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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, November 11, 2024
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Jerusalem Council [2] Bible Verse:Acts 15:12-21 (ESV) "And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’ [See Amos 9.] Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” Notes on the Scripture" Message:
We have seen how difficult it was for the Jews to accept uncircumcised Gentiles as Christians. (Their religion went back to Genesis 17:1-14, where God first required the Jews to circumcise male children.) But Barnabas and Paul are very persuasive.
The James who speaks the judgment of the Council is “James the Just,” the leader of the Jerusalem church and first Bishop of Jerusalem, a man renown for his piety and goodness. Most scholars believe that James the Just was the same man as the apostle James (the Lesser), probably the cousin or half-brother of Jesus. James accepts the converted Gentiles, but requires them to follow certain Jewish rules of conduct, such as abstaining from sexual immorality, “what has been strangled,” etc. Although the first of these sounds reasonable enough today, the second is puzzling. To understand it fully, we must consider the major issue that underlies it: Where does modern Christian morality come from?
Killing the serpent Satan, illustrated Bible
Fighting Satan
We take for granted certain moral precepts, but we should not. Consider murder. Other than the Jews, the concept that human life is sacred and that murder is immoral was practically unknown 2000 years ago. Most societies made it illegal to kill some people under some circumstances. In Rome, for example, one might be arrested and executed for killing a Roman citizen, but not a slave. And the same with theft, adultery, etc. Some people might be protected by law, but there was no sense that these actions were inherently “wrong,” in and of themselves. A general moral code that applied to all humanity simply did not exist.
Christ himself was not primarily a moral teacher. Although he did give us several moral precepts, his principal message was one of forgiveness and salvation. The fundamental morality we follow comes from Judaism and the Old Testament, and Christ’s limited teachings on morality were modifications of Jewish law, or examples of how impossible it was to follow the Law, rather than a full moral code.
But the early Jewish Christians struggled with which of the laws they lived under were universal and which were superseded by Christ. Ultimately, church leaders would come to lean upon the Ten Commandments as the basic moral law and discard much of the rest of the Mosaic law, but this took time. The Jews of 50 A.D. were horrified by the immorality of eating bloody meat.
Our morals today are fundamentally Jewish. Both Christ and Paul clarified and added to the “Christian” moral code; but the whole concept was foreign to Gentile converts. And so James, who had to act quickly, picks out those practices of the Gentiles which were widespread and shocking to the Jews of Jerusalem.
Meditation : Prayer : Finally, may I go forth filled with the joy and confidence of your Spirit; and may everything I do this day, in word or deed, be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.........Amen |
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