Acts 6:8 – 8:1 Could this be part of Pauls thorn in his side

While reading through acts 6:8 – 8-1 I could not fail to be amazed at the vivid account of Stephen before the council. His speech is one of the longest in Acts and is very detailed. I know that Luke researched his work very thoroughly, but I have been left wondering who spoke to him about it.

Firstly the meeting was held in private and only the council members and their supporters would have been present. Stephen was ‘lifted’ off the street so there would have been no time for the apostles to have shown up, and shortly afterwards the church did a runner out of Jerusalem in fear of the persecution from the Jewish leaders. So who told Luke this detailed account of what Stephen said and the other eye witness elements of the account?

Personally I think that it must have been Saul / Paul. We know he was present at the stoning and since that was an overspill from the council I think it is fair to say he must have been in that meeting. We know that Gamalial was part of the council so it is fair to presume that one of his prominent followers would have been as well.

In Acts 6:15 we are told that “they saw his face like an angel” this is only admissible via an eye witness again this points to someone who Luke had access to after the event someone from the council that was also a Christian at a later date.

We are also told in Acts 7:59 his final prayers as he was dying, again this could only have come from someone who had been a witness to it and we know Paul was there as well. Especially as the stoning would have been done away from prying eyes as it was highly illegal and the Romans would not have been pleased about it.

So if Acts 6:8 – 8:1 are the recollections of Paul I would like to put forward a possible candidate for what Paul calls this “Thorn was given in my flesh” in 2Cor12:7. Could this thorn be his grief and remembrance of the persecution he waged on church which we are informed of later in Acts and the stoning of Stephen?

The full verse is

 

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. “

 

Now I have always been a supporter for the thorn to be a physical illness, now I am not so sure. Maybe this is something more emotional or psychological. Paul calls himself the ‘Least’ of the apostles because of his former action Eph 3:8 & 1 Cor 15:9, so maybe this is what stops him from becoming conceited. This ‘thorn’ is a reminder of what he has done to keep Paul ‘grounded’. It was also a thorn that God did not want to remove, in the next verse we see that Paul has asked three times for it to be removed, but he gets the reply of “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness”.

I don’t really have much more to say about this, it may be complete rubbish but it was just something that caught my eye and got me thinking. I guess in terms of life application it just shows again and again that God will use those who HE will use, and sometimes He will choose the least likely person to do what He wants doing. I think it also shows that even the great hero’s of the bible and early church were real people, with real personalities, real concerns, and real problems…. just like me and you. It also shows that our life as Christians will never be a bed of roses because in our weakness is His true glory and power found.

Feel free to leave yor comments on this I think it could be something to discuss further.

Acts musings – The Apostles before the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:17 – 42)

So I am continuing my trundle through Acts and after the smiting of Ananias and Sapphira and the mini revival that breaks out we find ourselves at Acts 5:17 the trial of the Apostles before the Sanhedrin.

Looking at this it can be broken down as follows

1.       The high priest and his mates hear that the Apostles are doing what they have been told not to do, that is preach in the name and authority of Jesus so they have them locked up, so they can stand trial the next day

2.       Miraculously the Apostles escape from jail, They are told by the angel to preach in the temple courts the next day which they do

3.       The council is brought together but when they send for the apostles the prison is empty. They are perplexed as it is locked and the guards are still there (I bet the guards were non to happy about it). The apostles are spied teaching again in the temple courts and are brought before the court.

4.       They are accused of disobeying the court and Peter replies “Is it better to God than man”, accuses them of Jesus death and tells them that they are working against the Holy Spirit.

5.       There reaction is have them killed until one of their number stands up gives them a  short history of religious uprising which have all failed and  so if this is not of God it will peter out of its own accord

6.       They relent have the Apostles flogged and sent on their way, warning them not to preach in Jesus name again

7.       The apostles leave rejoicing that they have suffered for the name of Jesus

8.       Luke does one of his wrap ups telling us that the Apostles ignored the courts orders and continue preaching and teaching in the Temple

So how do we look at this trial, I think we have to look at the different people involved and their responses to it.

The Temple Guards

Whoops a daisy! Who let the prisoners out? I am sure there were many hard stares and raised eye brows from the Jewish leaders to the guards. If they had been Roman they would have been killed for sleeping on the job, as that would have been the only explanation.

Also think on this the same guards would have been the ones dealing out the flogging at the end or at least their mates would have, somehow I think the flogging might have been a little harder than normal.

The rulers

Put yourself in their position, they had banned these men for doing this activity and they had fragrantly been ignored, in fact from their point of view Peter and Co were rubbing their noses in it. We have to remember that the temple courts were THE public space in Jerusalem. The place to see and to be seen.

Secondly most of the council were made up of Sadducees a religious sect closely allied to the Romans and the aristocracy and said there was not resurrection, and here were the apostles preaching the resurrection of Jesus, a man that the council had perjured and had killed by the Romans. That’s not going to please them is it.

Then they are told that the apostles AND the Holy Spirit (IE GOD) is witness to their crimes against Jesus and his resurrection.

And they turn to their usual means of release… Kill them.

Its new its different how can it be of God, it isn’t therefore stone them….

Here is a warning for us, just because something is different and not been seen before, just because it is a strange person doing it, just because they and not doing it our way, does not make it ‘Not of God!”.

Is our reaction to new things to test them or to just throw them out.

Gamaliel

Now here is one of those strange glimpses of a historical figure, by which I mean outside of the Christian faith is known, in the bible. Gamaliel was a highly respected Pharisee teacher who would over time become the leader of the Sanhedrin and died about AD52 18 years or so before the fall of Jerusalem. He was of the Pharisee party who believed in the resurrection and was the tutor of Saul / Paul.   

It’s unclear what his motives are for speaking up, they could be out of pure wisdom or they could be to get one over the Sadducees who were the main part of the council. Either way he makes a pertinent point that if this is of man then it will come to an end if it is of God then they had best get out of the way as God will have his way.

Here is some real wisdom for us when new things are happening. If things are not clear wait and see what God does, if He is not with them then it will end. However if He is then it is better not to get in His way as we will be fighting against God, which is not really a good place to be.

Maybe a period of fence sitting is worth doing for a short time. To see which way God is leading, through prayer and listening to what he is saying maybe we can discern (or by the gift) whether He is involved and in what way He is involved.

The Apostles

In all this let’s spare a thought for the Apostles they were after all just men like us. Here they are the authorities have told them not to do something. So they go right ahead and do it, which takes guts, conviction and boldness. They are then arrested for doing it and thrown in Jail.

Then they are rescued from jail by an Angel. (We only get a one line explanation of how this was done… oh why can we not have more, was the theme from impossible mission played in the back ground, did they tip toe out of an open door, did the angel teleport them, did they guards become paralysed, did the angel wear camo gear over his shining white dress, or did the angel wear the outfit of a washerwoman to hoodwink the guards….. we will never know L)

Then the angel says “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

So instead of doing a bunk from the authorities they have to go back to the scene of their crime and do it all over again. WHY?

Ever wondered why they had to do that, I didn’t until this week. Why go to all the trouble of sending an angel to rescue them from jail only for them to go back to the temple courts and continue doing their ‘crime’. Surely they could have just been left in the jail to face the leaders, but no they are rescued and then recaptured. Strange really when you think about it. 

Some explanations could be

·         God wanted the Apostles to know He was with them

·         God wanted to show his miraculous power to the people of Israel

·         Maybe God had lined up some specific people to hear the word that morning and he wanted to ensure that they heard it

·         Maybe God wanted the Leaders of the people to know He was with the apostles

We may never know.

However we can learn from the Apostles

They persevered they did as they were told despite the hardships they were facing.

They rejoiced in suffering for Jesus! How many of us to that? Most of us go into pity party mode rather than celebrating it. In fact if you celebrated the fact that you were suffering for Jesus in church you would probably be told that you are not living in reality and were being Hyper-spiritual!! In fact some people would say that when you become a Christian bad things like this should not happen and it’s your lack of faith that gets you where you are.

So I guess to conclude I have learned some things from this passage

·         One God will ask to do things that will put is opposition with some people we are after all in a fight

·         We need to persevere and do what we are asked to do by God

·         We need to test new things to see if God is in them or not, don’t just dismiss things because they are new or different

·         We need to rejoice in our sufferings for Jesus, not in a hyped up way but in oneness with our saviour

·         If you’re a guard, pray you’re not holding some apostles or Gods people that He wants to get moving again, it might not be your fault but you might get the blame!

Wow what a long ramble must learn to get to the point quicker than this!

Musings on Acts 3 – Acts 5:16

I am currently trying to study the bible with the aim of writing a number of essays on what is a church and how we as Christians should interact with. While doing this I am re-reading Acts as a base line for what will come after. So I thought as I go, I would post some of my musing up here for you guys to read and comment on.

These are as I said musings and should not be taken as deep theological learning; they are more like observations than theory texts.

So here is the first one Acts 3 – Acts 5:16

Let’s start with a quick bullet point synopsis

1.      Acts 3:1-9 Peter and John while going up to the temple pass a beggar who asks them for alms but instead he is healed (this is the first example of healing post Jesus’ resurrection

2.      Acts 3:10 – 26 due to the commotion caused by the healed person whooping it up Peter is forced to give an explanation which turns into a Gospel message.

3.      Act4:1-22 Peter and John are taken by the Jewish leaders and made to explain their actions, Peter gives them the gospel. The leaders tell them to stop preaching in Jesus name and let them go

4.      Acts 4:23-31 Peter and John return to the other believers and make their report., The believers pray together for God to give them the boldness to preach more and that God would heal and make many more signs and wonders

5.      Acts 4:32 – 36 Luke summarises the church again, and gives Barnabas as a good example of this

6.      Acts 5:1-11 Ananias and Sapphira are then given as a bad example of this

7.      Acts 5:12-16 Many healings, and setting free of people with unclean spirits.

This to me is a very challenging passage of scripture, for obvious reasons.

Firstly we have the first healing in acts, Peter and John are going where they often went up to the temple to pray and are accosted by a beggar, instead of giving him cash, Peter heals him in the name of Jesus, (Now why does the Life of Brian come to mind here… “penny for an exbeggar!”). This of course draws huge attention to them as the beggar is so overjoyed that he goes jumping around telling everyone about it.

What I like about this is that it’s an everyday day for Peter and John nothing special but God uses them in the ordinariness of their day. Could this be Beatthedrum and Mrs Beatthedrum were walking into Starbucks when they saw one of the baristas has an arm in a sling…. could be! Now there is a challenge! (CHALLENGE 1)

The second thing I like is the fact that what is done cannot be disputed by the religious bigots of the day as the healed man is known and is obviously healed.

Thirdly when they report this to the believers after getting out of the court room the believers think “Hang on, the man was healed and then the gospel was given, not once but twice, THIS IS THE WAY FORWARD!!!” They then pray for more of this kind of ‘ministry’ boldness of preaching with miracles. And the Holy Spirit falls afresh on them in a major way, the room actually shakes. Now do we earnestly pray for this in our time, if the Apostles need it we do? We need to pray for miracles alongside bold preacher (CHALLENGE 2)

Thirdly we then have the summarisation of the believers living together and sharing as one. This is a great picture of the unity of the body so eloquently put by Paul in the Epistles. We are given a good example of this and an introduction to one of the main players for a few chapters later Barnabus, the son of encouragement.

There then follows probably the weirdest passage in the whole of the New Testament. Ananias and Sapphira have sold some land that they owned and have given most of the cash made from the sale to the Apostles. But they lie and say they are giving the full amount made on the sale. And then what happens,  a slight rebuke, No they drop down cold dead…… What’s this has God gone back to the law, aren’t they under grace? Well it looks like God takes this seriously. Why does he kill them and it is Him that takes their life. It’s a bit like Cain and Able we don’t know why Cain’s offering was not pleasing and Able’s was, we are told later but not in Genesis when the story is relayed to us first. Haven’t we all done something similar, told a ‘small’ lie to God, I know I have and to the church leaders, but here I am currently living and breathing………hang on…. nope no smiting here. I think the clue is in the next part…. Maybe we should watch what we say and do! (CHALLENGE 3)

There is then a huge outpouring many are healed and set free; even just with the passing of peters shadow people are healed. This is a major our pouring of the Spirit and Miracles unlike anything seen  since Jesus was strolling around and annoying pig farmers.

This I think is the link with Ananias and his Mrs, God was about to pour out his spirit in a major way and work many miracles, he needed full unity in the body and he wanted the full trust of those who were to do the work for him. The couple had felt that they could not give the whole amount and needed some back but instead of declaring this they decided to lie and cover it up. This shows a lack of trust in God as a provider and/or a lack of trust in the apostles and/or a wish to be raised up and shown in a good light ie Pride.

So here is (CHALLENGE 4) if we are going to cry out for the outpouring of God for boldness to preach and for miracles, we have to look at ourselves and ensure that we are right with him; the way to do this is constant repentance and spending time with Him above all others. We also need to remain humble in who we are, what we do and what we give.  Now there’s a challenge.

Sorry for the long post but I was enjoying myself too much to stop!