God Is Rather Busy

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Don Merritt

Acts 5:17-26

While the followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit, the priests and teachers of the law were full of something quite different: jealousy. Consequently, they ordered that the apostles be arrested and thrown into jail. At some point during the night, the angel of the Lord came to the apostles and released them from custody, and commanded that they resume their teaching in the temple courts the next morning.

When morning came, they were once again in the temple courts teaching about the “new life”. As the Sanhedrin assembled, none of them had noticed what was going in the courts outside, and they sent for the apostles to be brought in, only to discover that the jail was locked up tight, the guards still posted at the door… and the cells were empty. Suddenly someone comes running in with the shocking news that their prisoners were out in the temple courts teaching another crowd of people!

It is hard to miss the fact that God has intervened in events to make complete fools of the Jewish leaders.

Upon hearing this, the captain, who was second in authority only to the high priest, took charge of his officers and went after the apostles, yet even now, enraged as he must have been at this humiliation, the captain dared not use force against the apostles, for fear of his own people. The apostles came along quietly.

Would anyone in the Sanhedrin, the wisest of all religious bodies, recognize what was going on; would anyone be able to see clearly enough through their jealousy and avarice to notice that the hand of God was against them? God was working His eternal purpose through these apostles, and no human agent, not even the devil they were serving, would stop these men until their mission was complete. Needless to say, there is a lesson for us in this story.

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Glorying God in Culture: Redux

Posted on January 18, 2025 by Don Merritt

We Christians can be critical of culture; I include myself in this statement.  It is actually quite easy to be critical of culture since culture involves so many questionable things; especially present day culture.  We would be making a mistake if we just wrote it all off however, for there is no reason whatsoever that God cannot be glorified right in the midst of the culture of man!

I often listen to Public Radio.  The reason that I do is that I enjoy classical music.  It’s kind of fun listening to the announcers on politically correct public radio stations introducing classical music pieces that announce in music the grandeur of Jesus Christ, for in case you don’t listen to it, a very high percentage of classical music, especially Baroque and earlier was written as music of praise for worship.

Everyone knows about the great cathedrals of Europe.  They are monuments built to glorify God!  It is easy to criticize them for being monuments to man, I suppose.  It is also true that their construction involved a great deal of political shenanigans, and that they were built in times that were spiritually troubled.  Yet, consider: Most people today don’t know much about the spiritual problems of 500 years ago.  In fact most people today hardly know there ever was a “500 years ago”.  But everyone knows about those cathedrals that even now are architectural testimonies to faith and our great God.

Today, we may worship differently than our ancestors did.  We may worship differently than they do at the church across the street, but all Christians can give glory to God!  Why can’t we look at what previous generations of Christians have done to glorify God in culture, whether it was in a big way or in a small way, and ask ourselves what we can do to reclaim our culture for Jesus Christ?

Can we give Him glory in art?  Can we give Him glory in literature?  Can we give Him glory in architecture or sculpture or theater or in dancing?  I think we can!

Culture doesn’t have to go against God; it only does because we have surrendered it to those who would mock Him.

I agree that spending hundreds of millions to build a cathedral probably isn’t the best stewardship, but how much does it cost to write a play, a book, a poem, a song, a symphony or paint a picture?  If all of the Christians who have such abilities applied themselves, could we really shake up our culture for Christ?

Yes.

We haven’t gotten very far just complaining have we?

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A Mixed Report

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Don Merritt

The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.  As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.  Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

Acts 5:12-16

For the third time, Luke interrupts his narrative to give a summarization of how things were going for the fledgling church. In his last summary statement (4:32-35) he spoke of their unity, here he speaks of the signs and wonders performed by the apostles.

It would seem that the word has spread about the healings of the sick and lame that have been going on, and people are shown bringing the sick to be healed; notice that people believe that even simply being in proximity of the apostles would bring healing, and here for the first time is specifically mentioned that people who are possessed by impure spirits are being delivered from oppression by the apostles’ presence; Luke is careful to mention that “all of them were healed”.

As a result of these wondrous events, the believers were highly regarded by the people, many of whom had come to believe.

Yet there is a problem in the background; notice that the believers were regularly gathering at Solomon’s Colonnade in the temple courts, but no one else “dared join them” (5:13). Notice the apparent contradiction between this and verse 14: “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” One might well ask how it could be that on the one hand “no one dared join them” and on the other hand many “were added to their number”. I would suggest that the answer to this seeming paradox is that while many came to believe, thus being added to “their number”, not many of those new believers were committed enough to join the other believers right out in the open, at least not yet.

We face a similar phenomenon today, for there are many more who believe than who will be seen to believe, for to believe in Jesus Christ and to follow Him carries with it certain complications in this world. For instance, rejection or ridicule of family and friends, and in some places even economic or political sanctions of various types; persecution in other words. Certainly, in the first century this was the case as we will shortly see…

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Too Cold to Snow- Redux

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Don Merritt

NOTE: With forecasts of record and near-record low temps coming to much of North America, including here in Central Florida, I thought it might be fun to re-post this from mid January 2016, when we lived in the upper Midwest.

The weekend that has just passed was an interesting one around here, interesting at least as far as the weather goes. You see, it was supposed to snow, but it barely managed a dusting. Friday was warm, relatively speaking, with heavy fog and rain, and this is also interesting, because in this part of the world, it doesn’t normally rain in January. Saturday was much cooler, windy and “trying” to snow, and the temperature was dropping all day long. The wind was blowing pretty hard Saturday night, and I couldn’t help noticing that our old heating system was having a hard time keeping the temperature on the thermostat.  You might think we have trouble with out furnace… but for a system that was installed in 1895, I think it does very well.

Even so, it was rather chilly Saturday night. By Sunday morning, it was cool enough that I wasn’t really looking forward to the shower…

As the sun was coming up, I went upstairs to the top floor to check my blog, moderate comments and all of the usual early morning things, and up here where I work, it was very cold, so I turned the heat up on this floor, which is usually set just high enough to ensure the pipes don’t freeze when nobody is up here.  When I am working at my computer, there is a window to my left that overlooks 20th Street; you can see it in the picture below, just under the peak of the roof…

I knew that if I looked at it, there would be ice on the inside of the window; there always is when the temps get this cold…

I checked the temp on my phone: 1 degree F, wind chill -25F… Thinking the forecast had been wrong I looked out, and sure enough, barely a dusting; it was too cold to snow! Yep, in these parts when the temp is below about 10F, it usually won’t snow…

I’ve never taken photos of  ice-covered windows on the inside of a house before, not sure why, I just haven’t. In fact, I’ve never really paid attention to such things. You know what? It’s pretty cool when you look at it; the shapes, the way it manifests on the frozen 120 year old glass…

I recalled something else yesterday morning when I went outside; it was a gorgeous, picture post card kind of morning, clear as a bell,  an amazing blue sky and bright sunlight dancing of the dusting of pristine snow… gorgeous.

Isn’t it something that on the days that are the coldest, God provides us with the most dazzling show of His handiwork? Those coldest of winter days, the ones on which you don’t want to get out of your warm bed, God has a precious gift for those who brave the cold to see it.

I’m sure there is a lesson in this somewhere!

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The Curious Affair of Ananias and Sapphira

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Don Merritt

Acts 5:1-11

Two things are vital to the understanding of this most curious little affair: First, we must recognize that this is a part of the same narrative as 4:32-37. We must not be confused by the chapter break which is entirely arbitrary and added centuries later. Second, we must properly understand what is meant by “kept back” in verse 2.

Luke has just given his readers the example of Barnabas in 4:35-36, an example of sincere giving that recognized both the authority of the apostles and the legitimate needs of some of the community of believers. In this passage, Luke provides an example of something that was not so sincere. It would appear that Ananias and Sapphira were rich enough to own real property and that they have announced their intention to sell it and give the entire proceeds of the sale to the apostles to be used in their ministry of benevolence, but when the sale had been completed and Ananias had delivered the sale proceeds, he did not set all at the apostles’ feet, having “Kept back” some of the money.

To be very clear, this was money that belonged to Ananias and Sapphira, and they were under no legal obligation to give all of it to this ministry, yet it is clear from the text that at some point they had represented to the apostles that they would give the entire proceeds to God’s service. We can also infer from this that had conditions or circumstances changed in a way that necessitated their retaining a portion of those proceeds, they could have made those facts known, but they had made no such disclosures. I am taking this inference from Luke’s use of the Greek word nosphizō in 5:2 which is rendered “kept back” in the NIV. The word means “to deprive, rob; to misappropriate or to make secret reservation of something”. Peter confronted both of them; here is his conversation with Ananias:

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (5:3-4)

Then a curious thing happened as the Holy Spirit took over:

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. (5:5-6)

In these verses, Peter is acting in the role of God’s prophet, able to perceive the thoughts and motivations of others and pronouncing God’s righteous indictment, a role so evident nowhere else in the New Testament. I can’t help but add that one of my preacher friends calls verse 6 “History’s first youth group project”.

I’ve always thought that it is quite interesting that Peter attributes this to Satan, but I doubt that he does so because Satan cares about keeping cash out of church coffers, for in spiritual matters money is about as noteworthy as horse dung. No! Money is entirely our hang up, not God’s, and not even Satan’s. In truth, this curious affair is entirely apocalyptic in nature, for Ananias and Sapphira have told of their intention to give their all to the work of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the church, and when the moment came, they held onto the world’s greatest prize− money. A person may choose whether or not to follow Jesus Christ. If we choose to follow Him, we can do so wholeheartedly or we can do so halfheartedly, but we do not get to promise the former and do the latter and then willfully and deliberately lie about it to God, for falling short of the mark is one thing, and attempting to defraud God is quite another.

Needless to say, this little episode made quite an impression back in the day! The ministry of the apostles kept moving forward…

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Unity in the Body of Christ

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Don Merritt

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all  that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Acts 4:32-35

After the things which we have seen in the last few sections, Luke gives us a glimpse into the lives of the believers in those early days. They lived in unity of purpose and of mind; they were generous, holding back nothing in their devotion to the Lord and each other. As we can see, those who had means often put their means at the feet of the apostles who used the resources to ensure that no one in the community of faith had unmet physical needs.

It should be observed by all that those donations from the sale of assets were entirely voluntary, for nowhere in our text are we told that anyone directed anyone else to dispose of an asset or give for the needs of others. Rather, we can rightly infer that those who made such gifts did so entirely of their own accord as the Lord led them to do so. Another thing we should note here is that there were believers of substantial economic resources and those with little or nothing in this world within the Body of Christ at that time, and since the text is clear that they lived in unity in “heart and mind” they were not divided along socioeconomic lines, a concept as radical in the first century as it would be today; perhaps even more so.

Luke adds a specific account of this generosity and in this case he mentions a name:

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”); sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. (4:36-37)

Here we are briefly introduced to Barnabas, of whom we will see much more later in the book. There is an interesting note here that we might not want to miss, for Luke notes that Barnabas was a Levite. The Levites served in the temple, and were not permitted to own property and so we must infer either that this practice was not observed in the first century or that Barnabas might have owned the property he sold through marriage, or perhaps that the non-ownership of property was only applied to those living in Jerusalem; as usual, scholars debate these things. Whatever the case was, Barnabas demonstrated his devotion to the community of believers and the leadership of the apostles in his act of generosity.

Barnabas also stands in marked contrast to what happens next in Luke’s narrative…

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A Surprising Response

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Don Merritt

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.  You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.

Act4:23-26

In the last section, Peter and John were arrested, thrown into jail overnight, and then questioned about their activities. They told the authorities that they had healed the lame beggar by the power of the name of Jesus, and were ordered to cease preaching in His name− they refused. After more warnings and threats they were released, and now we see what followed; they told the other believers exactly what had happened and then they had all begun to pray.

Interestingly enough, their prayer contains a quotation of Psalm 2:1-2 in which David seemed to describe the events of not only his day, but the times of the Apostles as well. Certainly, the words “anointed one” in the English could have just as accurately been rendered either “Messiah” or “Christ” in these verses since they all mean the same thing. If we never read any further, we might expect them to ask God to soften the resolve of the authorities so that the believers might not come under persecution, but is that what they asked God for?

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (4:27-31)

After the Psalm 2 quote, they mention that the same kinds of things were going on then as had been going on in David’s time, and then they did something quite remarkable, they asked for boldness in their preaching, not safety. To put it quite directly, they asked God for the courage to preach the Truth in spite of the danger, come what may.

In doing this, they were praying that God’s will would be done, for they had been commissioned to spread the good news of the Gospel, not to live lives of safety and security, and God answered their prayer immediately.

I have sat in church assemblies for decades now hearing prayer for healing, good health, good jobs and safe travels, yet very few for the advancement of the Gospel; I have heard many prayers for relief from oppression or persecution, but almost none for boldness in the face of persecution. Please understand, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the prayers I hear often, yet the absence of prayers concerning God’s will and purpose troubles me.

What is God telling us in these verses, and what will we do about it?

As I survey the times in which we are living, I should think such questions and the answers we give them are every bit as relevant as they were in the first century.

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Random Ramblings   1/15/25

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Don Merritt

I’m not quite sure where this post is going: Will it be devotional, or will it be an Op-Ed? I suppose we’ll find out together. You see dear reader, I’ve spent way too many hours over the past week watching my home town burning, seeing the desperation and despair of the victims, while community leaders do a word dance on camera to avoid any responsibility for what is (still) happening. I think it’s still too soon for most of us to really have a handle on how this could happen and exactly where things went wrong― these are big questions, to be sure. Yet it does appear to be a certainty that officials were not prepared for what happened.

I’m having a hard time with that.

I was born, raised, and educated in the LA area, as was my father before me, and there is no place I would rather have grown up; in those days, it was an awesome place to live. I can recall vividly being in uni9versity taking physical geography, as the instructor detailed the very scenario that played out over this past week― we had to learn it for an Exam, along with preventative steps that need to be taken to avoid what has just happened. I went back and looked it up; I had physical geography in 1976, some 49 years ago.

This is where I must make an editorial decision regarding the direction this ramble will take.

We’ll be right back.

Thinking in progress… Thank you for your patience.

Here goes…

A great many people who are very competent gave warnings, and a number of them saw the familiar weather pattern develop and issued warnings in the days before the fires, but even then, many leaders did not heed those warnings. It also appears that many of those leaders had decided to cut back on emergency preparations in favor of other priorities in recent years, and those decisions have come back to haunt the city. Hopefully there will be a full, complete, honest, and fair investigation that will actually find the full and complete truth about what happened so that this may never happen again. Of course, it isn’t that the same weather pattern will never happen again, no, it happens every 10 or 15 years. Every time there are bad fires in more than one location at a time, but this level of destruction has never happened before, and that is what good management can minimize.

But then, I tend to be an optimist.

I’m sure that the community leaders in Los Angeles mean well. Certainly, none of them would have wanted something like this to happen on their watch. Sadly, meaning well isn’t enough, and without wise choices, things can fall apart quickly.

Yet, with all of this said, I believe that we can take heart in this: There is One whose management is always reliable, who is always faithful and true, who never dodges a fair but tough question, and who will always have our backs. Our hope is not in human institutions or human wisdom, and it is not in human goodwill, it lies instead in the very One who created all of us, who loves us, even when we aren’t being all that lovable, and who sent His One and Only Son to save us from sin, and death. We may be disappointed by human leaders and their mistakes, but our God will never disappoint us. This world is full of challenges. Some of these bring pain or sadness or mourning. Some are just plain unjust; our Lord never promised us an “easy button”. Yet, He does supply us with His strength, His wisdom, His courage, and the assurance of eternity with Him as His co-heir, and if you think about that, a great many of the issues we deal with in this life will seem pretty small by comparison to what lies ahead. I can only speak for myself, but I take comfort in that.

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A Rude Interruption

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Don Merritt

Acts 4:1-22

The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. (4:1)

Already the Jewish religious leaders were becoming uncomfortable with the message they were hearing about what was going around, that the old disciples of Jesus were spreading… and here they were again addressing a big crowd right out there in the temple courts; they must do something. It’s interesting that the Sadducees are mentioned here, but there’s no mention of Pharisees, but then Peter and the others were talking about Jesus, saying that He had risen from the tomb, and that was clearly an affront to the Sadducees who taught that there was no resurrection from the dead.

They had the Apostles arrested and thrown into jail for the night.

The next morning the Sanhedrin was convened and the men were brought forth for questioning. Clearly, they had reason to be concerned because even though they had broken up the address Peter was making to the crowd, a rather large group there had come to follow Jesus (4:4).

Their interview with Peter and John was an interesting one for the man who had been healed was also present, making the job of the Jewish leaders quite awkward for he stood there as a testament to the fact that the Apostles were telling the truth… and to make matters even worse, Peter decided that this was a good time to preach the Gospel (4:5-12).

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. (4:13-15)

Had the members of the Sanhedrin had any interest in getting to the truth, this could have been a groundbreaking moment, but just as when Jesus stood before them, they had no qualms about truth; they were in a real political pickle. There was no way they were going to admit that they had been wrong about Jesus, and they needed this Jesus talk to stop right now to avoid being exposed. After discussing the matter, they decided to order Peter and John to stop preaching about Him, and had them brought back into the room (4:16-18)

But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old. (4:19-22)

It had been a tough day for the Jewish leaders.

Much could be written about this incident, and much has been, yet the really telling scene is what the response of the community of believers was…

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Addressing the Crowd

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Don Merritt

 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. (3:17-20)

Here we are in the second part of Peter’s address to the crowd that had gathered after the healing of the lame man just outside the temple (3:1-10). Peter began his remarks by making it very clear that the man had been healed by God to glorify His Son Jesus, and then had reminded the people that this was the very same Jesus that many of them had demanded to be crucified only a few weeks earlier.

Notice in these verses that Peter admits that their actions against Jesus were taken in ignorance; that they hadn’t understood what they were doing, and then that he moves on to show them that in doing so, they themselves had helped to fulfill the word of the prophets, who had said that He would suffer. This is quite a different tact than many of us might have taken here, for wouldn’t it be tempting to call these people all sorts of ugly names, to condemn them for their wicked actions?

But that is not the way of love. Instead, Peter tells them that they can repent of all of this now, and move into relationship with very One they had had a hand in putting to death; amazing!

Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people. (3:21-23)

In light of his call for repentance, he indicates why they aren’t hearing directly from Jesus Himself; for He is with the Father in Heaven until such time as He returns to fulfill and restore everything, as the prophets have also spoken of. Then, Peter recalls the words Moses spoke and reminds the people that they are expected to respond to Jesus’ call.

Finally, in verses 24-26, Peter moves into a discussion of the fact that Jesus fulfilled Abraham’s covenant promise of all Nations being blessed through him, which was the crucial part of the covenant promises God made to him, however, the account of Peter’s remarks ends rather abruptly, for circumstances intervened before he could finish.

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