The Letter to the Colossian Church- 11

Subtitle: Living out Your New Identity- 2

Colossians 3:12-17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 5, 2025.

In the previous section, Paul had given us a list of the things that Christians need to put off, or to take off.  He generally mentioned in verse 10 that we should then put on the new self that is being renewed into the image of Christ.  The section before us gives a summary list of the virtues and character of Christ that we need to put on.  Essentially, we are putting off everything that is not Jesus and putting on everything that is Jesus.  In order to do that, we will need to get to know him by reading the Word of God and by spending time in prayer with him.

Let’s look at our passage.

Those who have been chosen of God (v. 12-14)

Back in verse 1, Paul used the conditional “if” to challenge them.  “If you have been raised with Christ, then set your mind on the things above.”  This was talking about having a heavenly perspective about things on the earth, doing earthly things for God’s purpose.  This is what the Lord’s prayer is getting out.  “Your Kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The conditional is not used to disqualify them, but rather to underline the importance of the command.

In verse 12, he does something similar.  Here, we have, “As those who have been chosen of God, then…”  This has the effect of tying the theological truth (you have been chosen of God) with a practical result in the way we live life- we will get to what that is in a moment.  Our theology should be logically connected to the way we live our life.  Our walk needs to line up with our talk.  We cannot claim to be a child of God while living like the devil.

So, who are these chosen ones?  God has chosen all those who will put their faith in Jesus, the Christ. 

There are some who challenge this understanding of God’s choice.  They believe it puts us in the place of saving ourselves.  They will typically say that the only reason you choose to follow Jesus is because God first chose you individually.  If He had not chosen you, then you would have never truly believed in Jesus.  At least, this is what they would say.  The problem here is that God from eternity past knew who would do what.  Yet, the contention of such theologians is that God chose people without any thought about what they would do.  He sovereignly chose some and didn’t others.  You may appear to choose Christ, but it is only because God first chose you.

I believe this is a misunderstanding of God and of His sovereignty.  All through Scripture, God is calling for us to choose Him.  “Choose this day whom you will serve!”  “Whose on the Lord’s side?  Come over here!”  The Gospel of Jesus is always presented as something we need to believe without coercion.

Thus, the character of God is such that He will not force us to come to Him.  Both because He is loving and because He is just, it is wrong to conceive of God controlling our ability to choose Him.  However, in the name of upholding the sovereignty of God- by saying He controls everything without anything from us- they actually end up limiting the sovereignty of God.  Essentially, they are saying that God cannot be sovereign enough to carve out a place wherein people can be free to choose Him. 

Truly, we cannot save ourselves even by believing.  The only reason faith can save is because God through Jesus did a real work of paying the price for sins.  A simple analogy is that of a meal.  If God never cooked the meal and put the plate in front of us, none of us are capable of feeding (saving) ourselves.  However, when God in His sovereignty cooks the meal, spreads the table, and calls whosoever will respond to eat at His table, the responding person is not saving themselves.  Rather, they are submitting to the sovereign choice of a God who is demonstrating His saving love to them.  When God puts the plate of grace in front of a person, they are able to believe and respond.   We are not save by our faith, but we are saved through it.

Paul further describes them as holy and beloved.  When you put your faith in Jesus, you become holy.  This does not mean that you walk on water and never sin.  A holy person is a person who has been set apart by God for His purposes.  Similar to a holy bowl in the temple of old, an Israelite should never take the holy bowls from the temple in order to impress people they are having over for dinner at their home.  The distinction is that there are common things that we all do, and there are holy things.  Christians are no longer to live their lives like everyone else, the common people.  We are to live our lives solely for the purposes of Christ.  In fact, the New Testament actually increases the concept of being holy because everything in our life becomes holy now.  We are to do all that we do for the purposes, glory, and honor of Christ.

You are also a loved one (beloved) of God.  The word for beloved is speaking of something done in the past that has continuing effects into the present.  You have been dearly loved by God by the work of Jesus Christ and the bringing of salvation to your door. 

In all of these things, being chosen, holy and loved of God, it is not intended to make us look down our noses at those who do not believe.  God’s love calls all to join the chosen and holy community.  He calls all to repent and join those who have stepped into Christ by faith.  Of course, none of us deserve to be in this place of His love.  However, we have been brought in through the work of Jesus and through our faith in him.

This leads up to a “therefore” moment.  Since you are chosen of God, holy and beloved, you should put on some things that we will get to in a moment.  This begins a list of virtues, or rather, the character of Christ.  It is using the language of clothing that was started earlier in the section on the vices we need to “take off.”  We undress our lives of the things of this world, and we dress ourselves with the character of Christ, the image of Christ.  We are taking off the works that our flesh generates and putting on the character and works that the Lord Jesus Christ generates through the Holy Spirit working in us.

Let me take humility- which we will talk about in a bit- for an example.  We are not called to put on humility as we might define it, or as the world defines it.  We are called to put on humility as it is defined by God and especially revealed through the words and actions of the Lord Jesus.  It is His image we are donning.  We look to him to understand the what and the why of humility.

This world loves to give lip service to love, toleration, justice, equality, and inclusivity.  However, the definition of these things, and how they are actually lived out, often lead to a perverted expression of them.  Seeking these things for the sake of saying we are doing them puts us in the driver’s seat.  It is a form of self justification.  Society will continue to adjust the definitions of these things according to the desires of their sinful flesh.  Christians are called to embrace Christ and let his humility be lived through us.

So what are we putting on?  First, we put on a heart of compassion.  There are two words here, even though some translations will translate it with one word.  The first word refers to a deep place in the guts of a person.  It is best translated as heart, but we might get a glimpse of the meaning in our description of “getting the butterflies.”  Notice that we do not speak of the butterflies as being in our heart, but rather our stomach.  So, the type of compassion they are describing comes from a deep place that is deep within you and is accompanied by a feeling in the pit of our stomach.  In this case, it is not the butterflies (nervous excitement of what is ahead).  It is compassion for someone’s predicament.  You did not cause their plight, but their misery has touched something deep within you and motivated you to action.

Compassion is the first word that God uses to describe Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6.  That Hebrew word also has the emphasis on a deep-seated compassion for those in misery.

We want to be careful of only having a heart of compassion for people that we like, or for people in which it is socially acceptable to help.  Putting on the compassion of Christ will put you at a Samaritan well talking to a woman who is very far from God.  The people around you (even the woman herself) may protest that you shouldn’t do this.  However, Christ expressed the great compassion that God the Father had for her by giving her his compassion in the moment.

We are also told to put on kindness.  Kindness somewhat speaks for itself, but it speaks of a general disposition of goodness towards others.  A person who is kind has a kind of default setting.  They are predisposed to being good, benign towards others.

We are to put on humility as we said before.  This is a lowliness of mind towards others (and God).  Our position or standing does not influence the way we speak and deal with people.  We do not approach them as superiors, nor even as equals.  We come with lowliness of mind, knowing that God helps the humble, but resists the proud.

It is easy to think that you are humble when you think about God.  The real test is in our relationships with one another.  When we think we are smarter than others around us, when we compare ourselves to them and think that we are better than them, we will act in ways that are anything but humble.  How smart and how much better than us Is Jesus?  Yet, how humble was he in the face of men who were clearly wicked?  Did you deserve Christ to come down and serve you by taking your place on a cross?  No, you do not; none of us do.  Lay down your pride and judgments and simply serve others for Christ.

We also put on gentleness.  The gentleness of a person says nothing about how strong they are.  Gentleness at its core is not about weakness, but about control of strength so as not to cause injury.  What is true in the physical is also true in the way we approach one another.

Of course, we should remind ourselves that these virtues of Christ are not some kind of law.  When Jesus whipped the men out of the temple, it did not look gentle.  We are to be gentle with one another, but sometimes a strong word and strong action is necessary.  However, it must be the image of Christ and the Spirit of Christ that is governing our words and actions in that moment.

We are to put on patience.  The word here has the idea of a long fuse.  We need to be slow to anger (another virtue that God uses to describe Himself in Exodus 34:6).  You need to take off your short fuse and put on a long fuse, and not long as you define it.  We put on the long fuse of Christ with one another.

In verse 13, Paul moves deeper in the virtues, showing how they lead to virtuous actions.  It is not enough to think virtuous thoughts.  Such virtues will and must always lead to virtuous action.

Bearing with one another is the picture of someone who may need to be carried from time to time.  It is never convenient to have to carry someone, but love compels people to use our strength to help the weak in whatever form it occurs.  In fact, we all need to be carried, whether metaphorically or literally, at times.

What do I mean about a metaphorical carrying?  None of us are perfect, despite the attitude of some.  There is a certain heaviness that others experience in those less than perfect moments.  The choice to either overlook, i.e., not make an issue of something, or to bring up the issue, but with an attitude of love, is a heaviness that others must carry in the presence of my differences from Jesus.  Some of these are sin.  I am disobeying the commands of Christ.  Others are simply offenses.  My personality is grating on yours, and of course, those differences can lead to overt sinful choices.  When we ask for forgiveness and extend forgiveness, we are choosing to carry the weight of one another.  When we step in and help in moments that were even caused by the lack of foresight of the other, we are choosing to carry them.  We should make room for one another by not holding on to the sins and the offenses that others have done to us.  Perhaps we should think of it this way.  Our sinful flesh would rather hold on to the weight of the sins and offenses, never letting go, when Christ would have us drop the list we are keeping and carry a different weight, the burden of love for a person.

The best way to begin carrying a person is to pray for them.  Ask God to change your heart.  Ask Him to help you see what you can say, or not say, do, or not do.  Be committed to a good relationship in the name of Jesus.  Ask for wisdom on how what things should be overlooked as trivialities and what things need to be addressed in love.  Ultimately, be committed to carrying the weight of working things out with a person who may not be easy for you.  In fact, I am sure that all of us have people who have found it hard to carry us in such a way.

Paul’s next point of forgiveness is a natural next point as I mentioned above.  We all need to learn to forgive each other.  Of course, there are times when people persist in belligerence and refuse to get along.  However, Paul is calling us to this commitment of love.  Love forgives.  Love refuses to hold on to a record of wrongs.  Love never quits!

Paul says the same thing in another way.  “Whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”  Think about this.  Did Christ forgive you of your sins because you became perfect?  No.  It was first because he loves you and secondly because you responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  We must be quit to let go of complaints in forgiveness.  If a person refuses to deal with offenses, we are still to move forward by keeping the door open for reconciliation.  Here is a prayer to try.  “Lord, this offended me, and it is hard to let go.  I turn this over to you and trust you with whatever happens.  Let me do only what you want me to do.  Let me say only what you want me to say.”

Verse 14 then states, “Beyond all these things…”  Some versions say “Above all these things…”  Since Paul has been using the language of clothing, it may be better to translate this as “On top of all these things…”  This final thing is like the outer cloak that everyone would recognize as your cloak.  It is the signature touch to getting dressed in the Character of Christ.  We are to put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Thinking of love as if it were clothing may seem strange.  However, it makes sense.  Love is something that is not generally welling up from within our soul.  It is often the conviction of the Holy Spirit pointing us to this thing called love that challenges us to pick it up and clothe ourselves with it.

Although love will help people to have a bond of unity, this most likely refers to love as the virtue that ties all of these character traits together into a bond of perfection, or a unity of full maturity.  If we only contemplated these character traits as individual items on a list, they may be twisted beyond the point.  It is love that teaches us when gentleness must give way to a firmness and perhaps to a harsh word.  All of these things should be seen as facets of love which ties them all together into a perfect man, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Love is being committed to the good and well-being of another as God defines it.  Jesus said it best.  “Love one another as I have loved you!”

How did Jesus love us?  He did it with his whole heart, even when it hurt, sacrificially, undeniably, outwardly, etc., etc., etc.  He is calling us to love one another this way.

Some further exhortations (15-17)

In verse 15, Paul gives them an imperative. However, it is an imperative about letting something happen to you that God will do, if you yield.  You are the question here, not God.

We are told to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.  The word for “rule” here has the idea of an umpire.  In other words, let the peace of Christ have such a position in your heart and mind that it is calling the shots and grading our attempts.

The Colossians were dealing with some men who were coming into their church and making judgments about how they were serving Christ and what they believed.  Some disconcerted Colossians were listening to these men and following their judgments.  Yet, Paul knew that these men were leading them into the philosophies of men and the legalism of religionists.

This admonition to let the peace of Christ call the shots in your life would be a protection against those who would try to trouble our hearts about whether we were acceptable to God or following Him correctly.

The peace of Christ can be seen in different ways.  First, it is the peace that Jesus creates between us and God the Father.  In Jesus, we can know that God the Father does not see us as an enemy.  He sees you as His child.  This knowledge can be a protection when others try to scare you about how God sees you.

However, the peace of Christ can also be seen as something that is an internal experience.  Just as Jesus stood up in the boat and cried, “Peace!  Be still!,” so we have many times when we need the Spirit of Christ to silence the internal troubled waters.  This comes as we spend time in prayer, seeking His wisdom and direction.

Finally, the peace of Christ can also be the external experience that believers have between one another. In the context of this passage, all of these have their place.  They work in a three part combination.  My relationship with God the Father leads to an inner experience, which can then lead to working for the external peace between brothers and sisters.  We have been called to this peace of Christ in one body (vs 15) by One Lord and One Spirit!

This is the work that the Spirit of God will do and is even now doing in our fellowship with one another.  However, you, I, need to cooperate with this purpose of His.

He qualifies this activity with the phrase, “and be thankful.”  This is the first of three times that he reminds the Colossians (us) to do these things while also being thankful.  Have you ever done something you were supposed to do, but with the wrong heart, perhaps begrudgingly?  Yes, we need to work for peace between us, but we need to do so without complaining to God about others.  Yes, this is hard, but God is in it.  Trust Him!  Give thanks that you are not doing this by yourself.  You are partnering with One who is greater than anything you may face!  Give thanks!

The second thing that we need to let happen is that we need to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.  The Word of Christ is firstly the Scriptures.  Not just the words that are in red, but the whole thing.  All Scripture is God-breathed, and the spirit of prophecy is Jesus.  Read it and bring it into your heart and mind.  Take ownership of this need to have God’s Word dwelling in you.  Yes, churches and pastors are handy, but take time to go further.  Ask God for a love of His Word.  The idea of the Word dwelling richly in our hearts has to do with the fruitfulness of the Word of God.  It is a seed that is intended to grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  Take time to prepare the soil of your heart.  Till up the hard parts, roll out the big rocks, and spend some time weeding in your heart so that God’s Word may be fruitful in your life.  This is its normative effect.  This is why we do not read the word as a mere exercise in quantity.  Rather, we spend time praying about what we read and meditating on it.  We spend time fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit over what the Word is saying to us.

Paul adds to do this with all wisdom.  This does not mean our wisdom, but the wisdom of Christ.  This too is a part of our prayers and meditations.  They had received wisdom about the Scriptures from Christ and his apostles.  When others come along later and try to trouble the waters, wisdom would say to be careful.  You already have everything you need in Christ.  Turn back to Him instead of looking to a man on this earth.

He continues telling them to be teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  Of course, we can teach and admonish without singing, but there is something about singing that takes God’s Word to the next level.  In some ways, it is a spiritual warfare that pushes out the enemy.  It is easy to say words that you don’t believe, but it is much harder to sing them.  In fact, a person may begin singing half-heartedly, but songs have a way of lifting us and calling us to a higher place of worship. 

Yet, notice the second occurrence of thankfulness.  “Singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  In the midst of heavy brothers, offenses, and forgiveness, in the midst of attempts to take off cruddy clothing and to put on the attire of Christ, we can sing with thankfulness and gusto because we are doing it for Christ!  He ain’t heavy; He’s my brother!  How can a heart sing this, say this, without first coming to grips with the Lord who has carried us all and made us to be brothers to Himself?  Even in the midst of stony hearts and hurtful actions, we can be thankful that the God is working out His salvation in us and through us!

Singing to Christ about the glories of who He is, what He has done, and how we are called to be like Him, can drive the devil out of a situation and put our hearts in the right way.

Verse 17 then becomes a summation to this section.  “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  Everything I do or say should be done in the name of Jesus.

What does that mean?  “In the name” speaks to doing these things in His place.  You are to be Him in the lives of others.  Your goal should be to let Jesus do through you what He would do if He were there.  It also has the idea of doing it in the reputation of Christ.  Everything we do can affect how people see Christ.  Of course, this can be intimidating because we are not perfect.  Still, I am representing Him and should not act in such a way to dishonor Him.  What do I do if I have acted selfishly and not as Christ would have me?  Be honest.  Confess your error and ask for forgiveness.  Point people to the truth of Christ rather than yourself.

Finally, “in the name” also speaks to doing these things in His purpose, as an ambassador, and as a service unto Him.  If we were more conscious of this in everything we said and did, we would be far more circumspect in our actions towards one another.

He then reminds us for the third time to be “giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”   How can we get a heart like this, a heart that does tough stuff with a thankful and cheerful heart?  We can only get it from Jesus, one day at a time, one dying to self at a time.  May God help us to truly believe that He can help to transform our hearts over time and lead us in living out the image of God that He so perfectly revealed and is even now inspiring within us.

New Identity 2 audio

The Character of God- Part 3

Subtitle:  God is Compassionate

Exodus 34:6-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 22, 2024.

Over the last two weeks, we have looked at the greater context of this passage, which shows God’s promise to help humanity at The Fall in the Garden of Eden.  We then looked at the immediate context of God’s miraculous deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt and bringing them to Mt. Sinai in order to make a covenant with them.

Today, we begin looking at the 5 character descriptions that God gives of Himself in Exodus 34:6, which begins with God being compassionate.

As we approach Christmas, it is fitting for us to contemplate the incarnation of Jesus as the compassion of God.  Jesus is the compassion of God that has come down to earth to lift us out of our predicament.

God’s compassion for Israel

In the immediate context, God’s actions toward Israel has been a demonstration of His compassion.  I’m talking about the supernaturally powerful way that God delivered them from Pharaoh and his armies.  They were redeemed out of slavery and back to the inheritance that had been promised them through the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  They are brought to Sinai to create a covenant that is sometimes pictured as a marriage.  They are declaring that Yahweh alone will be their God, and Yahweh is declaring that He will make them His special people.

It would be good to define exactly what is meant by the compassion of God.  The Hebrew word in this verse is ra-‘khum and comes from a related noun ra-kha-mim’ (adj.=compassionate, noun=compassion).  This word has an inner and an outer aspect that we will look at.  But, I would like to mention something else before we get into that.

There is a sense that all character descriptions of God are simply facets of a unified being of God that underlies it. It might be better to think of all these different character traits as a facet of love.  God in His being is love, and that love manifests in many colorful ways.  They are all love, but they take on particular aspects of love.  That is what is happening with compassion as we break down what it essentially means.

The inner aspect of compassion refers to a deep-seated feeling (i.e., down in your guts, aka visceral).  This deep-seated feeling involves a softening towards the plight of another.  It is the part of us that sees someone in their difficulties and melts towards their need instead of being hard towards them.  There is typically a natural connection that elicits the emotion, and sometimes even a direct relationship.  This can be one human to another (simply because they are human), or as close as a father and mother towards their child.  In fact, in this passage, we are contemplating an inner softening in the heart of God towards His human creations.  He could have been hard towards the plight of Adam and Eve.  He could have been hard towards the plight of the people of Israel.  Instead, God saw them and was internally softened towards their situation.  He is their Creator.  He made them to be human imagers of Himself, and compassion for them, for us, was deeply felt within Himself.

Yet, there is always an outer aspect to compassion.  It is not a word that only speaks of a feeling.  It also refers to the action that results because of this inner softening.  Sometimes the context of these words may focus on either the inner or the outer aspect, but it is never understood that the other did not happen.  They go hand in hand.  It is the inner compassion of God that drives the external actions of God’s compassion towards us.  He is compelled by His own compassionate character to do something compassionate towards our need.

It is worth pausing at this point and asking yourself this question.  Do I truly believe that God feels compassion and exercises compassion towards me, towards us all?  I say this because there has been a targeted campaign by the devil and his angels against the character of God.  Yes, he makes this case through people, but he does so through tempting rationales like he used with Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden.  He accuses God of not being trustworthy, having an ulterior motive, lying, and even keeping Adam and Eve from something good.  So, he tempts us to disbelieve the truth about our compassionate Creator.

God has always been, and even now is, perfect in His compassion towards us all.  He has helped us at all times along the way, but especially through Jesus.  The flip side to God’s compassionate help is our often unwillingness to accept His help.

In the final verses of Exodus 33, God tells Moses what He is going to do in this revelatory event of Exodus 34 that we have been talking about.  In verse 19, He references His compassion.  “Then He said, ‘I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you.  I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’”  Essentially, He is declaring that He is sovereign in His compassion.  There is no one who can charge Him with a lack of compassion and so force Him into a particular action.

This causes some to think of God as being whimsical or capricious.  If God is such, then you can never know if you will have His compassion or not.  Perhaps, you would even believe that your own smallness would mitigate against any probability that He would have compassion on you.  This is not what is meant in this verse.  God is sovereign in His compassion, but it is not talking about a sporadic event that only falls upon certain special people that He whimsically picks. 

God’s compassion is not something He does from time to time to break up the monotony, as if He were playing with people.  Rather, the very being of God is compassion.  His actions are not like a New Year’s resolution, i.e., not like us.

This begs the question.  How can I be one to whom God wants to give compassion?  The truth of Scripture is that there is a foundational compassion that everyone has received.  God in His compassion has made salvation and help available to us.  However, we have to have faith in Him in order to take hold of it.  Jesus is the compassion of God.  There is no access to His compassion by ignoring Jesus and trying to sue for it on other grounds.  Even those who are rejecting God’s compassion in Jesus are swimming in the compassion of God.  They may not recognize it.  They may push it aside and go after something they think is better.  But, God’s compassion is all around us at all times.

All of God’s actions, even judgment, are impacted by His compassion.  Yet, they are also informed and affected by His wisdom and knowledge.  Imagine a child complaining that the parents are not being compassionate because they won’t give him some particular item that he fancies.  It is generally not until a child becomes an adult and matures that he comes to see that his parents were compassionate towards him, perhaps especially when they didn’t give him what he wanted.  God knows things that we cannot.  He is infinitely wiser in His decisions than we ever could be.  Thus, there is a part of this discussion about God’s character that calls for true humility on the part of us as humans.

Let’s dial back to the context of this event in Exodus 34.  When God first approached Moses about Israel’s slavery (Exodus 3), it can be read as primarily a judgment upon Egypt.  However, the story is primarily an action of God’s compassion for Israel.  Look at Exodus 3:7-8.

God gives several descriptions that help us to understand His compassion.  He states that He has “surely seen” the affliction of Israel, and that He has “heard their cry.”  He even states, “I know their sorrows.”  I can imagine that many Israelites were even then complaining that God doesn’t see or care about their sorrows in Egypt.

This then leads to verse 8, “so I have come down to deliver…”  The word to deliver has a sense of rescuing, even snatching them out of the hands of Pharaoh.  Thus, even though we can talk about God’s compassion for all humanity, in some situations, there is one part of humanity oppressing another part.  It can also be that both are mistreating one another.  God’s takes all of these things into consideration by His knowledge and through His wisdom.  Yes, God still cares about the Egyptians, but He also cares about all of humanity.  Israel was a key part of His plan to help humanity.  If God is to help all humanity, then He must step in to save Israel.  Yet, how He does it involves a wisdom that we can only superficially know.

I don’t know if we understand just how huge this statement of seeing, hearing, knowing, and coming down, is.  Humans have forever charged that God can’t know what it is like to suffer.  If He did, then surely He would do something about my/our situation.  Yet, when we are completely honest, we will come to see that God is compassionate, but also wiser than we can fully comprehend.

You actually have to get away from suffering before you can gain perspective on it.  When you are in the middle of suffering, it is hard to process your grief and emotions.  I believe that God has compassion upon our difficulties while suffering. 

When you and I imagine God having compassion on us, it does not involve Him coming down and becoming like we are in mortal flesh and vulnerable.  We want Him to strike our enemy down with fire from heaven, but what good does becoming weak like us do?  Well, God’s compassion is much deeper than we often want it to be.

You see, God’s compassion is not just about the difficult situations that may keep us down.  He also has compassion for our enslavement to sin and the consequences it brings.  Yes, He cares about your external situation, but He also cares about our internal slavery to sin.  This is a much harder problem to help.

Our natural bent is to think that God is not compassionate because of difficult things we have experienced and the things that we don’t have.  But, God made you for something greater than you may want to embrace, at least not yet.  Yes, God saw Israel in its external slavery.  Yes, God sees us in our external problems.  But, He also sees something worse in us that needs His help.

We all have different sins that we are drawn towards.  We may even find ourselves in bondage to those sins thinking that God has abandoned us.  We would be like Israel wondering where God is.  Why did He leave them in bondage for so many years, if He was eventually going to deliver them?  They needed to see their internal bondage, but often it is only our external bondage that opens our eyes to the internal bondage of sin.  We may be willing to give lip-service to God and His promises, but at the end of the day, we tend to want to do whatever we please without repercussions.

God saved Israel from Egypt, but their sins kept pulling them away from God and into bondage throughout their time in the “Promised Land.”  Eventually God let the kingdom of Israel be torn in half (north and south).  He later let each of them be conquered and taken into exile, slavery again.  Yet, even in exile, God promised through His prophets that He would have compassion upon them.  Let’s go to Isaiah and see some of these promises.

God’s compassion for humanity (Isaiah 46:3-4 and 49:5-6)

In this passage, God references the birth of Israel from the womb.  By the way, the word for womb here comes from the same root for compassion.  It isn’t the only word for womb, but it is the one used here.

God uses the picture of a mother carrying her newborn baby.  He states that it was He who carried them in their “young age” (as a fledgling nation), and it will be He who carries them “even to your old age,” which must represent their nation being at a place of going out of existence.  God tells them that He will “save” them.  The word for saving them is related to the idea of delivering a baby.

Israel continually had trouble with being unfaithful towards God and turning towards idolatry.  Eventually, God would hand them over to their choice, which always led to bondage.  God in His compassion for Israel (and for us) gave them over to the bondage of their (our) sinful choices.  It is His deep compassion that wrestles with us over our stubborn sin.

It is easy to fear as our predicaments become stronger, and we become weaker (much like a person growing old).  Three chapters later God brings Isaiah back to this again (Isaiah 49:5-6).

The book of Isaiah has a section from chapters 42 through 53 where there are four “servant songs.”  This passage is part of the second one.  They are pictures of, and interactions with, the Promised Messiah.  Here, we have Messiah [Jesus] declaring what God had told him.  Messiah was formed to save Israel!

However, we also see that God says saving Israel is too small a thing for such a Messiah.  The Messiah will also be a light to the nations so that God’s salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.  You see, God had compassion on Israel, even a compassion that was filled with tough love.  But, in the end, His compassion was not just for Israel.  He had compassion for the rest of the nations as well.

This is where the greater context of the book of Genesis is intended to be understood in Exodus 34.  The tragedy of the Fall in the Garden (Genesis 3), the tragedy of man’s rebellion and destruction in the Flood (Genesis 7-8), and the casting off of the nations at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) may look like God just keeps picking favorites and getting rid of everyone else.  This is far from the truth, however.

Each of these events were accompanied by promises of God to help humanity.  God disciplines humanity, but through it, His compassion has always been present in the promise of the serpent-crusher, the Anointed One of God.

Think about it.  If Israel worried that God didn’t care about their situation, how much more could the Gentiles worry that God didn’t care, or even give up hope on His care?

Yet, later in Isaiah 49 (verses 14-15), God meets their complaint of being abandoned, forsaken, and forgotten, with the image of a nursing woman.  Can a mother forget her nursing child (i.e., helpless)?  Generally, the answer is no, though a broken world can stomp motherly compassion out of some moms.  Even if it happens among humans, God will not forget Israel.  It may feel like He has forgotten them, but this is simply not true.  Yet, at the same time, God cares about the Gentiles too.  He cares about the “light,” the truth, that they are seeing about His true character.  He cares that they are reached with the good news of His faithfulness, even to promises that are millennia old.

Jesus emphasized this faithfulness to his followers before he left to ascend into heaven.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you, even to the end of the age.”

God does care about us, and He has compassion for us.  Yet, in His wisdom, He deals with us in ways that is best for overcoming our sin.  This is true for individuals, but also for people groups, even all of humanity.  Jeremiah was a righteous man, but he witnessed the destruction of Israel.  God’s compassion to him and to Israel was not just focused on external circumstances (like we want it to be).  It is even more focused on internal slavery to sin.  His compassion is bigger than my external situation, bigger than my individuality, and bigger than any one group of people.  It involves all of humanity.

Genesis, Exodus, and the whole Old Testament, are about the promised compassion of God centered in the being we call Messiah, Christ.  This is Jesus.  Over 2,000 years ago, Jesus was born into this world as a baby in Bethlehem.  He is the compassion of God, however, not in the form we wanted.  Yet, he is in a better form than we could have hoped for.  Just think of how easy it is for humans to idolize a person.  We tend to idolize the wrong people because of our sinfulness.  Thus, even embracing Jesus as our Messiah becomes a test of us.

How can the life of a man 2,000 years ago help me today?  Let’s look at what the followers of Jesus discovered about him.

John 14:8-9

In this passage, we see that Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father.  In this moment, they discover that Jesus wasn’t just teaching them about God, but that they were seeing God the Father by seeing him.  Yes, Jesus was human, but in a way they couldn’t understand, he was a perfect picture of what the Father was like.

God in His compassion did not wave a wand over the world in order to fix it.  He didn’t say a word and destroy all of the evil in the universe.  Rather, He joined us in the suffering so that we can see that, all along, it was He who has suffered without us understanding the depths of it.

He who made the eye, does he not see?  He who made the ear, does He not hear?  He who made pain receptors, does He not feel pain?  Sometimes, God lets us feel pain so that we can come to realize the pain that He has endured from before the foundations of the earth.  He is not untouched by everything.  He is in intimate contact with every part of His creation at all times.  As He created, He had already counted the cost and foresaw the price of suffering He would have to pay.  He could heal the pain, and it would be worth it.

We may be angry that God allows their to be consequences to sin, i.e., living life adverse to His wisdom.  Yet, the consequences themselves are an invitation from God to join Him in His suffering, particularly through Jesus.  In Jesus, we are enabled to see just how much God feels about our sinful condition, and what He is willing to do to save us from it.

The amazing thing is this.  When we enter into his suffering, our suffering suddenly takes on meaning.  Victor Frankl spoke of the value of purpose and meaning when a person is suffering.  We can suffer anything, if we think it has purpose and meaning.  In Jesus, the purpose and meaning of suffering takes form.

So the disciples came to understand that seeing, hearing, and following Jesus was to see, hear and follow God the Father.  This is at the heart of the first chapter of John’s Gospel.

John 1:14-18

John describes Jesus in this passage as the very Word of God that created all things.  More than this, he is the glory of the only Son from the Father.  He is full of Grace and Truth, which are two descriptions of God’s character in Exodus 34:6.  John speaks of him existing before himself, even from the beginning of creation.  Lastly, John sees Jesus as the only one who came down from God to reveal him.  He is not just another prophet.  He is God with us, Immanuel.
Let me close by reminding us of the life of compassion that the Lord Jesus lived.  He did not come to pat the elite of Israelite society on the head.  Rather, he spent his time among the common people, the poor, the lowly, the diseased, and the oppressed.  He didn’t do this because they were righteous.  He did this because he was the compassion of God.

It was often said that he was “moved with compassion” at the multitudes.  He touched lepers and cast out evil spirits.  In Matthew 23:37, Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

Notice the big problem with compassion here.  Sometimes the people you are trying to help are actually running from true help.  Sometimes, you have to step back and let them suffer the consequences before they will be open to true help.

Jesus sent his disciples out to share the truth of God’s love, God’s compassion for all those who want it.  May we stop complaining about our lot.  May we start praising God for His loving compassion, and the honor we have to represent it to others.  May we turn from our sin and follow the Promised One from God who leads us in victory over sin, the devil, and a world that often chooses evil over Him!

God is Compassionate audio

The Acts of the Apostles 51

Subtitle: Struck Down by God

Acts 12:20-25.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 13, 2023.

We are going to talk about the judgment of God today.  Judgment is not only about negative things.  It essentially speaks of a decision.  In a courtroom setting, a judge, or jury, will render a decision regarding what actually happened, and what will set it right.  Biblically speaking, we are to give the decision of God, Who is perfect righteousness and not a respecter of people.  He is not swayed by the rich and the powerful, but neither does He automatically give all decisions to poor people.  He renders a decision of truth and righteousness. 

Of course, not all judgments are between two parties.  God makes decisions regarding each of us as individuals.  He works in our lives to offer us a love of the truth.  Our decisions in response to His decisions will bring forth His next decision.

God's decisions can also differ in their permanence.  Some are quick and permanent such as Herod Agrippa's death in our passage today.  Other decisions are slower and less permanent, leaving greater room for repentance (God trying to get my attention), but in the end, they all lead to a permanent and final decision from God, one way or another.

Some struggle with cases where it seems that God allows evil to continue without judgment, and others struggle with situations in which it seems that God does not protect the righteous.  You may have noticed that I used the word "seems" in those sentences.  We don't know all of God's decisions, nor all of what God is doing.  Yet, we can be confident, as the Word of God reveals, that it is God's decision to work for the good of those who love Him and believe on Jesus, and that it is His decision to work for the destruction of those who refuse His mercy.

Only God is able to make decisions that affect the whole sea of humanity in a righteous way.  He deals with us as individuals, but He also deals with us as a part of a group (even many different groups).  Even with Artificial Intelligence, we will not be able to duplicate the wisdom of God.  So, let's not even try to build an AI god that we can bow down to in worship and receive decisions for all of humanity.  What do you think?  Is that a good plan as we go forward?  I think so.

We have already tried artificial gods.  What is the devil and his cohorts, but artificial gods, pretend gods.

In the end, the wicked will not go unpunished, and the righteous will receive the reward of God Himself.  Twice in Isaiah, as he comforts Israel with God's planned mercy, they are warned that there is no peace for the wicked.  In other words, it doesn't matter whether you are in Israel or the Church.  God will not give His peace to the wicked.  So, those who build wicked empires under the umbrella of either cannot claim the promises of God for mercy.  If they want those, they will need to repent of their wickedness and follow Jesus.  To the wicked, God will give no peace, but to the righteous, the repentant, He has peace like a river!

Let's look at our passage.

Herod Agrippa steps over the line (v. 20-23)

If you are trying to figure out where "the line" is, whether as a kid with your parents, an employee with a boss, or a person with God, we can always find the line by continuing to push forward.  You will find the line, but it will be after you have crossed it, after it is too late to help you (at least in that moment).  The repercussions of finding the line of God's grace are devastating, destructive, and often permanent.

Herod Agrippa I came on the scene of Israel relatively quickly from a standpoint of ruling.  Between 38 and 41 AD, he went from ruling over a small area around a city near Damascus to ruling over all of the territories that had been known as Israel.  Since the death of Herod the Great circa 1 BC, Israel had been broken up into at least four different kingdoms, sometimes ruled by Herod's offspring, and sometimes ruled by Roman appointed governors.  Thus, it had been 40 plus years since there was one king over all of Israel.

This caused many of the people to think that God was restoring the kingdom to them.  It helped that Herod Agrippa was very favorable towards the temple, its priests, the annual feasts, and he even would read The Law of Moses (Torah) during the feasts. It also helped that he had begun to deal with the apostles of Jesus.  This would make him a "Defender of the Faith." 

The Christians knew that they were mistaken.  God was not yet restoring the Kingdom.  The leaders of Israel would have to repent and believe on Jesus before "Times of Refreshing" could come from the Lord.

In his arrogance, Herod steps over the line and God removes him quickly (i.e., within three years, so much for the restored kingdom and the Defender of the Faith).  Israel would never again have a king ruling over all Israel.

Our story starts out by mentioning a tiff between Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon, two cities north of Israel on the coast in what we would call Lebanon today.  We are not told why Agrippa is angry with them.  However, it affects their ability to obtain food, which mainly came from areas within Israel at that time.  Herod had clearly cut them off, and the city leaders are trying to get back into Herod's good graces so that they can have food again.  The first century Jewish historian Josephus tells us that Agrippa had been holding games in honor of Caesar.  During this time, the leaders of Tyre and Sidon talk Blastus, a personal aid to Herod, into helping them get back into his graces.  They put on a festival to celebrate people who are taking vows for the sake of Herod Agrippa's safety (how ironic).

We should notice that we keep running into people trying to curry favor with a higher power: Herod with Caesar, the leaders of Tyre and Sidon with Herod, and later we will see that there are also flatterers of Herod involved.   In this case, the festival is doing something religious to curry favor with a man.  This is a terrible motivation that would never be acceptable to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us that those who swear before God, making oaths to Him, should not do that at all.  Rather, we should simply let our "‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’"  Vows fit in this category of oaths that people make before God.  Yet, we should note that we cannot control how God blesses.  You should be very wary of the idea of vowing to refrain from something or to do something, while asking God to honor it by giving another person safety.  Yes, we can pray for people, but that is far different than making public vows for the safety of a powerful figure.  There was nothing honorable or godly about what they are doing.

We should do what we can to glorify and to honor God, and how He blesses will be up to Him.  Some groups do this with the concept of indulgences.  They teach that you can give money or do certain acts that will help a loved one be released from "purgatory" sooner.    There are other groups that do the same thing with baptisms.  You can be baptized on behalf of someone who died long ago as an unbeliever.  God doesn't work that way.  We can pray and minister to people while they are alive, but once they have died there is nothing more we can do for them.

So, when you pray for people, you are asking God for grace in their life.  You may even be quite specific about the way in which you want God to help them.  Yet, we are always praying that God's will be done.  It is up to Him in the end.  We can't control it, or manipulate it by great spiritual feats of fasting etc.

In this case, the people of Tyre and Sidon are Gentile pagans.  They do not understand the way of the God of Israel, and their religious vows are before pagan deities.  Do they really care about Herod's safety?  They do so only so much as it turns into food for their cities.

Luke tells us that Agrippa addressed the people from his throne in his royal apparel.  His speech affects the people so much that they keep shouting out that this is the voice of a god and not a man.

We have some extra details from Josephus in his Antiquities.  Apparently, the robe of Herod was made entirely of silver in some kind of textured weave.  As he sat on his throne and addressed them, the morning light shown through to where he sat and shimmered of this silver clothing.  The crowd was actually put off by the display in shock at what they were seeing, almost horrified.  However, some flatterers of Herod began shouting out that he was more than a man.  Crowds can be easy to manipulate if you move at just the right time.  A couple of shouts here and there can get the pausing crowd to join in.  So, the crowd comes out of its shock and joins in declaring Herod a god.  Besides, won't he surely be pleased enough to give us food now?

Herod was clearly a master at the art of "shock and awe."  You flash your great power to intimidate the people.  "Look what I am driving."  "Look how much my suit costs."  "Look how many people are in my entourage."  "Look how hard it would be to get near me without dying."

The flash of power is an age-old technique that is used when the powerful are on the road, or when you come into their domain.  They always have opulent, impressive palaces.  This even happens in the United States of America.  We may not have kings and nobles, but we do have impressive palaces in the capitol cities of our States, and several palaces in Washington D.C.  These granite, domed tributes to power say to everyone who comes near, you are tiny people and we are amazing demi-gods.  Of course, they have these palaces at the expense of the people.

People currying favor from those flashing great power has always been a problem. Christians should be immune to this because of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  However, we have many of our own religious palaces throughout the world, and many Christians are stuck in systems of currying favor with the powerful.  May God help us to wake up and repent!

We are told that Agrippa is "immediately" "struck" by an angel of the Lord.  It doesn't appear that the angel manifests, but rather operates from the spirit realm.  Josephus basically agrees with this.  He tells us that powerful stomach pains come upon Agrippa and he is taken from the place.  Over the course of the next five days, he endures torturous pains and finally dies.  This may seem to contradict Luke, but it doesn't actually.  Luke says that he is immediately struck by the angel, but then "he was eaten by worms and died."  Notice that being eaten by worms does not happen in a moment.  It is a process.  This is not a true contradiction, only further information.

We are also told that this happens because Herod did not give glory to God.  If everyone who didn't give glory to God had this happen, there would not be very many people on this planet.  This is a particular decision of the Lord.  We really need to be humble as we analyze and talk about the decisions of God.  You will never build a decision grid that help you know exactly what God will choose.  Some who appear to do worse things than Herod are not immediately struck, and others who appear to do less may be struck.  We can become stuck in the quagmire of trying to figure out the why and why not of God.  In this area, we simply need to trust Him and have a healthy Fear of the Lord in His ability to judge.

Now there are two problems here.  The willingness of powerful people to accept the adulations of the desperate people, and the willingness of people to idolize those in power.  There is very little looking to God, and very much looking to powerful people in our Republic.  Who should we blame more?  In Herod's case, he probably has more blame because of his knowledge of the Scriptures of God.  The people of Tyre and Sidon in general are not aware.  What about our Republic?  Are those in power more to blame or are we the people more to blame?  I would say that we are equally guilty because of the witness of God's Word throughout our States.

Give honor to whom honor is due, but there is a line between properly honoring people and giving them honor that should only be given to God.  I know; I know.  No one is bowing down and genuflecting to these people yet.  But, God knows our hearts.  There are far more people giving far more lip service to God than you may realize.  Our true devotion often goes to powerful people, even in the Church.  We must stop looking to governmental servants as if they are the gods that we must appease in order to obtain their good graces.  Rather, we must put our trust in God.

Jesus warned us in Luke 6:26, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets."  We need to be far more careful in our activity, whether as a person in authority, or people who are under that authority.

God is able to judge quickly, but even the long-lived are judged.  Don't be deceived.  God is not mocked.  In innumerable ways, there were decisions in the life of the long-lived, wicked person.  You may never have seen them, but they were there.  They then stand before Jesus.  He isn't impressed with all that they were.  God did make a decision, and it is a warning to us all.  Don't think that because you live long that God is saying that you are okay.  In fact, not everyone who dies young does so because God is judging them as wicked.  Sometimes the righteous are removed early in life to spare them from wicked things that are coming.

So, how do I know that I am good with Jesus?  You get on your face before Him and you pray through until His Spirit gives you the confidence that you have truly repented.  You know because you are in a day to day relationship with Him through the Spirit of God.

The Church continues in ministry (v. 24-25)

Well, so much for the restored kingdom, at least in those days.  We know that the kingdom of Israel will be restored at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  He will sit on his father David's throne ruling over Israel and the earth.

Luke now turns from such a gruesome scene to God's work among the believers, a much more wholesome affair.

We are told that the Word of God grew and multiplied, even as the words of Herod Agrippa came to an end.  God's Word is powerful because it comes from Him.  It is the power of God for salvation to those who believe its testimony about Jesus.

Yet, the Word of God does not spread itself.  God calls all believers to be part of His Gospel spreading work.  There are still a few people out there who need to hear God's Words of Life.  We must look for every opportunity to share.  As we do so, some will believe and be saved.  Where the word grows, the Church grows.  However, where the Word dies on the vine, the Church shrivels in true, spiritual power.

The problem is that we can't just take a Bible and memorize all the words to get spiritual power.  Paul said that, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."  The words of the Bible were given by the Spirit of God.  They are spiritual words, and natural-minded people cannot perceive them properly.

We must never lose sight of this.  These are not just the words of men talking about natural things.

This is part of the problem in Christian academia.  We treat the Bible like it is just the words of men.  Yes, they give lip-service to God's involvement.  Yet, in so many ways, they give the greatest weight to the human element behind it.

I have seen this in Christian groups that wrestle with how to get our Republic back on track politically.  You can be talking about Jesus and someone will complain about it.  "Why are we talking about Jesus?"  Of course, the right answer is that we will not get this Republic back on track by ignoring him.  Yet, they will inevitably say something like this.  "I'm a Christian too, but what we really need to do is get more money in the hands of this political group and vote in more Christians into this office or that."  These are the times that try men's souls, and no amount of claiming you are a Christian can make you think like someone whose faith and hope is in Jesus!

It is good to notice that Luke breaks up the delivering of relief funds to Jerusalem by Barnabas and Saul with the activity of Herod.  At the end of chapter 11, the money is gathered and sent.  At the end of chapter 12, we are told that Barnabas and Saul finish their ministry and return to Antioch with John Mark.   In other words, all the while Herod is doing his thing, the Church is still doing its thing.  They didn't wait for Herod to be removed and then ministered.  The Church keeps marching forward with Jesus.

How many powerful men have tried to stop the Church, Jesus, and the Bible.  They are dead now and buried in the dirt.  But, the Church of Christ marches on.  It doesn't stop.  Their attempts always fail whether they are eaten by worms or not.

Lest we be too proud, let us remember that there is no peace for the wicked.  Regardless of Christ's promises to the Church (I will never leave you; the gates of hell will not prevail against it), if you have a wicked kingdom built up in the Church or in a church, beware!  It will not work.  God will eventually bring judgment down upon your wicked kingdom and destroy it, while the true Church of God marches on.  The Church of the Spirit of God, and not the Church of the flesh, of the letter, of the tradition and trappings of the flesh, will triumph in the end.  There is no peace for the rest.

Let go of all that stuff that you are clinging to saying, "My great name...my great heritage...my great family name..."  If you can get your family name on the altar and let it burn down to ashes to the glory of God, then you be ready to move forward with God.  This doesn't mean that God wants to take your family name away.  It just means that we too easily become too stuck in things.  We become too proud of things in the natural.  We lose sight that it has always been by the Spirit and not by a family name, or even a national name.

So, Barnabas and Saul finished their ministry.  This was definitely a compassionate ministry to the physical need of the Jerusalem Church.  Yet, I am sure they also spiritually ministered to them by telling testimonies of what God was doing among the Gentiles in Antioch.  Physical ministry and spiritual ministry go hand in hand.  We should not ignore physical ministry because the spiritual is more important. 

There is a history in the United States where some people grew indignant that Christians would feed people, but expect them to hear a sermon to receive the food.  Some churches even began to think it was a sign of high morality to feed people and no longer share the gospel.  They would only share the gospel if a person asked them to do so.  Do you know who has that policy today?  Communist China does.  You will get in trouble if you share the Gospel with people unasked.  We may look down on the communists, but some people in the Church of America have had the same policy for nearly a century.

Of course, when would you ever have to choose between sharing the gospel and giving people food.  We should do both.

Believers must keep their eyes upon Jesus and the work that He has given us to do.  If we are always looking at the wicked, questioning why God doesn't deal with them immediately, then we will be sidetracked and weak.

I believe that the prayer in Acts 4 is quite instructive here.  After their release from jail and being threatened by the Sanhedrin, they prayed, "Lord, look on their threats, and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."  They weren't praying for worms to eat the intestines of their tormenters.  They were praying for boldness and the attendant power of God to minister in the face of those threats.  May God help His Church today to quit worrying about the wicked and start praying for boldness to minister in the face of the wicked for His glory, and His glory alone!

Struck Down God audio

The Acts of the Apostles 23

Subtitle: Taking Care of Widows

Acts 6:1-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 13, 2022.

Today, we will look at a passage that serves two purposes.  First, it helps us to see how the early Church dealt with conflict, and it also serves to introduce Stephen to us.  The second half of this chapter describes his arrest, and chapter 7 is a very long treatise from Stephen before the Sanhedrin.  We will talk more about this next week.

Conflict is not always a bad thing.  It may simply be the motivation to fix something that is not as it should be.

Let’s look at this passage.

Conflict arises vs. 1

There has developed quite a large group of Christians in Jerusalem, and it is hard to have a large group without any conflict.  Even two people will no doubt develop conflicts that they need to work out.  However, any time you gather a large group of people, the more likely you are to see conflict. 

Verse 1 tells us, “When the number of the disciples was multiplying…”  This multiplication is driven by the work and blessing of the Holy Spirit.  The fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit does not guarantee the absence of conflict.  Rather, it must be walked out in our natural life.  This is where the fruitfulness is evidenced, or seen.

We should not think automatically that conflict is a bad thing.  All groups who are trying to accomplish a mission will develop issues that bring passion to the surface.  The personality of people tends towards a Fight Instinct or towards a Flight instinct.  This gives us different components of the conflict.  There is the source, the responses, and the solution.  Each of these components are fraught with pitfalls, and “getting it right” in one component does not guarantee doing so with the others.

The main thing for Christians is to guard against being controlled by our natural responses.  God always has a purpose in conflict, even when the other person may be wicked.  In short, increased size will always bring increased conflict.  Your heart is your main concern throughout this.

In this conflict, there is a cultural issue at the heart of the conflict.  Two groups are introduced.  The Hellenes were those, whether Greek or Jewish, who lived according to Greek culture and mainly spoke Greek.  Hellenes was a name that the Greeks came to use for themselves, but by extension, it came to be used for anyone who adopted their culture.  This is not a reference to Helen of Troy, but to the mythological son of two flood survivors.

In contrast to these Christians who lived according to Greek culture, there was the Hebrews.  These Christians were Jews and converts who lived according to the culture of Judea.  They mainly spoke Aramaic and Hebrew, also having the dress and lifestyle of Israel in those days.  Ever since the return from the Babylonian Exile, this distinction existed among them, whether Greek culture, or Persian and Babylonian culture.

This is not an issue of salvation.  Both Hebrew and Hellenists were believing in Jesus, and joining the Church.

Now we can begin to talk about the conflict.  There were widows among these two communities who needed help with food and necessities, and so a daily distribution was started in order to care for them.  Of course, these were not rich widows who would have slaves and could care for themselves.  They would not be young widows who would often still have family and could remarry.  They were older widows who were left without a husband, without means, and without adult children who could care for them.

The Apostle Paul speaks about this type of situation in 1 Timothy 5:3-5.  Paul is not putting down those who remarry.  Rather, he is saying that a church should not be supporting those who already have familial supports around them.

We see this in the Law of Moses, where God threatens Israel not to mistreat widows and orphans (Exodus 22:22).  In Deuteronomy 10:18, God describes Himself as one who gets justice for the widow and the orphan.  Early Christians took this seriously, and cared for the widows in their midst who did not have natural family to care for them.  We do not know who was doing it, but there seems to have been no group plan.  It was just happening.

However, the fact on the ground is that some widows were being overlooked, and they were Hellenists.  This does not appear to be in dispute at all.  Now some conflicts happen over immoral issues, but there is no idea that this is being done on purpose, as a result of ethnic rivalry.  Some conflicts are simply logistical issues that require a better plan of operation.  Humans forget things and any plan that does not plan to cover for such moments is a plan that will have failures.

In this case, the source of the conflict does not have a moral failure.  This brings us to the next stage, the stage of response.  If we are easily offended, we tend to see purposeful actions in others, and ourselves as innocent.  This can affect our response, even sour it.  I can respond sinfully to a conflict that is not over a sinful matter.  Pause and think about that for a moment.

A solution is found vs. 2-6

As certain Hellenists speak among themselves about this problem, it comes to the attention of The Twelve.  They recognize that this needs to be solved publicly so that everything is done in the open for all to see.  This will make it easier to keep group unity down the road. 

Thus, they have all the Christians in Jerusalem gather.  This will not be a time for a sermon, or teaching, or even worship in song.  It is a time for ironing out a problem in the day-to-day operation of the Church.  Notice that in this conflict there are already cultural divides between the people.  It is wise to pay attention to such matters.

The call to gather is put in the mouth of “The Twelve.”  They were united on this issue and no one is credited with coming up with the solution.

Part of the solution is nipping in the bud the idea that the apostles should oversee everything that the Church does, or even do it themselves.  We do not know how many widows there were.  However, they are a large group, and they are under Roman occupation.  This may mean that there is a substantial number.

They state that “it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.”  “It is not desirable” has the idea of that which is fitting or proper, and thus pleasing, or desirable.  They are not saying it would be undesirable to them, but to God.  They had a calling on their lives that required being in the Word and spending time in prayer.  An enemy to reading the Word and prayer is often sinful tendencies, but it can also be other good things that need to be done and eat up our time.  There is a tyranny in the urgency of good things that take us away from better things.

Of course, everyone needs time in the Word and in prayer.  This is not only an issue for the apostles.  However, they are not the best ones to step up and fulfill this ministry.  Someone else needs to assist in this ministry.

The apostles tell the people to pick seven men to oversee this ministry.  Notice the qualifications that they advise the people to use.  Clearly, they do not see this ministry as something lowly that anyone could do.  It is not that this ministry is beneath them, but that it is not for them.  They have a different ministry to do.  They are to pick “men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business.”  Even something as menial as serving tables in the name of Christ should be taken seriously.  We all need the help of the Holy Spirit to do everything that we do, and not just the “great things.”

It has been suggested that the number seven basically puts one man in charge of each day.  It is speculative, but also quite reasonable considering that it was a daily distribution.  Many hands make light work, and light work makes for joyful work.  Learn to be joyful in the duties that you have.  God has a good blessing for you on the other side.

We should also notice that there is no election or electioneering mentioned.

Seven men are picked and they all just happen to have Greek names.  It may be a stretch to say that they were for sure all Hellenists, but it appears that way.  With all or most of them being Hellenists, there will be no question going forward that ethnic tensions are playing a part in any errors.  Stephen leads this list because he is the next focus of Luke’s account.

These seven men are only going “to feed widows,” but they are publicly commissioned to this task in front of the group by the apostles.  There will be no question that these men are the ones who will take care of the ministry and that they should deal with any further problems or issues.  It also is a reminder to the men that they are to do this ministry in the name of the Lord.  They will be the hand of the Lord to these widows in their time of need.

The apostles lay their hands upon them and pray over them.  This picture of placing a call of God upon others through prayer is a beautiful one.  Practical service is a spiritual service.  Just as God was using the apostles to lay a foundation for the Church, so he would use them to set the Church in order.  These men are not entitled deacons at this point, but the word for “serving” tables is the verb form of that title that we will find later in the New Testament.  These are the first deacons of the Church.

The effect upon the spread of the Gospel vs. 7

I am sure that the enemy was hoping to divide and conquer the early Church through this matter.  It is good to pay attention to the schemes of the devil.  If we will not buckle to brute force attacks against our faith, we may respond to divisions and conflict with fellow believers.

What we see here is a Spirit-filled response to a very practical problem, and it protects the work of God from being diminished, “the Word of God spread.”  Distraction and group squabbles can keep us from the mission of sharing the Good News with others.  It can put out the Spirit’s fire within our hearts. 

This does not mean that we do not pay attention and speak up when things are not right.  God used this to deal with a problem.  Some widows were not receiving the food and care that they should have.  No one should want that to go unnoticed for the appearance of group unity.  Leaders in a church should not emphasize unity so strongly that voices that bring up problems are squelched.  It is the unity of the Holy Spirit that we work for, and sometimes, the Holy Spirit wants something to be said.

We are also told that the number of disciples multiplied greatly.  It has already been multiplying greatly, so we can say that they continued in the blessing of God.  Feeding widows and proper conflict resolution are not the secret to growing the Church.  Rather, it is responding to issues that need to be addressed with spiritual maturity and grace.  It is too easy to let the chores go undone, and then go on about your life.  Sometimes God lets the roof leak so that you will get up and start doing something about it.  It is in an environment of taking one another seriously, and properly dealing with conflicts, that the blessing of growth in the believing community can happen.

Lastly, Luke mentions that “a great many of the priests” became believers in Jesus.  Not all of them were like Annas and Caiaphas.  They had grown up in a system of tradition and control that had taught them not to question what they saw.  It gave them a “correct understanding” of the law that was not actually correct.  It was not until someone, who knew the truth, started teaching and living out the truth in front of them that they were able to break free from the intellectual hold upon them.

This happens today in churches, denominations, nations, even in constitutional federated republics.  It is only by the grace of God by His Holy Spirit that we can break free from the lies that were taught to us by our fathers, often because they were taught them by their fathers.  Jesus is no lie!  The Holy Spirit is not a lie, and those who believe in Jesus will be filled with the Spirit in order to make a difference in their life.  God help us to be “serving tables” by helping those who have no help in this life.  However, let us not overlook the need of people to be served the Word of God, so that they can believe!

Widows audio