Gospel – Acts 15-16

Picture of Milky Way at Sagittarius region that I took at Hawaii

(shows the marvelous creation of God and that we, man should humble ourselves)

Bible Passage:  Acts 15 – 16

Time crunch.. it is time to deliver the blog! We come to Acts Chapter 15 and 16. There are many stories in these chapters and to go through every story would be difficult in a blog.

Firstly, we come to the important chapter of the Apostolic church and that is the council in Jerusalem. There was a huge disagreement among the brethren as the originally Jewish Christians are facing a rise in gentile Christians that were converted by Paul and Barnabas. In earlier chapters, it described Peter preaching to Cornelius and his household believed in the Lord and were baptized and received the Holy Spirit.

There was not too much issue with this as probably Cornelius was already circumcised as he was a devout believer of the Jewish God. The issue sprang out when there was an influx of gentile Christians who were not circumcised and the determination of other Jewish Christians in Jerusalem wanted these gentile believers to be circumcised and to keep the Jewish traditions.

In this story, Paul, Barnabas and Peter spoke up to the other apostles and elders in Jerusalem and described the miracles and grace God had poured upon these gentiles. Through the grace of God, the other apostles and elders believed and were convinced and rejoiced of the addition of gentile believers to the fold.

I feel that in this story, it demonstrated the humility of the church leaders and the humility in general of the Jewish congregation at Jerusalem to accept these gentile believers and not to add such ‘yoke’ onto them. It was not a simple decision to just allow these gentile believers to not keep the traditions of the Jews as this was so indoctrinated on ingrained into the fellow Jewish believers then and even in current times.

I would also think that in present times we should not be adding additional burden into our faith as the doctrine we received in True Jesus Church which is the doctrine of the apostles are enough for our salvation. Conversely, we should not be removing the teachings of the apostles and dilute it with the teachings of the world. In one bible study website, it even ‘extrapolated’ or misinterpreted that it is not necessary to keep the 10 commandments and even went on to say that it is not a moral standard to keep!

Acts 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.[g] If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Secondly, I find the story of Paul and Barnabas’s disagreement interesting and worth reflecting upon.

Acts 15:37 Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.

In this heated argument between Paul and Barnabas, it resulted in Paul taking Silas with him in his pastoral work of the churches that were established during the 1^st missionary journey. John Mark, who followed Paul and Barnabas in the 1^st missionary journey fell out of the journey, perhaps because of the hardships they were facing. In one instance, Paul was beaten till he looked dead!

However, because of John giving up the journey, Paul perhaps in his character did not want John to help in the church work he was about to undertake as John could be deemed a liability. Perhaps Paul was still disappointed with John for leaving them at Pamphylia. However, Barnabas being the encouraging person took John Mark who is also his cousin along with him in his journey and gave him a second chance in his faith and zeal for Jesus.

From other epistles of Paul years later, Col 4:10 and 2 Tim 4:!0, Paul describes John Mark as a  ‘helper’ to him in his ministry.

2 Tim4:10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 12I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

In 2 Tim4:10, Paul talks about believers like Demas, Crescens and Titus who fell in their faith and went to different places to lead their own lives. Only Luke and Mark were true to Christ in such trying times. It is amazing that through the power of God, John Mark who once wanted to desert his faith came back in strength through the help of Barnabas.

Also wonderfully, Paul who once rejected John Mark was able to accept him again into his ministry. As Christians in TJC, we could reflect if we have put in enough effort to encourage our brethren in Christ in their faiths and reflect on our willingness to give them a second try in working with us for God.

Last but not least, I find that the story of Paul and Silas in prison singing hymns and praying an amazing story. They were imprisoned because of false accusation and not only imprisoned, they were imprisoned and severely beaten in a high security prison and were feted to the feet. Despite such violent attacks and incarceration, they were still able to praise God and pray to Him.

What is even more amazing is that the other prisoners were listening to them! Despite their circumstances, they not only were able to preserve their faith, they took this opportunity to preach the Word!

Talk about preaching the Word ‘in season and out of season’.

To me, this looks ‘out of season’! I wonder, if I were in such dire circumstances will I be able to pray and sing hymns like Paul and Silas? I would think that is a real test of faith and to have joy in such circumstances really require an absolute faith in Jesus and the promise of eternal life. A few weeks ago, there was a discussion on ‘joy’ in Christians. I feel that this ‘joy’ is probably expressed in dire situations whereby a Christian feels joy because he knows where he is heading and has this absolute belief in the promise of Jesus and looks forward to this eternal Sabbath in heaven.