Monday, July 23, 2012,
5:58 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song “Here is Your God!” Speak, Lord, for
your servant is listening. I read Acts
24:1-21 (NIV 1984):
Five days later the
high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer
named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the
governor. When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix:
“We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has
brought about reforms in this nation. Everywhere and in every way, most
excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude. But in order not
to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us
briefly.
“We have found this
man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.
He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple;
so we seized him. By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth
about all these charges we are bringing against him.”
The Jews joined in the
accusation, asserting that these things were true.
When the governor
motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you
have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense. You can easily
verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. My
accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a
crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. And they cannot prove to
you the charges they are now making against me. However, I admit that I worship
the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I
believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the
Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a
resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. So I strive always to keep
my conscience clear before God and man.
“After an absence of
several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to
present offerings. I was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple
courts doing this. There was no crowd with me, nor was I involved in any
disturbance. But there are some Jews from the province of Asia, who ought to be
here before you and bring charges if they have anything against me. Or these
who are here should state what crime they found in me when I stood before the
Sanhedrin— unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in their presence:
‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you
today.’”
The Accusations
Paul was accused of being a troublemaker, stirring up riots
among the Jews all over the world, of being a ringleader of the Nazarene sect
(division), and of trying to desecrate the temple. He was being accused by the
high priest Ananias and by some of the elders and a lawyer. “The Jews also
joined in the accusation,” Luke said, “asserting that these things were true.”
As followers of Christ, Jesus said we would be treated just
like he was treated, and hated like he was hated. Jesus’ fiercest opponents
were not the people of the world in the general populous. They were the Jewish
religious leaders – chief priests, scribes, elders, Pharisees and Sadducees, et
al. And, so it was with Paul and the other apostles, for they were followers of
Christ, and thus they were treated just like he was, because they dared to
depart from the established Jewish laws and regulations, and because they
taught faith in Jesus Christ (the Messiah) as the only way to God the Father.
This is not about one religion versus another. These men
were Jews, for the most part, and Paul was even a Pharisee, and had been a
persecutor and murderer of followers of Christ before he met Jesus on the road
to Damascus. What this is about is the revealed word of God in scripture, its
fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and that the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for
had now appeared in the person of Jesus. So, the apostles were teaching their
own people how scripture was fulfilled and that the Messiah they had waited for
had now come, and now they were under a New Covenant relationship with God –
the old is gone, the new has come. But, the Jewish leaders didn’t want “out
with the old and in with the new,” because that would threaten their positions
of power and authority over the people.
Today we may face some of the same type of treatment in our
churches from our church leaders, and for some of the same types of reasons.
Only, it is not because we are teaching something new that has not been taught
before, but because the church has seriously strayed away from the teachings of
Christ, and of the apostles and the foundational teachings and practices of the
Christian faith. So, God is sending out his messengers to the church to
encourage and to exhort them to return to their “first love,” and to follow the
teachings of scripture and not the teachings of man, nor the humanistic
philosophies of men. God is commissioning his servants to “bring good tidings
to Zion,” i.e. to bring the real “good news” of the gospel back into the life
of the church. Thus, some of those messengers of God are being faced with
accusations of being “troublemakers,” too, for telling the truth.
The Rebuttal
Paul said it could be verified that twelve days prior to
this inquisition that he had gone to Jerusalem to worship. He stated that his
accusers did not find him arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a
crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. And, he declared that his
accusers could not prove any of the charges they made against him. Yet, he
admitted that he worshiped the God of his fathers as a follower of the Way (of
Christ). He stated that he believed everything that agrees with the Law and
that is written in the prophets, and he had the same hope in God as his
accusers, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the
wicked.
So, what was he saying? He was saying that his goal was not
to destroy the Old Testament or to turn people away from faith in the One true God.
He still believed in the same God and in the same resurrection as the Jews did.
That had not changed. The promise made to Abraham, before the law was put into
effect, was of a seed (Jesus Christ) and of many spiritual descendants from
that seed. The Jews of the Old Testament believed in the same God and same
promised seed that followers of Jesus believe in. Their faith was looking ahead
to the promise, whereas our faith is looking back to the promise fulfilled in
our Lord, Savior, Messiah and King, Jesus Christ. Paul’s goal was not to
destroy the Jew’s faith in God, but to show how Jesus Christ was the
fulfillment of that promise made to Abraham, and how he was the fulfillment of
their faith. And, for that he was being accused falsely.
Paul continued his rebuttal (his defense) by stating that he
always strives to keep his conscience clear before God and man. I wonder how
many of us can say that and mean it. And, then he continued with asking that
those present would state what crime they found him involved in when he stood
before the Sanhedrin – “unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in
their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on
trial before you today.’”
The Defense
In the defense of those who are truly walking with Jesus
Christ, who are listening to his voice, who are obeying his commands, who are
sensitized to the voice of his Spirit, and who are stepping out in faith in
being witnesses for the true gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and to the
worldly church, which has, for the most part, adopted the ways of men and a
watered-down “whole council of God,” I say that we are not troublemakers. We
are not disunifiers or unhappy, disgruntled, complaining people who just want
to make everyone miserable. The Lord Jesus, through his Spirit, has so
impressed on our hearts the spiritual condition of today’s church in America
and the great need for a spiritual awakening (revival), and of the enormous
need to expose the lies of Satan and of false teaching, and to teach what is
true from God’s word, so that God’s people will walk in God’s ways.
Just because someone is different doesn’t make him wrong.
Just because someone is culturally out of place, does not mean he is out of
place with God. Just because someone does something in a way that we have not
seen done before doesn’t mean it is not God’s way. “Normal” by man’s standards is
not God’s norm for us. We need to be so passionate for Jesus Christ, and for
hearing his voice speak to our hearts, and for obeying whatever it is he wants
us to do that we will be willing to be accused falsely, to be rejected and
despised of men, to be thought weird or culturally insensitive, and to be
thought of as a “troublemaker,” for the glory of God and for his service!
We are to continue to lift up our voice, and to not be
silent, and to not be afraid of men and what they might do to us, think of us,
or say about us. We need to continue to say, “Here is your God!” by telling
them who God really is and what his word truly teaches, and by exposing those
false teachings and teachers who would lead God’s people astray. God will give
us all the power and strength we need to keep on speaking, and to not be
silent! We just have to keep putting our faith and trust in him, and allow him
to direct our steps.
Here is Your God!
/ An Original Work / July 18, 2012
Based off Isaiah 40:9-31 NIV
You who bring
good tidings to Zion,
Lift up your voice;
raise with a shout,
And do not be
afraid of the people.
Say, “Here is your
God!”
See how the Lord God
Comes now with power.
His arm rules for Him;
His reward with Him.
He tends His flock
Just like a shepherd,
His lambs in His arms.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told
you
From beginning?
Our Lord sits
Enthroned above all
things.
None to Him compare.
Lift up your eyes
And look to the
heavens.
Who made all of these?
Who calls them by
name?
Because of His great
Power and strength,
All accounted for.
Why do you say,
“My way is hidden
From the Lord, and
My cause forgotten”?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord, He is your
God.
He will not weary.
He gives us power.
Those who trust in Him
Will renew their
strength.
They will soar on
wings
Just like eagles;
Walk and do faint not.
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