One Lord, One Body, Together!

As a detail person, I sometimes cannot see the big picture or form an overview. Because of this, I really appreciate those who can make clear outlines, particularly outlines of a Bible book. The outline of Acts is fascinating because it follows the words of Jesus in the first chapter as He stressed the people and their mission to their world . . .

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The book I’m using for devotional prompts is called “Exploring the New Testament” and this is the outline the author gives for Acts. The main headings are the primary locations where the Christians would go, and the secondary headings name the main people God put to work in each location.

Acts 1:1–11		Introduction: Apostles commissioned
1:12–8:3		The Gospel in Jerusalem
	1:12–5:42	Peter’s ministry
	6:1–8:3	Stephen’s ministry
8:4–11:18		The Gospel in Samaria and Judea
	8:4–40	Philip’s ministry
	9:1–31	Saul’s ministry begins
	9:32–11:18	Peter’s ministry concludes
11:19–21:14		The Gospel in the uttermost parts
	11:19–12:25	Barnabas’ ministry
	13:1–21:14	Paul’s ministry
	13:1–14:28	First journey
	15:1–35	The Jerusalem Council
	15:36–18:22	Second journey
	18:23–21:14	Third journey
21:15–28:29		The Gospel in Caesarea and Rome
	21:15–23:10	Paul taken prisoner in Jerusalem
	23:11–26:32	Paul as a prisoner in Caesarea
	27:1–28:29	Paul as a prisoner in Rome
28:30, 31		Conclusion—Apostolic commission fulfilled

This orderly outline excites me. It tells me that the God I worship is orderly. What I see in this world is often not. In fact, it can be very messy and disorganized. Maybe this is because I tend to look at the details, but whatever the reason, I am glad that my view of a mess is incomplete. The Bible does say:

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace . . .  (1 Corinthians 14:33) (and therefore)

 . . . all things should be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:40)

This has many applications. As a follower of an orderly God who is remaking me into the image of Jesus Christ, my life should be orderly too. Think desk, kitchen cupboards, book shelves, etc. So also should my schedule —  do the priorities first, then the next thing and the next thing . . . rather than being distracted and all over the place without accomplishing anything.

Chaos and disarray have no place in the life and work of the church either. God is not the author of confusion. If we are listening to Him and following Him, then our worship services, times of prayer, and all ministries will be orderly. Some might have different views of what that means, but we will agree that it does not mean confusion.

One stumbling block for some is the idea that if everyone follows the Holy Spirit, the result will be a messy and noisy group of people each doing something different. This totally misses the point. The Holy Spirit is one Person, not a diverse group. If we follow Him, we will also be in harmony and united even with our different gifts and perspectives.

It comes out in group prayer. I’m often thinking that I should pray for a certain person or a burden but before I open my mouth, another person in the group prays exactly what I was thinking! That is the work of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the burden and motivates our responses; we are together when our thoughts come from Him.

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Lord Jesus, learning to hear Your voice is wonderful. Realizing that others hear the same thoughts is even more exciting. You live in Your people. You put the same burdens and ideas in our hearts. We are not robots, but able to respond in different ways even as we agree on what You are saying to us. This shows up in the outline of Acts and continues to show up in Your Body of believers two thousand years later. Thank You for giving us unity in our diversity and the ability to know and follow Your will — together!

Do you hear what I hear?

I’m always amazed at the claim that life happened randomly without the aid of an intelligent power, yet human beings constantly try to find order, structure and patterns in just about everything. Random is not acceptable to most of us. Even the messiest apologize for their disarray. I’m certain that seeking order is part of what it means to be made in the image of God.

The book I’m using to guide this year’s devotional readings demonstrates this desire for order. The author gives an outline for the book of Matthew along with a list of the important discourses Jesus gave, each one from major divisions of his outline. Here is his outline with the discourses listed placed beside each section:

Introduction of the King	1:1-4:11
Demands of the King	4:12-7:29	Sermon on the Mount	5:1-7:29
Deeds of the King	8:1-11:1	Commission to the Twelve	10:1-42
Program of the King	11:2-13:53	Parables of the Kingdom	13:1-53
Destiny of the King	13:54-19:2	Meaning of Greatness & Forgiveness	18:1-35
Problems of the King	19:3-26:2	Olivet Discourse	24:1-5:46
Death & resurrection of the King	26:3-28:15
Final commission by the King	28:16-20

As I read the first discourse, and compared it to the section of the outline, the words “demands of the King” seemed wrong, at least applied to the Beatitudes. They sound more like a description of the King’s subjects who are blessed because we believe in Jesus, mourn our sin, are granted pure hearts, are meek rather than feisty or proud, and so on.

Then Jesus goes on to describe what else will happen. We will be salt and light in a dark world, deal with anger and lust, avoid making oaths and retaliation, love our enemies, give to the needy, pray, fast, lay up treasure in heaven, not worry about our own needs, drop our judgmental attitudes, be considerate, be wary of false teachers, and built our lives upon the Rock of obedience to our King.

It seems that interpreting these as “demands” depends a great deal on whether or not a person is in the kingdom. Before I believed in Jesus, these seemed like rules for following God. Even in my early Christian life, they seemed like rules I must follow. It was not until God helped me understand grace that I’ve been able to look at this amazing sermon as a series of predictions and promises. The King says to me, “Because you believe in me, this is what has and will change in your life.”

That is, the desires of my King for me are not about my performance but about His bestowal. He grants me His heart and mind, His Holy Spirit who enables me to be His child, to act like I’m supposed to act. For instance, Jesus says:

“You are the salt of the earth . . .  You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13–14)

This is not, “You will be . . .” these things, but you are these things. Matthew is trying to explain the amazing grace of Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, who came to enable His people to live as His people. He did it by dying for our sin, raising from the dead, forgiving us and making us new. He wanted the Jews and all readers to know that the struggle described in the OT of His people trying to keep the Law was just that — trying and a struggle. They failed miserably, just as all people do. Everyone falls short of His perfection. We need a Savior to give us the gift, the amazing grace that sets us free from the law of sin and death by giving us Himself and new life.

The NT begins with good news. Yes, there are warnings and demands because not everyone who reads it knows that Jesus Christ has taken care of all that. Those readers are still in that place where they need to understand how deep their need is for this amazing King who humbled Himself and became a baby, a servant. They need to hear that good news that sets sinners free so we can live like the wonderful description of kingdom citizens given in the Sermon on the Mount.

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Jesus, I’m thrilled to be a child of the Kingdom, a member of Your family, a person saved from sin’s penalty. I’m overjoyed to be in the process of purification, a process that results in what You described as You taught from than mountain in Galilee so many years ago. What a wonderful goal You have set for me, for Your people, for the world.