Daily Liturgy and Scripture

This scene really is chaos. It’s no wonder: here we have a man who used to be a Jewish leader, teaching a gospel he tried to destroy, teaching other Jews that the laws they had followed all their lives were not God’s final plan. Add to that the inclusion of non-Jews in this new Kingdom, and you really do have a recipe for sheer confusion. Paul stood in that gap, though, and it must have taken immense patience. He endured pain and hardship in the name of this new Kingdom, and we are all part of the fruits of his committing to that work of the Spirit.

The spreading of the Kingdom of Christ isn’t about abstracts, it’s also about the work of the people he has chosen to be involved. This episode of prophecy being used to warn Paul of danger, trying to discourage him from going to a place where his life might be in danger, is an example of that. We are part of God’s plan just as Paul was, and God preserves us for his purposes.

The theme of two of today’s passages is being faithful. Both in Ecclesiasticus as we observe our security being held by God, and Paul’s painful decision to follow the Spirit despite the outcome. It’s a good lesson for us, because it’s not always easy to remain focused on the security we have in God. Sometimes, we’re weighed down by the distractions of whatever is closest to us.

Don’t fall asleep during the sermon! This is a pretty extreme example of what can happen if you do. Although in the defense of the young man who fell asleep, it was a long, long sermon. Still, Paul was ready to see to him, and it certainly must have been one of the more meaningful Lord’s Supper observations in the entire New Testament afterward!

Sometimes the thing we seem to be fighting isn’t really the thing we’re fighting. So it was with the Ephesian silversmiths who brought a crowd into the public square to complain about Paul. So it is with us today, if we aren’t attentive to the Spirit and also to those around us. Perhaps this is also why Paul wrote to the Ephesians that we, “wrestle not against flesh and blood.” Keeping our focus on Christ sometimes means that we overlook the closest problem to find the real one.

The Spirit was moving in a unique way around Paul, and bringing wholeness to peoples’ bodies in connection with the Kingdom of Christ was one of many things going on. But it was not about the tricks, as the Sons of Sceva demonstrate. If God wanted his children to do tricks, be would have made us all magicians. That’s not what we are, of course. We’re messengers with an important story to tell, and we’re accompanied by the Spirit of God, doing what only God can do.

Introducing Apollos into the narrative is proof that the growth of the early Church wasn’t just limited to apostles and Paul. The Sprit was raising up people outside those circles, because the Spirit was the one doing the work. How fortunate that the growth of the Kingdom wasn’t limited to a few celebrity preachers. If that had been the case, it probably wouldn’t have lasted past the first century. Luckily, it was about the work of a living Spirit working in many different places.

Paul really does have a heart for the Jewish people. He also appears to be getting pretty exasperated with them, shaking the dust from his clothes at Corinth to say, basically, “you’re on your own.” But then a few verses later, he’s right back with another group of Jews, trying again to convince them of Jesus’ Lordship. That is the mark of a true calling. It’s not yours because it’s easy, it’s your calling because you can do nothing else.

God is creating opportunities for Paul at every turn. He was waiting for his traveling company in Athens, but God had other plans. Paul finds himself in a myriad of false gods, and he takes that opportunity to use one of the very pagan sculptures to teach hungry hearts about Jesus. Certainly, the Spirit is moving in ways we don’t see. We must keep ourselves in prayer and stay attentive to what that looks like.

You have to give Paul credit for staying with his commitment to the Jewish people. While he definitely saw lots of converts to Christ from among the Jews, he also encountered fierce opposition. It would have been so much easier to forget about the Jews and just go to the Gentiles. But that’s not what he did. Although it was difficult, he stuck with the mission because he knew that God had not abandoned the Jews.