Called and created for His purpose, His way

Acts 18:1-22 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. ² And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, ³ and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. ⁴ And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

⁵ But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. ⁶ But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” ⁷ Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. ⁸ Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. ⁹ And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; ¹⁰ for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” ¹¹ And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹² But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, ¹³ saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” ¹⁴ But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; ¹⁵ but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.” ¹⁶ And he drove them away from the judgment seat. ¹⁷ And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

¹⁸ Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. ¹⁹ They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. ²⁰ When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent, ²¹ but taking leave of them and saying, “I will return to you again if God wills,” he set sail from Ephesus.

²² When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch.

By the standards many today set forth as evidence of following Christ, of living as Christ lived, of being Jesus representatives to the world, Paul would be a failure. He would not fit the criteria many today have established for “true” Christian living and ministry. The text says: he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath… Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ…  The text says: But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Paul, much like Jesus Himself, did much of his teaching and preaching in the synagogues. In addition to preaching, he ministered in and to the established churches, helping believers to better understand and live as followers of Christ. He was devoted to the word, which at that time was what we know as Old Testament scriptures, not the written gospels. It was through those scriptures, his devotion to them and knowledge of them, that he proclaimed the gospel, the good news. It was through the word that he persuaded people and testified that Jesus was/is the Christ. He preached a hard uncompromising message and when his message was not received he moved on.

Paul’s devotion to the word and his devotion to the church translated into him becoming, with the Holy Spirit, the author of a large portion of our New Testament. His letters of exhortation, encouragement, instruction and discipline are foundational to the church and individual believers. Before Paul’s encounter with Jesus, he was a zealous persecutor of the church and followers of Christ. Acts 9:3-5 says:  As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;  and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”  And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,  but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”    In Acts 22:3 Paul says:   “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.  In Philippians 3:5 Paul writes:   I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin--a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.

After Paul had his encounter with Christ, he was changed, he became as every believer, a new creation.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says:  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.     Here’s the thing though, when Paul was changed God didn’t take away Paul’s zealousness. He didn’t take away Paul’s love and devotion to the word. God changed Paul’s heart, He didn’t change the way He, God created Paul. God created each of us with a specific temperament, some are more outgoing, some are more reserved. Some people are very structured and detail oriented, others are more spontaneous. Some are logical and diagnostic, while others are creative and expressive. Some people are highly emotive, compassionate and empathetic. God created all of these characteristics, every temperament, for a purpose, for His purpose. When we are changed by Christ, God doesn’t change how He made us. He changes our heart so that we can fulfill His purpose according to the way He created us. In Romans 12 Paul exhorts individuals and the church collectively to live for Christ. He begins saying:   Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.     Now watch and see how God puts individuals together, not that they all become alike, but so that through the various gifts and temperaments He created in them they can work together to accomplish His purpose.     Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;  if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;  or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.    

God has created and gifted each of us uniquely for His purpose. Why do we confuse unity with conformity? If God wanted us all to be the same and to do things the same way He would have created us identically. We tend to see things from our own perspective. We believe others should see things as we see them, should do things as we do them. Instead the church, God’s body of believers need each one to do what God has called them to do in the way He has created them to do it. Paul continues in Romans 12 saying:   Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;  not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;  rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,  contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.  In John 13:35 Jesus says:     “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”   He wasn’t speaking about our love for sinners or our love for the lost, the outcasts and the unlovely, surely we are to love those. But if believers are not unified, if they do not love one another how will men know they are disciples of Christ? Unity is not conformity. We shouldn’t seek to all do things the same way. God created us differently for His purpose. His purpose, what He wants is that: all men be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.(1 Timothy 2:4) He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.(2 Peter 3:9)

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit: Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;  if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;  or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. May we each individually work and walk according to the way You have created us, that collectively we will fulfill Your purpose.    Amen