Dear Faith Family,
This week in class, I had my students read Acts 16-22, asking, "What is the message, and why does it cause so much trouble?". In case you don't remember from our summer in the Book of Acts, this is the section of the story with riots, arrests, beatings, murder plots, and a tremendous deepening and expanding of the picture of "church."
The way our discussions work in class is that a student will throw out an observation or interpretation, and then we will "work it," trying to see if we can move the initial thought closer to the text and context to see the why undergirding it. In this particular discourse, one student offered a first attempt at the message in the section: believe in Jesus. Whether in Sunday School class or Theology class, an answer like that is a safe starting place! Ha!
Yet, unlike Sunday School, in our class, such an answer is only the start of the conversation, not the end. Quickly, another student jumped in, offering a pivoting observation: "It doesn't seem like belief is not enough; even the demons believed Jesus." Referring to the sons of Sceva story in Acts 19:11-20, the student observed that the exorcists who believed in the power of Jesus got beaten by the demons who knew Jesus and Paul, but not them. The story is a fantastic, if not a bit comedic revelation, that belief in Jesus is more than an affirmation of who He is or what He can do, but a giving ourselves over to Him because of what He has done. At least that's how "the believers" in Acts 19 interpreted the scolding of Sceva's sons:
And fear [awe and wonder] fell upon them all,
and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled [highly praised].
Also, many of those who were now believers
came confessing and divulging their practices.
(Acts 19:17-18)
Our class discussion and the story in Acts 19 remind me of our conversation on Sunday through John 8, where Jesus invited those who believed who He said He was (8:12-20) and what He would do (8:21-30) to make themselves at home in belief by submitting their lives to Him:
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him,
'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'
(John 8:31-32)
Giving ourselves over, submitting ourselves to Jesus as "Lord" or "Master," is, as we discussed on Sunday, not always an easy thing for us, even us "believers" (see Jn. 8:33-38). Yet it is precisely this giving over, which the Prayer of Examen aids us in doing, leading us to "confess and divulge our practices," reviewing our days and weeks in a manner where we can make ourselves at home in who we are in Jesus, because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.
So, let the Spirit examen us this week! And in so doing, may we discover, just as the believers in Acts 19 did, that belief is not enough, but it is the beginning of a truly free life given and giving over to our Lord Jesus.
if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
(John 8:36)
Love you, faith family! God bless.