Wednesday, Feb 9
You can’t reach if you don’t respect
Scripture: Exodus 29-30, Acts 16
Acts 16:1–4 Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek. 2 The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.
Observation
After the Jerusalem Council decided that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised to be Christians, Paul embarked on a missionary tour to share the news. However, when he decided to take Timothy along, he had him circumcised. What?
Timothy was the son of a Jewish Christian mother and a Greek (Gentile) father. This made him Jewish, but he had not been circumcised at birth, probably because his Greek father protested. He would have been considered an apostate Jew, and Paul would have been considered apostate for partnering with him.
So Paul had Timothy circumcised for the sake of the Jews whom he wanted to reach. Even though Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles, he never gave up on reaching his Jewish brethren. “To the Jews I became like a Jew to win the Jews.” (1 Corinthians 9:20)
To Paul, becoming a Christian didn’t mean you became a bad Jew. Paul himself was observant. But for Paul, the mission was the main thing. His goal was to help as many people as possible find and follow Jesus. And to reach Jews, he had to respect their traditions. You can’t reach those you don’t respect!
So he circumcised Timothy while on a tour reporting that circumcision was unnecessary for salvation! It was about mission!
Application
To reach people, we must love and respect them and their culture and customs. This means getting to know people, understand their ways, and respect them.
Another great example of this by Paul is in Acts 17 when Paul was in Athens and saw a city filled with idolatry. Paul didn’t rail on them for their idolatry, but said, “I see that you are very religious.” And then used one of their idols (To an Unknown God) as a connection point to proclaim the gospel.
Love and respect people and look for that connecting point. You won’t reach people that you don’t respect.
Prayer: Lord, I want to help people find and follow You. Help me to be genuinely interested in them, respectful of them and their traditions, and find the connecting point.