Acts 16:5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.
When I was a kid I used to want to be in the Boy Scouts. It was not for a noble reason. It was not that I wanted to help elderly ladies across the street. I wanted the uniform. My cousins were in the Scouts and I got some of their old uniforms. I thought they were cool! So, I wanted to be in the Boy Scouts, but it was really for a secondary reason. It was for the uniform.
Likewise, so many times we want things that appear to be virtuous, but really are secondary. What we are seeking may even be a good thing, but it is not the main thing. I’d like to encourage you: don’t set your sights on secondary virtues. Follow Jesus.
Let me give you some examples. Acts 15:1 says, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” There was dissension and disputation between two different groups of people about this issue. The position these people had sounded very pious and spiritual. Paul and Barnabas had to decide if they were most concerned about appearing pious or being truly spiritual.
I am all for being pious if by that you mean a love for God, but sometimes we can mistake a personality type for spirituality. We need to be careful about that. We need to seek to follow Jesus, not to have a certain kind of personality. There are people in my life who are probably spiritual, but sometimes what I think is piety is really a matter of personality. One personality is not better than another. Don’t make it your main goal in life to seek a virtue or personality if it is secondary.
While Paul and Barnabas had authority, they also sought deference when possible. They said, “This is the right thing to do in regard to this question. Jew and Gentile can come to Christ and it is not a matter of keeping the law of Moses.” But, they set up some guidelines which would not unnecessarily offend good people. In fact, Paul had a young disciple, Timothy, whose father was Greek. Timothy was circumcised right after this disputation because there was no need to unnecessarily offend people whom they were trying to reach. So, appearing pious is not an end to itself. Follow Jesus, and let everything else follow.
Another example of following Jesus first is Paul and Barnabas in persecution. In chapter 16 Paul takes Timothy as a disciple. In Acts 15:26 the people said that Paul and Barnabas “hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Later in II Timothy 3, Paul is addressing Timothy and says, “You know my manner of life, you know my integrity, charity, patience, and persecutions.” Then Paul says, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
Sometimes we read that, especially in America, and think, “If I haven’t been persecuted, then I’m not right with God.” That is an exaggeration, but sometimes I have felt that. You need to realize that you don’t need to seek persecution. That is not a virtue. We seek Jesus. If we get pushed back because we do, then so be it. I don’t know that there is a better example of following Jesus than suffering persecution, but that is not what we should seek. We should seek to follow Jesus wherever it may take us.
Don’t seek an appearance of piety; seek Jesus. Don’t seek persecution; seek Jesus. What about comfort? At the end of Acts 16 it says of Paul and Barnabas, “They comforted them and departed.” So whether they were invited into the home of a friend or forced into prison, Paul and Barnabas were always comforting others. In Acts 15-16, there are three or four times the Bible says, “They comforted them.” Now comfort can either mean “a feeling of ease” or “something that you give, a strengthening or easing of a burden.” But I would say that I don’t need to live in comfort so long as the Comforter lives in me. That is the bottom line.
Today, these things, piety, persecution, and comfort are things we might consider “virtues,” but don’t seek those secondary virtues. Follow Jesus.