Joe McKeever

12 New Testament Scriptures That Won't Turn Me Loose

Having listed a dozen favorite mind-grabbing texts in the four gospels that define so much of my ministry, we come now to the rest of the New Testament.

Again, the challenge is choosing twelve. Why, Romans 8 or Romans 12 alone could yield that many great verses.

But, here goes.

Twelve New Testament scriptures that have me in a hammer-lock, a death-grip, a loving embrace, and won't turn me loose.

1. Fellowship: Acts 2:42.

"And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teachng and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

The church in Jerusalem began the day with 120 members and ended it with 3,120. That was one revival God sent on the Day of Pentecost!

The challenge for that little bunch of believers was discipling those new converts, grounding them in the faith, assimilating them into the congregation, and establishing them so solidly in godly living and evangelism that they could live for Jesus no matter where life took them or what circumstances the future held.

We get the impression the discipleship program they launched was not a formal classroom situation or anything highly structured, but was free-floating, fluid, and flexible. Their approach involved four activities:

--The apostles' doctrine. Without the New Testament or even the Gospels, the early believers had the next best thing--the apostles. So, the men who had walked with Jesus for three years now began talking about Him to the new believers, speaking of His works, His words, His ways. Unbeknownst to them, they were preparing for writing the four gospels.

--Fellowship. Koinonia. The word means to share, to have things in common. Nowhere does scripture define or describe what they did that fell into this category, but I think we know: they hung out together, sometimes formally--in ministry and classes and projects--and often informally--going for walks, meeting for pizza after church, visiting with each other.

--Breaking of bread. Does this refer to the Lord's Supper or to meeting at someone's house for potluck? Yes. Both. There's no better way to get to know a person and to bond with them than over a relaxed meal talking about great things.

--Prayer. Nothing bonds people like praying together.

2. Conflict: Acts 6:1-7.

"Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose..."

Good. I'm so glad the early church had complaining members. I'm glad we're not the first to experience conflict in our churches. We would not have had a clue what to do. Thankfully, the Jerusalem church and several other early congregations experienced the same kinds of problems our churches go through every day.

I'm even more glad they showed us how to deal with such difficulties, such as not panicking, the leadership acting promptly and responsibly, involving the congregation, choosing a small group of godly men to attend to the need, and so forth.

People who read this narrative in Acts 6 often stop at verse 6. In doing so, they miss something critical. Verse 7 says, "And the word of God kept on spreading, and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many priests were becoming obedient to the faith."

What a standard that church set for us in conflict resolution: They handled it so beautifully that outsiders were drawn to Christ by the love and unity they observed. Let us deal with our conflicts just as faithfully.

3. The Church: Acts 9:4-5.

"And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' And he said, 'Who art Thou, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.'"

One of a hundred lessons that filtered through to Saul of Tarsus that life-changing day outside Damascus is that whatever one does to the church, the Lord Jesus takes personally.

The Old Testament makes a similar connecton between the Jews and God. However the other nations treated them, God took it as though they were doing that to Him, for good or for ill.

The New Testament applies that principle to the church.

Saul was persecuting disciples of Jesus, hounding them, trying desperately to stamp out this little Christian movement. He learned that day that in touching a follower of Jesus, he was attacking the Man of Galilee Himself. Not a good thing.

If you feed the Lord's hungry children, give them water when they are thirsty, clothe them when they are naked, and so forth, you are doing that very thing to Jesus. This staggering fact is taught in Matthew 25:40. Likewise, to neglect to care for them is to neglect Jesus. That's Matthew 25:45.

I love Hebrews 6:10 and share it with the Lord's faithful servants at every opportunity: "God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love that you have shown toward His name in having ministered to the saints, and in still ministering." By ministering to the Lord's people, we honor Him. He takes it personally.

Think what this says about your relationship to your church. If you cut the grass, you're cutting Jesus' lawn. If you scrub the toilets, you are doing it for Jesus. If you teach the children or feed a hungry family, He takes that as though you're doing it for Him.

And if you are causing conflict in your church, troubling it in order to get your way, you are messing with Jesus. By your actions, you are earning a place on His appointment calendar and the news is not good.

If you are responsible for driving a good pastor from the ministry because he wasn't to your liking or would not do your bidding, you have bought yourself more problems than you will ever be able to handle.

4. Enlistment: Acts 11:25.

"Then (Barnabas) left for Tarsus to look for Saul."

God had called Saul of Tarsus as an apostle to the Gentiles. And yet his reception soon after his conversion had not gone well. Disappointed, he had slipped out of town and returned home to Tarsus, perhaps to make tents and ponder the ways of God. Now that a revival had broken out in Antioch of Syria, the Jerusalem church commissioned Barnabas to journey there and see what encouragement he could render.

What he discovered was that Gentiles were coming to Christ, a new thing under the sun. That's when Barnabas remembered the young man of Tarsus who had been called by God as an apostle to these very people.

Acts 11:25 is one of the greatest sentences in the history of this planet.

Matching a believer with just the right opportunity of service is one of the most fruitful and exciting ministries we can do in the Kingdom. Barnabas changed the history of this world by this single act of faith and faithfulness.

Who do you know who has been called by the Lord and gifted by His Spirit but has not found their place of service? If the Lord leads you to join someone with their lifework, you may end up touching the world by that one act.

5.Leadership: Acts 20:28.

"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers; shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."

The Apostle Paul is hurrying to Jerusalem and arranges for a hasty meeting with the elders of the church at Ephesus. He reminds them of his previous ministry among them and tries to prepare them for whatever lies ahead. In verse 28--an overstuffed verse if there ever was one--he calls them to take care of themselves and the flock of the Lord. They are called elders (20:17), overseers (20:28 episcopos), and shepherds or pastors (20:28).

The church, Paul says, is the Lord's flock purchased by His own blood. That says rather eloquently who Jesus is. (He's not the Father, but God the Son.)

I love to remind churches of three lessons that tend to get lost in the forest of churchwork:

a) The church belongs to the Lord. (Matthew 16:18)

b) Ministers are appointed by the Holy Spirit. (Baptists sometimes ask, "Then why do we vote on them?" Answer: By our voting, we declare what we believe the Lord has done, whether He has chosen this man as our shepherd.) See I Thessalonians 5:12 and Hebrews 13:17 for our duties toward these who lead us.

c) Before the pastor can "take care of the flock," he must see to his own needs--physical, spiritual, family. Church members should never criticize their minister for taking doling the work of taking care of his health, his family, and his own relationship with the Lord.

6. Resurrection: Acts 26:26.

"The king knows about these matters, and I speak to him with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner."

The resurrection of Jesus was not done in a corner.

For something to occur "in a corner" would mean it was unobserved, unexamined, unproved, and therefore would be unreliable. (For something in religious history that happened in a corner, check into Mormonism's Joseph Smith and the golden plates.)

Paul assures King Agrippa that the death-burial-and-resurrection of Jesus Christ was on display before the world, and is well known to him.

Among the many "proofs" of the resurrection--and make no mistake, there are dozens--is the silence of the critics and opponents when believers began blanketing the world with word of Jesus' resurrection. To those who have said the Romans or the Jews hid the crucified body of Jesus, or that on the first Easter Sunday morning the women simply went to the wrong tomb, we answer: "When the disciples began preaching that Jesus was risen, why didn't they produce His body?" That would have stopped the Christian movement in a heartbeat. They couldn't produce it, of course, because they didn't have it.

He was risen.

Numerous scholars who have studied the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus report that this is one of the most verifiable events in history, that if one can believe anything that happened in the ancient world, he can go with this.

Why does that matter? Because the resurrection of Jesus is Heaven's authentication of everything He claimed, every promise He made, every assurance He gave. "Because He lives, we too shall live." On this historical event, everything hinges.

7. Prayer: Romans 8:26.

"And in the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."

I appreciate Paul's admission that he does not know how to pray as he should. Furthermore, he included you and me in that! We don't know how either!

I knew that; I'm glad he did, too.

I will admit, however, that what it means for the Spirit to intercede for us with such inexpressible groanings eludes me. I don't have a clue what this means. But it is beyond comforting to know He is there and on the job, looking out for us.

In this life, the believer's prayer life will almost always be unsatisfactory to him. We will always feel we could pray better than we do, should pray more, need to be more effective. But, we keep at it. One day, we will have the incredible privilege of addressing the Savior face to face, and won't that be something! The tongue will be untied, the mind freed, the heart loosed! We shall pray and praise as God intended from the first.

8. God: Romans 8:31-32.

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?"

God is for us; He is on our side. Think of that!

That does not mean that He is pulling for me when I do wrong. It means He wants the best for me and has done amazing things to give me life abundant and eternal.

The simple fact is that God is more for me than I am for me. Sometimes I do self-destructive and self-defeating things. But everything God has ever done was in my best interest.

You cannot read the New Testament without coming away convinced the living God is on our side. He told the leper, "I am willing to heal you!" (Mark 1:41) He forgave the paralytic without being asked (Mark 2:5), and prayed forgiveness upon His executioners while they were still at their dirty work (Luke 23:34). When He died, it was for us. When He was on the cross, I was on His mind, as a songwriter put it.

Satan smears the Lord by attacking at this very point. He insists the Lord is neutral toward us at best, and very often outright hostile. However, no one who reads His New Testament with a Spirit-led heart believes it. "God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

9. Wisdom: I Corinthians 2:8.

"The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

I find it fascinating to think that the devil was fooled by God at Calvary. For a few hours after our Lord died on that bloody hill outside Jerusalem, Satan and his mob of demons celebrated. That was their high water mark, the farthest they would come in their rebellion against Heaven. But if they had only known.

The cross, far from being the death of God and the failure of Jesus' mission, was the wisdom of God and His power unto salvation (see Romans 1:16-17 and I Corinthians 1:23-24).

It took the resurrection of Jesus to show the devil he had been had. He had played right into the hand of God.

This is why we who follow Jesus must always point people to the cross, to His blood, to the sacrifice He made to atone for our sins.

The devil does not mind you being religious. He won't really care if you preach high standards and moralize all you please. Just stay away from the cross and don't mention Jesus' blood. Keep people believing that all they have to do is "be good" and they'll go to heaven. Preach a gospel of works and hell is satisfied.

In Heaven, those saints dressed in the purest of white, who are they? "They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb?" (Revelation 7:14)

What can take away my sin? Nothing, but the blood of Jesus.

10. Struggles: II Corinthians 11:23-28.

"Are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane. I more so, in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes...."

"From now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brandmarks of Jesus" (Galatians 6:17).

When attacked by some so-called "super apostles" as being a Johnny-come-lately and thus not a genuine apostle, Paul responded by reading his resume to the Corinthian church. But it was as unlike a modern resume' as you will ever see. Rather than list his awards and accomplishments, his educational background and the places of service, Paul gives what I call a "reverse resume."

What proves my discipleship, Paul said, are the scars I have received in the service of the Lord. The passage in II Corinthians 11 is unmatched anywhere in Scripture.

Do you carry scars on your body that tell something of your life story? What appear as frown marks between my eyebrows are actually two scars received from a traffic accident a quarter-century ago. We were returning from a funeral--I was riding in the funeral car on the passenger side--when a fellow in a pickup truck ran a stop sign and we broadsided him. My forehead broke the dashboard. I was not seriously injured but carry permanent reminders of that event.

What makes you authentic in your service for the Lord? The world would answer that it is your accomplishments, your awards and recognitions. But perhaps a better measurement is the things you have suffered for the Lord.

My heart breaks when I think of all the ministers and their families who have been hurt in the Lord's work by people in the church. Time and God's faithfulness will heal those hurts, but the scars will always remain. They are badges of honor.

11. Submission: Ephesians 5:21.

"And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ."

This may be the most overlooked and most critical key to unity and harmony in the church of all the possible traits and activities: each believer humbling himself before the rest of the family.

Anyone seeking a recipe for dissension and division in a church need look no further than church members insisting on having their own way. They may call it voting their convictions, being true to their calling, or a hundred other pet phrases. But if they are unwilling to humble themselves before other believers and subjugate their own will, they will be the cause of great pain and trouble for their church.

To submit to another means to give in to him. You and I have a disagreement and I decide we will do it your way. That's submission.

The basis of submission is humility. Consider these two verses from Romans 12.

12:3 "For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith."

12:10 "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor."

I once asked some military people why they saluted officers with whom they disagreed or who were not as strong or as wise as themselves. "It's the system," they said. "If you are allowed to pick and choose whom you will respect and obey in the military, the system would break down and no one would receive proper training."

Another answered, "It's for the common good." That was the answer I needed. This is why in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, His disciples are willing to put one another ahead of themselves and submit: it honors the Lord, pleases God, makes the work more efficient, infuriates the devil, and impresses outsiders. It stops division dead in its tracks when we willingly suppress our wants and desires in order to "take one for the team."

Ninety percent of the division in churches today finds its root in someone refusing to submit to others.

12. Fearlessness: II Timothy 1:7.

"For God has not given us a spirit of timidity (fear), but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

Something about Paul's constant reminders to this young protege of his makes us think that Timothy must have been naturally shy and reserved. But the Apostle will not let him withdraw and be timid in his service for Christ. This is no work for a Timid Timothy, if I may be pardoned for the bad pun.

God wants His children out front, not hiding. He wants us to speak up, not remain silent. (See Matthew 10:27). We are to be bold, not cowardly (see His caution to Jeremiah in Jer. 1:17).

We will not be allowed to fear the forces of darkness because we have been given the spirit of power over them.

We will not be allowed to fear people, for we have been given a love for them.

And, we will not be allowed to fear the unknown, for we have been given a sound mind.

No fear allowed, Christian.

The only "thing" we are allowed to fear is God Himself, and the more we get close to Him, the more that fear turned to an all-consuming love and reverence.