The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is preaching error for all the right reasons.
Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of June 9, 2012
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
___________________
While he [the lame man who was healed] clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: "Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.' And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness." (Acts 3:11–26 emphasis and double emphasis added)
___________________
1.
The man lame from birth had no faith, no belief in or of Jesus, but rather, clung to Peter and John as if they had healed him themselves—
Note, Peter and John are not accompanied by three thousand devout Jews who had just converted to belief in Christ Jesus; nor are Peter and John accompanied by the other Apostles. Rather, they are alone when they went up to the temple at the hour of prayer. So what Luke records in Acts 2:46 must be read in context with chapter 3, and when placed together, the three thousand are not with Peter and John “attending the temple together” by the time the events of chapter 3 occur.
It is, however, Peter’s sermon that is of interest; for Peter tells those who rushed to see what had occurred that it wasn’t by their power (Peter and John’s) that the lame man could walk, that is was by the power of the God of Abraham, the God of their fathers who had glorified Jesus that the lame man could walk (Acts 3:13).
On the surface, what Peter claims doesn’t seem problematic. Certainly what Peter claims is easy to believe, and is believed by the majority of Christendom. God the Father is the God of Abraham—is this not what is universally taught within Christian Churches? But what was it that Jesus told Sadducees in Matthew’s Gospel:
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her."
But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."
And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. (Matt 22:23–33 emphasis added)
Did the Sadducees truly not know Scripture? That is what Jesus is alleged to have said. And Jesus’ claim here is comparable to what Jesus claimed during the Feast of Tabernacles six months before He would be crucified:
About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?" So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?"
The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"
Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."
Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from."
So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me."
So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, "When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?"
The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. (John 7:14–32 emphasis and double emphasis added)
If anyone will is to do God’s will, this person will know whether Jesus’ teaching was from God … was it, is it God’s will that the Sabbath is ignored by the vast majority of Christians? If Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath—if on seven occasions the work of Jesus on the Sabbath was to do good, healing the infirm—and if Jesus spoke only the words of God the Father, could Jesus put the Father’s heavenly words into human utterance, or would those heavenly words uttered by the divine breath of God not spill over and cause healings to occur? The latter is the case: the words of the Father cannot be translated into human words without those words being transformed into both restorative miracles as well as human utterance. Remember, translation is transformation. To translate the words of the Father, which are not uttered in any human language, into the words of a human individual requires transforming the divine utterance into carnal breath with the divinity of the heavenly utterance thereby being manifested in a healing sign or wonder. It cannot be otherwise.
But the double emphasis in the above citation has Jesus telling the Jews of the temple that none of them kept the Law—and when coupled with Jesus telling Sadducees that they knew neither Scripture or the power of God, we can return to what Peter said … Peter knew neither Scripture nor the power of God even though he was with Jesus for three and a half years and knew that Jesus was the Christ (cf. Matt 16:16; John 6:68–69) and knew that by the power of God the lame man was healed.
What Peter said about the God of Abraham being the God that glorified Jesus is akin to Peter declaring that what happened on the day of Pentecost following Calvary was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy about YHWH pouring out the spirit on all flesh … Peter is on the right track, but he is wrong in what he says. At this time, Peter is truly a spiritual infant that still needs instruction. And in Peter lies hope for all of us who have said spiritually infantile things at various times. In Peter is hope for the truly born of spirit Christian who out of genuine ignorance continues to worship on Sunday. In Peter is hope for the Sabbatarian Christian who understands neither circumcision or being born of spirit. In Peter is hope for the infant son of God who, from zeal and a lack of wisdom, strives to teach others the mysteries of God. And in Peter is the origins of Christian confusion that has done more harm than good to the Body of Christ; for the God who raised Jesus from death and glorified Him is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of living ones. Rather, God the Father—the God who raised the dead Jesus from the grave—is the God of all dead ones, including the God of dead Abraham, the God of dead Isaac, the God of dead Jacob, and the God of dead King David.
God the Father is the God of every human person who has not yet been born of spirit through having received a second breath of life, the breath of God [pneuma theon]. This means that once a person is born from above, born anew, born of spirit [pneuma], this person as a son of God has both a heavenly Father as well as a God (see John 20:17). This person differs from natural Israel, the firstborn son of the God of the living Abraham (Ex 4:22); for the heavenly Father of a genuinely born-of-spirit son of God was never known by the person until he or she received a second breath of life.
But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. (Eccl 9:1–6 emphasis and double emphasis added)
The same thing, things happen to the righteous as happen to the wicked—there is no earthly benefit (physical reward) from being righteous. And this is what Sabbatarian Christians habitually deny. For some reason, Sabbatarian Christians in particular and Christians generally believe that they are somehow exempt from those things that physically happen to the wicked. Christians want to believe that because they have the faith of Christ Jesus, they will only have good things happen to them. And this is simply not true!
The evidence is everywhere: bad things happen to good people as well as good things happen to good people. Likewise, good things happened to wicked people as well as evil things. There is no one-to-one correspondence between good things and good people, or evil things to evil people. If there were, how could a son of disobedience ever become a son of God?
But it is the dead knowing nothing that prevented all of outwardly circumcised Israel from knowing God the Father, the God of dead ones and the God that Jesus came to reveal to His disciples, the God that Peter did not yet realize existed when he, as a spiritual infant, delivered a message at the temple:
And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?"
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, "What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name." So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."
And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old. When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. (Acts 4:1–23 emphasis added)
Five thousand additional converts? Obviously, the three thousand devout Jews who had come to believe in Jesus on that day of Pentecost following Calvary were not with Peter and John, who now had an additional five thousand converts because of the miracle … let us assume these are real numbers and not enhanced numbers: how much knowledge of Jesus do these five thousand men actually have when they sally forth to proclaim that Jesus is the Christ to all of Jerusalem and the world beyond? Peter will have told them that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob glorified Jesus—and this is extremely problematic, for it was the God of Abraham who had entered His creation to be born as the man Jesus the Nazarene. So each one of these five thousand converts spiritually got off on the wrong foot and was given false information thanks to Peter’s preaching, with Peter campaigning for the glorified Jesus in a manner that can be likened to former U.S. President Bill Clinton campaigning for President Obama: the messaging wasn’t working. Peter was without a good understanding of what Jesus had taught, with further evidence of this found in Galatians 2:11–14.
Now, if you were Christ Jesus, what would you do if your star pupil wasn’t getting the message correct? Would you not call someone else to deliver the message? You would, wouldn’t you? Hence, Paul was called.
John got it. Peter did not, at least not early on.
But Paul’s messaging wasn’t complete; for he uses the analogy of Abraham believing God and having his belief of God being counted to him as righteousness as the model for Christian belief of God without referencing that Abraham had his belief of God that had been counted to him as righteousness being tested at Mount Moriah (Gen chap 22) by having to put his belief into works, the point that James makes in his epistle:
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit [breath] is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (Jas 2:8–26 emphasis added)
Belief of God, belief that Jesus is the Christ, professing that Jesus is the Christ gets a person figuratively in the door that leads to salvation. But once in the door, the person’s belief will be tested—and tested from bad things happening to good people while the good person sees good things happening to bad people.
Take the above and apply it to your own life—and with this thought next Sabbath’s Reading will begin.
*
The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
* * * * *
"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."