This Might Be Uncomfortable… (Part One)
She said what? They did what?
Acts 16:16 and following tells quite a fascinating story. In case you don’t have it memorized, let’s jump straight to the vexing part. A slave girl followed the Apostle Paul, Silas and Luke around, announcing loudly and continuously, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” True or false? The correct answer is “true.”
And not just a little bit true, completely true: that’s exactly who Paul and friends were, and exactly the central message they set out to convey.
Do you remember the rest of the story? After several days, Paul is exasperated (Why? We might ask), so he turns toward her and casts out the demon who actually was controlling this girl. The end result is that the slave owners stirred up such opposition to Paul and Silas that they were severely beaten and thrown into prison.
Truth apart from Love is…
Demonic? Really?
I’m not ready to make that declaration for all time, but in this particular story, I don’t know how you can arrive at any other conclusion. She spoke the truth, but had no love, and it turns out that her behavior was driven by a demon. She was a fortune teller able to predict the future, and her owners made quite a bit of money off of her. She was demonically controlled, not motivated by the love of Jesus.
Acts 16 at weddings?
I’ve been to lots of weddings, and stopped counting how many I’d led when I passed 100, but I’m quite confident this story has never been chosen as a wedding text. The wedding favorite, however, is 1 Corinthians 13, which has been dubbed “the love chapter.” And it tells the same story. How does it begin? Paraphrasing, it says that truth without love is worthless. It doesn’t go as far as saying that it’s demonic, but the story in Acts 16 might be the strongest illustration in the Bible of the truth that “The Love Chapter” proclaims.
Contentious meetings
Have you ever been in a ministry-related meeting where consensus was elusive? Perhaps you spent some time genuinely praying together, only to have the differences accentuated rather than mitigated. And perhaps the entire group consisted of what you might say were mature Christians. What might be the problem? Why was it so hard to agree even among people genuinely seeking the Lord’s direction, together?
Could it be that Jesus cares more about how we love each other than answering whatever question was being asked? I’m certain that’s the case much of the time.
Jesus cares more about how we love than what we know.
Jesus cares more about our humility than our biblical knowledge.
Hold on, partner!
All of you truth warriors who are running hot right now, my deepest gratitude for continuing to read before opting out or composing your nasty-gram. I’m not suggesting that heresy is hunky-dory as long as really loving people are the ones promoting it. If you’ve been with us for any length of time, you know I believe that truth and unity are an inseparable team. You can’t have one without the other. Jesus, who said, “I am the truth,” brings verse 17 right into the middle of John 17. He holds them together. We need to also.
I’m honestly just trying to take Jesus seriously. On the night of all nights, His one new command wasn’t “Get it right!” but “Love like I love.” And with betrayal and arrest and flogging and crucifixion and complete separation from his Father all breathing down His neck, His heart cry concerned our oneness, not our rightness.
Why is this more important now than ever? Stay tuned…
Dave Drum, Founder
