Too Much Wine!

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Don Merritt

Acts 2:1-13

The Apostles waited; I don’t know how patiently they waited, but they waited nevertheless.

What they did not know that morning as they awoke was that this day would mark a paradigm shift of massive proportion. For those who had been through the ministry of Jesus, His death and resurrection, they had experienced many very highly significant events to say the least, but this day would be the culmination of all that had happened before− on this day of days, the Kingdom would come.

Oh yes, of course Jesus has already brought the Kingdom of heaven to earth with Him; He had been its very embodiment. In fact everything He had done in His ministry, and most particularly in His death and resurrection, had been done to make this day a reality. The paradigm shift takes place when the Holy Spirit comes into the Apostles and into all believers, for when this happens, the Kingdom itself is within us, and together as the Body of Christ, we are the embodiment of His Kingdom on earth.

This was the day of Pentecost, and in the Jewish calendar it is the second of three annual feasts, falling fifty days after the Sabbath of Passover week (Lev. 23:15-16). It has a few names in the Old Testament; the feast of weeks (Deut. 16:10), the feast of harvest (Ex. 23:16) and the day of firstfruits (Num. 28:26). I bring this up because we need to see God’s timing in all of this: Jesus had instructed the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit was poured out on them, and so they have waited. Then, the Holy Spirit comes upon them on the very day when the city was filled to overflowing with good God-fearing Jews from all over the known world who had come for the feast of weeks (Pentecost).

You see, the Holy Spirit came when there would be literally thousands of witnesses; this was not something that would happen in secret.

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (2:2-4)

The Holy Spirit comes upon them without warning, but He does so in a dramatic way, with the sound of a “violent wind” and an appearance like “tongues of fire” that separate and “came to rest on each of them”. We might want to keep in mind here that “like tongues of fire” isn’t literally fire because of the word “like”; Luke is telling us that in this instance, the Holy Spirit took a form that they could see. He looked something like tongues of fire, but He was most assuredly the Holy Spirit. What we really have here in the coming of the Spirit, is the Apostles receiving the Spirit with such am impact that the people in the neighborhood couldn’t miss it. The Apostles began to speak in “other tongues”, and it is worthwhile for us to note the meaning of this statement: The Greek word rendered “tongues” is glossa which means “languages”, thus in this instance the Apostles were not speaking in private prayer languages, and they were speaking human languages that they didn’t know.

In 2:5-8, Luke documents for us that hearing all of the commotion, a crowd gathers, a crowd that is amazed to find a bunch of Galileans speaking languages that the people in crowd, who are in town for the Feast speak. In other words, they are wondering how it could be that mere lowly Galileans can speak their languages. Luke also documents the places the people in the crowd have come from in 2:9-11, and more to the point, he documents what the Apostles were talking about in languages they had never studied:

we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (2:11b)

Needlessly to say, they were amazed and wondered what this all meant (2:12). Yet, as one might guess, not all were amazed…

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” (2:13)

Have you ever noticed that there are always the naysayers? As old Solomon wrote long before Pentecost, “there is nothing new under the sun”.

Peter will shortly step up once again and address the wine comment, and as he does so, he’s going to address quite a lot more. In the next section  we’ll see what happens next on that most exciting of days; see you then!

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A Time of Waiting

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Don Merritt

Acts 1:12-26

After the ascension of our Lord, the disciples walked the half mile or so back to the city where they entered their lodgings. There they joined the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee, His mother Mary and His brothers, spending their time in prayer; as well they should have under the circumstances. At some point, they were all together with the entire body of believers, some 120 or so in all, and Peter stepped to the fore.

He began to describe how the actions of Judas Iscariot had come about in fulfillment of prophecy, beginning with a rather grisly description of his fate:

(With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) (1:18-19)

We know from Matthew’s account (Matt. 27:1-5) that Judas threw the coins back at the priests and then went off and hanged himself, apparently at the property they had bought with the money he had returned. It would appear that his body decomposed quickly in the warm Mediterranean sun and fell apart… a reference to the consequence of sin that is reinforced in 1:25. Continuing with his message, Peter turns to the Psalms:

“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:

“‘May his place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in it,’

and,

“‘May another take his place of leadership.” (1:20)

 

Then Peter moves to his point; Judas by his treachery, has left a vacancy among the 12; another must be chosen to carry on their mission.

Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.  Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.”  Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles. (1:21-26)

The man who will fill the vacancy must have been along for the entire ministry of Jesus, from His baptism by John up to and after the resurrection; an eyewitness to everything so that he may join with the other 11 to serve as a witness to what he himself had seen with his own eyes. Two men were found who fit this criterion, and they would let God decide which one of them was to become an apostle.

They prayed that God would show them the man He wanted to fill the post, and they cast lots. While this may seem a poor way to decide things to us today, in the Old Testament it was the correct method to discern the will of God in certain situations (Num. 26:55; 1 Sam. 10:21-21) and it showed their reliance upon the teaching of Proverbs 16:33:

The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.

 

Thus, those 11 dazed and confused young men became the 12 Apostles who would spread their eyewitness account of Jesus Christ for now, the time was at hand for the Spirit to be poured out into this dark world.

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The Story Begins

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Don Merritt

Acts 1:1-11

As I mentioned earlier, Luke begins his second book with a prelude, much like the one with which he began his gospel (1:1-3). Again, he addresses himself to a man named Theophilus. Sadly, there is no way for us to know for sure who this guy was; Theophilus was a rather common name at the time. It is important for us to note, however that it is a Greek name. This fact has resulted in the widely held belief that Luke wrote his account of Jesus’ ministry for a Greek audience, and of course it would seem reasonable to suggest that Acts was written as a second volume for the same audience.

He begins Acts at about the point where Luke leaves off; the gospel ends with the ascension of Christ and Acts begins just before the ascension as though Luke wished to remind his readers of where they had wrapped up with a short transition into the second part of the saga.

If you notice in Luke 24, the last things Jesus spoke to the disciples about was that they should remain in Jerusalem until they had received the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:46-49) and then He ascends. Luke’s Acts account begins:

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (1:4-5)

With these words, the first and second volumes of Luke’s message slide together nicely to form one larger saga that tells not only of “what you have heard from the beginning”, but what the result of the message turned out to be. The next few verses share a piece of that same conversation that did not appear in the gospel:

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (1:6-8)

As unbelievable as it may seem for those of us who have the 20/20 vision of hindsight, the disciples seem to have believed that Jesus’ Messianic mission was to restore the glory of Israel… even after the resurrection. You’ll recall that over and over in the gospels, Jesus tries to disabuse them of this notion, for His work was far greater in scope and magnitude than simply restoring Israel to the pantheon of nations, Once again, Jesus sets them straight, telling them that such things are not for them to know. In a sense, He sidesteps their question and answers the one they should have asked in verse 8, and it is here that Luke tells us of the theme of everything that will follow; He ascends into heaven in verse 9.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (1:10-11)

He was gone into heaven, just as He and the prophets before Him had foretold; the only thing left for them to do was to wait, for the Holy Spirit of God was waiting in the wings and would shortly burst upon the scene.

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Introduction to Acts

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Don Merritt

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

Acts 1:1-3

With this prologue, the action begins in this historical work that chronicles the early church for roughly its first 30 years of existence. This then is the story of how 11 young and dazed men became 12 Apostles who challenged the existing order both in Judea and throughout the known world of their time. When all was said and done, they had overthrown the whole order of things, based on the teachings of a relatively obscure Jewish carpenter/teacher, a work that still has a massive impact on the world of today. Oh yes, this is nothing if not an unlikely story, in fact in human terms it is essentially an impossible story, yet these young men had something within them that was the quintessential game-changer, for they quickly became the very embodiment of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The author of this account did not identify himself in his writings, but we know who he was because of another New Testament book that he wrote, one that bears his name. Actually the prologue to that book provides us an interesting parallel to the one found in Acts:

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke 1:1-4

Tradition holds that Luke was a physician, and whether this title would have meant quite the same thing in his day as it does today is probably a matter of conjecture, but one thing is certain; whoever Luke was or whatever his profession may have been, he was certainly a well-educated man, as evidenced by the quality of his Greek. It is also clear that he was an associate of Paul, as we will see later on in the story, and an eyewitness to many of the things he describes here.

The theme and overall context of Acts rings clearly through the ages:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (1:8)

Acts has multiple phases and deals with many trials, tribulations… and triumphs, but this will remain the major theme, that they will receive power with the Holy Spirit, power to be the very witnesses of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Thus, we might accurately consider Acts to be the book of Genesis for the Church itself, for what was begun way back in Luke’s day, is an ongoing story from that time until this very day, a story in which both you and I have a part to play.

Our journey through this epic story begins today right here at The Life Project; I hope you’ll decide to join us for the entire ride!

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Photo of the Week: January 10, 2018

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Don Merritt

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Prayer and Grace

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Don Merritt

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Colossians 4:2-6

This is a really neat little passage; there’s so much to see.  As Paul closes out his letter, he reminds the people to be devoted to prayer, and while this may seem routine, after all, Apostles talk about prayer a lot, Paul here seems to bring it to life.  I’m always struck by the idea of prayer being “watchful and thankful.”  Maybe thankful, as in giving thanks isn’t so surprising, but watchful!  How often do you hear someone say that we should be watchful in our prayers?

Watchful for what?  Things you want God to give you, like little favors?  “Oh yes, and Father please send me that new Lexus…” something like that?  Somehow I doubt it. Maybe watchful for someone who needs intercession, maybe an opening for the Gospel, maybe something that is within God’s priority system− yes that seems more like the kind of “watchful” that Paul has in mind.  He continues by asking for the people to pray for him, but again, not in the way we might expect.  Notice, that even though he is in prison, he didn’t ask them to pray for his release, he asked them to pray that he might preach the Gospel effectively.

I don’t know about you, but that gets my attention every time!  When Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:5 ff. He taught us to pray for God’s priorities. “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”  Do we remember to do that? Are we watchful for specifics that fit into this category?  Well, I can only speak for myself, but truth be told, I forget or overlook this more often than I’d care to admit. Paul seems to continue in this line of thinking when he advises us to be wise when speaking to “outsiders,” non-Christians.  We are to be ready to make the most of every opportunity, to show them the love of Jesus Christ: Maybe we should pray for those opportunities.  We are to speak to them “with grace, seasoned with salt…” Grace is often defined as “unmerited favor” meaning that we are to deal with them in love; more love than they might deserve.

I have a little secret for you to consider:  Speaking to someone with grace is not telling them that they are wrong, even if they are.  It doesn’t mean calling them names, or being critical of the way they live.  Yes, there is a fair chance that they live as unbelievers, but guess what? They are unbelievers, and that may be just how they are supposed to live.  Our job isn’t to correct the world, it is to save the world for Christ.  This requires grace, not criticism.  Salt is an interesting metaphor; I’ve heard many different explanations for this, so I’ll throw out my thoughts.  When we season food with salt, we add it to bring out the full flavor of the ingredients, and when we speak with grace, seasoned with salt, we are sharing the full love of God who so loved the world that He sent His Son to die to save it.  We need our speech to be so full of His grace, that nobody hears the slightest little bit of condemnation come from our lips!

So, when you put this all together, maybe I should remember to pray that God will bring me opportunities, and give me the words to share, so that some may be saved.  What do you think; do you need to join me in praying this way? If not, I’d love to hear why that is.

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Christian Relationships

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Don Merritt

Colossians 3:18-4:1

In this section, Paul gives insight to how Christians should behave in the major personal relationships of daily life.  In 3:18-19, he speaks of husbands and wives, in 3:20-21 he speaks of parents and children, and from 3:22-4:1, masters and slaves, or today we would say employers and employees.  If you think about it, we spend most of our waking lives in one of these relationships, at least most of us do.

We can easily sum up all of these relationships by saying that in each, we are to put others ahead of ourselves. This is certainly true in Paul’s instructions to husbands and wives, even though he uses language in verse 18 that isn’t modern.  That wives should put their husbands first may not sound contemporary, but husbands are also to put their wives first.  This might be a little clearer in the parallel passage in Ephesians 5:22-33.

The same thing is true of the relationship between parents and children.  Both are to put the other first, giving honor where honor is due and giving love and nurture where they are due.  In the case of master and slave, or employer and employees, we have again the idea that both are to consider the other, with workers doing their very best always “as working for the Lord” and the boss is told to always do what is fair and right “because you know that you have a Master in heaven.”

I think that what is really important in this passage is the principle of putting others first.  This principle is at the very heart of “love your neighbor as yourself.”  All too often, people approach the concept of love looking at what they will get out of it, but this is surely not what Jesus had in mind when He taught us that the first will be  last and the last will be first.  We love and serve others because we love Jesus Christ, not because we want something. In short, we serve others because we have been called to serve, and in doing so we are serving our God, because we love Him.

Yes, there are always some who will want to take advantage, but we know that we are serving the Lord, and that “Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.” (v. 25)

One final thought, for some this is a hard concept to embrace, but it lies at the heart of Christian discipleship.  It is all so normal to expect that we receive something from our efforts, be it money or appreciation or loyalty, and people often disappoint us.  The key is that we are not merely serving the other person, we are serving our Lord, and He never disappoints.  Seek His presence, seek His love, focus your thought process on your relationship with Him… and follow where He leads.  He will lead you to serve where you should serve, and to avoid what should be avoided.

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Living Christ

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Don Merritt

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:15-17

God has called us to peace, in community as the community of believers, and in that community is where peace and love and healing should be found in Christ. So, as we enter His presence today, let His peace rule in your heart… and give thanks.  Next, let’s let His word dwell within us, as we teach, admonish and sing spiritual songs to our Lord.  Note the teaching and admonishing are for us to do with one another… as His Body so that all will benefit by it. This isn’t really for the lost; they need the Gospel of the love of God through Jesus Christ.

Finally, whatever we do this day, let’s do it in the name of Jesus our Lord, filled to the brim with thanksgiving and gratitude to God for all that He has done for us, and in our lives.  What a great recipe for living, what wisdom and simplicity for a life that is not only godly, but that is a testimony to the world of what it is to dwell in his love.

You know what?  Whatever this day may bring, I think it’s going to be a good one!

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Unity in Christ

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Don Merritt

Colossians 3: 5-14

Since this is a longer section, I won’t reproduce it here, and I hope you’ll read it on your own…

In the last section, we saw Paul tell us how to live our new lives, by setting our hearts and minds on the things that are above, and not on the things of this world.  In this section, he expands on this theme by listing items which are of the old life, and certain items that are of the new life in Christ.  In verses 5-10a we get a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we are to “put to death” in our lives; these are all from our “old selves” and they include… sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed which is idolatry. He says we must rid ourselves of things like anger, rage, malice, slander, lies and filthy language. I’m quite sure that there is no need for me to elaborate on these things, other than to say that when our attention is drawn to any of them, it’s time to set our minds on higher things.

Verses 10 and 11 move in transition to the next part by pointing out that we are to move away from those old practices into a new way of living where there is no Jew, no Greek, nor circumcised or uncircumcised… and no other social or ethnic distinctions: only Christ. Verse 12 provides a summing up and conclusion in an interesting way:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

I hope that you will take notice of two things.  First, who are “God’s chosen people” in the New Covenant?  They are not old Israel; they are the redeemed in Christ.  Recall that in verse 11 there is no longer Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, and in verse 12 “God’s chosen people.”  Next, note the listing of things that are attributes of our new selves.  These are coupled with his admonition in verse 13 to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us, and then in verse 14 to put love over all of this.

Again, I doubt that I should need to expand this picture any further, other than to point out that love is over all things in the Christian life.  How we interact with others, is all about love.  How we relate to God, is all about love… and the old way of living is loveless, for it is all about self.

Over riding love amongst Christians is where unity can be found.  We often wonder why it seems that the Church is divided; can you see why after reading this section?  It’s because we are more interested in disputes about doctrine, tradition and being first, than we are on loving our brothers.  May we all come to the day when we can live our lives as new creations, when we finally get that “old self” put into the grave for good.

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Bonus Post: Finding God’s Presence

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Don Merritt

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

What is God’s will for us? Where can we find joy? Is it God’s will that we find joy? What should we pray about?

All these questions are answered in the three short verses above: God’s will for us is that we be joyful, that we pray continually, and that we give thanks in all circumstances.

I don’t know about you, but this seems rather simple to me. Why do so many people say that it is so hard?

When we pray, whose presence are we in?  God’s of course.

How easy is it to slip back into the old ways when we are in His presence?  Not very, for we are centering on our relationship with Him.  We fall backwards when we are looking away from Him, isn’t that right? So, maybe the key is to do what Paul said, and pray continually.

But how− we have families, chores, jobs, school…! The answer is so easy and so obvious that most of us miss it; just talk to Him!

Yes, that’s right, just talk to Him!!!

Talk to the Lord all the time.  Start when you wake up, “Good morning, Lord, thanks for a new day.”  Was that difficult?  Then, as you get ready, keep talking to Him about your day, about the things on your mind, about how much you love Him, and how thankful you are for all that He has done in your life, and the lives of those around you.  Talk to Him about how much you want to serve Him today, and that you want to serve Him today because you love Him.  Talk to Him on your way out the door, on the bus, in traffic, at your work station.  Talk to Him about your work and how you want to do the very best you can so that that He can be glorified… because of how much you love Him.  Talk to Him at lunch, on your way home, in the kitchen, at the dinner table…

Develop the habit of talking to God!  Approach this not in fear and trembling, but as though you are with your very best friend in all the world… because you are.  He is the friend that you can say everything to, your fears, your sins, your mistakes… He knows about them anyway, so why not get these things off your chest? You see, we don’t need any formal written prayers, that are of dubious value anyway, for this isn’t a corporate or ceremonial thing.  It’s just you and the Lord.  Nobody needs to know, except for the Lord… but soon, everybody will see the difference it makes in who you are and how you behave.  They will see your joy, your inner peace and your new inner strength.  Your whole outlook on life will change as you make this practice a part of who you are in Christ, for this is where spiritual growth will take place.

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