Lydia, Europe, and today

The Reference:Acts 16:13, 14On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. 

The story that emerges:

Paul was not the first history maker to embark from the port of Troas. About a millennium before, Odysseus sailed out from Troy to return to Ithaca, Greece, after the Trojan Wars. A decade later Aeneas, a survivor of Troy, sailed out from the same port intending to establish Rome. Both of them met with the ire of the gods, sending them foul weather and disasters at every turn. Their trips took over ten years, with many lives lost on the way.

Then, about the year of our Lord 50, Paul embarked with three friends to cross the Aegean Sea under orders of God the Holy Spirit. His trip took two days and resulted in the evangelization of all of Europe.

The story began with prayer and continued with the Holy Spirit’s careful direction. Paul showed his alertness to the Holy Spirit in listening and heeding. He listened as the Holy Spirit would not allow him to preach in southern Phrygia, the vicinity of Thyatira. Likewise, the Holy Spirit forbade him from moving up along the coast of the Black Sea. Then, when Paul heard “the Macedonian Call,” to cross from Turkey to Europe, he heeded the call.  

These lands were pagan territories with no known precursor of the gospel. He had no contact across the sea and no knowledge of what to expect. What he did know was the certainty of God’s call and His presence wherever he ministered. And so they crossed, arriving at the coastal city of Neapolis, then moving to the more strategic city of Philippi. 

By prayer and the Holy Spirit, he soon found a place of prayer for some of the women of Philippi. He spoke to them of the mercy of the God of heaven, and of the cross and resurrection of His Son. One of the women, Lydia, responded. Actually, Luke spells out the impact of Paul’s preaching that it was not by his persuasion but by the Holy Spirit. “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14).

Thus, Lydia became the first convert to Jesus Christ in Europe. She made no secret of her faith. As a woman of means, a seller of purple cloth, she had a house large enough for the visitors. Luke describes how she immediately offered hospitality. That was no slight gesture, for these men were strangers, from another country, and publicly espoused a religion that bore no resemblance to the weird behavior of the Greek gods.

Furthermore, to the amazement of some of her friends, no doubt, she received baptism--she and her household. (Though that may make some brothers and sisters nervous, it does look like some infants might well have been part of the baptismal party!) Her public and total identification with the faith of Jesus Christ not only gave Paul’s party comfort, but also brought others to the faith she embraced.

There is one more chapter to the interweaving of prayer and the Holy Spirit with Lydia. This chapter, I confess, is based on presumption, on the likeliness of this happening. 

It unfolds like this. Luke mentioned that Lydia was originally from Thyatira. That was one of the cities that the Holy Spirit did not permit Paul to preach on his way to Troas. But in the Revelation to John we read that one of the seven churches was, in fact, at Thyatira. My assumption is that Lydia at some point returned to her home city as a witness to her Lord. She would have assisted those who had gone there to plant a church. The woman Lydia was chosen by God not just as first convert in Europe but to be for us an example of a faith that shines in darkness. 

When Lydia and I sat down in heaven, I wanted her to open up about that last point, the possibility of her return to Thyatira. Instead she moved to our story today. What she said caught me totally off guard. I was simply dumbfounded.  She told how God is repeating her circumstances in the same places and for the same results.

Consider the extraordinary parallels. The basics of her story are few: Troas was very close to the shores of Greece. Paul left Turkey for the short trip to the nearby city of Philippi. There, a Turkish woman living in Philippi became Europe’s first Christian. In my scenario, Lydia returned to Turkey as an evangelist to her former people.

Today these circumstances look like this: A few miles south from Troas are the shores of Ayvalik, Turkey. The Greek island of Lesvos is a mere four miles away from this. The coast of Lesvos has been the destination of thousands of refugees leaving from Turkey. They traverse the waters in a matter of hours. These hordes have arrived from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and other countries, places that have been tearing apart their lives by warfare, violence, and starvation. 

They are leaving countries where the gospel of Jesus Christ has been muted or outlawed. But in their new homes of Greece, Germany, Great Britain, and other European countries, the Christian message is freed to be told. 

From Lesvos to Holland there are numerous sites of Christians receiving these people. The refugees arrive traumatized, scared, and needy. These Christians offer them the resources most immediately needed—hospitality, papers, places to sleep, food, diapers, and most other necessities. And importantly they offer listening, love, prayer, and understanding. Often God wraps His love and gospel in with all the other expressions of His love. These new believers are taught, disciplined and grounded in the faith.

One such place gives us a website. The place is named “Bridges.” Their richest resource, according to their visitors, is listening and prayer. From those come lives changed and people finding Jesus Christ’s love.  https://www.facebook.com/Syrian-Bridges-512151758924500/

There is one further similarity to Lydia’s story, an amazing way God is working.  Many of the Muslim followers of Jesus are trained to return to their homes—yes, to the very places of danger, death, and destruction—to be the evangelists for friends and families to join them as followers of Jesus. So strong is their love for their Savior that they will risk their lives to return, like Lydia’s example, and shine in the darkness. 

Lydia I found to be a forceful person. No surprise there. She raised the role of the church today, its witness in the midst of those seeking a hope and a future. For the Christians working their, they listen daily for the direction of the Holy Spirit. For us away from there, ours is the privilege for the other part that Paul took with him leaving Troas. And that is prayer.

Paul's take on Abraham

We are checking back with Tertius, the scribe to whom Paul dictated the Epistle to the Romans. The two of them had just finished the intense and closely reasoned third chapter of the letter. Paul had been musing aloud about the next chapter when Tertius pushed his chair back and asked for a break.
 
Tertius:           Paul, my friend, may I be so bold as to comment on what you are planning for this next chapter?
Paul:               Of course. You know I welcome your thoughts.
Tertius:            It’s about your introducing Abraham. Seems to me Moses belongs in this next chapter instead. Here is why. You have announced the  news that justification before God comes not by keeping the law but by faith. The covenant goodness of God shines brightly. And that makes a place for Moses. After all, he is the one who gave us the law.
Paul:                But that is not the message I want to convey. Yes, all you say is true, but that is just the foundation for the greater truth, the greater mercy of God whose blazing brilliance radiates on all the peoples of the world.
Tertius:            Then, I don’t get it. What could be added to justification by faith? In fact, if any condition added, that brings a denial of grace alone. What am I missing?
Paul:                Nothing—that is, nothing as far as you go. Nothing should be changed. Justification by faith opens the door to the kingdom of God, but it also   tells us about those outside.  If we only teach the door of personal justification, we miss those who immediately become qualified to come through.  And for that I need to bring in Abraham.
Tertius:            You need to spell this out.
Paul:                If the required qualification is keeping the law, that would only be the Jews. But by bringing the terms of justification “apart from the law,” that means that those who do not have the law also are invited. And who does that mean? Everybody. No one is omitted from the invitation to come through the door into God’s kingdom. God’s invitation is a universal invitation. That would be obscured if Moses is held up as the prime illustration. And that’s where Abraham fits.
Tertius:            I guess you are going to spell that out.
Paul:                I will, and you will be writing this on paper.               
                         God wanted a man who would be the forebear of the faithful, basically the quintessential person of faith. This person had to come to God by trust and faith. His trust would be severely tested and his faith would be the basis of all future people of faith. That is what we have in Abraham.
                         We know how his trust was tested. “Take your son, your only son, your son Isaac whom you love” (Genesis 22:2). Would Abraham be willing to sacrifice Isaac? Yes, he was willing. Abraham believed that God would bring life out of death. Not sure how, but that was made clear by his willingness. What saves this from brutal savagery on the part of God is that He did not let Abraham go through with it, and this was the single such request that God made. 
                        Abraham’s faith became the model faith, the conditions of which were to be universally true for saving faith. To that end, Paul made it clear that when Abraham trusted God for the life of Isaac, this was before his circumcision, not after. No agument could be made that God’s favor came by keeping the law of circumcision. That God made Abraham “the father of many nations." He is the father of all who believe that God who gives life to the dead through repentance and faith.
Tertius:            So when you move from justification to Abraham, you are making the case for a universal view rather than an individual approach to grace. Do I get that right?
Paul:                You do. And to be specific, the implications for the church ought to be clear. But no clearer than what our Lord Himself said. The church is “to go and make disciples of all nations.” He might as well have said, “Go and tell people in each and every ethnic group that the door to the kingdom is open for all—for all—who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.”
                        If I may speak personally—which I do in the letter to Ephesus—God has given me the specific and unique calling to make plain the unsearchable riches of this grace; and to persuade both Jews and non-Jews that this grace is actually intended for both. (Ephesians 3:7,8) And may I add, this persuasion has not been easy.
Tertius:            Those sound like marching orders for the church. What would be signs that the church misses this Commission? 
Paul:                Two signs. The first sign would be confining grace just to the individual. The second would be pointing the kingdom's door only to those near and like us. This would continue the neglect of those millions who have not yet heard the news. They too would like that privilege. And God wants them to find that door.
 
 
Tertius was waiting for me on the bench and wanted to pick up on Epiphany and Lent.  “If I remember right, you all that do seasons of the church year are about to enter Lent. That makes this last Sunday of Epiphany the Sunday, right? A Sunday that many call, ‘Mission Sunday, right’” He went on, “And what are you going to do about this on Sunday?”
Tad:                Well, as a matter of fact I will be concentrating on this very message where I will be. The whole service will revolve around the nations. 
Tertius:           Pretty good. What church is this?
Tad:                It’s a small one, and the people are small, you might say. Ages below 15. All of them.
Tertius:           I’m curious. What is this church called and where is it?
Tad:                We are probably the only church without announcements and with no offering. The church is called “Tadpole’s Tabernacle” and will be at the home of our grandchildren, whose parents will be away for the weekend.       

Check out this website for nations that do not know how to find the door:
http://www.globalprayerdigest.org/issue/day/

Apollos and the truth that sets us free

The references:    Acts 18:24       Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures
I Cor. 3: 6        I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

The story that emerges:
This man was named for Apollos, the son of Zeus. Growing up, someone from the Christian community in Alexandria drew him into the orbit of Jesus, the Son of God. His education came in one of the most sophisticated cities in the world. Its library was one of the world’s largest, though reduced in size by his time.  

Friends of Apollos described him as “eloquent,” “fervent in spirit,” “well versed in the Scriptures.” It is no surprise that Apollos became a central figure in the early years of the church. We will see how that developed, but not before we see how his teaching needed attention.

He first appears in Ephesus, arriving just after Paul’s departure from there for Antioch. Apollos, with his fervent and eloquent nature, began teaching the disciples in Ephesus. Aquila and Priscilla were there, disciples of Paul who were also tentmakers. These two people heard Apollos and were troubled by his teaching. It turns out that, only knowing the Old Testament, Apollos knew nothing of the baptism of Jesus and was cloudy on the Holy Spirit. Aquila and Priscilla stepped in to assist this gifted leader. Together the three of them spent many an hour in the tentmaker workshop, correcting and expanding the theology of Apollos.

Suppose, however, that Aquila and Priscilla neve raised any issue. Suppose they thought not to embarrass the Alexandrian. He was nice and well intentioned. Why make him feel bad? No one in the church seemed to mind. And besides, he had the equivalent of a doctorate in theology from a prestigious institution. And he was so eloquent!

Suppose Aquila and Priscilla chose to be quiet. Then the church would have teaching that was lame and limp. But nearby, the worshippers of Diana had vigorous worship in the amphitheater. They would snicker and scorn the small group of the church and their lackadaisical common life.  Like Jesus predicted, “Salt that has lost its saltiness is thrown out and then it is trampled upon.”

But Priscilla and Aquilla did not stay quiet. And so they set the example for us. They took Apollos aside and tutored him, refining what he already knew and showing him things he had not known. Into many churches today has crept darkness, teaching that should trouble Aquilas and Priscillas. If truth makes us free, false teaching saps life and leaves darkness.

A Trojan Horse has been let through the gates and entered inside the church. The hidden conquerors are those who stand for the most plausible virtue in our culture—the right of self-expression. That is sacrosanct territory, for it places supreme value on my story, my subjective response to the Christian story. That is my faith, and no one may touch, critique, scrutinize, or evaluate. It is my story. Don’t bother me with facts. To raise objection, we are told, is arrogant, fundamentalist, and judgmental, when in fact it is dogmatically anti-intellectual. When the errors come in trendy and glamorous wrappings, discernment is not easy.

In these conditions heresy is eliminated. This sanctity of subjective experience permits a wedge between a personal faith and the historic events that undergird gospel truth. As long as we indulge in the farce that my personal faith does not need to be grounded in the history of that the Bible tells, then we have lost any standard for truth.

The church always stands prepared to recognize and defeat false teaching. Paul anticipated the fight for truth and had the sternest rebuke for false teachers. “If anyone teach a gospel contrary to what you have received, a curse be on him!” (Galatians 1:9). In the ordination vows which I took, I was asked if I would be ready to banish and drive from the church all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God’s Word. In the last century Dietrich Bonhoeffer addressed this: “We have lost the concept of heresy today because there is no longer a teaching authority. This is a tremendous catastrophe, for there can no longer be said, this is true and this is false.” 

And so it continues.

Aquilla and Priscilla referred Apollos to the Scriptures and the events around the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All very trustworthy. If they were to speak today, to what authority would they point us? That is a good question, since the temptation for personal preference or just plain weird sources presents itself.

Since they are not around, I will give my list: The Scriptures, Old and New Testament, interpreted within themselves as far as is able; the Nicene Creed, a statement agreed upon by the ecumenical church fathers; and our Anglican condensation of the Westminster Catechism, being the 39 Articles. These contain the revelation of God, the tested filters of what the Bible contains, and a classic formulary laying out the principles of our faith.


I did have one question of Apollos when we sat down on my divine bench. Indirectly, a question about his sense of pride. After all this was a man with a sophisticated and erudite education from the prominent center of learning. And he was to be tutored by tentmakers? His response showed how genuinely he was a student of the Scriptures and well instructed in the ways of the Lord. He simply quoted these verses: “The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (Ps. 19:7). “Wisdom and power belong to God” (Daniel 2:20). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). That wisdom with a healthy dose of humility created his open mind.

I wanted to ask about him and Paul and the competition that seemed to crop up between the two men in Corinth. He held up his hand and said that is for another time. Right. Later this week. 

Onesiphorus -- True friend of Paul

Onesiphorus--True Friend of Paul

2 Timothy 1:16-18      May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.
 
2 Timothy 4:19           Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.
 
What you need is a friend like Onesiphorus, especially if you are dumped in a dungeon like Paul was. 
 
That was a time when Paul only needed one thing – a friend. He was deserted and feeling lonely. He yearned for the companionship of Timothy. “Do your best to come quickly” (4:9).  Other friends had abandoned him or the faith. The people in the province of Asia had deserted him, along with two close companions, Phygelus and Hermogenes. To make matters worse, Demas had turned against him, and Alexander, the coppersmith had done him great harm.
 
Not his friend Onesiphorus.  Paul expressed sweet affection for him, and for two reasons. First, Onesiphorus refreshed Paul, and second, he searched until he found Paul was in an obscure jail in Rome. Each of these deserves a close look. 
 
This was a friend who “refreshed” Paul. He used that word twice about what this friend meant to him. The words that make up the verb mean "to give breathing room, or to cheer up and encourage." Apparently while Paul was in Ephesus, Onesiphorus gave Paul some breathing room and brought encouragement. In the accounts of Paul in Ephesus, neither Luke nor Paul refer to these efforts, but years later Paul remembered all that Onesiphorus meant, with honorable mention. 
 
It is not hard to envision what memories Paul recalled. After all, he was the pastor of a young and vital congregation. Most were new believers who had lots of questions of the faith and issues about following a new Master. The leader was discipling mature believers and nurturing new ones.  They kept him up late and met him early. This was a pastor who is stretched. But most of the internal stress was pushed down or to the side to make room for his ministry. 
 
In the midst of this, Onesiphorus refreshed his friend. He did not badger, made no demands, but looked after his friend, quietly seeing to his needs and pleasures. He covered when Paul was taking a walk, understood the stress on his friend, gently asked how he was doing, and listened as Paul unloaded his feelings and concerns. And Onesiphorus seems to be the only one fulfilling that role. For him the friendship of Onesiphorus was measured as gold. 
 
The other thing Paul mentions is how Onesiphorus sought him out in his final imprisonment in Rome. 
 
Constance and I have visited the cell where Paul lived his last days. She being an artist, we covered the territory where the Caravagios are hung, where Michelangelo has his genius on display. Then one day we peeled off the trail of great art to find Paul’s tomb. Our search took us to the end of one of Rome’s subway lines and then a long zigzag walk to the site of the church. What we found was no surprise. Paul may have had greater theological influence than Peter, but when it comes to glamorous tombs, no contest.  Peter’s wins the prize hands down. After all, how do you outdo the Vatican!  
 
We understood how Onesiphorus had to “search hard” to locate his friend. He had no train, no map, no friendly Romans to ask along the way. He pursued the trail to Paul which, in those days, must have taken him well beyond the walls of Rome to deserted outskirts. There he found the cell where Paul awaited his execution, chained to a guard and alone with Luke.
 
Paul noted that Onesiphorus did not despise his chains – as one might keep distance from a highly publicized and scandalized person. Paul knew that he was a known leader among the segment of society blamed for the recent fire.  The quest for locating Paul was one of danger, and not just from thieves or thugs. 
 
What a meeting that must have been! There they threw their arms around each other, wept and held tight, looking in each other’s eyes with true happiness. Onesiphorus refreshed his friend. They expressed their mutual love and concern, their grief about Paul’s fate, but most assuredly, gave praise to the God whom they served and who had prepared “a crown of righteousness which the Lord would reward him on that day” (4:8).  
 
And so we leave the scene. The gathered angels had hushed admiration as they rejoiced in the fellowship of that trio of servants, Paul, Luke, and Onesiphorus. The refreshment and encouragement held the assurance that all that lead to arrest and jailing was worth it, that hope beyond the terminal sword was real, that their bond of love would never break, that the dungeon would be replaced with a heavenly feast, and that nothing would separate them from the Savior whom they served.
 
 
When we sat down on the bench, Onesiphorus brought up Christians in prison. He told me that, just in North Korea, there are 70,000 Christians jailed for their faith. He confirmed that what they lived on was prayer, prayer that fed their hope, that nurtured the promise of Christ to be with them, that drew the Father’s love to them. Prayer is their assurance that Christians have not forgotten them. On his suggestion I located two ways to see these brothers and sisters and to find ways to refresh them—by prayer:
 
A prayer calendar with specific and current information: 
https://www.persecution.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-02_ICC-Prayer-Calendar.pdf
An Anglican lobby for the persecuted church: Anglican Persecuted Church Network

The Competition of Apollos and Paul

The References:           I Cor. 1:12       What I mean is this—each of you is saying “I’m with Paul” or “I’m with Apollos.”

1 Cor. 16:12    I strongly urged Apollos to go to Corinth, but he was not willing to come at this time.

The story that  emerges:

Paul perceived an unwelcome trend had developed in the small church in Corinth. This trend was serious enough to detract from the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It had to do, oddly, with the good leaders at the church.

By the time Paul wrote the letter, the church had received ministry from Apollos and Peter as well as the original planter, Paul. They had been there long enough for the congregation to know differences of each, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and what they did best. The church members had begun to make comparisons of the three and to show outright loyalty and allegiance to one at the expense of the others. The church was splintering around the leaders. 

“Some of you are saying, ‘I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or Peter, or Christ’” (1 Cor. 1: 12).  Paul recognized that as long as this allowed to grow, spiritual maturity was thwarted. 

We know a bit of the styles of Paul and Apollos in Corinth. Paul wrote this about his own preaching: “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words” (I Cor. 2:1, 4).

By contrast, Apollos’ teachingwaswith wise and persuasive words. We know from his introduction by his friends in Ephesus that he was erudite and eloquent. When he rose to speak or teach, everyone knew a polished and profound teaching would follow. No surprise that Apollos would have been a magnet for one of the splinter groups.

We have here the markings of a case study in competition. Two leaders, both gifted, two men receiving rapt attention from their followers, each touching different people in the congregation. In this scenario we might expect each ego jockeying for greater prestige, favorable comparisons, and elevated status.  Such would only exacerbate the cultish tendency and would diminish the church to the stage of competing religious celebrities. Put to the side would be the message of “Christ our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption” (1:30). 

If we move to the 16^thchapter, we see what was actually unfolding. There we have a window on the situation and the possibility of Apollos returning to Corinth. Apparently Paul had told Apollos that he should revisit Corinth. Apollos told the apostle that he didn’t think he should. This response was either chutzpahor humility. If chutzpah, it was a young disciple telling the apostle that he, Apollos, was refusing him, Paul. That deserves an exclamation point! If chutzpah, then we have competition.

But no, this was not chutzpahbut humility. What we have in the relationship of Apollos and Paul is two devout Christian leaders. Rather than competing, each wants to assist the other and find God’s blessing on each other’s role. Apollos was sending Paul a message of loyalty, of cooperation, and of submission. He recognized the tension in the church there, how the two men had unwittingly become focal points of division. This was drawing away from their message of the sanctifying power of Jesus in His people. Apollos valued the contribution of Paul--Paul whose words were designed “to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. My message and my preaching was with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power (2:1,4). 

All that would be undone if Apollos returned at this time. He was not drawn to approbation, accolades, and affirmation. Humility and love for Jesus Christ eliminated that. Apollos clearly would not threaten the power of Paul’s teaching, for he knew it to be astonishing, truly astonishing. 

Humility it was. And so yes, a case study, but not in competition but of respect for one another finding pleasure in the God-given gifts of the other. This would demonstrate to the church the unity and love “that does not seek its own but rejoices in the truth” (13:6).  

Before I could set up a time for Apollos to meet at my bench, he took the initiative and met me at a place of his choice. And that turned out to be my pew, where I sit on Sunday mornings with my wife. He knew how leadership in churches teeters between competition and collaboration, between jealousy and pleasure. He presented a case study in cooperation and respect for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ, exhibited in the leaders of the church. It was sweet to be part of this, but surrounding the privilege was the grace and personality of the leaders. 

He directed my attention up ahead to the left. There I saw the man who succeeded me as rector in this church. (He did not sit with his wife because they are both in the choir.) Ahead and to my right in the pulpit was the man who is the present rector. (He didn’t sit with his wife either, since she was also in the choir. And it is a very good choir!) 

I’m sure between the three of us clergy, we surpass the eloquence and the wisdom of both Paul and Apollos, and I’m sure we have strutted at times. But the prevailing desire of the leadership has been to draw people to Jesus Christ through the teaching and preaching of His Word, and to show that life in and through the church’s community. 

What Apollos did next put us all in perspective. He pointed to the lady on my left and the one just ahead of me. Both of them were members before I entered the scene. They, and their contemporaries, are mature in their faith and are not at all bothered to cluster around any of those with clerical collars. And like Apollos toward Paul, I find the continuing wisdom of the one who succeeded me¹and the one in the pulpit²to be nothing but “truly astonishing.”

¹Facebook:daily Bible devotions by Chuck Alley. Pretty darn good stuff.

²https://www.stmattsrva.org/resources/sermons/Pretty darn good stuff too.

³Oh, and: https://stpaulsfriends.blogspot.comPretty darn --- oops. I’m supposed to be showing humility, at least for this profile.

Demas...A Fallen Leader

The References:  Colossians 4:14     Our friend Luke the doctor and Demas send greetings.

                                2 Timothy 4:10      Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me.

The story that emerges:

Paul wrote both epistles while in jails. He wrote Colossians during his first prison term in Rome, about the year 62. He was freed and went on to Spain. During his time away, Rome experienced the devastating fire under Nero in the year 64. The Emperor, needing a scapegoat, put the blame on the Christians and had many of them put in prison. On his return from Spain Paul was one of these imprisoned. He wrote the second letter to Timothy about the year 66 while jailed in deplorable conditions and awaiting his execution. 

The profile of Demas gives us opportunity to examine a Christian leader who fails in a key opportunity to stand with a Christian brotherin extremis.We might wish Paul had given a hint as to what caused this failure. There is all the greater value in his silence since, sadly, there are a myriad of ways to fill in the blanks. But that does allow the fertile imagination of this writer to step in. :-)

I will list the most probable and frequent reasons that cause leaders who fall. John Piper names three in the title of one of his books—money, sex, and power. To that I add a fourth--faith that has become lukewarm. I do this with a heavy heart. This is more than a list; these are causes of lives marred by one or another of these, lives of friends, of leaders, of people once admired and listened to. 

1.    Money.

·     Envy and covetousness.

·     Church leaders are rarely overpaid, but there are ways to inflate our income. Gratuitous gifts make life easier from devoted parishioners, and they don’t fit any of the categories of the 1040 Form of the IRS. Of course, we can object that they are so unnecessary but so gratefully received…

2.    Sex.

·     Lasciviousness and gluttony.

·     Clergy give to emotionally strained church members. They share their own emotions and they give up time—the time and emotions that belong at home. Ways to lose one’s balance are “crouching at your door” (Gen. 4:7). I remember simple advice given for when that an inappropriate advance comes—jump out the nearest window!

·     The evil industry of pornography captures and addicts in no less a way that does heroin. Like heroin, the body always wants more. There are ways to keep porn hidden, but it cripples intimacy and injects the snake of shame into the relationship with the Lord.

3.    Power.

·     Pride and vanity.

·     Clergy are ascribed respect, especially when wearing clerical collars. But when preaching becomes “three feet above contradiction,” and compliments are waited for, pride and vanity have taken over. Then listening to the flock and discerning the message from Scripture matter less and less. That is when we need to hear the Lord’s admonition, “You cannot serve two masters.” 

4.    Lukewarm Faith

·     Fear and protection

·     This may well have been the sin of Demas. Circumstances had changed after Spain. After the fire all Christians in Rome were in danger of imprisonment and conviction. Any associates of Paul ran the risk of the death sentence. “Demas deserted me.”

·     Today orthodox Christianity is maligned and marginalized. The temptation is to accommodate, to be neither hot nor cold. Too hot puts me in company that makes me uneasy. Too cold denies my faith. Ever wonder how God sees the lukewarm? He will “vomit them out of my mouth.”  Hmmm. Paul praises the Philippians because they held their faith “without being frightened by your opponents” (1:28).

This range of options is deliberately brief, since each of us must expand the list from our own experiences and temptations. We must review and reset our defenses. And the first and most wicked temptation is, “That can’t happen to me.”

The lamentable result is dishonor to the name of Christ and distrust toward His messengers. Tarnished is the Church of Jesus Christ, for it bears His name.

Demas and I sat beside each other on my heavenly bench and kept silence for some time. The purpose of the interview was painfully evident. My place was only to listen. 

After a few minutes he opened up. It became clear that he knew this spiritual territory well. Those boundaries revealed the shape of his state of mind. He brought up David and his adultery, Nathan who confronted him, and David’s Psalm of contrition. He moved to Peter and his thrice denial, and how the Lord reinstated him by the shore of Gennesaret. He did not leave out Peter wishing to die not as the Lord had, for his feeling of unworthiness. Only then did he speak of Paul—Paul who shared his first prison reflections with him, Paul who was later confined to a rancid cell, Paul whom he had left there alone.

He could not undo or redo any of that. He knew he had received forgiveness from the apostle, which helped to remove the shame. He hoped that his story would carry lessons and warnings. And the most lasting lesson to us all comes from the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, who assures us that after all sin is confessed, His grace does much more abound.

Tertius...Corrections to Romans? Part I

Tertius…Corrections to Romans? Part 1 

The reference:Romans 16:22     I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

The story that emerges:
Tertius had the role of scribe, writing down what Paul dictated. Rembrandt’s portrait captures the scene properly--Paul deep in thought, Paul composing this letter carefully, judiciously, and painstakingly.

It is neither sacrilegious nor implausible to imagine Tertius making several comments, like: “Paul, time for a coffee break.” “You haven’t prepared your lesson for our church yet. We’ll come back to this in the morning.” “Slow down, Paul, I’m not sure I’m getting this word right.”

From these, my imagination takes me further and hears Tertius observe: “Do you realize what the implications are for this? You are shaking the very foundations of culture and faith.” These comments could have covered several passages, but for this profile I will only pick up those coming from the first chapter.

Here we listen in on Tertius, sort of thinking out loud, expanding on the implications, and putting them in cultural context.

1. The Power of the Gospel
"The gospel is the power of salvation” (1:16). Of course, Paul, you know that people will want more. I mean, you are saying that the mere explanation of "Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our justification" (4:25) brings the power of God to advance people towards His kingdom. But people will have what you call "itchy ears" and will be expecting you to add something more. Something like: You accept this God and you will find His power mighty to remove all forms of diseases and of sin. And they will expect the promise of His assistance for their success and well-being.

But I get it. That misses the bigger and better promise of the reconciling love of the sacrifice of Christ, and of becoming more and more like our Savior. Not everyone will buy in, of course, but I suspect you know that.

2. The Wrath of God
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (1:18).

The people in Rome have a pantheon of gods all of whom display wrath. Same for the Greeks here in Corinth. The wrath of these gods is frequent, random, and for petty reasons. You could eliminate wrath. People would prefer that about God, and that would distinguish Him from their gods. You would be presenting a God whom everyone could like. He would be nice, decent, and presentable. No scolding, no standards, just a very nice God.

Once again, Paul, I suspect you know that. What distinguishes our God from their gods is His holiness, His moral purity. All morality emanates from him and his revelation. And his judgments are not burdensome. They are “sweeter than the honey of the honeycomb.” They “make us wise.” Understanding them gives us an understanding that is beyond knowledge. They are telling what lies in the heart of God. Those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who thirst for more righteousness--they are blessed because they have come closer to the very character of God.

The wrath of God stands upon the holiness of God. This is harder but it is better. If God did not show a holy wrath, we would sink in a quagmire of deceit, rotten power, and violence. Instead He invites us into a kingdom of truth, honor, justice, and peace.

3. Sexual perversion.
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for those contrary to nature; men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (1:26, 27).

You don’t mind shocking people, do you! These cultures here in Corinth and in Rome have made peace with homosexual practices. You know that Plato had a boy companion, Xenophon’s leaders did, and Alexander the Great did. Strong examples. Easy for a culture to accept. And as you know, pagan practices always have sexual perversion as part of their practices. And in the face of this firmly accepted practice, you move in.

Permission for same-sex relations throws out the clearest demonstration of God’s mercy. God set up the lifelong marriage of one husband and one wife to be the icon of Christ’s love for his bride, the church. That divinely designed parallel holds the visible evidence of God’s unfailing love. It is quite straightforward: We often make lousy partners for our wives or husbands. But in spite of that, we hold to our promise to stay “until we are parted by death.” We work on our relationship, we forgive, we strain to understand, we show patience, we serve the aspirations of the other, and we stay together through trials of sickness, financial strains, and whatever else. And that is the exact parallel to the unfailing love of Christ, our bridegroom, to us His bride. Are we not lousy, unfaithful, and obstreperous marriage partners to Him? Yet He keeps us as His own.

In all of these points from Romans 1, God is not only merciful but also searching—searching for sheep that are misguided, dissatisfied, and estranged, but sheep that He loves and wants bring into the care of His fold.


Tertius immediately opened the discussion when we sat down on the bench. “Why would anyone ever think that the signs of a fallen culture were the marks of the Kingdom of God!” He had some energy on this. “Look at how the Epistle to the Romans has turned cultures upside down.  Luther and the wrongful teaching on forgiveness in Catholic Europe. Karl Barth’s description of Romans – a bomb exploding on the playing fields of 20th century liberalism. And outside of commentators, the great theologian/author Dostoevsky caught it: 'If there is no God, no morality in the universe, everything is permitted.'”

Then he reminded me that this only covers the first chapter. “I can add more, but don’t forget Phoebe, who carried the letter to Rome. She had some conversations with Paul you would find interesting. Talk to her.”

And we will, coming soon.