neck.  But thank be to God that Paul is competent!  Paul cares more about doing what God has called him to do than he cares about saving his own skin.

Paul’s competency is on display.  Before the tribunal he actually makes the situation direr by bringing up his own Roman citizenship.  Before the crowds he brings up the fact that salvation has come to the Gentiles.  Rather than saving his own skin, he riles up the opposition against him with the truth.  He is competent in his calling.

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Year 4, Day 254: Acts 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

It is always hard to write about character in the chapters where things go wrong in the end.  After all, we love to see the stories that are about character and which also end well.  We who are looking to develop character want to hear about the times when building character has a great result.  But who wants to read a story where a person displays great character and the world still wins?

Instead, let’s start with the completion of Paul’s journey.  Notice how the Christians in town after town come and fellowship with Paul.  That’s character.  There is no debate about internal politics.  There is no argument.  There is celebration because a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit has come among them!  That’s character, and a great example of it!

Then we have the Christian leaders of the Jerusalem church.  I find their character a little suspect.  But in saying it, I also find myself among them frequently.  The leaders in Jerusalem ask Paul to live a particular way so as to not cause unrest.  Now, this isn’t a bad thing.  They are just trying to keep peace and allow the Christians in Jerusalem to live without persecution.  Remember, Jerusalem was a political hotbed in the first century with riot after riot.  But in the end, the leaders of the Jerusalem church ask Paul to compromise for the sake of the Jerusalem Christians.  I’ve been there before.  I’ve done this very thing.  Sometimes it’s necessary.  But it’s never enjoyable.

Finally we get to the character of Paul.  He does compromise.  He does live as the Jerusalem leaders ask for the sake of the church.  He is still arrested under a false charge.  He is still beaten publically.  He knew this would happen.  We saw it in the last chapter.  We also heard person after person warn Paul in this chapter to not go up to Jerusalem.  But he still went into the slaughter.  That’s character, too.

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Year 4, Day 253: Acts 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

I am broken as I read Paul’s speech to the Ephesian elders.  Acts 20:22-23 says, “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.”  Acts 20:25 says, “And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.”  Acts 20:29-31 says, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.”

Do you think Paul doesn’t know what he’s getting into?  Oh, he knows.  He knows all too well that he is going to as he heads to Jerusalem.  He’s going to be accused.  He’s going to get arrested.  He’s going to be persecuted.

But guess what!  Everywhere that Paul went this persecution followed him.  Everywhere he went the Holy Spirit has told him that affliction await him.  Oh, he knows what he’s getting into.

He also knows that when he leaves there will be people who come into these fledgling churches to disrupt what work God has started.  Yet he still went out and made disciples.  He still went out and did the work of the Lord.  In spite of what people will do when he’s gone, Paul went into the world and obeyed his Lord.

What is the inspiring thing about Paul?  He knows what he’s getting into and he still goes.  He knows he will be persecuted and he still goes to talk about Jesus.  The proverbial jaws of the lion are gaping wide open.  He voluntarily puts his head in for the sake of the Gospel because God asks him to do so.  That’s obedience.  It’s quite inspiring.

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Year 4, Day 252: Acts 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

What a chapter to look at authority.  Let’s look at each of the three major stories.

First, we have Paul and the disciples of John the Baptizer.  They are out and teaching with God’s authority.  It’s clear that they are doing so, because they are bearing fruit.  It’s also clear that they are doing it under God’s authority because Paul doesn’t chastise them.  Rather, Paul meets with them, senses their common spirit, and then invites them into a greater relationship with God!  Paul invites them into a greater authority.  From this story we can learn that we don’t have to understand everything God is doing to have authority from Him.  We can go and do His will under His authority and as we grow we can learn and gain more authority.

Second, we look at the sons of Sceva.  What a horrible example, but a great one to examine!  The sons of Sceva see what Paul is doing and they seek to copy him.  But notice that they do not imitate Paul.  Paul was in a relationship with God through Christ.  That is from where his authority came.  The sons of Sceva copy Paul’s actions without imitating the relationship with God.  Thus, when they try to live out of that authority, things go tragically wrong.  What can we learn from this?  We learn that if we aren’t careful we can end up copying and not imitating.  We can end up trying to live out of an authority that we don’t truly have.

Third, we look at the riot in Ephesus.  Here in an exercise in worldly authority.  Nothing about the riot in Ephesus is about spirituality.  The riot is about money.  A small group demonstrates authority over the crowd and gets them into a mob mentality where the mob doesn’t really even know what is going on!  And the day is saved by a political leader who makes a political argument.  From this story we learn that spiritual authority is not the only authority in the world.  In fact, worldly authority often wrestles against the spiritual authority that comes from God.

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Year 4, Day 251: Acts 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Authority, Power

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.
• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

I always find Acts 18 to be a very humbling chapter for me to read.  Here we see what happens to a spiritual leader when they are at their wits end.  Paul gets to Corinth and once more finds opposition rising up against him.  Paul stops, turns to the people, and says, “I’m done.”  He walks away from them.  He vows to no longer go to the Jews and instead focuses upon the Gentiles.

I know what that feels like.  I know what it is like to always have to overcome the inertia of tradition in order to actually get to a place of the Spirit’s movement.  It’s tough work.  It’s easy to want to quit and find a place where the inertia is very much smaller and easy to affect.

But look at what God does in Paul’s moment of quitting.  Jesus comes to Paul and says, “Stop throwing a tantrum, Paul.  Keep going.  You don’t know how many supporters I have here.”  Essentially, God is reminding Paul that he’s lost sight of one very thing.  Paul’s lost sight of the fact that God is king.  For a moment, Paul thought of himself as king.  That’s what got him in trouble.

What that also means is that Paul forgot that his authority and power come from God.  If our authority and power come from God, then we are to answer His calling by His means.  It’s not up to me to say, “I quit, God.”  Nor is it up to me to say, “I’m not strong enough.”  Because if I am truly living out of the authority and power of the king, then if I claim to not have the strength then either I’m claiming God isn’t able to make me strong enough or I’m focused in the wrong area.  Neither of those are good conclusions.

Paul has that moment.  Paul is frustrated and he throws up his hands.  But God refocuses Paul and gives him a second chance to continue his work.  Once Paul remembers where his authority and power come from, we can see that Paul stays for another 18 months in Corinth and has a wonderful ministry there.

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