Tag Archives: Apostles

Be the Body of Christ, May 4, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

It’s hard to believe four months of the year are behind us. Days creep along when faced with the daily grind of the coronavirus restrictions. Or when fighting the disease on the frontlines of hospitals watching patients struggle for life. But here we are with a fourth of the year gone by. Life rushes by at an incredible pace. Before you know it, time is gone. 

During these days, I am trying to be a little more mindful of things going on around me. Couples walking around the block that didn’t have time to do so before. Kids riding bicycles that have laid idle in garages in the past. Friends and neighbors spending time talking across the yard to each other when before this crisis began, there seemed to be little time for any of these activities. 

I’ve also tried to filter the news to which I pay attention. Most of the reports give us the number of sick and dead around the world or in our country. They tell us the worst-case scenarios we can expect with the disease and our economy in the months ahead. It’s all the same. Look for, here’s the dreaded word, “unprecedented” events in the coming months. 

I’ve come to really dislike the word. We misuse it. It’s not true of this plague. Many alive today never experienced anything like it, but it certainly isn’t unprecedented. Ask anyone who survived the “Great Depression.” We are nowhere close to that stage in this country yet. If you could resurrect those who lived during the “Black Death” that swept through Europe in the middle ages, they would laugh at us. Between 25 and 50 percent of the population died then. Even the 1918 Spanish Flu took 25 million of us. 

We cannot call this unprecedented. We can call it a pandemic. We can call it a disaster. We can call us unprepared. We can say a lot of things about it, but we should stop using the word unprecedented. It’s not. 

What is also not unprecedented, but rare are the acts of kindness I’m beginning to see around us. Rather than hoarding, I’m starting to see neighbors making grocery runs for neighbors who are at higher risk of severe symptoms if they acquire the virus. I’m seeing those neighborly actions that were so common in the 1950s and 1960s. I’m seeing people talking to each other with real words instead of through mechanical devices. People are beginning to understand that the entertainment industry and sports world might not be the most essential segments of society. Maybe teachers and health professionals and first responders and janitors play a much more indispensable role than we have given them credit over the last few decades. 

Maybe we can begin to charge our federal officeholders to become statemen instead of politicians in the future. We have watched enough of their party politics result in tremendous human suffering. It’s time we stop their petty scramble for reelection and keep the good of the people in mind. 

But frankly, governments will never take care of people well. They never have. Rome created one of the best welfare systems for their Roman citizens. It eventually failed. The state couldn’t afford it, even with their world-wide conquests and burdensome taxation. So how were people cared for? The fringe was the concern of Jesus. He ministered to outcasts by the governments and religious organizations. So did those who followed his example after his resurrection. We read about them in the second letter Luke wrote to Theophilus concerning the acts of the early followers of Jesus. We call the letter the Book of Acts. Luke writes:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day, the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47 NIV)

More people became followers of this new way of life because they saw the joy and peace that radiated from those who ministered to them. They saw something different in these Christians. Even though the Romans and the Jewish leaders sought to destroy them, they didn’t fear death or suffering at the hands of these leaders. They exuded peace in the face of death that could not be explained by ordinary means. It was the presence of the living God in their lives that made the difference. And it was this same presence of God that caused them to joyfully share what little they had with others to ensure all had enough to survive the onslaught of the persecution they faced. 

Generosity in the face of poverty. Gladness in the face of persecution. Hope where others thought there should only exist hopelessness in their situation. These are the traits of the early Christians that drew men and women into their fold, adding to the church day by day. Their demonstrated love brought people to them and the church, nothing more and nothing less. 

So here we are in the middle of this pandemic. Some states and cities relaxed their shelter at home orders freeing us to move about with certain precautions. The pandemic isn’t over. We will have a second wave in the next few months. More will become sick, and many will die before we see the end of this disease. 

As Christians, we have an opportunity to extend God’s love during this time. We can act like the Apostles in the early church and be mindful of the needs of those around us. We can praise God and have the goodwill of the people because of the genuine love we have for those around us demonstrated by our actions. Let’s be the living body of Christ that he intended us to be in this crucial time. 

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Can you face Jesus’ baptism? (Mark 10:36-40) August 24, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 99-101

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 10:36-40
Jesus: What is it that you want?
James and John: Master, grant that we might sit on either side of You, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, when You come into the glory of Your kingdom.
Jesus: You don’t know what it is you’re asking. Can you drink from the cup I have to drink from or be ritually washed in baptism with the baptism that awaits Me?
James and John: We can.
Jesus: You will indeed drink from the cup I drink from and be baptized with the baptism that awaits Me. But to sit at My right or at My left is an honor I cannot grant. That will be given to those for whom it has been prepared.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Those followers of Jesus would be immersed in the same baptism Jesus was about to receive. But what was it? They really didn’t know and if they did, I’m not sure they would volunteer for it. I’m not sure I know anyone that would volunteer for the suffering Jesus would endure in the next few days. The Romans were really good at torture and causing intense, prolonged pain before execution. The fact that Jesus and the two thieves on the crosses near Him died on the same day the Roman soldiers hung them on the cross was an oddity. Seldom did their executions last a single day.

The Romans wanted their subjects to understand they were in charge and could cause immense agony for those that dared challenge Caesar’s authority. I expect the thieves did something other than just steal something. I expect they stole from a Roman official. That’s probably why they found themselves charged and sentenced with such a severe form of execution. Bandits were everywhere in Jesus’ day. Thievery was common. These two must have done something that caused the Romans to want everyone’s attention.

So Jesus asks His two Apostles if they are ready to endure the worst. They don’t know what He’s asking yet. They readily answer yes. We often jump to the same answers when we first meet Jesus. We answer quickly when we listen to a charismatic preacher or an inspiring sermon. We wave the Christian banner and quickly declare we will do anything for the kingdom of God. Bring it on! We will face anything and everything for Jesus.

But do we realize what we’re saying? And then do we stand by that commitment when the chips are down? Those questions are becoming more important every day. All we need to do is listen to the news and see the wickedness in our world to know the hatred of Christians and God in general is on the rise. People in this nation, that not long ago called itself a Christian nation, no longer want to wear that title as a nation. We have decided that calling ourselves a Christian nation makes us intolerant of other religions so we must be wary of using that moniker to describe us.

Of course, there is no such taboo on raising the awareness of other faiths. Any of the other religions are welcome to declare their tenets of faith and denounce the cause of Christ without interference. But Jesus promised us that would happen. He promised the world would hate us because of Him. So if you wear His name, you will be hated. If you declare Him Lord of your life, you will consistently be pushed aside and the world will do its best to defeat you.

Jesus promised His followers we would suffer in this world. But He also promised He has already overcome the world. He made this place and all that is in it. He has dominion over everything here. One day, all of creation, all of us, every person created will bow before Him and acknowledge that He is God and worthy to be praised. But until then, if we follow Him, expect to be immerse in the same baptism of hatred, suffering, persecution, that Jesus faced.

When you expect to face the worst and He allows you to escape from some of the persecution and suffering His Apostles and our early church followers endured, we can stop and praise Him for His protection and comfort. But remember, the church thrives under persecution. It grows exponentially as people see how God’s children face the transition from this life to the next, all the while with a heart full of forgiveness for those that act without understanding the nature of the evil they commit at the bequest of Satan.

Do any of us want to face the kind of suffering Jesus faced? No. And none of us will face that kind of suffering. We may die for our faith. We may lose everything for Jesus. We may carry our own cross and walk beside Him in carrying His message to a lost world. But He carried all our sins on His shoulders. We will never suffer the way Jesus did. We can rejoice that He set us free from the worst Satan has to offer. Death didn’t hold Him and He’s promised a resurrection for us, too, if we will follow Him. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
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