Acts; Not Every Good Deed is Your Good Deed

Sept. 17

Read: Acts 16:1-15

Acts;

Not Every Good Deed is Your  Good Deed

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” (Acts 16:6,7)

It is hard to imagine being “forbidden” by the Holy Spirit to go and preach the gospel someplace. What would it look like for the Spirit of Jesus to “not allow you” to “speak the word” somewhere? Why would the Spirit do this?

There is a profound truth to be learned here: not every good deed is your good deed to do. Life in Christ is not driven by indiscriminate action… even if said acts would be things considered to be “good acts”… such as “speaking the word of God” and the gospel. God is calling us to something deeper and more relationally dependent on him. You see - formulas can be executed without relationship, but Life in Christ cannot. Even something such as who we go to speak the word of God to… who we go to “evangelize”… is directed by God - through relationship with him. Let’s unpack this more:

1.) God Must Speak

This sort of life in Christ can ONLY happen if God still speaks. God must be communicating with his people - and he is! There are many ways that God speaks to his people: through his written word, through his Spirit, and through other followers of Christ (his people). In this passage we see that it was the “Holy Spirit / Spirit of Jesus” that told them where the could not go. We don’t get the details of exactly how the Spirit did it in this particular passage… but it is clearly through the Spirit that God was speaking to Paul and his team. Much like Peter and his meal with Cornelius and Philip with the Ethiopia Eunuch, Paul did not get to where he was supposed to go by reading bible passages! (cf. Acts 8,10) We are told how the Spirit speaks to Paul through a vision in Acts 16:9,10. We cannot truly lean into our life in Christ without the voice of the Lord speaking to us. In other words, God MUST still speak… and he does. (cf. Acts 2)

2.) Our Good Deeds

Ephesians 2:10 says this: “For we are (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” There are specific good deeds that God has created beforehand for you to do. He has crafted our stories and laid out a path for us as his “workmanship”. Notice this fact: on multiple occasions Jesus walked past the beggar at the temple entrance and did NOT heal him. Yet - when Peter and John walk by him again after Jesus had ascended it was Peter who eventually healed the man. (cf. Acts 3:1-10) Why would Jesus walk by that beggar and not heal him? Was it because it was not God the Father’s plan to heal? Was it because Jesus didn’t want the man to be made whole? NO! As the story unfolds we see that the Father DID want the man healed and we know that Jesus ALWAYS did the will of the Father… but we learn that it was PETER’s miracle to do not Jesus’. We need to begin to ask the Father what he has called US to do … with trusting that he has an intentional plan for us and has mapped out our “good works” prepared in advance for us.

3.) Jesus as our Example

We have seen this many times before, but we must be reminded that Jesus only ever said and did what the Father told him to say and do:

“So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19)

“For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12:49)

“The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” (John 14:10)

This is RADICAL dependance on the Heavenly Father! This is our model in Christ. We must shift our own ministry and actions - our life -  off of our own understanding and formulas and onto the Heavenly Father! “Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge HIM, and he will make your path’s straight.” (Prov. 3:5) “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it is death.” (Prov. 14:12, 16:25) When we lean on our own understanding and rely on our own smarts… our own plans… our own formulas and strengths… it will often lead to destruction. This is true even for our self-concocted plans to do “good” things!

The time has come for us to begin to cultivate our relationship with God and to LISTEN to what he is saying to us. We need to depend on The Father to guide us into what to say and to do. We can’t walk into a situation and presume it is our job to do every good thing… but rather we must begin to seek the Lord in what good things he is actually CALLING US to do. What other way is there? This truths make sense of the Holy Spirit blocking someone and stopping them from proclaiming the word of God and the gospel in a place. Not even evangelism is supposed to be this sort of indiscriminate telling to anyone and everyone. You will find - like Paul and his team - that the proclaimed message of Jesus will take root when you are obediently sharing with those whom the Lord is actually calling you to share with! Ask the Lord what good works he has for you to walk in today… then listen… he will tell you!  Love you guys. - JDP