A Theology of Work

 

We can have a theology of work. What is theology? It is the study of the nature of God and religious belief. In today’s Bible study we’ll explore both the work of God and the work he has given to us to do. Out of that let’s take the challenge to explore how you view work, your work and what God has for you to do at each stage of your life in a fulfilling and satisfying purpose.

 

What is work? The dictionary defines it as activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result. Christian Scripture and theology teach us the that God is Spirit except for in the Person of Jesus Christ at during the time of his incarnation. So, we need to start thinking about God’s work not necessarily as corporeal, but absolutely and supremely powerful. The book of Genesis reveals the creative work of God in two versions. The use of the Hebrew word work in relation to God is a different word than when the Bible talks about the work commissioned by God for humans, but it has similar meanings: do, labor, effort, etc. Genesis 1:1-2:3 and 2:4-25 describe God’s work in the beginning. We won’t be spending time on the theologies of Creationism, the Big Bang Theory, or Darwinism or any other theories. That’s for another time. For today, we need to come to terms with the fact that God works. The reality that God works is from the beginning of time. In our day we are aware of the great discoveries of multiple galaxies by means of phenomenal telescopes. It is truly awe-inspiring to think of God creating all of these—for we as Christians believe that God is the Creator of all things. The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. This is an apt summary of the magnificence of God’s great creative power. It is in Genesis 2:2-3 the we can see that Scripture defines those creative acts as work.

 

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

 

Many centuries later the Apostle John wrote about this as well in his Gospel account—John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

 

Christians believe that Jesus Christ was the incarnate presence of God in our physical world. He came down to us to live among us and to work. That work included his sacrificial death and resurrection so that we could be saved, and now is present with the Father in Heaven. Jesus said in John 4:34 My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Here Jesus confirms his one-ship with the Father and God’s work. In John 9:4 Jesus said, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. Here we see how Jesus was compelled to do his work and we read throughout the Gospels how profoundly active he was.

 

Jesus also described the work of the Holy Spirit. In John 16 he forecast the coming of the Holy Spirit for new believers. Verse 13 provides a summary statement of that work: When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

 

There are many other Scriptures the declare and define the work of the Trinity. So, I challenge you to find those in your own Bible study. Because we are created in the image of God, why do we and should we work?

 

Let’s return to the definition of work. The dictionary defines it as activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result. In Genesis the Hebrew word for work related to human beings encompasses to serve, worship, do, minister, labor, farm, effort, and more. In Genesis 2:15 we read: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. The foundation of a theology of work is that God has given work for us to do.

 

That work can include paid and unpaid, hired or independent, parenting, praying, volunteering and more. We cannot simply define work as that for which we are paid—as Jesus was never paid, and I rather doubt the Creator was doing that work for financial enrichment. Work, then, can be anything that God has for us to do and that which produces good for the world. Whether that’s an elderly person who really can only pray from their sickbed or someone who runs a company or a student studying to develop their work or someone volunteering in a homeless shelter—all of us have work to do.

 

Pause for a moment and think about times in your life that your work was most fulfilling and gave you a sense of purpose. That fulfillment and purpose was in you by the design of the Creator. Be thankful!

 

Other places in the Bible have guidance and direction for both the industrious and the lazy. When we talk about work, we also have to consider the concepts of laziness, cheating and sloth—all of which are the opposite of God’s good work for us.

 

Proverbs 6:6-11 has some interesting thoughts on a theology of work.  

 

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
    consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
    and gathers its food at harvest.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
    When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest—
and poverty will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

 

This Scriptures says go to the ant, so let’s do that by considering one particular kind of ant—the Leaf Cutter.[i] Scientists believe that these Western hemisphere ants have been doing 50 million years of fungi farming for their food. There are a Large variety of ant sizes in one colony for different functions—each is important to the health of the farm. One type of ant actually does the cutting of leaves, but is not large enough to carry its cutting back to the colony, so it rides the leaf that is being carried by the carrier ants. Once back in the colony the leaf is used to grow fungi that feeds the entire colony. There are ants with a wide different jobs (including cleaning and attending to the queen), often some of them swap jobs, and some are equipped with the different body parts required to do their work. The important thing to understand about an ant colony: 1) each ant is an integral part of the work of the whole and 2) they do far more than just take care of themselves. Researchers have discovered that:

•      Leaf-cutting ants are "ecosystem engineers" because their actions significantly alter the physical and chemical environment,

•      impacting nutrient cycling,

•      soil structure,

•      plant growth, and

•      ultimately, contributing to the health and complexity of the ecosystem.[ii]

 

If God has given ants such important work, how are we to approach the work that we are given? Colossians 3:23-24 reads: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

 

There are other places in Scripture that we can see guidance for the slothful or lazy that also helps us to understand a theology of work.

 

Ecclesiastes 11:6

Sow your seed in the morning,
    and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
    whether this or that,
    or whether both will do equally well.

 

Now this does not mean that we burn the candle at both ends, never resting, and never ceasing from work. For if we do that, we are doing things contrary to God’s command to take one full day of rest a week (Exodus 20:8-11). What the writer in Ecclesiastes seems to be saying is that there can be good that can be done through all of our work whatever the nature of that work is. God can bless us with fulfillment and purpose despite our circumstances. Genesis 39:2-3 demonstrates this in one who was diligent in prison, in freedom and for others. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did... What if we saw God at work through us even through difficult circumstances or a job that is needful but boring? Or what if we gained new enthusiasm for our work or volunteering because we know that God can be glorified and pointed to because of our work?

 

There are other times when we need to reaffirm or take hold of a theology of work. In I Timothy 5:3-16 the Apostle Paul gave wisdom and guidance to a young pastor who had some people in his flock not doing their part and taking advantage of a support system in the church designed for those without proper support. These letters were for a specific occasion and time in a church in history, but the addressing of laziness is demonstrated. As you read this, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in addressing points of laziness in your own life or gaining wisdom on how to deal with lazy people. In this also not the spiritual damage that comes from not engaging in the work God has for us to do.

 

 ³ Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. ⁴ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. ⁵ The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. ⁶ But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. ⁷ Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. ⁸ Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

 

⁹ No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, ¹⁰ and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

 

¹¹ As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. ¹² Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. ¹³ Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to. ¹⁴ So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. ¹⁵ Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.

 

¹⁶ If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.

 

So we have been given a brief theology of work. May we be challenged today by the Holy Spirit to be like God the Father and God the Son always busy with their work.

 

Respond to these questions:

·         When we are faithful to God in our work, how does God bless us?

·         Where do you find purpose and fulfillment in doing something that will help others?

 

Amen

 

© M.R.Hyde 2025

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[i] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus-growing_ants

 

[ii] Ibid.

What is Faith in Jesus Christ? Galatians 3:1-14

Faith is a funny thing. An agnostic has faith—faith that there is a god but that she, he or it doesn’t really care. An atheist has faith—faith that there is no god therefore the universe created and sustains itself. And then there are all of those other believing people who adhere to a belief system, religion or religions. It is important to understand a person’s beliefs based on the object of that belief. Is it science, religious tradition, humanity, self, politics or nature? Every person has some form of faith.

 

The Apostle Paul (formerly Saul) had faith in the ancient God of the Hebrews. By his own accounting, Paul had regarded himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews (see Philippians 3:5) legally bound and adhering to the Old Testament law. He was a God-fearing, religious zealot who believed in the God of people who had adhered to these religious practices.

 

A new religion had come on the scene while Saul was an influential religious leader. This religion was called The Way and people had been leaving this religion to follow the teachings and that person named Jesus, who they called the Christ—the Messiah—of The Way. In those days this had prompted Saul to actively pursue and punish those who had left the rules of his religion behind to take up a new faith. Several years later, Saul had a personal encounter with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It was well after the resurrection of Jesus Christ that Saul was on his way to another town to route out and persecute even more Christians.

 

Acts 9:1-5

 

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

 

⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

 

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

 

From this individual encounter with the resurrected and then heaven-based Spirit of Jesus, Saul was transformed into a full-bodied and spiritually enlivened person of The Way. After his name was changed to Paul and through the months and years that followed, he became one of the most ardent advocators for faith in Jesus Christ. It was really a remarkable transformation that led to the establishing of Christian churches through three arduous missionary journeys. One of those areas was Galatia, now modern-day Turkey. After helping to establish the Christian churches there, Paul branched out even further pointing the way to Jesus Christ as the Savior.

 

Throughout the New Testament we read many of his letters to new and to established churches. The letter to Galatians is a remarkable document that demonstrates a number of things: a well-established Christian community made up of Gentiles and Jewish converts, a community that had been alive and well because of faith in Jesus Christ, and a church being torn apart by legalism.

 

In Galatians 1:6-7 we get a sense of how astonished Paul was by the strife that was happening in this Christian community. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” While traveling about, Paul had learned of this terrible strife. It was not just that a group of people who had been as radically and wonderfully transformed as he had been, that had been worshipping together as one body, that had known the sweet and abiding personal relationship with the risen Savior, were now divided. As terrible as those things were, even worse was the loss of freedom in their faith. Some were now bound by legalism and others were being influenced to be bound in the same way. The kind of freedom that they had known was not the freedom of the anarchist or the self-made person. The freedom that was being sacrificed was the freedom to be like Jesus Christ and fueled by His power!

 

Paul, out of great love and compassion, wrote to them in what seems be an inordinately harsh way.

 

Galatians 3:1-5

 

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? ⁴ Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? ⁵ So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

 

Here Paul is demonstrating the deep love and concern he has for these people. He knows the bondage of legalism before Christ fulfilled the Old Testament Law and set believers free to love God and their neighbors unrestrained. That bondage to the old law, not contrary to God’s commands (Matthew 5:17-20), was a comfortable way to live, or as James Edlin wrote, a means to an end. “Unfortunately, some of these early Christians misunderstood something very important about law. They thought it was a means of entering into relationship with God. Yet the catalog of laws is not a checklist of things people must do to be accepted by God. The Lord gave the laws to Moses only after He had rescued Israel and made them His people. As Paul noted, Abraham became the friend of God centuries before the law was ever given at Sinai. So, law was not designed to usher people into a relationship with God.”[1]

 

Yes, Abraham. Paul goes all the way back to a man who was formerly called Abram. We continue to read in Galatians 3.

 

⁶ So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

⁷ Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. ⁸ Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” ⁹ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

 

There were two brothers, suddenly without their father, the patriarch of the family. They were probably wondering what to do. The Bible doesn't tell us much about the religion of Terah the father, Abram or Nahor his brother. We know that while they were in the Ur of Chaldeans there were numerous gods that were worshipped. It would probably be safe to think that Abram and his family were pretty open to being contacted in a mystical way, that they were religious people.

 

What Abram encountered next in his life was a new thing.  Oh, but it was not just a new thing, but a new Person with a capital P. This Person was God himself initiating a relationship with a lower case "p" person named Abram. The Name of the One contacting Abram could be translated Jehovah. (In the English translations it is written "LORD" to indicate its holy nature.) This was the first name by which God identified himself to Abram. This is one of the many names of God that the ancient writers related to their audience. The New Bible Dictionary describes this name as that which "presents God as a Person, and so brings Him into relationship with other, human personalities. It brings God near to man, and He speaks to [Abram] as one friend to another…The name is no mere label, but is significant of the real personality of him to whom it belongs…[and] reflects] his character…When a person puts his 'name' on a thing or another person the latter comes under his influence and protection."[2]  In this initiation God, the LORD, begins connecting his name and his character to an otherwise non-descript man named Abram. 

 

Read Genesis 12:.1-9

 

The great God of the universe chose to interact with a man who appears to be of no particular significance. Why didn't God approach and seek out some great King of the world, some phenomenal leader of people?  Instead God, who created the heavens and the earth, tapped a man on the shoulder who was living in a pagan culture, surrounded by pagan gods of all sorts, and whose life really hadn't amounted to much of anything yet. If one of us was God we might look over the entire earth to find the greatest person to give these things and these promises to. But we are not God.

 

As humans we will give love generally because someone loves us back. We love a dog because he wags his tail and is so very happy to see us. We love our spouses because they have promised and demonstrated at some level a return of love. We love our children because they grab hold of our leg and grin up at us like we were the sunshine itself. We love our friends because they tell us it is great to be with us. But God loves us without any of that. Abram had not made any singular commitment to Jehovah. We have no record of Abram telling his friends that he was going to serve only one god. We have no record that Abram had made himself a reputation of being a particularly holy man. And yet, God came to him personally and made some incredible promises. And God did this not because Abram was such a singularly spectacular human being, but simply because God chose him.

 

What did God promise to Abram? Several very important things: I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.  I hope we can grasp the significance of these promises. God will take a childless man and make his descendants into not just a family, not just a clan, but into an entire nation! God will take a lowly man and makes him great—people would talk about and study and know about Abram/Abraham for the rest of human history! God promised to protect and bless this man, by protecting and blessing those who protected and blessed him. And to top it all off, everyone on the earth would be blessed through this one insignificant man who had now been made significant by Jehovah God himself. It would be one thing if we saw that Abram deserved this, but he did not deserve God’s love any more than any of us. One big God on one side, one little non-descript person on the other.  All Abram had to do was follow. And so he did. That is faith in the one, true living God.

 

This is what Paul was pointing the Galatian church to—a faith that was not bound to laws that were not even created at the time of Abraham. He was demonstrating that their personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ surpassed the laws that were being foisted upon them.

 

To be compassionate towards those who are bound in legalism, the human effort to make one acceptable to God, is a good thing—for a time. But in the Galatian church a line had to be drawn. At risk was true Christian love and, even more devastating, the collapse of grace-filled lives with Jesus Christ! Therefore, Paul used strong language to compel them to return to their initial freedom to love God with all their hearts, all their souls, and their minds and love their neighbors as themselves—as Jesus taught. (Matthew 22:37-40)

 

Here's some more strong language from Paul in Galatians 3:10-14.

 

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” ¹¹ Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” ¹² The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” ¹⁴ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

 

There is a lot to unpack in these few verses, so for the sake of the focus on this Bible study, let’s abbreviate. The quote in verse 10 is from Deuteronomy 27:26, a recounting of the Law before Moses died. Even in this passage, captured generations after Abraham, the pressure of living under that Law was immense! This is why they had to constantly offer sacrifices—to cover the sins that would happen. This is what the agitators in the Galatian church were pressing down on the believers in Jesus Christ. In their minds, if Jew and Gentile did not follow the law the only outcome was curses. What an awful faith-less, grace-less life!

 

But Jesus Christ made all the difference!  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Oh, that those who are bound even today in a faith-less life understand this and be grateful, living humble lives under the grace of God the Father, the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Paul goes on to describe the role of the Law in Galatians 3:23-25.

 

²³ Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

 

The Law was our friend—if not a freeing friend, a friend indeed. For without the Law, we would not know what sin was and therefore would not know the need for our God and Savior. The new freedom is what the Galatians had already learned and were being turned from. What a heartache to watch someone’s spiritual life shrivel up because the freedom bought by Jesus Christ is withdrawn!

 

Once set free from the Law that guarded us, we can be like Abraham and Paul—free to follow God wherever he leads, free to be confident in that direction because God loves us, free to reach out to others who were enemies before. We are given new identities, a new belief system, a new faith that surpasses them all.

 

Galatians 3:26-28 reads: So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

 

Paul makes this great announcement of identity. Once you take that step of faith in Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter what other people, your culture, your influences, even yourself have told you who you are—in Christ you are free all that God wants you to be with the blessed unity of the Christian community!

 

Amen

 

© M.R.Hyde 2025

 

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[1] Illustrated Bible Life, Spring 2025, The Foundry Publishing, Kansas City, MO, online guide.

[2] New Bible Dictionary, Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI, 1962.

God's 14th Amendment

 

Sometimes we don't know what we are doing. This does not necessarily mean that things will turn out badly. We cannot see the outcomes of our decisions. But we often try to project what will happen if we lay down principles or ideals in our lives, in our government and in our world. Thoughtful people ask questions like this: How does what we say and do today affect the future of the people in this world? In our work places? In our families?

 

In 1787 a room full of people set out to establish guidelines and principles that would point a new and burgeoning nation in the right direction. Some of them were religious refugees who had been oppressed by the British church and political system. They sought ways to find religious freedom. Some of them were merchants looking for a wide open marketplace where they could become rich and powerful. Some of them were political refugees, seeking asylum from the political systems that had pressed against them in Britain. All of them had come again to one room trying to set out the principles and ideals that would form a "more perfect union," ideals that would set the course of their human endeavors in good and strong ways.

 

What they came up with was what we know as the Constitution of the United States of America.  For over 200 years it has been operating.  Part of the American governmental system that was established included the right and privilege of amending it. Therefore, as the years progressed certain amendments were added. These amendments would bend the trajectory of our country in ways that had profound influence.

 

One of those amendments came at a critical time. Having come through one of the most desperate and brutal times in our nation, the Civil War had bled our country of brothers and countrymen fighting over the basic affirmation of all peoples.  It was this crisis that brought our leaders to a critical amendment.

 

It was an amendment of equal protection.  The Encyclopeadia Britannica here helps to inform of us of this effort.   In essence it is the U.S. law, the constitutional guarantee, that no person or group will be denied that protection under the law which is enjoyed by similar persons or groups—i.e., persons similarly situated must be similarly treated ... In the United States, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, one of three post-Civil War amendments, prohibits states from denying any person "the equal protection of the laws."[1]

 

And here is how this amendment reads: Amendment XIV [1868] Section 1:  All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States: nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

 

This amendment needed to be applied more purposefully in the early 1950's and in particular in relation to a landmark case called Brown vs. the Board of Education.   On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution . . . The 1954 decision declared that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. Based on a series of Supreme Court cases argued between 1938 and 1950….the decision was limited to the public schools, but it was believed to imply that segregation was not permissible in other public facilities.[2]

 

From that point forward the 14th Amendment has had a plethora of interpretations and rulings. In the 1960s . . . the court under Chief Justice Earl Warren dramatically transformed the concept of equal protection, applying it to cases involving welfare benefits, exclusionary zoning, municipal services, and school financing. Equal protection became a prolific source of constitutional litigation. Under Chief Justice Warren E. Burger the court added considerably to the list of situations that might be adjudicated under the doctrine of equal protection, including sexual discrimination, status and rights of aliens, and legitimacy of birth. [3]

 

Today we live with the outcomes of not only the Chief Justices, but also those who fought for and framed our constitution. Little did that group of fifty-five people in 1787 comprehend the struggles of millions who came after them. But each person who struggled believed what was written in our Constitution—every citizen had a right to equal treatment.

Whether you agree that the results of Brown v. Board of Education have worked out well or not today; and whether you agree or disagree that Affirmative Action and the Civil Right Movement are good things is entirely up to you. Each person is entitled to their own opinion. But there is one thing as Americans we must affirm today—every citizen of the United States has a right to equal treatment under the 14th Amendment.

 

Did you know that God has a 14th Amendment? He does. Well, it's not really an amendment, and it came through to humanity long before 1868. It's more like a commandment or a commission. I believe that all truth is God's truth. So, if in some stuffy room in 1787 in Philadelphia someone stood up for the rights of their brothers and sisters of color—they were only acting on a Godly principle—whether they knew it or not.

 

God's principle is written throughout the entire Bible. It is reflected in verses like Micah 6:8:   He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Then there is the passage that Jesus quoted in Deuteronomy and added one more thought to in Matthew 22:37-40.   Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."  But I really think the greatest "amendment," if you will, is found in Matthew 28:19-20 where Jesus said, 'Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

 

I think this is the greatest commandment if but for one reason. God loved us enough to send Jesus Christ to die and rise again for the whole world. We must be careful to comprehend what that means. It means that, just like the 14th Amendment, everyone should have equal access to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

In the first chapters of Acts we had seen the disciples filled with the Holy Spirit. Jerusalem was being taken by a storm with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People were finding salvation through this Gospel by the thousands. Then the religious rulers began to crack down. Persecution broke out and the disciples were scattered throughout the region.

 

There was another problem. These new believers were for the most part Jewish. They had converted to Christianity—following Christ as the Messiah. However, they were not yet really in tune with the whole message. They did not quite comprehend the whole law fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  It's one thing to talk with other Jews about Jesus, but it's quite another to try to communicate the Gospel if your audience speaks a different language, or has different cultural expectations, or doesn't eat the food you eat, etc.  So, God helped them understand the full measure of his law. As their hearts were expanded by his love, they began to see people differently. No longer were the religious laws of exclusivity and exclusion relevant. The Gospel—the good news—was for everyone. So, Phillip explained Jesus to an Ethiopian, Saul saw the light and stopped persecuting Christians, Peter and John began preaching outside of Jerusalem—all because of God's "14th Amendment."

 

All over the region of the Holy Land people had started their new life in Christ Jesus. They felt the freedom from the guilt of their sins. They found hope for the future, comfort in the midst of trouble and peace, great peace. Then they started telling their friends about it. The story of what Jesus had done was traveling quickly and groups of Christians were popping up in towns all over. Just like the makers of the American Constitution had no idea how far-reaching their principles would be, the disciples of Jesus were just beginning to comprehend the breadth of the love of God through Christ Jesus.

 

We have seen miraculous healings before, both in Acts and in the Gospel writers. In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we can note particularly that Peter was at each instance of Jesus bringing people back from the dead. We can understand that Peter had some idea of the power of God through these experiences. So, when he was confronted with the sorrow of illness and death on a particular day, he was used powerfully by the Holy Spirit, to let that current of life flow through him.

 

Read Acts 9:32-43

³² As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. ³⁴ “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. ³⁵ All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

 

³⁶ In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. ³⁷ About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. ³⁸ Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

 

³⁹ Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

 

⁴⁰ Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. ⁴² This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. ⁴³ Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

 

What makes this passage unique is that these towns and regions—Sharon, Joppa and Lydda—were peopled with Samaritans, Gentiles and Jews. Peter was drawn to these places because he heard the wonderful news of groups of Christians. He wanted to visit them, encourage them and be encouraged by their growth in God.   He found there the typical human things—life and death, illness and wellness. While we cannot begin to try to explain why some people are preserved and healed and others are not, we can know this—God heals us in many, many ways—the miraculous physical healing, the sustaining power to help us in our weaknesses, and the final healing of going to heaven.

 

And as powerful and as wonderful as these healings are we do not want to miss the evidence of the work of the Amender. Did you understand verses 35 and 42?  All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw the Amender’s miracles and turned to him and the power of the Amender became known all over Joppa.  The Amender was working himself out through the disciples, through the persecutions, the trouble in their own synagogues and through their weary voices as they traveled into places they had never preached or ministered before.  The Gospel was spreading out from Jerusalem. Like fresh spring water pushing out through a delta into the great ocean of the world, the Gospel began to permeate regions further and further out. Like the Ethiopian eunuch carried the Gospel light to his country, the region from Galilee to the seaport town of Joppa and everything in between was being dramatically affected by the miracles done by God for one reason alone—so that others may know the wonder and power of God who loves and includes them.

 

The Gospel writer Luke does not want us to miss the point. The Amender, setting in place an amendment in place since Adam and Eve sinned, was grabbing hold of entire communities. Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, was walking among them, testifying to God's power and love. Tabitha, a woman whose life was spent taking care of the underprivileged, could continue her work while telling people about the power of God to transform their lives. These were striking proofs of the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. And people all over the region—Jew, Samaritan, Gentile—all were given equal opportunity to respond to the great love and grace of God. In the midst of all of that was humble and willing Peter, dropping to his knees and praying for those in need—no matter what their race or language.

 

The Amender—the Holy Spirit himself—can make us more aware of the full measure of God's wonderful law of love and grace. May we pray that each one of us will be willing to share the love and grace which we have received from Jesus Christ.

 

Pray for the Amender’s healing, because perhaps there are some of us who need soul healing—we harbor deep prejudices and emotions against those of another color or language. Perhaps today we need to be amended by the Holy Spirit so that we can fully realize the commandment of Jesus Christ to take his Good News to every tribe and every nation. Who knows, perhaps today could be the day that your neighborhood will hear the truth about the Holy Spirit as the Amender.

 

Amen

 

© M.R.Hyde 2025

 

This lesson is a chapter from Who is the Holy Spirit? A Devotional Journey Through the Book of Acts found through most fine retailers.

 

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[1] 1994-2002 Encyclopeadia Britannica, Inc. CD Set. 1994.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.