God in a box?

Good Morning. . . Today as we study the second half of Paul's sermon, I pray that God will make his Word come alive for all of us, so that it will become alive IN all of us~
Acts 13.26-43 (NIV). Scripture is in black; the words in blue are my prayerful thoughts about Paul's powerful message to God's people.

26"Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. Paul addresses those sitting before him in the synagogue - people of the Jewish faith, and Gentiles who had moved away from pagan gods to follow Jehovah. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. This is interesting because Paul takes the blame off the Jewish people as a whole, and instead confines it to those who had been in Jerusalem as Jesus ministered, was arrested, and crucified. They were blind and did not 'recognize' Jesus as Messiah. Why? He didn't come and perform in the way in which they had expected. They had God in a box. Paul is saying to these who were one step removed from the action in Jerusalem--'hey, here's what happened. . . now can you see it? When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. Those who had been with Jesus from Galilee down to Jerusalem had known Jesus from the start of His ministry through His resurrection. Some had known Him since their childhood days in Nazareth of Galilee. And of course, so many of these same also saw and talked with the risen Lord in the 40 days between the resurrection and His ascension into Heaven.

"We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: " 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father. (read Psalm 2.7) The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: " 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David. (Isaiah 55.3) 'So it is stated elsewhere: " 'You will not let your Holy One see decay.' Paul reminds them--that while they revered David, a man after God's own heart, when he died, he stayed dead. . . and yet Jesus who came through the lineage of David was killed, His body never decayed. "Never decayed?" Considering that rigor mortis begins setting in within four hours of death, and Jesus was died, and was placed in the tomb on Friday, and then was not resurrected until Sunday--that is miraculous in itself. No rigor mortis for the body of Jesus. Hmmm. . . that is fascinating. "For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
At this point, I bet you that Paul leaned in to his audience, and looked them in the eye--he is 'closing' them, and he is passionate that they understand and also respond to what he was telling them about Jesus Christ. "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified (made righteous in the sight of God), from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. The Law was powerless to save men; it only show(s) where we lack, but doesn't make up for our lack. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: " 'Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.'" (you can read the prophet's words yourself in Habakkuk 1.5.) He closes his message by recalling to their minds the warning that Habakkuk had given--he bids them, 'don't scoff at the truth of Jesus Christ.'

As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. Acts 13.26-43 in black.~

~ * ~ * ~

Wow! What an incredible (first) sermon of Paul! I am anxious to dig into his next one. . . but I would like to ponder this notion of keeping God in a box, restricted to the set of behaviors we think He should have. Of course, if we dig into Scripture, there is so much we can know about who God is--including His character and his heart--and then by having a relationship with Him, we can know him experientially--but as for knowing what he will do, how He will regularly act, and what his timing will be--we don't. He is God, and we are not. The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. We are dealing with somebody we made up.** People have settled for a God "on call," a God available for crises and fiascos, who does a bit of juggling with weather patterns and parking stalls but who otherwise remains unobtrusive as a chambermaid, tidying things up while you're at brunch, leaving a crisp sash of tissue around the lid of the toilet bowl to let you know all is in order. The problem, obviously is that this god--so kind, so shy, so tame--has nothing to do with the God of the Bible. . . the God whose Spirit broods and dances, the God who topples entire empires, sometimes overnight, the God who reveals himself in the Christ who looks big men in the eye and says, "Follow me," and then walks away, not waiting for a reply. . . . the Lion of Judas is fierce, wild and good. . . &

So, how do you keep God in a box? Do you not go to Him with your deepest needs and desires, because, "well, He's probably too busy, or doesn't care that much anyway"? Do you believe He'll do "ABC" but never 'XYZ'? Do you limit Him with your weak faith? Do you keep Him in a box by not surrendering all of yourself to Him? O, please, may we have our concept of God--Who He is, what He does, and how He does it--marvelously expanded and gloriously enlarged! Think of these things, my friends.

Christine (DiGiacomo) http://www.allaboutgod.net/profiles/blog/list http://powerinthewordofgod.ning.com/profiles/blog/list **Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell & The Holy Wild, Mark Buchanan