Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friends, Pastor Curt here. And we are going to finish up the Book of Acts today. I. And it'll all be there.
Dena Davidson [00:00:06]:
Should we be happy or should we get.
Curt Harlow [00:00:08]:
I'm a little sad.
Dena Davidson [00:00:09]:
I'm a little sad.
Curt Harlow [00:00:10]:
I'm a little sad. Part of me worries we're not going to study the whole book of Acts again for like a millennia. Yes, because it's been a year and it's one of my faves. But then knowing Bayside, we're an action church. Yo. Look, we'll bring it back. Yes, but this is the last pod for the Book of Acts and I've got, as always, the frontal lobe of thrive. Colle.
Curt Harlow [00:00:31]:
Dena Davidson here with me. We're going to get right into it. Our context is verse 24. So just to catch up, Paul and his compadres go through a horrible two week shipwreck. They end up on the island of Malta. Paul gets bit by a snake. They say he's a. He's a murderer.
Curt Harlow [00:00:50]:
The gods are out to get him and then he doesn't die. He's a God. He's a God. Then finally after all of that, he arrives in Rome. They get another Alexandrian ship and they go a bunch of places Luke mentions and they finally get there. When Paul gets there, the Rome officials are like, dude, we have no idea what's going on here.
Dena Davidson [00:01:10]:
Why are you here?
Curt Harlow [00:01:11]:
We wouldn't kill you for any of this. And so Paul does something that's super graceful and super powerful and I'm not sure I'd do it. I've seen so many leaders get so upset for things so much smaller than what Paul went through. But Paul reaches out to the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem right away. Right away. Now you got to understand how ancient and strong the Jewish community is in Rome. You can go there to this day and see the Jewish Quarter. It's a.
Curt Harlow [00:01:42]:
It's a rich and many times tragic history of the Jewish people in Rome. And he calls to these people and they meet with him and that's. And what does he do, Dena?
Dena Davidson [00:01:52]:
He.
Curt Harlow [00:01:52]:
He preaches the gospel. And this is where we pick up the story right after he's done preaching the gospel. We're in verse 24 and it says, if I can find 24 in my Bible. Here we go, all the way down here. Where is it? Right there. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe, which is what it's been in every chapter. From Jerusalem to Rome. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave and begin to.
Curt Harlow [00:02:24]:
I'm going to start the whole thing again. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made his final statement. The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet, go to this people and say, you will be ever hearing, but never understanding. You will be ever seeing, but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn.
Curt Harlow [00:03:06]:
And I would heal them. Therefore, I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen. For two years, Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness without hindrance. And that's Dena's favorite little line there. Full boldness without hindrance okay, so, man, the whole book of Acts ends with a rebuke.
Dena Davidson [00:03:41]:
Mm.
Curt Harlow [00:03:42]:
It's not the most.
Dena Davidson [00:03:43]:
So cheery.
Curt Harlow [00:03:44]:
Yeah, it ends with a rebuke. It's not. And they lived heavily after where it was like, because your hearts are so hard. And this is going all the way back to Isaiah. I'm gonna quote your own prophet at you. You're gonna see a great revival among the Gentiles, but you're not gonna see healing among the Jews. Dena, what should we think about that?
Dena Davidson [00:04:05]:
Okay, first thought, Acts is not the sequel, it's the prequel. Sometimes we read Luke Acts and we're like, oh, this is the sequel. Right. Luke sets when he wrote it. It's. I mean, Luke thought this was one book. It's one story. Right? We're telling the story of Jesus and the launch of the church.
Dena Davidson [00:04:25]:
So it can end here on a down note, a rebuke note, because it's not the end of the story. Acts is the prequel. The prequel to what the church is going to do throughout history. History. The story of God is still being written. Now the inspired. The canon is closed, but every single day, God is still speaking to his people, working miracles. So I personally, like, I love that it ends on this non flashy rebuke note.
Dena Davidson [00:04:54]:
Because if it had ended with this crazy miracle and all of Rome is converting, I think.
Curt Harlow [00:05:00]:
And then John came in the room.
Dena Davidson [00:05:02]:
And Matthew and James was there, you know, and at this point, you're just.
Curt Harlow [00:05:05]:
Like translated from India, you know? Yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:05:08]:
You would. You would close the book and you'd say, that was so satisfying.
Curt Harlow [00:05:12]:
Right.
Dena Davidson [00:05:13]:
But I think that's not the point. We're not to read Acts and feel like the work is done. Oh, Paul's chapter might be coming to a close. Great. It's time for the next chapter. It's time for the story of God to go on. And the story of God is not tied to Paul. It has always been deposited in his people.
Dena Davidson [00:05:32]:
That's why it's ever continuing.
Curt Harlow [00:05:34]:
Yeah. And again, back to the point we've made almost every week here, which is a great founding principle in studying the Book of Acts. Why does it happen this way? Because it happened this way.
Dena Davidson [00:05:46]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:05:47]:
So we want the ending scene from the first classic Star wars movie where, you know, R2D2 is all shined up and they all walk down the thing, they got their home, their hair combed, and we want, you know, the Olympic words.
Dena Davidson [00:06:04]:
Everyone's there, even the fallen Jedi.
Curt Harlow [00:06:05]:
Yeah. Yes, exactly. But what we have here is not just what you said. The Gospel is a comma here, not a period. But we also have Paul's attitude. Paul doesn't think he's going to die in Rome, or he doesn't believe he knows one way or the other. Paul is trying to get to Spain.
Dena Davidson [00:06:28]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:06:29]:
Most scholars believe part of the reason Paul wrote the book of Romans is to say, hey, by the way, I'm going to do some fundraising when I'm around you so I could go into Western Europe. He wants the gospel to go on. In second Timothy, the fourth chapter, Paul writes to Timothy and says, hurry, get here and bring my grave clothes, because I'm probably going to die. No. He says, bring my cloak. My sleeping bag is really what it is. And bring the parchments. Especially the parchments.
Curt Harlow [00:06:56]:
So what? Yeah. So what Paul is saying here is, I'm hitting the road again as soon as I get free. Hitting the road. And I need that sleeping bag. I cannot sleep on the road without that big, heavy cloak. And I got some more study to do and some more writing to do. And so this is the whole this is the imminent return of Christ attitude. And the one dogma about the end times I think you can have is the imminent return of Christ.
Curt Harlow [00:07:23]:
Live like Christ is gonna come back tomorrow. Does that mean I don't handle my money well? I don't plan well? No. It means that in all of my decisions, I'm looking forward to the advancement of the gospel. And I'm expecting that day to come sooner than I want it to. Where God. Okay, the. The hour of grace has ended.
Dena Davidson [00:07:44]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:07:45]:
So while I. While you have sunlight, you should have been preaching, you should have been harvesting while it was time for the harvest. And so that's the way Paul lives his life. Just beautifully lives his life. And that's what Luke. That's the last characterization of Luke now. But I do believe there is no manipulation on Luke. But I do believe that there is a very satisfying end here.
Curt Harlow [00:08:07]:
If you remember the beginning. I do believe it's not a deliberate literary device, like, let's change it so it'll look this way. I believe it's the sovereign ark of God. So Jesus says, go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, which is pretty much the Mediterranean Greek peninsula. And here he is at the center of the non Jewish earth. He's at the center. Rome is the center of the center. And so they've literally obey Jesus.
Curt Harlow [00:08:40]:
It's literally a book about the acts of obedience, right?
Dena Davidson [00:08:44]:
And if you don't know the Old Testament, you might read this and you might think, okay, God is done with the Jewish people. He's moved on emotionally to the Gentiles. But honestly, that is just such a misreading of the story of God. And this is why we have to know the Old Testament. I just started reading the book of Hosea. I've been reading Psalms and Proverbs and I'm like, what have I not read in a while? And so I decided to read the book of Hosea. And so yesterday I was reading and I was like, wow, God is so angry. He is so angry at the Israelites.
Dena Davidson [00:09:17]:
It's a prophetic book where basically God is demonstrating in very physical ways that he is angry with Israel because of all the ways that Israel has not obeyed and not been faithful to the one true God. And so he literally has his prophet Isaiah marry a prostitute and then he has two kids and says, name this first one, I don't love you. And name the second one. What does he name it? Let me look it up. Not my people and not my loved one. Those are the two names. He's like, name your kids this one. Which.
Dena Davidson [00:09:53]:
How much does that mean?
Curt Harlow [00:09:53]:
Not my people, not my loved ones. Dinner's ready.
Dena Davidson [00:09:56]:
Exactly.
Curt Harlow [00:09:57]:
It's not my people. Have you finished your algebra homework?
Dena Davidson [00:09:59]:
God was going to some really extreme lengths with Hosea's children. And so essentially I was like, wow, so God has walked away from the Israelites at this point. And I'm like, how? How is he going to bring this back? This doesn't seem like the Charact of God, I literally flipped the page to the next chapter. And so today I read this. It's talking about how God is going to come back to Israel after a time of being distant from her. And he literally says, I will show my love to the one I called not my loved one. I will say to those called not my people, you are my people. And they will say, you are my God.
Dena Davidson [00:10:35]:
Here's where you have to understand. Old Testament to New Testament, same God, same heart for all of humanity. God loves people. God is after the salvation of people. And so what we have here, I believe at the end of the book of Acts is the fulfillment of Jesus's words when he said to his disciples, when he sent him out and said, hey, if anyone does not receive you into their home, shake the dust off of your feet. And that is not a forever farewell to trying to save them. It is saying, move on, move to where the fruit is, move to where the spirit is going. Because God's going to keep working his plan of salvation just like he did for the Old Testament Israel.
Dena Davidson [00:11:14]:
He's still doing that in this New Testament chapter. Okay, Jewish leaders, authorities, you're not listening right now. I'm going to the Gentiles. But you better believe that the God who's always been chasing people keeps chasing after the Israelites. And you can pick up on so many of those themes as you read the epistles. God is still after the salvation of the Jewish people.
Curt Harlow [00:11:36]:
That's such a good thought. When my daughter was 3, 4 years old, she thought it was hilarious if we went into the mall and she would deliberately try to get lost. Like she'd get in a clothing rack and hide in there and then I would freak out. And she found that funny that she, a three year old, had so much power over me by doing that. And if you know her, that's very, very true that that's what was happening. So I kept telling her, like, this is not funny. It's not a game, it's not funny, don't do it. It's a real serious thing.
Curt Harlow [00:12:06]:
Do not do it. And, and she wasn't listening, wasn't listening. So one day we're in Nordstrom's and I see her out of the corner of my eye get in a rack of clothes. And I think, I'm not having another lecture. That's not working. So I hid. I hid where I could see the rack of clothes and I just hid. Finally she kind of comes out, looks around and she sees a man wearing the same color shirt I was wearing.
Curt Harlow [00:12:29]:
So she mistakes him for me, starts following him. She follows him out of the store and they're going down that one hallway in the mall where they're selling the spatulas and the hair extensions and the foot cream and everyone's, you know, kind of take my card and it's crowded. And at one point she gets really nervous about what's going on because I haven't spoken to her. So she grabs the man's hand and turns her goes, what are you doing? And she just loses it. Just loses it. And when I saw her lose it, I did nothing. I just let her own the pain for a second. Yeah, I did.
Curt Harlow [00:13:06]:
I was like, this is the only way. And then finally came up and she saw me, threw her arms around me. She said, daddy, why did you lose me? And I said, baby, I never lost you. You tried to lose me. You tried to lose me. And I had to let you learn the lesson. So don't do that again. Wow.
Curt Harlow [00:13:26]:
This is exactly the character of God. He is a better father than the best father. This is what we know about him and this is his relationship with Israel. So the first distinction is exactly what you're saying here. This is not a rejection of all Israel for all time. And to be honest, as we're studying this, we have to say there have been Christians that have taken it that way. This has led all the way to horrible anti Semitic, Anti Semitism.
Dena Davidson [00:13:55]:
Semitism.
Curt Harlow [00:13:55]:
Thank you.
Dena Davidson [00:13:56]:
You're welcome.
Curt Harlow [00:13:57]:
It's just not working today. Too much cold medicine. But Christians are making horrible, horrible decisions, bias and cruel against Jewish people. The second distinction is this. This is a rebuke of leadership, not individuals. So even when Jesus was rebuking the teachers, he still met with Nicodemus. And so there's a difference between saying your subculture, your people, your tribe, your family, I'm reacting to them and you as an individual. This cannot mean every Jewish person ever, because we see Jewish people all the time throughout the whole book that respond rightly so.
Curt Harlow [00:14:42]:
And God uses them powerfully. Now, sadly, the first, the second century and third century church, they lost that. They lost that. I heard one theologian say, you know, we are a Jewish religion. We had the best Jewish evangelism. This guy was Jewish too. And we just sent him to the Gentiles and, you know, we lost our desire to create real relationship and preach the gospel to Jews. And we've been paying for it ever, ever since.
Curt Harlow [00:15:15]:
So this is a rebuke of leadership.
Dena Davidson [00:15:18]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:15:19]:
And it's also God Teaching as a great father would teach. Not a I'm done with you forever and ever and ever. So, okay, at the very end, let's look at this last little paragraph. He's in his rented house. He's in house incarceration. And it says he spoke to any. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like, whoever comes to visit me, a whole class is shown from the Old Testament why Jesus is the Messiah with all boldness and without hindrance.
Curt Harlow [00:15:51]:
Why do you like that without hindrance so much, Dena?
Dena Davidson [00:15:54]:
I love reading the epistles, and most of the time Paul starts them by saying, paul, a prisoner of Christ. And so it is just this sound, theological, beautiful point that it doesn't matter what chains the world has on you, you are free and you are a servant of Christ. And I think that Paul writing this narrative, because there's this false narrative out there about Paul, this man's mission failed. He's literally a prisoner in Rome. And, and what Luke is saying is, ah, he's. He's not a prisoner of Rome. He's not. He's preaching without hindrance.
Dena Davidson [00:16:32]:
There is nothing that Rome can do to stop this gospel. There is nothing that the Jewish people can do to stop this gospel because the gospel is true and it will be proclaimed without hindrance. And that's, to me, so powerful because these people in this story, they were so rooted in truth, not in circumstance. They knew the truth that was higher than the facts of their story. And I just love that the very last words is without hindrance when he's literally a prisoner.
Curt Harlow [00:17:01]:
Yeah, this is one of those words that if we read it in the Greek and we understood our Greek, it would be in all capitals and two exclamation points. The editor in the NIV does give it one explanation point, but without a hindrance is a. It's a. It's a crescendo phrase. It's a rich, intense choice of words. And of course, it doesn't mean that all of the people that work to hinder Paul had gone away.
Dena Davidson [00:17:28]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:17:29]:
It means that we are. So I was listening to who was this might have been Tim Keller, but I was listening to someone a couple months ago was talking about how secularism can never work, atheism can never work. It gets a foothold and then it ebbs and it gets a foothold and it ebbs. And why is that? Because our conscience understands that we're created beings and the creation cries out to us that we are created beings. And so Intuitively, we are spiritual. People that have no spiritual training at all, have spiritual experiences all the time. People that don't want spiritual experiences that aren't seeking them, they have Jesus interrupt them all the time. People that take the task of disproving spiritual experiences end up having spiritual experiences for a while.
Curt Harlow [00:18:27]:
One of the things the new atheists were doing was trying to map out the brain and show there was a part of the brain in some people that felt religious feelings and it was just a construct of the brain. And that research absolutely fails because the only thing it did prove and is that we're hardwired to hear God. We are. They, for a while they were building this helmet that would stimulate whatever part of the frontal blow that was. And then you'd go, oh, I could see God. And that's not how it happened. They found the structure, but they couldn't predict exactly how it worked. And the minimum conclusion was, yeah, well, we've got a part of us that looks and seeks for God.
Curt Harlow [00:19:08]:
And. And in my view, were hardwired to hear from God. So Paul's hindrance, the real hindrance against Paul was always in himself. It was never in the Jewish authorities or the Corinthian compromise. The real hindrance was always in himself. This is exactly why he gives this advice to Timothy late from the prisons. You know, you have not been given a spirit of fear.
Dena Davidson [00:19:38]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:19:38]:
You've been given a spirit of courage and boldness. And so it's the same with us all the time, Dena. We have these meetings at work and we'll be thinking about doing something and something hard. All the easy stuff has always been done. And some will say, I don't think we could do that because so and so and so and so and so and so. And this budget thing and so and so and. And I'm like, you have already set all of that up as the hindrances. And I think the hindrance is actually in us.
Curt Harlow [00:20:09]:
We might find out later that we've got opposition in those areas, but the real hindrance is in us. Sometimes I think we have fights with people in our mind about where they're going to hinder us and disagree with us. And we are convinced that those fights are kind of real. Like, okay, now I'm not even going to have that conversation with them. I'm not even going to enter a relationship with them because I already know what they're going to do. And the truth is that we are hindering, hindering ourselves. I see this here like a biblical self actualization. Paul is going, I got nothing to lose.
Curt Harlow [00:20:40]:
You can't harm me. I'm going to say it as boldly as I want. Oh, you're a Jewish scholar. Boldly. You're a Greek that believes in every pantheon of the gods and. And all that superstition. And you're given over to. You have to offer little meat sacrifices every week or you won't have crops.
Dena Davidson [00:20:55]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:20:55]:
I'm going to tell you. You're what I think about that. You're living with someone in sin. I'm going to tell you what I think about that. You don't understand the Old Testament. I'm going to tell you about that. So the boldness and hindrance from Luke to me is like this beautiful state I would like to get to someday. Not offensive, right.
Curt Harlow [00:21:15]:
But, like, free.
Dena Davidson [00:21:16]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:21:17]:
And in that sense, when you read the book, in that sense, you go, oh, yeah, sure, there's a comma here.
Dena Davidson [00:21:22]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:21:23]:
But there is a celebration of who Paul has become.
Dena Davidson [00:21:27]:
Yeah. I just had this thought while you were talking. Paul writes this passage where it's in. I'm trying to look for it. I think it's in first Thessalonians make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. And so you think about Paul writing that after you read the Book of Acts, and you're like, really, Paul?
Curt Harlow [00:21:45]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:21:46]:
A quiet like. Just like you did, like, follow me as I follow Christ into this quiet life of shipwrecks and imprisonments and beatings and stonings and wild speeches before mobs. What's your definition of quiet, Paul? And then I just realized, man, this was his quiet chapter. He was renting out a room. Not, I mean, a prison room, but he was renting out this room.
Curt Harlow [00:22:08]:
He had a brb.
Dena Davidson [00:22:10]:
Yeah, Airbnb. And he was welcoming people into it to preach the gospel, whoever would come. This was Paul's quiet chapter. And it went on for a couple years. And he was planning to go elsewhere. He was still planning to minister. He was getting ready for the next chapter, all the while submitting to Christ and saying, you know, to live is gain or to die is gain. To live is good, but to die is gain.
Curt Harlow [00:22:33]:
Right.
Dena Davidson [00:22:34]:
And he's having his quiet chapter. And out of this quiet chapter comes all, like, his best work comes all of these epistles that the church so desperately needed. And all he wanted to do was get out of that quiet chapter, go on to the next missionary journey. And I just wonder, man, how many times we fight that quiet life. We fight the life that God wants to give us. Because it doesn't look anything like what we read in the Book of Acts. But what if our next chapter may. Maybe for some of us, it's going to look like the imprisonment chapter.
Dena Davidson [00:23:08]:
It's going to look like the beatings chapter, the stonings chapter, or the shipwreck chapter. Or maybe it might like. It looks like this final chapter where it's really quiet and Paul is preaching and ministering without hindrance.
Curt Harlow [00:23:21]:
Amen. Amen. Okay, so application thought. I'm going to do what I've done a lot here. I'm going to put myself into the group that I would least likely put myself into, which is the Jewish leaders.
Dena Davidson [00:23:31]:
Okay. Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:23:32]:
How do I apply this passage if I'm a Jewish leader? And what I have to say to myself is. Is God's deliberate silence in my life a lack of love for me or a serious lesson for me? And sometimes we feel like God's abandoned us. We feel like God won't speak to us. And God, like a good father, is saying, no, I know the exact timing to speak to you. Corrie Ten Boom had this great illustration about learning about sexuality when she was a little girl. And she came to her father one day and said, you know, I heard this at school and, papa, what does this mean? And he says, when you and I will go to the train, who keeps the tickets? She said, well, you used to keep the tickets, Papa, but now when we get to the train, you give me my own ticket. And he said, yeah, you're right. When the time is right, I will give you this ticket, too.
Curt Harlow [00:24:34]:
And this is really God. God not having blind spots like us. So if you're out there and you're having that experience, maybe you go, God, what part of my heart needs to be softened up? What amount of trust do I need to change in you? What have I not heard from you? Oftentimes we're asking God for the next thing, and we're like, God, why haven't you spoken to me? God is. I am speaking. I am speaking, but I'm speaking on this thing. God, would you give me a wife? Not until we get your emotional security a little bit more biblical. Why aren't you telling me which one to marry? Because I'm talking to you about this one or, you know, God, why won't you give me the job of my dreams? Because I want you to have the missions heart of my dreams first. And so if that's you, put yourself in the Jewish authorities and go, I'm not going to react.
Curt Harlow [00:25:23]:
I'm not going to get a harder heart. I'm not going to blame God. I'm not going to keep making the same arguments. I'm going to trust that you're a good father and your silence has a purpose. So this is a devotion our good friend Amy gave a year, six months ago, eight months ago. Don't waste the weight. And instead of complaining, listen. So that's my application.
Curt Harlow [00:25:45]:
Be the Jewish authorities, but the ones that actually end up listening.
Dena Davidson [00:25:48]:
Yeah. And honestly, in that silence, if they had just gone back to the last thing that God spoke, whether in their Old Testament scriptures, they would have found Jesus.
Curt Harlow [00:25:56]:
Right.
Dena Davidson [00:25:57]:
And that's a good lesson for us. I would say my application point, going back to that thought, that the Book of Acts is the prequel, not the sequel. What does God want to do through you? He said, as you know, as he gathered his disciples, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples. If we read the Book of Acts and we think, wow, they did a great job, like, good job, Paul. Good job, Peter. You did it. You made the disciples.
Dena Davidson [00:26:28]:
We're reading it wrong.
Curt Harlow [00:26:29]:
Right.
Dena Davidson [00:26:29]:
This is the book that teaches us how God wants to work in us and through us to make disciples.
Curt Harlow [00:26:36]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:26:37]:
So who are you discipling? Who six months from now is going to say, I know Jesus better because of Dena Davidson. I know Jesus better because of Curt Harlow. I know Jesus better because of. Put your name in there. That's how to read the Book of Acts. It's our turn.
Curt Harlow [00:26:55]:
Amen. And there we have it. We have finished the entire book of Acts. I can't wait for this next series. It's going to be on the psalms. You know, there's several different genres of psalms. If you don't know that, it's going to really help you read all of the psalms. We're going to go over each one of those genres.
Curt Harlow [00:27:11]:
We're going to pick specific psalms that represent each one of those genres. It's going to be incredible. By the end of this psalm series, you're going to say, I have a new understanding to go back and read the entire, entire psalms and understand why they were written in that style, what God was actually trying to do to us, and how well they fit in the puzzle pieces of God's whole salvation story. So do not forget to join us next week. Jason Kane's going to be one of our guests here. And by the way, check out all of the Thrive Network of podcasts on there. You know, Morgan and Leslie and Kevin, and you get on there and just look at them. They're all wonderful.
Curt Harlow [00:27:51]:
And thank you, as always, for giving us some time, because there's nothing more important than in learning how to study the Bible at the Bible study.