Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

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March 11, 2010
    Good morning, people of purpose and potential.
    Sorry...I keep getting carried away.  Oh well.  It helps to break the boredom and monotony.  But there is certainly nothing boring about my lifestyle.  Already today we had to.....never mind...I don't want to bore you.
    Have a great and blessed adventure today.
        Dad/Ray

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11 March 2010
Passage: Acts 17:1-15
Focus: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here…”  Acts 17:6.

            I remember my dad telling about the little boy who was reprimanded by his mother, “Johnny, stop pulling the cat’s tail!”  Johnny replied, “I’m not pulling his tail—I’m just holding it—he’s doing all the pulling!”
            In the case before us, who is doing all the pulling and reacting and making of real trouble?  Who was inciting the mob to riot against Paul and the effectiveness of the Gospel message?  Were they objective lovers of truth?  Were they people who were passionate about seeing lives freed from the bondage of sin?  Were they people who represented and demonstrated “the fruit of the Spirit?”  Hardly.  But, ironically, it is important to recognize again that they were the very ones claiming truth and godliness—religious leaders.  It says, “But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.”  What noble upstanding citizens they were!  Jealous of what?  They were jealous of the fact that these preachers of the crucified and risen Christ were tampering with their traditional “sacred cows” and their questing for power, control, and importance.  (Parenthetical note: The tenets of witchcraft come in many different packages!…fear, manipulation, and intimidation for purposes of control.  In this sense, have you ever seen witchcraft in the church?  I have.)  Paul was simply holding to the truth of the Gospel.  They were doing all the fighting and reacting.  They were the ones cooperating with behind-the-scene kingdom-of-darkness influences.
            On the other hand, there is truth in what the riot ringleaders said: “These men…have caused trouble all over the world.”  In the sense that Jesus spoke in Matthew 10:34, the proclamation of the Gospel is SUPPOSED to make trouble.  Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  (See Heb. 4:12 and Eph. 6:10-17)  So perhaps it would be appropriate to call Jesus THE GREAT TROUBLEMAKER.  And in this vein, maybe the Great Commission should be reworded to say, “Go ye into all the world and MAKE TROUBLE.”
            May the Lord bless, inspire, and encourage you to be a very good and affective TROUBLEMAKER.