Archive for the ‘Paul’ tag
August 29, 2010: God Preserves in a Storm
The text for this lesson is Acts 27:13-44
Key Points
- God was with Paul and the others in the ship through the terrible storm and brought them safely to land. God is with us through all the storms of life, and in His boat, the Church, He brings us safely to eternity in heaven.
- Law: In a world ruined by sin, I will have storms in my life.
- Gospel: God is with me and preserves me through the storms of life, and in His boat, the Church, He brings me safely to heaven.
Discussion Points
- How do we know God was with Paul and was preserving him on this voyage?
- What are storms in your life?
- How was Paul able to face all his troubles with confidence and keep telling others about Jesus?
- Our hope, too, is in God. Why can we say this?
- Name the ways God protected Paul’s life during his voyage.
- What did Paul tell the sailors when they had given up hope of survival?
- For what reason did Paul go to Rome?
- What did Paul do in Rome and aboard ship?
August 30, 2009: Titus, the Pastor
The text for this lesson is Titus 1:1–2:1; 1 Timothy 1:3–7; 3:1–7; 4:11–16.
Key Points
- As God called Paul to the preaching office for the sake of His elect and their eternal life, so He also called Titus and the pastors Titus appointed in Crete as gifts to His Church.
- Law: Many people see the Office of the Ministry as optional for the Church.
- Gospel: Pastors are gifts of God’s grace to complete “things that are lacking” (Titus 1:5 NKJV) in a congregation without them.
- Law: Congregations sometimes fail to respect the pastors God has given them.
- Gospel: When a pastor speaks the words of forgiveness of sins in Absolution or proclaims eternal life by Christ in the Gospel, it is as “certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself” (Small Catechism: Confession; Luke 10:16).
- Law: Pastors must be willing and able to rebuke false doctrine and sinful lives, but pastors sometimes shirk these duties, and members sometimes resent when pastors do what they must.
- Gospel: Through His pastors, God speaks the Law to hardened sinners so that He can speak the Gospel of forgiveness to them when they repent.
- Law: Pastors must be above reproach and not arrogant, holding firm to sound doctrine.
- Gospel: Through the very same Word and Sacraments pastors administer to others, God forgives His pastors when they fail and guides them in His wisdom.
Context
As an apostle, Paul received the same mandate as the other apostles selected during Jesus’ ministry: to baptize and preach the Gospel (see Matthew 28:16–20; Mark 16:15) and forgive and retain sins (John 20:21–23). Lesson 12 explained that Timothy was one of the pastors trained and ordained by the apostles to carry on the apostolic ministry of preaching the Word and distributing the Sacraments. Titus was another such pastor. He does not appear in the Acts, but is mentioned several times in Paul’s epistles. In 2 Corinthians 8:23, Paul calls Titus “my partner and fellow worker for your benefit,” that is, for service to the church at Corinth.
We refer to 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus as “the pastoral epistles” because they were written to pastors (Timothy and Titus) and address the requirements for those who are placed into the Office of the Holy Ministry.
August 23, 2009: Timothy Is Taught
Reminder
This week, we change to our new format. The podcast is an interview hosted by the Rev. Todd Wilken of Issues, Etc. Because of this change, the publishing schedule for the podcast will also be different. Podcasts will now normally be posted the Wednesday before each respective Sunday.
The text for this lesson is 2 Timothy 1:1–7.
Key Points
- Though Paul could speak of himself as Timothy’s spiritual father, God had actually raised Timothy in faith through instruction in the sacred Scriptures by his grandmother Lois and his mother, Eunice.
- Law: When children disobey or disrespect their parents, they are not only sinning against God, who gave them parents, but are also ignoring God’s primary means of bringing children to Himself.
- Gospel: Children receive the very gift of heaven when parents bring them to infant Baptism (Acts 2:38–39) and then nurture them in faith by telling them about Jesus and bringing them to His house (Proverbs 22:6).
Context
Paul and the other apostles chosen by Jesus trained and ordained pastors to carry on the ministry of Word and Sacrament in Christian congregations (Titus 1:5). The purpose of the apostolic ministry was and is to deliver “the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:1) to sinners in need of salvation.
August 16, 2009: Soldiers Protect Paul
The text for this lesson is Acts 21:26–36.
Key Points
- God preserved Paul’s life from a mob through the intervention of His appointed servants, the Roman soldiers.
- Law: In our fallen world, crime and violence will always be a tragic reality.
- Gospel: Because we have been reconciled to God by Jesus’ cross, God does not abandon us to our senseless violence but graciously appoints governments to maintain peace and order through police and military forces.
- Law: The sinful nature in each one of us would resort even to murder to get its way, unless it is curbed by God’s Law (including the punishments God has ordained governments to carry out).
- Gospel: Christ’s death at the hands of lawless men has purchased forgiveness for our violent passions and actions.
Context
Paul is usually considered the apostle to the Gentiles but Jesus commissioned him as “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Having completed three missionary journeys (Acts 13:2–21:16), Paul returned to Jerusalem to visit with James and the other elders of the congregation there (Acts 21:17–18). Paul recounted his endeavors among the Gentiles, and the elders glorified God for what He had done through Paul (Acts 21:19–20).
However, there were members of the congregation at Jerusalem who still adhered to many customs of the Mosaic Law. They accused Paul of preaching that Jewish Christians should not continue to observe the Mosaic Law (Acts 21:20–21). While Paul had insisted that Gentiles need not adhere to the Mosaic Law (Acts 15 and Galatians), he also never required the Jewish Christians to give up their customs. Paul voluntarily underwent purification rites in the temple (Acts 21:26). He knew that such rites were unnecessary, but deferred to the weakness of the faith of the Jewish Christians and became “all things to all people” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
May 24, 2009: Paul Sails for Rome
The text for this lesson is Acts 27:1–44.
Key Points
- As Christ was with Paul and His companions, so He is with me, holding me up, keeping me with Him in the ship of the Church, and casting all my sins into the depths of the sea.
- Law: In sinful despair, I let the pains of the present overtake me and no longer believe in God or trust His redemption or love.
- Gospel: Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, rides out the storms of life with me, granting me hope in my future redemption.
Context
Arrested in Jerusalem on trumped-up charges (Acts 21:1–40) and jailed for more than two years in Caesarea (Acts 24:27), Paul is finally on his way to Rome, for he had appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:11), the “supreme court” of the empire. As this story makes clear, sea travel in ancient times could be quite treacherous, especially as winter approached (Acts 27:9–12). After the shipwreck at Malta, where Paul and the crew wintered (Acts 28:11), the apostle finally arrived in Rome, where Acts ends with the account of Paul’s incessant preaching of the Gospel to the Jews and all who would lend him an ear.
May 17, 2009: Paul and Silas in Prison
The text for this lesson is Acts 16:16–40.
Key Points
- Just as God freed Paul and Silas from prison, granting them life out of death, so Christ by His crucifixion and resurrection frees me from the prison of my sins and grants me life eternal.
- Law: The world hates Christ and His followers and painfully rejects me because of Him.
- Gospel: The Spirit pours the peace of Christ into me, forgiving, strengthening, and sustaining me in Christ.
Context
The calm of their first encounter with the Philippians (which we studied last week; Acts 16:11–15) now gives way to a storm of persecution. Paul is no stranger to facing the wrath of Gospel-haters. Already on Paul’s first missionary trip, the crowds in Lystra stoned him to within an inch of his life (Acts 14:19; see 2 Corinthians 11:23–29 for a digest of the crosses he bore). The officials in Philippi broke the law in beating Paul and Silas, for they were Romans citizens—thus Paul’s complaint and the official’s apologies in Acts 16:37–39. The jailer was about to fall on his own sword when he supposed the incarcerated had flown the coop, since the penalty for him would have been execution anyway.
May 10, 2009: Lydia
The text for this lesson is Acts 16:11–15.
Key Points
- Just as God worked His miracle beside the river, clothing Lydia with Christ in Baptism, so God works His miracles in pulpits and fonts around the world today, destroying the work of Satan, ripping believers from the jaws of death, washing away sins in water tinged with Jesus’ blood, and clothing believers with His righteousness.
- Law: Full of pride and guided by my emotions and experiences, I look for God and His works where I think He is, instead of humbly following His Word.
- Gospel: Christ locates Himself and His saving gifts for me in specific places: His baptismal font, His pulpit, His altar—wherever His Word is spoken, sung, poured, eaten, or drunk.
Context
On his second missionary journey, while in Troas, Paul saw a vision of a man urging him to come over to Macedonia and help him (16:9). Heeding the call, Paul and his companions crossed the Aegean Sea, bringing the Gospel to modern-day Europe. He made his way to Philippi, an important city of the day. As we’ll learn next week, his initial welcome there by Lydia and others was short-lived, for soon he and Silas were arrested, beaten, and jailed (Acts 16:16–40).
May 3, 2009: Paul and Timothy
The text for this lesson is Acts 15:1–16:5.
Key Points
- Just as many in Paul’s day thought, we think we must do something to be saved. Yet the answer is always Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus, whose resurrection from the dead sealed our salvation and absolved the world.
- Law: I sin when I believe that Jesus is not enough for my salvation, when I think that I must do something, however small, to contribute to my salvation.
- Gospel: Jesus has done it all perfectly for me. My salvation is complete.
Context
In the earliest days of the Church, most believers were Jews. Central to their religious life were the stipulations of the old covenant, such as circumcision. Though Jesus fulfilled these laws, many Jewish Christians continued to practice them. When Gentiles began to convert, some believers, including the Christian Pharisees (Acts 15:5), insisted the Gentiles must keep the Old Testament laws to be saved. This was the chief question of this first council: must the Gentiles keep these laws to be saved? The conclusion was, no, they must not. However, so as not to offend their fellow Jewish believers, the leaders advised the Gentiles to “abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality” (Acts 15:29).
April 26, 2009: Paul’s First Missionary Journey
The text for this lesson is from Acts 13:1–14:28.
Key Points
- Just as God sent Paul and Barnabas to spread the Gospel, so today He sends pastors to preach the Gospel, baptize, and feed Jesus’ body and blood to His children, against whom the gates of hell cannot prevail.
- Law: When I despise the preaching of God’s Word, do not hold it sacred, and do not gladly hear and learn it, I sin and support Satan’s cause.
- Gospel: The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church and God’s Word, through which sinners are converted. I am a fellow partaker of the grace of God.
Context
Antioch, where believers “were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26), was the home base of Paul’s mission to the Jews and Gentiles scattered throughout the Roman world. In most towns, Paul would first visit the synagogue to proclaim the advent of the Messiah. Why? It was He whom the Jews awaited. Every Sabbath, as the Scriptures were read and expounded, the prophecies of the Messiah were heard. Gentiles also frequently attended the synagogue services, either as full-fledged converts or half-fledged converts known as God-fearers. Many, if not most, of these worshipers already believed in the coming Messiah; Paul’s message was that He had come, died, and risen again. From the synagogues, the Gospel spread.
