Sunday, July 22, 2012,
9:00 a.m. – The Lord woke me with the song “Seven Woes” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. I read Acts 22:30-23:22:
(NIV 1984):
The next day, since
the commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the
Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to
assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.
Paul looked straight
at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all
good conscience to this day.” At this the high priest Ananias ordered those
standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God will
strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the
law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”
Those who were
standing near Paul said, “You dare to insult God’s high priest?”
Paul replied,
“Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written:
‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”
Then Paul, knowing
that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the
Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on
trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.” When he said this, a
dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was
divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are
neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)
There was a great
uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and
argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a
spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” The dispute became so violent that the
commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the
troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the
barracks.
The following night
the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about
me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
The next morning the
Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink
until they had killed Paul…
But when the son of
Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul.
Then Paul called one
of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has
something to tell him.” So he took him to the commander…
The commander
dismissed the young man and cautioned him, “Don’t tell anyone that you have
reported this to me.”
Praying for
Understanding
After I read this passage of scripture, I inquired of the
Lord as to what message he wanted me to take away from this historical record today.
Then, he led me back to the lyrics of the song from this morning, “Seven Woes.”
This song is based off Matthew 23.
Jesus was speaking to the crowds and to his disciples
concerning the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. Although the people had
to obey them, Jesus warned the people not to do what the religious leaders did,
for they did not practice what they preached. They were great about putting
burdens of the externals of the law on men’s shoulders, and were not willing to
remove them for the sake of love and mercy, and/or for following the way of
truth. They followed the letter of the law over and above the spirit of the
law. Everything they did was for outward show and for the approval and praise
of men.
And, then Jesus pronounced seven woes (judgments;
condemnations) against them, which is what the song is based off, and of which
the lyrics reflect. As I read through the lyrics of this song again, in
relation to this passage of scripture in Acts 23, I saw how the lyrics (the
Seven Woes) presented an outline of sorts from which to teach this passage in
Acts, so, with that in mind, I will proceed to share my understanding of the
passage, intermingled with the words to this song, and seek the Lord for
practical application to our lives today.
You keep men from God
Backtracking a little bit here, we learned a few chapters
back that Paul was determined to go to Jerusalem, compelled by the Holy Spirit,
even though he knew that great hardships and persecution awaited him there. Some
Jews there stirred up the crowd against Paul at the temple. They twisted Paul’s
words. Paul had been teaching them about Jesus Christ from scripture, in the
power of the Spirit of God, so they were, in essence, twisting scripture to
their advantage, too, in order to dissuade the people from believing Paul; the
gospel.
Seven Woes / An
Original Work / May 31, 2012
Based off Matthew 23
Woe to you, teachers
of the law;
Hypocrites, you keep
men from God.
You refuse to obey the
truth,
Nor will you permit
others to.
You travel o’er land
and sea
To win a single
convert to you.
When he becomes one
You make him twice as
much
A “son of hell” as you
are.
They accused Paul of teaching all men everywhere against the
Jews and their law and against Jerusalem and its temple. They falsely accused
him of defiling their temple, too. At the core root of their hatred of Paul,
though, was jealousy. He, by the preaching of the gospel, was taking away their
people to become followers of Jesus Christ. This served as a threat to their
positions of power and influence over the people, but they were also bitter
with envy because their people were now becoming followers of Christ and were
leaving the Jewish religion and abandoning Old Testament Jewish laws.
Woe to you, blind
guides of mankind.
You distort the words
of your God.
By your practices you
declare
Your oaths mean
nothing, though you swear.
You give a tenth of
your spices,
But you neglect
justice, mercy.
When you focus your
Time and talents on
What is external, you
miss out.
Paul was now brought before the Sanhedrin for questioning.
The Sanhedrin was a supreme council, much like our Supreme Court in America.
The members were comprised of chief priests, scribes and elders, as well as the
high priest served as the overseer. Sadducees and Pharisees were among those on
the Sanhedrin Council, so Jesus’ seven woes against them definitely applied to
this supreme ruling council to some extent, too. The Sanhedrin heard civil and
criminal cases, so they were an interesting mix of religious and political
leaders, and their authority reached far beyond just the area of the temple and
the Jewish faith.
Woe to you, who appear
so clean,
When inside you are
crass and mean.
You work hard to look
so upright,
While you hide all
your sins inside.
You deceive yourselves
when you think
You would not have
done what others
Did to God’s
messengers
And prophets of old,
For you will do much
the same.
You’re to blame.
The Jews formed a conspiracy and plotted how they would take Paul’s life. They were not content with allowing the court to do their job, but decided to take matters into their own hands. Paul was such a threat to them, i.e. the gospel of Jesus Christ was such a threat to them that they felt it necessary to take immediate and decisive action to get rid of the man, thinking they could stop the spreading of the gospel and that they could maintain their positions of power, rule and influence over the people. But, they thought wrong!
Heart Examination
So, how does this apply to us today? What can we take away
from this story that can be practically used to help us to have closer walks
with Jesus Christ? For one thing, if we are on the receiving end of such
persecution because of our testimony for Jesus Christ, we can be encouraged and
strengthened in the Lord, knowing that he is with us, and he has a plan and a
purpose for this in our lives and in the lives of those we know and meet every
day. We can hear our Lord say: “Take
courage!” And, we can examine our own hearts to make sure we have acted in
good faith in following the Lord’s council and direction, and then we can say
with Paul, “I have fulfilled my duty to
God in all good conscience to this day.”
Also, we can examine our own hearts and motivations and
actions to see if there is any “Pharisee” in any of us. Do we pretend to be
righteous (wear a mask) while knowing that we are holding on to specific sins
in our lives? Do we refuse to obey the truths of God’s word, and by our
lifestyles and actions hinder or even try to keep others from obeying the
truths of God’s word? Do we work hard at gaining human approval and praise of
men, and thus compromise or even deny the truth of the gospel in order to gain
disciples after ourselves? Do we willfully distort or ignore the truths of
scripture for our own advantage? Are we so busy making sure we do all the right
“religious” stuff to look righteous, trying to make sure others do the same, too,
while we neglect true justice and mercy?
Are we more concerned with how things appear outwardly (the
show, performance, appearance), for the approval of men, than we are with the
sinful condition of men’s hearts? Do we clean up ourselves on the outside and
fake being righteous to the right people but inside we are “crass and mean”? [And,
it is usually those closest to us who get the brunt of this, too.] Do we think
we would never do to others what was done to Jesus Christ, to the prophets of
old, and to the apostles, while we willfully reject, mock and ignore those who
are walking with the Lord, and who are bringing to us the truths of God’s word,
just because they aren’t like us, or because they confront us with our sins, or
because they threaten our comfort zones, i.e. they are not culturally
acceptable?
If your answer was “Yes” to any of these heart examination questions,
what response will you give to Jesus Christ? Will you allow him to change your
heart today?
Have
Thine Own Way, Lord / Adelaide A. Pollard / George C. Stebbins
Have
Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art
the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me
and make me after Thy will,
While I
am waiting, yielded and still.
Have
Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me
and try me, Master, today!
Whiter
than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy
presence humbly I bow.
Have
Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded
and weary, help me I pray!
Power,
all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me
and heal me, Savior divine!
Have
Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er
my being absolute sway.
Fill with
Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ
only, always, living in me!
No comments:
Post a Comment