The early Jews might be forgiven for doubting the “steadfast love” of God. For centuries, they were a conquered, defeated, and enslaved people. Their hopes and dreams of restoring the worldly kingdom of David was a constant dream that seemed more like an illusion, which in part it was. If Israel had been restored as simply one earthly kingdom among many earthly kingdoms, they could not possibly have fulfilled their calling to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Even today, this misunderstanding is a constant danger for the Christian church. We presume that we can somehow be a blessing to a broken, violent, and unstable world by being one among the many players for position, power, and influence.

The Steadfast Love of God

For all the centuries of their captivity, enslavement, and domination by foreign powers, the prophets and wise men continued to proclaim the steadfast love of their God. The utter faithfulness of God is repeated over and over again to the Jewish people as an encouragement for faithfulness and righteous living. Even today, when we baptize children, one of the most familiar verses to recite, verses that were recited at each of our children’s baptisms and at nearly every baptism I ever performed, comes from Psalms:

For the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments (Psalm 103:17).

The steadfast love of the LORD God is eternal—it never ends. However, our experience of that love requires that we respect God, keep his covenant of love, which has implications for our behavior, and remember and obey his commandments in times of temptation. The Jewish people recognized these requirements, which is why the prophets continually reminded them that they had failed in faithfulness, in keeping God’s commands, and in remembering them in times of forgetfulness. The same is true for us.

What Steadfast Love is and is Not

We live in a romantic society filled with silly and impossible ideas for human happiness and fulfillment. In such a society, it is easy to think of love as a feeling. Steadfast Love is not an emotion; it is an action. For example, no marriage can endure without some degree of temptation, forgetfulness, and weariness. What characterizes successful marriages is not a lack of temptation, a perfect memory of first love, or a constant feeling of passion. What characterizes successful marriages is faithfulness and endurance through the difficulties of life. What characterizes a successful marriage is a commitment to the other, which the Jews called steadfast love.

In addition to being a romantic society, contemporary America is also pathologically individualistic, which makes any kind of relationship unstable. This leads to another observation about the steadfast love of God:  while it is true that the Bible contains personal references to the steadfast love of God, particularly respecting God’s love for individuals, such as David in the Psalms, the vast majority of all of the references to steadfast love involves the promises of God, not individuals, but to the people of Israel. In other words, steadfast love is not just a personal virtue. It is a political and social virtue without which a stable society cannot exist. [1] The steadfast love of God for Israel must be mirrored in our steadfast love for the institutions that make for a stable, prosperous, and just life.

Steadfast Love on a Cross

Christ defines a Christian understanding of the nature of Steadfast Love. As a friend put it, Christ’s revelation discloses that “Love is the most rational act of all.” [2] Christians believe that in Jesus, God’s Light (wisdom) and Love (self-sacrificing relationality) were joined in indissoluble unity. God’s steadfast love is visibly seen and experienced in Jesus Christ.

As the Apostles, New Testament writers, and early Christians meditated on Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, they understood Jesus as the Christ and God’s image in human form—the form of Divine Love. The first name for Christians was “People of the Way” (Acts 9:2). Jesus showed his disciples both a way to fellowship with God and a way of life. This Way of Jesus involves serving and leading others with a gentle, other-centered, steadfast, sacrificial love.

There is a technical word theologians use for the willingness of God to serve his creation at its deepest point of need. The word is “kenosis,” which means “to empty.” It comes from the words of Paul in Philippians:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8).

In the older translations, the phrase “made himself nothing” (ekenosen) is translated as “emptied himself.” This is the classic testimony to God’s self-giving nature shown in Christ.

The God Christ reveals serves the greatest need of his creation and his people by emptying himself of overt power so that the human race might see and experience the deep, unfathomable power of God’s loving nature. Christ reveals the limitless, vulnerable, self-giving love of God. The message of the Cross is that God is the One who gives himself without limit, without restriction, and without any holding back for the sake of his creation and his people. [3] This is what we mean when we say, “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

God’s steadfast love patiently bears with us, even as we presume upon his mercy. God’s love endures our sins, shortcomings, and brokenness as the Spirit works patiently and in love to redeem and restore us. The Way of Christ begins in trusting this revelation, as Christians follow Christ’s example daily.

Steadfast Love at Christmas

This week, we celebrate the love of God shown to us by the birth of a child in a small and insignificant city at the edge of the Roman Empire. His parents were ordinary people. Although through the eyes of faith, some recognized that this birth was unique, the birth was ignored by the wealthy, the powerful, the crowd, the influencers, the media, the elite, academics, and anyone else of importance. Nevertheless, this birth was the beginning of revealing what steadfast love really is.

Copyright 2024, Gl Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] See G. Christopher Scruggs, Illumined by Wisdom and Love: Essays on a Sophio-Agapic Constructive  Postmodern Political Philosophy(Forthcoming late this year or early next year).

[2] Rev. Dr. Warner Davis, pastor of the Collierville Presbyterian Church in Collierville, Tennessee, in a private conversation, May 24, 2007. This meditation section comes from Centered Living/Centered Leading: The Way of Life for Christ-Followers Rev. Ed. (Cordova, TN: Permisio Por Favor, 2017).

[3] W. H. Vanstone, Love’s Endeavor, Love’s Expense: the Response of Being to the Love of God (London, UK: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1977). See also John Polkinghorne, ed, The Work of Love: Creation as Kenosis (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 2001) for a deep analysis of how creation reflects the One who is love and became love incarnate to redeem and restore his handiwork.

We have family and friends in Israel. For most of the past year, I have checked the news daily following the conflicts in Gaza and, more recently, Lebanon. One of the more frightening graphics I followed showed the air attack siren locations, many of which covered areas where we know people. We were, of course, happy for the people of Israel and Lebanon when a cease-fire was announced in the north, and we look forward to the day when there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Then, this weekend, we saw hopeful and frightening events in Syria. One of the sources I use for information also publishes a daily review of the war in Ukraine and the suffering there. We live in a conflicted world.

Watching for a Prince of Peace

One of the most familiar Christmas passages is from Isaiah:

For to us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore (Isaiah 9:6-7)

At Christmas, we celebrate the arrival of that Prince of Peace and anticipate the final victory of that peace over the forces that limit and destroy human flourishing. As we can see, the arrival of the Prince of Peace did not bring the kind of “power-peace” we humans often desire.

The Peace We Seek

Old Testament scholars helpfully remind us that the passage from Isaiah was not written in a time of peace but in a time of war. Isaiah probably thought that the new-born child of the current Israeli king was to be the anticipated Messiah/Savior. One meaning of peace in the Old Testament (and today) is the absence of conflict based on the victory of one side.

Scholars also helpfully remind us that the meaning of “shalom,” the Hebrew word for peace, ultimately connotes much more than a mere absence of conflict. It connotes “wholeness and completeness,” a situation where all the aspects of human flourishing, physical, mental, moral, spiritual, and social are in balance. In ancient Hebrew, if a person asked, “Is your family Shalom?’ (a phrase we would translate as, “Is your family well?”) they meant to say, “Is your family doing OK?” Just as today, they would not mean, “Has your family stopped fighting?” They would mean, “Is your family doing well?” Thus, shalom includes well-being in every area of life. [1]

Personal and Social Shalom

We need the Shalom (Peace) more than the absence of conflict. It is a sense of personal wholeness and well-being. Social scientists tell us that human flourishing has several components, such as:

• A feeling of well-being
• A sense of meaning and purpose in life
• Economic security
• Mental and physical health
• A sense of integrity and virtue
• Close and meaningful social relationships
• An absence of personal and social conflict. [2]

This list reminds us that there is much more to shalom than an end to fighting. We human beings are social animals. We need close, healthy, non-conflicted social relationships; without them, we wither on the vine of life. As a parent, I have observed that healthy relationships characterize happy families. On the other hand, dysfunctional families are often characterized by unhealthy relationships.  People who grow up in unhealthy families are wounded by the dysfunction they experience as children. These wounds can take decades to cure—and sometimes, they are never cured. Where there are not such healthy relationships, children often grow up wounded. [3]

As a pastor, I have often noted that healthy relationships among and between members characterize happy, growing churches. The same phenomenon is true in business and other organizations. When human relationships among people are or become dysfunctional, there is a lack of health and wholeness, and everyone suffers. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit can work within our spirit to restore the wholeness for which we were intended—which is one of the primary roles of the Christian church.

When Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Shalom-makers), he means a lot more than “Blessed are those who engage in. transnational peacemaking.” He means, “Blessed are all those who enter any situation, personal or social, in which human beings are not experiencing the wholeness for which they were created and work to restore health and wholeness.” This blessedness of true shalom is one of the primary fruits of faith in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the healing and restoring power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus as our Peace

Near the end of John, Jesus warns his disciples about the peace or shalom he came to provide. “Peace I give you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let your hearts not be troubled nor be afraid” (John 14:27). Jesus warns his disciples that the peace, shalom, wholeness and flourishing that he will provide is not the “personal peace, pleasure, and affluence” that the secular world seeks and its apostles promise. It is a more profound, richer, and more lasting peace that sickness, age, disease, and death cannot take away. It is finally faith in God, forgiveness of past misdeeds, peace with God, and a sense that one is within the will of God. This is the Shalom we celebrate on Christmas Eve when we hear the voice of angels singing, “Peace on earth, Goodwill to men.”

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] See, Donald E. Gowan, Shalom: A Study of the Biblical Concept of Peace (Pittsburg, PA: Creative Edge, 1984). This helpful study was a part of the Kerygma Bible study program sponsored by the Presbyterian church some years ago. This study was central in preparing this blog.

[2] This particular section of the blog is dependent upon research done by the so-called “flourishing initiative” being led by researchers out of Harvard. The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) seeks to carry out research and teaching to bridge the empirical social sciences with the humanities on topics related to human flourishing. See, for example, the Flourish Initiative at https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/.

[3] I do not want to indicate at all that every emotional scar indicates a dysfunctional family, as all families have some dysfunction. Nor do I want to suggest that these emotional scars from childhood cannot be cured. They can. See, Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality updated ed (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017). Today, the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and Relationship Courses are available as the “Emotionally Healthy Disciples Course,” which includes books, study guides, teaching videos, devotional guides, and teaching helps. Finally, for leaders, the following can be helpful. Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform your Church, Team, and World (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017).

This weekend, we celebrated Thanksgiving with four of our five grandchildren. It was a wonderful family time together. We were in the hotel where one of our children was staying on Friday evening. It was the day that this particular hotel lit its Christmas tree and had Santa Claus attend the lighting. All four grandchildren raced from where we were sitting to the Christmas tree. I held the three-year-old on my shoulder so that he could see over other people. On each one of their faces was the biggest smile you can imagine. Thanksgiving was over, and now they were anticipating Christmas!

There’s no question that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I have long memories of Christmases past. Perhaps, unfortunately, it’s been many years since I felt the supreme joy of anticipation that my grandchildren experienced last Friday. Christmas should be a time of anticipation, but for too many of us, it’s a time of running around purchasing gifts (many entirely unneeded) and getting ready for the big day. At this stage of life, my job is not so much to enjoy Christmas as to help other people enjoy Christmas and build the memories my parents gave to my brother and me. Frankly, that’s fine with me.

Anticipating Christ

The Babylonians conquered Israel sometime between 587 and 6 BC. Four hundred years passed before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea—four hundred years of waiting. To put this into perspective, the United States of America is only about 250 years old. Imagine if we had been dreaming and anticipating freedom from the British Empire for 400 years. How many of us would remain hopeful that God would enable our nation to regain its independence?

One of my favorite passages in the Old Testament is quoted by Peter in the New Testament: “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). Last Sunday, the preacher in the worship service we attended decided to preach on the Second Coming of Christ. I thought it was an odd choice, mainly since he spent his time defending a dispensational interpretation of the New Testament text from Thessalonians. It seemed to me that the first Sunday of Advent ought to be about anticipating the First Coming of Christ. Nevertheless, the sermon made a point: Just as the Jews had to anticipate the coming of Christ for a long time, and just as children have to anticipate Christmas, sometimes we have to wait and anticipate the coming of Christ into our own lives.

I’ve mentioned before that I wouldn’t say I like waiting. I rarely go to any restaurant where I must wait in line. It takes a family member insisting we go there to make me stand in line. I wouldn’t say I like standing in checkout lines at the supermarket, which I often do. I wouldn’t say I like standing in lines buying Christmas presents, something I’ve had to do recently. I haven’t had to wait 400 years for anything, but I’m sure I would find it stressful!

No matter how little we enjoy it, we all must wait for God from time to time. There are prayer requests that need to be answered, opportunities that never seem to arise, conflicts that seem never resolved, and problems that never seem to be solved. When this happens, and we have to wait, often we lose hope and the joy of anticipation. We lose the faithful anticipation that God will act on our behalf.

Christmas and Waiting

Christmas reminds us that this is a short-sighted mistake. It is part of our fallen human nature and our inevitable human anxiety about our future. We can’t know when God will solve the problems we are concerned about. We suspect that it may not even be in our lifetime. And, our fears are justified. Nevertheless, scripture reminds us that God hears our prayers and is in the business of answering all our prayers sooner or later.

When you get to be 70 or older, many of your worries are about your family and its future. I know most of mine are. No one can look at the condition of our world and not suspect that difficult times lie ahead. On the other hand, there’s no point in human history in which this was not true. There have always been wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6-7). There have always been times of economic dislocation, bad government, oppression, and other human suffering. Most nations, unlike the United States, have suffered times in which they were invaded and held hostage.

As a college student many years ago, I was on a train from Luxemburg to Switzerland. Sitting beside me was an elderly gentleman, a French schoolteacher. Twice in his lifetime, the German army crossed the border and entered into his country. As we talked, he reminded me that we Americans often cannot understand our world because we have not had to suffer some of the problems other nations have suffered. Before recent years, the vast expanse of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans protected our country from invasion or war. The nuclear age has ended our geographic safety, but we have not yet suffered an attack, conquest, and servitude. Those nations who have, and those people who have suffered as the ancient Jews suffered, look at the world differently. They look at the world much more the way the ancient Jews looked at the world.

Waiting Like the Ancients

Perhaps this Christmas, as we wait for our annual celebration of the coming of the Messiah, it would be a good idea for us to practice Holy Anticipation. Holy Anticipation is not a naïve anticipation. It is not the anticipation of a child that believes their parent will solve all their problems. It is not the anticipation of an immature person who believes things will be OK without me doing anything. Holy Anticipation is that anticipation that allows us to go about the business of living wisely and loving others, in the name of Christ, not knowing exactly what the future will bring, but anticipating that in the end, everything will turn out as God wishes to turn out, and therefore for good.

It is that anticipation that Paul speaks about in Romans:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified(Romans 8:18-30).

There are just a few weeks until Christmas. Let us begin by anticipating Christ’s special entrance into our lives.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Like many Americans, I have many fond memories of Thanksgiving. These memories stretch from warmer California holidays when my own grandparents and great-grandparents were still alive to colder Springfield, Missouri, punctuated by an occasional snowball fight in the early snow, to almost hot Houston Thanksgivings with our own family and the parents and now grandparents, to the current Thanksgivings with our children and grandchildren.

For most of my life the day involved a late breakfast, a very large lunch with Turkey and dressing, and a late evening snack of turkey sandwiches or soup made from the leftovers. Much of the time there was a football game watched by my Kathy’s or my father. On one memorable occasion, Kathy had the children do a complete Thanksgiving pageant, with each child playing some part from the partially legendary first Thanksgiving.

Since I began these blogs, it has been my custom to write a shorter Thanksgiving-themed entry for the week, usually focused on some particular incident of Thanksgiving history. Texans might want to know that a Thanksgiving Day may have been held as early as 1598 in El Paso, Texas!  A similar early Thanksgiving was held in 1619 in the Virginia Colony. The history of modern Thanksgiving Day often highlights a harvest celebration of the Pilgrims, which was held in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. As recorded in this blog, the first actual Pilgrim Thanksgiving was in 1623, when they gave thanks for rain that ended a drought. These early thanksgivings usually involved a special church service rather than a feast. In my childhood, we often attended  a early Church service on Thanksgiving Day.

William Bradford described the early Plymouth Thanksgiving feast in Of Plymouth Plantation:

They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they can be used (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl, there was a great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterward write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports. [1]

For nearly five years, our family lived in a small Tennessee farming town, Brownsville. In Brownsville, Thanksgiving was always special because by then the harvest would normally be nearly done. There was a special festive feeling in the air as the final cotton trailers came into town with their loads of the primary crop. Early America was a farming nation, and after the first Thanksgivings additional harvest thanksgivings became common annual events. However, they were celebrated on different days in different local communities. In 1789, after the American revolution, George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day.

Our periodic wars have also occasioned Thanksgiving proclamations. Our current national holiday dates to the Civil War; when in 1863, after victories at Gettysburg in the east and Vicksburg in the West, Abraham Lincoln declared a holiday in thanks for the blessings of the past year with the following proclamation:

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, the order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. The population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Highest God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In all these holidays, there was a feature often missing from our current holiday of food, football, and family: actual time spent thanking God for the blessings of life that we do not necessarily deserve. If we are honest, we don’t deserve the freedoms, the affluence, and the blessings of life we now possess. They are gifts—and like all gifts, it is only appropriate to thank the giver. The Psalmist put it this way, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,  for his steadfast love endures for ever” (Psalm 136:1).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris

[1] William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Carlisle MA: Applewood Books, 1898)

As indicated in prior blogs, each of the Arthur Stone novels (Marshland [1]and Peace at Battle Mountain[2]) involves an economic and legal problem, murder, and engagement with spiritual realities. In Peace at Battle Mountain, the spiritual reality is our human problem with what St. Augustine called “disordered love.” We love as primary things that are secondary and as secondary things that are primary. A good deal of the suffering and distortion of human flourishing we encounter in our lives and the lives of others involves just this problem.

In Peace at Battle Mountain, the aging and now retired managing partner of Winchester & Wells talks to the now middle-aged Arthur Stone about this problem:

Patrick decided to get to the point.

            “Arthur, you know that, for years and years, I was all in at the firm. I thought we were building something meaningful. I also felt I was doing something important and building an important reputation. I rarely worked less than seventy hours a week. For many years, I never even took a vacation. The law was my life.

            “I realized I was mistaken when Jeanie got sick so soon after I retired. The firm was important, but Jeanie and the children were more important. She rarely complained, but everything we planned to do in retirement never happened. I had my priorities mixed up.

            “You have been far more successful than I ever was. You are known throughout the nation. Most people think you are Texas’s best litigator and corporate attorney. It makes me proud every time I hear your name. But you are fifty now. Soon, your children will be grown. As you have said, the law is changing, and there is every possibility that what we know as Winchester & Wells might not survive the changes. I would hate to see you at seventy alone and thinking, It was not worth it.

            “I am an Irish Catholic. I still go to mass once a week. Our priest uses a message from St. Augustine in sermons at least once a year. It is about disordered love. Augustine felt that human beings love as primary, what are secondary things like power, success, possessions, and pleasure. In the process, we make love for God and other people secondary. Most of the world’s problems come from loving the wrong things too much or the right things too little

            “I would hate for you to chase crown of victory after crown of victory for another twenty years or so, only to end up alone and empty. Plenty of men and women do. I did. Your family is more important than winning another case or even 100 other cases. You are a wealthy man and do not need to show how good you are to anyone ever again. Right now, your family needs you. [3]

In his great work, “On Christian Doctrine,” St. Augustine puts it this way:

Living a just and holy life requires one to be capable of an objective and impartial evaluation of things: to love things in the right order so that you do not love what is not to be loved or fail to love what is to be loved or have a greater love for what should be loved less, or an equal love for things that should be loved less or more, or a lesser or greater love for things that should be loved equally. [4]

In On Christian Doctrine, Augustine bases his entire ethical theory on the Great Commandment, “You shall love the Lord that God with all your heart, and all the soul, and all your mind and your neighbor as your self (Matthew 22: 35-40; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10: 25-28).In other words, a Christian is to order his or her affections toward God first and others second. Our love toward our neighbor is just a part of our love for God, now shown to God’s creation and all his creatures. Other human beings are part of that creation and art to be loved in the same way that God loved them and in Christ gave his life for them.

The duty to love others cannot be divorced entirely from our responsibility to communicate the gospel. Part of loving another person is to bring them into a vital connection with that God who is love and who loves his creation and every creature. This part of love is captured in the Great Commission. God does not ask Christians to share their faith out of ego, narcissism, or a desire for power. God desires Christians to share their faith because God is love and desires his creation and creatures to live with love for God and others.

One way we can distort our lives is by loving human beings, who ought to be loved for their own sake, as objects of our desire. This is one of the problems in Peace Battle Mountain. In particular, Lance DuFort is incapable of loving others except as vehicles for his own ambitions and desires. Others in the book suffer the same fate.

In the passage quoted above, Arthur Stone meets with his mentor, Patrick Armbruster, who gives him advice about organizing his love for his wife and family. Patrick is aware that human beings can worship their own work and accomplishments. He is fearful that Arthur is falling into this trap of distorted love.

Building a business, a church, or a nonprofit organization can be demanding. Those who undertake such an effort must love the organization that they are creating. As anyone who has had a career knows, it is easy to give a job or organization a kind of love that one should reserve for God and others. In particular, one’s family. I would say that I was guilty of this during my professional career. It is easy to love ourselves in our own ambitions to the exclusion of our love for others and God.

Peace at Battle Mountain is primarily about love. It is about distorted lives and the struggle we humans must engage in to re-order our loves properly. As pointed out, we find it easy to love ourselves. We find it harder to love God and others. We humans are naturally selfish, and the result of our natural selfishness is that we need to have these loves re-ordered by grace. It is a slow process. It doesn’t happen in an hour or a day. There may be a moment in which we sense that we are committed to re-ordering our loves and even making some progress and re-ordering our loves—but that reordering will take the rest of our lives.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Alystair West, Marshland (Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2023). The book is available on Amazon.

[2] Alystair West, Peace at Battle Mountain (Hunt, TX: Quansus, 2024). The book is available on Amazon.

[3] Peace at Battle Mountain, 171-172.

[4] St. Augustine, “On Christian Doctrine” Chapter 27 in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 1st Series Vol, 2 (Grand Rapids MI: Hendrickson, 1994).

Tomorrow evening, I will sign copies of my new novel, Peace at Battle Mountain, at a local bookstore in San Antonio.[1] All my novels involve a financial crime, murder, and a spiritual struggle. In the case of Peace at Battle Mountain, the central theme is love—our human propensity to love things as secondary that are primary and love things that are primary that are secondary. Instead of God and other people, we love secondary things. Of course, sex, pleasure, power, and money rank high among the things that we human beings tend to overvalue.

From a financial perspective, Peace at Battle Mountain involves misusing generally accepted accounting principles to create illusory profits. In my legal practice, more than once, I saw the susceptibility of people to invent reality, distorting their business’s financial reporting. One of the saddest things is when management begins to believe their distorted reality. This fatal misstep always ends in disaster. I’ve seen this happen more than once.

Unfortunately, with the advent of postmodernism and the loss of confidence in the reality of truth in Western civilization, the problem has become even more serious. In my judgment, some of the most recent financial disasters reflect the most profound danger of a Nietzschean way of thinking – a group of so-called “supermen and superwomen” develop a highly complex financial strategy divorce from reality in which they can make a lot of money on the front end.  Of course, these people have little or no concern for those damaged by their behavior.

This is part of the decline of Judeo-Christian Christianity in the West. In Peace at Battle Mountain, one of the characters describes the problem this way:

“Unfortunately, no one was paying much attention to where this was all leading. In this enthusiasm, accountants turned a blind eye to lousy accounting that did not reflect reality. Analysts on Wall Street ignored difficulties in financial reports. Money center banks loaned money for marginal transactions. Lawyers created vehicles for transactions that lacked financial reality. This was especially true at E-Titan. Lance used his contacts on Wall Street to grow E-Titan at astronomical rates—growth rates that no serious investor should have believed. But they did. Everyone forgot the old maxim, ‘If it is too good to be true, it isn’t.’

“Years later, one of the architects of the final growth of E-Titan (its lead trader) put it this way, “Postmodernism is popular on college campuses these days. One principle of postmodernism is that human beings can and do create reality through language. That is what we did at E-Titan. Accounting rules and financial statements involve the language of mathematics. We made the mistake of believing that we could just create our own reality and that whatever that reality was would one day be real. We didn’t stop to think that it would come crashing down on us all since it wasn’t true. The question was never ‘if.’ The question was always ‘when.’ We were just too arrogant to see it coming.

“I remember Brad Gilliland telling me one day, as we created another Cheetah and took more assets and debt off our balance sheet, ‘I think we might be forgetting that when Judgment Day arrives, everyone will have to go to cash accounting. That includes E-Titan.’ I didn’t remember Brad saying that until Judgment Day arrived—at least as it pertained to E-Titan.

“We thought we were supermen. We were making all these trades, and we were making big money. Our bonuses were huge. Who cared about the accounting? Who cared about the financial statements? Who cared about the pension plans investing in our stock or the fate of those leaving E-Titan stock to their aging spouses? Somewhere along the line, we lost our moral bearings. “After a time, we began believing our Lance DuFort-created false reality. We came to believe that the illusions created by mark-to-market accounting were true. (Or, maybe we just wanted to believe it was true, or we would not have been able to live with ourselves.) Here is the bitter truth: after E-Titan failed, and the bankruptcy lawyers and managers reconstructed and restated all the transactions, they became convinced that E-Titan never made much money on a continuing basis. It was all smoke and mirrors.” [2]

Here, we have depicted a sad truth in the form of a novel. In most of the financial crises of my lifetime, driven by greed, someone or some group created an alternative reality that was divorced from economic accuracy. Accounting only works if those preparing the financial statements and later auditing them use accounting principles to reflect reality. It is not just a matter of “following the rules.” It’s a matter of morality and judgment. No series of regulations or laws can protect people from financial misdeeds.

One of the points made in Marshland and Peace at Battle Mountain is the consequences of the dubious use of mark-to-market accounting. In the case of the savings and loan crisis, market accounting allowed savings and loans to ignore losses for long periods. In the case of E-Titan and similar situations, mark-to-market accounting was used to show profits that did not exist. In both cases, management and accounting firms were “following the rules” but also manipulating those rules in ways that were simply inappropriate. In some cases, they were breaking the law. In all cases, reality came crashing down on the perpetrators sooner or later.

The Arthur Stone novels are not designed to keep me busy and retirement. I’m trying to say something that I think is important to our society and its stability. It’s vital for our children and our grandchildren and their happiness. It is essential for the stability of our political system. It is crucial for the stability of our economic system. It is critical to the strength of our families and neighborhoods: The excessive, narcissistic individualism that America breeds is unhealthy. It leads to all kinds of dysfunctions, both personal and social. Our educational system, the media, the government, and, most recently, economic businesses reinforce this. This means we can’t have a stable society without the ultimate values that are wisely and carefully applied to every area of life.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Alystair West, Peace at Battle Mountain (Hunt, Texas: Quansus, 2024). The book can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other outlets. The electronic version is not yet available due to the author’s lack of competence.

[2] Id, 150-151.

Last weekend, Kathy and I had the opportunity to provide some leadership for a retreat focused on the Apha program of our church. For those unfamiliar with Alpha, it is an introduction to the Christian faith that originated in the church of England at a congregation called Holy Trinity-Brompton. Over the past many years, it has become a worldwide phenomenon, and many churches use it to disciple people into the Christian faith.

One thing that I like about Alpha is the format of the program. Over 12 weeks or so, the group meets weekly to have dinner together, listen to a video, talk together at a small table, share questions, and eventually pray. Just before the program is over, there is a weekend retreat in which the primary subject is the Holy Spirit. It is an opportunity for people to get away from their day-to-day lives and experience God in a new and different way.

The program’s structure is a contemporary embodiment of the description of the first Christians in Jerusalem after Pentecost:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day, they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the people’s favor. And the Lord added to their number daily those being saved (Acts 2:42-46).

Our local church was willing to underwrite the weekend, so we had people from various socioeconomic groups, races, creeds, and ethnicities. We had people from independent Bible church backgrounds, charismatic, Presbyterian Church backgrounds, and more. We had people who were part of a new church development and the oldest congregation in San Antonio. We had people who were part of an intercity ministry for youth, including some youth. It was a wonderfully diverse group of Christians and seekers.

Community as Opposed to Individualism

On Friday night, not everyone was in attendance, so we were able to sit around and talk with people with him we would ordinarily not be paired. It was a wonderful experience! One of those in attendance had read my book Crisis of Discipleship. [1] In the group, he asked: “I know that you discussed the barriers to Christian faith in America, but what do you think is the most significant barrier?” It took me a moment to answer.

Those who read Crisis of Discipleship know that I analyzed our culture and some of the things that make it difficult for the Christian faith to penetrate contemporary society. I am also against the simplistic reduction of complex phenomena to simple solutions. In response to the question, I chose to say that the fundamental issue is our implicit materialism. Most people live based on an outdated idea of what the world is like. We automatically think of the world in terms of physical bodies and forces acting upon those bodies. We automatically think that we are one of the bodies and should participate in carefully managing the forces upon us. The search for affluence, money, power, pleasure, and individual security is almost automatic in such a society.

Those who have read Crisis of Discipleship know that another factor plays a significant role in the problem of Christian discipleship in contemporary America: our excessive individualism. The church is a community of believers. Evangelism and discipleship are essential activities of the entire body of Christ as it lives out its witness to Christ and God in whatever place it exists. In other words, evangelism is not individualistic. It is essentially communitarian. It is an activity of the entire Body of Christ.

The Mission of Christ as a Mission of the Church

Furthermore, the Mission of God, sometimes called “Missio Dei” in Latin, is not the business of specialized people or groups. It’s an activity in which the entire church should be involved merely because of its existence. Contemporary churches talk a lot about missions, forgetting that the first and primary mission is given to us in the Great Commission. We are to go into all the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:16). This is God’s mission to his people.

Everything else we do, such as education, medical care, providing clean water, building churches, and supporting colleges and universities, is simply part of the church’s mission to share God’s love with others and bring the entire world into fellowship with the Living God. No one person can do this alone; it’s the activity of the whole church.

The great missiologist Lesslie Newbiggin once observed that a church without a mission is not a church. [2] It is a statement about the condition of the American church, that so many people found this statement revolutionary. It wasn’t revolutionary in the least. Newbigin simply stated what the church was intended to be by Christ has been through the centuries and will be in the future.

The Importance of the Local Congregation

If the primary mission of the church is to share the good news of Jesus Christ and the coming of God’s kingdom into the world and make disciples who are members of that kingdom, and if that commission is to be carried out in community, then the local church gains a new and central importance in the mission of God. The church is not an accidental collection of people. It’s not a social organization, like the PTA, formed for a particular purpose. It is not merely a place where people meet to hear a nice talk and listen to the music of their choice. It is the living embodiment of Christ and his kingdom amid the world. The church is not incidental to the proclamation of the gospel. It is central. It is that manifestation of the kingdom of God into which people are brought to live out their lives in community with others.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] G. Christopher Scruggs, Crisis of Discipleship: Renewing the Art of Relational Disciple-Making Rev, Ed. (Richmond, VA: Living Dialogue Ministries, 2024).

[2] Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission Rev. Ed. (Grand Rapids, Mi: William B. Eerdmans, 1978, 19950, 2.

Every once in a while, the people who help me publish books remind me that I am a terrible marketer! Since I have two books out this year in different genres and am trying to finish a third, this blog is a natural transition from the apostle Paul. As I pointed out several times, the apostle Paul was not a lone ranger. He was brought into ministry by Barnabas. He ministered with many people, including Barnabas, Silas, Luke, Timothy, and others. In other words, Paul modeled a communitarian approach to ministry.

Crisis of Discipleship and Betsy Shaw

When I wrote Crisis of Discipleship: Renewing the Art of Relational Disciple-Making, I had in mind renewing the art of making disciples in relationships, not just with those being discipled but as part of a community dedicated to the Great Commission. [1] I believe it is necessary in our day and age to renew the art of making disciples in small groups, including churches, Bible studies, prayer groups, discipleship groups, and other vehicles.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to return to my former church, Advent Presbyterian Church, in Cordova, Tennessee, for the funeral of a longtime colleague, Betsy Shaw. In some ways, Dave Schieber, who founded the church, and Betsy Shaw, who worked with the youth for many years and was the Director of Christian Education, exemplified the strategy I urge people to adopt. In doing this, they also made Advent an enjoyable place to be, worship, grow in Christ, and share the gospel with others. They created a dynamic, fun, and gospel-centered community where people could come and grow in Christ, bringing their families and friends. In all this, both of them sweetly, non-judgementally, and powerfully shared God’s love with others.

Dave and Betsy would not presume to say, nor would I presume to say, that Advent was the perfect church. It wasn’t. We had our problems, made our mistakes, and faced challenges with greater and lesser degrees of success. Nevertheless, there was a commitment to discipling people from when they joined the church, formed families, or otherwise entered our sphere of influence.

From its very beginning, Advent had a Wednesday evening, family-centered program. It was directed towards children, but children’s ministry was not the only focus. When the church grew large enough, it had a youth group, which, in time, was quite large. That youth group was an important part of the church because it ministered to the entire church in many ways, most notably by participating at a very high level of involvement every year in vacation Bible school.

When I say that Advent was oriented toward discipling families, I don’t want to suggest that singles were left out. We had many single parents. Those single parents knew the pastors and staff were dedicated to helping them raise their children. In addition, they knew that at least once a week, they could come to church, have a family meal together, allow the children to have a program, and go to a Bible study or hang out with friends until the program was complete.

In time, we would have over 100 youth and children in the building every Wednesday night, which required many volunteers. Betsy Shaw was the person who made sure we had enough volunteers. She also had the opportunity to support those volunteers, write them notes of appreciation, provide them with an annual dinner, and provide time off because the program did not run 12 months a year. She was also very good at supplying Sunday school teachers, youth, volunteers, and others with time off each year so that they would not burn out. It was an enormous task.

When I spoke at Betsy’s funeral, I pointed out that she knew every family in the church: the children, most of the grandchildren, and many cousins and other extended family members. She shared God’s love with everyone she met—and specifically with everyone in our congregation. There was hardly a question that one could ask about any facet of the church’s life involving any person in the church to which Betsy could not give wise advice. In addition, she worked very hard to be sure that the programs she supervised were fun and made disciples. Dave Schieber, the founder of the church, worked just as hard. In the end, for all of the faults we knew we had in our church and its programming, people sensed that the pastors and staff loved them, loved their children and grandchildren, and wanted to do their best to help them flourish in a problematic society.

Advent decided they needed a more advanced adult disciple-making program when I joined the group. Therefore, we developed a series of 34-week Bible studies going through the entire Bible and specific sections in detail. We also had a Bible study that studied the Bible by Christian doctrines so that our members could, if they desired, learn just a little about theology and how it affects Christian life.

These studies involved reading privately during the week, praying a prayer list, and coming together for a social time where we would pray, share, have a meal, and review the week’s study. In other words, the entire adult discipleship program was built around the same features we see operating in the New Testament. Most specifically, the following verses guided our structure:

 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Everyone was awed by the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day, they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the people’s favor. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).

Salt & Light

Just about the time I retired, we began to feel that the programming we had relied on for so long was no longer adequate for a new generation. Therefore, we begin to study how to reach a new generation. Out of that study and trial and error, we created what we called Salt & Light: Everyday Discipleship, a leadership development program designed for more traditional churches undertaking to be structured along the lines of churches with a robust Disciple Making Ministry program. [2] Out of this particular study, which I used at another church, I began to write the book Crisis of Discipleship, setting out general principles instead of a specific program. No two churches are exactly alike; therefore, no two churches can have the same disciple-making program. In Crisis of Discipleship, I was trying to set out some applicable general principles, no matter what kind of church you’re in, its theology, and its size.

C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Developing a  Classical WorldView

One of the difficulties pastors and local congregations face today is our culture’s resistance to the Christian faith and especially to Christian discipleship. Before I became a Christian, I read a few books by C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I was particularly fascinated by Lewis’s Space Trilogy and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Some people would describe what Lewis and Tolkien were doing as “pre-evangelism.” I often tell people that reading C.S. Lewis did not make me a Christian, but he did open up my mind to the possibility that the Christian faith might be true. It took a community of believers in Houston, Texas, and a small group Bible study to bring me to Christ. Nevertheless, Lewis and Tolkien played a vital role in my coming to Christ and early Christian discipleship. I became a believer in 1977 and 1979. I had probably read every book that either Lewis or Tolkien (and several of their friends) had written. Lewis and Tolkien were members of the Inklings, one of which was an author named Charles Williams, who wrote what he called “Spiritual Thrillers.” I have enjoyed reading Williams’ novels over the years, and he was one of the inspirations for my own novels.

Marshland and Peace at Battle Mountain

When I retired, I decided that it would be a good idea if I tried to write a novel. I’d wanted to write a novel for years but never had the time. In retirement, I had the time. Therefore, I sat down one cold winter day and began riding the book that became Marshland. By the time I finished Marshland, I was pretty sure it was the first book of an eventual trilogy, the second of which has just been published, Peace at Battle Mountain.  [3] I plan on beginning the last of the novels on a cold January morning next year.

Each book deals with a spiritual battle. The first examines whether there are spiritual realities, which, in a way, is about faith. The second, Peace at Battle Mountain, asks, “Why do humans have so much trouble creating and sustaining healthy relationships? Why do we find it so hard to love other people selfishly?”

However, these are not traditional Christian books by any means. Each novel involves an economic crime, one or more murders, and characters struggling to make sense of their lives. I have been careful not to follow the simple formula: “A wounded person comes to Christ, and everything is fine.”

People like to read murder mysteries, including mafiosos, spies, greedy, business people, and other exciting characters. My first career was as a corporate lawyer. It’s fun to look at economic crises and the type of misbehavior that causes them. But, most importantly, people struggle to make sense of their lives.

In Marshland and Peace at Battle Mountain, I’m encouraging people to ponder whether or not a more Christian view of life would help them muddle through life. In the process, I’m trying to entertain people with a thriller. I’m not trying to be preachy, and I’m staying open to the value of other world religions and faith systems. But in the end, some of the characters are Christians.

Conclusion

I’m unsure exactly where the series of blogs is going in the next few months. To meet my obligations to those who have helped me write these books, I need to spend some time talking about them and why they were written. On the other hand, I will publish another book about political philosophy before the end of the year. I want to talk a little about our Constitution and a fundamental way of looking at it in this postmodern era. I hope these blogs and books help people understand our culture and life wisely and lovingly in these troubled times.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] G. Christopher Scruggs, Crisis of Discipleship: Renewing the Art of Relational Disciple-Making Rev, Ed. (Richmond, VA: Living Dialogue Ministries, 2024).

[2] G. Christopher and Kathy T. Scruggs, Salt & Light: Everyday Discipleship (Collierville, TN: Innovo, 2017).

[3] Alystair West, Marshland (Bloomington, IN: Westbow 2023) & Peace at Battle Mountain (Hunt, Texas: Quansus Publishing, 2014). Marshland and Peace at Battle Mountain are written under the penname “Alystair West.”

Paul began his final journey after his arrest and trials in the holy land. As Luke describes the situation, Paul was under house arrest for some time as these trials unfolded. Part of the reason he was under house arrest was to keep him safe. Eventually, Paul was able to make his defense, which Luke describes as conclusive, but was not released because he had appealed to Caesar. This resulted in Paul finally being able to make his long-awaited journey to Rome.

This week, we’ll examine the final journey and how Paul’s story ends in Acts.

A Long Voyage

As Paul was under arrest, he needed to be transported to Rome under supervision. The Centurion Julius and members of the Augustine Regiment, of which he was commander, were charged with seeing that he safely arrived in Rome and was presented before the emperor (Acts 27:1). Eventually, Paul, other prisoners, his traveling, committed companions (Luke) and another brother Aristarchus from Thessalonica set sail on their journey to Rome (v. 2).

In those days, sailing vessels were small, and it was in the best interest of the safety of the passengers to stay as close to shore as possible. This was especially true in this case because the winds were contrary. They traveled north up the coast of the Mediterranean Sea until they got to Sidon, which is part of modern Lebanon. For those who keep track of current events, Sidon is not far from the Litani River and the scene of current military operations by Israel in the Middle East. At Sidon, Paul was allowed to visit with friends (v. 3).

Leaving Sidon, they sailed east of Cyprus so that the island’s mountainous terrain would shield them from the contrary wins. From there, they sailed further north until they came to Mira. There, they transferred to a larger vessel, more seaworthy, for the long trip to Rome (v.6). setting sail again, they fought country wins until they could sell south of the island of Crete near Salome (v. 7). Eventually, they came to Fair Havens (v. 8). In Fair Havens, they encountered difficulty. Paul and his companions had left on their journey late in the year, and by the time they arrived in Fairhaven, it was beyond the regular sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea during that time. There was, therefore, a grave danger that if they continued from there, the ship would be lost. Paul advised that they stay in Fair Haven (v. 10).

Julius was of a different mind. He was anxious to get the ship to Rome and complete the task which he had undertaken. In any case, the harbor at Fair Havens was unsuitable for the entire winter, so the ship set sail, hoping to reach Phoenix Harbor in Crete, which was much safer (vv. 11-12). Unfortunately, the favorable wins soon gave way to a severe storm, what we would call a “North Easter.” The ship was caught in the storm and could not possibly make its way into the wind (v. 14-15). From that point on, Paul and his companions were in grave danger. They had to run cables around the ship to keep it from being crushed by the heavy seas (v. 17). They were required to throw overboard part of the boat’s cargo (v. 18). Eventually, they had to through overboard the sales and tackle of the ship (v. 19). They were now at the mercy of the sea. The seas were so heavy that the crew and passengers could not eat for many days (v. 21).

Finally, Paul told them they must eat because they needed their strength for what was to come. In this speech, Paul revealed to the sailors that God had spoken to him amid the storm (v. 23). He told them that the God he serves sent an angel to tell him not to be afraid, for he would be brought before Caesar for trial, and those with him would be saved. He advised everyone on board to take heart because God assured Paul they would not die (v. 25). Finally, Paul prophesied that everyone with him would be safe (v. 24).

After fourteen days of misery, everyone began losing hope (v. 27-28). The ship could not be steered and ran in great danger of running upon the rocks  (v. 29). The sailors eventually decided to desert the ship, leaving the passengers to their fate (v. 30). Paul told the Centurion to cut away the ropes that attached the small skiff to the boat so that this could not happen (31-32). Once again, Paul urged everyone to take some food to strengthen them for the final ordeal ( v. 34).

In a manner resembling Jesus’ last words, he took bread, thanked God, and began eating in their presence. Everyone felt encouraged by Paul’s symbolic act (v. 35-36). Once again, they lightened the ship, throwing out what remained of its cargo (v. 38). At daybreak, they could see a small beach. Running out the anchors to create drag, they slowed the ship until it ran into the ground (vv. 39-40).

At this point, Julius was faced with his obligation to put the prisoners to death so that they would not escape. This would have followed Roman custom, and his soldiers urged Julius to do precisely that (v. 42). However, Julius wanted to keep Paul safe if possible (v. 43). Therefore, he let everyone swim ashore. As Paul had predicted, everyone was saved (v. 44).

A Miracle on Malta

The island upon which they had landed was the island of Malta (28:1). Once the tired men arrived at the shore, cold and wet, they canceled the fire to shelter them against the winter cold (v. 2). As Paul went to collect some sticks, a snake came out of the fire because of the heat and bit him (v. 3). It was poisonous. The natives saw this happen and thought that Paul would certainly die because he was a murderer (v. 4). He did not. Therefore, they concluded he must be a god! (v. 6). This is a pretty good indication of human fickleness. Paul went from being a murderer to a god in a matter of seconds.

This particular incident is recounted in the edited version of the end of Mark, where the author explains that snakes may bite believers and still live. Mark concludes as follows:

He told them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my Name, they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:15-18)

Contrary to those who believe this is a prescription for current worship behavior, I think this reflects what has already transpired in the past. It’s not an invitation to deliberately be bitten by a snake. It is an indication that if snakes bite us while on God’s business, God can frequently be trusted to save us. This indicates that God will provide signs of his presence at every point in human history. If the enemies of God try to harm believers, they can expect a certain amount of protection. In addition, this protection is designed to see that the gospel reaches the ends of the earth.

After a while, a prominent local citizen named Publius took the little, ragged band of survivors into his home (v. 7). Publius’s father was sick with fever and dysentery. Paul, praying for him and laying on hands, was able to heal him (v. 8). Having seen this sign of Paul’s relationship with God, many people brought those with diseases to the apostle for the laying on of hands and prayer (v. 9). All this, was a sign that God was with Paul and had enabled him to do the same kind of signs and wonders that characterized Jesus himself. This is the last instance of a central theme of Acts: The apostles were commissioned with God’s power and could do what Jesus himself had done.

After three months, a ship arrived from Alexandria with a figurehead of the twin brothers, Castor and Pollux. Having wintered in Malta, the group prepared to go to Rome (v. 11). They sailed and landed at Syracuse, where they stayed for three days. From there, they ended up in the port of Puteoli (v. 13). There, they found some Christians and were invited to stay for seven days, and then they departed from Rome (v. 14). The citizens of Rome had heard of Paul’s arrival, and so they sent out a welcoming party to meet them. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged that everything would be fine.

When the group finally arrived in Rome, Julius, the Centurion, had completed his task. He delivered Paul to the captain of the guard, where Paul was placed again under house arrest. Three days later, the brothers and sisters of the church in Rome came to visit Paul. At this point, Luke recounts for a final time his defense of Paul’s ministry:

“My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to release me because I was not guilty of any crime deserving of death.  The Jews objected, so I was compelled to appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. For this reason, I have asked to see you and talk with you. I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel.” (Acts 28:17-20).

This particular provision resembles the defense we discussed last week. It supports the view that one of Luke’s primary intentions in writing  Acts was to defend Paul and his ministry.

Eventually, Paul was able to inhabit some lodges in the city of Rome. Then, he continued his apostolic ministry. The final part of Acts reveals Paul as teaching about the kingdom of God, the consistency of the ministry of Jesus with the law of Moses and the prophets, and the Messi ship of Jesus. As everywhere else, not everyone believed the apostle’s words. Some Jews rejected Paul and departed (v. 25). Luke sees this as a fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah that the Jews would hear and not perceive, that they would see and not understand the Messiah (vv. 26-27). Having ministered in Rome in precisely the same manner as Paul ministered everywhere else, he then began to teach Gentiles about Jesus. The final words are that no one, implicitly no authority in Rome, took any action against him. Neither should Caesar (v.31).

Conclusion

To some readers, the book of Acts ends abruptly, as if it is incomplete. We are simply told that Paul lived in Rome for two years at his own expense, welcomed people into his home, proclaimed the kingdom of God, and was not hindered in his ministry (vv. 30-31). Interestingly, we are not given a rendition of what happened when Paul appeared before Caesar. We are not told about the death of the apostle. Most of the questions that we would typically have are not answered. Why is this so?

Scholars ponder two different explanations. First, it’s possible that Paul was released without a trial before Caesar because it was felt unnecessary. Those who follow this way of thinking believe that Paul was released, continued his ministry, traveled west as far as return to Rome, was arrested, and then put to death. The second possibility is that this particular imprisonment ended with the apostle’s death, which, for some reason, Luke did not want to recount. A final possibility is that having written two books, Luke and Acts, each of which is about one scroll length, Luke reached the end of his capacity to record the actions of Paul and the other apostles. Perhaps there was some interruption that made it impossible for him to complete the book in the way he originally planned. I find the third explanation unconvincing.

This summer, Kathy and I were on a trip with some people from the Moody Bible Institute. Their take was that Paul was released, did continue his ministry as far as Spain, returned to Rome, and was arrested during the rain of the emperor Nero. At that point, he was put to death.

From a spiritual point of view, the ending is entirely satisfactory. The ministry of Jesus was continued by the apostles, including the apostle Paul. The work of the Holy Spirit was not finished when Jesus was crucified, died, resurrected, and ascended into heaven. It continued in the early church. It is also not over when Paul is arrested or when Paul dies. It continued then as it continues today. The book ends with the continuation of the ministry of Jesus. Perhaps that’s the way we ought to think of our own lives. The Work of Jesus continues today in us as we create little communities of wisdom and love.

Sometimes, even our most well-intentioned actions have negative consequences. Leaders often make decisions in good conscience but without a complete understanding of the costs of their choices. Usually, leaders are given good advice, which has unforeseen results. Stress, failure, opposition, and other negative experiences are part of the life of every human being and every Christian leader.

We began the prelude to Paul’s eventual trip to Rome two weeks ago. He had been warned that his travel to Jerusalem would result in danger, and those who prophesied from the danger were correct. Almost immediately upon his arrival and travel to the temple in Jerusalem, he is recognized and provokes a violent response. Paul’s defense of his ministry in the Temple courts provoked a riot so severe that the Roman legionnaire in charge felt it necessary to intervene (Acts 22). Paul went to the temple to obey the suggestions of the Christian church leaders in Jerusalem. He was trying to do the right thing. However, the consequences were not what anyone had anticipated. However, he was able to defend his ministry. Even that did not go well.

The Religious Nature of the Conflict between Paul and the Jewish Leaders

Near the end of his address to the crowd, Paul brings up the resurrection, which the Pharisees believed in, but the Sadducees did not. This provoked an additional conflict. Remembering that Luke probably wrote hacks partially as a defense of Paul, a defense that would be presented in Rome, this little vignette gives us an insight into one line of defense that Paul had against the charges against him. The Roman Empire allowed much religious diversity, and Roman governors did not interject themselves into disputes between religious sects. They were especially familiar with the violent disagreement among the Jews about religious matters, including the resurrection. By adding this vignette, Luke provides a defense for Paul in front of the emperor: the charges brought against Paul by the Jews were simply matters of religious dispute among Jews and not a matter of Roman law or threats to the Roman state.

The text indicates that Luke is defending Paul before the Roman Emperor. While he was under arrest in Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus appeared to him, saying, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11). Neither Paul nor Luke felt that Paul’s imprisonment and trial in Rome were in any way unusual; they were part of God’s plan.

Transfer to Caesarea

Paul’s appearance at the temple provokes not just a violent response of immediate anger but also a conspiracy to put Paul to death (23:15). The potential for religious beliefs to result in violence is not only an ancient phenomenon. Sadly, for all religious groups, the existence of religious violence and religiously motivated violence is, for most people, a strong argument against the value of religion. The response of a small number of Jewish people is a reminder to all of us that there is a limit to what should be done to defend one’s religious beliefs. In the case of Christians, the fact that God is love and does not desire anyone to suffer violence adds additional emphasis to the importance of respecting other peoples, religious beliefs, and their right to disagree with ours.

Fortunately, a relative of Paul became aware of the plot against Paul’s life (v. 16). When Paul learned of the plot, he informed the centurion, who made arrangements for Paul to be transferred to Caesarea, where Governor Felix had his headquarters (v. 19-23). To fully inform the governor, the officer sent Paul a letter informing him of the situation and his handling of the problem (vv. 25-30). Thus, another step is taken, bringing Paul closer to his goal of eventually visiting Rome.

Trial before Felix

Five days after Paul was taken to Caesarea, the High Priest, the elders, and their lawyer came down from Jerusalem to give evidence against Paul (24:1). Tertulius, their lawyer, accused Paul of being a troublemaker and a desecrator of the temple (vv. 2-9). Paul, who had heard of Felix, was more than willing to give his defense. It began by explaining that he had only been in Israel for a brief time. He admitted that he was a follower of the way who worshiped the God of Israel, believed in all things taught in the law and the prophets, but who believed that Jesus was the foretold Messiah and the fulfillment of the Jewish Hope of a resurrection from the dead (vv. 9-14).

Paul went out to explain that he had been absent from Israel and Jerusalem for some time. He, therefore, came to bring arms and offerings for the people of Israel. While there, he had been in the Temple courts purifying himself. He was not with a mob of people but only a few colleagues (vv. 17-21).

At this point, Paul made an important statement for his defense. He claimed he had done nothing wrong and said nothing that caused anyone any trouble except perhaps one statement: his belief in the resurrection of the dead of Jesus Christ. This was an extremely wise move on Paul’s part. The Pharisees believed in a resurrection, while the Sadducees did not. In addition, Roman law gave a great deal of freedom to religious beliefs. This was particularly true for the Jewish people because the Romans were well aware of their tendency to engage in disputes that could become violent. It was Roman policy not to interfere with private religious conflicts. Paul’s statement was designed to show that this was his case. All of the trouble that had been caused in the temple was not because of any revolutionary act by Paul or any failure to abide by Roman or even Jewish law but only because of a religious belief (v. 21).

At this point, Felix seems to have seen a way out of the predicament. He immediately called a halt to the proceedings and delayed the hearing. In other words, Felix was not only buying for time but also giving Paul a chance to prove his allegations were true. Also, it’s possible that he was hoping that Paul would give him some kind of a bribe to rule in his favor, which he was probably inclined to do in any case (v. 26). As a point of history, Felix did have a bad reputation for minor corruption of a financial nature. Whatever the case, Paul was left in house arrest for two years (v. v. 27).

Those two years of enforced solitude and inactivity were stressful for Paul. Nevertheless, it’s very possible that there was a positive side to the delay. Many scholars think it was during this period that Luke did the research that would ultimately result in the gospel of Luke. For example, during this time, he may have interviewed Mary and others and gathered the information he needed for the birth narratives of the story. Perhaps during this time, he had a chance to look at collections of the sayings of Jesus and begin to outline his ideas about the book he intended to write.

This is a reminder to all of us that sometimes delay, and even long delay can be a positive experience in God’s providence. We may want to undertake a new task, begin a new ministry, or start a new career. All these things may take study, planning, and quiet solitude to bring to fruition. God sometimes brings space into our lives amid trouble so we might grow and develop the capacities needed to undertake the next chapter of our lives.

Paul’s Defense before Festus

Eventually, Felix was replaced by Festus, and it was time to take care of delayed business. Once again, the High Priest and those who wanted to accuse Paul came before the governor and asked that Paul be brought to trial (25:1-2). It so happened that Festus was about to go to Caesarea and suggested that the trial be held there. He may also have been concerned about Paul’s safety, having heard the rumors of attempts on his life. It was that Paul was brought before the new governor. Once again, Paul’s defense is essentially that he has not done anything to violate the law of the Jews, Temple laws, or Roman law (v. 8-9).

Festus, trying to get off on a good start with the Jewish people, asked Paul whether or not he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to stand trial. It was here that Paul played another legal card. He insisted that he tried in Caesarea and appealed to Caesar. Paul was a Roman citizen. Therefore, he had the right to demand a trial before Caesar, and Festus was obligated to grant that request. Whatever happened next, Paul would get a chance to visit Rome – which was his intention all along. In all this, we see both God’s Providence and the apostle’s shrewdness.

Festus recognized that he had a way out. Therefore, he tells Paul, “To Caesar, you have appealed to Caesar, you will go” (v. 12). In a way, all that transpires after this before Paul gets to Rome is commentary because Paul has assured himself that he will get to Rome and be able to defend the Christian faith before the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire. Before another word is said, Paul has actually won.

Nevertheless, Paul has another opportunity to share his testimony. After a while, King Agrippa and his wife, Bernice, visited the new Roman governor. This gave Festus a chance to allow Agrippa, who, after all, was able to understand the religious complexities of the Jewish faith. King Agrippa knew all about Paul and wanted to hear what the apostle had to say. As an aside, Festus notifies Agrippa that he doesn’t think that Paul has done anything to violate Roman law (v. 25). This, Festus believes, creates a problem. It was customary to send a list of charges against someone being transmitted to Rome for trial before Caesar. Festus doesn’t know what to say in this case because he doesn’t see that Paul has committed any crime.

At this point, it might be important to ponder Luke’s motives in including this scene in his narrative. Once again, some scholars believe that the book of Acts is essentially a defense of the apostle Paul. In particular, specific portions may have been written as part of an outline of defense that Paul intended to be made before Caesar. The statement, repeated more than once, that the Roman authorities involved were unclear that Paul had done anything that might be wrong could be put before Caesar as evidence that Paul should be released.

We’re jumping ahead, but many scholars believe that Caesar released Paul, continued his ministry to Spain, returned to Rome, and then was arrested for the final time. This would explain why Acts ends the way it does and why Paul may have had an opportunity to continue his ministry after his arrest in Jerusalem. The Roman authorities involved didn’t think he had done anything wrong. As a practical matter, most likely, Caesar would have followed the advice of his lieutenants unless he felt, for some reason, that they had made a mistake. The book of Acts seems to have been written partially to prove that those who felt Paul had done nothing wrong, or at least nothing violating Roman law, or correct.

Paul’s Defense

Some weeks ago, I wrote a blog outlining the spiritual meeting of Paul’s defense and how it shows how we might defend our faith in our day. In this particular blog, I want to take another tack. What’s evident in the narrative is that when Paul describes what he has been doing, he tries to convince Festus and Agrippa that they should become Christians! At one point, Agrippa responds to Paul, “You almost convince me to become a Christian!” (26: 28).

Paul responds that he does wish that Agrippa would become a Christian (v. 29). Immediately after these explanations, Agrippa and Festus agree that Paul has done nothing deserving death or imprisonment (v. 31). In fact, if Paul had not appealed to Cesar, they would have released him 9v. 32). Once again, here we have Roman authorities and the Jewish authority over the people of Jerusalem, agreeing together that Paul has done nothing wrong. The agreement between the Roman governor and the Jewish king was that under neither Roman nor Jewish law, Paul was guilty of a crime. This is a solid defense.

What was the content of Paul’s defense? Paul began by giving Festus and Agrippa a brief history of his life. The point of this part of the discussion is that Paul had been a religious Jew all his life. He had been a Pharisee of the strictest sect. Pharisees believe in the resurrection of the dead, and Paul had been a Pharisee who believed in the resurrection of the dead. He did not, however, believe that Jesus was the source of resurrection. Therefore, he persecuted the Christians. He went to such extremes that he persecuted the Christians in Damascus.

In other words, Paul’s description of himself is not very different from his accusers. Like them, he was a Jew. Like them, he was deeply religious. Like the Pharisees, he obeys the law strictly. Like them, he rejected Christ. He then recounts that he had been confronted with a vision of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Christ had admonished him about persecuting Christians because in persecuting Christians, he was persecuting the risen Messiah. Christ appeared to Paul because he might become an apostle and messenger of the Christian faith.

In other words, at the beginning of his defense, Paul agrees with the arresting officer, Felix, Festus, and Agrippa, that Paul has done nothing wrong that would involve Roman law. His difficulties with the Jewish authorities are not a dispute about Roman or Jewish law but a disagreement about whether or not the resurrection of the dead is a valid doctrine and whether or not Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment of the resurrection hope of the Jewish people. If Paul was correct (and he was), Paul had done nothing wrong under Roman law.

Conclusion

Next week, I hope to conclude this little series of blogs. I’ve tried to show this week that the book of  Acts is not simply dictated off the top of Dr. Luke’s head with no purpose in mind. In fact, throughout the book, it has been researched and has a purpose. One of those purposes is to defend the ministry of Paul. I think it is quite possible that the latter part of the book was written partially to be read in some form to the Roman emperor in defense of Paul’s ministry.

We sometimes underestimate Christians’ need to be wise, study hard, and be careful what we say and how we say it. We are called to defend our faith. Christ warned us that we will occasionally be called before important people to make that defense. When that happens, we need to be wise. From the beginning, Paul shows a certain shrewd wisdom in how he handles his defense. He conducts himself in a dignified manner. He provides his accusers with the best possible defense against the charges against him. This defense, which is ultimately pretty simple, is often missed by contemporary Christians. What Paul is saying is that the religious dispute between him and the Jewish people is not a matter for secular authorities to handle.

Last week, we looked at Paul’s third missionary journey, ending with his emotional final conversation with the Ephesian elders. As Luke depicts the conversation, it is obvious that Paul felt that his days of active mission and ministry were coming to an end. In Luke’s account, he tells the Ephesian elders:

And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace (Acts 20:22-24).

Nevertheless, Paul continued on his journey across the Eastern Mediterranean Sea down the coast towards Jerusalem, stopping at various places along the way.

Marching to a Different Drummer

In Tyre, so much in our thoughts and prayers these days because it is in war-torn Lebanon.  There, the local congregation prayed for Paul and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, warned him not to go on with his journey (Acts 21:4). Later, in Caesarea, Agabus, the prophet and the people of the local congregation begged Paul not to go up to Jerusalem (vv. 8-12). Most rational people regard warnings as something to be guided by and suffering as something to be avoided. It is obvious that Paul and the churches he had founded were deeply concerned about his journey to Jerusalem. Nevertheless, he continued on. Why?

One cannot be sure, but I think it was his deep internal commitment to his mission and the church in Jerusalem. Perhaps in the back of his mind was the desire to proclaim the gospel one final time to his native people in the center of their religious homeland—the Temple in Jerusalem. Paul gives as his reason his willingness to suffer, be imprisoned, and even die for the gospel of Christ (Acts 21:13-14). A less fearless person would probably have stopped, turned around, and gone somewhere where the Spirit indicated a successful and safe mission. Certainly, most contemporary pastors would choose this course of action. Paul, however, embodies a different wisdom, what he calls in I Corinthians “the foolishness of the cross” (I Corinthians 1:18):

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (I Corinthians 2:2-8).

This particular aspect of Paul’s character and ministry is a specific challenge in our time, when so many pastors, preachers, religious groups, and Christian institutions strive so hard to find a way to accommodate the Christian message in such a way as to appeal to and win the approval of its cultural despisers. Paul reminds us that God has his wisdom, way of doing things, and strategy for saving the world—and it is not the strategy of religious experts or secular leaders. It is the preaching of the gospel, living a life of holiness, and submitting one’s self to the ridicule of the world. There is no other way to make sense of the cross.

Into the Belly of the Whale

In the end, Paul was convinced he must go, and so he went up to Jerusalem and was received by the elders of the church there (vv. 17). He was greeted by James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, and the elders and gave them a report on his mission (vv. 18-19). In response, the elders gave glory to God (v. 20). As I previously mentioned, these reports show that Paul was not a freelancer, nor did he reject the guidance of the other apostles and elders, but was submissive to their guidance. Perhaps it is old age, but I am increasingly suspicious of those churches in which there is no order, and every pastor is independent. I am similarly suspicious of those pastors in more orderly religious groups who substitute their wisdom for the group’s wisdom. Paul was capable of independent action—even dramatic and risky, but he was not a lone ranger.

In any case, in this situation, church leaders gave Paul some excellent advice: he should go with some of the local Christians who had taken a vow (a Jewish custom adopted by the early church, and purify himself according to the Jewish law (vv. 23-25). In other words, Paul, being a Jewish Christian, should act according to the Jewish law. In giving this advice to Paul, the elders make it clear that it is for Paul, not Gentile believers, who need only follow the advice the Jerusalem council gave (Acts 15). Paul takes their advice and does as they requested (vv. 26).

Facing a Mob

After seven days of purification, Paul went to the temple to offer a sacrifice (v. 26). There, he was noticed and faced with a mob crying out: “Fellow Israelites, help us! This man teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (v. 28). At least two things are wrong with what is being said:

First, Paul is not speaking out against the law. He is complying with it, as the leaders of the Christian congregation in Jerusalem urged him to do.

Second, as Luke goes on to point out, he has not brought Greeks into the temple in violation of Jewish law (v. 29).

Nevertheless, there is such an uproar that the tribune (a Roman official) is called to the scene and arrests Paul to forestall a larger riot (vv. 29-32). Paul is then placed in chains (v. 33), a mistake because Paul is a Roman citizen. As he was about to be led out of the area into the Roman barracks, Paul asked to speak to the crowd. The tribune, who thought he must be an Egyptian troublemaker, was surprised to hear Paul speak Greek, allowing him to talk (vv. 37-39). Interestingly, Paul does not speak to the Jewish crowd in Greek, which most of them would have been familiar with, but in Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament (v. 40).

The Apostle Paul had often told his story to others to bring them to Christ and encourage their faith. His testimony is recorded more than once in Acts and again in Galatians (Acts 22:1-21; 26:4-20; Galatians 1:13-2:21). We can deduce that Paul’s testimony was essential to his mission of sharing the gospel. I imagine Paul told his story hundreds of times in many different homes and cities during his ministry. Now, at near close of Acts, Paul tells his story at length to his fellow Jews. Here is the story as Paul tells it: [1]

I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, “Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” I asked. “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.  “What shall I do, Lord?” I asked. “Get up,” the Lord said, “and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.” My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight!” And at that very moment I was able to see him. Then he said: “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. “Quick!” he said. “Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.” “Lord,” I replied, “these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.” Then the Lord said to me, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:1-21).

 Paul’s testimony has three important features: First, he tells what kind of a person he was before Christ called him to be an apostle. Then, he tells how this happened in a dramatic encounter with Christ, much as the prophets describe their calling. Finally, he tells what happened due to his call to follow Jesus.  Before Paul became a Christian, he was a persecutor of Christians. He hated Christ and the Christian faith. Then, he met Christ on the road to Damascus, on his way to persecute the Christians in that city. As a result of his conversion, Paul became a missionary to the Gentiles.  Finally, and often missed, is the community Paul entered when he received this call: He was taken into Damascus, where eventually he was accepted by the church and ministered to him. He was welcomed by the Jerusalem church, though not by everyone (Acts 9:8-19). Later, Barnabas came beside Paul and allowed him to use his gifts in Antioch, from where he was sent on his missionary journeys (Acts 11:25-26).

All good testimonies have these four characteristics that Paul incorporates into his testimony:

• What kind of person was I before I encountered Christ?
• How I encountered Christ.
• The difference that faith in Christ makes in my life.
• The community of faith of which I became a part of because of my calling.

Most mature Christians remember how we lived before we became Christians, how they became Christians, and what changed because they became Christians. Most Christians have testimonies of what God has done in their lives and how it changed them for the better. Notice that the story of Paul’s Christian experience does not end with his conversion on the Road to Damascus. Neither does our calling to follow Christ as a disciple of the Risen Lord.

Conclusion

Next week, I will continue to follow Luke’s narrative of Paul’s visit to Jerusalem, imprisonment in Caesarea, and the ultimate trip to Rome.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] This section of the blog is from Crisis of Discipleship: Renewing the Art of Relational Disciple-Making (Richmond, VA: Living Dialog Ministries, 2023).

Paul’s third missionary journey (around 52–57 A.D.) followed the same route as his second. Reading Acts makes it difficult to see that another journey has begun. The Second Missionary Journey ends with Paul in Corinth. In Acts 18:18., it is recorded that:

Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined.  But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem, greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples(Acts 18:18-23).

Trip to Jerusalem

After a short initial visit to Ephesus, where Paul left his colleagues, Priscilla and Aquila, Paul returned to Jerusalem, presumably to explain what he’d been doing to those at the center of the apostolic Church. In this report, we can see that Paul did not conceive of himself as a Lone Ranger or as establishing a new religion, but instead, he is part of a more significant movement of the apostles through the early church. Acts do not tell us precisely what Paul said or did In Jerusalem other than to greet the church, but he likely gave some description of his ministry in Asia Minor and Greece. Having reported to the mother church, Paul returned to Antioch, where he began his First and Second Missionary Journeys. This indicates that Paul probably considered Antioch his “Home Base.” The Third Missionary Journey begins with his departure from Antioch after Paul spends time with his home church.

Contemporary pastors often feel they can’t return to the church where their ministry began. Among pastors, it is common to “Jesus is saying that “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, among his own people, and his own house” (Mark 4:6). Paul did not feel this way. Having reported to the church in Jerusalem, he now went home to report what he’d been doing to the church where he grew up as a Christian leader, from which he was sent out to be a missionary to the Gentile world. Not everyone in Jerusalem appreciated Paul or his ministry. Still, he continued to serve the greater Christian movement and abide by the decisions and leadership of the other apostles and the Church as a whole. This reiterates a lesson: not everyone will appreciate a ministry, but that lack of appreciation does not render the ministry a failure.

Apollos, the Spirit, and Speaking in Tongues

Like the Second Missionary Journey, Paul began by visiting the congregations he founded in Asia Minor; traveling through Galatia and Phrygia, he eventually reached the port city of Ephesus, where he had earlier strengthened the church. He had promised the Ephesians he would return (and Paul kept his word). Paul stayed in Ephesus for a long time. While Paul was traveling, Apollos, another disciple who would become a great leader in the early church, arrived at Ephesus (Acts 18:27). Apollos was only aware of John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance (v. 25). He did not know about the new life in the Holy Spirit that believers in Christ experienced. Pricilla and Aquilla invited him to their home, and it was there that Apollos learned about the Holy Spirit (v. 26). Here we see the fruit of Paul’s ministry: Even when he is not present, his followers are capable of expanding the faith and raising up new leaders.

Apollos is an important person in the New Testament. Some scholars believe that he is the author of the book of Hebrews. He was an Alexandrian Jew trained in Greek rhetoric and was very learned. Even though he did not know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Apollos knew about the life and ministry of Jesus and could teach accurately. (v. 25). Apparently, Paul and Apollos did not know one another at the time. As Paul left Corinth, Apollo was making a journey there. When he examined the disciples who had come to Christ through the ministry of Apollos, he found out that they did not know about the Holy Spirit. Paul then laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and prophesied as a sign of their new life in Christ (19:1-7).

This particular passage is important for contemporary Christians who have questions about the charismatic movement. It’s evident from the text that the early church conceived a difference between repentance from sins, or turning away from the past, and receiving the Holy Spirit, the power to live the new life in Christ. Pentecostals often use this passage to indicate that speaking in tongues is a necessary sign that the Holy Spirit has been received. Interestingly, in the New Testament, there are situations in which speaking in tongues is a sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:6-11). Still, there are others where it is simply recorded that the believers received the Spirit.

First Corinthians teaches that God gives different gifts to different people (1 Cor 12:8-11). According to Paul, some believers are given the gift of tongues, but others are given various gifts. Thus, Paul teaches that “There are varieties of gift, but the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:4).  In other words, God gives different gifts to different people through the Holy Spirit. In this vein, Paul asks in 1 Cor 12:30, “Do all speak in tongues?” This would indicate that not everyone spoke in tongues, even in the first-century church. I have seen evidence of the gifts of the spirit, including the gift of speaking in tongues. However, not all the people who believe to have been filled with the Holy Spirit and had powerful ministries have spoken in tongues. Nevertheless, a fair reading of the New Testament indicates that it was a common phenomenon in Pauline congregations. In Ephesus, when he arrives, he teaches about the gifts of the Spirit, and people receive the Spirit of God (Acts 19:1-7).

Paul’s Powerful Preaching

Eventually, Paul arrived in Ephesus. Paul’s pattern of ministry in emphasis was similar to that in other places. He went into the synagogue and spoke about the gospel of Christ (v. 8). When opposition arose, Paul left the synagogue and began teaching elsewhere. During this period, Paul performed miraculous acts of healing and deliverance. Many people gave up the magic arts and became Christians (vv. 11-22). Then, after building up the Ephesian church, Paul traveled again through Macedonia and Achaia, strengthening the believers.

During this period Paul decided that the time might be coming when he should leave Ephesus and go back to Jerusalem after traveling through Macedonia and Greece again. He also intended to go to Rome. To prepare for his journey, he sent Timothy and another disciple ahead to Macedonia to make arrangements for his trip while he stayed in Ephesus (vv. 21-22). It is obvious that even amid one of his greatest successes, Paul’s mind was on the continuing ministry of the gospel and sharing it as far as he might be able to do so. It’s also evident that he felt that he needed to visit Jerusalem, perhaps as a matter of missionary compassion, giving them a gift, or perhaps as a way of seeking advice and counsel from the Jerusalem church.

At this point, an event occurred that hastened Paul’s departure from Ephesus. One of the earliest characteristics of the early church was the proclamation that the gods of Greece and Rome, and the images of those gods often sold to individuals, was a pagan practice that Christianity superseded. Naturally, those in the business of fashioning and selling statues of the Greek gods would not be excited about this message. Making statues of the Greek goddess Artemis was a profitable business. Demetrius, who was in this business, gathered together the city’s artisans and convinced them that Paul was bad for business (vv. 23-26). A riot and sued. The hatred against Paul was so great that the church and others played with him not to go out in public. In the end, the matter was brought before the city clerk. The city clerk decided that the matter should be decided in a court of law and quieted the riot. His reason for doing so was probably to prevent the Roman authorities from learning that there had been a riot in Ephesus and its leadership had been unable to calm it. In any case, shortly after that, Paul left the city.

Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was long, perhaps even longer than his ministry in court. Paul finally developed an emphasis at the church that would become one of the great centers of the early Christian faith. In a way, Paul’s ministry was the climax of his career. He had developed a strategy that enabled him to build churches throughout Asia, Minor, and Greece. The strategy could build leaders who could carry on the ministry beyond his presence.

Paul’s experiences are relevant today. It would be nice if everyone appreciated the ministry of a pastor or disciple-maker. Unfortunately, that’s usually not the case. Typically, there’s opposition, and sometimes that opposition is significant enough that the time comes to move on. This does not mean that the ministry was a failure. Even though Paul had to leave a city on more than one occasion, his ministry thrived. It’s good to remember that the final benefits of our ministry may not be seen during this time. We are there to experience the appreciation of others. It may be that it will be some time before the full benefits of our ministry are known.

Revisiting and Revisiting

Eventually, Paul left for Macedonia. As was his custom, he traveled through the area, visiting the churches he had planted on his second missionary journey (20:1). Eventually, there was a threat to his life, so he went back to Asia, mainly through Macedonia, instead of sailing by a more direct route (v. 2). Once again, he did not travel alone, but other disciples of Christ accompanied him (vv.4-6). He visited the churches in Philippi and Troas during this visit (vv. 5-6). At Troas, an event occurs, and Luke gives that importance. Paul was preaching in the upper room of a house. As pastors sometimes do, he kept on talking until well after midnight. In the upstairs window, a young man named Eutychus was sitting, and he fell asleep during the sermon. Eventually, he fell out of the window from the third story of the house and was picked up as dead. Perhaps feeling ashamed about the length of his sermon, Paul took the young man in his arms and healed him (vv. 7-12).

An Emotional Farewell

There is no passage in Paul’s missionary journeys more touching than his final meeting with the Ephesian elders. I have preached this text on more than one occasion in my ministry. It never ceases to move me. By this time, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. He knows that in Jerusalem, not everyone will accept him and that he will face opposition. He suspects that his return to Jerusalem may be the beginning of the end of his ministry. Nevertheless, he goes.

Along the way, he visits the Ephesian church leaders, with which he has had a profound and intimate relationship (v. 17), one last time. Today, Ephesus is an empty city filled with fascinating Greek and Roman ruins, including the ruins of a great library. In Paul’s day, it was one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire and a center of Christianity during the first few centuries. How it happened shows the Ephesian church’s esteem and love for the missionary. Paul met his friends at Assos and sailed south to Miletus, beyond Ephesus. Paul sent a message to the church elders to meet him there, which they did (vv. 13-17). When they arrived, Paul spoke to them from the heart:

You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears amid severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. Now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen there. I only know that the Holy Spirit warns me in every city that prison and hardships are facing me.  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus gave me— testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you, for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.  Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. People will arise and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them, even from your own number.  So be on your guard! Remember that I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears for three years.

Now I commit you to God and the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all sanctified people. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.  You know that these hands of mine have supplied my needs and companions.  In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:18-35).

I have reprinted the speech because each word and phrase speaks of Paul’s love for this church and its leaders. Too often, we think it’s sufficient to preach the word of God to our congregations. There is no substitute for preaching the word clearly and consistently with the apostolic witness. However, there is great truth to the proverb that people won’t listen to what you say until they know you care about them. Paul’s effectiveness as a missionary was built upon more than his great intellect, his clear understanding of the gospel, his practical experience in ministry, and the other fine qualities he possessed. In addition to all these qualities, Paul possessed a love for the people he was serving. This is the chief and most important characteristic of those who would make disciples and care for the flock of God.

Copyright, 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All RIghts Reserved

Paul’s Second Missionary Journey illustrates the truth that outstanding achievements sometimes have troublesome beginnings. Acts 15 tells the story of the council in Jerusalem, where the early church decided that Gentile believers didn’t need to become Jews to become Christians. In response to the complaints of what are sometimes called the Judaizers, the church sent a letter designed to build unity in the church, concluding:

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things (Acts 15:28-29).

The Jerusalem church then sent a circular letter to all the churches, giving them their wisdom and the council’s decision.

Paul and Barnabas were at the Jerusalem meeting where the decision was made. They received the thanks of the apostles for the work that they had done and returned to Antioch. Sometime later, Paul suggested they retrace their steps on the first missionary journey to see how the new churches were doing. Paul wanted to follow up to be sure that the churches had received the letter, accepted its contents, and were moving forward peacefully. We know this to be true. In Acts, Luke records the following concerning the mission:

As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So, the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers (Acts 16:4-5).

However, before they left for their mission, a problem arose. During the First Missionary Journey, it appears that John Mark became homesick and returned to Jerusalem early. Paul did not want to take him on this second trip, fearing that he would again desert them. Barnabas, truly the “Son of Encouragement,” felt differently, and there was an argument. In the end, Barnabas took John Mark with him and returned to Cyprus, where he was well-known, and Paul took Silas, a firm believer, to visit the churches in Syria.

Contemporary Christians sometimes consider the early church perfect, without the imperfections we see in the congregations around us. Over and over again, the Acts of the Apostles reveal that this is not true. There were disagreements and personality conflicts in the early church. I’m almost certain that Paul was sometimes difficult to get along with. We can’t expect our churches to be any different.

The passage also reveals that, although the church’s unity is essential, there are times when individuals in conflict or groups in conflict simply need to separate and go their separate ways. This is not a division in the church but a division of responsibility and ministry designed to keep peace. It makes little or no sense to force disagreeing persons and congregations to remain together when the only result is dysfunction, disagreement, debate, and spiritual deterioration on all sides. People should go their separate ways, forgive and forget, and wait for reconciliation. We know there was a reconciliation between Paul and John Mark, for he is with Paul near the end of his ministry.

Timothy Joins the Mission

When they reached Derby, Paul and Silas gained a new helper. Timothy joined the group. His mother was a Jewish, but his father was a Greek. He would be comfortable in both Greek and Jewish culture. He had never been circumcised. To avoid conflict with the Jews, Paul circumcised Timothy and invited him to come along on his mission. This is an important event in the history of the church. Eventually, Timothy will become Paul’s most trusted assistant. In addition, two of the letters in the New Testament are written by Paul to Timothy. Tradition holds that Timothy became a bishop and leader in the early church until his death. Although Paul would not be John Mark’s primary mentor, he was Timothy’s.

Power of a Dream

As with the first missionary journey, this trip was not without problems. Eventually, Paul traveled beyond Galatia and the boundaries of the First Missionary Journey, intending to probe more deeply into Asia. However, when the group tried to turn to the east, they encountered difficulties, which the Bible describes as the Spirit of Jesus preventing them from going further east into Bythinia (16:6-10). Finally, they arrived at Troas, where Paul had a vision or dream in the night. He saw a man from Macedonia asking them to cross over into their territory (v. 9). Therefore, Paul and his companions arranged to go into Macedonia. As a result of this turn of events, Paul’s ministry took him into Europe instead of further into Asia, and the Christianization of Europe had begun. When I preach on this, I sometimes say, “We wouldn’t be here today if Paul hadn’t had that night vision at Troas.”

This is probably a good illustration of the principle that our failures and missteps are sometimes a way for God to take us to where he wanted us to be all along. When a ministry or program does not work out, contemporary Christians and pastors sometimes feel like failures. We think that we have not accomplished the “Will of God.” This is not necessarily true. The opposition and failure we are now experiencing may be the prelude to success.

More Help in Philippi

We know Luke joined Paul around this time because, in Acts 16:11, Luke begins to use the first person plural “we” to describe the mission. Once again, this is an event of great importance. Luke is the author of two New Testament books, the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Without him, we would know substantially less about Jesus and Paul than we know. Educated as a doctor, he writes in excellent Greek, and his books are exceptionally well organized. He begins his two-volume works,  Luke and Acts, letting the readers know he has researched his subject and is speaking as a witness and researcher (Luke 1:1-4). Like Timothy, Luke continued to minister to Christians beyond the lifetime of Paul. He represents that second generation that continued to share the gospel after the original apostolic witnesses died.

Eventually, the group arrived at Philippi. In Philippi, they met a woman named Lydia, described as God-fearing who dealt in purple cloth. Since purple cloth was worn only by the elite and on Paul’s day, this would make Lydia a significant person. She invited Paul and the group to come and stay at her home, which must’ve been relatively large to accommodate travelers and their luggage.

Paul’s friendship with Lydia illustrates another critical point about evangelism and one that has been mentioned before in these blogs. When Jesus sent out the apostles on their initial training journey, he sent them two by two. He also asked them to look for people of peace:

When you enter a house, say, “Peace to this house.” If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:5-7).

Lydia and her husband were people of peace. This chance meeting led her household to become believers and be baptized (Acts 16:15).

Eventually, Paul and Silas faced opposition and were imprisoned in Philippi. Instead of looking for a means of escape, it appears that when an earthquake occurred, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and ministering to the other prisoners! (16:28-27). When the quake came, Paul and Silas were in a position to escape, an event that would’ve meant the execution of their jailer. Instead of rushing to freedom, they stayed. As a result, the jailer and his whole household came to believe in Jesus and became part of the Philippian church (16:31-34). Once again, this event is described as one of great joy (v. 35).

Opposition in Thessalonica

By the time Paul reached Thessalonica, his strategy was to reach the population of the Greeks, and Asia was well-developed, as was the predictable response of some who heard the message. Thus, it is recorded:

As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said.  Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. But other Jews were jealous, so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city (Acts 17:2-5).

Expecting human nature to change is a temptation. Falling into this temptation is a constant invitation to delusion and disappointment. The fact is, we can’t expect everyone to agree with us about anything. Anytime someone attempts to change anything for the better, there is and will be opposition. The question is not how to avoid opposition. The question is how to anticipate and deal with it.

Noble Bereans—the Power of the Word

Every pastor loves to preach on Acts 17:10–15. When Paul gets to Berea, he finds the Bereans more inclined to listen to his testimony. They even examine the script daily to decide for themselves whether what Paul is saying is true (v. 11). Many people believed, and Paul did not experience the kind of opposition he experienced in Thessalonica (v. 12). However, no good thing lasts forever The people of Thessalonica found out about Paul’s success in Berea. So they sent people to Berea to cause trouble (v. 13). The result was that Paul had to go to Athens, where he ministered by himself (vv. 14-15).

The Challenges of Ministering to Intellectuals

When Paul arrived in Athens, he waited for Timothy and the others to catch up with him (v. 16). Nevertheless, Paul was not the sort of person to sit around and do nothing. He followed his strategy. He often went to the synagogue and spoke to Jews and the God Fearers among the Gentiles who worshiped there (Acts 17:16-14). He even began ministering in the public marketplace. There, Paul had the opportunity to speak to the intellectual elite of the Roman world. It is most interesting to see how Paul changes his strategy to accommodate his different situation.

To begin with, Paul finds a point of commonality between the Athenians and his gospel. There were statues of many gods standing around the area where Paul debated with the philosophers. Now, these philosophers probably didn’t believe in any of the gods. To find a point of common belief, he pointed out that they had a statue of an “unknown God” (17:23). This is important. The Greek philosophers were well aware that the many Greek gods were mythological. On the other hand, both Plato and Aristotle believed that there was some kind of a God. Paul begins his argument by pointing to this unknown God, this God for whom the philosophers were looking, and saying that God was the god of Israel, who became flesh in Jesus Christ.

Many people today do not believe in the god or religion of their childhood. This is true of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other world religions. Nevertheless, many of these people are in their hearts searching for the unknown God. Paul’s strategy is as good as when he first used it. We just have to accommodate the change in our civilization from the civilization of ancient Greece.

Paul goes on to describe this God:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Instead, he gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man, he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. “For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.” Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent, for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:24-31).

I have quoted this passage at length for a reason. It has been popular in the 20^th century to denigrate what is called natural theology. That is to say, it has become unpopular to defend biblical faith based on philosophical arguments that defend the existence of an abstract God. It’s worth noting that that’s precisely what Paul begins by doing. He starts by describing a God that would’ve been readily acceptable to the people of his day. After describing this philosophical God, Paul ends by explaining how this God became incarnate in Jesus Christ and was raised from the dead. In other words, Paul moves from a philosophical argument to biblical faith.

A Rich but Eventually Troubled Church

From Athens, Paul moves to Corinth. In Corinth, he meets two refugees, Priscilla and Aquiles, who had left Rome because of the persecution by the emperor Claudius. Once again, Paul begins by finding a person of peace with whom he could stay and administer. He follows the instructions Jesus gave the disciples when he sent them out. Even before the others arrive, he preaches the gospel in the synagogue. Once his traveling companions joined him, he devoted himself exclusively to preaching and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

Once again, opposition arose. One can imagine that during the conflict, Paul became discouraged. Therefore, one night, the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city” (Acts 189-10). Once again, it is natural to be discouraged when conflict arises. It is good to remember that conflict can be one way God accomplishes his purpose.

In Corinth, Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of the Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. This man, the synagogue leader, and his household believed in Christ. Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, and the gospel message prospered (v. 11). Once again, this indicates that Paul was following the original instructions of Jesus to stay in one place until the time came to move on. This allowed Paul to build a relatively strong church that could end your conflict before he went on with the rest of his journey.

Conclusion

When we read about Paul’s second missionary journey, we see evidence that he understood Jesus’ teachings. He was even aware of some of the specific ways Jesus had trained the original 12 disciples to be his apostles. He seems to follow the same pattern that Jesus said for ministry. He does not travel alone. He usually travels with others. The only time he is alone is when circumstances demand it.

Paul begins his ministry by reaching out to the Jews of any given community. He preaches in the synagogues until he is no longer able. When he can no longer do so, he leaves and begins a congregation outside the synagogue. The structure of the gospel he is preaching is relatively simple. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah of Israel. In Jesus, God acted to restore the human race to fellowship with God. When this fellowship is established, the Holy Spirit is present in a unique way, and new Christians experience joy.

Finally, during the Second Missionary Journey, we see Paul constantly looking for persons of peace, first Lydia, and then Priscilla and Aquila, Titus Justus, Crispus, and others. Paul is under no illusions that he can do the job alone or even together with his missionary partners. He needs people in the local community who fit in with the local community to help him reach as many people as possible. People of peace do not just become Christians. They frequently become apostles themselves, sharing the gospel in a way impossible for an outsider.

Copyright, G. Christopher Scruggs 2024, All Rights Reserved

Sometime in the Spring, around 44 A.D., The church members in Antioch in modern Syria decided to commission Saul of Tarsus and Barnabas of Cyprus to be missionaries, sharing the gospel in the surrounding area. They laid hands on both men and ordained them to be “apostles” or “sent ones” from the Antiochian church. Acts 13 describes the event as follows:

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13:1-3).

It would be hard to overestimate the importance of this decision. Born of prayer, worship, study, and fasting, the church and Antioch felt that the Holy Spirit was speaking to them, asking them to send their two most potent leaders elsewhere. It’s hard to imagine a contemporary church making such a decision! Nevertheless, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, the church in Antioch made this brave decision. That decision has changed the course of human history nearly as much as the incarnation of Christ. Because of that decision, the Christian church spread rapidly during the First Century and continued its growth until it became the established religion of the Roman Empire. The entire story took just about 300 years.

From Antioch, Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark began a missionary journey (Acts 13:4 – 52, 14:1 – 25). The group traveled to Seleucia and then sailed to Salamis, the principal city and seaport of the island of Cyprus. Paul would make longer missionary journeys in the future. This particular journey was vital because it was the first. The group traveled in the southeast portion of today’s modern Turkey. At its furthest extent, the journey reached nearly the center of modern Turkey.

The Strategy

There are many reasons to be interested in that first missionary journey. Not the least of which is that it was the beginning of an experiment, and it was successful enough that there were other missionary journeys in the future. Paul and Barnabas, who would not always travel together, developed a methodology of mission that served them well for the rest of their missionary careers. There are several aspects of that particular method that deserve to be noted:

• First, the journey was primarily to small cities in a geographic area with which the entire church was familiar. They didn’t immediately send Paul and Barnes to the end of the Earth. They sent them to a region relatively close by culture, proximity, and other factors that would assist in the mission’s success.
• Second, Paul and Barnabas traveled as a group. John Mark was sent with them. We don’t know, but others might have come along for all or part of the journey. In any case, the principle of mutual support was evident even during the first century.
• Third, Cyprus is mentioned as the final destination of the journey. Barnabas was from Cyprus. Historians believe he was a fairly prominent person in Cyprus. He had connections in Cyprus. Cyprus is important for several reasons and is geographically essential in the region. Finally, because Cyprus is close to Israel, there was a sizeable Jewish population in the first century, and today, there is a large Jewish population. In other words, some people might understand what Paul and Barnabas were trying to say. Even today, it is a center of business, diplomacy, and other activities. It was a wise choice for a final stop on the first journey.

The strategy that guided the Antiochian church and Paul and Barnabas in the early first century continues to be vital to us today. Most of us are called to share the gospel where we are or in areas reasonably close to our homes. Most of us need some kind of help as we share the gospel. We need to be part of a team. Finally, most of us have a circle of influence or friendships that impact our ability to share the gospel. Sometimes, this is called our “circle of influence.”

Learning by Doing

During the First Missionary Journey, it became apparent that Christian missionaries would face opposition from time to time. In Paphos, they were confronted with the Jewish sorcerer, an essential associate of the Roman proconsul, Sergius, Paules. Paul relied on the Holy Spirit to overcome the opposition (13:6-12). The last time that the apostle Paul would face opposition, intellectual and physical, and sharing the gospel around the Mediterranean basin.

In Antioch, we learn an essential element of how Paul shared the gospel. It is recorded that on the sabbath day, Paul went down, and after reading the law and the Prophets, he explained the gospel to them. He did so by recounting the story of the liberation of Israel from Egypt and the foundation of the Dynasty of King David. He ends by identifying Jesus as the true heir of King David, and he eliminates any confusion concerning the role of John the Baptist, of whom the residents may have heard:

Of this man’s offspring, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.  Before he came, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John finished his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me, one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ (13:23-25).

The messianic promise given to the people of Israel by the profits has been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth (v. 23).

In speaking to the people of obsidian Antioch, Paul also developed the habit of sharing the gospel in its simplest and most basic form:

Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses (13:38-39).

Here is the center of the gospel in its most basic form: through Jesus, human sin can be forgiven, and the guilt and shame humans feel because we cannot keep the moral law in its entirety are forgiven.

The Jewish response to this proclamation of the good news of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus foreshadowed problems that would arise in nearly every city First Century missionaries visited. The local Jewish population could not accept the idea that there was a way to fellowship with God that did not involve obeying the law.

So it is that at Pisidian Antioch, Paul uttered these famous words:

Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (13:46-47).

In the future, the gospel would not be for the Jewish people alone but for Gentiles and Jews. It’s important to note that Paul is not rejecting the Jewish people. He is simply saying that if Jewish people cannot accept the gospel, it must be preached to the Gentiles as well.

By the time Paul and Barnabas reached Iconium, the basic strategy they would follow for the rest of Paul’s career had been established: the gospel would be preached both to Jews and to Gentiles (parentheses one). Even though there was opposition, Paul and Barnabas continued to preach, and their message was confirmed by the same kinds of signs and wonders that characterize the ministry of Jesus. The result of their ministry was not complete success. Many people continued to reject the gospel.

Paul concluded his first apostolic journey by visiting Lystra and Derby. In Lystra, he encountered one of the most challenging temptations of any Christian leader: the people thought he was a God (14:11-13). Paul immediately rejected the thought that he or Barnabas were anything but ordinary human beings:

We are also only human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.In the past, he let all nations go their way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy (14:15-17).

Notice the emphasis on the kindness and mercy of God to pagans as well as believers.

Conclusion

There are important lessons to be learned from Paul’s First Missionary Journey, not the least: important things are often invisible when they occur. I doubt if many important people, Jewish, Roman, or otherwise, took much notice of a little band proclaiming a gospel at the fringes of the Roman Empire. Most of those who heard of their missionary journey probably discounted it. Nevertheless, it is one of the most critical events in human history. This should give ordinary Christians hope as they go about their daily lives. Just because a good deed is invisible does not mean that it’s not important or does not have eternal significance. Every act of love does have eternal significance.

When thinking about Paul’s first missionary journey, it is essential to remember that you have to start somewhere. I have a tendency not to start a project unless I convince myself that it’s very, very important and bound to be very, very successful. This is a big mistake. Sometimes, you must start small, experience opposition, and perfect your message before accomplishing your desired goals. Every lawyer has a first case. Every preacher has a first sermon. Every writer has a first book. Every entrepreneur has a first business. They are often not the last or the most successful, but they have the distinction of being the first.

Third, every Christian mission needs a strategy—an overall goal, such as preaching to Jews and Gentiles—and tactics, such as going to synagogues first. This principle may seem difficult to translate into ordinary Christian discipleship. However, I think it’s an important principle. A strategy might be, “I would like to reach out in my neighborhood.” The tactic might be, “I will invite my friends for dinner. Maybe we can get into a discussion about Christ.” Hopefully, readers will get the idea. To us, it may seem evident that Paul needed to begin by preaching and synagogues, but I’m not sure it was that obvious to first-century people. A reasonable mini-wise observer might have said, “Don’t do that, Paul. If you do, you’ll cause a big fight and have a lot of trouble.”

This leads to a final observation: No good project can be accomplished without encountering some kind of opposition. People will say, “It’s too expensive.” People will say, “We don’t have the time.” People will say, “We don’t have the contacts.” People will give a lot of reasons why good projects shouldn’t begin. I have a good friend in ministry and mentor who, in a time of conflict about a new project, advised me, “Chris, only count the yes votes.” It was good advice.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved