"GRACIOUS"
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Acts 14:15:
We also are men of like
passions with you.
All the Apostles were ordinary men with faults and flaws just like you and I.
Even in their ministries it is evident that many times they leaned in their own
understanding.
In Jerusalem there were believers who were of the Pharisee religion, who held on
to their traditions to some extent, which thought the church should observe the
Law of Moses, including circumcision. (Acts 15:5) After much debate over the
matter, Peter says in Acts 15:7-11 "Men and brethren, you know how that a
good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by mouth hear the
Gospel, and believe. God, which knows the hearts, bare them witness, giving them
the Holy Ghost even as he did us; And put no difference between us and them
purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt you God, to put a yoke
upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to
bear? But. we believe that through the grace (unmerited favor) of the Lord Jesus
Christ we shall be saved, even as they."
The Pharisee group
hindered the Church from growing into a more intimate relationship with Jesus.
Jesus said , "You can't put new wine into old bottles (Wine Skins) because
the bottles would burst and the wine would be wasted." You can't hold on to
the traditions of religious ceremony , the commandments of men and expect a
close and personal relationship with Jesus. The reason for this is simply
because your trying to attain right standing with God by your deeds. Jesus says
that's climbing up by some other way and that makes you a thief and a robber.
(John 10:1) You steal the honor that belongs to Jesus, as if by some wonderful
act you performed you have attained righteousness. In Isaiah 64:6 it says,
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness (Self
Righteousness) as filthy rags. Jesus laid down his life you,. the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world, past, present and future. Only when you
ask Jesus to forgive you can you then attain righteousness. You receive it as a
gift. You rob of yourself, the joy and the peace that Jesus so earnestly wants
to bathe you in. Put away your faultfinding eyes and Jesus will fill you with
his love and let you see people through his eye's. His love will cause all the
transforming you need in your life. Ask him to baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
All changes that will take place will not be a result of some self will
manipulated action, but rather the transformation of the heart from the inside
out.
In Romans 12:2 Paul says,
"Be you transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Paul was instructed in
the ways of religious traditions. He went about persecuting the Christians. In
all of his learning, Paul was ignorant, until he met up with Jesus Christ. Then
he began to preach, the gospel that he in times past persecuted. As if someone
had pulled away the curtains from the window of his understanding, Paul finally
understood the truth. He went preaching salvation through Jesus Christ without
the works of the law; The Lord Jesus bare him witness with signs and wonders.
(Acts 13:39, Acts 14: 8-10)
I find it interesting
that the people who can receive "Grace" as the free gift of God
through Jesus, are the ones who have a relationship with God cultivated by the
Holy Spirit. They didn't learn it in a book, they just understood by revelation
of Jesus Christ. "They are the blessed ones, knowing that they are the
righteousness of God because of Jesus. "This is the heritage of the
servant's of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, says the Lord"
(Isaiah 54:17)
Paul was given to
visions, he cast unclean spirits out of people, and he healed the lame. (Of
course Jesus in him did these works.) He endured difficult trials for his love
toward Jesus. But he wasn't a perfect man. At times Paul's Pharisee back-round
interfered with his understanding. It is very clear to me that when Paul tells
the Corinthian church that it is a shame for a woman to speak in church and that
the woman should learn from their husbands at home (I Corinthians 14-34,35) that
he most certainly made a mistake and it is high time the Church admit it. Yet
people led of the Holy Spirit are able to discern when Paul is speaking from his
own understanding and when he is moved of the Spirit of God because the Holy
Spirit bears witness to the truth. He leaned in his own understanding when he
went back to Jerusalem, despite the fact that the Holy Spirit told him in every
city, "Bond and Afflictions abide me." (Acts 20:23) The Lord warned
him not to go. Sometimes we refuse to listen to the witness or instruction of
the Lord and this can lead to enduring hardships and trials that we bring upon
ourselves. Paul had been given word by the Holy Spirit to go to Rome. (Acts
19:21-22) But instead he tried to blend his personal will in with the will of
God by continuing to journey toward Jerusalem. On his journey, the ship carrying
him docked at Tyre, there he found disciples and again the Holy Spirit warned
Paul not to go to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:4) God gives you ample opportunity to
avoid many troubles, Paul didn't listen, he went even closer to Jerusalem. Paul
didn't fear for his life. Now he comes to Caesarea and stays at Phillip the
evangelists house.
After some days go by,
God sends a certain prophet named Agabus to the house who didn't know Paul. When
Agabus came in the house he took Paul's belt and bound his own hands and feet
and said, "Thus says the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind
the man that owns this belt, and shalt deliver him into the hands of the
Gentiles." (Acts 21:11) Finally' Jesus knowing all things ahead of time
tells Paul what to expect. All the disciples there urged Paul not to go. Paul
said he was ready to die for the Lord Jesus. Admirable yes, but not God's will.
When he came to Jerusalem he was beaten and bound just as the prophet said. The
only reason Paul survived this situation was because Jesus is merciful and
needed him to go to Rome. Jesus used Paul's reckless self-will to finally get
him on the way to Rome. In Acts 22:18 Paul even recounts when he first got saved
that while he was praying in the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus came to him in a
vision and told him, " Get out of Jerusalem; for they will not receive your
testimony concerning me." Paul then tries to convince the Lord that he must
be mistaken, but Jesus said, "Depart; I will send you far away to the
Gentiles." (Acts 22:21)
Jesus is so merciful to
us that even when we do things contrary to his will, he has a way of taking that
circumstance and using it to bring us inline with what he desires for us. But it
is better to avoid the problem rather than endure hardships and trials
unnecessarily.
Jesus said.. "The
children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of
light."
Jesus says, "Be as
wise as the serpent and as harmless as a dove."
The wisest thing you could do
is to listen to Jesus and let him guide you,
instead of you trying to fit him into your plans.
Jesus,
open the understanding of your children.
Amen.
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