Thu, May 21, 2009
Acts
Acts
Introduction:
Have you ever read a book and got to the end of it and really felt like there should be more to this story, maybe a sequel? Isn’t this how you feel at the end of the Gospel stories sometimes? You get to the end of Luke, for example and you want to say, tell me what happens next?
Most biographies do tell us about the man, who he was, how he lived, how he died, and then they just stop, but the gospels don’t that. We don’t stop with a dead hero. He dies, but it ends with Him being alive again, and leaving you with a little question of what happened next. The good news is, there is a sequel to the gospels and it’s just as exciting and uplifting as the gospels, and it’s called the Book of Acts.
Read Verses 1-2 and take note. “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.” Notice anything interesting about what Luke is saying here? This is not the first account, he wrote an account before this one. This is the sequel! The man who wrote is named Luke. Paul mentions him in 3 of his letters, Col. 4:14, where he identifies him as the beloved physician and then again in 2 Tim. 4:11 and Philemon 24. He was a co-worker with Paul highly spoken of in the church.
He’s a doctor and maybe most significantly, he’s a Gentile, the only Gentile writer in the New Testament. He’s not overly concerned you know allot about him. Here’s an interesting fact, he wrote more content than any other writer in the New Testament. Most would say Paul wrote more, but the truth is Paul wrote more parts, letters, but Luke wrote the most words, the most content. Luke and Acts comprise over 30% of the NT, all written by one man.
So why is this book so important to look at seriously? If we have spent all the time looking at the gospels of Jesus, we should be changed people by the gospels. We ought to be a transformed people after studying Jesus. In fact, that is what the book of Acts shows us. It shows us what happens to people who live with and learn of Jesus. Acts is what studying Jesus was meant to produce.
1. What Acts is not:
a. Acts is not the Acts of the Apostles. The title may say that, but remember we added the titles, they aren’t inspired scripture. That title didn’t show up until about 180 A.D. The book itself was written in 63 A.D. Originally people called it, “The history of Christian origins.” Obviously that title didn’t stick.
Only in chapter 1 are all the Apostles mentioned, but in the rest of the book only 4 are mentioned. James is mentioned in one verse and John is mentioned a couple times, but never says anything. Peter and Paul are the major figures in the book.
Paul calls himself one untimely born, not one of the original 12. As we look we’ll see the minor figures play a big part in the telling of this story. They aren’t Apostles, but folks like Steven, Philip, Barnabas, Timothy, Appolos, John-Mark, Pricilla, Aquilla, and Lydia. This is not a book about the Apostles.
b. The book of Acts is not a list of conversions. Allot of times people approach the book as though it were a textbook on how to become a Christian. Now, we certainly can learn something about conversion in this book, but Luke didn’t have that as his purpose. He didn’t say; the church needs a book on how to become a Christian.
There are only 8 conversions recorded and none are listed in the last 1/3 of the book. He’s not trying to show us how they became Christians; he’s showing us why they did.
c. This book is not a book about missionary journeys. Paul’s journeys take up 7 ½ chapters, but they are not the thrust of the message. In fact, after Paul is arrested, more time is spent on what happened to him, than during his travels.
d. Acts is not a book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, which is a popular concept. The Holy Spirit is referred to 60 times, which does say something important, but 40 of those times are in the first 1/3 of the book. The Holy Spirit is active and essential in what is happening, especially in those break through times in the early church. Yet, after chapter 11 the Holy Spirit is implied more than He’s mentioned. It is not as necessary to mention Him in the later chapters as it is in the first ones.
We are going to discuss the Holy Spirit for sure, but Luke did not write this book to give us a book of theology on the Holy Spirit. All of the afore mentioned things are mentioned and have some importance, but there is a greater theme Luke has in mind.
2. What the book is:
What did Luke have in mind when he wrote Luke and the book of Acts? He wrote these books close to the same time period, so if you want to understand Acts, maybe Luke helps? Luke 1:1-4, “So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.”
Note Acts 1:1-3, “Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God.”
What do you see about these verses that tell you something very specific about why Luke wrote these books? Luke and Acts were written to one man!
The largest literary undertaking of the New Testament was written for one man to receive, one person in mind. What does that say to you? What about the value of one person?
Do you know how hard it was to write anything back then? The crude curved writing instruments they used, the parchment they wrote on, and he’s doing it all for just one man! How important is one man to those early Christ followers, as well as to God?
a. Who was this book written to? If you want to know more about any writing of the NT, you find out about who the thing was written to. It helps us when studying Galatians to find out something about who these people are. Same with every letter or book. So who do we have to find something out about when looking at Luke and Acts?
Who is Theophilus? His name means, Lover or friend of God. Luke says he is writing to him about what he has been taught. Is he a believer? If he’s not, then Luke and Acts are the only books written in the NT to non-believers. I lean toward him being a believer, a follower of Christ.
He was also an official in the roman government. “O most excellent Theophilus,” is a title. It was the same title Paul gave Festus and Felix in the later chapters; he was addressing government officials. So he’s an official.
b. Why was he writing to him? Notice what Luke says about this writing. Allot of people are writing things about Jesus, but I did careful research, to give you the exact truth of the story. So, what he’s trying to do? Luke is writing to commend Christianity to the Roman world!
Theophilus is a believer high up in the Roman government and he’s in a position to have allot of influence for the Christian faith in Roman circles. Luke is writing to this man so he will have the exact history of what this movement is all about.
This explains several things that come up in the book. One thing is to promote that Christianity is the true Judaism, or Jews religion. Why would that be important? Simply because; Judaism was a legal religion in Rome and Christianity wasn’t. You could kill Christians, but not Jews, because Rome recognized Judaism as a legal religion. Over and over Luke shows; the God of the Jews is the God of Christians.
Judaism was to have become Christian and God is now recognizing this fact. Christianity is the new Israel, so, since the old Judaism was legal, now Christianity ought to be legal. This explains why Christians look good in the eyes of Rome in this book.
Who were some of the first converts? Cornelius, the Philippian jailor, and these were both Romans. If you looked at this book before, who are the ones that give Rome a hard time in this book? It is the Jews.
Who are the ones always being good citizens to Rome? Christians! This book depicts who is always finding the Christians innocent. It is Rome who finds them innocent. The Jews are always persecuting Christians.
Luke is trying to show Theophilus that Christianity is the true Judaism and are not trying to overthrow Rome in any way. What Christians are concerned about is overthrowing sin and all the lies the Romans are hearing about them just aren’t true. So, Acts is a letter written to one man, a high official, showing that Christianity ought to be a legal religion, a friend of Rome.
3. Acts is about sharing the message of the son of man, read 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Here in is the Theme that runs throughout the book. What is the book about? It is about witnesses!
Witnesses are repeated many times over and everything fits under this emphasis. Yes, the apostles do witness, but they are not the only ones. Conversions are recorded, but even if there’s no converting, there is witnessing. It records Paul’s journeys, because they were part of the witnessing strategy. There were other methods used as well.
The Holy Spirit plays an irreplaceable part in helping the church get the witness to Jerusalem and then out past Judea, but the emphasis is on the witnesses themselves. It’s a story of some people, who took the story of one man and turned the world upside down, not to over throw any government, but to conquer sin wherever it was found.
a. When Jesus is preached, Acts is the result! Luke didn’t know God had anything like scripture in mind when he wrote these books, but God did. God is testifying that when you preach about His Son, you get Acts.
b. There is an outline given by God Himself in 1:8; “and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." They way it unfolds is, witnesses went first to Jerusalem and then to all Judea, and then to Samaria, and then to all the ends of the earth.
Chapters 1-7 show the beginning of what we would call urban evangelism. How a few people took their city for Jesus Christ! I believe there’s a big lesson here, even for today. We need to learn first things first. Forget about foreign evangelism until the church starts caring about it’s own city. Before He tells them to go to the ends of the earth, He tells them to go into their own city and turn it upside down for Jesus.
The first 7 chapters are about folks like you and me, who went to the markets, places of business, work, and everyday places, and homes witnessing for Jesus Christ. They had a huge impact on that city. After they witnessed to their city they went to Judea and Samaria, which we see in chapters 8-12.
This was this beginning of home missions. They are now witnessing to people kind of like them, but a little different. Samaritans were half Jew, half Gentile.
Kind of like going from the south to the north in our country. They’re still Americans, but there are lots of differences in how we live and see things, and yet we have many things in common. This would probably apply to our neighbor, Canada as well, lots of similarities, but differences.
So we take the story to people who have different ways of doing things, yet we relate fairly well, not huge differences. So the people first won their town for Jesus and then they spread out through the country for Jesus to people who are a little different, but speak the same language, have the same nationality, or very similar. So, the church learns, God is bigger than one place, or one kind of people.
So, what’s next? Well, here’s where the Holy Spirit has to take a major role and help them take the step to go to the ends of the earth. Now, we’re dealing with more than just geography, but more with ethnicity. Acts 13:47, “For this is what the Lord has commanded us: "I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” He’s not naming places, but people, the gentiles, the nations. This is the beginning of world outreach, chapters 13-28.
So, what this book is about is the story of a people witnessing to people just like them, and then going to people a little like them in their own area of the world, and then going to people who were nothing like them. They are now witnessing to folks who don’t look like them, talk like them, have the same background, and that’s where the book ends.
Acts 28:28-31, “Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!" For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.”
People have wondered about how this book ends, thinking there must have been something wrong for Luke to just end it like this. Did he run out of space and time? Paul is traveling to many places, gets arrested, sent to Rome and then he’s waiting for his trial and we think it will start soon, but then it just ends. Come on Luke, end it for us, tell us about how the trial went. He doesn’t do it, why? Because the book is not about Paul!
The book is about how some people spoke to their city, their country, their world, and where does it all end? It is no coincidence it ends in Rome where Theophilus is. I want you to see how in 3 short decades some people reached the whole world, even Rome with the story of Jesus.
In Rome, Paul is being accepted by many, unhindered to preach and what we’re seeing is Christianity is the best thing that ever happened to the empire. Luke makes the case and then he stops. These are the basic facts of the book. These aren’t just interesting learning facts, but relevant facts that ask, what does all this say to me? What do all these facts say about my life and yours?
4. The challenge of Acts: The meaning for us.
We look intently at this book because Jesus hasn’t stopped working, even though He has ascended. This is a key point to the book.
In the past we have looked at the gospels being about Jesus and Acts is about the Apostles. It’s time to get the point that Acts too is about Jesus!
Did you notice the precise words of verse 1? Luke says the first book was about all Jesus Began to do and teach. In the first book I showed you what He started, now I want to show you what He is still doing. This is not the record of an organization, it’s the story of the emergence of a living organism; the Body of Christ, and it lives on today.
It is in the body of Christ that Jesus is alive, working, doing, teaching, in every age. Any time you find a Body of Christ, you find Acts! You can put whatever sign up on your door you want, organize your system anyway you want, but if it’s only the Body of Christ if you see Acts. Acts is a book about Jesus who is alive and is doing things in His churches, even now.
The gospel of Luke is about what he began, Acts is about what he still is doing. God didn’t stop writing just because Luke ended his account of the Gospel. There is a very real sense in which Acts is the only uncompleted book of the N.T. What we’re looking at in our Bibles is Acts volume 1. What God continues to write right now is Acts volume 21.
God continues to write about what the Body of Christ is doing in every age. The only thing for us to consider is; has the theme of Acts volume 1 and the theme of Acts volume 21 changed? Do we see the church moving in just a few short decades to witness to the whole world about Jesus? Do we see cities turned upside down for Jesus? Do we see the church being persecuted because they are so active in their testimony for Jesus?
What I have seen and been a part of for too long is; I see Acts volume 1 preaching to the world and in Acts volume 20 and 21 I see mostly the church preaching to the church. That’s a big difference! I do see signs of change, but will we fan those flames? Acts volume 1 preached Jesus to those who didn’t know Jesus and our history today is we talk to those who already have heard of Him.
We have spent too much time worrying about if we’ve got the system of doing church right and no where near enough time talking about God’s grace of salvation in Jesus and putting Jesus at the center of everything we say and do. God is still writing our history, but is it the history he wants to pass on to the next generation? I believe He still wants Acts volume 1 being lived today.
I think God wants to write a chapter right here and now, about the church and what they are doing to promote the kingdom of God. Acts can teach us to do what we need to do to be the body we need to be in any generation. We’re not just studying this book to look at history, but by God’s grace, we look at it so we will make some! This is what the body of Christ does; it makes History!
Introduction:
Have you ever read a book and got to the end of it and really felt like there should be more to this story, maybe a sequel? Isn’t this how you feel at the end of the Gospel stories sometimes? You get to the end of Luke, for example and you want to say, tell me what happens next?
Most biographies do tell us about the man, who he was, how he lived, how he died, and then they just stop, but the gospels don’t that. We don’t stop with a dead hero. He dies, but it ends with Him being alive again, and leaving you with a little question of what happened next. The good news is, there is a sequel to the gospels and it’s just as exciting and uplifting as the gospels, and it’s called the Book of Acts.
Read Verses 1-2 and take note. “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.” Notice anything interesting about what Luke is saying here? This is not the first account, he wrote an account before this one. This is the sequel! The man who wrote is named Luke. Paul mentions him in 3 of his letters, Col. 4:14, where he identifies him as the beloved physician and then again in 2 Tim. 4:11 and Philemon 24. He was a co-worker with Paul highly spoken of in the church.
He’s a doctor and maybe most significantly, he’s a Gentile, the only Gentile writer in the New Testament. He’s not overly concerned you know allot about him. Here’s an interesting fact, he wrote more content than any other writer in the New Testament. Most would say Paul wrote more, but the truth is Paul wrote more parts, letters, but Luke wrote the most words, the most content. Luke and Acts comprise over 30% of the NT, all written by one man.
So why is this book so important to look at seriously? If we have spent all the time looking at the gospels of Jesus, we should be changed people by the gospels. We ought to be a transformed people after studying Jesus. In fact, that is what the book of Acts shows us. It shows us what happens to people who live with and learn of Jesus. Acts is what studying Jesus was meant to produce.
1. What Acts is not:
a. Acts is not the Acts of the Apostles. The title may say that, but remember we added the titles, they aren’t inspired scripture. That title didn’t show up until about 180 A.D. The book itself was written in 63 A.D. Originally people called it, “The history of Christian origins.” Obviously that title didn’t stick.
Only in chapter 1 are all the Apostles mentioned, but in the rest of the book only 4 are mentioned. James is mentioned in one verse and John is mentioned a couple times, but never says anything. Peter and Paul are the major figures in the book.
Paul calls himself one untimely born, not one of the original 12. As we look we’ll see the minor figures play a big part in the telling of this story. They aren’t Apostles, but folks like Steven, Philip, Barnabas, Timothy, Appolos, John-Mark, Pricilla, Aquilla, and Lydia. This is not a book about the Apostles.
b. The book of Acts is not a list of conversions. Allot of times people approach the book as though it were a textbook on how to become a Christian. Now, we certainly can learn something about conversion in this book, but Luke didn’t have that as his purpose. He didn’t say; the church needs a book on how to become a Christian.
There are only 8 conversions recorded and none are listed in the last 1/3 of the book. He’s not trying to show us how they became Christians; he’s showing us why they did.
c. This book is not a book about missionary journeys. Paul’s journeys take up 7 ½ chapters, but they are not the thrust of the message. In fact, after Paul is arrested, more time is spent on what happened to him, than during his travels.
d. Acts is not a book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, which is a popular concept. The Holy Spirit is referred to 60 times, which does say something important, but 40 of those times are in the first 1/3 of the book. The Holy Spirit is active and essential in what is happening, especially in those break through times in the early church. Yet, after chapter 11 the Holy Spirit is implied more than He’s mentioned. It is not as necessary to mention Him in the later chapters as it is in the first ones.
We are going to discuss the Holy Spirit for sure, but Luke did not write this book to give us a book of theology on the Holy Spirit. All of the afore mentioned things are mentioned and have some importance, but there is a greater theme Luke has in mind.
2. What the book is:
What did Luke have in mind when he wrote Luke and the book of Acts? He wrote these books close to the same time period, so if you want to understand Acts, maybe Luke helps? Luke 1:1-4, “So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.”
Note Acts 1:1-3, “Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God.”
What do you see about these verses that tell you something very specific about why Luke wrote these books? Luke and Acts were written to one man!
The largest literary undertaking of the New Testament was written for one man to receive, one person in mind. What does that say to you? What about the value of one person?
Do you know how hard it was to write anything back then? The crude curved writing instruments they used, the parchment they wrote on, and he’s doing it all for just one man! How important is one man to those early Christ followers, as well as to God?
a. Who was this book written to? If you want to know more about any writing of the NT, you find out about who the thing was written to. It helps us when studying Galatians to find out something about who these people are. Same with every letter or book. So who do we have to find something out about when looking at Luke and Acts?
Who is Theophilus? His name means, Lover or friend of God. Luke says he is writing to him about what he has been taught. Is he a believer? If he’s not, then Luke and Acts are the only books written in the NT to non-believers. I lean toward him being a believer, a follower of Christ.
He was also an official in the roman government. “O most excellent Theophilus,” is a title. It was the same title Paul gave Festus and Felix in the later chapters; he was addressing government officials. So he’s an official.
b. Why was he writing to him? Notice what Luke says about this writing. Allot of people are writing things about Jesus, but I did careful research, to give you the exact truth of the story. So, what he’s trying to do? Luke is writing to commend Christianity to the Roman world!
Theophilus is a believer high up in the Roman government and he’s in a position to have allot of influence for the Christian faith in Roman circles. Luke is writing to this man so he will have the exact history of what this movement is all about.
This explains several things that come up in the book. One thing is to promote that Christianity is the true Judaism, or Jews religion. Why would that be important? Simply because; Judaism was a legal religion in Rome and Christianity wasn’t. You could kill Christians, but not Jews, because Rome recognized Judaism as a legal religion. Over and over Luke shows; the God of the Jews is the God of Christians.
Judaism was to have become Christian and God is now recognizing this fact. Christianity is the new Israel, so, since the old Judaism was legal, now Christianity ought to be legal. This explains why Christians look good in the eyes of Rome in this book.
Who were some of the first converts? Cornelius, the Philippian jailor, and these were both Romans. If you looked at this book before, who are the ones that give Rome a hard time in this book? It is the Jews.
Who are the ones always being good citizens to Rome? Christians! This book depicts who is always finding the Christians innocent. It is Rome who finds them innocent. The Jews are always persecuting Christians.
Luke is trying to show Theophilus that Christianity is the true Judaism and are not trying to overthrow Rome in any way. What Christians are concerned about is overthrowing sin and all the lies the Romans are hearing about them just aren’t true. So, Acts is a letter written to one man, a high official, showing that Christianity ought to be a legal religion, a friend of Rome.
3. Acts is about sharing the message of the son of man, read 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Here in is the Theme that runs throughout the book. What is the book about? It is about witnesses!
Witnesses are repeated many times over and everything fits under this emphasis. Yes, the apostles do witness, but they are not the only ones. Conversions are recorded, but even if there’s no converting, there is witnessing. It records Paul’s journeys, because they were part of the witnessing strategy. There were other methods used as well.
The Holy Spirit plays an irreplaceable part in helping the church get the witness to Jerusalem and then out past Judea, but the emphasis is on the witnesses themselves. It’s a story of some people, who took the story of one man and turned the world upside down, not to over throw any government, but to conquer sin wherever it was found.
a. When Jesus is preached, Acts is the result! Luke didn’t know God had anything like scripture in mind when he wrote these books, but God did. God is testifying that when you preach about His Son, you get Acts.
b. There is an outline given by God Himself in 1:8; “and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." They way it unfolds is, witnesses went first to Jerusalem and then to all Judea, and then to Samaria, and then to all the ends of the earth.
Chapters 1-7 show the beginning of what we would call urban evangelism. How a few people took their city for Jesus Christ! I believe there’s a big lesson here, even for today. We need to learn first things first. Forget about foreign evangelism until the church starts caring about it’s own city. Before He tells them to go to the ends of the earth, He tells them to go into their own city and turn it upside down for Jesus.
The first 7 chapters are about folks like you and me, who went to the markets, places of business, work, and everyday places, and homes witnessing for Jesus Christ. They had a huge impact on that city. After they witnessed to their city they went to Judea and Samaria, which we see in chapters 8-12.
This was this beginning of home missions. They are now witnessing to people kind of like them, but a little different. Samaritans were half Jew, half Gentile.
Kind of like going from the south to the north in our country. They’re still Americans, but there are lots of differences in how we live and see things, and yet we have many things in common. This would probably apply to our neighbor, Canada as well, lots of similarities, but differences.
So we take the story to people who have different ways of doing things, yet we relate fairly well, not huge differences. So the people first won their town for Jesus and then they spread out through the country for Jesus to people who are a little different, but speak the same language, have the same nationality, or very similar. So, the church learns, God is bigger than one place, or one kind of people.
So, what’s next? Well, here’s where the Holy Spirit has to take a major role and help them take the step to go to the ends of the earth. Now, we’re dealing with more than just geography, but more with ethnicity. Acts 13:47, “For this is what the Lord has commanded us: "I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” He’s not naming places, but people, the gentiles, the nations. This is the beginning of world outreach, chapters 13-28.
So, what this book is about is the story of a people witnessing to people just like them, and then going to people a little like them in their own area of the world, and then going to people who were nothing like them. They are now witnessing to folks who don’t look like them, talk like them, have the same background, and that’s where the book ends.
Acts 28:28-31, “Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!" For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.”
People have wondered about how this book ends, thinking there must have been something wrong for Luke to just end it like this. Did he run out of space and time? Paul is traveling to many places, gets arrested, sent to Rome and then he’s waiting for his trial and we think it will start soon, but then it just ends. Come on Luke, end it for us, tell us about how the trial went. He doesn’t do it, why? Because the book is not about Paul!
The book is about how some people spoke to their city, their country, their world, and where does it all end? It is no coincidence it ends in Rome where Theophilus is. I want you to see how in 3 short decades some people reached the whole world, even Rome with the story of Jesus.
In Rome, Paul is being accepted by many, unhindered to preach and what we’re seeing is Christianity is the best thing that ever happened to the empire. Luke makes the case and then he stops. These are the basic facts of the book. These aren’t just interesting learning facts, but relevant facts that ask, what does all this say to me? What do all these facts say about my life and yours?
4. The challenge of Acts: The meaning for us.
We look intently at this book because Jesus hasn’t stopped working, even though He has ascended. This is a key point to the book.
In the past we have looked at the gospels being about Jesus and Acts is about the Apostles. It’s time to get the point that Acts too is about Jesus!
Did you notice the precise words of verse 1? Luke says the first book was about all Jesus Began to do and teach. In the first book I showed you what He started, now I want to show you what He is still doing. This is not the record of an organization, it’s the story of the emergence of a living organism; the Body of Christ, and it lives on today.
It is in the body of Christ that Jesus is alive, working, doing, teaching, in every age. Any time you find a Body of Christ, you find Acts! You can put whatever sign up on your door you want, organize your system anyway you want, but if it’s only the Body of Christ if you see Acts. Acts is a book about Jesus who is alive and is doing things in His churches, even now.
The gospel of Luke is about what he began, Acts is about what he still is doing. God didn’t stop writing just because Luke ended his account of the Gospel. There is a very real sense in which Acts is the only uncompleted book of the N.T. What we’re looking at in our Bibles is Acts volume 1. What God continues to write right now is Acts volume 21.
God continues to write about what the Body of Christ is doing in every age. The only thing for us to consider is; has the theme of Acts volume 1 and the theme of Acts volume 21 changed? Do we see the church moving in just a few short decades to witness to the whole world about Jesus? Do we see cities turned upside down for Jesus? Do we see the church being persecuted because they are so active in their testimony for Jesus?
What I have seen and been a part of for too long is; I see Acts volume 1 preaching to the world and in Acts volume 20 and 21 I see mostly the church preaching to the church. That’s a big difference! I do see signs of change, but will we fan those flames? Acts volume 1 preached Jesus to those who didn’t know Jesus and our history today is we talk to those who already have heard of Him.
We have spent too much time worrying about if we’ve got the system of doing church right and no where near enough time talking about God’s grace of salvation in Jesus and putting Jesus at the center of everything we say and do. God is still writing our history, but is it the history he wants to pass on to the next generation? I believe He still wants Acts volume 1 being lived today.
I think God wants to write a chapter right here and now, about the church and what they are doing to promote the kingdom of God. Acts can teach us to do what we need to do to be the body we need to be in any generation. We’re not just studying this book to look at history, but by God’s grace, we look at it so we will make some! This is what the body of Christ does; it makes History!
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