Friday 9 December 2011

Day Twenty-Five


If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 5:27-42 & Proverbs 1:20-33
27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” 33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” 40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; 21 on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: 22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? 23 Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. 24 But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, 25 since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, 26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. 28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, 29 since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD. 30 Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, 31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
We have already noted the wisdom of the apostles when faced with charges and accusations against them (see Day 17). Here, again it is wisdom that is their rescuer but this time from the mouth of a Pharisee called Gamaliel. His speech to the Sanhedrin is astonishing in both its insight and sheer pragmatism and it is effective, for, Luke notes, it “persuaded them.”
  • Are there times in your life when you have seen a potentially volatile situation saved by the injection of some well-timed wisdom?
  • Do you regularly pray for wisdom? If not, is this something you could start to pray for more often?!
  • Are there other ways, praying aside, in which we can actively seek wisdom?

If you have a bit longer :-)
Luke notes that, following their flogging, the disciples rejoiced that they were able to suffer for Jesus’ name. As one who can feel aggrieved by even gentle ribbings about my faith, I am challenged by this!
  • Can you recall times when you’ve suffered in some way for being a Christian or for something that you’ve done in response to God’s call? How did you respond to this? How did you feel about it?
  • Do people in the Bible always rejoice when they face suffering? Can you think of any notable examples when this is not the case (Job and Jeremiah, for example, immediately spring to my mind!)?
  • From the biblical record as a whole, it seems important to maintain a healthy tension incorporating both: being honest with God about our negative emotions and feelings in response to suffering (i.e. lamenting well); and promoting joy and gratitude despite our circumstances (i.e. praising well). How can we best walk in the midst of this tension both as individuals and as a church?


Thursday 8 December 2011

Day Twenty-Four


If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 5:17-26
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.” 21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what this might lead to. 25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
Tom Wright explains the seemingly bizarre response to the apostles’ healings by using the analogy of a big stadium or concert hall. If, he noted, you owned a concert hall that was previously going well but then a ragtag band of musicians turned up and started drawing large crowds – who then felt no need to enter your establishment – you might feel a bit aggrieved. And so, Wright goes on, had the apostles led their ministry elsewhere, somewhere remote and away from Jerusalem, the authorities would not have been so bothered. However, they courted fire by going right to the heart of the establishment itself – the temple.[1] Thus as Luke simply explains: they were jealous!
  • Are there certain areas in life within which you are more prone to experiencing jealousy (e.g. material belongings, status, sporting success…)?
  • Why is jealousy so potentially devastating?
  • What is the best way to deal with jealousy?

If you have a bit longer :-)
Read Psalm 91:9-12
9 If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, 
10 no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. 
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
  • What are angels and what is their role?
  • Have you ever encountered an angel? What happened? How did you feel?
  • If God can send an angel here to rescue the apostles from prison why does he not always send angels to rescue his people in times of need?



[1] Tom Wright, “Acts,” pgs. 82-83. 

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Day Twenty-Three


If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 5:12-16 & Gen. 50:15-21
12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. 18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
On these verses in Acts Beverly Gaventa notes:
Ironically, Satan’s intrusion increases the stature of the believing community. The residents of Jerusalem, perceiving the awesome power of God in these deaths, rightly understand that the community is God’s and that Peter and the other apostles act by means of God’s power.[1]
In other words, following Satan’s attempts through Ananias and Sapphira to disrupt God’s work, the early church is seemingly stronger and more effective than ever! This resonates with a number of other occasions in Scripture when even evil deeds and intentions are used by God to fulfill his purposes (Joseph’s conclusion in Gen. 50:20 being just one such example.)
  • What do you think about this? Does it impact on your view of God in any way?

If you have a bit longer :-)
About the healings performed by the apostles, Tom Wright observes:
One of the peculiar things about both Jesus’ healings and those of the apostles is the way in which, at certain times and places, things seem to happen which don’t happen anywhere else. I have no idea why it might be that in Jerusalem, at that time, Peter’s shadow falling on people might cause them to be healed, and why we don’t hear any more about that kind of thing; just as I have no idea why it should be that in Ephesus…, hankerchiefs were taken from Paul’s body and laid on the sick to make them well, which again doesn’t seem to have happened anywhere else. There is always a strange unknown quality about God’s healing. In our “democratic” age we tend to suppose that if God is going to do anything at all it would only be fair that he would do it all the same for everybody, but things just don’t seem to work like that. I have no idea (if it comes to that) why, in a few chapters’ time, James is killed and Peter escapes. All of that is part of the mystery of living at the overlap between the present age, with its griefs and sorrows and decay and death, and the age to come, with its new life and energy and restorative power.[2]
  • Are there areas/times in your life when you have felt God has been unfair – either to you or someone you know? How has this felt? What is the best way to deal with this perceived sense of injustice on God’s part?



[1] Beverly Gaventa, “Acts,” pg. 105.
[2] Tom Wright, “Acts,” pg. 85.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Day Twenty-Two

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 5:7-11
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
John Stott argues that there are at least three important lessons we can learn from the account of Ananias and Sapphira:
1.     The seriousness of their sin: which Peter describes as being against the Holy Spirit, not just the church. Further, their deceit, if left unchallenged, would have hugely damaged the open community the early church had so far maintained.
2.     The importance of living a transparent life before God, without deceit and deviousness, so that we can have good relationships both with God and one another.
3.     The necessity of church discipline.
On this latter point he notes that:
The church has tended to oscillate in this area between extreme severity (disciplining members for the most trivial offences) and extreme laxity (exercising no discipline at all, even for serious offences). It is a good general rule that secret sins should be dealt with secretly, private sins privately, and only public sins publicly. Churches are also wise if they follow the successive stages taught by Jesus. (Matt. 18:15ff.)[1]
  • What do you think of John Stott’s comments on church discipline? Do you think church discipline is necessary? Do you think contemporary churches are more likely to veer towards one extremity than the other? If so, which one and why?
  • Have you witnessed or experienced any good examples of church discipline? What was the outcome of this? Have you experienced bad examples? What was the outcome?
  • Have your friends ever confronted you about attitudes or behaviours they think you should change? How did this feel? Was it helpful or unhelpful?
  • How do you feel when you have friends you feel you need to confront about something? Do you think you are more inclined to say something when you shouldn’t or not say something when you should?


If you have a bit lot longer ;-)
Within my MA dissertation I (very briefly) addressed the issue of church discipline citing those who argue that a centre-set model for church is better suited in this regard than a more bounded-set model (the latter, they would argue, is the form many more-traditional churches take). The actual paragraph relating to church discipline is on page 42 but you’ll probably need to read the whole section in order for it to make any sense. The section is entitled: “We must welcome people as they are.”
  • Do you agree with Halter that a centre-set model of church provides a better forum for effective church discipline than a bounded-set model? Why?



[1] John Stott, “Acts,” pgs. 111-112.

Monday 5 December 2011

Day Twenty-One

If you have 5 minutes (well maybe 10!)
Read Acts 5:1-5 & Wright’s thoughts on lying
1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
The real, deep-level problem about lying is that it misuses, or abuses, the highest faculty we possess: the gift of expressing in clear speech the reality of who we are, what we think, and how we feel. It is, as it were, the opposite of the gift of tongues. Instead of allowing God’s Spirit to have free rein through our faculties, so that we praise God in words or sounds which enable us to stand (however briefly) at the intersection of heaven and earth, when we tell lies we not only hold heaven and earth apart; we twist earth itself, so that it serves our own interests. Lying is, ultimately, a way of declaring that we don’t like the world the way it is and we will pretend that it is somehow more the way we want it to be. At that level, it is a way of saying that we don’t trust God the creator to look after his world and sort it out in his own time and way.[1]
I was once visiting an anonymous potty-training toddler who was having a brilliant time jumping on a trampoline. The moment I came to say hi I was greeted with a very emphatic: “I do not need a poo!” I had made no suggestion of the opposite so was immediately suspicious and, as time later proved, rightly so.
The reason I mention this is partly because I found it so funny but partly because it illustrates a common trait across humanity, we are irrationally prone to lie! I see this in myself; from the innocuous “I’m fine” – when I’m not – through to more calculated half-truths (thus half-lies?!), it is often bafflingly hard to just be straightforward and upfront.
The problem with Ananias and Sapphira is not that they didn’t give enough; in actual fact there was no requirement on them to sell the property at all. Rather, the problem was that they deliberately tried to deceive people into thinking they were more generous than they were. Or as John Stott puts it:
They wanted the credit and prestige for sacrificial generosity, without the inconvenience of it. So, in order to gain a reputation to which they had no right, they told a brazen lie. Their motive in giving was not to relieve the poor, but to fatten their own ego.[2]
The consequences of their deceit were severe.
  • Do you see in yourself an irrational bias towards dishonesty? Are there any particular situations in which this is accentuated (e.g. for Ananias and Sapphira their weakness was their ego)?
  • Are there situations in which it is wise to not reveal the whole truth about something or restrain from being entirely honest?
  • What about more out-and-out lies, as in this account? Are there ever times when it’s okay to deliberately deceive?
  • What do you think about Tom Wright’s thoughts on lying? Does he overstate his point or is he right in his assertions?

If you have a bit longer :-)
Within the Bible, God striking down particular individuals, is actually quite rare. Aside from Ananias and Sapphira here, there’s Er and Onan in Gen. 38, Uzzah in 2 Sam. 6 and Herod in Acts 12 (and possibly some others?!).
  • What do you think about these incidences? Are you surprised that there’s almost as many (if not the same number) in the New Testament as there are in the Old?
  • Do you think God ever exercises his judgment in this way today?




[1] Tom Wright, “Acts,” pgs. 81-82.
[2] John Stott, “Acts,” pgs. 109-110.