Overloaded?

PASSAGE OF THE DAY:
Acts 15 (click the link)


KEY VERSE:
He knows what is in everyone's heart. And he showed that he had chosen the Gentiles, when he gave them the Holy Spirit, just as he had given his Spirit to us. God treated them in the same way that he treated us. They put their faith in him, and he made their hearts pure.

Now why are you trying to make God angry by placing a heavy burden on these followers? This burden was too heavy for us or our ancestors. But our Lord Jesus was kind to us, and we are saved by faith in him, just as the Gentiles are. (Acts 15:8-11, CEV)


REFLECTIONS:
I find this passage particularly interesting because it shows the nitty-gritty work of church leadership. I know, I know…most of the time ministers just sit around and play harps and commune with God, but this passage gives some pretty good detail about what we in the church world like to call “draaaama” and more importantly, how they responded to it.

It seems that in the rapid growth of this new organism called the church, there was some confusion about who could be saved, and how to be saved. For the longest time, it was only thought Jews could be saved (they were God’s chosen people, after all) but we read a few days ago in Acts 10 about (Jew) Peter and (Gentile) Cornelius’ strange matching God-visions that told them that Jesus and salvation are for everyone.  But this idea wasn’t so popular with some of the old-school folks and they began teaching that the Gentiles could be saved only if they were circumcised! Whaaat? (insert screeching tires sound here!)

I’m ill equipped to go into detail about how very personal that stipulation would be but I do think these old-school guys knew exactly what they were demanding. As good Jewish males, they would’ve been circumcised as infants and not remembered their own painful recoveries, but they were surely familiar with a story (in Genesis 34) of an entire family of men that was slaughtered while recovering from circumcision. What were they thinking when they wanted to make such a requirement of their new brothers?

Have you ever played the “telephone” game? You know, the one where one person whispers a secret to another, which is then retold around a circle of people until the last player announces the message to the entire group. As you can imagine, the final version is often significantly different from the original message. I remember playing this game in church youth group to demonstrate the dangers of gossip and how easily stories can be changed, whether accidentally or intentionally. It seems to me that the early church had its’ own version of the telephone game… and the good news of Jesus and salvation was getting tweaked a bit with each retelling, sometimes accidentally, sometimes intentionally.

The good part is that the early church leaders saw this and jumped into action with great wisdom. They got together a group of leaders to give a specific word about the basics, which amounted to a few dietary instructions and the reminder to stay sexually pure…all things that were for their own good and that would keep them from returning to their old lives. Best of all, they brought deeper meaning to Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all of you who are tired and are carrying heavy loads. I will give you rest. Become my servants and learn from me. I am gentle and free of pride. You will find rest for your souls. Serving me is easy, and my load is light."


POINT OF ACTION:

• Re-read verse 10: “Now why are you trying to make God angry by placing a heavy burden on these followers? This burden was too heavy for us or our ancestors.” In what ways have you felt that a heavy load has been placed on you, perhaps handed down from your family or church tradition or the standards of others? In what ways may you be overloading those you influence?
• Google-image the word “overloaded.” This cracks me up because I’ve been to India a couple of times and seen some of these scenes first-hand. Vehicles and work animals and people carrying loads that they were never intended to bear.  Use your imagination to picture yourself piled high and overloaded. Ridiculous, right? What about your friends? Children? Now it’s getting personal…
• Now re-read verse 11: “But our Lord Jesus was kind to us, and we are saved by faith in him, just as the Gentiles are.” Woohoo!!!! Now that is good news! We can all experience circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:29b “True circumcision is something that happens deep in your heart, not something done to your body.”) Pray and thank Jesus that He softens our hearts to receive love and instruction from Him, and offers to exchange our heaviness for His lightness. Also, pray for church leaders, both at PRF and worldwide, that they would have wisdom to discern and communicate the clear and simple good offer of Jesus.

WHO AM I?
I’m Leigh Anne Bland and March is shaping up to be my favorite month this year! Besides the cool people I get to live with all the time (Greg, Morgan and Alex) our family just enjoyed a ridiculously fun visit with Papa Alan and Mama Gail Hawkins, and now my son Jordan is home for Spring Break. Next week my daughter Hailey will be home for a long break after an adventure in Nepal, and we’re also expecting a visit from one of her/our YWAM friends. It doesn’t get much better than this.