The Power and Destruction of Envy - 31 Days in Acts

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Today then is Day 30 and we are on chapter 17 of Acts.

verses 1-10

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke are still travelling and have reached Thessalonica.
There is a synagogue there and as we have seen in previous chapters the synagogue is where they go to be able to speak to the Jews of the new location they are in.  So no change here but this time we see that they go there for 3 consecutive Sabbath Days.  It does not tell us that they were greatly received and many were saved straight after the first sermon but rather that they reasoned and explained for 3 different days so people were listening but not necessarily responding immediately.

Doesn't this give us encouragement to know that Paul did not always have a great immediate response from everywhere he went but would sometimes have to wait to see the fruit of sharing Christ with others?  We need to not get disheartened and think we can't do a good enough job when we do not see results like Paul often saw.


So in verse 4 we read that many were saved, some were Jews, a lot were Greeks and some women get a mention here.

However, in verse 5 we see another reaction

5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

Look at the result of envy here.

The meaning of envy:

a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.

Note it does not say that the person has done something wrong to cause this feeling in others.

First of all what were they envious of?  
If we go by the meaning above then they were envious of the qualities Paul and the others had or the way things were happening around them or the good situation they appeared to be in or the way others liked them.
This means they resented Paul & the others and the effect they thought they had on people which was not an effect they themselves had.
There was probably a lot of admiring talk about these visitors and the Jews who had not believed their message grew angry and did some irrational and violent things because of the feelings they allowed to accumulate in their minds.

A lot of harm can be done in any setting whether it be a home, a city, a church, a community, or a workplace when someone becomes envious of another.

Secondly what does envy entail?  

Envy 

• brings exaggeration of incidents or actions, 
• increases associations with people who may have other ulterior motives, 
• invites gossip, 
• often involves lies, 
• incites other people who would otherwise have been happy enough with the situation originally, 
• spits out accusations 
• brings on attacks whether physical or verbal.

No-one involved in the situation can come through it unharmed in some way.

Jason is a new person introduced to us now, obviously someone who was hospitable and a believer and because they cannot find Paul and the others, he is ill treated simply for providing a place for the visitors to stay.

Then in verse 7  I think it is very interesting to read

 7 Jason has harboured them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” 

because it makes me think of the accusations that were actually made of Jesus when the Jewish rulers were inciting the people and having Jesus brought for trial before being crucified.


Thirdly what were the two results of this envy?

verse 9   -   Jason & other believers had to give money to show they are promising that Jason's guests will not be a problem in the city.

verse 10  -  Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke had to leave straight away and go to Berea possibly because the other believers could not trust the mob or the Jews and still feared something would happen to them.

In a situation ruled by envy it is always hard to trust again.

verses 11-15

We can think back to Day 22  Daily Scriptures  when we looked at the verse about the Bereans and see a different attitude here from people who trusted by verifying with scripture and not going by feelings.

However those who had been ruled by envy came to Berea to cause trouble once more and again Paul & Luke had to leave immediately, moving on this time to Athens.  Silas & Timothy were left behind in Berea but Paul wanted them to join him again as soon as possible.

Evil will always want to stop the Gospel being preached.

I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 

The 31 Days in Acts Page

Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



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The Call - 31 Days in Acts

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Yesterday in chapter 16 of Acts we met Timothy and Lydia, talked about Empowering People's Lives and briefly mentioned the call to Macedonia in the vision Paul had.


Now today we are going to look at the result of the call in the rest of chapter 16 but first I just wanted to mention something that I hadn't thought about before.

In verse 10 we read

10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

We have two pronouns there that indicate there were more than Paul, Silas & Timothy heading off to Macedonia after the vision.

It says 

"immediately we sought to go"  

and 

"the Lord had called us to preach the gospel"

We really need to remember that there was always another person around,

the one who was recording all the facts, 

the one we started off in Day 1 chapter 1 saying Thank You to 

LUKE  the doctor and the author of this book and the Gospel named for him.

This is the first time (or maybe I have missed another little pronoun somewhere) we have seen him include himself in the people travelling among the Apostles.

Interesting that he deliberately does mention "we" in the decision to go, so does this mean that they all were included in making the decision and not just Paul in charge?

Then he used "us" in reference to preaching the Gospel which makes me wonder if the preaching was not simply left to the Apostles as we may feel through the examples we are presented with along the way.  I am sure they would all have been involved in sharing the Good News as they talked with people but this might be the indication here more towards them each having opportunities to preach and it would make sense because that would be part of the discipling and mentoring by the Apostles.


Looking now at verses 16 - 24 we see what happens after the group have accepted the call to Macedonia and the offer to stay with Lydia in her home in Philippi. 

We have the story of the girl with the evil spirit taunting them as they went to prayer - a time when the devil certainly wants to draw their attention away from their purpose.

The girl is saying a form of the truth but that does not mean she is saying it in a respectful way or for the right reason.  Paul deals with her wrong intentions by casting out the evil spirit but then her employers are not happy and decide to bring more evil upon Paul & Silas by taking them to the Roman authorities and complaining about them causing division in the city.

The devil will always use another way to stop the Word of God when he fails in his first attempt.

The people are incited and then the authorities are incited and anger rules the day.  

The devil thinks he has won when Paul & Silas are beaten severely and thrown into the inner part of the prison and locked up in the stocks.  But this is one of those well-known stories in Acts and we know that the devil does not have the final say.

Verses 25 - 34  tell us who is triumphant over all as Paul and Silas are not disheartened in prison but instead sing the praises of God and the earthquake shakes the prison to frighten all within and to free the two prisoners from there chains.
When we first hear this part of the story I'm sure most of us would be tempted to think that Paul and Silas would use the opportunity to escape but God's ways are not our human ways and God had more to do here than just rescue His people.

He also had more people to bring into His Kingdom.

The result of the quake may start with a very frightened jailer ready to kill himself but it ends with a very happy household as they are presented with hope and joy in the future.
No preaching was necessary here just a simple explanation about Believing in the Right Thing using that great verse 16 which we covered in Day 26.

Fear turned into Joy because of the simple message of the Gospel.

Verses 35 - 40  finish off the chapter with the recounting of how Paul and Silas are finally asked to leave not only the prison but the city.  No punishment now they are being requested to leave because of the fear the rulers have over what has occurred.

The whole city knows and their attitude has been turned upside down from evil prevailing to the presence of God prevailing.

This is the result of obedience to the call to come to Macedonia.




I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 

The 31 Days in Acts Page

Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



Disclaimer:
If buying through Amazon I get a little commission but that does not mean any extra expense to you.

All The Same? - 31 Days in Acts

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There is an affiliate link on this blogpost.


Today is Day 25 of my 31 Days in Acts and today we are going to look at chapter 15

verses 1 - 5

The chapter starts with the controversy over circumcision.

The leaders in Jerusalem who probably all come from Jewish background were saying all believers should be circumcised.

Some people come to Antioch and speak about this but Paul & Barnabas disagree.  So they are sent to Jerusalem to talk with the Apostles there. 

verses 6 - 21

Peter is in Jerusalem and he tells how he was led by God to take the gospel to the Gentiles and he does not advocate circumcision for them.

Then Paul & Barnabas speak of their work among the Gentiles and they also do not advocate imposing circumcision.

verses 22 - 29

The leaders in Jerusalem take heed of the advice and agree with them.  They then send Paul, Barnabas and two others (Silas and Judas) back to Antioch with a letter telling the new gentile converts that they are not commanded to be circumcised but 

29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Good type of advice for today as well.

New believers should not be given a list of things they must or must not do but they should be taught to learn from the Bible how to conduct themselves and know that there are aspects of life that God will not condone but also that other Christians do not have the right to insist on a lot of other secondary rules which will only put pressure on people.

verses 30 - 35

The believers in Antioch received the letter well and were encouraged by it.

Judas and Silas, being recognised as prophets, also spoke words from God to the people.

After a while Judas returned to Jerusalem but Silas remained in Antioch with Paul & Barnabas.

verses 36 - 41

A while later Paul wanted to go back to all the places he and Barnabas had visited and preached and discipled people in.  Barnabas must have been in agreement about the travelling but they differed in opinion as to who should go with them.

Barnabas wanted to take John Mark but Paul did not because John Mark had left them previously which we read about in chapter 13  Day 23  A Specific Job for the Kingdom  

 They could not come to an agreement over this so in the end Barnabas took John Mark and they went to Cyprus, while Paul took Silas and they went to Syria.

Was Barnabas giving Mark a second chance whereas Paul would not or was it because Barnabas and Mark were related as some commentators say they were cousins?

There is an indication in verse 40 that Paul may have been considered to be in the right

40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren
 to the grace of God.

but because Barnabas was always known for being a great encourager and helper and mentor of Paul in the first years after Paul's conversion, I can't bring myself to think that he was wrong (maybe I just always have had a certain likeness for his character).

I think they both had different ideas of how the ministry could continue and who they could work with but we have not been given any other information on who made the final decision or if any other apostles had any input to it.

Sometimes relationships change but it should be for the better.

However it was decided, it resulted in Paul and Silas going to the churches in Syria etc. on the mainland and Barnabas taking John Mark to the island of Cyprus which we heard of in chapter 13 Day 23  A Specific Job  of our reading of Acts.  There we saw only one convert which was the proconsul and John Mark had been helping Paul and Barnabas at that time.

In the end it did mean that instead of one missionary trip with Paul and Barnabas together, there were two trips to different areas with two other people involved learning from the Apostles.

I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 

The 31 Days in Acts Page

Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



Disclaimer:
If buying through Amazon I get a little commission but that does not mean any extra expense to you.