“I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God,” Paul says to the church in Ephesians (Acts 20:27).  This shows there was a temptation for early Christians to do just that.   Why?  It is because, as Paul says, “The Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me” (20:23).

Throughout Acts, it is remarkable how afflictions come against the church, yet judges keep finding the Christians innocent, yet the church continues to grow, yet the teachers of the church do not shrink from proclaiming Jesus.

In Acts 17:7, we hear opponents of Jesus say, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”  Truly, the Gospel of Luke had promised just this, the turning of the world upside down.  Mary sang, “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:52-53).  Jesus taught, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:20-26).  To His disciples, Jesus insisted, “He who is the least among you all is the one who is great” (Luke 9:46-48).

The view of the world Jesus teaches is upside down from the view of the world that is more natural to us.  When Christianity first burst onto the scene, this was obvious.  They could even claim that the Way was “contrary to the law” (Acts 18:13).  Derision of Christianity led to a riot in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5-9) and in Ephesus (Acts 19:28-41).

When the difference between the Way and the world is more distinct, persecution follows.  But attack does not only come from outside.  Paul prophesied (as did Jesus in Matthew 24:23-28 and Peter in 2 Peter 2 and John in 1 John 2), “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30).

Because the Way appears upside down, people within the faith try to compromise the faith to make it less offensive to the world.  This is a temptation we all face.  Each of us is called not to shrink from the whole counsel of God.

But it’s also because the Way is upside down that sinners are forgiven and grace lifts up the weak.  The reality of the world being turned upside down by the ministry of Christ Jesus is shown in a humble church beginning with just a handful of people in Palestine, and changing the whole world.  That same ministry continues among us.  May God preserve us in His Word, indeed, the entire counsel of God.