“The Just Shall Live by Faith: A Faith that Works” — Lesson V (6/30/13); Part II

July 6, 2013

Pauline Evangelism in Acts 17

In Part I of Lesson V, we examined three major truths that the Cornelius accounts teach us about how people are and are not saved. To profit fully from Part II of Lesson V, I encourage you to be sure that you have first read all of the preceding posts in this series (you can read them here).

In Part II of Lesson V, we consider Acts 17 closely to understand more about how lost people become those who are just people who live by faith. Acts 17 records Pauline evangelism in three cities, Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. Comparing the three accounts brings out important truths about Pauline evangelism.

I. Pauline Evangelism in Thessalonica

Reasoning with Jews in a synagogue for three Sabbaths, Paul testified to them from Scripture that Jesus was the promised Christ who had to suffer and rise from the dead (Acts 17:1-3). Many were saved through his ministry (Acts 17:4), but unbelieving Jews responded to his ministry by persecuting the believers (Acts 17:5-9).

Through his recording the Jews’ complaint to the city authorities about the message that all the believers were testifying of “another king, one Jesus” (Acts 17:7), Luke informs us about a key aspect of Paul’s message—he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God in Thessalonica! Pauline evangelism, therefore, highlighted that the resurrection of Jesus evidenced that He was the promised Christ who was God’s chosen King.

II. Pauline Evangelism in Berea

Because of the persecution, the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. Arriving there, they again evangelized Jews in a synagogue (Acts 17:10). Luke highlights that many Bereans believed because they were noble-minded people who received the word with great eagerness and carefully examined the Scriptures to verify the truthfulness of what Paul and Silas had ministered to them (Acts 17:11-12).

In this account, we see again that people become just by faith by wholeheartedly embracing the gospel message that God gives them through His ministers. Although Luke does not say anything about the explicit content of what Paul and Silas ministered to them, the flow of thought as well as Scriptural information elsewhere assures us that they preached the same message in Berea that they did in Thessalonica.

III. Pauline Evangelism in Athens

Because of Jewish persecution arising in Berea, as it did in Thessalonica, the brethren immediately sent Paul away once again (Acts 17:13-15). Arriving in Athens, Paul was continually provoked in his spirit by the profuse idolatry that he witnessed in the city (Acts 17:16).

In response to that continual provocation, he ministered daily to everyone that he encountered (Acts 17:17). By saying that Paul “disputed” (Gk. διελέγετο) with them (Acts 17:17), Luke showed that Paul ministered to them in the same way and with the same message that he did in Thessalonica (cf. “reasoned” [Gk. διελέγετο Acts 17:2-3]) and Berea.

Some Gentile philosophers heard Paul’s “preaching [Gk. εὐηγγελίζετο] Jesus and the resurrection,” but did not understand its meaning (Acts 17:18). Noting this information, Luke informs us what the content of Paul’s reasoning with everyone in Athens was—the gospel message about Jesus and the resurrection.

Because the philosophers did not understand Paul’s gospel message, they brought him to the Areopagus and asked him to explain the meaning of what he was preaching (Acts 17:19-21). They thereby prompted Paul concerning the content of his message that Luke records in Acts 17:22-31.

Many people have misinterpreted Paul’s message at Mars Hill because they have not connected how and why Paul was brought to the Areopagus with the message that he preached there. Properly making that connection shows us that Paul’s message was his explanation of his gospel preaching of Jesus and the resurrection that at least some of his hearers had heard him preach earlier in the marketplace.

Far from being a record of Pauline “failure” in evangelism because of a supposed experimental, philosophical approach that Paul adopted, Acts 17:22-31 is thus vital apostolic instruction to us about how to explain essential truths about the gospel message of Jesus and the Resurrection! 

IV. Key Aspects of Paul’s Gospel Message at Mars Hill

Acts 17:22-31 reveals many vital truths about Pauline gospel preaching:

1. Paul’s message at Mars Hill was profoundly God-centric (16 statements about God in 10 verses).

2. Paul testified climactically about how God’s raising Jesus from the dead was the event that changed God’s posture toward all men everywhere (Acts 17:30-31). Whereas in “the times of ignorance God winked at [overlooked]” their idolatry, He now commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30-31).

3. Paul testified what God has proven to all men through His raising Jesus from the dead (Acts 17:30-31) – note that Paul’s message climaxes with testimony to essentially the same truth that Peter’s message in Caesarea does (Acts 10:42).

4. Paul declared that God commands all men everywhere to repent because of what He has proven to them through His raising Jesus from the dead (Acts 17:30-31).

Rightly understood from Acts 17:22-31, Paul’s gospel message about Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18), therefore, included his preaching of how God’s raising Jesus from the dead proved to all men everywhere that He has fixed a Judgment Day in which He will judge all men through Jesus, the Judge whom He has appointed. Because God has proven these things to everyone, He demands that everyone repent.

Moreover, Acts 17 shows us that Pauline evangelism everywhere was his preaching of the same message Jesus and the Resurrection. (For a more thorough treatment of this crucial point, you can listen to my messages Another King Jesus and Make Known the True God).

IV. Vital Parallels between Petrine Evangelism and Pauline Evangelism

Paul thus testified to the same key truths at Mars Hill that Peter testified to in Caesarea. Both preached the gospel message about the resurrection of Jesus and its vital significance for all people.

For a more detailed presentation of the many key parallels between Petrine evangelism in Caesarea (Acts 10) and Pauline evangelism in Athens (Acts 17), see my post An Excellent Example of the Value of Comparing Scripture with Scripture.

See all the posts in this series here.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Evangelism, Exposition, Ministry, Preaching, Sunday School
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Toward Fully Understanding the Golden Calf Incident

July 4, 2013

Exodus 32 records at some length the Golden Calf incident, an infamous account of idolatry among God’s chosen people Israel. Because both the OT and the NT refer to this account more than once (Deut. 9; Ps. 106; Neh. 9; Acts 7; 1 Cor. 10), we must carefully compare all six accounts in order to fully understand this incident.

In this article, I treat the first four passages (Exod. 32; Deut. 9; Ps. 106; and Acts 7). In future articles, I will treat the other passages and correlate all six passages carefully.

Exodus 32

While Moses was meeting with God on Mount Horeb (cf. Exod. 31:18), the Israelites corrupted themselves (Exod. 32:1-6). Instigated by the people (Exod. 32:1), Aaron participated in their making a golden calf (Exod. 32:2-4). He also made an altar and declared that there would be a feast to the Lord on the following day (Exod. 32:5).

On the next day, the people sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings to the idol and then sat down to eat and drink (Exod. 32:6a-b). They then rose up to play (Exod. 32:6c).

God informed Moses about what had happened and told him to go down quickly to the people whom he had brought out of Egypt (Exod. 32:7-8). He then asked Moses to leave Him alone so that He could destroy them and make of Moses a great nation (Exod. 32:9-10). When Moses interceded earnestly with the Lord for the people (Exod. 32:11-14), the Lord relented of His intent to annihilate them (Exod. 32:14).

While Moses was coming down the mountain (Exod. 32:15-16), at some point he met up with Joshua. When they were yet at some distance from the camp, Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting (Exod. 32:17a). He said to Moses that what he heard was the “noise of war in the camp” (Exod. 32:17b).

Moses, however, discerned that the sound was neither the sound of victory (Exod. 32:18a) nor the sound of defeat (Exod. 32:18b). He declared that instead it was the sound of the people’s singing (Exod. 32:18c).

Arriving at the camp (Exod. 32:19a), Moses saw the idol and the people dancing (Exod. 32:19b). He became incensed and quickly acted to destroy the idol (Exod. 32:19c-20).

He then confronted Aaron about his role in the incident (Exod. 32:21-24). He further observed that the people were publicly (cf. Exod. 32:25c) behaving in uncontrolled lewdness (Exod. 32:25a) because Aaron had failed to deal with them to restrain them as he should have (Exod. 32:25b). Through their openly being so wicked, they were bringing themselves into shame with their enemies in some unspecified manner (“Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies” [Exod. 32:25]).

In response to Aaron’s sinful inaction, Moses asked whoever among the people was on God’s side to come over to him where he was standing in the gate of the camp (Exod. 32:26a). All the Levites did so (Exod. 32:26b). He then instructed the Levites to go through the camp and execute many of their own people (Exod. 32:27-28).

In the aftermath of this infamous occasion (Exod. 32:29-34), Moses’ intercession spared the people from complete annihilation at the hand of God. God, however, did still plague the people “because they made the calf, which Aaron made” (Exod. 32:35).

Deuteronomy 9

Some years later, Moses commanded the people not to forget, but to remember how they had provoked the Lord to wrath continually in the wilderness from the day that they left Egypt to the day that they arrived across the Jordan in the wilderness in the land of Moab (Deut. 9:7; cf. Deut. 1:1-5). He then recounted what happened at Horeb with the golden calf (Deut. 9:8-21).

This recounting adds that the mountain was burning with fire when Moses came down (Deut. 9:15), which indicates that these people committed this heinous sin while in the very visible presence of God in His fiery glory. The Golden Calf incident, therefore, was an instance of high-handed, presumptuous sinning against God’s visible presence among His people!

Moses also adds in this recounting that God was so angry with Aaron then that He would have destroyed him had Moses not interceded for him (Deut. 9:20). This information that the Exodus 32 account does not supply shows Aaron’s great culpability for what he allowed to take place on that occasion.

Psalm 106

An unnamed psalmist provides a brief recounting of the Golden Calf incident (Ps. 106:19-23). He emphasizes that the people exchanged “their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass” (Ps. 106:20) and forgot God their Savior who did such great wonders for them in Egypt and in the land of Ham and by the Red Sea (Ps. 106:21-22).

This recounting explains how the Israelites robbed God of His glory when they made and worshiped the Golden Calf. They were spared from total destruction only because Moses, God’s chosen one, interposed himself between them and God (Ps. 106:23).

Acts 7

In his marvelous defense before the high priest and those who were accosting him (Acts 7:1-60), Stephen related at some length the life and ministry of Moses (Acts 7:20-41). He included a brief recounting of the Golden Calf incident (Acts 7:39-41).

He specified that the people were disobedient to Moses, repudiated him, and “in their hearts turned back again into Egypt” (Acts 7:39) when they told Aaron to make for them gods to go before them at that time (Acts 7:40). None of the previous accounts specifies this information about what the state of their hearts was when this incident took place.

Stephen then added more information that is also not provided in any of the preceding accounts—in their idolatrous worship, the people “rejoiced in the works of their own hands” (Acts 7:41). This revelation illumines the Mosaic statements about their playing (Exod. 32:6) and their singing and dancing (Exod. 32:18-19) by showing the idolatrous character of these activities.

Furthermore, Stephen’s ending his testimony about Moses with information about the Golden Calf incident highlights the importance of that event in the Mosaic part of the selective history of Israel that he testified to at this time.

Conclusion

Based on our study of these four passages about the Golden Calf incident, we learn the following truths

1. Scripture provides 57 verses about this incident in these four passages (Ex. 32:1-35; Deut. 9:8-21; Ps. 106:19-23; Acts 7:39-41). The large number of verses about the incident and the multiple reports about it show its importance in Scripture.

2. Stephen’s climaxing his testimony about Moses’ life and ministry to Israel with material about the Golden Calf incident highlights its importance.

3. By comparing all the passages together, we learn more about the horrific nature of what took place on this occasion. In spite of visible testimony to the presence of God with them, the people returned in their hearts back to Egypt and engaged in idolatrous worship that featured wicked public lewdness. Doing so, they not only robbed God of His glory, but also brought themselves into shame with their enemies.

In future articles, we will see that the importance of this incident is even far greater than what we have seen so far.

 

See the rest of the articles in this series under point 11 here

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Exposition, Music
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Guitar Music and Audio for "Abide with Me"

July 3, 2013

Abide with Me is a classic hymn that is easy to play on the guitar because it has only seven different melody notes. This PDF provides the melody notes, chords, chord diagrams, and the first stanza of the hymn.

This PDF also provides a new feature that makes playing the melody simple: circled numbers above each note that tell you exactly where to play each note! All notes are played on the fret of first string matching the circled number except for the notes with circled numbers 2.1 and 2.3, which are played on the first and third frets of the second string, respectively.

Here is an audio mp3 of the melody of the song. You can play along with the audio to learn the melody. You can also practice strumming the chords as the accompaniment to the song while the melody is being played!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

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“The Just Shall Live by Faith: A Faith that Works” — Lesson V (6/30/13); Part I

July 1, 2013

Learning How People Are and Are Not Saved from the Cornelius Accounts

Through a careful study of Acts 10:1-11:18 and 15:1-33, we learn three major truths about how people are and are not saved.

I. Cornelius was not saved by works.

  1. By being a powerful, wealthy, and  “successful” man in the world (Cornelius was a centurion) – Acts 10:1
  2. By being a devoted, godly man – Acts 10:2
  3. By fearing God – Acts 10:2
  4. By being a good family man who directed his whole household to fear God – Acts 10:2
  5. By giving alms to the Jewish people – Acts 10:2
  6. By praying to God always – Acts 10:2
  7. By having an authentic supernatural experience with a true angel of God – Acts 10:3-5
  8. By being a just man who met his obligations to others – Acts 10:22
  9. By being a model citizen who had a good reputation with his entire nation – Acts 10:22
  10. By having a personal meeting with the top Christ-chosen leader of the apostolic company and doing homage to him – Acts 10:25
  11. By making a long pilgrimage to a holy site – Cornelius did not go anywhere; Peter came to him and preached the gospel to him, and he was saved by believing the message.
  12. By having some prior knowledge about Jesus – Acts 10:37-38
  13. By being baptized – he was saved before he was baptized – Acts 10:44-48
  14. By being circumcised – Acts 15:1, 5
  15. By keeping the Law of Moses – Acts 15:5

II. Cornelius was saved through genuine repentance and faith.

  1. By receiving the word of God – Acts 11:1
  2. By hearing the word of the gospel and believing – Acts 15:7
  3. By God’s baptizing him with the Holy Spirit – Acts 11:16
  4. By God’s granting him repentance – Acts 11:18
  5. By God’s purifying his heart by faith – Acts 15:9
  6. Through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ – Acts 15:11
  7. By God’s visiting him to take him out of the Gentiles to be one of the people for His name – Acts 15:14
  8. By turning to God – Acts 15:19
  9. By receiving the Holy Spirit as a gift from God – Acts 10:45; 11:17; 15:8
  10. By being saved the way the Prophets had spoken about – Acts 15:15-18
  11. By God’s rebuilding the Davidic tabernacle that had fallen – Acts 15:16

III. Cornelius was saved by a repentance and faith that produces works.

  1. Even before he was saved, Cornelius had genuine faith in God that was producing works
    –Based on what he already knew prior to the angel’s appearing to him, he feared God and did what was right (Acts 10:35). By faith, he thus believed that there was a God and diligently sought him (cf. Heb. 11:6).
    –By faith, he believed the angel’s message to him and sent men to summon Peter (Acts 10:7-8).
    –By faith, he gathered his family and close friends to hear Peter’s message (Acts 10:24).
    –By faith, he believed that they were all gathered before God to hear all that God had commanded Peter to say to him (Acts 10:33).
  2. He was saved by genuine repentance and faith that produced the obedience of faith when he heard the gospel message that climactically informed him that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43; 11:18; 15:7).
  3. He was saved by genuine repentance and faith that produced obedience to the command that he was given to be baptized soon after he was saved (Acts 10:48).

See the other lessons in this Sunday school series here.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Evangelism, Interpretation, Ministry, Sunday School, Theology
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An Excellent Example of the Value of Comparing Scripture with Scripture

June 29, 2013

Acts 10 and 17 record two key accounts of apostolic evangelism of Gentiles. A careful comparison of the accounts reveals a number of important parallels between the two passages. Attention to these parallels provides us with a biblical basis for rejecting a common wrong assessment of the latter account.

1. Both accounts record evangelistic ministry to very religious but unsaved Gentiles.

— Act 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.

— Act 17:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

2. In unusual ways, lost people directed the evangelists in both accounts to minister to the lost people that they evangelized.

—An angel appeared to Cornelius and told him to send men to summon Peter to come preach to him (Acts 10:3-6; 22; 30-32; 11:13-14). God then gave Peter a perplexing vision followed by the Spirit’s speaking directly to him to direct him to go with the lost men whom Cornelius had sent to him to summon him (Acts 10:9-20).

—Paul was taken to the Areopagus by men who heard him preaching about what they thought were “strange deities” (Acts 17:18-19).

3. Both accounts feature the evangelism of lost authority figures.

—Peter preached to Cornelius, a centurion in Caesarea (Acts 10:1)

—Paul preached at Mars Hill to people who were secular authorities (Acts 17:19).

4. Lost people prompted the evangelists on both occasions concerning what they wanted to hear from them.

—Cornelius explained to Peter how an angel told him to send for him so that he and his entire household would hear from him the words by which they would all be saved (Acts 10:33 cf. 10:22; 11:13-14). He also told Peter that they were all gathered before God to hear all that God had commanded Peter (Acts 10:33).

—The lost philosophers who took Paul to the Areopagus told Paul that they wanted to know what the meaning of his new teaching was (Acts 17:19-20).

5. Both accounts record apostolic proclamation of God’s posture toward all people.

—Peter told Cornelius that God is an impartial Judge who accepts in every nation those who fear Him and work righteousness (Acts 10:34-35).

—Paul told the Athenians that God made all the nations of men of one blood and has predetermined their appointed times and habitation so that they would seek Him (Acts 17:26-27). He also proclaimed that God is now commanding all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).

6. Both accounts emphasize the Father’s work in, for, and through Jesus.

—Acts 10 highlights that the Father anointed Jesus with the Spirit and with power (Acts 10:38), and that He raised Jesus from the dead, showed Him openly, and appointed Him to be the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:40-42).

—Acts 17 underscores God’s determination of a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has appointed (Acts 17:31a). It also says that the proof of that fact is that God raised that Man from the dead (Acts 17:31b).

7. The evangelistic messages climaxed on both occasions with truth about the universal vital significance of Jesus as the God-appointed Judge.

—Act 10:42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. 43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

—Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

8. Both accounts emphasize key truths that believers should tell to all people everywhere.

—Peter told Cornelius that Jesus commanded the apostles to preach and solemnly testify that He is the One appointed by God as the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42).

—Paul told the Athenians that God is now commanding all people everywhere to repent and that God has given all men proof of the vital significance of the resurrection of Jesus in connection with the Judgment Day and Judge that He has appointed (Acts 17:30-31).

9. Both Peter and Paul preached “Jesus and the resurrection” to their hearers.

—Peter preached that the God-resurrected Jesus commanded the apostles to proclaim a specific message and that through belief in that Jesus people receive the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 10:40-43).

—Paul was asked to explain the meaning of his preaching Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18-20). His message at Mars Hill, therefore, was his explanation of his preaching about Jesus and the resurrection that he had preached earlier in the marketplace to at least some of his hearers who were now also present at Mars Hill. When Paul climaxed his message with a declaration about God’s raising a Man from the dead (Acts 17:31), at least some of his hearers thus knew that Jesus was that Man.

These parallels do not support the view that some hold that Paul “failed” in his evangelistic ministry in Athens because he took a philosophical approach with his hearers instead of preaching the gospel about Jesus to them. Rather, a careful comparison of Acts 10 with Acts 17 shows that Peter and Paul preached the gospel to Gentile authorities in very similar ways on these two occasions.

From these two sterling evangelistic accounts, therefore, we should learn many key principles about how we are to evangelize lost people. We should also learn from our analysis of them that thoroughly comparing Scripture with Scripture is vital for a proper interpretation of Scripture.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Evangelism, Gospel, Interpretation, Preaching
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“The Just Shall Live by Faith: A Faith that Works” — Lesson IV (6/23/13)

June 25, 2013

The Cornelius Event and Its Aftermath

I. Supernatural Preparation A (Cornelius’ encounter with an angel) and Cornelius’ Faith 10:1-8

—An angel of God revealed to Cornelius that he was not saved in spite of his being a devout, God-fearing, family centered, charitable, given-to-prayer, and just man with a nationwide good reputation. He would only be saved by hearing specific words from a specific person, Peter.

Cornelius obeyed immediately, showing his genuine faith even though he was not yet saved. He thus exemplified the teaching of Hebrews 11:6.

II. Supernatural Preparation B (Peter’s vision of the sheet) 10:9-16

—Through a remarkable vision that was repeated three times, God showed Peter that he should not call any man unclean.

III. Supernatural Preparation C (The Spirit speaks directly to Peter) and Peter’s faith 10:17-24a

—The Holy Spirit spoke directly to Peter to command him to go with the men whom the Spirit had sent to him. The Spirit thus was preparing supernaturally both the sinners who would be evangelized and the evangelist who would evangelize them.

Although he did not yet fully understand what the Spirit was intending to do through him (cf. Acts 10:29, 34), Peter obeyed. He showed his faith by doing so.

III. Cornelius Further Demonstrates His Faith 10:24b-29

—Believing what the angel said about his household being saved, Cornelius gathered his relatives. He also gathered his close friends, showing his faith that they would also be saved through hearing Peter’s message.

IV. Cornelius Provides Peter with a Striking Prompt for His Message That Further Showed His Faith 10:30-33

—Cornelius told Peter that they were all gathered together before God to hear all that God had commanded him to speak to them. Saying this, Cornelius showed his faith that it would be the totality of Peter’s God-given message that would save him and not just meeting Peter himself.

V. Peter’s Message 10:34-43

—Peter’s message includes two remarkable statements that correlate directly with teaching that we have studied from multiple passages. He testified that Jesus was the Spirit-anointed One who delivered everyone who was oppressed of the devil. Saying this, he in effect testified to Jesus’ being the Seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15.

Moreover, Peter declared that Jesus had commanded the apostles to testify that He was the One appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. He thus testified to the same essential truth that we have seen repeatedly in our examination of several passages in previous lessons.

His doing so at the climax of his message signals the importance of this truth in the message that brought salvation to all his hearers. He also communicated that the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His disciples included this truth that is not found explicitly anywhere else in the passages that are traditionally considered to be the Commission passages.

VI. The Spirit Ends Peter’s Message 10:44

—The Spirit decided when Cornelius and those with him had heard all that they needed to hear to be saved. His doing so further highlights His role in this evangelistic encounter.

VII. Responses of Believers 10:45-11:19

1. Responses of believers present in Caesarea 10:45-48

—The circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles. Peter argued on that basis that no one should withhold the water for these to be baptized. He then commanded them to be baptized. This account clearly refutes the teaching of baptismal regeneration because all these people were saved prior to their being baptized.

2. Widespread dissemination of news about the Cornelius event 11:1

—The believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had received the Word of God, showing that this event was unique in that sense.

3. Opposition in Jerusalem from circumcised believers 11:2-3

—Circumcised believers in Jerusalem confronted Peter about going and eating with Gentiles.

4. Peter’s defends himself by rehearsing what that took place 11:4-17

—Peter defended himself by rehearsing how God had supernaturally directed every facet of what took place and argued therefore that he was not anyone who could therefore stand in God’s way.

5. Positive response from circumcised believers who had been critical of Peter 11:18

—The circumcised believers were satisfied with Peter’s defense and glorified God in response to what He had done to grant the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.

VIII. Importance of the Cornelius event in the Proceedings of the Jerusalem Council 15:1-29

1. Jewish false teaching in Antioch about Gentile salvation 15:1

2. Intense conflict results among believers and leads to the church of Antioch’s decision to send representatives to Jerusalem to address the issue 15:2

3. Report of intervening activities on their trip to Jerusalem 15:3

4. Reception in Jerusalem by three groups of believers 15:4

5. Jewish false teaching in Jerusalem about Gentile salvation 15:5

6. Leadership meets to respond to the false teaching 15:6

7. Much debate and then Peter’s address to the Council 15:7-11

8. Barnabas and Paul’s address to the Council 15:12

9. James’ decisive remarks to the Council 15:13-21

10. Leadership chooses representatives to send to Antioch with a letter relating the conciliary decision 15:22

11. The Council’s letter 15:23-29

IX. Trip to Antioch and delivery of the letter to the church at Antioch 15:30

X. Joyful response of the church at Antioch to the reading of the letter 15:31

XI. Judas and Silas speak at length to encourage and strengthen the people 15:32

XII. Representatives from Jerusalem sent back in peace to those who had sent them out 15:33

Please note: rather than reiterating in detail what I taught about these points in Sunday school, I refer you to my post that brings out many of the key ideas that I developed from this passage: Putting Peter in His Place: Learning Evangelistic Theology and Practice from the Jerusalem Council. In fact, this post treats key ramifications of this passage that I did not have time to develop in Sunday school.

See the other lessons in this Sunday school series here

For more on the glorious account of Cornelius’ salvation, see The Salvation of a Good Man

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Ministry, Sunday School
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Is This One Key Reason That Many Christians and Churches Today Are Weak?

June 24, 2013

Acts 15 and 20 record two instances of ministry in the early churches that many Christians and churches today think would not be proper for believers in most cases. In many churches, such ministry would be strongly unwelcome, and many people would not tolerate it if their pastors or other ministers would choose to minister to them in this way.

A close look at these accounts, however, suggests that such ministry would be highly profitable for all believers in every church. The following treatment of these passages examines whether the lack of such ministry is one key reason that many Christians and churches today are weak.

Acts 15

Following the Jerusalem Council, the church at Jerusalem sent Judas and Silas along with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch (Acts 15:22). They sent with these men a letter that related the Council’s determinations (Acts 15:23-29).

Arriving in Antioch, these men gathered with the congregation there and brought joy to them through the encouragement that the letter provided (Acts 15:30-31). Because Judas and Silas were also prophets, they further ministered to the brethren (Acts 15:32).

Luke specifies that these two men “exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them” (Acts 15:32). Through proclaiming a lengthy message to the congregation, these ministers encouraged and strengthened them.

In many churches today, however, long messages are not welcome. Some church leaders even assert that if you cannot say what you have to say in a fairly short amount of time (for example, some say messages should be about 30 minutes long), you are not properly ministering the Word to people.

The example of Judas and Silas in Acts 15 refutes such viewpoints and supports holding that believers today need lengthy messages to encourage and strengthen them. An account of Paul’s ministry in Acts 20 confirms this assessment about what we need as believers today.

Acts 20

In Troas, Paul and eight other men who had accompanied him (Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychichus, Trophimus, and Luke; Acts 20:4 cf. “we” in Acts 20:6) met with other believers on the first day of the week to observe the Lord’s Supper (“break bread”; Acts 20:7a). Paul began preaching to them, with the intent that he would leave the next day (Acts 20:7b).

Paul prolonged his message until midnight (Acts 20:7c). Undoubtedly, Paul, therefore, preached to them for at least more than an hour and probably for much longer than that.

A young man named Eutychus fell asleep during Paul’s lengthy message and fell out the window from the third floor (Acts 20:8-9). Although the believers thought that he had died (Acts 20:9), Paul “fell on him, and embracing him” assured them that he was still living (Acts 20:10; cf. 20:12).

Amazingly, Paul then returned back upstairs to observe the Lord’s Supper with the brethren (Acts 20:11a) and then continued to minister to them “for a long while, even till break of day” (Acts 20:11b) and then departed (Acts 20:11c).

In most churches today, if a preacher were to preach for an hour before observing the Lord’s Supper with the congregation, many people in the churches would complain about the length of the message and many likely over time would stop coming to those churches. Paul, however, did not just preach for more than an hour before observing the Lord’s Supper with them—he continued to preach to them for quite some time after eating the Lord’s Supper with them!

What’s more, the near tragic fall of a young man in the congregation who fell asleep because of the length of Paul’s initial message did not deter Paul from further ministering to the believers after the young man had fallen. In most churches today, the occurrence of something even remotely similar to what happened with Eutychus would be prime evidence that many believers would use to argue strongly that the preacher should not preach so long that young people in the church fall asleep because of the length of the message.

Christians Today Need Lengthy Messages to Encourage and Strengthen Them

The scriptural record in Acts 15 and 20 of preaching ministry in the early church shows that the apostolic company believed that Christians back then needed lengthy messages to encourage and strengthen them. Similar indications of an apostolic viewpoint that people need lengthy ministry include the following:

(1) “And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation” [Acts 2:40], which shows that Peter continued preaching for a long time after preaching the message that we have recorded in Acts 2:14-39.

(2) “And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words” [Heb. 13:22], which reveals that the writer of Hebrews considered the entire book of more than 300 verses to be a brief message! What, then, must he have thought would comprise a lengthy message?

Based on this biblical data and the widespread consensus that the Church has great needs among its people today, I believe that a key reason that many Christians and churches are weak today is because they are unwilling to endure lengthy preaching of the Word. Let us allow these passages from Scripture to renew our minds so that we will eagerly embrace lengthy ministry of the Word to us from God’s appointed ministers whenever He directs them to minister in such a way to us!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Exhortation, Exposition, Preaching
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How Numbers 11:17 Helps Us Understand How to Bear One Another’s Burdens

June 21, 2013

Numbers 11:17 provides profound revelation about Moses that we are not given in any of the preceding accounts about Moses in the Pentateuch. It appears also to give us important insight about how we are to bear one another’s burdens.

God’s Provision of Seventy Elders to Assist Moses

Numbers 11 begins with a report of God’s judging His people for their complaining about some unspecified hardships that they were experiencing (Num. 11:1-3). Following that sobering account, Moses tells of how the mixed multitude and the Israelites complained about their no longer having some of the foods that they used to enjoy in Egypt (Num. 11:4-6).

After three verses describing the manna and what the Israelites did with it (Num. 11:7-9), Moses records how he himself complained to God about the difficulties he was having to endure because God had laid the burdens of all these sinning people on him (Num. 11:10-13). He told the Lord that he was unable to bear all these people alone because the burden of doing so was too heavy for him (Num. 11:14).

Moses even asked God to kill him because the strain was so great upon him (Num. 11:15)! The Lord responded by instructing him to gather unto him 70 elders from Israel and bring them into the tabernacle with him (Num. 11:16).

The Lord then made a striking statement about what He was going to do so that Moses would no longer have to bear the burden of the people by himself:

“And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone” (Num. 11:17).

Saying this, He revealed key information about Moses that merits close attention for several reasons.

The First Revelation in Scripture That the Holy Spirit Was Upon Moses 

Scripture first speaks of Moses in Exodus 2. From Exodus 2 to Numbers 10, Scripture provides far more information about Moses than about any other person—Moses is mentioned by name 394 times in these 76 chapters.

In spite of that wealth of Scriptural revelation about Moses, we are not told that the Holy Spirit was upon Moses until the statement recorded in Numbers 11:17. Undoubtedly, the Spirit was upon Moses and others long before the incidents that are recorded in Numbers 11 took place (cf. Is. 63:9-14), but for reasons about which we have no information, God chose not to reveal that fact in Scripture until this point.

The Holy Spirit Was the One Who Had Been Enabling Moses to Bear the Burdens of the People 

Numbers 11:17 does not just teach us that God’s Spirit was upon Moses; it also shows us that the Spirit was upon Him to enable him to bear the burdens of the people. Sound theological reasoning would imply this truth even if we did not have this statement, but these words make that truth clear.

Moreover, because God had decided that He would provide 70 additional people who would help Moses bear those burdens from this point onward, He said that He would take of the Spirit that He had put upon Moses and put Him on them as well. Through their also having the Spirit upon them, they would have the enablement necessary for them to help Moses bear the burden of the people so that he would not have to do so alone.

The Holy Spirit Is the One Who Enables Us to Bear the Burdens of Others 

The teaching of Numbers 11:17 reveals that the 70 men who would help Moses bear the burden of the people would do so through the Spirit’s being upon them. Based on that teaching, the closely parallel New Testament teaching in Galatians 5-6 suggests the same is true for us, as follows.

At the end of Galatians 5, Paul commands believers to walk in the Spirit so that they will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). He reiterates that teaching with a mutual exhortation to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25).

He then commands those who are spiritual to restore anyone who is overtaken in a fault (Gal. 6:1). The flow of thought from 5:16-25 and the nature of this ministry to fellow believers requires spiritual in 6:1 to mean more than just a person who is a believer.

Rather, it means someone who is walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25), being led by Him (Gal. 5:18), and manifesting His fruit in his life (Gal. 5:22-23). Only such a person is able to restore those who have yielded to temptation (implied in Galatians 6:1 by the words, “lest thou also be tempted”), even as the Israelites spoken of in Numbers 11:1-10 had fallen into complaining against God.

To such spiritual people, Paul further commands, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). This command appears to parallel conceptually the role that the 70 elders had in aiding Moses.

Through the Holy Spirit, We Must Bear One Another’s Burdens 

Numbers 11:17 in its context compared with Galatians 6:1-2 in its context points to the key to our being enabled to bear one another’s burdens—the fullness of Holy Spirit’s work in us. Let us actively care for those who have been overtaken in faults by being the people of the Spirit that God commands us to be (Gal. 5:16-6:5)!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Discipleship, Exhortation, Exposition, Theology
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Praise Ye Our Father

June 18, 2013

Praise Ye Our Father is a simple song that I wrote today for my guitar students. Even though it is easy to play, it has a profound message!

It is in the key of G and only uses four chords (G, D7, Em, and B7). Here are a PDF (notes for the melody, chords, and chord diagrams) and an audio mp3 of the melody of the song.

Copyright © 2013 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

You may use this song in a ministry context provided you do not change any of the words and you provide copyright information to anyone whom you distribute it. Please contact me for any other use of the song.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Guitar Music, Music
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“The Just Shall Live by Faith: A Faith that Works” — Lesson III (6/16/13)

June 16, 2013

Last week, we saw that Habakkuk expressed his faith in God’s promises to him by praying and singing about those promises. We then looked at Psalms 75 and 94, which corroborate the same truth.

We then examined Luke 18:1-8 because it is clear NT teaching that also teaches us similarly. We saw that the elect (Luke 18:7) are just people who live by faith. Their righteous living by faith expresses itself in their praying to God day and night for Him to grant them justice (Luke 18:7). By faith, they long for the coming of the Son of Man who will be God’s agent to bring about justice for them (Luke 18:8).

Today, we continue to examine our theme, The Just Shall Live by Faith: A Faith That Works, by looking at the next account, Luke 18:9-14. This passage transitions us to considering directly how our theme pertains to evangelism, which is one of our major objectives for this study.

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told this parable about two men who came to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed proudly about how he was better than other people were and touted his own religious activities, but the publican abased himself before God.

In Psalm 75, we saw that God the Judge exalts those who humble themselves and humbles those who exalt themselves. Applying that teaching to Jesus’ concluding statement about these two men (Luke 18:14), we learn that He justifies those who humble themselves by praying to Him that He would be merciful to them as sinners.

The publican displayed what Heb. 11:6 teaches about faith; he came to God believing that God was the merciful Judge who would reward with mercy those who come diligently to Him seeking mercy. This passage, therefore, correlates directly with what we saw about Abraham’s interceding with the Judge of all the earth (Gen. 18:25) for mercy upon sinners.

This parable teaches that for a lost person to become just by faith, he must believe that God is a merciful Judge who will justify him as a sinner if he humbles himself before Him. It also plainly shows that a person who tries to be saved by his works will not be saved.

I have used this passage evangelistically many times. It is excellent for dealing with people who think that God will accept them because they are not as bad as other people are or because of the religious things that they do. It also provides a model prayer for guiding a sinner in praying to God to have mercy on him for his sins.

Acts 10

Our previous account was in Luke. The natural place to go next to learn more about how prayer pertains to a lost man who becomes one of the just who live by faith would be to go to Acts because it is the sequel that Luke addressed to the same man (Theophilus) to whom he wrote the Gospel of Luke. In fact, Luke-Acts comprises more of the NT than the writings of any man, including Paul (unless Paul wrote Hebrews).

Like Luke 18, Acts 10 concerns a lost man who prayed to God. It also provides more information about how faith and works relate in a lost person’s becoming just by faith.

This evangelistic account is important for our study for many more reasons, including the following:

1. Whereas the previous passage was a parabolic account, this account relates an event that actually happened.

2. It is the longest record concerning an apostolic evangelistic encounter that we have in Scripture – 66 verses (Acts 10:1-48; cf. 11:1-18).

3. It explicitly records divine activity to bring lost people to salvation in a way unmatched by any other evangelistic account, both in the preparation of the evangelist and of the lost people who would hear his message.

4. It answers in a decisive way some crucial questions about how faith and works relate, such as do people have to be baptized to be saved.

5. It is the only account of mass evangelism where every person who heard the message was genuinely saved.

6. It ties directly to much of what we have already studied about our theme

Because of the importance of this passage to our study, we will treat it both this week and next week.

A Selective Exposition of Acts 10 with Reference to Our Theme

I. Supernatural Preparation A and Cornelius’ Faith

Through a remarkable encounter with an angel, God informed Cornelius that He had heard his prayers and had remembered his alms. Strikingly, we as the readers of Luke are given four reports of this angelic encounter.

The angel instructed him to send for Peter, through whose words Cornelius and his entire household would be saved. Although he was still a lost man, he obeyed immediately, showing his faith in what God had revealed and promised to him.

II. Supernatural Preparation B

Peter went up to pray on the top of the house in which he was staying. While he was there, God gave him a perplexing vision that was repeated three times. Luke provides two separate reports of this vision that God used to prepare Peter for his evangelistic ministry to Cornelius and his household.

III. Supernatural Preparation C

While Peter was pondering the meaning of the vision, the men whom Cornelius had sent arrived where he was staying. The Holy Spirit then spoke to Peter to inform him that because He Himself had sent these men, he should go meet them and return with them to Cornelius.

When Peter inquired of them why they were looking for him, they informed him that Cornelius had sent them to him at the direction of the angel who had appeared to him. Peter hosted them for a day and on the next day departed with them to Caesarea.

IV. Cornelius Further Demonstrates His Faith

When Peter and those who were traveling with him arrived at and entered the house of Cornelius, they found that he had gathered his household and his close friends. Gathering his family, Cornelius showed that he had believed what the angel told him about how he and his household would be saved by hearing a message from Peter.

Remarkably, Cornelius, however, also had gathered his close friends with his relatives to hear Peter’s message. He thus showed faith that went even beyond what the angel had said to him.

V. Cornelius Provides Peter with a Striking Prompt for His Message That Further Showed His Faith

Encountering Peter, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. Peter rebuked him for doing so.

Peter explained how God had directed him to come meet him and then inquired why Cornelius had sent for him. Cornelius explained that he had sent for him because the angel who appeared to him told him to do so in order that he might hear words from him by which he and his entire household would be saved.

Cornelius then told Peter that they all were there before God to hear all that the Lord had commanded him to tell them. Saying this, he showed his faith that it was Peter’s God-given message that was essential for them to hear.

Next week, we will look at the rest of Acts 10 and then examine Acts 11:1-18. From there, we will go to Acts 15.

See the other lessons here

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Ministry, Sunday School
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