Giving Up My Freedom in Jesus for Others

Read Acts 16:1-10

I remember one time I was in Intervarsity and I was just learning what it meant to be a true follower of Jesus. I wanted to get involved in my fellowship group so I approached our chapter president at the time and told him that I wanted to help more. He said, “Great, see you at 7am in the morning on Saturday”. For all of us that know what Saturday mornings are like for students, that is the time for catch up sleep and that time is so precious to us. So I reluctantly agreed and decided to help out in the morning. We were signing up for volleyball courts so that we could do an outreach event. The chapter president and I were the first in line and I was so excited that we would be able to reserve all the courts we needed. Then comes along some fellow college students that pretended that they didn’t see us in line. I gave the ….”ahhh hmmm” excuse me cough but they pretended again not to hear me. I then pretty much got in their face and explained to them that we were here first. They responded quite rudely and said, “don’t worry there will be plenty of courts left, you can sign up after us.” I was livid at this point, but the chapter president took me aside and said, “sometimes you have to lay down your rights to show the love of Jesus.” But this was injustice, this was wrong, this could not be the way. The chapter president then struck up a conversation with them and starting sharing about the event that we were going to have, and they came. I was floored, I wanted so much to yell and scream and point out to them how wrong they were, but I am so thankful for the wisdom of a godly man that pointed me to what was more important.

So you might be asking, what does that have to do with the current passage. Well in the beginning of this passage, Paul circumcised Timothy as an adult (OUCH- if you don’t know what that is, go ask Youth Director Jon Mann – just kidding come ask either him or Pastor Ben). I don’t know if we think about that one line from this passage, but Paul is asking Timothy to give up his rights of not being circumcised. Remember Paul is preaching to a lot of people that they shouldn’t let circumcision (the sign for Jews to show that they were part of God’s family) be the reason they believe and know you are in covenant relationship with God because of your relationship with Jesus. So Paul and Timothy both understand that Timothy being circumcised is a way to lay down his right to love people and minister to them. They are looking outside themselves and seeing what God wants to do. Do we have that attitude and desire? Do we lay down our rights for the sake of what God wants to do? Reflect on what that looks like for you.

Another really cool thing about this passage is the recognition of the Spirit’s leading for Paul’s missionary team. It says that the Spirit would not let them enter a certain region. We are not sure what that looked like but we do know that they recognized that the Spirit telling them not to enter a place. I do believe that God gives us guidance but what does that look like. Are we waiting for that burning bush? Are we waiting for the Spirit to show up with a road map for our life? Sometimes it is necessary to pray, read Scripture and do the things you feel are the things God wants you to do. If it is not, the Spirit will close those doors and make it clear that you aren’t suppose to go that way (again we don’t know what that looks like). However, I do believe that God has done this in my life where the Spirit has used people or circumstances to show me that God closed the door on things that I thought I was supposed to do. So pray, follow Jesus, but be ready to listen to the Spirit for guidance if you aren’t supposed to do or go somewhere.

PRAYER CALENDAR
Tuesday: Pray for your family
Ask God how your family can be a light to the community around you