Day 91: Of The Lord

Acts 5:17-42; Deuteronomy 25-27; Job 16

 
This man named Gamaliel got it right:  if what Christ’s followers do is of themselves, then it won’t last.  However, if what God’s children do is actually from God, then it will be unstoppable.  First, the power of the Lord to do something cannot be overcome.  He is God and his will is accomplished.  God blesses people who listen to what he says and obeys him.  But, sometimes believers can decide to do something that they think is good, that they think is for the Lord, but really isn’t.  Those things easily fail because God is not in them.  It could even include ministries and churches—people could decide they need to start one, but if they are not doing it for the right reasons, or not doing it for the Lord, then there is a good chance it will not last.  That is what Gamaliel warned the priests about.  He at least understood that the will of the Lord is definite.

So the priests beat the apostles and sent them away—and they were happy?  Why would a person be happy for being beaten?  When I am criticized or hurt by others, am I excited about it?  Of course not!  The perspective that the disciples had was based on the life and death of Jesus.  They believed that to live like Christ, to love him, also meat to suffer like him.  To suffer for the Lord, was to them, a demonstration that they were being obedient to God and making an impact on the world.  See, the world doesn’t always want to hear about Jesus.  Knowing about Jesus requires a choice, and that choice could include surrender, suffering, temperance, and love—hard stuff to do.  So my goal is that I will see that criticism, those hardships, as a sign that what I am doing is worthy of Jesus.

For a while now, I’ve been looking for scriptures that talk about the ways of worship.  Several passages speak of bringing something to the altar, and here in Deuteronomy 25 it talks about placing something on the altar and then bowing down.  Is this one verse the foundation for the “altar call”?  I’m going to look more in the New Testament, specifically Acts, to see what I can find. I just find it interesting comparing today's churches with the times of scripture.

The curses in chapter 27 reveal a lot about what God cares about.  First, that the people need to worship only him. God leads to life, everything else leads to death.  Secondly, most of them have to do with how to treat others:  respecting parents and family, misleading people, murder.  And finally, there are others that deal with the heart and body of the individual:  greed and lust.  The ones that sort of stand out this morning are the verses about someone telling a blind person the wrong way and keeping justice from the poor.   People might literally tell a blind person wrong directions to laugh at them or be malicious.  I think this verse speaks to those with handicaps, either mental or physical.  God cares for those who struggle with those illnesses and so should we.  Of course that verse could also be a bit more metaphorical:  the blind are those that do not know God’s way and if someone tells them a way that does not lead to the Lord, they will receive a curse.  We are to lead people down the right path to the Lord Jesus, not any other “churchy” thing or doctrine.