SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/3/2018
9:04 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Concern”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
21:20b-22
Message of the verses: “and they said to him, "You see, brother, how many
thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all
zealous for the Law; 21 and they have been told about you, that you are
teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them
not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 “What,
then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.”
We have
been looking at the concern that some of the Jerusalem believers, that is
friends of Paul, about his safety as he enters into Jerusalem for there are
many who desire to perhaps do harm to him because of the misunderstanding that
they have about him.
John
MacArthur writes “The phrase ‘they have been told’ indicates that these
troubling reports were far more than mere rumors from the Diaspora Jews (those
living outside Palestine). The
underlying Greek verb is katecheo,
from which the English word ‘catechism,’ implying learning by repetition,
derives.” What we see from this word is
that the Judaizers had literally drilled their lies about Paul into the heads
of the Jewish Christians. They did this
by claiming that Paul was “teaching all the Jews who are among who are among
the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children
nor to walk according to the customs.”
What these Judaizers were trying to do was to destroy the credibility
with the Hebrew Christian community as they were sticking to the Mosaic Law.
John
MacArthur writes that “The charges against Paul were unsettling for the
Jerusalem church, since they dealt with issues that went to the heart of what
set the Jews apart as God’s people.
Further, this was
‘a time
of intense Jewish nationalism and political unrest. One insurrection after another rose to
challenge the Roman overlords, and Felix brutally suppressed them all. This only increased the Jewish hatred for
Rome and inflamed anti-Gentile sentiments.
It was a time when pro-Jewish sentiment was at its height, and the
friendliness with outsiders was viewed askance.’ (John B. Polhill, The New American Commentary:
Acts [Nashville: Broadman,
1992], 447)
Thus the allegations that were against Paul posed a serious
threat to the Jerusalem church’s efforts to evangelize unbelieving Jews.”
I have
thought about these Judaizers and wondered if they actually believed what they
were teaching, or if they were just pawns in the hands of Satan to undermine
the true teaching that Paul taught. My
thoughts are that they actually did believe what they were teaching similarly
to what Paul believed before he came to know Jesus Christ as his Savior. Paul knew all about what they were teaching
because he was teaching similar things before he became a believer and so
because of this he knew that they were misinformed. We have false religions or cults today in our
society who actually believe what they are teaching or rather peddling their
poison as they come and knock on your door giving out magazines to you trying
to suck you into their poisoned beliefs. My
advice is not to let them into your house as the apostle John teaches in one of
his letters.
False or
not false these teachings did bring about a threat to Paul’s teaching and to
his very life as he entered into Jerusalem.
The elders of the Jerusalem church asked Paul, “What, then is to be
done? They will certainly hear that you
have come.” They had to come up with a
plan to show that Paul was indeed teaching the truth and so we will begin to
look at that in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Continue
to learn the truths of the Word of God so that I will not be caught off guard
by false teachings.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to see me through some trying times
and to give me wisdom to teach my Sunday school class this Sunday.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “All were deacons, men appointed to care for
the poor” (Acts 6:5).
Today’s Bible question:
“Complete the beatitude ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall…”
Answer in our next SD.
8/3/2018 9:48 AM
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