Daily Liturgy and Scripture

The two churches in today’s letters couldn’t be more different. Philadelphia is surrounded by enemies but perseveres, while Laodicea is thriving by lukewarm. Still, both are included. Laodicea is given a warning, but they’re not cut off. Not yet, anyway. Philadelphia is faithful to their calling, even under perilous times. Do you wonder if the trials they face might have made them more faithful? I...

Some symbolism is starting to become part of John’s narrative, especially when he describes false prophets. We’re still in the specific letters to churches, and this is certain: just being part of a church isn’t enough. Being a follower of Jesus means hearing the Spirit and obeying what God asks. It doesn’t mean going out on your own, creating a false way that isn’t the way of Jesus. There are har...

Revelation is a book for the whole church, but there were specific churches receiving it in John’s time. Here with the messages to Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum, we can see that the message of Revelation isn’t intended to fly right over the heads of the early believers. It was meant to both challenge and encourage them, something they certainly needed. They lordship of Christ was always their foun...

Revelation is probably the most debated book in the entire Bible. Some have tried to make it all literal, as if the wild visions will come true in full embodiment. Others have tried to reduce to entirely to symbolism. There is a lot of both, and then there is a mix of letters written directly to its audience of several churches in Asia. Whatever follows, this introduction has a couple very importa...

Paul really seems to be using his past problems with the Jewish leadership to gain an audience in Rome. Do you get the sense that he sort of tosses out that he had been opposed to gain their ear? Whether or not that was his intention it, worked. Some believed, and this was Paul's central mission.

If you feel shipwrecked, look around for what God is still doing. Paul was, but God still had things for him to do on the island where he found himself. What if Paul had been blinded by despair? What if he had been bitter toward his captors? Because he wasn't, the Gospel was able to spread to the island of Malta. 

There probably haven’t been very many times in history where law enforcement were thankful to have a prisoner with them, but Paul is exceptional. Not only was God sparing him in this shipwreck, but his presence meant saving the lives of all aboard. This is what the Kingdom is all about: lives so full of God that those around us sometimes reap the benefits, even if they aren’t fully decided themsel...

I really wonder if Paul putting the, “I am sending you to the Gentiles” piece so emphatically into his story didn’t stick with the court that day. He wasn’t just telling his own story or defending his knowledge of Jewish customs, he was unveiling something for the very people in the room. That must have been very difficult. When we’re in trouble, it’s easy to focus on the trouble, but Paul remembe...

Paul is about to meet Agrippa, who was a regional governor. Since Paul appealed to Caesar, Festus is really just trying to pawn his decision off on middle management -- the ruler between himself and Caesar. Meanwhile, Paul remains in prison. 

Do you wonder if there was some spreading of the Kingdom as Paul was in prison? It happened everywhere else he went, so why wouldn’t it occur there? We are reading about Paul sitting in prison for two years, but you can be certain he was still preaching to anyone who would listen. I can’t help but wonder if Paul’s prison term wasn’t responsible for little seats of the Way popping up all over the R...

Someone who has done nothing wrong has nothing to be ashamed of, and Paul certainly fits that description. Were the people he offended not in power, it is unlikely that Felix would have ever heard this trial. As it was, that’s exactly who he offended. Paul told the story the same way he has done over and over: he follows the law, but he also follows the Way (an early expression of Christianity). H...

Today we remember Andrew, who was an apostle of John, then followed Jesus. That is kind of a wild part of his life to consider: he heard John’s preaching and wanted to be his disciple. But John’s purpose was to point to Jesus, and he could scarcely hold anyone back from finding that ultimate truth. So should it be with us: while we might be tempted to promote our own talents, the best we have to o...

Again Paul uses his Roman citizenship to save his own life, as well as some help from his family. Roman citizenship was a big deal because the Romans were running that part of the world, and their protection was ironclad. While Christianity was far from the official religion of the empire (that would happen later) they were doing their part thanks to Paul to help grow the Church!

Paul uses his Roman citizenship to get himself out of a few scrapes. This is pretty strong proof that sometimes, it is in line with the Spirit to show a little cunning. Paul had a purpose in the Kingdom that couldn’t be fulfilled if he were dead, and God certainly had a plan in mind when he made this Roman citizen a traveling evangelist at the critical point of the early Church.

Our story has power when it’s intertwined with the story of the Spirit. Paul is, without a doubt, someone whose story is intertwined in just such a way. While his audience turned on him at the end, there was still power in what he was telling. It’s been said that if nobody disagrees with you, what you say doesn’t hold much strength. If that’s true, then Paul’s delivery on those steps was both Spir...

This scene really is chaos. It’s no wonder: here we have a man who used to be a Jewish leader, teaching a gospel he tried to destroy, teaching other Jews that the laws they had followed all their lives were not God’s final plan. Add to that the inclusion of non-Jews in this new Kingdom, and you really do have a recipe for sheer confusion. Paul stood in that gap, though, and it must have taken imme...

The spreading of the Kingdom of Christ isn’t about abstracts, it’s also about the work of the people he has chosen to be involved. This episode of prophecy being used to warn Paul of danger, trying to discourage him from going to a place where his life might be in danger, is an example of that. We are part of God’s plan just as Paul was, and God preserves us for his purposes.

The theme of two of today’s passages is being faithful. Both in Ecclesiasticus as we observe our security being held by God, and Paul’s painful decision to follow the Spirit despite the outcome. It’s a good lesson for us, because it’s not always easy to remain focused on the security we have in God. Sometimes, we’re weighed down by the distractions of whatever is closest to us.

Don’t fall asleep during the sermon! This is a pretty extreme example of what can happen if you do. Although in the defense of the young man who fell asleep, it was a long, long sermon. Still, Paul was ready to see to him, and it certainly must have been one of the more meaningful Lord’s Supper observations in the entire New Testament afterward!

Sometimes the thing we seem to be fighting isn’t really the thing we’re fighting. So it was with the Ephesian silversmiths who brought a crowd into the public square to complain about Paul. So it is with us today, if we aren’t attentive to the Spirit and also to those around us. Perhaps this is also why Paul wrote to the Ephesians that we, “wrestle not against flesh and blood.” Keeping our focus o...

The Spirit was moving in a unique way around Paul, and bringing wholeness to peoples’ bodies in connection with the Kingdom of Christ was one of many things going on. But it was not about the tricks, as the Sons of Sceva demonstrate. If God wanted his children to do tricks, be would have made us all magicians. That’s not what we are, of course. We’re messengers with an important story to tell, and...

Introducing Apollos into the narrative is proof that the growth of the early Church wasn’t just limited to apostles and Paul. The Sprit was raising up people outside those circles, because the Spirit was the one doing the work. How fortunate that the growth of the Kingdom wasn’t limited to a few celebrity preachers. If that had been the case, it probably wouldn’t have lasted past the first century...

Paul really does have a heart for the Jewish people. He also appears to be getting pretty exasperated with them, shaking the dust from his clothes at Corinth to say, basically, “you’re on your own.” But then a few verses later, he’s right back with another group of Jews, trying again to convince them of Jesus’ Lordship. That is the mark of a true calling. It’s not yours because it’s easy, it’s you...

God is creating opportunities for Paul at every turn. He was waiting for his traveling company in Athens, but God had other plans. Paul finds himself in a myriad of false gods, and he takes that opportunity to use one of the very pagan sculptures to teach hungry hearts about Jesus. Certainly, the Spirit is moving in ways we don’t see. We must keep ourselves in prayer and stay attentive to what tha...

You have to give Paul credit for staying with his commitment to the Jewish people. While he definitely saw lots of converts to Christ from among the Jews, he also encountered fierce opposition. It would have been so much easier to forget about the Jews and just go to the Gentiles. But that’s not what he did. Although it was difficult, he stuck with the mission because he knew that God had not aban...