A
PRECIOUS BOOK
In
one sense Acts is the most important book in the New Testament. It is the
simple truth that if we did not posses Acts, we would have, apart from what we
could deduce from the letters of Paul, no information whatsoever about the
Early Church.
The title “Acts” comes from Latin
‘Actus’ (also Acta) which is itself a translation of Greek ‘Praxies’; the
current title is a very old one, and other designations include “Luke’s
Testimony Concerning The Apostles”, “Luke’s Commentary” and so forth.
Acts serves admirably as a link
between the records of Jesus and the apostolic correspondence. In many ways the
epistles are not fully intelligible until they are read against the background
of the book of Acts. The book shows effectively the main trends in the
development of Christianity and presents in examples of the continuing work of
Jesus. It therefore makes a vital contribution to the discussion of the
relationship between the teachings of Jesus and the apostolic doctrine. J.
Sidlow Baxter also points out that this book holds the same relationship with
the New Testament as the book of Joshua does with the Old Testament.
Joshua is not part of the Law, yet
it is a continuation of it. Acts is not a part of the Gospel, yet is a
continuation of it. Joshua is not one of the historical books, yet it
introduces them. Acts is not one of the Epistles, yet it introduces them.
Joshua is a liaison between Law and History. Acts is a liaison between the
Gospel and the Epistles.
The Acts shows the coming of the Son
of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Gospels tell us of the crucified
and risen Saviour. The Acts portrays Him as the ascended and exalted Lord and
Leader. In the Gospels Christ teaches. In Acts the effect of His teaching is
seen in the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts is unique and invaluable because it
is the only bridge across the gulf that separates Jesus from Paul, Christ from
Christianity, and the gospel of Jesus from the gospel about Jesus.
WHO
THE BOOK IS BY?
Although
the author does not name himself, evidence outside the scriptures and
inferences from the book itself lead to the conclusion that the author was
Luke. The earliest of the external testimonies appears in the Muratorian Canon
(C.A.D. 170) where the explicit statement is made that Luke was the author of
both the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Eusebius (C.A.D. 325) lists
information from numerous sources to identify the author of these books as Luke
(Ecclesiastical History, 3.4). About Luke we really know very little; there are
only three references to him in the NT (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24; II
Timothy 4:11).
- The Book is by a doctor
called Luke.
It was a scientific man who wrote this book (Colo.4:14).
- Luke was a friend and
companion of missionary Paul.
Indeed this book is his personal diary. Because, again and again the word
‘they’ changes to ‘we’ (Acts 16:10 – 17; 20:5 – 21:18; 27:1 – 28:16; also
Philemon 23 – 24; Colo.4:10 – 17).
- Luke was a gentile. The important thing
about the author is that, he was the only writer in the whole Bible who
was not a Jew but a gentile – one of us (Colo. 4:11-12). God wanted a
gentile to write the story of how the good news was taken from the sacred
capital of the world – Jerusalem to the secular capital of the world –
Rome.
WHO
THE BOOK IS ABOUT?
It
is vol. 2 of two volumes of the beginning of Christianity. Vol. I is the Gospel
about Jesus Christ. Vol. II reads the title ‘Acts of the Apostles’. But when
you read through at least nine of the Apostles are not mentioned after the list
in the first chapter. So it is not the acts of all the apostles. It is in
particular the acts of two apostles – Peter (the first half) and Paul (the
second half). Acts of the Apostles, this title was added to it later.
You could call it as the ‘Acts
of Jesus’. In the Gospels (especially of Luke) what Jesus began to do and
in Acts – what He has continued to do, you will find a remarkable parallel
between Luke and Acts. They both have ‘Mary’ the mother of Jesus in the first
chapter, both move rapidly to the time when there is the baptism of the Holy
Spirit; both then move on to preaching then to miracle – healing, then to a
growing opposition building to a crises and to a trial at the end.
It is the ‘Acts of the
Holy Spirit’. Forty (40) times in the first twelve chapters of Acts alone
the Third Person of the Godhead is mentioned. The whole of the Old Testament is
about the First Person of the Trinity, God the Father; the four Gospels are
about the Second Person of the Trinity – God the Son, Jesus. With Acts begins
the third section of the Bible and the Third Person in fullness – God the Holy
Spirit.
In reality, the work of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus
Christ is carried forward through the Holy Spirit. Many of the same things
which Jesus did on earth – preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons,
bringing sinners to conversion, etc., are seen here on a large scale. This
fulfilled the promise of the Lord, “He
that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works
than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father” (John 14:12).
ACTS
RECORDS
1. The Pentecostal coming of the
Spirit (ch.2).
- The
refilling of the apostles with the Spirit (ch.4:23 – 31).
- The
sin of lying against the Spirit (ch. 5:1 – 11).
- The
reception of the Spirit by the Samaritans (ch.8:14 – 17).
- The
guidance of Philip by the Spirit (ch. 8:29).
- The
reception of the Spirit by Cornelius and his household (ch. 10:44 – 48).
- The
call of Barnabas and Saul by the Spirit (ch. 13:1 – 4).
- The
guidance of the Spirit at the Jerusalem Council (ch. 15:28).
- The
guidance of Paul in his work by the Spirit (ch. 16:6 -7).
- The reception of the Spirit by the
Ephesians disciples (ch.19:1– 6).
- The predictions by the Spirit of the
fortunes of Paul (ch. 20:22 – 23;
21:11).
- The appointment of bishops by the Spirit
(ch. 20:28).
Thus, Acts has rightly been called ‘The Acts of the Holy
Spirit’.
WHO
THE BOOK IS FOR? The recipient of the book:
Luke wrote both his Gospel and Acts to a man called Theophilus
(Lk. 1:3; Acts 1:1). We can only guess who Theophilus was. Luke (1:3) calls him
“most excellent Theophilus”. The phrase really means ‘your Excellency’, and
indicates a man high up in the service of the Roman government. There are three
possibilities:
1)
Just
possibly Theophilus is not a real name at all.
In those days it might well be dangerous to be a
Christian. Theophilus comes from two Greek words, ‘Theos’ which means God and
‘Philein’ which means ‘to love’. It may be that Luke wrote to a lover of God
whose real name he did not mention for
the sake of safety. This could be a polite form of address with no official
connotation.
2)
If
Theophilus was a real person, he must have been a high government official.
Perhaps Luke wrote to show him that Christianity was a lovely thing and that Christians were good
people. Luke develops a political apologetic, because he is deeply concerned
about the attitude of the Roman authorities towards Christianity. He therefore
goes out of his way to defend Christianity against criticism. The authorities,
he argues, have nothing to fear from Christians, for they are legally innocent
and morally harmless.
Luke repeatedly makes three points of political apologetic:
a] Roman officials were consistently
friendly to Christianity, and some
have even become Christian (e.g. Centurion at the cross, The Centurion Cornelius, Sergius Paulus,
and the Proconsul of Cyprus. So,
Christianity was harmless.
b] The Roman authorities could
find no fault in either Jesus or His apostles.
Jesus had been accused of sedition, but neither Herod nor Pilate could discover any basis for accusation. As for
Paul, in Philippi the
magistrate apologized to him, in Corinth the Proconsul
Galio refused to adjudicate, and in Ephesus the town clerk declared Paul and his friends to be innocent. Then Felix,
Feasts and Agrippa all failed to convict him of any offence – three acquittals
corresponding to the three times Luke says Pilate had declared Jesus innocent.
So, Christianity was innocent.
c] The Roman authorities
conceded that Christianity was a ‘religion licita’ (a lawful or licensed
religion), because it was not a new religion
(which would need to be approved by the State), but rather the purest form of Judaism (which has enjoyed
religious freedom under the Romans
since 2nd C.B.C). The coming
of Christ was the fulfillment of
O.T. prophecies, and the Christian community enjoyed direct continuity with the
O T people of God. So, Christianity was lawful.
3) There is a more romantic
theory than either of these based on the facts
that Luke was a doctor, and that doctors in ancient days were often slaves.
It has been conjectured that Luke was doctor of Theophilus,
that Theophilus had been gravely ill, that by Luke’s skill and devotion he was
brought back to health, and that in gratitude he gave Luke his freedom. Then,
it may be, Luke wished to show how grateful he was for this gift; and since the
most precious thing he had was the story of Jesus, he wrote it down and sent it
to his benefactor.
The Gospel records – all that Jesus did with His body. In Acts
we read about all that Jesus continued to do with His another body. All that He
did was change His body. After the resurrection Jesus took His body up to
heaven. How could He then continue His work on earth ? The answer is by using
another body – i.e. other’s mouth, feet, hands, etc. The church is His body.
But how could they do what He did ? The answer is He did by the power of the
Holy Spirit. All that was needed for His ministry to be continued on earth was
a new body given with the same Holy Spirit, whom He had received at the
baptism. And this is the whole story of this book.
WHY
SHOULD WE READ/STUDY ACTS?
Three reasons:
1]
For our enlightenment.
The Acts of the Apostles is the link between the Gospels and
the Epistles. We cannot understand the Epistles unless we study this link
(Acts). It is the beginning of the Christian Church, and we certainly want to
know how it began?
2]
For our encouragement.
The key thought in Acts is that of witness to Christ; the key
verse is undoubtedly ch. 1:8; “Ye shall
receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses
unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth.” In this verse, there is the divine appointment, the spiritual equipment, and the geographical commitment of Christ’s
witnesses.
The book of Acts falls into six panels, and each ends with what
might be called a progress report.
The six
panels are as follows.
a)
Acts 1:1 – 6:7;
This section tells of the church at Jerusalem and the preaching
of Peter; and it finishes with the summary, “The
Word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in
Jerusalem; and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
b)
Acts 6:8 – 9:31;
This describes the spread of Christianity through Palestine and
the martyrdom of Stephen followed by the preaching in Samaria. It ends with the
summary, “So the church throughout all
Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up; and, walking in the
fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied.”
c)
Acts 9:32 – 12:24;
This includes the conversion of Saul (Paul), the extension of
the church to Antioch and the reception of Cornelius, the gentile into the
church by Peter. Its summary is, “The
Word of God grew and multiplied.”
d)
Acts 12:25 – 16:5;
This tells of the extension of the church through Asia Minor
and the preaching tour of Galatia. It ends, “So
the churches were strengthened in faith, and they increased in numbers daily.”
e)
Acts 16:6 – 19:20;
This relate the extension of the church to Europe and the work
of Paul in great gentile cities like Corinth and Ephesus. Its summary runs, “So the Word of the Lord grew and prevailed
mightily.”
f)
Acts 19:21 – 28:31;
This tells of the
arrival of Paul in Rome and his imprisonment there the ends with the picture of
Paul “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ
quite openly and unhindered”.
Of These six sections the
protagonist in the first three is St. Peter, in the last three St. Paul. There
is a parallel between peter in the first part and Paul in the second part,
which seems to be more then merely coincidental.
PETER PAUL
First sermon – Acts: 2 First
sermon – Acts: 13
Lame man healed - 3 Lame
man healed – 14
Simon the Sorcerer – 8 Elymas the
sorcerer - 13
Influence of Shadows – 5 Influence of
handkerchief -19
Laying on of hands – 8 laying on of
hands – 19
Peter respected – 10 Paul respect – 14
Tabitha raised – 9 Eutychas
raised – 20
Peter imprisoned – 12 Paul
imprisoned – 28
Hence, we see how the book of
Acts is divided shapely into two equal parts. This division is done strictly in
accord with the verse, Chr 1:8; the first part of the Acts (Chr 1-12) we have
“Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria” in the second part (13 – 28) we have the
uttermost part of the earth”
PART
– I (1-12) PART
– II (13-28)
Jerusalem the center Antioch
the center
Peter the chief figure Paul
the chief figure
Out of Samaria Out
of Rome
Word
rejected by Jews of home land Word rejected by Jews of Dispersion
Peter imprisoned Paul
imprisoned
Judgment on Herod Judgment
of Jews
So the Church began with few –
11 then 120 and with in 300 years the whole Roman Empire was officially
Christian. If you think you are small and can’t do much, read this book.
3)
FOR OUR EMULATION
In this book God has shown –
what and how the church ought to be. In secular affairs (in science/
Technology) the best is always ahead – we are always striving after some thing
better ahead, but in spiritual things we have to go a long way back to catch
up.
AUTHOR/
PLACE/ DATE
Author: Luke, the writer of the 3rd Gospel and a companion
of Paul on
his Journeys.
Place: As place of composition have been suggested: Rome, Macedonian,
Achaia, Asia Minor and Antioch (Syria).
Date: Two dates are possible for the writing of this
book:
1)
A.D.
63, soon after the last event recorded in the book,
2)
70
or even later
The earlier date is supported
by:
a)
Silence about later events.
While arguments from silence are not conclusive, it is
perhaps significant that the book contains no allusion to events that happened
after the close of Paul’s two-year imprisonment in Rome: e.g., the burning of
Rome and the persecutions of the Christians there (A.D.64), the martyrdom of
Peter and Paul (possibly A.D. 64) and the destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70).
b)
No outcome of Paul’s trial.
If Luke knew the outcome of the trial Paul was waiting
for (ch. 28:30), why did he not record it at the close of Acts? Perhaps it was
because he had brought the history up to date.
OCCASION:
Acts is a continuation of the
Gospel according to St. Luke. It deals chiefly with the founding of the
Christian Church by Peter and the extensions of it by Paul.
The occasion of this book grew
out of some definite situations in the early church.
1)
There
was the need for authoritative information concerning the activity of the
leading apostles, Peter and Paul, how their work related to each other in the
spread of Christianity.
2)
There
was the need for showing that the Christian movement was one movement, whether
the believers were Jews, Proselytes, Samaritans or gentiles
3)
There
was the need for showing that God bore witness with apostles, “both by signs
and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to
His own will (Heb 2:4).
THEME
& PURPOSE
The
Theme of the work is best summarized in 1:8; it was ordinary procedure for a
Christian at this time to begin a second volume by summarizing the first volume
and indicating the contents anticipated in His second volume. Luke summarizing
his first volume in 1:1-3; the theme of his second volume presents ‘in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” This is in
effect an out line of the book of acts.
The main purpose of the book appears to be:
1. TO PRESENT A HISTORY
Luke
aims to provide a correct and trustworthy historical record of how the earliest
church began and the most important highlights of its progress. He tells of the
founding of the Church, the spread of all gospel, the beginnings of the
congregation and evangelistic efforts in the apostolic pattern.
2. TO GIVE A DEFENSE
In
acts we find a record of Christian defenses made to both Jesus (e.g. 4:8-12) and
gentiles (e.g.25:8-11) with the underlying purpose of conversion It shows how
the early church coped with pagan and Jewish thought the Roman government and
Hellenistic society.
3. TO PROVIDE A GUIDE
Luke
had no way of knowing how long the church would continue on this earth, but as
long as it will be one of its major guides. In Acts we see basic principle
being applied to specific situations in the context of problems and
persecutions these same principles continue to be applicable until Christ
returns.
4. TO DEPICT THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY
IN THE FACE OF BITTER PERSECUTION.
The
success of the Church in covering the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome and in
planting local churches across the Roman Empire demonstrated that Christianity
was not a mere work of man. God was in it (5:35-39)
OUTLINE
Acts
may be outlined in a number of ways. Two of the most natural are the
geographical and the biographical approaches. For the sake of comprehensiveness
these means are combined in the following outline. The key verse is Acts 1:8,
which sketches the geographical boundaries.
I. Introduction:
The apostolic commission given
Acts 1:1-11;
II. The Gospel in Jerusalem: Origins Acts 1:12-8:3;
a) The ministry of Peter 1:12-5:42;
b) The ministry of Stephen 6:1-8:3;
III. The gospel in Samaria and Judea: Transition Acts 8:4-11:8;
a) The ministry of Philip 8:4-40;
b) The ministry of Saul (Paul) begun 9:1-31;
c) The ministry of Peter concluded 9:32-11:8;
IV. The gospel in the
uttermost parts: Expansion Acts
11:19-21:14;
a) The ministry of Barnabas 11:19-12:25;
b) The ministry of Paul the Apostle 13:1-21:14;
1) The first missionary Journey 13:1-14:28
2) The Jerusalem council 15:1-35
3) The second missionary Journey 15:38-18:22
4) The third missionary Journey 18:23-21:14
V. The gospel in Caesarea and Rome: Imprisonment Acts 21:15-28:29
a) Paul as a prisoner in Jerusalem 21:15-23:10
b) Paul as a prisoner in Caesarea 23:11-26:32
c) Paul as a prisoner in Rome 27:1-28:29
VI. Conclusion: Acts
28:30-31
The apostolic commission
fulfilled
Acts
1:1-26
Introduction
to the Acts
Here
Luke tells us how he thinks of his two-volume work on the origins of
Christianity which constitutes approximately one quarter of the NT “In my
former book” i.e. the gospel of Luke, the first volume, where he had told the
story of the life of Jesus upon earth. The gospel was only the story of what
Jesus began to do and to teach. Now in volume two, the Acts he tells the story
of the Church of Jesus Christ from its birth in Jerusalem through its sufferings
by persecutions to its triumphant conquest of Rome some thirty years later. For
the contrasting parallel he draws between the two volumes was not between
Christ and His Church, but between two stages of the ministry of the same
Christ.
Two sections in this chapter:
1] The ministry of Jesus
continued: Acts 1:1 – 14;
2] The ministry of Judas
continued: Acts 1:15 – 26;
In the case of Jesus, He simply
changed bodies. In the case of Judas, someone else replaced him. Jesus taught
them until He died on the cross. Teaching was His vital ministry soon after His
baptism. He taught by the Holy Spirit. Even after His resurrection, He was
teaching them until His ascension. During those six weeks He taught them more
about Bible than during those three years (Lk. 24:).
He not only taught them, but He
gave them many infallible proofs that He was alive. So that they might be fully
convinced and stand firm that Jesus has conquered death. Christian faith rests
on proofs/evidences. It is not a shaky faith. The great evidence of His
resurrection was that “He showed Himself
alive to His apostles”(ch. 1:3).
So from the teaching of Jesus,
Luke moves to the promise of the Father. What Jesus was saying to His followers
is this – they needed two baptisms: water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Baptism in the water does not bring
power to overcome the evil one, but the promise of the Father does.
So already in just five verses
you have got:
·
Jesus
and His teachings – Resurrection
·
God
the Father and His Word – Promises
·
The
baptism in the Holy Spirit
All three involved, because the
Church is, (1) The Family of God the Father, (2) The Flock of God the Son and
(3) The Fellowship of God the Holy Spirit.
Let us note here that, the
apostles were instructed by our Lord to wait on the coming of the Holy Spirit.
They had to wait in the Lord and they had to wait for the Lord earnestly
seeking. We would gain more power, courage and peace if we learned to wait. In
the business of life, we need to learn to be still, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah
40:31). Amidst life’s surging activity, there must be time to receive. They
(the 120) waited by praying together.
Acts 1:6 – 11;
This
section stretches our horizon in two directions, (a) to the farthest end of the
earth and (b) to the highest point in heaven. The problem in the churches today
is that often people are bound within four walls. Jesus had been speaking to
the apostles for six weeks about the Kingdom of God. However, the disciples
asked ‘when are you going to get back the kingdom of Israel for us?’ It was
their narrow and petty view. Get a bigger view, the worldview, says Jesus.
In addition to speaking to them
about the Kingdom of God (v. 3) and the Holy Spirit (v. 4-5), He gave them
certain instructions through the Holy Spirit (Who inspired all His teachings –
Lk. 4:18). The instructions found in (Lk. 24:47; Acts 1:8). Here we have a
portrait of an apostle. ‘Apostolos’ was an envoy, delegate or ambassador, sent
out with a message and carrying the authority of the sender. Therefore, Jesus
chose His apostles and commissioned them.
Here was the fourfold equipment of the apostles of
Christ. These were also the special
qualifications of an apostle:
- A
personal appointment as an apostle by Jesus Christ
2. An eyewitness experience of the
historical Jesus
3. An authorizing and
commissioning by Jesus to speak in His name
4. The empowering Spirit of Jesus
to inspire their teaching
It was primarily these uniquely
qualified men through whom Jesus continued “to do and to teach”, and to whom
Luke intends to introduce us in the Acts. Jesus said, “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” (ch. 1:8). Power to go out, power to convince people
about the truth we know about Jesus our Lord.
Thus Jesus’ ministry on earth, exercised
personally and publicly, was followed by His ministry from heaven, exercised
through His Holy Spirit by His apostles. Moreover, the watershed between the
two was the ascension. Not only did it conclude Luke’s first book (Lk. 24:51)
and introduced his second (Acts 1:9), but it terminated Jesus’ earthly ministry
and inaugurated His heavenly ministry.
Jesus the only one who went up
to space, no man can go form here without enough air and food, etc., as the
space men do. The last words of Jesus were ‘uttermost
part of the earth’. Now He was going to seat in glory.
The angels were there while He
was born and while He rose again. Now they were there while He was taken up.
The disciples were gazing at Jesus while He was ascending up. The angels who
came and asked the shepherds to go and see the manger, the angels who bid the
women to come and see the empty tomb where Jesus was laid, are now telling the
apostles, “don’t simply stand here as onlookers, but go, wait and then get on
with the task.” The missionary task of the church is tied up with the end
of history. The more we get on with that, the surer we can be that the coming
of the Lord is near.
The
120 in the upper room:
Jesus
began His church with a group of people where women also had vital part in the
fellowship. Among them was Mary the mother of Jesus, not to be worshiped, but
to pray and worship the Lord as others were doing. The apostles along with the
other disciples were in the upper room and waited on the Lord in one accord.
2]
The ministry of Judas continued – Acts 1:15 – 26;
Peter
stood up and called the disciples ‘brethren’ as he addressed to them. Why did
they replace Judas? Not just because Judas died, but because he forfeited and
lost his apostleship; and they did not even expected him to be among the twelve
in heaven. Why did they have to have twelve (apostles)?
Two
reasons:
A] It was the intention and
desire of the Lord Jesus to have twelve apostles. He was saying that He was
going to build a new people of God, a new Israel, and a new people to be His
missionaries. The old Israel was made up of 12 sons of Jacob, 12 men who became
12 tribes. Jesus was going to start all over again with the 12 new men.
B] The Bible not only says that
Judas was going to betray our Lord; it also says that his office should be
given to another. Peter was now beginning to get orders from the Bible. This was the first beginning of Christian
guidance to discover what the Lord intends and what His word says.
They cast lots and believed
that God could control lots and guide the person’s hand who pulled the stone
out of the bag. That was the last occasion of casting lots. Why, because from
the day of Pentecost there was, a much more direct way of finding out what God
wanted. When the Holy Spirit inhabits people, He can bring into their minds
direct without any lots what God wants.
Here is a picture of a church
that knew Jesus, His death and resurrection, that knew God and He wanted them
to do, and yet something was missing. They were all inside the room. You will
never turn the world upside down (or rather, right side up), until you turn the
church inside out. How do you do this? Believing in Jesus, regular Bible study,
fervent prayer, witnessing and evangelism, joy and faith all should be part of
it. The death and resurrection of Jesus will be center of it; but is there not
something missing still ? The answer is found in the 3rd person of
the Holy trinity.
It is only when a church begins
to understand what is it to be filled with the Holy Spirit that it gets inside
out and can witness effectively.
Acts
– 2: 1-21
One
of the questions that scholars have been debating for very long time is, when
did the church begin? Many say in the day of Pentecost. But we could go way
back beyond that and say before the foundation of the world – when Adam began
to worship God, when God called Abraham, when Moses led the Israelites from
Egypt, (In fact, that is the first time the word ‘church’ is used in the
Bible), when Jesus called the twelve apostles, the new tribe. However,
Pentecost was the crucial day when the church was first out. What was the day
when the power came to get whole thing moving, it was day of Pentecost. Pentecost
means the 50th day after the Passover feast. This 50th
day was significant because it was a harvest festival and they brought first
fruits. The day of Pentecost also commemorated the day when God on Mount Sinai
gave 10 commandments (The law) to Moses. When they got the 10 commandments, on
Mount Sinai within a short time that Law had been broken and three thousand
people lost their lives. It is a remarkable contrast that when God gave the law
three thousand people died, but when God gave the Spirit three thousand people
were saved.
It was nine AM on Sunday
morning in the year 29 A.D. Where did
they gather? Many think that Pentecost happened in the upper room, there is no
suggestion from the Bible on that. If we study, it is clear that it happened in
the temple and the following reasons can make it clear.
1. They were in a very public place
2. It was 9.00 AM in the morning on a feast day and every
devout person will be in the temple at
that time
3. We were told that the early Christians met in the temple
during the time of prayer and the first prayer was during 9 AM.
4. In spite of the idea that they all went rushing out of the
upper room to the streets not one of those (120) people move an inch. The three
thousand came to them; the temple also
has been called as house in
Acts 7.
If some body cuts out Acts 2,
we would not understand the rest of it. Three parts to this passage,
a) The experience that they had
b) The excitement that caused
c) The explanation that Peter gave
What the experience was, what
the Bible says about it? Here were 120 people praying and waiting together.
Their minds filled with Bible knowledge, their hearts full of prayer and love
for each other, they were in one accord and one mind. Three things happened:
1. What they heard – they heard
a howling gale (sound of the mighty wind) in the Old Testament the word “ruach”
(Hebrew) is used for Spirit. This word means ‘loud breath’ (of God).
2. What did they see – They saw
a fire. God revealed to Moses through fire. All through the 40 years whenever
the children of Israel moved in the wilderness, there was the pillar of fire
before them. When Elijah wanted to prove the presence of God two thousands of
unbelieving fellow country men, he prayed God to send down fire from heaven.
Therefore, in the day of Pentecost when the fire came they knew that God was
there, Gods power, purity coming down on men. Luke describe that the fire was
burning from heaven to earth, burning down and just touching their head and
their single hair was not burned. It was Gods presence and they knew what it
meant.
3. What did they do – They
began to speak. They overflowed. Every time people were filled with the Spirit
in the New Testament days, they overflowed and spoke. They open their mouths
and spoke in languages they have never learned before. It was fact, and not
mere feeling. God was by passing their intellect, their mind was not involved
in this. God was using their mouths and was enabling them to say something that
was not in their mind. Indeed, it is a miracle.
They were not given these
languages just to speak to men, but to praise God. Our minds often wonder
around with different thoughts for which we fail in our continued expression in
praise. Therefore, the need of the Holy Spirit in our life is essential.
What was the heart of their
experience? Not the fire, wind or the languages, but for the first time God was
right inside them and had complete control of them. What marvelous works God can do, If He could
fill a person and get complete control of him! The tragedy is God does not have
all of us, for most of the time only part of us. They had now met the third
person of the Godhead. They always believed in God the Father. They have been
brought up in that way. They had then met God the Son and after three years,
they came to realize that this human being was divine. Now they met God the
Holy Spirit. Therefore, those ordinary people could do extra ordinary things.
To their heartfelt weeks’ (10 days) of prayer was now added praise. This is the
first mark of the Spirit filled life that they can praise God. Praise is not
natural to us, by nature we cannot praise, we can present our prayers but not
praise.
The church was on fire, people
came. Never judge spiritual things by your feelings, judge them by your facts.
There is not a word in this chapter about disciples’ feeling, but the feelings
of others.
The
People: Who
were they?
1) The dispersions – there were
more Jews living out side than inside the Holy Land. There were Jews who were
born that way
2) There were proselytes – they
who became Jew by being circumcised/ baptized and offering sacrifices.
3) There were devout men who were
trying to keep the 10 commandments by birth and baptism.
They were all from East, West,
North and South of the Holy Land. We find it as a most striking reversal of the
tower of Babel. There was a day when God came down in power and He confused the
language of men so that they could not understand each other and they scattered
everywhere. Now God in His infinite mercy has reversed the process. He has come
down in power and given languages again. Now they come together again and
understand. Is not it marvelous how God is able to put right what goes wrong?
How He is able to offer mercy where formerly he brought judgement. Therefore,
it is a reversal of Babel (Genesis 10).
What did they think of it all?
First,
they were curious, and then they were surprised, because they heard many
different languages. They were also amazed because they saw their clothes;
looking at their clothes they said these are Galleons. As they got closer to
them (120 people), and heard what they were speaking about, they began to be
afraid. They began to sense supernatural and when people sense the supernatural
they do not come closer, they begin to pull back a bit. Whenever supernatural
things happen, you will find always some who will give natural explanation for
the supernatural things. They said these people are drunk. We have never known
alcohol / wine give anybody any fluency in a foreign language they never
learned. There might be certain fluency, but not in foreign language. Usually
the fluency tales off the fuller they get.
Therefore, Peter now stands up
and gives the explanation. He was the rid, now a rock. He stood up with the
eleven. They did not to move anywhere, people came and he preached, he said we
are not drunk. God’s promise in the Old Testament has been fulfilled now. In
the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon only few people and only came on
them for a short period. However, when he came he did extra ordinary things,
particularly with their mouths – they prophesied. It was a wish of Moses that
all Gods people would prophesy. Joel prophesied it and this prophecy full
filled on the day of Pentecost.
Peter says now according to
Joel there is going to be a last period in human history, the last days they
called and the begging of it will be the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and in
the end, it will be sun and moon changing. These are the two things, which will
happen to mark the last period of human history (the spirit poured out in the
beginning and sun, moon the heavenly bodies
shaken at the end). This means we are now in the last period of human history.
Between that period of the last days of Pentecost and the end of the world,
anybody who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved.
Far too many Christians are
living on the right side of Easter and the wrong side of Pentecost. They
understand the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, know their Bible, they
pray and are full of joy in believing the lord, but some how they do not yet
understand what it is to be filled with the Spirit to over flowing until the
mouths become the channel of Gods word itself. The promise is still at work,
for Peter says, “it is to you....”
Acts
2:22 – 47;
Three things happened on that day of Pentecost.
1] They (the 120) had
an unforgettable experience,
2] Their experience caused
great excitement, and
3] Peter gave Biblical
explanation.
He said this is the beginning
of the ‘end.’ We have now moved into the last period of the history. God has
said His last word, and we are now living in the last opportunity for men to be
saved. Peter got all these from the book of Prophet Joel, and the last thing he
says, if you really are serious and realize that we are in the last period of human
history, then you will want to know how you can escape the end. The answer is
in the same prophecy, “whoever call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Nevertheless, it leaves one question unanswered, ‘what is the name of the Lord
upon which we are to call?’
So, Peter now preaches a sermon
on that name which is the only name in which men will have salvation (Acts
4:12), i.e. Jesus Christ. There were seven people with that name Jesus in the
NT alone, and so, Peter had to begin by giving His address, “Jesus of
Nazareth,” this is the name.
One of the most striking things
of all about the preaching in the NT is that, they did not preach Christmas.
The gospel is not the Christmas story alone. What do people need to know about
Jesus Christ in order to be saved is this;
1) A person needs to know that He
(Jesus Christ) lived.
He was a real man who traveled
around and performed supernatural miracles. God was with this Man, He healed
the sick, raised the dead, and He went about doing things that only God can do.
2) A person needs to know that
Jesus died on a cross.
That tragic event at the age of
thirty-three was not an accident. Moreover, that had been planned before the
world began. God had arranged it (there is no contradiction here between God’s
sovereignty and human responsibility, between God’s free will and man’s free
will). Both were true, God was responsible fro the cross, so were men. The
cross was both a divine and human event. God was doing something good, but man
was doing something evil. Rightly it is been called ‘Good Friday’ and not a
‘bad Friday’.
3) A person needs to know that God
reversed the human verdict by raising Him from the dead.
Peter says, we are His personal
witnesses. We touched Him, heard Him, and have seen Him. God declared about Him saying, ‘He is My
Son.’ Peter quotes from Ps. 16: ‘The Holy
One of the Lord will not see corruption.’
4) A person needs to know where
Jesus is now.
Neither the Jews nor the Romans
were able to produce the dead body of Jesus from the tomb, nor were the
disciples able to produce the live body of Jesus, why? He was no longer on
earth in bodily form. Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven and seated at the
right hand of God. Peter quoted once more from Psalms: ‘The Lord called to my Lord...’
When Jesus said, He is both the
Lord and Christ in various occasions, the Jews did not want to believe Him, and
so they shouted “crucify Him, crucify Him”.
The Jews (and us as well) have crucified God’s Christ and Lord which is
the greatest crime ever committed.
Though ignorant and unlearned,
Peter could preach a marvelous sermon. This is because he had been with Jesus.
He declared, your sins crucified and murdered Christ the Son of God. Therefore,
what you need is to repent from your sins and be baptized in the name of the
Lord. Then God will forgive your sins; give you the gifts of Holy Spirit.
The
fellowship of the saints:
Three thousand people believed
on Jesus and only 120 were there to baptize them that day and deal with them,
one Christian to counsel and take care of 25 new believers. Five things they
did and five things they were:
Five
things they did
1) The apostles baptized them - Baptism for every body as they
came in to the Christian faith and in to the church, this was the way in.
2) The apostles taught them - they needed food to grow, so
teaching was essential in the early church and so it is in our churches today. We do not have those apostles to
teach us now, but we have their writings.
Therefore, the systematic Bible study in the church is very important.
3) They had fellowship – sharing something so much deeper than
friendship. In the New Testament if you sit together and eat, your own sandwich
that is friendship; but if you each eat the same sandwich that is fellowship.
Christian fellowship shares the deepest things together.
4) They broke the bread –
having a meal together as one family and after the meal, they used to share the
bread and cup remembering the Lord.
5) The continued in their
prayer – the Jewish prayer was just letters/ dead words / phrases and meaningless
for years. Now the prayer in the church is living and real after the Holy
Spirit has come, for He knows how to pray and what to pray. The Holy Spirit
enables the believers to pray.
Five
things they were:
1) They were a reverent church
– fear was upon them all because super natural things happened. Signs, wonders
and mighty works God did in the church.
2) They were a sharing church –
they even shared their money and their belongings. It was not communism, but it
was voluntary, the real community. They sold their possessions willingly
because they saw the needs of other Christians.
3) They were a consistent church – they were just
as happy in the temple as in their homes. They maintained same standard in
their private as well as public life.
4) They were a sincere church –
they were just as sincere praising God before they had their food as when they
were in the temple. Life was all of a peace.
5) They were a happy church –
with gladness and generosity in their heart.
Therefore, the last verse of
this chapter (Chapter 2) tells us they were a church that grew every single
day. The Lord made it to grow. We cannot make the church any bigger; the Lord
adds to the church daily with those who are saved. We know of no other way to
join the church but except by being saved.
Two thousand years have passed,
since then there has not been a single day when the lord has not added to His
church. Every minute we spend, there are 15 more Christians in the world then
there were a minute ago. The Lord added daily.
Acts 3:1-26
God’s way of doing things is
beautiful. People outside the church were attracted because so much happened
inside it. Peter never needed to collect a congregation; he usually just
preached to those who came. People will always come running when the house is
on fire.
Two parts to this chapter:
1) Healing the sick – miracle:
3:1-11
2) Preaching the saviour –
message: 3:12-26
Healing
the sick – miracle (3:1-11)
The man who begged for alms was
given legs. The gate was called “beautiful”. It was made of brass and its size
was about 31/62 feet. Moreover, the man there was not beautiful but was
crippled from birth. Peter and John came for prayer at about 3 pm. The Jews had
3 hours of prayer per day – at 9 am, at 12 noon and at 3 pm. They taught that Abraham
instituted the first (9 am), Isaac instituted the second (12 noon) and Jacob
instituted the third (3:00 pm.). The apostles kept their Jewish prayer.
Two things about the beggar:
-
1)
He
got far more than he asked for.
This is how God deals with us. Jesus once said this is the way God gives to
His people, shaken together, pressed down and running over.
2)
He
got the means to get what he asked for.
He didn’t get any money but got
the means to earn money. That put him to work, he got indirect help. God
answers prayer in different ways.
The apostles ‘Peter and John’
mentioned seven times in Acts (3:1, 3, 4, 11; 4:13, 19; 8:14). They had no
human resources but they had divine resources. The more human resources you
have the less divine resources you will tend to need and therefore the less
godly a church you become.
There is power in a name
depending on the position of the person, whose name it is. e.g.; if someone
says, you want that, get such and such a place and use my name. We have not
found that works when the person is dead, it is a person who is alive with
authority and power whose name gets you to places. The power that acted on the
life of beggar was not a medical power. Dr. Luke explains it. Neither was it
magical power, it was miraculous power. It was God who did this thorough the
name of Jesus. There was power and faith in His name, not faith on healer
(Peter and John) but on Jesus.
Who is this Jesus? His name must have power, because He has
position. The higher the position is, the more the power. Jesus is now in the
highest position in the universe and that is why, the name of Jesus will get
you further than any other name. Using the name of Jesus in a holy privilege is
an awful responsibility. You got to be careful in using His name for those
things that He would use it for and not for the things that we would use it
for.
Jesus was a common name among
the Jews, but among Christians – we don’t use/give that name for/to our
Children; because this name has become absolutely unique (Ch. 4:12).
PETER’S SERMON (Message) 3:12 – 26
Peter
gives 2nd sermon almost similar to his Pentecost sermon – he begins
with the (1) passion of Christ the sufferings, rejection and vicarious death
that He went through. People were ignorant, if they could realize that they are
ignoring the Son of God;
2. The person of Christ - There are 250 different names &
titles of Jesus in New Testament.
Peter gives/calls 4
titles here
1. God’s servant - to Jews it would mean a
lot, for prophet Isaiah describes
this in Chapter 53.
2. The Holy & Righteous one – someone
who is perfect.
To Jews it would speak of one that
God promised the prince of life – the pioneer, the one who opens way to eternal
life. Peter said you took that person
& killed Him; but He is still alive. For you can’t kill the prince of life.
3. The Christ – the anointed one. The one
whom God anointed as king.
4. The seed - God said in Genesis 3:15
that He will defeat Satan through the
seed of the woman. To Abraham God said – He will fulfil this promise through Abraham’s seed. Christi is the fulfillment of
the promise to Adam to Abraham
& to everybody.
Peter closes his sermon with
the purpose of Jesus what did He come to do & what is he doing?
The Purpose of Jesus:
Many
things that the promised Christ and saviour was said to be doing in OT did not
happen in the New Testament. They didn’t all come true when Jesus came.
Because, Jesus was going to come twice – He came once & will come again. On
His first coming He came only to do 2 things.
1. To get our sins wiped out.
2. To give us
refreshment of spirit.
In His Second Coming (Jn 3:17,
12:47), He will do what He did not do; He will start all over again.
There is power in the name of
Jesus, no other names. Only the name of the Son of God our Lord Jesus – He came
from the highest heaven to the lowest earth was obedient even to death on the
cross. And God raised Him all the way back again.
Acts
4:1-31;
The
proof that we live in an evil world is that anybody who goes about doing good
will sooner or later gets into serious trouble. The supreme example of this is
the life of our Lord Jesus Himself. He went about doing well and within weeks
He was in serious trouble. It started when He healed the man with a weathered
hard. In Mk. 3 we find opposition developing.
And just as our Lord’s ministry
in His own body developed that way one would expect His ministry in His next
body the church to do the same thing. Therefore very quickly in the book of
Acts someone doing well leads the disciples into the trouble. Jesus has said
His disciples – if you follow me; (remember) you will be in (will face)
troubles;
The other thing he said to them
when you get in to trouble don’t worry. The Holy Spirit will tell you what to
say.
Chapter
4
The
first time that Christians were ever charged with the crime of being
Christians. And we live in a day when thousands upon thousands of Christians
have brought in to the court, thrown in to prison and executed for no other
crime then the name of Jesus.
Chapter 4: in 4 parts
1)
There is the Arrest.
Why were they arrested and put
in to custody? Three answers, Why Christians should be regarded as criminals
just as our Lord was regarded as a criminal?
- They
disturb the peace – Wherever Christians have gone, they have been a
disturbing element.
- The
second reason comes from the priests. The reason why they supported the
arrest was that the disciples were disturbing their power. They were the
official teachers. They were in charge of the religious views of the
people. Here the crowd were listening to the Galileans so that was
disturbing to their Possession. So the disciples were arrested, because
they were teaching God’s truth to the people.
- But
the main reason, why they were arrested come from the theologians – the
Sadducees- wealthy, aristocratic, rationalists who by collaborating with
the enemy, occupying powers; now control the whole situation and whole
nation- They were rationalist – they did not believe in any supernatural
things. They were the new theologians of those days. They did not believe
in miracles. They even denied the possibilities of His resurrection and
said these things can’t happen.
So the apostles were arrested
because they did miracles and taught the resurrection of Jesus. The church grew
up to 5,000.
2)
The trial 4:5-12;
This
is the very same identical court in which about 3 months previously Jesus had
stood. And they on the bench are the identical judges who cruelly and unjustly
put Him to death. It is a history being repeated again, both began without a
real charge.
Two fisherman and Holy Spirit
within them before the most educated ... they (Peter & John) put all the
judges (70 Sandrine) in the dark. Are we charged with the crime of helping a
cripple? Is that a crime to help the helpless?
If you want to know by what
authority / power/ name we do this? Then I want to tell you that it is in the
name of the one who stood here 3 months ago. If you want the real criminal here
– then it is Jesus who did this. I accuse you of murdering the messiah whom God
raised. The name of a dead man does not have power but His name that is alive
today.
At this point Peter added 2
more things about his own faith in Jesus. He quoted a verse from Ps. 118:22;
In simple explanation says –
you could not fit Jesus in to your religion, but God has built everything on
Him. He is building a new religion its foundation is Jesus. Because you
couldn’t fit Him into your religious system it does not mean that He was wrong;
but you are wrong. No other system/ religion works. Christianity is an
exclusive religion.
It is inclusive in this that (1) “whoever calls on the ...” (2) John
3:16 “whoever believes ...”, but it is
exclusive in this, ‘in no other name is
there salvation’. It is either Christ or every other religion both can’t fit
together. Peter is no more concerned about their lives and forgiveness than his
own life. Jesus is alive – the empty tomb proves that (but they could not
produce His body) – the more positive proof is many lives have been changed.
The marvelous proof is – changed lives.
The people marveled –
3 things:-
1) For their boldness.
2) Because of their brilliant
answer.
They have not been to schools –
their clothes tell that what class they belonged to. They recognized that they
have been with Jesus. This could mean 3 things:-
A) They have seen them following
Jesus from Gethsemane.
Peter & John went up to the
courtyard. They may have remembered – how Peter was denying & now the same
one speaking boldly.
B) They might have been well
trained by Jesus to be able to speak like this.
C) The real reason is not that
they had been with Jesus but the disciples were still with Jesus. His spirit
was within them. The same Spirit, who was in Jesus, is now in them doing
miracles.
Chapter 4:14 – but seeing the
man ... standing beside them...
A man who never stood
on his own for last 40 years, They see him standing straight now. Yet they put
their minds off to know about Jesus. They made a now law.
Peter says 2 things.
1) You are judges, but I appeal
to the higher court; the court of God where you will stand one day as prisoners
and before God you got to answer for what you have said to day.
2) God said us to speak;
therefore we will speak.
Now the law is – it is crime to
do miracles or preach in that name. What did they (disciples) do? They Prayed.
When you are afraid of some thing; get the bigger view of God. If you fear God,
you will fear no one else.
They quote Ps. 2. In their
prayer God is in charge and in control of everything. Having got the right view
of God, they finally asked for 2 things in their prayer
1) Give us boldness to preach
publicly
2) Go on doing miracle
God joining their Prayer
Meeting and shook the house, why He was saying – every thing is in my hand
–History, nature, and all human beings. God gave them again another Pentecost
the same thing happened again they were filled with the Holy Spirit & spoke
boldly. The people thought that the church will disappear. But the Church grew
and grew more. It will never be disappeared until Jesus takes it back.
Acts
4:32-5:16
Most
people think that early church was perfect church. Dr. Luke presents that
church in this book as it was. Here we got a picture of a mixture of people. If
you ever think that you have found a perfect church sooner or later you will
discover that it is made up of imperfect people. If you read the N T very
carefully, you will find that the church was full of imperfect people.
If your wife were ill you would
not say she is not going to those hospital, because those hospitals are jammed
full of sick people. You would say, she is not going to those hospitals because
nobody ever gets better in those hospitals; but that would not be true. It does
not worry you that the hospital is full of sick people; but what you ask is
that, is there a doctor in that hospital who can help, could do something for
your sick wife.
This church is full of sinners,
but there is always room for one more; this is what the church meant to be. A
hospital for sin-sick people; it only worries you if they never get any better.
The question about a church is not what are the people like? But, is there a
divine position there who can help who can heal; make sinner into a saint. So
in early church we find the honest picture of people just like us.
A couple – what they did? And
what happened to them because they did it? – Before that we should see something
good.
Here is a profound lesson to be
learned from the NT, if you are going to say something bad about someone say
something good first; so that you keep a balance picture. Same way before you
talk about Annania and Sapheera you got look at Barnabas first. You got to look
at someone generous before you look at some one greedy.
So let us now look at:
(1) Group (church), (2)
Barnabas (3) Ananais and Saphira
In the first section we are
shown that the church and its relationship between the members in private. In
the last section we are shown its relationship with people out in public. Here
we have the church in its private life & the church in its public life or a
Christian in a good life and a Christian in a bad life.
I. The private life of church:
The
word “great” keeps coming, in this word is being devalued e.g. ‘it is great,
every thing is great ...’ with great power means they convince to hundreds of
people that Jesus is alive.
Great Grace: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense
God was always giving them things
they did not deserve. Here is the law of cause and effect, a chain reaction
when you received great grace; it produces great generosity. Generosity is
directly related to your gratitude. If you are greedy you are a grumbling and
complaining person. The result of that great grace was that they began to share
their goods. This is the thing that has never been practiced so fully and
freely since those days. In those days, no Christian ever had a need because as
soon as the need was known it was met.
Some communist’s claim, which
is what the communism is and they are not true, why? 6 reasons here we see the
difference from communism.
1) They were of one heart. Nobody
had to force anybody else to accept it. They loved each other.
2) There was a spiritual basis. They
were of one soul. Where as communism today is utterly atheistic and has no
spiritual basis.
3) It was spontaneous. Nobody told
them to do it.
4) Everyone wanted to do it. They
all did it voluntarily.
5) The property was under no one’s
control but their own. e. g. chapter 5:4;
6) It achieved something that no
communist state in the world has yet achieved.
You may think that the
communists believe from each according to his ability to each according to his
need. That is not true. The principle is from each according to his ability to
each according to his work. They cannot yet live by the principle, ‘according
to his need.’
II. One man – Barnabbas who practiced Christian
communism.
There are only two people in
the whole of the NT ever called good man. They both got the same name called
Joseph. One was Joseph called Aramathia, and the other was Joseph Barnabbas.
They both did the same thing, gave their property. One had the garden, the
other had the field. Barnabbas the son of encouragement (one who picks others
up), he was the one who first did it (sold his property and brought to the
apostles).
Now we got to see the other
side of the coin. The ‘but’ in the Bible is the most important word. Like in
the book of Joshua (Joshua 7), here in Acts we find ... but Ananias. For the
very first time in the NT in the book of Acts the word church is used in this
very passage of Ananias and Sapphira. We will never understand the story unless
we get the right view of the church and a right view of God. What is the
church? The people whom God has called out to Himself. If the church is the
people of God, or the family of God, the flock of Christ, the fellowship of the
Spirit then what you do to the church is done to God the Holy Father Son
Spirit. Whatever you do to the church, you do to Him. Ananias did against the
Holy Spirit. It was the worst crime/sin in Jesus’ eye. What He condemned most
is hypocrisy.
The word ‘hypocrite’ originally
in Greek means ‘Actor’. In Greek theatres the actor used to come out holding a
mask instead of make up and the mask was called hypocrite. That is letting
people think you are something other than what you really are.
The Lord was tender with the
woman who was taken with adultery, but He was blazed with hypocrites and said
you are like white washed tombs. Ananias & Sapphira held back some and gave
some saying this is all. Dividing money according to their decision was not
wrong. But they wanted to be thought to be better than they were. They wanted
to be higher in other people’s estimate than they had right to be.
Why did Peter take it so
seriously? Because this sin was exactly the same to the new Israel as Achan
have been to the old. And Peter knew if it were allowed to go unchecked this
sin of hypocrisy would wreck the early church. There is nothing wrecks the
church’s reputation more quickly than a bit of hypocrisy in the members. You
are lying to the Holy Spirit. The wife also joined him. The church has far more
to fear from corruption with in than from opposition with out.
This is the most challenging
part in the book of Acts, because it comes home in a very direct way to every
one of us. Is there anything in our lives that could be doing just this kind of
thing to the church of which we are the members? Do we let people think that we
are better than actually we are?
The result of this event was ‘great fear came upon the whole church’
(twice it is mentioned). A church full of the right kind of fear will not be
hypocritical church.
III. The church in its public relations
They had to meet publicly in
Solomon’s portico. Everything they did people came and watched. It was a
supernatural church. Six things they did, not one of them could be done by
natural gifts or energy.
1] Signs and wonders the gospel
was visible. The people could see as well as hear what the power of Christ
could do.
2] There was a complete unity
in the church the crowed could see that they were of one accord.
3] There was a clear boundary
between believers and unbelievers, church and the world.
4] Their evangelism was as
effective among the men as among the women.
5] Sickness was healed.
6] People with unclean spirits,
possessed by demons came to the church and the demons were cast out.
This was a church where God
was busy. The people those who believed were not only added to the church but
also to the Lord. The question is would I really want to belong to such church?
Do I really want to see such a church in my ministry?
Acts
5:17 – 42;
In the earlier passage we have
seen the danger of being unbeliever among lot of believers. Now we see the
opposite - the danger of being believer among lot of unbelievers. For the
second time, the apostles are going to be thrown in to the prison for no other
crime than that they preached Jesus. There were four points to this story at
which commonsense would have said stop the fight. There were four points at
which they could have got out of the problem, they had four opportunities to
run away, yet they did not take any of those four.
1] They had already been warned
that if they preach in the name of Jesus once more, they would be arrested.
Did that stop them? They went
on preaching. This was their opportunity they could have left the city and
hide. Why was it inevitable that they would get into trouble? Because, the
authorities were jealous of them, and jealousy makes people to do terrible
things. It makes people to be cruel, unjust, and unfair.
Those authorities were jealous,
simply because the authorities were the religious leaders of the whole nation
and here were a bunch of ignorant fisher men who could draw ten times the
crowds, than they ever saw. Deep down in them (authorities) was envy.
Envy was responsible for first
murder in history. Cain killed Abel out of envy. And it was responsible for the
worst murder in history. That’s what Pilate saw that Annas and Caiphas wanted
Jesus dead for envy – they delivered Him up. So they arrested the apostles. And
the apostles missed the opportunity not to escape.
2] The angel of the Lord came
and let them out of prison.
They were free; they could have
run away and got out of trouble. But they did not; rather they went back to the
temple and preached. “Go and tell all the
people the Words of this life” (ch. 5:20). Christianity is not a religion,
it is ‘...this life’. It is not just
the way of life, but the way to life (Jn. 14:6). So the angel said “go and tell them about this life”.They
called for the prisoners – but the prisoners were not there.
They were in the same place and doing the same
thing when they were arrested. According to Psalm 2, God must have had a lovely
laugh at the council. They thought they could chain the Word of God. Paul
wrote, “The Word of God is not bound”
even though he was bound in Rome.
3] The third opportunity was,
people were in apostles’ side.
If one apostle could have lifted up his finger
against the soldiers, the soldiers would have been dead on the spot. But they
did not resist, they quietly submitted and were being led up to the court. The
angels set them free, but they walked freely to the court. We must obey God
rather than men. There are most occasions we can obey both to God and man,
(e.g. Ephes. 6:1,5) But in every single one of our lives there will come a
point when you got to stand with Peter and say ‘I am sorry, God has told me to
do this, and I am going to do what He has told me to do.’ This fundamental
principle is the heart of the Christian living. We must obey God rather than
man. Christians are those who take their orders from higher up. This is why a
Christian basically fears no man, because he fears God more.
Further more the judge said –
this man ... (5:28), but Peter said – this man is the son of God, Christ.
Two fold witness:
1.
Of
those who know that Jesus is alive.
2.
Of
the Holy spirit who was within them.
4. Being accused of these crimes they did not recount.
Gamaliel - He was a popular man; but he was a bad man.
His example was bad, his tolerant was bad. He was a Pharisee – who believed in
resurrection from the dead. He was a man who took his religion seriously. What
he said we can read in 5:33 – 39, what was his motive? He was waiting for a
time – ‘let’s see... how far it goes....’He was unwilling to take a stand
either for or against this movement at this stage. He was afraid, he thought,
it might be true. But the tragedy was, he never made his mind.
If you say; was not he good, tolerant, conscious in
saying wait and see? Let me say this; you will never hear anymore about
Gamaliel. He vanishes right out of the picture; & we know that the day he
died which was years later; he still has not made up his mind whether it was of
God or of man. He was a man who said, wait & see, I will think about it; he
was a man who was over conscious, who was apparently very wise & very
tolerant but the man who was afraid to take side & be definite. A man like
that, you will not hear of them again. They are neither against, nor for the
church.
Gamaliel was a professor of
religion, in his class room there was a keen student (Saul) who wanted to be a
great religious man when he heard about this new religion he was against it.
That’s why you hear of Saul again but not of Gamaliel. People like Saul can
become a means/channel to spread the gospel of Christ; but people like Gamaliel
are stumbling block for it.
They (apostles) were beaten; it
means ‘thirty nine strife’ according to Jewish custom of punishment. This was
first time; Christians have suffered in the body for Jesus, what was their
reaction? (5:41), ‘they rejoiced ...’
for they said, were worthy to suffer for Jesus’ sake.
What did they do next? They did
not cease to teach & preach – both in temple & in their home. Only one
difference between Jewish religion & Christians that we believe, Jesus is
Christ.
ACTS
– 6:1 – 15
Christianity
would never have become a world religion to us gentiles accept for one man –
Stephen, who was one of the first deacons in the Christian church. It all
happened, just because a group of Christians in the church began to grumble.
Well all things works together for good.
Out of that grumble came the
first step towards the division between the Jewish & Christian religion
which has meant so much liberty & freedom for us – You are not bound now by
the Jewish law.
How it happened?
1.
The
Jews began to spread in all directions, they were good businessmen, they
traveled, and they were known as the ‘Diaspora’ the dispersed/ scattered Jews
those who gone to the uttermost parts of their known world to live. It happened
to them, that they gradually forgot the language of their fathers. They spoke
Greek, but they were Jews & were proud of it.
So there were 2 groups of Jews.
a) Hebrews – those who spoke
Hebrew in the land of their fathers.
b) Hellenists – were Greek
speaking Jews who visited the land of their
fathers but could not speak the language. Therefore when they went to worship in Jerusalem; they had to go to the special place of worship. In
Hebrew Synagogue, they worshiped in
Hebrew and Hellenist synagogue, they worshiped
in Greek.
2.
They
began to allow other people who were not Jews to come to their synagogue. In a
synagogue they kept 3 lists.
a. They were first of all the
Jewish members themselves – they have been born Jews.
b. The next list was, the list of
people called Proselyte- they had been born gentiles, but they have become or
been converted to Jews – circumcised , baptized , kept the law – it happened
before Jesus came.
c. The 3rd circle was
the circle of those who like worshipping in the synagogue but didn’t want to
get involved. They were called (as) the God fearers.
So in that church the problem began; they
developed in to groups within the church. Early church distributed everyday the
hot meals for widows, for they (widows) did not get any pension. She had no
support or no one to look after her at all in those days. So those widows came
for a cooked meal everyday, gradually sat in 2 different groups according to
their languages, so that they may chat together.
One group thought others
received more than them; they were served first when the meal was hot, etc,
they began to grumble & complain. The early church was just like us, human
beings. Out of that split , 4 basic principles were laid down.
1] The Principle of suitable management. They chose a structure, an organization that met the
need
2] The
principle of separate ministry. A one minister church is not a church; there should be a shared
ministry. Happy is that church
where the ministry is shared out. Every Christian is a minister, every minister is a member. Minister is a servant, helper.
3] The principle of saintly men. To serve tables they must be qualified in 3 directions.
A] IN relation to others they must be men of good repute.
B] IN relation to God they must be full of Holy Ghost.
C] In relation to themselves they must be wise. A wise man is not (always) the clever man; but a wise man who
knows what is the right thing to
do.
4] The principle of the selective method. The leaders said to the church, you select them; and we will
appoint them. There are two
interesting things in these 7 men.
A] Every man had a Greek name, not one of them had a Hebrew
name.
If the Greek widows (Hellenists)
are grumbling then let the Greek men handle them. Here is the principle of an
indigenous church, matching the people to the need.
B] One of these seven had not been born a Jew, he was proselyte. His
name was Nicolas, a gentile. The Christian church is beginning to breakout in
to the gentile world in this little incident.
When did the disciples increase
in number?(Ch. 6:15). When the word of God increased, the number of the
disciples multiplied greatly (Ch. 6:7). The church goes on increase, never decrease.
The priests began to get converted.
As soon as a priest gets converted and comes now
what must he do? Should he go on cutting the lambs? No, Stephen was going to
the Greek speaking Synagogues & was preaching 2 things.
1.
Christ
is the end of the temple; you can come to God any where now; any time without a
sacrifice.
2.
Christ
is the end of law; you no longer need to keep the 10 commandments to get to
heaven. The law is no longer the way to get to heaven.
Some argued, though they never
won the argument. When a person can’t win a verbal argument he will resort to a
physical exchange. They began to bring false accuses. When you know Christ, all
your religion, good works etc. is nothing compared with His grace; no value at
all, but dung. If you are saved by
grace, it means 2 things.
a.
It
does not matter how many bad things you have done in the past prior to your
conversion, you can get to heaven. This means you have experienced God’s
forgiveness.
b.
It
does not matter how many good things you have done they won’t help you to get
there.
The Jews religion in Christ’s
eye is dung, He said, “I go My way and
you will not find Me”. ‘Your ways are
not my ways’. It was Stephen who saw
this truth/reality. They saw his face like an angel. It was unearthly yet it
was ordinary. They saw the face of a man who did not live here, a man who lived
there in glory. Stephen became the first Christian martyr; he had no
inspiration or example, but Jesus; to follow. He knew it was to be his last
sermon. The last thing that this great man said with the face of an angel, was
‘Once you got Christ, you don’t need religion, temple or 10 commandments – once
you got Christ, you have got everything you need, because you got the Holy
spirit”.
Acts
7:1-8:3;
Stephen does the same thing as
Peter did few months earlier. He did not defend himself or Christianity but did
(said); I attack your understanding of your religion. I accuse you of twisting
the word of God. I accuse you of doing 2 things:
1. You are restricting Gods dwelling.
You have got God locked up in a
nice little temple; you have got God just where you want Him in that lovely
little building. He said, almost every time God spoke to one of our Jewish
forefathers, He spoke outside the Holy land; never mind the temple – Abraham in
Mesopotamia, others, in Egypt, Moses in Sinai in Median, Jews/ Israelites – in
wilderness. Indeed, every where God speaks is holy land, therefore put off your
shoes...? You cannot limit God. Get big ideas about God.
Stephen said, all the formative
ideas that you hold, all the heart of your religion was given to men out side
this holy land, and certainly before you ever had a temple. God preferred to
live in a tent than in a temple, because He was a God who was on the move. The
God who gets up, walks before and guide us on is Jehovah.
In O. T. God’s meeting place
was in a tent (tabernacle). David sought habitation for that but Solomon built
Him a house. The prophet had to come to Solomon and said “Heaven is my throne ...”
2. He says; you think, you have got the Law of Moses, May I tell you
that you don’t keep it. May I tell you that from the very first day that Moses
gave the law, you and your fathers have refused to obey? You claim to have the
law, why is it then you betrayed and murdered the greatest prophet of them all;
predicted by Moses the holy and righteous one even Jesus Christ.
You always resist the Holy
Spirit. That is the most serious thing men can ever do.
Jesus said men will be forgiven
for what they have said about and against me; but man who blasphemes against
the Holy Ghost can not be forgiven, because there is no one to help you.
They were so angry, they didn’t
even bother this time to go and get permission or Pilate’s signature. There was
no appeal, no trial.
There is an extraordinary
parallel between Stephen’s trial and trial of Jesus – there was no council for
defense...
Before all these angry judges/
persecutors Stephen could see the glorious Lord Jesus. Jesus said at His trial,
you will see the Son of man coming in glory. Now Stephen says ‘I can see.’ How
foolish the men are to think that they can kill the truth by killing them that
hold the truth.
So they stoned him down. Yet,
he prayed (as Jesus prayed before dying). ‘Lord
Jesus, receive my Spirit’, they can kill my body; but you catch hold of my
spirit.
His prayer was Christ like
prayer, ‘do not hold this sin against
them’.
Acts
8:4 – 40;
In this chapter (8) we have:
1) The church suffering ch 8:13-3;
2) The church spreading ch 8:4-40
The program for Christianity,
which was a world program was not promoted by any society, committee or by any
individual. Jesus gave them the program, Acts 1:8;
But by unexpected way
Christianity spread, because the thing that moved it first from a Jewish nation
to the Samaritans was persecution. It was not a deliberate design. They were
scattered abroad by persecution. In fact Saul was promoting the spread of
Christianity long before he became a Christian. God can use the wrath of men to
praise His own purposes.
Ch 8:4; and every where they
went, they gossiped (Anglo section translation) the word. They were not
professional preachers.
There was a real tension
between Jew and Samaritans. They hated and did not talk to each other. In Luke,
Jesus and His disciples went to one of the Samaritan village and were thrown
out; James and John ‘the sons of thunder’ said, ‘shall we call down fire from heaven...’
The same John, who wanted to
destroy the Samaritans, goes back to them to lay his hands on them here; so
that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
Philip – one of the deacons ran
for his life to Samaria as he ran away, he preached. He got a huge crowed
listening to him. They listened, because they saw. A double testimony which God
is longing to give any church. When people can see things happening in lives
being transformed dramatically then they are ready to here the gospel. Many
were healed, freed; baptized, no wonder! ‘There
was much joy in that city’ ch 8:8
Simon - we are introduced to
him with the word ‘But”. It is one of the saddest words in the Bible. It
usually comes after a description of something wonderful. Then there comes
‘But’ and something is then said that spoils it. Power of Satan through black
magic can’t reach the power of Jesus Christ.
Here is a great revival –
people coming, hearing the gospel and being baptized. But there was one thing
missing, they had not yet received the power which Philip had. Why did God held
back His power in this case? Why they did not have the fullness of the Holy
Spirit? Because, God did not want a Samaritan church separated from the Jewish
church, so He made them wait until they have got Jewish Christians with them
from Jerusalem, before the Holy Spirit was poured out.
Peter and John went them. John
who once told, ‘ shall we call fire from heaven and destroy them ...’ It takes
faith to talk like that, but it is faith
without love ( 1 Cori.13) and when John came back for next time in this Chapter
to this very same place he had love well as faith. He wanted fire from heaven
but not to destroy them, but to fill with power, so they prayed.
Ch 8: 17 the literal
translation of this verse would say “as they laid hands on them, they received
the Holy Spirit”. As they laid hands on a person the power poured out – this
was their confirmation. Not by apostles – but by God – giving the Holy Ghost.
When Simon saw things
happening, he reached for his cheque book and said I like to buy that trick and
this revealed incidentally/ exactly how he got all his other tricks for his
black magic.
Simon was a man whose heart had
two things in it which a man’s heart should not have or will not have if he
truly repented and believed on Jesus:
1) He had a boasting heart
2) He had a bargaining heart
And if you really come to the
Lord Jesus, those are the two things that vanish when you come. Here was a man
who was still concerned about his own prestige above everybody else, a man who
thought he can buy gifts from God. This sort of heart reveals straight away
that a man is not truly converted. Even Philip, Peter &John made mistake by
baptizing someone on profession of faith whose heart was not right with God.
So they dealt with it
straightaway and told him to repent and pray. We know from the rest of the NT
that he did not repent. Peter told him
to pray but this man said, ‘no, you pray that none of these things may come upon
me’. He is more concerned for his skin than his sin. The tradition tells us that this man
consistently opposed Peter and Paul for the rest of his days. In Oxford English
dictionary ‘Simon’ refers to those who think they can buy some thing from God,
particularly in church status. Simony is the attitude that buys.
Philip goes to find one man in
desert. An Ethiopian was a man who had to stand outside the temple to pray to
the God of the Jews. He was only allowed to the court of the Gentiles by the
Mosaic Law. He was humble enough to stand out and pray realizing / knowing that
he would not be allowed in his country, because his people worshiped sun...
He got a scripture portion in
his hand to read during his journey. The Holy Spirit told Philip to go and follow
that chariot. Philip, (8:35) beginning
with this (Isa 53) scripture he preached the good news of Jesus.
The Ethiopian asked, ‘what
hinders me to be baptized?’ This is the difference between the Jewish religion
and Christian: Christianity for whosoever believeth ... nothing hinders you to
become a Christian, except you lack faith.
Philip was transported to
Palestinian city by the Holy Ghost. The Ethiopian never saw Philip any more;
all he had when he went to Africa was scripture. In great continent of Africa for 2000 years
has been Christian by tradition. You will never know what the result will be of
speaking to one man. As Lord said to Phillip ‘go ...’ and ‘He arose and went’,
so must we obey the Holy Spirit both in our life and ministry.
Acts
9
Acts 9:1-9
Saul
is already mentioned twice or thrice in the story of Stephen. His name in
Hebrew was Saul which means ‘desired’; his Roman name was Paul which means
‘little’. He was born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, and a free city of the
Romans and himself a freeman of that city. His father and mother were both
native Jews, therefore he calls himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews; He was of the
tribe of Benjamin. His education was in the Schools of Tarsus first which was
called a little Athens for learning then he was sent to Jerusalem to study the
Jewish law. His tutor was Gamaliel He had extraordinary natural parts. He was a
tent maker by trade.
I. Before His conversion –
enemy to Christianity.
He breathed death to Christians
where ever he came. He resold to disturb the Christians at Damascus.
II. A blessed change took place
in him.
As his journey he came near to
Damascus and there Christ met him. He was still in the way. The work of
conversion is not tied to the church (e.g. Ethiopian Eunuch) He was near Damascus
almost at his journeys end. He who was to be the apostle of the Gentiles was
converted to the faith of Christ in a Gentile country. Hear was a great
kindness to the poor saints at Damascus who had the notice of his coming as
appears by what Ananias said (v. 13, 14) Christ has many ways of delivering the
godly out of temptation and trials, and some times does it by bringing change
in their persecutors.
It was also a very great mercy
to Saul himself. It is to be valued as a signal token of the divine favour, if
God prevent us from prosecuting and executing a sinful purpose.
The appearance of Christ to him
in his glory (v.17):
Lord Jesus was in this light. This light shone
upon him suddenly. Christ’s manifestations of Himself to poor souls are many times
sudden and very surprising. The devil comes to the soul in darkness but Christ
comes to the soul in light, for He himself is light of the world. The first
thing in this new creation, as in that of the world is light.
He fell on the ground (v. 4;
26:14):
Christ’s manifestations of Him
to poor soul are humbling, they lay them very low. Those whom God will employ
are first struck with a sense of their unworthiness to be employed. He heard a
voice saying to him (and it was distinguishing, to him only, v.7; 22:9), Saul!
Saul! Why do you persecute Me? Saul not only saw a light from heaven but heard
a voice from heaven. God’s manifestations of Himself were never dumb shows, for
He magnifies His word above all His name (Ps 138:2), and what was seen was
always designed to make way for what was said. Saul heard a voice. Faith comes
by hearing, the voice he heard was the voice of Christ. The word we hear
profits us when we hear it as the voice of Christ.
He was called by his mane,
Saul, Saul:
Some think in calling him Saul
hints at that great persecutor of David whose name he bore. He was indeed a
second Saul and such an enemy to the Son of David as the other was to David.
Calling him by his name intimates the particular regard that Christ had to Him,
‘I summon you by name, and bestow on you
a title of honour, though you do not acknowledge me’ (Isa, 45:4; Exo
33:12). The doubling of it, Saul, Saul intimates the deep sleep that Saul was
in; He needed to be called again and again (Jer, 22:29). The tender concern
that the blessed Jesus had for him, and for his recovery, he speaks as one in
earnest; It is like Martha, Martha (Luk 10:41) or Simon, Simon (Luk 22:31) or O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem (Mat 23:37).
The charge exhibited him is why
do you persecute me? A humbling conviction of sin is the first step towards a
saving conversion from sin. The person sinning is “It is you” the educated,
religious man who has got the law and scriptures. It is worse in you than
another. The person sinned again: “It is I”, who never did any harm to you, who
came from heaven to earth to do good for you, who was crucified for you not
long ago. The question put to him; why do you do it?
It is complaining language:
Christ never complained so much of those who persecuted Him in his own person
as He did here of those who persecuted Him in His followers.
It is convincing language: why
do you do thus? Can you give any good reason for doing this? It is good for us
often to ask ourselves why we do such and such thing, that we may discern what
an unreasonable thing sin is, and of all sins none so unreasonable, so
unaccountable, as the sin of persecuting the disciples of Christ, especially
when it is discovered to be persecuting Christ (Ps 24:4). Those who persecute
the saints persecute Christ himself and He takes what is done against them as
done against Him, and accordingly will be the judgement in the great day (Matt
25:45).
Saul makes enquiry concerning
Christ:
Who are you Lord? The question
is proper and it implies his present unacquaintedness with Christ; he knew not
His voice as His own sheep do, but he desired to be acquainted with Him (Judg.
13:17, Gen 32:29). There is some hope of people when they begin to enquire
after Jesus Christ. Christ brings souls in to fellowship with Himself by
manifesting Himself to them. He said, I am Jesus (The Saviour) I am Jesus of
Nazareth (Acts 22:8). I am that Jesus whom you blasphemed. I am that Jesus whom
you persecute and it will be at your peril if you persist in this wicked
course. There is nothing more effectual to awaken and humble the soul than to
see sin to be against Christ, an affront to Him, and a contradiction to His
design.
His gentle reproof of Him: It
is hard for you to kick against the pricks.
Saul’s address to Jesus Christ:
What shall I do, Lord? (22:10)
this may be taken as a serious request for Christ’s instruction. A serious
desire to be instructed by Christ in the way of salvation is an evidence of a
good work began in the soul. The great
change in conversion is wrought upon the will, and consists in the resignation
of that to the will of Christ.
How far his fellow travelers
were affected with this, and what impression it made upon them. In spite of the
light/ sound they were not converted. No
external means will of themselves bring a change in the soul, without the
Spirit and grace of God. Among these that traveled together, one is taken, and
others left. They stood speechless, none of them asked the question that Saul
had asked. But none of God’s children are born dumb.
They led him by the hand into
Damascus, thus he who thought to lead the Disciples of Christ prisoners and
captive to Jerusalem was himself led a prisoner and a captive to Christ into
Damascus.
Acts
9:10-31
A
good work was begun in Saul, when he was brought to Christ’s feet, in that
word. What shall I do, Lord? (22:10). Never did Christ leave any that were
brought to Him. He who has convinced will also comfort. Ananias is here ordered
to go and look after Saul. He was a certain disciple and a native of Damascus.
There are three Ananias found in Acts, Ananias, Sappira’s husband (5:1-11),
Ananias who prayed for Saul (9:10-17, 22:12), and Ananias the high priest
(24:1). He had a good report of all the Jews at Damascus, a devout man
according to the Lord and a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ (9:10, 22:12). He was
directed to go and enquire at such a house for a person called Saul of Tarsus.
Christ called Ananias by name. His ready response was, “behold, I am here,
Lord”. Jesus very well knows where to find out those that are His, in their
distress. We have a friend in heaven, who knows in what street, in what house,
and more over in what frame or condition we are.
Why he must go? Because Saul
was praying and his coming to him must answer his prayer. Ananias should not be
afraid of Saul as he was (v 13, 14). There is no question of that, says Christ,
because he is a true convert “for behold, he prays”. The word behold denotes the certainty of it. It
also denotes the strangeness of it, ‘behold and wonder’.
But was it such a strange thing
for Saul to pray? Was he not Pharisee? Yes, he was. But now he began to pray
after another manner than he had done before. Then he said his prayers, but now
he prayed them. If you can find a living
man without breath, then you can find a living Christian without prayer. If
breathless is lifeless, and so prayer less is graceless.
Ananias was asked to go
quickly, he should not linger, for behold he prays. Saul was under conviction
of sin, and conviction should drive us to prayer. He was under a physical
affliction, blind and sick. Christ had promised him that it should be further
told him, what he should be doing (v 6). What God has promised we must pray
for?
Ananias’ Objections:
He pleads that this Saul was a
notorious persecutor of the disciples of Christ (v 13,14). We must render good
for evil, and pray for our persecutors, this is what we learn from this story.
Jesus Christ overrules his objection (v 15, 16), He was a vessel in which the
gospel treasure should be lodged, an earthen vessel (2 Cor 4:7), but also a
chosen vessel.
Saul is designed:
a) For eminent services. He is
to bear my name...
Saul must be a standard-bearer,
he must bear Christ’s name before kings, King Agrippa and Caesar himself; not
only that he must bear it before the children of Israel.
b) For eminent sufferings: I
will show him ... (v 16)
He that has been a persecutor
shall be himself persecuted. Those that bear Christ name must expect to bear
the cross for his name. And those that do most for Christ are often called out
to suffer most for him. When difficulties are removed, what have we to do, but
to go on with our work, and not hang upon an objection? Saul came to lay
violent hands upon the disciples at Damascus; but here a disciple lays a
healing hand upon him. Ananias called him brother; this shows his readiness to
own Saul as brother; this also tells of God’s readiness to own him as a son;
though Saul had been a blasphemer of God and a persecutor of his children.
Ananias now tells forth his
commission to Saul. He says, the same Jesus ... sent me to you. The hand that
wounded heals. His light has stricken you blind, but he has sent me to you that
you might receive the sight. He assures him that he shall not only have his
sight restored, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. At the word of Ananias,
Saul is delivered from the Spirit of bondage by his receiving sight (v 18). The
cure was sudden, to show that it was miraculous.
Converting grace opens the eyes
of the soul. This was what Saul was sent among the gentiles to do, and
therefore must first experience it in himself. The scales fell from his eyes,
the cloud was scattered, and the Sun of righteousness rose upon his soul, with
healing under his wings. Saul was baptized, and there by submitted to the
government of Christ and cast himself upon the grace of Christ. Saul is now a
disciple of Christ, not only ceases to oppose him, but devotes himself entirely
to His service.
The good work that was begun in
Saul is carried on wonderfully. He received his physical strength (v 19). Our
body must be kept fit to serve God. Saul associated with the disciples at
Damascus. He had lately breathed out threatening and slaughter against them,
but now breathes love and affection to them. Those that take God for their God,
take His people for their people. Thus he made profession of his Christian
faith, and openly declared himself a disciple of Christ. He began to preach
Christ in the Synagogues (v 20). He was so full of Christ himself, that the
spirit within him constrained him to preach Christ to others. He preached
nothing but Christ, and Him crucified. He preaches Christ as the Son of God in
whom He is well pleased, and with us in Him. How people were affected with it?
(v 21). All the people that heard him were amazed.
He confounded those that
opposed the doctrine of Christ (v 22). Saul increased in spiritual strength. He
became intimately acquainted with the gospel of Christ. He grew more daring and
resolute in defense of the gospel (v 21). He was instrument in converting many
to the faith of Christ, and building up the church at Damascus.
Acts
9:32 – 10:35;
Lydda
is known today as Lod. It is in Philistine territory and they worshiped a god
called Dragon. That is the city near where David slew Goliath. And that is the
city where Peter slew sickness and death.
Why is it that instead of Paul, suddenly we
see Peter here? Dr. Luke wanted to give us a clear picture of two outstanding
apostles, viz. Peter and Paul. Indeed it was Peter who preached the first
sermon to the Jews, also preached his first sermon to the Gentiles. He was the
first man that took the truth about God, man & Jesus outside the Jewish
circle. Peter made his journey first from Jerusalem to Lydda & Joppa, and
then from Joppa to Caesarea. Three amazing things happened on those routes.
1]
The paralytic man was healed.
Peter
is on tour among the Christian Jews, because he was the first pastor of the
church. The church was scattered here and there. So, he went to Lydda to visit
some people who had fled to Lydda from Jerusalem due to the persecution. There
he found a man who was paralyzed for eight years. That man was a Christian
believer, but could not do anything for him, or for others. Peter went to him
and said, ‘rise up, because Jesus Christ
heals you.’ In fact, he said three things: a) Jesus Christ heals you, (b)
Believe and rise up, and (c) Make your bed (practical work), to make sure his
health was in action. Some enjoy their sick bed. They rather lie down instead
of doing work and look after themselves.
2]
Tabitha (Dorcas) was raised from dead.
She devoted her life in helping
the widows. Her good works did not make her a Christian. She did them because
she was a Christian. This is the difference between doing good thing in order
to get to heaven and doing good things because you are going there.
Good works and charity are no guarantee that
you will not fall sick and die. Christianity was never meant to be an insurance
policy. Let us not regard religion as insurance, Christ has never promised
that.
Tabitha Died - they lay her
down in the upper room and sent two men to Peter entreating him to come. Did
they imagine what Peter did after his arrival? Peter made everyone to go out of
the room and prayed, “Lord what should I do now, this woman is desperately
needed for these widows to take care of them”. The answer was “tell her to get
up” and Peter said the same thing. Peter was doing the things that the Lord
told him to do; he was just doing what Jesus did before him. Jesus said the
works that I do, you will do also. Now Peter faces even harder thing. There is
one thing harder than learning that is unlearning. It is far harder to unlearn
something than to learn, far harder for you to learn that something that you
believe is wrong, than to learn to believe in some thing that you believe in is
right. Peter had been brought up as a Jew, who believed in clean and unclean
things.
Cornelius the major, who prayed
constantly, was a generous man. He feared God, though he was a gentile. All the
time that he prayed, he has never got answer. But one day, he got the answer
and he was in terror. He got a name and address. When he got a clear reply, he
acted at once, and sent two men. When you get a clear reply from God, act on it
straight away.
Peter at this time, is on the
house top, seeing a vision, now for the first time he hears a voice saying to
him,”arise and eat”. Peter said ‘never’ one of his favorite words. Peter denied the Lord three times, was asked
three times if he loved Jesus and was rebuked three times. When the two men came to him, he went with
them. In chapter 10:26, Peter says, ‘I too am a man.....’ never think too much
of a man, if you do so, you can never think too much of God. In 10:34, 35 he
says ‘truly I perceive God has no
favour’. What is the major problem in the world today, not disease or death
but prejudice? God has no favorites. Christ is all and in all. If a man fears
God and seeks to do what is right then God can begin with that man. God will
reward his search for the truth by giving him the truth. This is most wonderful
truth that I perceived just now, said Peter.
Earlier Jesus said to His
disciples ‘I have many things to tell
you, but you can’t bear now’. Peter would not have borne it, if Jesus would
have told him this truth. But now Peter understood that and said truly now I
perceive that God has no favorites.
Acts
10:34 -11:18
This
passage does not say that God accepts everyone. But rather anyone, who fulfils
two conditions,
1.
Not
anyone who believes in God, because most people believe in God. The first condition
is to fear Him; this is the first step towards reality. The fear of the
punishment of God, for doing wrong
2.
To
realize that it does matter how you live and you start trying to put it right.
These two things don’t save the
men, they don’t get him into heaven, but they get him in touch with God. The
word ‘acceptable’ means, to get a favorable hearing. That is where the Gospel
begins. There are two things that a man who fears God and does what is right,
does not have.
1.
He
does not have any peace – because he is never sure of whether he is right or
not. That is why Peter said I have come to bring you the good news of peace.
Peace comes through the Lord Jesus Christ only. Even if we manage to live a
comfortable life that does not deal with what is on our conscience from the
past, it does not deal with the wrong things we did in earlier years.
2.
He
does not have power - though he tries to do what is right, but he cannot, he
has no power to achieve it, that is why he needs the Holy Spirit. In other
words, if you begin by fearing God and doing what is right in His side that is
the first in right direction. But we will not find peace and power in that
because we have only found the fear of God. You need all of God, if you are
going to be saved. All of God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And thus, find
peace, forgiveness and power; begin with God to have peace with God and power
of God. The Gospel is not good advice, but good news.
There are three level of
understanding Jesus Christ.
1) Jesus of Nazareth, Chapter 10:38, a man who
lived in a particular place, in a
particular time, but if that is where your understanding of this person ends, you will not find peace,
2) Christ of Israel, Verse
38,39 & 43, that means he was the final fulfillment
of a thousands of years of dreams yet
this is not the deep enough level
for one to find peace.
3) HE is Lord of all. verse 42, which means Lord of your total
life.
Peter preaches certain facts,
1) He began His ministry from His baptism, God was with Him, devil was against
Him, (2) He died being sinless, God raised Him up, (3) He is the judge now, He
has won the battle.
The choice is now yours either
you face Jesus someday to be punished or you come to Him right now to be
pardoned. The good news is that Jesus who will judge you is prepared to forgive
you now, if you take your case to Him now. The facts are:
1.
Jesus
was baptized
2.
He
went about doing good
3.
He
died on the cross
4.
He
rose again
5.
You
are going to face Him one day on His throne
6.
You
can receive pardon from Him now.
Suddenly the power came upon
them while Peter was still preaching; they began to speak in tongues. The
biggest miracle is extolling God. Four things are necessary to make a person
fully Christian.
1.
Repentance
– which only comes if you fear God
2.
Faith
– This only comes when you hear about Jesus.
3.
Baptism
in water – which is commanded to every believer.
4.
Confirmation
/ Assurance – to be sealed and anointed with the Spirit of God.
When Peter returns to
Jerusalem, he was in trouble from within. He explained what God has done even
among the Gentiles. After hearing Peter’s report, the church at Jerusalem
rejoiced and praised God. You may criticize somebody else but you cannot ever
argue against God, if God does something different than the way you are
thinking.
Acts
11:19 – 12:25;
Because
of persecution, the believers were scattered in to different places, some went
to Antioch. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. Every
nation had a little corner of Antioch; there was the Jewish quarter as well as
the Greek quarter. It was one of the most immoral towns in the world. The New
Testament commentators called it as the Paris of the ancient world. IT was
packed with night clubs, gambling centers and drinking places. The main
religion of Antioch was the worship of Diana. In that city, for the first time
ever in Christian history the word Christian itself is used.
We do not know who started the
church there, there is no name mentioned. Much of the work of God that has done
in most places has been done by People that are not being remembered. For the
first time, the believers talked to the Greeks. The first time anybody that
heard about Jesus who did not know, something of the OT, yet the amazing thing
is that a great number turned in to the Lord, and then the church at the
Jerusalem heard that the Greeks have responded to the Gospel, they sent
Barnabas to them. Barnabas was full of Holy Spirit and therefore not full of
his own ideas, but full of faith to believe that anything is possible to God.
He came there and he had only one thing to say to them ‘just keep right on the
way you are, just holding unto the Lord’. They were not Jews so the problem
arose at this point of what to call this church? What to call this people? So
they began to ask who did that. Who is the person behind? Who is in charge? And
for every single question that they asked they got one answer, Christ. So they
began to call them Christians. The Greek Christians preached the Lord Jesus. In
those days they used to have two kinds of preachers, 1) they had teachers whose job was to teach the
truth like Barnabas, who spent twelve months doing that. 2) they also had prophets, they were those who did not prepare a sermon, who did not
work at it but who could stand up and give a direct word from God to the
congregation, a direct revelation or something that they needed in that
particular situation .
One of the men, who came from
Jerusalem, was Prophet Agabus, who told that there was gong to be a famine. The
local fellowship sent relief fund that is how Barnabas and Saul became
missionaries. The church of God was mobile all this time spontaneously
spreading and expanding.
Acts.
12:
What was happening in Jerusalem all this time?
Herod: this man’s grand father
Herod the great, who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies to try and kill
Jesus before He was old enough to be the King. His uncle was the Herod who put
John the Baptist to death to please the dancing girl. Another member of this
family who was the Herod, whom Jesus called fox before whom Jesus stood and did
not answer him anything. This was the last of Herods who was a close friend of
the mad emperor Caligula in Rome. This man killed James with the sword in order
to please the Jews.
Peter was rescued, but James
was not. Sometimes God does not get His people out of trouble. Some times His
purpose is fulfilled in different way – even martyrdom, rather than in safety
or protection. Sometimes God glorifies Himself by healing a sickness or disease
and sometimes He says to a person ‘My
grace is sufficient for you.’ He knows what He is doing. John and James
were two brothers, James died first, and John was the last of the apostles to
die.
In one side Peter was in
bondage guarded by 16 armed soldiers in the prison. On the other hand, nothing
but simple prayer was going on in the church. Through this we know that prayer
is one of the mightiest things in the world. Prayer changes things. A man on
his knees is a more powerful man than the greatest military leader on earth.
Angels are the intelligence
beings superior to us in strength, in beauty and in intelligence. They are
there to help those who fear God. God is able to do exceeding and abundantly
above all the things we ask or think. The blockage is on our side. When we go
to prayer lets expect an answer.
Herod went too far in the sight
of the Lord and did something that he should not have done. A great feast was
held. It was about the year 44A.D, a festival was proclaimed through out the
world, which was celebrated in the every part of the Roman Empire. The festival
was about the successful invasion of England. At this feast this man the last
of Herods was eaten up by the worms.
But the word of God grew and
multiplied. Empires rise and fall – dictators come and go, but the Kingdom of
God and His Word goes on for ever.
Acts
13:1-12;
(Volume II of Acts the book of happenings)
First half of this book is all
about Peter. Second half is all about Paul. Other apostles are not mentioned a
lot. Therefore instead of “Act of the apostles” this should better be called as
the Acts of Jesus which continues from Gospel of Luke. The Acts of the Holy
Ghost – He is the one who is active here. He is mentioned in this book more
than any other person. He is mentioned / talked about 40 different time’s in
first 12 chapters of this book. He is the one who is continuing the Acts of
Jesus on earth. For our Jesus is seated up in heaven.
Without the Holy Spirit the
church would never have got going. Without the Holy Spirit mission is
impossible. In the first half the gospel is centered and spread out in
Jerusalem and surrounding places as far as up to Antioch.
In the second half Antioch
becomes a center and the gospel spreads out up to Rome. Paul was a missionary
before he was a Christian. He was such a fanatic Jew that he used to leave his
home, go to another country to speak against Christianity. He was a missionary
of anti Christianity.
Paul did not go on missionary
Journey immediately after his conversion. At least he took 3 years for
preparation. So instead of Ch. 10: we see him as missionary in Ch. 13:
The church said ‘go’ &the
Holy Spirit said ‘go’. There are two mistakes often being made today:
1) For individual Christians who have been called of God and
filled with Spirit to go off without
the church’s commission.
2) For the
church to send people off who have not been called of God.
The inward call of the
individual must be confirmed by the fellowship/church. So, Paul though he knew
on the day of his conversion that he was going to go as a missionary to the
gentiles had to wait many years until one day as the church at Antioch &
the Holy Spirit said to them ‘you can send these two for the work that I have
already called them to’.
The Holy Ghost calls in 2 ways.
1) He calls the individual hearts then
2) Through that individual’s fellowship He confirms that call
and says ‘go’.
The first 3 vs. of Ch 13 takes
us to a city called Antioch, a city notorious for its night life.
Here the believers were called
as Christians (who are in Christ).
1) The people there – verities of
people
Barnabas, a Cyprian, a man with
a great heart & generous hand. Simeon a black African, he became a
Christian on the day when Roman soldiers made him carry the cross of Jesus.
Lucius, a Roman quite a different from others
Manaen – who was brought up in
a place with a prince Herod?
Saul, from the tribe of
Benjamin a Jew trained as a Pharisee, yet there they are in one fellowship.
II. Prophets – they had 2 types
of ministries
1) The ministry of prophets
2) The ministry of teachers.
A prophet is someone who gives
an immediately inspired, spontaneous utterance which is a word from God, for
that situation and for that situation alone. It is not the word that is to pass
on out side the situation.
A teacher is someone who takes
those truths of God which are for all times and all places and all people and
teaches their meaning to the people. They were praying and fasting, the denial
of their physical appetites that they might stimulate their spiritual appetite.
Today the opposite is happening. When they fasted and prayed God spoke. Lying
of hands, it is an act of identification; you are part of me we are all one
body, to let our hands express His love and our unity in the body.
So, they sailed to Cyprus (the
happy Island). They (people) call it Makaria (GK) word for happiness / blessedness.
Happy Island they say because of the climate. Why did they sail there? Because
that was the place where Barnabas came from? When Saul was converted, he went
first to Tarsus. When Barnabas joined him, they went to Cyprus. Mission begins
right where we are before we go and start elsewhere.
Their
method:-
They
went in a group; God does not usually lead people to loners. Jesus sent His
disciples 2/2 they started preaching in synagogues. Start with those whom you
feel is nearest to God. They faced opposition from the occult people; here Paul
the missionary of light confronting the power of darkness. Paul’s first miracle
was a miracle of turning a man blind. He did the same thing to Elymas that
Jesus had done to him. There the Governor was converted; he was a man with
great influence.
Saul did 2 things after the
Governor’s convention.
1) He sailed away from Cyprus.
2) He decided to change his name.
His Jewish name was Saul. When
he became a Roman citizen his name became (changed) Paul It was changed after the
Roman governor was converted ... why?
Before he was named as Saul
after the Jewish ruler king Saul who was also from same tribe Benjamin. And
Saul did not turn out to be a good king. So, Saul of Tarsus must have been a
bit embarrassed that he was not good. But when Sergius Paulus became the first
convert, Saul knew in his heart to which he belongs now. So he decided to
change his name to the name of a gentile ruler who is a good one. And it is
right here where Dr. Luke writes Saul (who is also Paul) and as soon as he left
Cyprus. It is Paul, Paul all the way. He was even prepared to change his name
that he might be more identified with the people to whom, he came.
Paul gave an individual gospel
presentation. It is when people see the effect of instructions from the Lord in
other people’s lives, they will believe.
Acts
13:13-52
Have
you ever thought of Jesus being missionary, in fact that is the word He always
used. Father has sent me, so do I send you. After knowing that we have been
sent by God – we must know:
1)
What
we have been sent by God to do? and
2)
How
He wants us to do?
They moved (from) Pamphylia,
because Paul fell ill. Pamphylia was a city full of mosquitoes. There is no
guarantee for the Christian in the word of God that if you are engaged in
Lord’s business you will be free from sickness.
1) Either he could have sailed
back to Cyprus, back to Tarsus his home town or to Antioch his home church to
get recovery,
2) Or to go on in to the interior
for the ministry.
Paul went on, “when the going
get tough, the tough gets going”. When the mission gets tough, the weak
Christian leaves (Mark left), but the tough (strong) Christian keeps going.
The sickness can further the
gospel. Yes, God can heal and does heal but He allows sickness too. They went
up to Antioch (2nd) and began to preach in the Synagogues. This
Antioch was on the Europe, Asian highway. In Synagogues, (start your mission)
with the people who are like you. Start with the people you know and
understand. There were two groups in Synagogues in those days.
1) The Jews, who knew the Law.
2) The God fearers, another group
who used to sit separately, they were not full members of the Synagogues but
they were the seekers; who used to say, we believed that you Jews are people of
God, but we are not fully convinced that you have got the answer. So we have
come to listen. Those were the best people to start with. What did Paul preach
on? Paul preached about God.
Twenty one times in this brief
summary Paul says, Jesus was always pointing towards God; He is the way to God,
the truth about God and the life eternal in God. And all the time He was
pointing men to God, His heavenly Father. We have got to get people to realize
that there is the God and that Jesus is His son. Other wise you will finish up
with Jews, people who don’t know God.
The neglected Father: So Paul
preaches about God. 3 parts to his sermon:-
1)
Israel, 2) Jesus, 3) You.
1)
Israel: the history of their forefathers in Egypt,
to Canaan.
Two things he is trying to do
- He
is beginning with the things they are familiar with. Starting where they
are and then you are likely to help them where you are.
B. He wants to talk to them about
God before he talks to them about Jesus.
Paul always began, every sermon
or message he gave by telling people what God had already done for them. So
before he spoke about what God wanted to do for them; he brought from them a
feeling that they were already involved with God and He had already been good
to them. He said God gave you fertility from one family, you multiplied. God
gave you liberty; He brought you out of Egypt. God gave you maturity; He
endured your foolishness for 40 years. God gave you security; He destroyed 7
nations, and God gave you stability; He gave judges to rule your affairs. God
gave you sovereignty; He gave you a king after His own heart.
Again Paul speaks about John
the Baptist before he speaks about Jesus, John who was the last prophet of the
OT and the first prophet of the NT. He was the one started water baptism but he
was the man who said to the whole of his people do you want to make a clean
start. You want to make a clean start, then listen what I am going to speak.
Jesus that is what you need.
2)
Jesus
Paul Just talked about 2 things
of Jesus
a) He died, b) He rose again
People put Him on a cross and
killed Him saying He was a bad man and does not deserve to live. But God said
that is not true I will raise Him up. The apostles never said Jesus rose from
the dead they always said, God raised Him from the dead that was God’s doing.
a) Your past – what God has
already done for you?
b) What God wants to do for you
through Jesus’ death and resurrection?
3)
You
Paul tells people the
consequences of believing what he says and he warns them of the consequences of
rejecting what he says. He offers them both on Positive and Negative things,
the division they cause. It is tragic that the opposition to the gospel will
always comes most fiercely from religious people.
When people made up their minds
not to listen and do what Jesus told to do, Paul and Barnabas shook off the
dust from off their feet and went somewhere, where people would listen.
But the gentiles were glad.
Why? Because they had the good news, they didn’t have to become like Jews but
only have to become like Jesus. Even when they were kicked out they were bold
because they knew they have left the Holy Spirit and disciples who could
continue the work. So now they could say mission accomplished.
Acts
14:1-28
One
of the gifts that the Holy Spirit gave to early church was the gift of
boldness. What makes this to go on, drive on etc...? What is the motive
(behind) in driving himself on? Because he wants to save as many as he can. He
feels in debt to the world. (Where as) the common out look today is that people
feel the world is in debt to them.
I owe them the gospel (Paul), I
have got a debt to pay. When we preach the gospel to others; we are not doing
any favour to them but we are discharging (from) our debts. In fact they are
doing the favour for us waiting so long to hear from us. Paul says – there will
be a curse for me; if I don’t preach the gospel (woe is me). “Woe” is the opposite of “blesses” therefore
first characteristic of Paul’s mission can be summed up in one word “Forward”
as the going got tougher so they remained courageous.
Double testimony from now on;
as they witnessed to the Lord with words that reached peoples’ ears the Lord
witnessed to them with signs and wonders that reached peoples’ eyes. They fled;
sometimes it takes more courage to run, than to stay when it is right to go.
Our Lord Jesus at least in 5
occasion runaway/escaped or hid Himself from death; why He did that? Not
because of lack of courage, the answer is, if death is coming to you and your
work is not finished you must move on, but if your work is done, you must stay.
So, Paul left Iconium and went to Lystra. From Antioch to Iconium was 90 miles
walk and from Iconium to Lystra another 18 miles walk.
Lystra was a pagan city, where
idols were being worshiped, particularly 2 kinds of gods.
a) Zeus b) Hermes.
There is a legend in Lystra
which explains what happened when Paul got there. The legend concerned two
great trees that stood out side the Pagan temple in Lystra. Centuries ago the 2
gods Zeus and Hermes visited the town of Lystra in human disguise. And no body
would give them a bed for the night except for 2 poor peasant couple and a few
years later the entire population was destroyed (that probably) did happen in
an earth quake) and the only 2 people could survive that earthquake and flood
were these 2 peasant couple, they became the guardians of the temples of the
gods. For there were no others left? And when they died they turned in to 2
trees. And those 2 trees were there when Paul and Barnabas came to Lystra. The
people of Lystra were on the ready, they never let this happen again if the
gods came in human form. They were ready to take them in. So, when those people
thought the gods have come. Barnabas Zeus, Paul, Hermes.
The
healing of the crippled:
Paul
looking in to this man’s face saw, that he had the faith. We can’t try and work
it up. It is the gift of God. A miracle took place and the cripple got healed.
People brought flower garlands, bulls etc. to make sacrifice.
This was the most dangerous
point for Paul and Barnabas. The most dangerous point for an evangelist is to
be popular. Again Paul starts his message with (as his method was) where the
people are with 2 things; every gentile knows about (1) Creation (2)
Conscience.
Up till now God has let people
go their own way. The picture of God that the world needs to know is the God
who let people go their own ways but has gone on being good and happiness is
willing to give you forgiveness.
Immediately the situation was
reversed, the crowed went wiled and stoned Paul. Have you ever seen a man being
stoned?
A miracle happened, the disciples
stood around the bleeding body of Paul, suddenly he sat up, got up and walked
back to Lystra. What courage! No holidays, no rest, he says there are people at
Derbe without the gospel lets go. Here is the man sick in perge and Pamphylia,
Antioch kicked out of the city Iconium the same (conked-out) now in Lystra
stoned and left for dead and for ever after wards his body could never be the
same. Writing to those same churches in what we call, the letter to the
Galatians he says, I bear in my body the scars of the Lord Jesus ... yet went
on preaching. His steadfastness of character was upset neither by opposition
nor by sickness; they went around preaching and arrived back in Antioch. Paul
says again let’s go back...
Mission:
Half of the team goes on preaching bringing souls to
Christ. Half of the team goes back to those areas again following up. Why he is
going back? To see that the disciples are growing up in the church, you can be
a Christian without being in a church. The world is interested in Christ today,
but doesn’t have any place for the church. It is God’s will that we are born
into a family. So he went and appointed elders, the church need appointed
elders. The matured should guide the immature. They returned to their home
church and reported what the Lord has done. What God has done through/ with
them and how He (God) opened the door in to the gentile world? Christianity has
become the world religion; Christianity has been transplanted in to the gentile
world.
In this chapter we find Paul
and Barnabas arguing with their fellow Christians, a long debate. There are two
groups of people, who feel that this Church is a tragedy and there is something
that should never have happened and some thing that is not edifying and should
not occur among Christians.
I.
The
activists II. The
pietists
1) The activist – is the person
today and in those days who would say this ‘lets keep off doctrine. It only
divides. Let’s not discuss to get hot with each other. Don’t have meeting to
discuss what we believe. Let’s get on with the job, let’s get out and preach.’
“Theology divides, mission unites” is the slogan we here again and again.
2) The pietist group - those who
have no room for Christians to get together for meetings to discuss different
points of view. Who believe that you can settle all controversies by holding a
prayer meeting and seeking a direct word from the Lord to settle the issue? Who
don’t realize that there is a very important place for Christians to gather in
a church meeting and discuss openly and frankly the different understanding of
the ways of God. The discussion and the debate are not wanted it is a right and
proper thing to do. When Paul transplanted Christianity from the Jewish culture
to the gentile culture the devil did not like it so he got hold of those old
Jewish Christians to pull it back, who have made the same mistake that nearly
all of us could make. They confused their own culture with Christianity and
began to preach their own cultural version, back grounds, and their principles
and taught them as Christianity. We do that all the time.
They said unless you are
circumcised, you can not be saved. This is the point which we go wrong where we
add something to the gospel. A man can be saved with long hair. Of course the
Bible tells him to cut it after wards. What must I do to be saved? That is the
question; you got to sort-out before you go on a mission. Your answer, to that
will tell you, whether you are free in the gospel and in the Holy Spirit. So,
Paul argued and even he went up to Jerusalem on that issue. Because people who
sent those false teachers said not only you must be circumcised, but also keep
all the laws of Moses and that is not just 10 commandments, but 613.
Paul could see that this would
destroy the Christian gospel if neglected. Now the gospel is this, you are
saved by believing, not achieving, by trusting not by trying, by putting
yourself in the hands of God for Him to do His work for you; not by putting
yourself in your hands to cry and do something for Him. You are not saved by
what you do for God, but by what God does for you.
We need a saviour, not a
standard. In Jerusalem, they did not hold prayer meeting they hold a debate and
discussed the issue, then settled.
1) The argument from experience what the Spirit does.
2) The
argument from exposition what the Scripture say.
But these two arguments what
God is doing through His Spirit and God is saying in His Scriptures when these
line up together, you can be absolutely sure you have got the answer and the
guidance that you need. Peter recorded his memory from the experience in
Cornelius home.
Don’t be narrower than God. If
He accepts a person then, you must. What we think is the work of the Spirit
must always be checked by the word of scripture.
Acts
15:13-19
James said my Bible backs up
Peter’s experience. God has accepted the gentiles. So, the whole church
realized that God has settled this arguments in 2 ways.
1) What He has done
2) What He has said
Their decision was a double
decision. It has two parts to it, as every church decision ought to have.
1. Liberty 2. Love
1) The first part of the
decision was to repudiate the false teaching and say we do not approve it etc
... Here comes the liberty. Christianity stands by itself free of any culture.
2) The second part is we won’t impose
circumcision on you but we do ask you to observe some rules of Jewish culture
etc... Why? Do you see there is something more than liberty in it?
Love says – if a thing that I
am going to do is going to offend and cause me to separate from another Christian,
and then I will impose a limit on my liberty. I will limit my own freedom to
keep in fellowship with others. Real freedom is not to say I am free to do
this, it is to be able to say, I am free not to do it. Liberty and love,
perfect partner together. When a decision of this kind is made (reached) people
should be informed by written and spoken word, both are needed:
1) It should be laid down then it
is fixed. So that it can’t be later changed, misunderstood.
2) Verbal confirmation of what was
written. This chapter was a triumph for truth, not a tragedy. So that Paul
could go with renewed confidence and the Christians would agreed upon.
