Week of February 13
Who Is Really Guiding Us?
Read: Leviticus 10-12; Acts 16
“So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”
Acts 16:5-6, ESV
Introduction
Spinoza once said, “He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason.” Well, maybe so, or, in a Christian sense, not exactly. We do know that God gave us minds with which to reason and make choices; however, I also know that Christians will yield to the guidance of the Spirit. Today is “Theology Wednesday!” Our devotional will develop a key understanding of Pneumatology, the study of God the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit-guided life makes the pathway clear as Christ-followers depend upon Him and His timing in every decision. Let me illustrate, in a nutshell, what I will expand upon today by inserting verses from Acts 16 into the following Henry Blackaby quote: “God speaks through a variety of means. In the present God [16:10] primarily speaks by the Holy Spirit [16:6-7], through the Bible [16:6, “the word”], prayer [16:13, “place of prayer], circumstances [16:7-8], and the church [16:4-5].” Let’s see what God’s word has to teach us.
The Spirit-guided life makes the pathway clear as Christ-followers depend upon Him and His timing in every decision. Let me illustrate, in a nutshell, what I will expand upon today by inserting verses from Acts 16 into the following Henry Blackaby quote: “God speaks through a variety of means. In the present God [16:10] primarily speaks by the Holy Spirit [16:6-7], through the Bible [16:6, “the word”], prayer [16:13, “place of prayer], circumstances [16:7-8], and the church [16:4-5].” Let’s see what God’s word has to teach us.
Understanding the Bible Context
The Early Church got two things right that certainly set a course for the exponential spread of the gospel. To begin with, Paul applies the Acts 15 Jerusalem Council’s wishes to the case of a young convert. The heart of the Council’s decision was reliance upon the obvious movement of the Holy Spirit to convert Gentiles (15:8-9). I claim that Timothy is the embodied application of the Acts 15 Jerusalem Council. Let me expand on this important assertion.
Timothy was born into a family where his mother was Jewish and his father was Greek. He was not circumcised. Paul did not run counter to the entire line of reasoning in Acts 15 because Timothy was Jewish. He was Jewish because in rabbinic teaching intermarriage with a Gentile was not considered to be a legitimate marriage (NAC). Timothy would be counted as a Jew because his mother was one. Jews continued to practice circumcision, but Gentiles did not, hence he was circumcised. Christian? Yes! Point? The Lord counted Jews and Gentiles worthy of receiving the gospel. We may learn a huge lesson by this example. We, too, often want to make people like us even as we preach and teach that they are to be conformed to Christ’s image (not ours). The Spirit makes followers of Christ.
Furthermore, Luke then records that Paul, Timothy, and Silas, having strengthened the churches from their first missionary journey, determined to extend their reach northward (16:4-5). Somewhere in this process they determined to head toward “Asia” (16:6). This desire indicates the use of good human reason. It probably meant that they were headed toward the cities along the Aegean Sea, but we read that they were stopped in so doing by the “Spirit.” What? Does anyone do this anymore?! If not, then we should. Here’s why.
We should notice: the Spirit (16:6), Jesus (16:7), and God (16:10). If the Godhead is not in the plan, then the plan is headed away from God. We are not told what the medium of revelation was that Paul received. It may have been a vision (cf. Acts 9), or some prophetic word (Silas was a prophet; cf. Acts 15:32; EBC). Perhaps it was a simple inner understanding of God’s will. Regardless, even for all of Paul’s organization, he always made sure to organize movements as the Spirit led. Let’s apply these thoughts to our lives.
Timothy was born into a family where his mother was Jewish and his father was Greek. He was not circumcised. Paul did not run counter to the entire line of reasoning in Acts 15 because Timothy was Jewish. He was Jewish because in rabbinic teaching intermarriage with a Gentile was not considered to be a legitimate marriage (NAC). Timothy would be counted as a Jew because his mother was one. Jews continued to practice circumcision, but Gentiles did not, hence he was circumcised. Christian? Yes! Point? The Lord counted Jews and Gentiles worthy of receiving the gospel. We may learn a huge lesson by this example. We, too, often want to make people like us even as we preach and teach that they are to be conformed to Christ’s image (not ours). The Spirit makes followers of Christ.
Furthermore, Luke then records that Paul, Timothy, and Silas, having strengthened the churches from their first missionary journey, determined to extend their reach northward (16:4-5). Somewhere in this process they determined to head toward “Asia” (16:6). This desire indicates the use of good human reason. It probably meant that they were headed toward the cities along the Aegean Sea, but we read that they were stopped in so doing by the “Spirit.” What? Does anyone do this anymore?! If not, then we should. Here’s why.
We should notice: the Spirit (16:6), Jesus (16:7), and God (16:10). If the Godhead is not in the plan, then the plan is headed away from God. We are not told what the medium of revelation was that Paul received. It may have been a vision (cf. Acts 9), or some prophetic word (Silas was a prophet; cf. Acts 15:32; EBC). Perhaps it was a simple inner understanding of God’s will. Regardless, even for all of Paul’s organization, he always made sure to organize movements as the Spirit led. Let’s apply these thoughts to our lives.
Applying the Passage to Our Lives
I have a friend who travels nowhere without a pocketknife. We loaded up for a hunting trip one time and, rather than encourage me to buckle my seat belt, he asked me if I had my pocketknife! I thought, “What on earth will that do for me?” I had organized and packed everything that I felt was needed for the trip, but I did not think that a little pocketknife was all that important. He said, “Here, I’ll loan you this one. You will need it.” We arrived at our destination and within the first five minutes, the family patriarch sized me up and asked, “Do you have a pocketknife?” I smiled and said, “Yes, sir!” That little knife came in quite handy on that trip.
Here is some practical theology on life lived under the guidance of the Holy Spirit: First, are you equipped with the Spirit in your Christian walk? Proper preparation for the “disciple life” means that you must have the Spirit in your life plans (James 4:13-15). The Father will ask you (Matthew 25:31-40)!
Secondly, we are too often led by human reason to project a plan, pour money into the plan, then pray for God to bless the plan, even as we plan for an exit into our next plan. Luke would warn us not to miss the point. He helps us to visualize the significance of discerning, and then following, the Spirit. Paul clearly knew that God was in the call to take the gospel to Macedonia (see again 16:6, 7, and 9-10). Observe as well that he had a vision that a certain man of Macedonia beckoned for his team to travel there to share the Good News, but that man turned out to be a God-fearing woman, named Lydia (cf. Vaughan, Acts, v. 14)!
Human reason, if left unchecked, will lead to bull-headed decisions. Too many folks have been trodden under by such gospel stampedes. I hope that I am not stretching the text too much, but David writes in Psalm 23:3-4, “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” To restore carries the connotation of saving a person. The shepherding Spirit guided Paul and Silas to the riverside that day and opened the way for massive gospel expansion that spread westward (16:13). You and I, here in the largely Christian West, benefited from Paul’s and Silas’ dependence upon the Spirit!
Here is some practical theology on life lived under the guidance of the Holy Spirit: First, are you equipped with the Spirit in your Christian walk? Proper preparation for the “disciple life” means that you must have the Spirit in your life plans (James 4:13-15). The Father will ask you (Matthew 25:31-40)!
Secondly, we are too often led by human reason to project a plan, pour money into the plan, then pray for God to bless the plan, even as we plan for an exit into our next plan. Luke would warn us not to miss the point. He helps us to visualize the significance of discerning, and then following, the Spirit. Paul clearly knew that God was in the call to take the gospel to Macedonia (see again 16:6, 7, and 9-10). Observe as well that he had a vision that a certain man of Macedonia beckoned for his team to travel there to share the Good News, but that man turned out to be a God-fearing woman, named Lydia (cf. Vaughan, Acts, v. 14)!
Human reason, if left unchecked, will lead to bull-headed decisions. Too many folks have been trodden under by such gospel stampedes. I hope that I am not stretching the text too much, but David writes in Psalm 23:3-4, “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” To restore carries the connotation of saving a person. The shepherding Spirit guided Paul and Silas to the riverside that day and opened the way for massive gospel expansion that spread westward (16:13). You and I, here in the largely Christian West, benefited from Paul’s and Silas’ dependence upon the Spirit!
Reflecting Upon and Discussing the Passage
1. How do you plan to succeed each day? How does your church plan to succeed? In other words, is there a readiness to change directions as the Spirit directs? Where does prayer factor into the planning phases of your life?
2. For Families: We teach our children to pray to God and we teach them to pray to Jesus, but do we include the Holy Spirit in our teaching? He is the one who lives within us, empowers us, emboldens us, gives us spiritual gifts, makes us like Christ, convicts us of sin, comforts us, forms the fruit of righteousness in us, and helps us to pray when we cannot find words. He is God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Our children need to know and love and rely upon the Spirit, even as they learn to pay attention to His promptings. Parents, we can help our children to know the Holy Spirit by including Him in all aspects of our teaching about living God’s way.
May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock
2. For Families: We teach our children to pray to God and we teach them to pray to Jesus, but do we include the Holy Spirit in our teaching? He is the one who lives within us, empowers us, emboldens us, gives us spiritual gifts, makes us like Christ, convicts us of sin, comforts us, forms the fruit of righteousness in us, and helps us to pray when we cannot find words. He is God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Our children need to know and love and rely upon the Spirit, even as they learn to pay attention to His promptings. Parents, we can help our children to know the Holy Spirit by including Him in all aspects of our teaching about living God’s way.
May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock
Posted in Pathway Devotionals