Maggz

Christians moved from the celebration of the Jewish Sabbath on the Saturday to one on a Sunday, because this was the day of resurrection, and on this day we celebrate the Risen Christ. It is "the Lord's Day" because it was the day on which our Lord rose from the dead On one level, the new Christians shared meals together, as a form of fellowship. But on a deeper level, this communal meal represented the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. On the night that He was betrayed, he shared a Passover meal with His disciples. In Luke, chapter 22, we are told that at this meal he instituted what we have come to call Communion/the Eucharist/ the Mass when He equated the bread which he broke with His own body, broken on the next day, in sacrifice. The wine, likewise, became a symbol of the blood that He would shed on that first Good Friday, for the remission of the sins of mankind.

If we do not give thanks in all circumstances, we might despair when trials and tribulations beset us, and lose our faith. it is difficult, sometimes, since we are human, to believe that God has all these negative circumstances in which we find ourselves under control, and this is where the discipline of praise and thanksgiving can be useful, in fact, essential. Turning our eyes on God in faith means turning them away from our circumstances, and, just as Paul and Barnabas rose above their pain and suffering to sing hymns and give thanks, so can we also, in the strength of God, have faith that, at all times we are in the hands of God. This is a very powerful weapon against the devil, who uses despair as a door into our minds and hearts.

Satan delights in warfare, and setting a Christian against a Christian is achieving his goal. If we hate, or nurture unforgiveness, we are unable to love, and the love of one's neighbour is the great commandment of Jesus. At its most extreme, it might cut us off from loving God, for a heart filled with anger and hatred cannot love.

Satan is the master of deception - his tools are lies and half-truths, often so close to the truth that we can be misled. When the Gospel is proclaimed, the truth shines forth and Satan loses his power. We are afraid of ridicule, argument and disbelief. We are not confident of our abilities, and forget that God is in control.

Legitimate authority is legal authority - that which has been granted to the one who holds it by right. Usurped authority has been snatched or stolen by one who has no legal right to it. Satan's authority is usurped and illegitimate for he is the Prince of lies Satan has been defeated by Christ, who took our sins upon Him when He died on the cross. Yet Satan has not given up - he continues to skirmish in the background and to attempt to entice Christians away from their calling.

This is difficult to establish, but anyone who is achieving such great things in the faith as Paul was, will be subject to spiritual attacks from the devil. When one reads the amazing hardships that Paul endured, one is aware of how the "normal" struggles of life must have been overwhelming at times. Only one with as strong a faith as Paul could have survived. We are all open to temptation and to the buffeting of Satan and his army. Intercessory prayer is essential if we are to survive these attacks, and this is even more true of church leaders.

We live in a scientific age, and lack the simple faith of those early disciples. We no longer look to the church for healing, but to the medical profession. Therefore, we often fail to identify and encourage those who have the gifts of healing and exorcism. We are afraid of things that cannot be scientifically proven, because then we would "lose control" and have to give the glory to God We must encourage those who have these gifts and not belittle them. We must pray that God would identify these people for us, and that they will be willing to accept the call in humility, knowing that healing is of God and not of man. I would have to have a clear message from God to know that this is indeed the path that He wishes me to walk. The church would have to be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit - and I believe that the congregation where I worship does have this openness.

It was inevitable that new converts, excited by hearing about "The Way" would not only bring friends to Paul's meetings, but would also spread the news among their friends, and talk to all they met, whether in Ephesus or on the road The Spirit was working in the new disciples, empowering and enabling them to speak boldly to all with whom they came in contact. A subsidiary reason was the Pax Romana - the peace that the Romans had brought to their provinces, which made travel between the cities safer than before. The Romans had also built a network of roads, which meant that people were able to travel in greater comfort. In cities, one has the greatest concentration of people and therefore the chance to spread the word more quickly.

Belief in bodily resurrection was foundational to the Gospel that Paul taught. Christ's resurrection is essential to our faith, because, if we do not believe in Christ's resurrection, it threatens our belief in His divinity, since He becomes a mere mortal like us. Without Christ's resurrection, we can have no hope in our own resurrection, and the basis of our faith is destroyed. No-one can know the specifics of what will happen to us when we die, for only Christ has died and returned to tell us about it. But I believe that dying is falling asleep to wake up with God and with those who have gone before. When Jesus Christ comes in glory for the second time, it will herald the end of the world as we know it, and the last judgement. We are given glimpses of the end times in Revelation

Increasingly, Paul and his helpers were being driven out of the synagogues and were having to find new places in which to preach. The new Christian came of varying social strata - they ranged from influential men to slaves. It was unlikely that they would be able to afford to build new churches, or to pay for full-time ministries. Therefore, the hospitality of those who opened their homes to meetings was essential for the growth of the church. Smaller, more intimate gatherings, like house churches, tend to be more free in worship. People are happier to contribute to a discussion when they are part of a small group than if they are in a big church, where the preacher tends to dominate, and the congregation listens. They also tend to build stronger bonds between the members of the group. The strength of a house church will depend, to a large extent, on the maturity of faith of the person who leads it. It is essential that this is a person well-grounded in the faith, with the ability to lead and guide discussion where necessary, and to allow members to speak freely. It may also have the advantage of a "chiquey" community, where there is little unity in the church as a whole. Paul spoke against this in the 1st century church, when some members saw themselves as belonging to Paul, Apollos or Peter, rather than to Jesus.

He does not want the members of the church to see him as a burden to them. He takes pride in the fact that he can support himself, and thereby be an example to them. They are apt to feel that this is "second-class" ministry - that a minister who has another job as well cannot devote sufficient time to his ministry. He taught them that idleness was a sin - that they had been given talents which they could use to support themselves. He also taught them not to look to others for support, but to be self-reliant.

The Jews were familiar with the idea of Substitutionary Atonement. In the Old Testament there were clear rules as to which animals could be sacrificed as an atonement for the sins of an individual. This culminated in the ritual of the Day of Atonement, when the priest would sacrifice a bull for himself and his family and a goat as a sin offering for the people. This culminated in the ceremony of the scapegoat, when the High Priest would lay his hands on the head of a live goat and confess over him all the sins of the people of Israel, which would then be transferred to the goat. After that, the goat was driven out into the wilderness, thereby carrying away their sins. (Leviticus 16). However, none of these sacrifices were satisfactory, for they did not complete the work of atonement, and had to be repeated over and over. In the death of Christ, we see the fulfilment of all these Old Testament sacrifices, since, like the scapegoat, he took upon Himself all the sins of the world, and this perfect sacrifice of a sinless Being atoned once for all, and we can rejoice that all sin has been forgiven and we are fully redeemed and justified. This is unbelievably good news, because Jesus, being perfect man and perfect God has done what we, as ordinary mortals, could never do, and has taken away our sins, allowing us to rejoice in this new freedom. We are given assurance because, even if in our sinful natures we keep falling, the redemption of Christ is for all men. He has achieved our salvation.

The Jewish idea of a Messiah was that of a conquering king, who would free them from Roman rule and restore the state of Israel to the glory it had known under the kingship of such as David and Solomon. So the idea of a suffering Messiah, although Isaiah had described it in Chapter 15 of his prophesy, was quite foreign to their expectations, and many met this idea with antagonism. When describing something which one hopes will appeal to another person, it is always easier to emphasize the more pleasant and attractive aspects. So it is easier to talk of the Good News, rather than to emphasize what has to be our response to it. But redemption is not possible without the Cross. We cannot expect anyone to "buy into " the product we are selling if we are not honest about it. Jesus never shied away from telling his disciples about the difficulties that they would face, and we cannot be less honourable.

We rejoice in the provision of God for us, and therefore our rejoicing assumes that God is in control, no matter the circumstances. It is a natural result of our faith. Our natural tendency under stress is either to hit out and blame someone else, or to lapse into a self-pitying melancholy and to feel that God has turned His back on us. We rejoice and give thanks because we know that God is in control, and that he has a plan for each one of us which is to give us a future and a hope. This is faith in the ultimate goodness of God This has been a particularly difficult year for me personally. An operation early in the year was not covered by medical aid, and I had to meet the costs myself. Initially, there was fear rather than joy - what if any large expense during the year threatened my precarious financial position? But, as the year went on, my faith in the provision of God grew, and now I can look back with joy on how He has protected me this year.

In ICor. 10:24, Paul says, "Let no-one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbour." If Timothy had been uncircumcised, this would have been a barrier for those Jews who were coming to believe in Jesus Christ. Paul usually began his teaching in the synagogue, and Timothy, being uncircumcised, would not have been allowed to join Paul there. Therefore, for the sake of the Jewish believers, even though the Jerusalem Council had deemed it unnecessary, Paul ensured that Timothy complied with the law. Unless one "gets alongside" people, and becomes part of their situation, evangelism is difficult. An we/they divide is not conducive to teaching. Jesus varied His approach according to the people whom he was teaching, and an evangelist must be prepared to do the same. Unless one understands a person's circumstances, one cannot empathize with them. We need to be humble in the sense that we must respect the point of view of the other person, rather than alienating them by insisting on our own way. Paul knew that the Jewish believers were still under the law, so, although he himself had been freed from the law through grace, he was still prepared to accept their point of view to the extent of having Timothy circumcised. We cannot be arrogant in evangelism, insisting on a öne size fits all model," but must be aware of people's varying backgrounds and beliefs.

Israel was God's chosen people, according to the covenant made with Abraham, and reiterated throughout the Old Testament. Jesus came to fulfill the prophesies of the Messiah who would come to save God's people. Therefore, everyone who believed in Him and in His redemptive work was the new Israel. The old covenant, with its laws, had been fulfilled, and the new covenant in Jesus included all believers, both Jewish and Gentiles. We are all united in Christ, who has made us one, and came to "break down the dividing wall of hostility." (Eph. 2:14). No longer is our salvation dependent on obeying the Jewish Law, but we are uited in our love of Christ and in our belief in His sacrifice for our salvation Both Protestants and Catholics are united in their belief in the saving grace of God and in our salvation through the sacrifice of His Son on the Cross.

God wishes all men to be saved. His grace is available for all. And yet, he also knows, (for he is all-knowing) that some will resist His call. The Holy Spirit will prompt men, but, in His wisdom, God gave men free will. So they are able to choose whether to accept the call or not. We may feel that, because salvation (or the non-acceptance of it) is predestined, there is nothing that we need to do, nothing that we can do, to change what is to happen. This is quite wrong, because we must be obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit if he chooses to make us instruments of evangelism. God is self-sufficient. He does not "need" us in the same way as we need Him. He is in charge of finding the right labourers to bring in the harvest, and our only duty is to hear His voice and obey

Grace is the undeserved gift of salvation, given to us by God, not earned or deserved but through faith. The grace of God is entirely His prerogative, born of His love for His creation. There is no way in which we can earn it through legalism or good works. The initiative comes only from God. We can respond to this overwhelming love, but we cannot deserve it through any action of our own. We have to believe in God and in His great act of salvation before we can claim the gift of grace. Our faith is not our own, but is in response to the prompting from God through the Holy Spirit that causes us to acknowledge our sin and to believe in the saving grace of god.

The Judaizers demanded that converts should first become Jews, and then Christians. The major sign of "Jewishness" was the keeping of the Mosaic law and the primary commitment was circumcision. Keeping of the Law implies salvation by works i.e. it is only by one's efforts in obeying the Mosaic law that one can be saved. This is in direct contradiction to the idea of salvation by grace, which implies that we are powerless to save ourselves through our own works, but must rely on the grace poured out by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to wash away our sins. Following on from the previous answer, the danger of excessive legalism is that we begin to believe that, through keeping certain laws, we are able to achieve salvation. This is a travesty of the truth - we are unable to achieve anything in our own power, but have to rely on the grace of God, made manifest in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.

A conversion is often a dramatic event, when the new disciple is swept up by the emotion of the moment. But this is not lasting - there may be a "downside" when faced with the cold light of the next day, and, like the shallow-rooted seed, the new faith will wither and die. A strong belief, founded on knowledge and understanding, is necessary when trouble or persecution come, or even when our faith is opposed by a non-believer. If we have not studied our faith and made the beliefs our own, we have no answer for others. Therefore, we need basic instruction, so that we ourselves can search for the truth and make it part of our own lives.

It is important to study the ministry of Jesus in this regard. True, he performed many signs and wonders (healing of the sick, raising of the dead etc.) but He also said of the Pharisees, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation." (Mark 8:12). Interspersed among the miracles are the teachings of Jesus in the parables, in the Sermon on the Mount etc. God uses power encounters and signs to grasp the attention of those outside the faith, or to confirm the faith of those wavering within the faith. But this must be followed up by solid biblical instruction so that the new convert is not simply a seeker after thrills. Yes, I have seen signs and wonders at evangelical meetings and have gloried in the power of God, provided the evangelist himself is truly committed and aware that he works only by the grace of God, and he is not one of the false evangelists to whom this is simply a money-making exercise to dupe the gullible. I have also rejoiced in many answers to prayer that have come about through the quiet commitment of those who belong to a prayer group and lift up those in need every day.

Both Judaism and Christianity are monotheistic - unusual in the ancient world, and attractive to those Gentiles, who were drawn to the Jewish religion and became "God-fearers". The gospel of Jesus is a fulfilment of the prophesies of the coming Messiah which were the fundamental belief of Judaism. Because of this, Paul begins his sermon with a study of the history of God's dealings with the Jews - the deliverance from Egypt in the Exodus, the wandering in the desert and the eventual establishment of their kingdom in Canaan. In this way, he shows that Christianity is not a new religion, but a continuation of the Jewish faith. From there he moves on to David, the King, and the prophesies that the Messiah would be born of David's line. This leads him into the proclamation of Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. The essence of the gospel is the good news that we are redeemed through the death of Christ, and that we are freed from the burden of our sins through His sacrifice, and that this Christ whom we worship rose again from the dead and thereby gave us the hope of resurrection

Paul had a task that was laid on him when he chose to follow Jesus. He sees his call to preach as a "necessity" and failure to do so would bring bitter consequences ("woe is me") Paul made the initial choice when he was confronted by Jesus on the Damascus road, and chose to follow Him. Once that choice was made, he could make no further choices, but was under obligation to obey Jesus and to follow His commandments. When we look back at Paul's life, there was little worldly honour - only persecution and imprisonment. But always, at the back of his mind was the heavenly crown to which he was striving, and which would be his reward in the life to come (2 Tim. 4:8) We must understand that we are compelled to use the gifts that God has given us. There is no choice. There will probably be no earthly reward, but our reward will be in drawing closer to Christ as we do His will. The opposite is a refusal to accept and use the gifts and an unwillingness to continue to use those gifts. i.e. we may become lethargic and lose our enthusiasm.

This is a very important decision - the first time that a church has consciously sent missionaries out, and a trust in God's decision that the Good News is to be sent out not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. Because of the fundamental nature of this decision, the church unites in seeking God's will. God gives a clear directive that Paul and Barnabas are to be "set aside", i.e. earmarked for this ministry to which he has called them, i.e. the mission to the Gentiles, and the Holy Spirit then "sends them out." Maybe we have lost the simple faith of the early church, and their reliance on God for major decisions. Praying and fasting are still part of our decision making, but we also have our own decision-making bodies ... councils, management teams, sessions, boards ..... and sometimes we forget that the ultimate decision is God's. The early church must have seen this as a further affirmation that their decision to take the Good News to the Gentiles was, in fact, the correct one. Paul and Barnabas must, therefore, have set out in their task strengthened not only by the support of the church at Antioch, but also by the revelation of God's will.

Peter had had the vision from heaven in Joppa, when God clearly showed him that Gentiles were to be treated on the same level as Jews, and no longer to be regarded as "unclean." Paul feels that Peter is turning his back on God's message, and this needs to be settled in public debate. Peter still recognized the authority of the Jews in Jerusalem, and preferred to conform to their beliefs. The central issue was the division that was being drawn between the Gentiles and the Jews, and the fact that it was felt that Gentiles who wished to become Christians should conform to the Jewish dietary laws and also become circumcised first. With the coming of Jesus, the prophecies about the coming Messiah had been fulfilled, and therefore the old law, with its myriad regulations, had been set aside. Christians are dependent on grace, as we accept that in dying for our sins, Christ has redeemed us. Therefore, we are no longer trying to achieve our own salvation by keeping the Law.