Matthew 12:38-42 The Sign of Jonah

A sign is an earthly event that points to a heavenly reality. In this case, the Pharisees wanted a sign from Jesus to have him confirm to them that he was really the Messiah. In most cases signs are granted to those who believe and need a confirmation, but rarely is a sign granted to skeptics (evil and adulterous generation) so that they might believe. The sign that Jesus recalls for them is the sign of Jonah who spent three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish as a sign of the soon to come death and resurrection of the Son of Man. The Ninevites would condemn the Pharisees because they repented at Jonah’s preaching. And Jesus is greater than Jonah!

Jesus brings up another character who will condemn the Pharisees at the judgment: the queen of the South. “She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” And Jesus assures them that something greater than Solomon is before them. The Pharisees reluctance to accept Jesus as Messiah despite all the signs he performed before their own eyes is a sign of their own unbelief. Jesus was not about to cater to their unbelief by performing special signs for them. He expected them to perceive the signs already given. He expected them to respond like the Ninevites and like the queen of the South.

Many today, like the Pharisees, are still asking for a sign from God to know if they should give up their ways and follow Jesus. Many still like to cut deals with God: “If you grant me this one thing, I will follow you.” The signs are already before us and the deal has already been cut in Jesus Christ our Lord. To follow Jesus is to be able to read the signs of the times and respond with repentance and pursuit of his wisdom.

Father, grant me the sensitivity to see the signs of the times and to respond appropriately with a heart of repentance and pursuit of your wisdom. Take away my unbelief and fill be with trust and obedience.

Acts 6:1-7 Seven Chosen to Serve

One of the problems that the Early Church encountered was a lack of organization. The Apostles were trying to do everything including serving at tables to provide for the needs of the people. Pretty soon, they found they could not keep up trying to do everything. Frustration was setting in and complaints started to arise because some segment of the widows were being neglected. The effects of a lack of organization are felt throughout the whole body and something had to be done.

The body of Christ is certainly a living body, an organism, but it is also an organization. In order for the body of Christ to be effective in all its ministries and remain alive as a body, it is necessary to organize its functions properly to ensure proper execution. The Apostles were forced to set priorities in their ministry and they chose to do what they were called to do: to pray and to preach the Word of God. My priorities in ministry should not be any different - I must prioritize my call according to the gifts God has given. Understanding that serving at tables is very important, they decided to appoint capable people and delegated those functions that they couldn't do even if they tried.

Sometimes, it is not a matter of being able to do it, but able to do it well. The execution of the Apostles in the area of distribution brought criticism because they were not able to execute effectively. I'm sure that if they continued to try doing it, they would have lost many people in the shuffle. Sometimes, I neglect quality in the execution of ministry and the body suffers. One of the most important things in their efforts to organize is to establish the requirements for those people who are to execute the job. The Apostles came up with three requirements: have a good reputation, be full of the Spirit, and full of wisdom. The Church today needs to continue to enforce these requirements.

A good reputation is easy to enforce. A candidate's life and testimony should be an open book that speaks to the values and priorities of a person. But how do you enforce being filled with the Spirit??? My reading of Acts and the New Testament as a whole tells me that the essential "signs" of a person filled with the Spirit is boldness and courage to be a witness to unbelievers. This is the area of life that must be probed to determine fullness in the Spirit. Wisdom is also very evident in the life of a person. I must state clearly that it is not earthly wisdom we are looking for here, but heavenly wisdom. It is to make decisions according to godly principles in ones life and church sometimes at a great cost.

The final consideration for a proper organization is to know how many people you need for the job. In this case, the Apostles deemed it necessary to have seven men appointed for the task. I am sure that the number was the result of the need in the body of Christ. I wonder how would it have been if they had appointed only three persons. The number must be enough to cover the need.

Interestingly enough, the results of such a reorganization brought an increase in the Word of God and the number of disciples multiplied greatly. I am very quick to look at the number of disciples, but I don't think I've ever thought of the Word of God increasing as a result that I must measure. What is an increase in the Word of God? It is to saturate all of church life with the preaching and teaching of the Word. It is to have more preaching points to communicate the Gospel. It is to have more people trained to witness the good news of the Gospel. I must seek to increase the Word of God by prioritizing my work in the kingdom and organizing the efforts of the body of Christ.

Thank you Lord for your Church, your body on earth. Help me respond to your call and prioritize my tasks according to that call and do not allow me to be swallowed up by the urgent. Help me facilitate the reorganization of your local body on earth for maximum effectiveness for the kingdom. Amen

Acts 5:33-42 Gamaliel

I COULDN'T GO ON WITHOUT COMMENTING ON GAMALIEL. ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, HE WAS A PHARISEE, TEACHER OF THE LAW, RESPECTED BY THE PEOPLE AND FULL OF WISDOM IN HIS HANDLING OF THE CASE OF THE PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. IN HIS EXPERIENCE HE HAD SEEN MANY PEOPLE CLAIM TO SPEAK IN GOD'S NAME, BUT HE FOUND THIS PRINCIPLE- THAT A MOVEMENT OF MEN FIZZLES AWAY, BUT A MOVEMENT OF GOD PREVAILS. HE COUNSELED HIS FELLOW COUNCILMEN NOT TO BE TOO HASTY IN DISMISSING THE APOSTLES BECAUSE THEY COULD FIND THEMSELVES FIGHTING AGAINST GOD.

I WAS A TEENAGER WHEN I FIRST READ THIS PASSAGE AND WAS STRUCK BY GAMALIEL'S COURAGE, CHARACTER, AND WISDOM. SINCE THEN, I'VE ALWAYS DESIRED TO BE A MAN LIKE HIM. I ALSO THOUGHT AT THAT TIME THAT IF I EVER HAD A SON, I WOULD NAME HIM GAMALIEL BECAUSE I WOULD WANT MY SON TO BE A MAN LIKE HIM AS WELL. MANY YEARS LATER, IN 1981, ANA AND I HAD OUR ONE AND ONLY SON. WE AGREED TO NAME HIM GAMALIEL, NOT JUST FOR WHO HE WAS, BUT IN OUR RESEARCH OF HIS HEBREW NAME, WE FOUND THAT IT MEANS "GIFT OF GOD." WE MOST CERTAINLY FELT THAT GAMI, AS WE AFFECTIONATELY CALL HIM TODAY, IS A GIFT FROM GOD TO US.

TODAY, GAMI IS 28 YEARS OLD. WE LIVED THROUGH MANY DIFFICULT TIMES AS HE WAS GROWING UP. THROUGHOUT ALL THOSE YEARS MY PRAYER FOR HIM WAS THAT HE WOULD GROW UP TO BE A GOD-FEARING MAN LIKE THE BIBLICAL CHARACTER. I HAVE TO SAY THAT MY SON IS WELL ON HIS WAY TO LIVE UP TO HIS NAME. I AM VERY PROUD OF HIM, NOT SO MUCH FOR HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS, THOUGH HE HAS MANY TO MAKE ANY FATHER PROUD. BUT I AM MOSTLY PROUD OF WHOM GOD IS SHAPING HIM TO BE. A GOOD SON, A GODLY HUSBAND, A LOVING FATHER, AND A FAITHFUL COWORKER IN THE KINGDOM.

FATHER, THANK YOU FOR MY SON, AN AWESOME UNDESERVED GIFT. THANK YOU FOR ANSWERING MY PRAYERS FOR HIM. PLEASE, CONTINUE TO WORK IN HIS LIFE AS YOU HAVE TO THIS DAY.