It’s hard not to get excited reading Acts, especially the first few chapters when things were going really well. We already talked about God’s power falling on ALL of them. That in itself is a contrast to the way most believers perceive “church.” If there’s any power, it must reside in the leaders, and anything important that occurs must be inside the church building.

I recently reviewed a church constitution that cited Acts 2.42 as part of their church model. Of course, verse 42 is part of a larger paragraph:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2.42 – 47, ESV, the emphasis above highlights verse 42)

The apostles and growing company of believers were involved in:

• Teaching
• Fellowship
• Breaking of bread – twice (v42, v46) “in their homes”
• Prayers
• Gatherings In the temple
• Gatherings n their homes
• Serious community, sharing money and possessions
• People being saved
• All in the context of power (“Awe came upon every soul as many signs and wonders were being done by the apostles…”)

By contrast, back to this church constitution, here is this church’s idea of replicating the church of Acts 2:

Worship meetings will be conducted weekly for the purposes of evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and worship. (From a church constitution)

No other “meetings” are defined for the purposes above. No Sunday School, no small groups. All these laudable “purposes” – evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, worship – are supposed to happen during a one-hour service on Sunday.

Most of our churches are attempting to do weekly (weakly?) what early believers were doing daily and wondering why they’re not getting any results.

More to follow over the next few days!  

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13.34, 35, NIV)

Yesterday, we observed that Barsabbas, not chosen to replace Judas in Acts 1, was still active as a leader in Acts 15. Today, let’s look at something even more important: we’re ALL chosen!

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2.1 – 4, ESV, emphasis mine)All together

The entire house…rested on each one of them…all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues…

Who?

And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120)… (Acts 1.13 – 15, ESV)

• The 11 apostles
• The women who had traveled with them
• Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers
• 120 people in all: men, women, older, younger

What part of ALL do we not understand?

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9.36 – 38, ESV)

We’re off into the adventure of Acts in our 5x5x5 New Testament reading plan. Here’s a new observation on the apostles’ choosing Matthias to replace Judas.

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. (Acts 1.21 – 26, ESV, emphasis mine)

We don’t spend much time on this event. Matthias is never mentioned again (nor are any of the others listed in Acts 1.13) except Peter and James. It’s not even clear that they needed to choose one more. It’s been argued that God chose Saul of Tarsus later. But no matter. What I saw here for the first time is that although Barsabbas was not chosen, in chapter 15, he’s still an active leader:

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,… (Acts 15.22, ESV)

Just because I’m not chosen for one role or “office,” doesn’t mean I can’t serve in other ways. I don’t have to “take my ball and go home.”

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. (Psalm 75.6, 7, KJV)

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you… (1 Peter 5.5, 6, ESV)

Yesterday we looked at Peter’s rash boasting before his denial, and Jesus’ response after the resurrection: “Go and tell the disciples AND Peter…” Jesus saw Peter “on the team” even if Peter didn’t. I’m reminded of a very poignant book on baseball: The Game by Robert Benson. If you like baseball, I strongly recommend. One chapter talks about a minor league player having a bad night, not delivering with runners in scoring position. In the seventh, he strikes out. Robert writes:

WHEN CRUZ GOES DOWN ON STRIKES TO END THE inning, he stands for just a second or two, looking at his bat as though it were the culprit. Then he very calmly bends over at the waist and places the bat gently on the ground. Without straightening up, he takes his batting helmet off and sets it softly beside the bat. He then unfastens the shin guard that he wears on his right leg and lays it in the helmet. Then he pulls his batting gloves off, puts them neatly one on top of the other, and lays them in the helmet as well. As he straightens up, he picks up the helmet and the bat and calmly hands them to the batboy and turns and walks to his position at first base. No runs, no hits, no errors, but then no muttering, no tirades, no whining either. 

There are those who would say that they are not quite sure what to think about a ballplayer who has a cool post-strikeout move that he does when he strikes out to end the inning. After all, it would lead one to suppose that he has struck out quite a bit, perhaps a bit too often even. They are thinking perhaps that he ought to be angry, be remorseful, be something, be anything but placid and calm in the face of defeat. I am thinking that this is a man who has played the game for many years and knows some of what baseball will teach you if you are willing to listen. I am also thinking that I want my kids to learn to do what he does when they strike out. I am also thinking that maybe I should learn some sort of post-strikeout move myself. 

…

[speaking metaphorically] Sometime here in the late innings, I am going to come to the plate again a few times with a chance to do something good for the home team, and I am going to hit a weak ground ball or swing and miss. To think that I am not, that there is not as much chance to fail as there is to succeed, is to pretend that I am somehow different than all the rest of the people in the game. It is to believe that I alone will be able to do what no one else has ever been able to do, and that is to get a hit every time I go to the plate.

…

I hope that from here to the end of the game [of life], whenever it turns out that I am somehow unable to hit the ball cleanly, whenever I am unable to even put the thing in play so that someone will have a chance to come home, whenever I swing and miss, or worse, do not even get the bat off my shoulder and take a swing at the blame thing, that I will have the presence of mind and the grace to simply put my things on the ground and go back out to my position.

In Mark 16, Peter hadn’t yet learned the lesson that Jesus put him on the team knowing he would fail. Life is more like baseball than not – the best hitters in baseball are out more than 70% of the time. Just go back to your position! Maybe Peter had learned it by the time he wrote his letters:

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5.5 – 7, ESV)

Let’s close out our journey through Mark with observations on good old Peter. (The 5x5x5 reading plan started us in Acts on January 25.)

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same. (Mark 14.26 – 31, ESV)

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14.38, ESV)

I’ve often read “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” but this time it seemed to tie directly with Peter. I know you’re willing to die with me and for me. However, you won’t (at this time!) because you are weak.

We all know that Peter stayed close enough to actually deny him. (The others all ran far away.) Thus after the resurrection, we have this poignant verse in Mark:

But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” (Mark 16.7, ESV)

Why “Tell his disciples AND Peter…”? Because Peter had failed and didn’t consider himself a disciple. (Verse 7 is really a short version of John 21.)

Like most of us, Peter had not yet grasped the concept of grace. “I’ve failed and can’t be on the team anymore.”

I want to continue thinking about this tomorrow.

The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. (Psalm 37.23, 24, NLT)

I said yesterday in quoting Matthew Kelly that I would offer this word of wisdom without further comment, and I did.

You cannot live a meaningful life by filling your life with meaningless things and activities. – Matthew Kelly, Life is Messy, page 150.

But that was yesterday! What are some of the meaningless things and activities we give ourselves to?

Things? Our houses are filled with them! Last week I received a gift from my cable company: a nice Bluetooth speaker. There’s only one problem: I don’t need another Bluetooth speaker. I spent a few minutes thinking about where I could put it and how I could use it, but after thinking about meaningless things, I’m going to give it away.

Meaningless activities? I’ve got a personal list I’m trying to whittle down, but this picture captures one source of meaningless activities, doesn’t it?

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90.12, ESV)

You’ve noticed in the previous two blogs that I have been reading Life Is Messy by Matthew Kelly. By his own admission, the book itself is messy: no major parts, no chapters, just a series of 1-3-page sections such as A New Path, which I wrote about Sunday, and Slow Down, which was our topic yesterday. At the end of the book, he still had material left over from his journals, so he listed a number of ideas without comment.

The first one is haunting me, and I offer it here without further comment, just as he did:

You cannot live a meaningful life by filling your life with meaningless things and activities. – Matthew Kelly, Life is Messy, page 150.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5.15, 16, ESV)

Yesterday I wrote that sometimes we have to choose a new path. Here’s one that we’ve all been offered before but that most of us have turned away from:

Slow Down!

Matthew Kelly in Life is Messy has a section called just that: Slow Down. It begins with the observation that he has been “Way over the speed limit of life.” I have written about this before. My friend and mentor, the late Skip Gray used to say:

Jesus had a 3-mile-per-hour ministry: he didn’t go jogging through Judea, sprinting through Samaria, or galloping through Galilee. He walked wherever he went.

Well-known author Dallas Willard said, “You must relentlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

I really like the way Matthew Kelly frames it:

But here’s the real problem with racing through life. If you think of life as a race, every step sidewards and backwards, every pause, will seem like it doesn’t belong, like a waste of time. 

Every step is part of life, and there is life in every step. Life isn’t a race. It’s a dance. Every step forward and every step back, stepping sidewards and twirling in circles, are all part of the dance we call life.  

Great dancers are never in a hurry. They relax into the rhythm, become one with their partners, and experience the exhilaration of the dance. When was the last time your life felt like that? – Matthew Kelly, Life is Messy, page 38

Eugene Peterson captures the same idea in his rendering of Ephesians 4 in The Message:

He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. (Ephesians 4.11 – 13, MSG, emphasis mine)

Today’s blog will go along with yesterday’s challenge to Stay Awake! Maybe if we stay awake, we won’t fall into a hole. What?!

I think I’m late to the party on this one, but I just saw for the first time an apparently well-known poem by Portia Nelson. Portia was a singer, actress, and poet, well known for playing the nun in Sound of Music who said, “Reverend Mother, I have sinned” (when she removed the distributor cap from the Nazi’s car at the end of the movie).

Anyway, Portia wrote this poem in 1977, and I learned about it while reading Life is Messy by Matthew Kelly. (I quoted from Matthew Kelly’s book The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity back in June 2019.) In Life is Messy, he quotes Portia’s poem in the section A New Path, pages 86 – 89. Here’s the poem:

(If you can’t see the picture containing the poem, please scroll down. I have reproduced it at the end.)

Matthew Kelly writes:

It takes tremendous awareness and courage to embrace a new direction in our lives. It is so easy to sleepwalk through life. It is so easy to keep walking down the same street, so easy to keep falling into that same hole, and all too easy to adopt the posture of a victim and blame someone else.  – Life is Messy, page 89.

Not to “sleepwalk through life” is exactly what Jesus is calling us to do. To embrace a new path is also what Jesus is calling us to do. Saul of Tarsus is an example:

I persecuted [Jesus followers] even to foreign cities. In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” And I said, “Who are you, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. (Acts 26.11 – 19, ESV)

P.S. If you can’t read the poem in the picture above, here it is:

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson:

I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in. I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in. It’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault. I get out immediately.

IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V
I walk down another street.

Continuing with our readings in Mark, chapter 13 gives us the well known but hard to understand Olivet Discourse, Jesus’ explanation of the destruction of the temple:

And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” (Mark 13.1 – 4, ESV)

One translation of one of these Olivet Discourses says that the temple will be “a pile of rubble.” I’ve been there, and I’ve seen the pile of rubble that was the temple, destroyed in 70 A.D. by Roman soldiers. This is the approximate view Jesus and the disciples would have had during the discourse except where the Dome of the Rock, the Muslim mosque is where the temple of Jerusalem was. The wall in front, especially the lower part is as it was when Herod built it, truly from “wonderful stones.” Very large stones.

My point today is we still struggle today with the meaning of the Olivet Discourse. In Matthew it starts:

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24.3, ESV)

We all wish Jesus had said, “I hear two questions: 1. When will these things be (the destruction of the temple). 2. What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” To the disciples, it was all one question. Naturally, to their minds, the destruction of the temple would be at the end of the age, at his second coming. But since the destruction of the temple occurred in 70, and Jesus hasn’t returned yet, those aren’t the same events.

Therefore, the discourse is hard to understand since we’re never quite sure which event(s) he’s talking about, despite this semi-amusing sentence:

But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Mark 13.14, ESV)

“Let the reader understand….” what?? The “abomination of desolation” is discussed in Daniel 9. Have fun.

My point is this: the discourse itself may be tough, but the ending is clear:

But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake. (Mark 13.32 – 37, ESV)

There are two central messages at the end:

• No one knows…you do not know…you do not know (verses 32, 33, 35)
• Be on guard, keep awake…stay awake…stay awake (verses 33, 35, 37)

“You don’t know” should be a clue that we ought not to waste too much time trying to figure out all the nuts and bolts of the end times.

“Stay awake” …for what? Here are some suggestions.

• Don’t be overwhelmed by culture.

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold. (Romans 12.2, Philips)

Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5.14 – 17, ESV)

• Be awake for opportunities to advance the gospel.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4.3 – 6, ESV)

• Be awake for opportunities to be reconcilers rather than combatants.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Matthew 5.9, ESV)

• Keep awake and pray!

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Mark 14.38, ESV)

Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6.18 – 20, ESV, emphasis mine)