Will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

Acts 12:24-13:15 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

²⁴ But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

 ²⁵ And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.

13 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

⁴ So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ⁵ When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper. ⁶ When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷ who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹ But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, ¹⁰ and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹ Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. ¹² Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³ Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.”

Paul was never one to mince words. In today’s text when he addressed a false prophet it says: Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,  and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?     It’s not that Paul did not believe in the importance of love. After all he is the author of 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, perhaps one of the most often quoted and printed essays on love. Paul himself, though he had been one who persecuted the followers of Jesus, had experienced the mercy and grace of God. Paul also knew though, as Jesus Himself said:   “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,  and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  (John 8:31-32)  Compromising and distorting the truth is lying. Misrepresenting, making crooked the straight ways of the Lord, calling good what God calls evil is deceitful and of the devil. In John 8:42-46 Jesus said:  I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.  Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.  You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?       Jesus too was never one to mince words. Though He Himself is the very demonstration of God’s love to the world, He boldly and plainly declared the truth, the uncompromised truth of God’s word. He says:    “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

It’s okay for us as believers to hold to different traditions, different preferences in our worship styles and our fellowship gatherings. It’s okay for us to minister differently in response to the gift and call of God in and on our lives. It’s okay that in response to the gifts we have been given some will be more focused on outreach, some will be more focused on service and some will be more focused on preaching and teaching. Paul wrote to the church saying:   He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no  longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,  from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)      It’s not okay to compromise the truth of God’s word.

Jesus Himself was never concerned about who might be offended by the truth. He loved unconditionally but He said:   “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) He is the way, the narrow way, the only way. For us to distort the truth of God’s word, exchanging love, mercy and grace for acceptance, tolerance and inclusion of sin is deceitful, fraudulent, it is making the straight ways of the Lord crooked. We’re not told what the final outcome of the false prophet was in today’s text. It says:    Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.    Perhaps he, like Paul himself was given a revelation of Christ in the time of his blindness. Perhaps he too responded to the love, mercy, grace and truth and became a follower of Jesus. Jesus was clear though about what would be the future of those who were deceptive, fraudulent, causing others to stumble. Matthew 5:19 says:   Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.     Matthew 18:6 says: whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Perhaps the greatest challenge we, as followers of Christ, face is to, like Jesus, love unconditionally, to be the demonstration of God’s love, mercy and grace to the world, while we uncompromisingly speak the truth, not concerning ourselves with who may be offended but rather that they may come to know Jesus as the Christ, the Savior, Redeemer, the Lord and King.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for revealing to me, the truth, the narrow way, the only Jesus Christ. Help me by Your abiding presence to demonstrate Your mercy and grace, to love unconditionally and to speak Your truth uncompromisingly.    Amen