Strategic Surrender
To the ends of the earth - Acts 16:1-5 (ESV) - Jake loftis
ROMANS 12:2
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
“Do I have to?” It’s the question we ask when we’re facing something hard. We go looking for the rules: What’s actually required? What’s the minimum? Rules are good. They tell us what to expect and spare us from ambiguity. But life doesn’t usually come with a simple either/or. Sometimes every option is good, and sometimes every option is bad. And sometimes the right thing to do is something no rule requires of us.
In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council settled the circumcision question for good: Gentile believers didn’t need to be circumcised to belong to God’s family. The rule was clear. But early in Acts 16, as Paul set out on his second missionary journey with Silas, he met a young disciple in Lystra named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer and his father was Greek, and everyone in the region knew it. Paul wanted Timothy on his team, and so he had him circumcised.
Hadn’t they just finished proclaiming that this wasn’t necessary? Were they acting out of fear? Why didn’t they hold their ground?
Paul and Timothy weren’t trying to earn God’s favor. They were taking a third way, one that takes wisdom and leaves people scratching their heads. Like Paul and Timothy, we live in a complex world that keeps pulling us toward one side or the other. The gospel doesn’t just give us a rulebook. It equips us with wisdom, and it invites us to stop asking “What do I have to do?” and start asking “What am I willing to give?”
