April 10, 2010 (Acts 15-16)

Today's reading started with the disagreements, and the theme carried through, but to keep this relatively short I won't go into the other one. The first disagreement came because some men arrived teaching that "unless you keep the ancient Jewish custom of circumcision taught by Moses, you can't be saved." Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, and "argued forcefully at length" until they decided to go back to Jerusalem and talk to the apostles and elders about it. I was kind of surprised at what they all came up with:

Acts 15:28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: ²⁹ You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”

So that was it. If they did those things (or should I say, didn't do those things) they would do well. I was surprised at that. I thought it was faith in Christ - that was it - nothing else. I read the footnote of my Bible and this was their clarification: "These practices were offensive to the Jews and made it particularly hard for them to have table fellowship with Gentiles. We, too, should be sensitive to the feelings of others."

The next section in my reading is supposed to be Galatians and that makes sense, because in Galatians Paul is discussing this very issue. So tomorrow I'll get more into this discussion.

This next story made me think of modern day Christianity and the "stink" it creates. I think a lot of the friction has 'money' behind it. Let's take abortion for instance. There are a lot of doctors who make a lot of money off of abortion. To take the Christian perspective that all life is sacred and should be protected hits them right in the pocketbook. Here's the story that happened back then:

^{Acts 16:16} One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”

¹⁸ This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.

¹⁹ Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. ²⁰ “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. ²¹ “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.”

What??? Teaching customs that are illegal for Romans to practice? They never had any problem with them at all, until it affected their pocketbooks. I kind of got the feeling that day after day they followed them around because of the crowds they were drawing......hoping to make extra cash because of the people that were there.

So the city officials had them beaten and thrown into jail. Then at midnight, God did another miracle. One that caused the jailer to take note and say "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" What was it you ask? At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and an earthquake happened. But it wasn't your 'typical' earthquake. This earthquake caused all the doors of the prison to fly open and all the chains of EVERY prisoner to fall off. When I think of an earthquake, that's not what I think of. I think of Haiti, and buildings collasping down and crushing the people in them. I think the jailer realized he had just witnessed something that was 'supernatural' and caught a glimpse of the power of God. So what was Paul and Silas' response to his question? The same answer they would give today:

³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” ³² And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. ³³ Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. ³⁴ He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.