Recap

So far in Acts, we've read through the introduction, the disciples' time in Jerusalem, the church spreading into Samaria, and then started the missionary trips to the ends of the earth. We noted how Acts, a sequel to Luke's gospel, explores the birth and growth of the early church. Jesus commissioned his disciples to spread the good news from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. He instructed them to wait for the Holy Spirit to empower them and then ascended to heaven.

While the disciples waited, the Holy Spirit came as wind and fire, making God’s people his new temples. Empowered to speak in various languages, the disciples amazed the crowd, and Peter led over 3,000 to salvation. The church was born, and believers lived in community, sharing everything.

Peter and John healed a lame man at the temple, explaining that God’s presence now dwelt in his people. This led to conflict with the priests, who warned them to stop preaching. The believers prayed for boldness and shared their possessions. As struggles arose, the Apostles appointed seven men to manage daily tasks, and the church grew.

Stephen, one of the seven, performed miracles but was accused of blasphemy. He highlighted how Israel had rejected God’s chosen, including Jesus. This enraged the crowd who stoned him. His death triggered persecution, forcing Christians to spread the gospel to Judea and Samaria.

Philip helped spread the gospel in Samaria and was led by God to assist an Ethiopian man with scripture. Meanwhile, Saul, on his way to arrest Christians, was blinded by Jesus, healed by Ananias, and filled with the Holy Spirit. He began preaching immediately, despite opposition. The disciples in Jerusalem were initially wary of Saul, but Barnabas vouched for him.

Peter received a vision about not calling what God made clean, unclean. He preached to Gentiles, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. This led to the Gentiles being included with the believers. A multi-ethnic church was established in Antioch, supported by Saul and Barnabas.

This started the outreach to the ends of the earth. Saul, now going by his Roman name Paul, and Barnabas then travelled to Cyprus and Asia Minor, preaching the gospel to Jews and Gentiles. They saw many saved but also faced opposition.

In Cyprus, Paul rebuked a magician, and God struck him blind, showing His power. In Pisidian Antioch, Jews were angered by the inclusion of Gentiles and chased them out of town. In Iconium, they fled upon hearing of a plot to kill them, and in Lystra, Paul was stoned but survived. Despite the opposition, they established churches of both Jews and Gentiles. Returning to Antioch, they reported their journey’s success, and the believers praised God.

Acts 15-16

While at Antioch, a group of Jews came down to the church there and began teaching that all the Gentiles there had to be circumcised in order to be believers. In order to understand this fully, we need to step back a bit.

Ethnicity in the Ancient world was much less to do about where you were born or what you look like. What mattered the most when it came to ethnicity was the cultural practices you lived by. So if you were a Roman citizen, that lived liked a Roman, it didn’t matter whether you were from. You were Roman.

This wasn’t all that different for Jews. Yes, they took a lot more pride in their ancestral roots and in the fact they were descendants of Abraham. But the other main thing that made them Jewish was their traditions and cultural practices.

This is why Jews hated the Samaritans. In terms of ancestors, they both come from the twelve tribes of Israel. But the Samaritans had abandoned many of their traditions, and so the Jews no longer considered them as Jewish. This will be important for when we get to Paul’s letters, so take a moment to remember this. One of the primary things that made a Jew Jewish was their traditions.

Now, bringing it back to this passage, of those traditions, perhaps the most important one was circumcision. This was the sign of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 17:1-14). To be Jewish was to be circumcised.

And so now God has allowed the Gentiles to be included as his people. The logic is that Jews are God’s people, and they get circumcised to show it. If the Gentiles are to become part of God’s people, they too should be circumcised.

Paul and Barnabas disagreed with this group fiercely, arguing that it was unnecessary. Realising that they were getting nowhere, both sides visited the apostles in Jerusalem to get a final decision made.

After weighing everything up James stands up to give his account of it all. Up until now, circumcision was used as the seal that someone was one of God’s people. But when the first group of Gentiles got saved, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and everyone saw that as a seal from God that was saved.

As believers, this seal is no longer circumcision (which, looking at Israel’s history, didn’t stop them from making poor decision), but being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Happy with this, the apostles write up a letter to be taken to all the churches, explaining that a Gentile believer didn’t need to become Jews to be saved. They didn’t have to adopt all their cultural practices. However, what they did have to do was stop the cultural practices they already had that were ungodly.

Influenced by Greek culture, many of these Gentiles would have engaged in sacrifices to idols, sexual immorality, and much more. While these believers didn’t need to adopt any particular culture to become a believer, they still had to rid themselves of anything in their own cultures that offended God.

Returning to Antioch, Paul and Barnabas explained the apostles’ decision, and the believers there rejoiced.

Now it is time for Paul and Barnabas’ second ministry journey. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them, but Paul disagreed. Tradition says that John Mark is the author of the gospel of Mark and is the young man who followed Jesus wrapped in a sheet (Mark 14:51-52).

John Mark joined Paul and Barnabas on their first journey (Acts 12:25) but then left them halfway through (Acts 13:13). It is likely that Paul was annoyed at John Mark for leaving them before and didn’t trust him to join them on their second journey.

Paul and Barnabas argue heatedly about this, before deciding to agree to disagree and go their separate ways. Barnabas and John Mark go to Cyprus, while Paul takes Silas and goes north through Syria, swinging left to visit many of the churches from his first journey.

Even though Barnabas gave Paul a second chance when no one wanted anything to do with him, Paul is unwilling to give John Mark a second opportunity here.

On his second journey, Paul encounters a young man named Timothy, who was a believer. He decides to take Timothy along with him in his ministry, but first insists he get circumcised. This seems hypocritical when Paul had argued that Gentiles didn’t need to get circumcised.

The difference here is that Timothy is ethnically Jewish on his mother’s side. In order to not give his opponents any room to discredit Timothy, Paul had him circumcised.

Twice, Paul tried to enter a new area and was stopped by the Holy Spirit. The first was into Asia and the second was into Bithynia. Instead, Paul had a vision to go to Macedonia, which is on the edge of Greece.

Travelling there, Paul and his team find a group of women and began sharing the good news with them. One of them, Lydia, becomes a believer and offers her house to Paul and his team to stay.

Staying in Macedonia, Paul continues to preach the good news, and upsets some slave owners by casting out a spirit from a young girl they had been using to tell fortunes. They have Paul and Silas arrested, but the two continue to praise God in jail.

In jail, an earthquake opens all the doors and breaks all bonds keeping their prisons locked up. Paul reassures the jailer that they were all still there and weren’t going anywhere. This kindness shown to what should be an enemy is enough to move the jailer. He asks Paul what he needs to do to be saved, and Paul helps leads him and all his family to Christ.

Eventually, the local officials decide to let Paul go, but Paul challenges them. He is a Roman citizen. He has rights. And they beat him up and locked him up without proper cause.

The officials are terrified by this. Being a Roman citizen carries a lot of weight to it. Not everyone was a Roman citizen. In this, we see Paul’s unique positioning for this ministry God has called him to. His Roman citizenship gives him influence.

Psalm 124

This psalm is attributed to king David and is named as a psalm of ascent. These psalms were sung by worshippers as they ascended to Jerusalem for the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Festival of Weeks, and Festival of Tabernacles) or possibly by the Levites as they ascended the steps of the Temple. Psalm 120-134 are all psalms of ascent. 

Psalm 124:1-5 - The Lord is on our side

Psalm 124:6-8 - The Lord has helped us escape

In this ascent journey we’ve gone from being far from God's presence (Psalm 120), to seeking God’s presence (Psalm 121), and then to reaching God’s presence (Psalm 122). From there, the psalmist has asked the Lord for help (Psalm 123) and then praises the Lord for his protection (Psalm 124).

The psalmist starts with a reflection on what would have happened to them if the Lord hadn’t been on their side. Their enemies would have eaten them alive. Their anger would have built, and like a flood of chaotic waters, their enemies would have swallowed them up. The implicit understanding here is that this didn’t happen because the Lord was on their side.

So the psalmist praises the Lord for protecting them and guarding them. For not letting their enemies consume or trap them. Their helper is the Lord who made the heavens and the earth.