1. You’ve been given your life. No one else has your version. You’ll never bump into yourself on the sidewalk. You’ll never meet anyone who has your exact blend of lineage, loves, and longings. Your life will never be lived by anyone else. You’re not a jacket in an attic that can be recycled after you are gone. It’s not enough for you to do well. You want to do good. You want your life to matter. You want to live in such a way that the world will be glad you did. But how can you? How can I? Can God use us?
2. Ours is the wealthiest generation of Christians ever. We are bright, educated, and experienced. We can travel around the world in twenty-four hours or send a message in a millisecond. We have the most sophisticated research and medicines at the tips of our fingers. We have ample resources. A mere 2 percent of the world’s grain harvest would be enough, if shared, to erase the problems of hunger and malnutrition around the world. There is enough food on the planet to offer every person twenty-five hundred calories of sustenance a day. We have enough food to feed the hungry.
But this much is clear: the storehouse is stocked. The problem is not in the supply; the problem is in the distribution. God has given this generation, our generation, everything we need to alter the course of human suffering.3. I do live today; so do you. We are given a choice . . . an opportunity to make a big difference during a difficult time. What if we did? What if we rocked the world with hope? Infiltrated all corners with God’s love and life? What if we followed the example of the Jerusalem church? This tiny sect expanded into a world-changing force. We still drink from their wells and eat from their trees of faith. How did they do it? What can we learn from their priorities and passion?Let’s ponder their stories, found in the first twelve chapters of Acts. Let’s examine each event through the lens of this prayer: Do it again, Jesus. Do it again. After all, “We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Eph. 2:10 NLT). We are created by a great God to do great works. He invites us to outlive our lives, not just in heaven but here on earth.
4. Here’s a salute to a long life: goodness that outlives the grave, love that outlasts the final breath. May you live in such a way that your death is just the beginning of your life.
"After David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried" (Acts 13:36 NLT).O Lord, what an amazing opportunity You have spread out before me a chance to make a difference for You in a desperately hurting world. Help me to see the needs You want me to see, to react in a way that honors You, and to bless others by serving them gladly with practical expressions of Your love. Help me be Jesus’ hands and feet and through Your Spirit give me the strength and wisdom I need to fulfill Your plan for me in my own generation. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
TWO: CALLING MR. POT ROAST
"You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" —Acts 1:8 (NIV).
1. Does Jesus still use simple folks like us to change the world? We suffer from such ordinariness. We are Joe Pot Roast. Common folk. We sit in the bleachers, eat at diners, change diapers, and wear our favorite team’s ball cap. Fans don’t wave when we pass. Servants don’t scurry when we come home. Chauffeurs don’t drive our cars; butlers don’t open our doors or draw our baths. Doormen don’t greet us, and security doesn’t protect us. We, like the Jerusalem disciples, are regular folk.
God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.
2. Don’t let Satan convince you otherwise. He will try. He will tell you that God has an IQ requirement or an entry fee. That he employs only specialists and experts, governments and high-powered personalities. When Satan whispers such lies, dismiss him with this truth: God stampeded the first-century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds. Before Jesus came along, the disciples were loading trucks, coaching soccer, and selling Slurpee drinks at the convenience store. Their collars were blue, and their hands were calloused, and there is no evidence that Jesus chose them because they were smarter or nicer than the guy next door. The one thing they had going for them was a willingness to take a step when Jesus said, “Follow Me”.
"Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful" (1 Cor. 1:26–27 NLT).
Loving Father, You made me, so You know very well that I am but dust. Yet You have called me into Your kingdom to serve You at this specific place, at this specific time, for a very specific purpose. Despite my ordinariness. I belong to You and You are anything but ordinary! Help me pour out Your grace and compassion upon others that they; too may experience the richness of Your love. Through me, my hither, show others how You can use an ordinary life to bring extraordinary blessing into the world. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
THREE: LET GOD UNSHELL YOU
"They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works! —Acts 2:11 (MSG)
1. This is quite a shield. You probably have your own. Most of us have learned to insulate ourselves against the hurt of the hurting. Haven’t we? Mustn’t we? After all, what can we do about the famine in Sudan, the plight of the unemployed, or a pandemic of malaria? Clamshells. We come by them honestly. We don’t intend to retreat from the world or stick our heads in a hole. We want to help. But the problems are immense (Did you say one billion are poor?), complex (When is helping actually hurting?), and intense (I have enough problems of my own).
2. That’s true. We do have our own issues. Our sputtering marriages, fading ambitions, dwindling bank accounts, and stubborn hearts. How can we change the world when we can’t even change our bad habits? We don’t have what it takes to solve these problems. Best to climb in and shut the shell, right? You would have had a hard time selling that strategy to the Jerusalem church. Not after God unshelled them on the Day of Pentecost.
3. The Holy Spirit came upon them suddenly—not predictably or expectedly or customarily but suddenly. Welcome to the world of Acts and the “sudden” Spirit of God, sovereign and free, never subordinate to timing or technique. He creates His own agenda, determines His own calendar, and keeps His own hours. The Spirit came, first as wind, then appeared as individual tongues of fire, “and one sat upon each of them” (v. 3). This wasn’t one torch over the entire room but individual flames hovering above each person. And then the most unexpected thing happened. [They] began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
4. Crowded city. Prayerful followers. Rushing wind and falling fire. Fifteen nations represented in one assembly. Disciples speaking like trained translators of the United Nations. Whatever could this mean?At least this much: God loves the nations.
5. Let God unshell you. And when He does, “make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that” (Gal. 6:4 MSG). Don’t miss the opportunity to discover your language.
• With whom do you feel most fluent?Teenagers? Drug addicts? The elderly? You may be tongue-tied around children but eloquent with executives. This is how God designed you. “God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well” (Rom. 12:6 NLT).
• For whom do you feel most compassion? God doesn’t burden us equally. “The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men . . . He fashions their hearts individually” (Ps. 33:13, 15). When does your heart break and pulse race? When you spot the homeless? When you travel to the inner city? Or when you see the victims of sex trade in Cambodia?
"[God] comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given" (2 Cor. 1:4 NLT).
Gracious Father, You took the initiative to reach out to me even in my sin and selfishness in order to bring me into your eternal kingdom, through the of Christ. I cannot fathom such love! And yet, hither, I try to hoard Your grace! Put up walls of protection that I might keep hurt out and blessing in. I am like the clam that shuts itself up in its shell, afraid of threats from the outside. You call me to unshell myself and to partner with You in Your mission of love. Unshell me, Lord, that I, too may reach out to a lonely, discouraged, and even hopeless world. In Jesus’ name. amen.
FOUR: DON'T FORGET THE BREAD
"Your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you"—Acts 2:38 39 (CEV).
1. Might we make the same mistake in a more critical arena? In an effort to do good, we can get distracted. We feed people. We encourage, heal, help, and serve. We address racial issues and poverty. Yet there is one duty we must fulfill. We can’t forget the bread.
2. Peter would eventually speak about poverty. The church would soon address the issues of widows, disease, and bigotry. But not yet. The first order of the church’s first sermon was this: pardon for all our sins. Peter delivered the bread.
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry again” (John 6:35 NLT).
3. God has posted his traffic signs everywhere we look. In the universe, in Scripture, even within our own hearts. Yet we persist in disregarding His directions. But God does not give us what we deserve. He has drenched His world in grace. It has no end. It knows no limits. It empowers this life and enables us to live the next. God offers second chances, like a soup kitchen offers meals to everyone who asks. And that includes you. Make sure you receive the bread. And once you do, pass it on. After all, if we don’t, who will?
"Turn back to God! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord God will choose, no matter where they live" (Acts 2:38–39 CEV).
4. Governments don’t feed the soul. The secular relief house can give a bed, a meal, and valuable counsel. But we can give much more. Not just help for this life but hope for the next. So along with the cups of water, plates of food, and vials of medicine, let there be the message of sins forgiven and death defeated. Remember the bread.
"For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ" (2 Cor. 5:19–21 NLT).
My blessed Savior and Lord. I praise You for freely giving me the Bread of Life. You replaced my darkness with Your light, my fear with Your security; and my despair with Your hope. Remind me every day Father, that the Bread of Life I have in Jesus comes to me by Your grace and through Your love and that it delights Your generous heart when I tell others where they can find and partake. Make me into an eager ambassador of Jesus Christ. Turn my fear into boldness so that heaven’s streets may be filled with men and women who love the Savior, in part because they first heard of His grace and mercy from my lips. In Jesus’ name I pray.
CHAPTER 5: TEAM UP
"Now all who believed were together" —Acts 2:44.
1. This was Jesus’ plan all along. None of us can do what all of us can do. Remember his commission to the disciples? “You [all of you collectively] will be My witnesses” (Acts 1:8 NIV). Jesus didn’t issue individual assignments. He didn’t move one by one down the line and knight each individual.
2. But rather, “You [the sum of you] will be My witnesses . . .” Jesus works in community. For that reason you find no personal pronouns in the earliest description of the church:
"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy" (Acts 2:42–46 NLT).
3. No I or my or you. We are in this together. We are more than followers of Christ, disciples of Christ. “We are parts of His body” (Eph. 5:30 NCV). “He is the head of the body, which is the church” (Col. 1:18 NCV). I am not His body; you are not His body. We—together— are His body.
4. Cooperation is more than a good idea; it is a command. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3 NIV). Unity matters to God. There is “one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16 NIV). What if the missing ingredient for changing the world is teamwork? “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, My Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of Me, you can be sure that I’ll be there” (Matt. 18:19–20 MSG).
This is an astounding promise. When believers agree, Jesus takes notice, shows up, and hears our prayers.
5. This is how He worked in Jerusalem. The congregation is a microcosm of God’s plan. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. And when we do, statements such as these will be read more often: “The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them” (Acts 4:33–34 NLT). Our only hope is to work together.
Those who suffer belong to all of us. And if all of us respond, there is hope.
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" (Eccl. 4:9–10 NIV).
O Lord, I have been called to be part of holy community. You did nor call me in isolation bur placed me in the body of Christ, along with every other believer in Jesus throughout the world in every age. Let us grow as a ream, work as a ream, worship as a ream, weep, laugh, and live as a ream. Grant me the wisdom and the strength to partner with you and with my brothers and sisters in Christ. For Jesus’ sake and in His name I pray; amen.
CHAPTER 6: OPEN YOUR DOOR; OPEN YOUR HEART
"They ate together in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts" —Acts 2:46 (NCV).
1. Call us a fast society, an efficient society, but don’t call us a personal society. Our society is set up for isolation. Yet God wants His people to be an exception. Let everyone else go the way of computers and keyboards. God’s children will be people of hospitality. Long before the church had pulpits and baptisteries, she had kitchens and dinner tables. “The believers met together in the Temple every day. They ate together in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts” (Acts 2:46 NCV). “Every day in the Temple and in people’s homes they continued teaching the people and telling the Good News—that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 5:42 NCV).
It’s no wonder that the elders were to be “given to hospitality” (1 Tim. 3:2 KJV). The primary gathering place of the church was the home.
2. Not everyone can serve in a foreign land, lead a relief effort, or volunteer at the downtown soup kitchen. But who can’t be hospitable? Do you have a front door? A table? Chairs? Bread and meat for sandwiches? Congratulations! You just qualified to serve in the most ancient of ministries: hospitality. You can join the ranks of people such as . . .
• Abraham. He fed, not just angels, but the Lord of angels (Gen. 18).
• Rahab, the harlot. She received and protected the spies. Thanks to her kindness, her kindred survived, and her name is remembered (Josh. 6:22–23; Matt. 1:5).
• Martha and Mary. They opened their home for Jesus. He, in turn, opened the grave of Lazarus for them (John 11:1–45; Luke 10:38–42).
3. How would you have liked to be the one who opened his home for Jesus? You can be. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me” (Matt. 25:40 NIV). As you welcome strangers to your table, you are welcoming God himself. Something holy happens around a dinner table that will never happen in a sanctuary. In a church auditorium you m see the backs of heads. Around the table you see the expressions on faces. In the auditorium one person speaks; around the table everyone has a voice. Church services are on the clock. Around the table there is time to talk.
Hospitality opens the door to uncommon community.
4. It’s no accident that hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing. When you open your door to someone, you are sending this message: “You matter to me and to God”. You may think you are saying, “Come over for a visit”. But what your guest hears is, “I’m worth the effort”. Do you know people who need this message? Singles who eat alone? Young couples who are far from home? Coworkers who’ve been transferred, teens who feel left out, and seniors who no longer drive? Some people pass an entire day with no meaningful contact with anyone else. Your hospitality can be their hospital. All you need are a few basic practices.
~ Issue a genuine invitation. Let your guests know you want them to come. Call them on the phone, or step over to their desks at work.
~ Make a big deal of their arrival. Gather the entire family at the front door. Swing it open as you see them approach. This is a parade-worthy moment. One of God’s children is coming to your house!
~ Address the needs of your guests. First-century hospitality included foot washing. Modern-day hospitality includes the sharing of food and drink. Time to talk and listen. Make sure everyone has the opportunity to speak. Like the Good Shepherd, we prepare a table and restore the soul.
~ Send them out with a blessing. Make it clear you are glad your guests came. Offer a prayer for their safety and a word of encouragement for their travel.
5. Open your table. Even more, open your circle. Be certain to invite not just the affluent and successful, “but when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” (Luke 14:13–14 NIV). The Greek word for hospitality compounds two terms: love and stranger. The word literally means to love a stranger. All of us can welcome a guest we know and love. But can we welcome a stranger?
We still encounter people on the road. And sometimes we sense a peculiar warmth, an affection. We detect an urge to open our doors to them. In these moments let’s heed the inner voice. We never know whom we may be hosting for dinner.
"Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another" (1 Peter 4:9–10 NLT).
Heavenly Father, every breath is a gift from Your hand. Even so. I confess that sometimes my own hand remains tightly closed when I encounter the needs of others. Please open both my hand and my heart that I might learn to open my door to others. As You help me open my heart and hand, O Lord, I ask that You also prompt me to open my life to those who need a taste of Your love and bounty. In Jesus’ name I pray amen.
CHAPTER 7: SEE THE NEED, TOUCH THE HURT
"Peter, with John at his side, looked him straight in the eye... He grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up"—Acts 34, 7 (MSG).
1. It is hard to look suffering in the face. Wouldn’t we rather turn away? Stare in a different direction? Fix our gaze on fairer objects? Human hurt is not easy on the eyes. The dusty cheeks of the Pakistani refugee. The wide-eyed stare of the Peruvian orphan. Or the salt-and-pepper tangle of a beard worn by the drifter Stanley and I met in Pennsylvania.
We both saw the man. I saw right through him. Stanley saw deep into him. There is something fundamentally good about taking time to see a person.
2. What do we see? “When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). This word compassion is one of the oddest in Scripture. The New Testament Greek lexicon says this word means “to be moved as to one’s bowels . . . (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity)”. It shares a root system with splanchnology, the study of the visceral parts. Compassion, then, is a movement deep within—a kick in the gut.
3. Perhaps that is why we turn away. Who can bear such an emotion? Especially when we can do nothing about it. Why look suffering in the face if we can’t make a difference? Yet what if we could? What if our attention could reduce someone’s pain? This is the promise of the encounter.
Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God (Acts 3:6–8).
Blotted out is a translation of a Greek term that means “to obliterate” or “erase completely.” Faith in Christ, Peter explained, leads to a clean slate with God. What Jesus did for the legs of this cripple, He does for our souls. Brand-new!
4. An honest look led to a helping hand that led to a conversation about eternity. Works done in God’s name long outlive our earthly lives. Let’s be the people who stop at the gate. Let’s look at the hurting until we hurt with them. No hurrying past, turning away, or shifting of eyes. No pretending or glossing over. Let’s look at the face until we see the person.
In certain Zulu areas of South Africa, people greet each other with a phrase that means “I see you”. Change begins with a genuine look. And continues with a helping hand.
5. It all began with an honest look and a helping hand. Could this be God’s strategy for human hurt? First, kind eyes meet desperate ones. Next, strong hands help weak ones. Then, the miracle of God. We do our small part, he does the big part, and life at the Beautiful Gate begins to be just that.
"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd" (Mark 6:34 NIV).
Gracious Lord, in the Bible you are called "the One who sees me", and I know that Your eyes are always upon me to guide and protect and bless and correct. You have given me eyes too. Grant me the power to use them to truly see. Help me see those You put in my path really see them, with all their hurts, their desires, their longings, their needs, their joys, and their challenges. As You open my eyes, prompt me to open wide my arms to offer whatever help and encouragement I have to give. In Jesus’ name I pray amen.
CHAPTER 8: PERSECUTION: PREPARE FOR IT; RESIST IT
"The priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them"—Acts 4:1.
1. What would you have done? The question is more than academic. Persecution comes. Three-fourths of Christians live in the third world, often in anti-Christian environments. Or perhaps you indwell a society of religious freedom but a community of spiritual oppression. You may not face blades and terrorists but critics and accusers. Family members mock your beliefs. University professors belittle your convictions. Classmates snicker at your choices. Colleagues pressure you to compromise your integrity. Coworkers make it their mission to snag you in a weak moment. Knife to your neck? No. But pressure to abandon your convictions?
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole” (Acts 4:8–10).
2. What has happened to them? The last time they saw these soldiers, Peter and John left them in their rearview mirror. But today they go chin to chin with the Supreme Court of Jerusalem. What’s gotten into them? Luke gives us the answer in verse 13: “Now when [the accusers] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus”. They had lingered long and delightfully in the presence of the resurrected King. Awakening with Him, walking with Him. And because they had, silence was no longer an option. “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (v. 20).
3. Could you use some high-octane boldness? If you want to outlive your life, you could. As long as you are stationary, no one will complain. Dogs don’t bark at parked cars. But as soon as you accelerate—once you step out of drunkenness into sobriety, dishonesty into integrity, or lethargy into compassion—expect the yapping to begin. Expect to be criticized. Expect to be mocked. Expect to be persecuted. So how can we prepare ourselves? Simple. Imitate the disciples. Linger long and often in the presence of Christ. Meditate on His grace. Ponder His love. Memorize His words. Gaze into His face. Talk to Him. Courage comes as we live with Jesus.
Peter said it this way. “Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy” (1 Peter 3:14–15 MSG).
As we meditate on Christ’s life, we find strength for our own.
4. Would you be bold tomorrow? Then be with Jesus today. Be in his Word. Be with His people. Be in His presence. And when persecution comes (and it will), be strong. Who knows? People may realize that you, like the disciples, have been with Christ.
"You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—but the Lord rescued me from all of it. Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:11–12 NLT).
Father, you warn us that persecution is coming. Not to alarm us but to prepare us for what’s ahead that we might endure and persevere. That these hard experiences would glorify you and benefit us. For that to happen. Lord, I need a reorientation of perspective and a change of focus. Help me see the world through Your eyes by focusing on Your son, remembering what lie accomplished on the cross despite the persecution heaped on Him. Whatever persecution I might suffer, Lord, let it bring You honor—and use it to help other followers of Jesus who will face their own persecution. In Christ's name I pray, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment