Day 25, Acts 25

Acts 25 is another chapter of mostly narration about Paul’s arrest, trial, and transfer to Rome.

As I pondered the narrative, it dawned on me there’s an important lesson we as the church need to learn here: It is far too easy for those opposed to changes in the “status quo” to waylay the church from its primary mission.

In the book of Acts, the Jewish believers and non-believers were mostly orthodox, that is, they held to a strict separation between insiders (Jews) and outsiders (Gentiles). And they held an even stricter adherence to tradition (the Law). Change was hard for them to stomach, let alone to swallow.

When the established religious leaders couldn’t put an end to Paul’s challenge to the status quo, they turned their attention full on to attack Paul personally. And by sidelining Paul, the established religion’s followers were actually able to slow the spread of Christianity, especially amongst the Jews. Indeed, within a very few years, the Christian expansion slowed to a crawl in the fertile crescent (the land of Israel and Palestine) and even slowed in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey, Greece, Iraq, and Kuwait). And though the expansion of Christianity did continue in Europe, Asia, and Africa, by AD 100 the church began turning its attention more on itself than on reaching new people for Jesus. The church began to lose its missional fire.

Instead of reaching those outside the church, the church’s leaders began focusing on creating new “rules”; new policies were set; church meetings of the bishops began to take precedence; and the goal of expanding the Kingdom of God from to the ends of the earth became more of an idea than a reality. It wouldn’t be until Constantine in AD 300ish before Christianity would be re-propelled to movement status again.

Change is difficult. But more than that, change is unpopular. Paul paid for his commitment to change with his freedom and ultimately with his life. Indeed, by AD 300, estimates are that approximately 410,000 Christians had been martyred for their faith. And yet, without their commitment to reaching out beyond the status quo, the church would have been absorbed into the culture of olde.

Change for change’s sake is never an answer. But reaching new generations demands using new tools and new styles and creating new traditions so that the unchanging message of Jesus can be heard, internalized, and acted upon. Jesus said that new wine cannot be contained in old wine skins. New wine, and new ways, need to be fit into new wine skins. But Jesus ALSO pointed out that the old wine is a fine wine. He never advocated throwing it out, but savoring it. For the church to be faithful in its mission, we need both. Old wine skins for those who love and cherish fine wine. But to reach those who don’t have a taste for the old wine, we need to develop new wine skins for the new wine. Not a replacement, but an alternative. And though Paul encouraged both old and new traditions to exist side-by-side, those committed to tradition were unable to “allow” an alternative to continue. And that cost the church so dearly that it took multiple generations for it to recover.

There is much to learn from the book of Acts. Just a couple more days and we’ll have completed our first read through. The end is in sight! Or is it just the beginning? 🙂

Share this:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Raytown Christian Church

6108 Blue Ridge Blvd, Raytown, MO 64133

816-353-1708

office@raytowncc.org

Share this: