New Road Church

In the arranging of the meeting between Philip and the Ethiopian, God's careful management of circumstances is shown. Had the smallest event preceding this occurred differently, their lives would have taken different paths. Yet this eunuch was one of God's elect, and the Lord would leave nothing to chance. The meeting was carefully engineered by God so that this elect child was brought into the family of God through faith in Christ. Crucial to this conversion was the word of God being read by the object of God's grace. Yet he acknowledged he needed a teacher, and this allows us to comment on God's instrumentation in the use of preachers of righteousness to both broaden and deepen the understanding. We can read the scriptures with Holy Spirit understanding, but God has ordained that our learning is taken a stage further through those who he raises up for this task. Like Jehoshaphat, we should value such servants.

As we consider the last of the four great reforming kings, we see in Josiah a particular element which stands out. 🔸From Asa is seen the importance of having hearts wholly inclined towards God. 🔸From Jehoshaphat, we learn to seek out true preachers of righteousness and regard what they say. 🔸From Hezekiah, the need for a right approach to worship is needed. 🔸And from young Josiah, we witness the rediscovery of the word of God. Even if those other matters are given due attention, reformation cannot take place unless the word of God is central. This last reforming king had come to Judah—but he came too late. Such was the measure of judgement racked up by the nation, God would have mercy on king Josiah only. The book of the law was found to be a messenger of judgement. For us, we have a far superior book, or collection of books. In our Bible, we have the Book of the New Covenant, the Book of the Gospel. How privileged we are to have the gospel! For the perfect righteousness of God cannot be attained through law-keeping but only through faith in the one who can make that perfect righteousness ours by sovereign grace.

Hezekiah's reign was certainly eventful, but what stands out in terms of spiritual application is his reform of worship. He effectively began with a clear-out of that which offended God and a preparation of the priest class. He then gave the country-wide call to an act of worship, to which some responded negatively, other positively. We then consider the end of our worship: the glory of God. Hezekiah provides us with an example from which we can make application if we would see reformation in our time. We are to clear out idols from our souls, respond to the call to worship by our attendance at times of corporate worship, and by the grace of God ensure that our offerings of worship are made in the beauty of holiness, in spirit and in truth.

Reformation needs an appreciation of true prophets. We might alternatively say that a reformation in soul, congregation and church needs God's people to seek out and value genuine preachers of righteousness. Having done this, they hear God's message to them and can more accurately walk in his ways.

This is the first in a four-part series about four reforming kings of Judah. The first is Asa, and his heart was said to be wholly towards God. Why he serves as a good example for us to look to is because of his failings. He was still accepted by the Lord, but he went astray, and we can use this to take care of our own walk in Christ.

Big changes were taking place. The age-old project the Lord had undertaken with the Hebrew people was coming to a close. A great contrast is presented here, with the recent story of the noble persecuted being followed by the great persecutor, Saul himself. Gamaliel had been partly right: after the death of their master, the Christians had indeed been scattered. However, the persecution drove the believers to the very regions which Jesus told his disciples, i.e. Judea and Samaria. This was nothing less than an milestone in creating a worldwide church with one Lord and one Spirit. Simon, the great sorcerer, was held in such high regard that, according to Justin Martyr, they erected a statue of him on the banks of the Tiber. He was held to be a high god. Yet he soon discovered the real power in this world: the Lord Jesus Christ. We use his apparent conversion to consider two types of positive response to the gospel. We start with a true conversion to Christ, with belief in the gospel and its subject, and repentance. The credibility of the profession is enhanced by a baptism and a following of the leaders in the church. All this seemed to be present in Simon's conversion experience. However, we can see what happened next as undermining that credibility in his case. He no doubt thought he could enhance his great reputation even more by being granted this great gift of giving the Spirit, and he therefore tried to buy it from the apostles. He was rebuked in no uncertain terms. Yet prayer was enjoined on him, as there was potentially forgiveness available. It reminds us that even believers rest in the same forgiveness which the repentant sinner seeks in his true conversion.

Having taken on Stephen in debate, the Jewish religionists realise they cannot take the theological high-ground. Instead, they resort to breaking their own law even further by stirring up hatred via the mob and recruiting false witnesses. Stephen gives a potted history of Israel. By this, he shows his credentials as a Jew. However, towards its end he turns the story into a polemic against his audience, accusing them of killing their Messiah and those who predicted his coming: the prophets. He further tells them that they are breakers of the Mosaic Law. His exclamation that he was seeing a vision of the Son at God's right hand was too much, and the crowd drags him away to kill him. We can view the cause of his murder as a clash between his godly attributes and their wicked ones. We notice too the parallels between Stephen's death and that of Jesus. Finally, the definition of "martyr" is explored, and it is discovered that all God's people are to "martyr" themselves through daily sacrifice in God's service.

Either through the baggage of prejudice, carried over from their former lives, or by simple ignorance, a group of believers had been treating others unfairly. The distribution of welfare was not being done equitably. In response to the problem, the apostles direct the disciples to select seven men to oversee the welfare system. Their selection reminds us of a similar problem-instruction-implementation event with Moses, when his father in law urged him to delegate responsibility. The seven met the qualifications for the role, the influence of the Holy Spirit being manifest in their lives. They were inducted, and are probably to be considered as the forerunners of the deacons. The apostles did not think that the other ministries were beneath them; they simply wanted to focus on those duties they felt led by God to fulfil. They would have us find our place of service in the kingdom. We might find that some natural ability leads us to a certain role, or we could be pointed by circumstance to be involved in something outside of our comfort zone. In all cases, we serve humbly, not considering the smallest of roles insignificant in the eyes of God. The determination by the apostles to focus on the core duties of prayer and the word are a great challenge to preachers of righteousness and an equal challenge to congregations to ensure that they do not over-burden their pastors.

The Christian who dedicates their life to service in the cause of God should expect opposition. Yet God never abandons them, no matter how it might appear. The Spirit of God remains, and this explains how saints like the apostles here can be joyful even when going through trials. To strengthen us, we have a promise of God that our final victory is assured. We are still to fight, and some will suffer and die in the battles of this life, but the outcome of the war has already been established by God. Our great hope, our resurrection, spurs us on to serve with this victory mindset.

The apostles find themselves in court again. Their excuse for ignoring the ban on preaching Christ? "We must obey God rather than men." We hear an outline of the gospel message, and we see that this gospel is a trinitarian work. However, it is always Jesus Christ which everything is in reference to, and we see here Jesus described as killed, risen, exalted, and taking on the twin role of prince/leader and saviour. Finally, there is a reminder about the Holy Spirit's work in the believer which can be observed outwardly. For the apostles, it included sign-gifts, which we do not have the power to do; whereas for us, it involves the whole canon of scripture, which they did not possess. Thus we see the various works of the Spirit of Christ done through his people throughout different ages and situations.