The Church Age

The Book of Acts has SO much to teach us as a church...as the true Body of Christ.  The Book of Acts is also very real about the many struggles of the early church and several of these issues are played out for us in the reading of these two chapters today.  I think it is vital that we take a moment here to look at the "big picture" of history, or as I have heard it said..."His-Story".  The period of time that we are currently living in is labeled by many theologians as "The Church Age".  It is my understanding that this is the period of time between Christ's ascension and The Rapture of the Church prior to the start of The Great Tribulation.  During this time, the Israelites have been put on "hold" and the burden of spreading the Gospel falls to us...the Gentiles.  God's people rejected Jesus as the Messiah, except for the relatively few Messianic Jews that are in the world and in heaven that chose to NOT follow the widely held belief that Jesus is NOT the Messiah. 

Because of Paul's missionary journeys to areas of the known world at that time, we as Americans have been given the grace of hearing the Gospel.  If Paul had not done what he did for the development of the church and the spread of the Gospel, this Good News would not have spread to Europe and as a result, to the "New World"...America.  I think that it is also interesting to note here that Paul was specifically chosen to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, even though he could have been considered the "Jew of all Jews".  God specifically set him aside and chose him to have the enormous task of spreading the Gospel to the Gentile world.  And leave it to our God to chose the most notorious persecutor of followers of The Way for this very task!

And so we find ourselves at the beginning of Paul's missionary journeys that began in Chapter 13.  Paul and Barnabas have joined forces together to take on the ministry of spreading the Gospel to the Gentile world.  I just love Barnabas and Mrs. Barbara did such a great job of challenging us to "Be a Barnabas" in her post on Thursday.  My Legacy Bible has this to say about this incredible man:

"He was the first leader to recognize Paul's genuine conversion, vouching for him to those who still didn't believe that the former vicious persecutor was now a follower of Jesus."

 How incredibly hard this must have been for him to do at times.  Yet I wonder if maybe it was really all that hard for Barnabas seeing as how God had given him the spiritual gift of encouragement, which by definition has a great deal of discernment that comes with it.
 

We also see a VERY important thing in these first missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas.  They did NOT just go and make converts of these areas of the world and then leave saying, "I hope you all will be okay.  Our work is done here.  We must go make more converts elsewhere."  Although the actual conversion process is vitally important, it does NOT end there!  These new believers MUST be discipled!  And that is exactly what Paul and Barnabas did with these new churches that they helped to establish.  They would go back and spend time there "strengthening the churches" (chapter 15 verse 41).  THIS IS WHAT THE CHURCH AGE IS ALL ABOUT!!!  WE ARE TO MAKE DISCIPLES, NOT JUST CONVERTS!!!  And this process takes time and a lot of energy to be invested by us.  But this is what we are commanded to do by Jesus in the Great Commission..."Therefore go and make DISCIPLES of all nations..." (Matthew 28:19).

Then we see some very interesting and familiar things that happen among the new believers...CONFLICT.  If you have been a member of any church for very long you know that conflict is inevitable because the church is made up of sinful people.  How we handle that conflict is so very key!  An issue about the new Gentile believers not being circumcised became a HUGE dividing line among the young church.  So...meetings were held, key believers such as Peter and James came forward and gave their testimony about this issue, an agreement was reached, and a clear communication was sent out regarding their decision to the Gentile believers...done.  Unfortunately, as we all know, this was the first of MANY conflicts the Body of Christ would come to experience, but at least we are given a clear example of how to handle conflict among the church in the amazing book!



Then we see a startling and very strong conflict between Paul and Barnabas.  The disagreement over taking John Mark on another missionary journey was so strong, Paul and Barnabas split company over the matter.  Wow...I have to be honest here...it just really bothers me that these two men that are in history as some of the greatest believers that ever walked this earth could not compromise on some level and resolve this conflict.  Are you feeling me on this one?  But here is the thing...by this conflict causing them to split, their incredible leadership abilities and their boldness for the Gospel was also split and therefore able to spread to more places than if they had stayed together as a team.  Barnabas was apparently supposed to disciple John Mark and mentor him so that he could become all he needed to be to be effective for the spread of the Gospel.  And Scripture DOES let us know that Paul forgave John Mark for deserting them on that first missionary journey, because he calls for Mark to come to him in 2 Timothy 4:11.

So...how do we handle conflict that we may find ourselves in the middle of at church or anywhere else for that matter?  Do we handle it in a Christlike way and keep the goal of spreading the Gospel as the most important thing to be done over getting our own agenda accomplished?  And what are we doing for the spread of the Gospel during this critical time we are in called the Church Age?  We are not here during this time by accident!  And our time is VERY short...He is coming for us soon!

Wanna be the Pot or the Kettle?

Word gets around. I am often amazed at how quickly news spreads. And for some reason, bad news seems to travel even more quickly! Chapter 11 of Acts opens with the apostles hearing of permission to share God with the Gentiles. This was good news for the Gentiles, of course.....but the Jews may have been a little unsettled over the matter. Before we go criticizing the early Jewish Christian church though, let's take a good look at ourselves. What is that feeling of elitism that often invades our thinking? Why is it that we divide ourselves over what day we are to worship, how many times we meet for worship, who can come, what to wear, and what the worship should look like? We read that the church "took issue" with Peter because he "ate with the uncircumcised." They frowned upon him because he shared the message with undeserving people. Well if that's not the pot calling the kettle black......

Like Israel, we have been given a special commission to go and tell the gospel to everyone. But also like Israel, we sometimes decide that some people don't deserve the good news. This sin of pride destroyed the nation of Israel, and threatens to do the same for us. The fact that the Gentiles were invited to join in the fellowship with Christ should have been great news!!! ...but instead, Peter was attacked. We often attack others, don't we? We even attack our sister denominations for differences in worship....granted, sometimes there is reason to take offense, but often we are hurting our own brothers and sisters in Christ over trivial matters. Let us be very careful we are following God's lead when we confront others in their sin.

"The Holy Spirit fell on them, as it fell on me." God doesn't show partiality. He loves us all and it is His will that none perish, but all have everlasting life. The same Spirit of God who worked in and through the apostles is the same Spirit who longs to work in and through you today! The victory over sin is yours. The inheritance promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and more is yours. It's for Cornelius and for Saul. It's for me and for you. Sometimes we Christians get so caught up in being "correct" that we forget the command. Go and tell. Share.

"If God gives to them, the same as me believing in Christ, who am I to stand in His way?" I love that verse! It demands that I re-think my motives and choices in sharing the Truth. We should embrace those who are different from us. First Thessalonians says that there is no better way to quench the Spirit than to refuse others who are in Christ. Now, some who beg for unity are not of our Lord and we certainly don't promote becoming unified with false teaching. But, we should receive encouragement from fellowship with all different types of church bodies who are in Christ. God leads us in these by His unfailing Word. I'm sure we will disagree on some points, but if we are in Christ, this will not divide us. Disagreements often cause us to dig deeper for the truth, and we may even grow from it!

We are called to be unified.....there is power in the unified body! I love to read about the church being "united in prayer for Peter" while he was in prison. James was killed so quickly, that they may not have even had the chance to gather in intercession for him. And Stephen, being the first, may have been a reality-check for the church. Just because you are close to Jesus, doesn't exempt you from trials. If anything, being close to Jesus guarantees you will have trouble. The early church gathered and prayed for the release of Peter. Now Peter, who also fell asleep at Gethsemane, obviously wasn't much for losing sleep over things. He had a conversation with Jesus, fairly recently about following him until his old age. So, I wonder if Peter laid his young head down that night in prison without hesitation, knowing all would work out? I don't know. But, I do know that the church was shocked when their prayers were interrupted by Peter himself! What power comes down when we unite our efforts!

It seems to me that we're all in the same boat. We are all undeserving, and we all need the Savior. What better time of year than now to share the good news with the world around you. Before you decide who "deserves" to hear the gospel, ask yourself if you wanna be the pot or the kettle.

Be a Barnabas

Barnabas - I admire this man. When no one wanted to extend the right hand of fellowship to this new believer because they were afraid - he came forward. He responded to Paul as a new person in Christ and believed in him. Imagine the courage that took - when everyone was still afraid of Paul because of his persecution of Christians and his horrible reputation - Barnabas stepped up to the plate. Was Paul a changed person or was he putting on a front so he could entrap the disciples? Barnabas was willing to take the risk. Would I have been?

Are we willing to take a risk like this? Do we extend the right hand of fellowship to all of the new Christians we encounter? Certainly they don't have a "reputation" like Paul did, but perhaps they have been living a different kind of life style or running with the wrong crowd. So - are we willing to encourage them and offer our friendship? To take them in?

The Bible says that Barnabas Took him and brought him to the apostles . . . Barnabas took personal responsibility in seeing that this new person in Christ had the opportunity to grow and be used in ministry. What if he had not done this? I'm certainly not taking anything away from Ananias, but remember God spoke to him in a vision. It doesn't say in scripture that God spoke to Barnabas the same way. Perhaps he felt it in his heart that this was a changed man, and he deserved a chance and needed to be included with the other disciples. And what a difference Paul made in the beginning of the early church and the spreading of the Good News - and Barnabas was a part of this.

Can we not do the same? You never know how God has changed a person's heart and what great works will be done by using their life. Do we invite new people that join our church to come on Wednesday nights, include them in conversations, ask them to join our Sunday School class or Choir? Make them feel welcome?

Barnabas' real name was Joseph, but he was nicknamed Barnabas - Son of Encouragement. Do you know an "encourager"? I bet you do. I bet when you read this you smiled and thought of them. It's simple really. A few words of encouragement can change the atmosphere. A short note, a phone call or an e-mail telling of your support can brighten a person's day. While words of disapproval and criticism can easily send a person and their dreams plummeting, a smile, a few words of praise can set a heart singing. Perhaps you will never know what that one smile or those few compliments will mean in that person's day - or life.

Do you know a Barnabas? Thank them, and let them know what they have meant to you and the need they have filled in your life. Want to be a Barnabas? Look around - there is always someone that needs encouragement. Start today - it's never too early!