9th Dec 2010

Acts 28:17-31 – Paul Preaches at Rome under Guard

• “I’ve Started and so I’ll Finish””
• There’s a lovely sense of continuity as Acts [the longest book in the New Testament] closes.
• The book starts with Jesus commission of the Disciples and His inferred command to continue in the principles of mission that they were instructed when He was with them; namely Spread, Spot , Stay, Send.
• The disciples are seen on various occasions implementing this divine method of outreach.
• Then Paul after his conversion does the same, first to the Jews and then to the gentiles in places such as Philippi. He uses the exact same principle passed onto him by the disciples.
• Then in this very last section of the book Spread, Spot, Stay, Send appears again;
• Spread; there were an estimated 10,000 Jews in Rome at the time [after their return for a previous purge] and for various possibly reasons [most likely fear of persecution] the Messianic Christians had not reached out to them. But Paul does. In fact the first thing he does, even under house arrest is try to spread his word to as many leaders as possible. Spread is about strategically reaching as many potential converts as possible. So many youth workers for instance skip this step – it is too hard, they would rather immediately hone in on a small handful of people they are comfortable with. The scariness of Spread is that who knows who you will get to follow you.
• Spot; Paul is looking for those who will lean forward. He does this with the usual methods. Firstly; he connects with them using their terminology and a point of reference that they commonly know to be true and agree on. In this case ‘The Kingdom of God’ in the mishna we learn that Jews had to first accept the yoke of the Kingdom before they could accept the yoke of the mitzvah. So the Kingdom of God/Heaven was an understood concept. Secondly; he gave an option for those leaning forward to find out more; the emphasis being on their responsibility. In this case his door was open for them to return. So again after he strategically spreads, he then spots the people of peace.
• Stay; this was especially easy for him. Jesus told His disciples to go from town to town [spread], spot the people of peace and stay with them. He told them to invest in those whom took on the responsibility of feeding them and warned them not to move from house to house looking for a better offer or position. Paul of course fulfills this and keeps his door open for two years in the same place. He also incidentally is likely to have written several other books of the Bible whislt under house arrest in Rome.
• Send; the fourth and final part to this circle is Send. The disciples would find, disciple and then send their disciples out into the rest of the community who did not at first lean forward. We know from this passage that that is what happened here. Not only did Paul’s converts return they brought many others with them. They were the ones who outreached.
• The book of Acts is the story of the explosion of God’s Kingdom and at its end its message is I’ve started and so I will finish. The plces and people change but the principles at its heart do not.
• Maybe that is a key for our lives? Places, possibilities and people will always be changing but if our Godly principles stay the same them we will see success over a period of time.
• Some peoples hope is that they will see success depending on the places that they can get to or the people that they can get to know or the possibilities that open up to them but in reality success comes to those who stick with the right principles and it is these principles that shape everything else.
• Praying today that I will stay true to the truth.