Acts (Part 4 of 4) - The Holy Spirit

We’re going to look at the Holy Spirit. This will be quite simple. You’ll have heard much of it before. But sometimes it’s good to revisit old truths. The whole topic is confused in many Christians’ minds. Everyone has a different analysis.

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The old Pentecostal teaching was that the Holy Spirit came as a separate experience. You got yourself saved, discovered you weren’t doing too well, and tried to get baptised in the Holy Spirit. Your Christian life seemed to be dull and ineffective and so you tried to get baptised in the Holy Spirit.

I was brought up in a church where I was taught that the Holy Spirit had gone back to heaven after Pentecost. The charismatic renewal of the 20th century changed people’s ideas. There were errors and excesses, but it changed ideas.

So far we’ve seen this propulsion of the Gospel. We’ve seen God didn’t intend it to stay in Jerusalem, and in each stage as it went out, there is a description of what happens in the lives of new believers.

I want to try to make this personal to you.

John 1:12

That’s one of my favourite verses. With whatever background, whatever right or wrong beliefs ... to those who will receive Him, He gives the power to become the sons of God.

Jesus said to the disciples, “I don’t call you servants any more but friends.” But that wasn’t the final status for His church. He doesn’t want us to be servants or friends, but sons. He gives the power which translates you form one kingdom to another and brings you into new birth.

In our study we are seeing with group after group that He gave the power to become the sons of God, to be different, to have a relationship with God and call God their Father, and express things in how they lived and related to other people.

Some very important basic principles ...

Exegesis is where we draw the meaning out of the Word. Isogesis is the opposite, and it is dangerous – it’s where I bring my interpretation and try to make it fit. There is a cardinal principle – you move from the general to the specific rather than the other way round. The other way is to use it as a proof text, and that will get you into trouble.

The Bible records the whole concept of salvation, as the gift of the Holy Spirit being transmitted to the early church.

The following is a prophetic word made in Old Testament times, looking forward to what was going to happen in the New Testament.

Ezekiel 36:24-27

John 14:15-17

Luke 24:49

Acts 1:4-5

The Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father. I’d never really picked that up before. When we look at anything in the Bible, we look beyond the actual words and to the nature of God. And when we bring the nature of God into our understanding, things become clearer. I know the promise flows from the God of love, who doesn’t change. It’s a promise which will be kept.

I wish someone had told me that the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father in the early years when I was trying Old Testament methods be a Christian, to get to the place where I could be baptised in the Holy Spirit. I was aware of the problems in my life, that I didn’t match up, that I was ineffective. Struggling for the baptism, and I didn’t know He was the promise of the Father. It gives a tremendous security.

This is a word which can’t be broken or altered, and it’s for everyone. There is no two-tier system, where some people have some elevated experience which makes them better Christians than others. It’s not conditional, not something which is the privilege of an exclusive group. I can rely on the promise because it comes form a divine source. It’s not something I engender, attain to by living a perfect Christian life. It’s something which comes from a divine source, and it’s a promise.

In each of the major passages through Acts which refer to the baptism, that concept of a promise is very clear.

The first one was pre-Pentecost – Acts 1:4. We’ve looked at that.

Acts 2:32-33

Jesus has received the promise of the Father and sent it to us.

Now post-Pentecost.

Acts 2:38-39

We’re going from Jerusalem out to Samaria. This is the time when Simon the Sorcerer tries to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:20

Now to the Gentiles.

Acts 10:44-45

He is the promise of the Father and comes as a gift to every believer.

Now how does the promise come?

Acts 1:5

An active verb requires you to do the doing. A passive is when something is done to you. So here we have both passive verbs. This isn’t something you do to yourself – God does it to you. You can’t do it yourself. What I find incredible is that no one in all the events through Acts was excluded. There weren’t 60 of the 120 at Pentecost who didn’t receive. The same happened at Caesarea. The same with the 12 at Ephesus. They were all filled. It was inclusive, non-conditional, a promise, and a promise which God fulfilled. And that promise brought a power. And the power for mission is a lot of the emphasis we see, because of the nature of the book and its concern with the Gospel going out.

We are to be witnesses to Him. it’s not a power to be consumed on ourselves, to grow us, to elevate us above others. It’s a power to be witnesses to Him.

Bruenner: “To be baptised in the spirit is to become Christ’s. The power of the Holy Spirit is His ability to join men to the risen Christ so they are able to represent Him. There is no higher calling.”

“We are the message.” What we express is what we live. We become the message. We have the power to represent Him, to know His mind and will, to speak as He speaks, to represent Him not just in terms of a pulpit or a specific message, but every minute in the way we live. We need a power beyond us to do that. But the promise is there. Some people say that was just for the apostles. Does it apply to other people?

Despite the fact that the disciples lived with Jesus, saw His compassion, His authority, His signs and wonders ... despite this, it was only when the Holy Spirit came that they were joined with Him in understanding what it was all about, to represent Him and reach out and let Him work through them to touch people’s lives, with the Word, with healing power. It was the Holy Spirit which represented them.

I want to pick out the word wind. It’s used only in one other place – also in Acts, where it means breath. It refers to the breath of life. Man was made and God breathed into him and he became living soul. There’s a life which has come. These people are being enlifed with God. We have it also in Psalms 150 – let everything that has breath praise the Lord. What happened on the Day of Pentecost was that that breath of life came inside people and changed them.

Bruenner: “Wherever the Holy Spirit comes to a man, He comes to fill, not only to affect, to dwell not simply to visit. The Holy Spirit is a person, and therefore where He is, He is fully.” When He comes He comes in fullness, without partiality. He comes to give us the power to become the sons of God and to live as sons of God in the world.

They all spoke in tongues. They didn’t seek it as an experience, but it came.

Acts 5:32

People have suggested this is evidence that you have to be special. You have to have obedience or you won’t get baptised. But we have a difference in tenses here. The obedience isn’t the cause of the coming – it’s the result. The Holy Spirit whom God gave (past) to those who are obeying (present) Him. It’s the empowerment of the Holy Spirit which leads to the obedience, not the other way round.

Acts 8:14-17

That scripture has been used to argue that the coming of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience from new birth. There is a delay factor. The Samaritans were the natural enemies of the Jews. They were rejected by the Jews. And here what is happening within this group of despised people is exactly the same as had happened with the Gentiles at Jerusalem.

I think we have to see the significance of this event. The Gospel is going out from the Jewish enclave and it’s going to the Samaritans. It seems God wanted the Apostles to know the same was happening here as at Jerusalem. They were believing and receiving the Holy Spirit.

If we’d had the Apostles at Jerusalem and then a separate group with no Apostolic involvement, you might have had differences springing up. So there was apostolic involvement, but it was the same experience. They didn’t receive the Holy Spirit to start with, but then the Apostles came and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit. Same experience over a longer period of time.

Acts 10:44-45

The Gentiles are brought in in the same way. And to show there was no difference, there was the gift of tongues. They praised God in exactly the same way as the Jews had done. This is clearly a time of conversion. Peter came for a specific purpose.

Acts 11:14

When Peter tells the whole story to the Apostles at Jerusalem, he stresses the fact that it was the same for the Gentiles as for the Jews.

Acts 11:18

What are we saying? We’ve looked at Pentecost, we’ve looked in Samaria, in Caesarea. And we’ve seen that this is a promise. The Holy Spirit comes as a promise, and He comes at new birth. This isn’t a separate experience I have to struggle to get – it comes as a free gift when I am born again. And it comes completely by faith, by grace.

Let’s return to Simon the Sorcerer.

Acts 8:17-19

His motivation was wrong. He wanted something He didn’t have. He didn’t realise this was a gift of grace. He was seeking outside of faith for something which was only God’s to give. He goes down as the father of heresy. The problem was he through he could earn it. He didn’t see it was a gift of faith.

We have a similar problem in the Jerusalem conference. This was bound to happen. It was part of the reason that God made sure Peter was there when the Gentiles first received the Holy Spirit. We have certain people thinking that circumcision is a prerequisite for being a Christian.

Acts 15:1

Faith isn’t enough. Something else has to be involved. This was a tremendous conflict which the early church had to resolve.

Acts 15:7-11

The gift is by grace through faith. God is showing there is only one basis for salvation. It’s a gift which comes in the power of the Holy Spirit – nothing to be added, no conditions to be fulfilled, no need for anyone to be excluded.

Acts 15:11

Thankfully the decision of the Jerusalem council was to set at naught the notions of the people who wanted elements of Judaism brought into Christianity – it was all of faith.

Acts 18:24-26

This was a man who appeared to have so much. But there was a limit to what he knew. He had the Bible knowledge, the facts, but he only had the baptism of John. I can look back in my own life to a place where I had a lot of Bible knowledge, to a place where I took positions of leadership in Christian Unions and helped in the church. But I only had the baptism of John. This man could only take people so far. He couldn’t bring them into the reality of new birth, because he didn’t know the Holy Spirit. He was conscientious and thorough, but one thing was lacking – he hadn’t come to a new birth experience himself through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In my own experience there were times when I had so much and yet had nothing, because no one told me that I needed the promise of the Father, that there was a supernatural life I could live. I believed the teaching, and the teaching was good up to a point. But the only thing which changes you on the inside is when you are born by the spirit of God and you become not a servant, not a child, but a son of God. In this book, this is what we see the Holy Spirit doing – bringing people into relationship with God.

We have a similar problem in the next chapter. This is interesting ...

Acts 19:1-6

Paul took them back to basics. He taught faith in Jesus Christ, and when that faith became a reality they were baptised in the Holy Spirit. He didn’t go on to high things, but to the fundamental. It’s at the beginning that every believer receives the Holy Spirit. We are baptised by one spirit into one body.

I can see that very much when I look back. I knew I had to repent. I knew I needed a relationship with God. I was baptised in water. But there was something missing. And when true faith in Jesus Christ came, I was baptised in the Holy Spirit. The two went together. No one in the whole of the New Testament do we have any teaching of a two stage Christian experience. In Acts, there was no two-tier experience – just one experience.

There’s no such thing as baptism in the Holy Spirit. It’s not ever expressed like that in the Bible. It talks about baptising in the Holy Spirit, but not baptism. And there is a difference. In many places, when you talk about baptism in the Holy Spirit it sounds like an event. Baptising produces a different concept. The same type of understanding which sees baptism as an event also talks about the conditions needed to underpin it. Some people require you to have many different experiences before you’re ready. You have to do and be so many things before you attain to where you ought to be.

Bruenner: The whole teaching of a second experience involves a denial of grace. It says the Gospel is ok for the beginning but not for the continuation of the Christian life ...

The Holy Spirit comes when we first believe. He baptises us into one body, empowers us. He is there when we are born from above, and He doesn’t go away. That’s not to say there aren’t times in our lives when we need to know again.

In Acts 4 after they had encountered the Sanhedrin, the disciples needed to know God was with them, and it was almost as though they were baptised.

People like Whitfield saw that the Holy Spirit empowers us form the moment of new birth. But they also saw this as an ongoing experience. It isn’t just one event, but a continuous one. You are baptised – it’s continuous.

Sometimes we try to get all our doctrine in neat boxes. We try to understand everything. But we know only in part. God is an awful lot bigger than our understanding and doctrine. Why did a God who in a sense dismissed the Moabites, include Ruth? He reaches out beyond our concepts in ways we don’t understand.

We can’t lose the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t come to visit, but to remain. He will be with you, dwell with you, and shall be in you.

Looking at the whole of this book, we see that whenever new birth came to a different group of people, the Holy Spirit is there, moves, empowers them, gifts them. He is the promise of the Father. At new birth we are all made to drink of one spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13

Don’t we see that in this book? Regardless of people’s background, all received faith in the same way, with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

How do you know the Holy Spirit as come? How do you know you’ve been born?
He brings us into relationship with God. He gives us the assurance that we actually do belong to God.

Romans 8:15-17

This was the assurance which came to person after person in place after place as the Gospel moved forward with power, the whole thing orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. And it’s a promise – to you and to your children. At new birth we are sealed with that Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:12

The Holy Spirit is the seal, Jesus the sealer. The seal denoted possession and protection.

Acts 1:8

We tend to think of that in terms of preaching, sharing the Gospel, evangelism. But there are other areas, other ways in which we are witnesses to Him. We are witnesses in the values we have, the books we read, the TV programmes we watch ... in every single area of our lives.

I was struck when Peter referred to the verse about the children in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13). The children could not speak the Jews’ language. These were children of people who were no longer witnesses to God, children who had paid a price, who didn’t know who or where they were. They didn’t know their relationship with God, didn’t know the law, couldn’t speak the language. Where there is mixture there is always confusion.

We are called to be witnesses to Him in our families, in how we speak, in what we expect of our children, how we expect them to behave, in the values in their lives. We are called to transmit the faith to our children and we need the power of the Holy Spirit to do it.

To as many as received Him gave He power to become the sons of God. He gives us the power and we need it. He gives us the power to live a which is different, which pleases Him. And that power is in the person of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the one who strengthens us, seals us, empowers us. He is the one who comes when we are born into the kingdom of God and He never leaves.

Called to be witnesses unto Him. We don’t think of ourselves as anything special. We aren’t Peter or Paul or John or Philip. But our calling is to be witnesses to Him.

There are times when you know that power is there, times you know when you’re facing something you can’t handle on your own. There are times when you know God gives you wisdom, and afterwards you ask yourself where it came from. The reason we can do this is that the Comforter never leaves. He strengthens, equips, empowers. He is what we need every minute of every day.

Peter Linnecar: This takes the pressure off. The gift of tongues is totally valid. But when we reach the gates of heaven, we shan’t be asked “Do you speak in tongues?” God knows what we need, and He equips us accordingly. There are some who value that gift particularly. Brilliant. But what came over tonight was the whole aspect of the promise of the Father, and the Holy Spirit 100%.

Acts (Part 3 of 4) - Evangelism

I want to talk about one particular word – kerygma. Then we’ll look at Paul’s method of evangelism, and then end up with the nature of the early church.

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Kerygma is the Greek word for proclamation, announcement, preaching. There are eleven sermons in the Acts of the Apostles.

All this goes back to the time before the New Testament, where we have a herald making proclamations.

2 Chronicles 20:3

There was an urgency here.

Then there were proclamations by foreign kings – e.g. Daniel. There were proclamations through the kings of Israel, through the prophets :-

Joel 1:14

There was a proclamation, a crying out, to grab people’s attention. When Jesus stood up proclaiming the fulfilment of the prophecy from Isaiah 61, this is what He was doing.

Lk 4:16-22

What happens with the kerygma in Acts – because Acts is the Acts of the Holy Spirit who in turn was the power to bring Christ to the people ... so when Jesus stood up and said those words, He became the proclamation. It wasn’t like 2 Chronicles where Jehoshaphat called for an action of the people. When Jesus stood up, He was the embodiment of the proclamation He was making. He was the word. So when it comes to the kerygma of Jesus and what happens in Acts, you have that coming together. You are the message. There is a power, an authority with the work of the Holy Spirit in an individual.

What does this mean in the early church?

One definition says kerygma has come to denote the irreducible essence of Christian preaching – irreducible because the preacher is the message.

In Acts there is a movement away from proclaiming the kingdom of God, and in its place is the preaching of Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:23

1 Corinthians 15:12

2 Corinthians 1:19

He is the exalted one. Because of His death Jesus is the kingdom. This is the revolutionary message of John 15 – I am the vine.

Acts 1:8

This is the main verse of Acts. There was the ripple effect from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria. The kerygma is “ye shall be witnesses unto me.” So when you’re at work and you witness to a friend, you’re not talking about a philosophy or a manner of life – it’s Jesus Christ, the exalted king, Christ crucified.

It’s a huge transition from something which would happen to the whole nation and to being witnesses of Jesus Christ and who He is. You and I are involved with that.

The content was Jesus Himself. As for the manner ...

1. The preaching to mainly Jewish audiences had a particularly political quality.

Mere announcement wasn’t enough. There was argument, testimony, pleading, proving.

Acts 9:22

He didn’t prove an idea. He proved that Jesus Christ was who He claimed.

Acts 9:29

He was standing for what he believed. There was a way of getting involved with the argument.

Acts 17:2-3

Three weeks he was reasoning with them. It was all to do with Jesus and His being Christ.

Acts 18:4-5

Acts 19:8-9

Acts 28:23

You might say that was just Paul. That was his particular ability. But I’ve been very conscious of late of how we need to be prepared to stand for the truth – that Jesus came into this world to save sinners, and He rose from the dead for a reason. We’re not here to outline a philosophy of life which simply differs from other religions. We’re talking about God and Jesus Christ. What are the arguments for saying that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? What is the truth about Him? In Acts, everything revolves around Jesus Christ and his crucifixion and resurrection. The transition to Jesus Christ has happened, and our witness has to revolve around that. It’s something we can proclaim boldly because the Holy Spirit brings that boldness.

2. It was the divine commission.

Rom 10:15

One commentator says that without a commission, the preaching of Christ is only propaganda. In Luke 4, they were astonished at Jesus’s teaching when He spoke. He was anointed to preach. There’s something about Acts. It pulsates with life. There’s a surge going forward – Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the world. What’s your witness like? Are you ready to give an answer for the faith which is in you?

The Apostles were aware of their divine commission.

Acts 10:42 Peter

Acts 9:15 Paul

1 Corinthians 9:16-17

Was this commission just for the Apostles, or is it for you and me? Are we meant to witness, to share our faith, to open our mouths? Yes, yes, yes. Spurgeon said, “Share the Gospel, and if you have to, open your mouth.”

They spoke with authority. The Jewish leaders recognised that they had been with Jesus. At Antioch, a great many were added, because of the authority of Barnabas.

Acts 11:24

“The demonstration of the spirit is when as the minister of the word so behaves himself that all – even ignorant persons and unbelievers – may judge that it is not so much he that speaketh but the spirit of God.” Puritan quote.

Because it was full of life, there was opposition. There was no neutral zone where the kerygma landed with no reaction. Where there is life, there’s reaction. You either hate it or you’re drawn towards it. The opposition was often expressed in terms of opposition to the messenger.

3. The transparency of the message and its motive.

1 Corinthians 1:17-18

Clarity is the keynote. And the one who gives the message aims to please God, not man. When you witness, the aim is not to make a friend, but to share the truth of Jesus Christ. We’re not trying to make ourselves popular, but to be true to the one who has commissioned us.

Acts 9:23-25 Damascus

Acts 17:5-6 Thessalonica

You couldn’t be middle of the road. You either rejoiced or sought to suppress it. Let’s see a favourable reaction :-

Acts 8:5-8

See the work of the Holy Spirit, bringing truth to those listening. He’s a person and speaks to people and acts, not as a blind force but as the spirit of truth.

Thomas Charles: “It’s easy and delightful to preach the Gospel in these days. Beams of divine light accompany every truth delivered ...”

That’s what the Holy Spirit does. If the Holy Spirit anoints a preacher, if the preacher is in the centre of God’s truth, if the Holy Spirit is the force behind the proclamation of who Jesus Christ is, it is an irresistible combination.

What I want here, whoever is preaching here is the truth proclaimed, being an open vessel for the Holy Spirit to speak the living word.

Some people have analysed the kerygma of the apostolic church into six elements. They have said this is the traditional format of how you would proclaim the Gospel.

1. There’s an age of fulfilment.

2. This has taken place through the ministry of Jesus.

3. In view of the resurrection, He has been exalted.

4. The Holy Spirit in the church is the sign of His power and glory.

5. This age will reach its consummation when Jesus Christ returns.

6. An appeal is made for repentance.

Alternatively it can be expressed in three parts:

1. The proclamation of the death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ seen as the fulfilment of prophecy.

2. The resultant evaluation of Jesus as Lord and Christ.

3. A summons to repent and receive forgiveness of sins.

If you look at the majority of sermons in Acts, there is that format. The kerygma isn’t a template, but it results in the power of the Holy Spirit transmitting the power of Jesus Christ.

1. The proclamation of the death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ seen as the fulfilment of prophecy.

His death was not accidental, but according to a plan.

Acts 2:23

The Jews denied the holy and righteous one and chose a murderer.

Acts 3:13-14

They set at nought the stone which became the head of the corner.

Acts 4:11

Acts 5:30

As for the resurrection, it’s found in every one of the early speeches in Acts – they had spoken to people who had witnessed that resurrection.

Acts 2:24

Since the resurrection was foretold it was impossible for death to hold Jesus Christ.

It was duly witnessed.

Acts 10:41

There is something about the human heart which can set itself against God. But here there is a life in the one saying the message – Jesus Christ inside. When you share with someone by the Holy Spirit, what will be communicated, with authority, is that life of Christ. We have to have the guts to speak the truth, and God by His Holy Spirit will outwork His purpose with that word. What we mustn’t do is be shy of speaking out for the truth.

I’m collecting articles about freedoms being removed from our society. I constantly thank God for the freedom we have. We need to be vigilant and speak up to preserve that freedom to be able to share the Gospel. Tonight, I don’t have to worry about state police coming in to close us down as we meet. But we need to be vigilant, and in sharing our faith, we need to lift up Jesus Christ and be open and sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit. We can’t just presume things will always be as they are. It’s becoming more and more significant.

2. The resultant evaluation of Jesus as Lord and Christ.

Acts 2:3

There’s personal relationship. There’s a wonderful array of titles which reflect the firm grasp of the early church community on this basic truth that Jesus Christ is the holy one – the righteousness one, the author of life, the stone, the judge of the living and the dead. His messiahship is recognised in titles such as prophet, servant, saviour. The resurrection vindicated Him.

2. The summons to repent

The kerygma was not a dispassionate recital of historical facts. It was the confrontation of man with the dilemma of having rejected the one God had exalted. Repentance was the only way, and the strongest incentive was the gracious offer of the forgiveness of sins.

It was said of Spurgeon that there was no more solemn place than the pulpit. In every sermon he stood toe to toe with the devil. Every convert was a jewel snatched from satan and presented to the Saviour. Spurgeon said we needed to be open to the power of the Holy Spirit. Without that there is nothing.

There is something topical now. If there is a right way to structure a church, we need to do it the right way. But equally we need to apply those principles to our situation. There is no set template. There are all sorts of variations to what should or should not be done. But there are principles.

Paul began talking about Jesus Christ in the synagogue. When it was rejected by the Jews, he turned to the Gentiles. He vocalised this approach.

He was very well versed in Jewish culture. So he started there and preached faithfully, but when they rejected him he moved on to the Gentiles. How long he remained in a location, was determined by opposition, by the meagre response of the Gentiles, or by a combination; and on one occasion, no reason is given why he went.

Generally he didn’t stay more than a few weeks or months. Ephesus was an exception, when he stayed for three years. He went where God wanted him to go. If the Holy Spirit, told him to go to a particular place, that was where he went.

When Paul moved on from these new churches (and there was no church building as we know it ... things were happening around the neighbourhood, around homes) ... when he left these churches, he had no person to leave with them. The Jews knew the Old Testament scriptures, and often the Gentiles knew God only from nature. So Paul left having chosen leaders. Often the basis of the choice isn’t clear. Sometimes it was self-evident. Sometimes is was by lot. Sometimes it may have been by vote. Paul appointed leaders to shepherd the flock in his absence. Often they were known as elders.

Acts 14:23

The ordaining of people as elders was probably by the laying on of hands and prayer. In 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, you get the qualifications. You know the type of person, but not how they are appointed. But when Paul moved on the elders were left to shepherd the flock. And as time passed, others were appointed.

Titus 1:5

Acts 20:17

Luke doesn’t try to give a comprehensive account of Paul’s ministry. On each journey, he selects the events which best show the Gentiles’ acceptance and the Jews’ rejection of the message. Luke never gives details of a second visit to a church. The whole message is to do with the message going out.

The Jews rejected the message, but the Gentiles accepted it. This is confirmed by the Jews’ reaction in Rome.

Acts 28:25-31

It’s sad. Paul knew exactly about the Jewish tradition. He would have been pinpoint accurate in what he said. But the Jews rejected it.

The nature of the church

The church wasn’t a building. We’re talking about people. The word ecclesia is often used, which refers to the gathering of the citizens. The background to the New Testament use of the word is Jewish rather than Greek – the people of God in assembly.

Acts 5:11

The word became used for believers gathered in any given community.

Acts 13:1, Acts 18:22, Acts 20:17. Acts 9:31 uses the same word for the entire church.

Acts 9:31

The new people who made up the church were no longer equivalent to the nation of Israel. They were a new people, and the church was born on the day of Pentecost.

Transfer this to us. Something happens in Harwich, something else in Colchester. And slowly people are forming into groups with the one common denominator – faith in Jesus Christ. Their vertical relationship brought about the triangle, God, me and you. It was those fellowships were developing. Until the edict of Milan (313 AD), a church was not officially recognised and could own property.

The church grew without church buildings. Often they met in houses.

Acts 18:7

The house was next door to the synagogue. People met in a house. And we see the same elsewhere – e.g. Philippians 2, Colossians 4:15. Often there were conversions of a “man and all his house.” There was family, and there were homes where people met. As you look through these things, you can see that it was the fellowship which kept people together.

Acts 2:41-42

We will grow more and more into prayer.

The Apostles doctrine is not defined, but it probably consisted of a summary of His life,
Fellowship was the root idea of the early church.

“They were drawn to one another because they had together been drawn to Christ. Because they were partakers of Christ, they were partakes of one another. The term receives its distinctive colour because of the vertical dimension of fellowship with God ...”

If you look around this hall, are these people you would normally associate with? We’re all different social backgrounds. And yet I can link up with you as my brother completely. I’m 100% with you, and you with me.

It is the divine linking up with the divine in each of us and it overrides everything else. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

They often had meals together, because that was the way of fellowship in Greco-Roman society. Disfellowship meant not eating together. For a Jew and Gentile to sit at a common table indicated genuine acceptance.

We are all one.

Acts 2:44

Acts 2:46

Acts 4:24

Acts 4:32

That’s why this church will grow – because we are of one heart and one soul, and as we love one another and lift up Jesus Christ together, He will draw people to Himself.

Acts (Part 2 of 4) - Peter & Pentecost

We’re looking this evening at the Day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Last week we did an overview of the book – the type of person Luke was, why he wrote, what theology he touched on. We have time only to look at themes. The key verse was :

Acts 1:8

This was an unconditional promise. Jesus said they would receive power. All they had to do was to go back to Jerusalem and wait until the Holy Ghost was poured out.

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This books bridges between the Gospels and the Epistles, providing the historical context for the Epistles. The Gospel was propelled – Jerusalem to Judaea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth. Luke has one aim in view – the transmission of the Gospel from a Jewish centre in Jerusalem to the centre of the civilized world in Rome. In the Gospel of Luke, he starts in Rome (with talk of the taxing) and ends in Jerusalem with the crucifixion. Now we move in the other direction. This Gospel isn’t just for the Jewish nation, but for the people of the world. The Holy Spirit orchestrates everything, directing them in everything they do.

Acts 2:1

God’s timing is always perfect. In Gal 4, Paul refers to the fullness of time. Here again we have a sense of timing. This is a point in history where eternity intersects with time, and God sends for the promised Holy Spirit.

Pentecost means fiftieth. The Passover was the time when Jesus was crucified. Here we are fifty days later, which was when they celebrated the first fruits of harvest.

John 12:23-25

At the death of Jesus, the wheat had fallen into the ground, and now fifty days later we have the firstfruits. God had such a sense of timing. Jesus had done His work, had returned to heaven. In world terms, God had set the stage. At this point in history, we have the Romans in charge. The Greek civilization prior to them had brought a common language – everyone could speak Greek, not just the educated people. Not only that, but the Old Testament scriptures had all been translated into Greek. We have a common language for communication, and the scriptures in that common language. And the Romans enforced peace – the Pax Romana. That meant that communication was easier. They built roads, got rid of the brigands.

We have the Bible available in a language accessible to everyone. We have an area where there is easy communication. And people were fed up with the ethos of life – corruption and cruelty. 90% of people in Rome were slaves. There was hopelessness and despair. People wanted something different. They were ready to hear the Gospel. The whole of history had come together. God had set the stage for the time of harvest.

Martin Lloyd-Jones: It was the outpouring of the spirit on the day of Pentecost, unique but with aspects which were repeatable, which alone explained the survival of the Christian church .

God was at work in His people. The Comforter had come. The Comforter is one who comes to strengthen and equip us in our faith, to enlighten our understanding, to convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, to guide us into all truth.

It’s the Holy Spirit who inspires and guides the events which transpire in this book. There’s a sense of purpose, of victory, of achievement, that God is at work.

Acts 1:1-3

By implication, this is still Jesus at work.

John 14:12

Luke is recounting the entire mission of Jesus is directed by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus instructs the apostles through the Holy Ghost Acts 1:2
The waiting disciples are baptised with the Holy Spirit Acts 1:5-8
Believers receive the Holy Spirit at new birth
Believers are described as filled with the Holy Ghost
The spirit is conferred by the laying on of hands, speaks to individuals and leads and guides.

In effect the Holy Spirit brings Jesus back amongst them, but is now unlimited in space and time. Because Jesus came as the second Adam, He came in the form of a man. He related with individuals. He lived and operated and did miracles within a limited geographical area. But now He doesn’t come as a man, but to indwell men, to empower men, to enable them to do what God is asking them to do. It’s the same, but it’s different.

The Spirit, like the Father, we don’t see. His chief work is to reveal the son and guide us into all truth. Although His ministry is unseen, He is revealing the fullness of the Father in each heart.

Primarily we see the Holy Spirit in relation to witness. He comes to reveal the things of Christ in the hearts of individuals, but that revelation is to be communicated to the world – it’s not just for you and me.

John 15:26-28

The revelation isn’t just for us – it’s to be communicated to the world. When you read through the Gospels and the early chapters of Acts, although they had shared intimate moments with Jesus, the disciples really had no understanding of what Jesus had come to do.

They believed in Him as the Son of God, a great prophet, the one who would release them from the Roman yoke. They knew nothing of the new creation, of righteousness, of the ability to stand in the Father’s presence without condemnation ... They had heard Jesus teaching, but did not grasp it. They did not understand John the Baptist’s word concerning Jesus.

They understood John’s baptism, the need to repent and get right with God, but they didn’t understand what God’s purpose was. They didn’t understand that Jesus would take the sins of the whole world, would die and would rise from the dead and return to the Father – and would send forth the Holy Ghost, and that Holy Ghost would come and indwell not only these people in Acts, but you and me today.

They couldn’t grasp this. They saw Jesus as having authority, as walking with God, as someone who would deliver them from Roman rule. But they didn’t really understand why he came.
We can’t grasp what it means until the Holy Spirit comes and shows us. It’s as though He takes the scales from our eyes, and we see, understand, speak in a new way.

MLJ: IF the Gospel was something you and I could understand, it would not be the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. It would be a philosophy.

We can’t persuade people into faith. There is a sense in which we persuade, challenge, convince, but it avails nothing unless the Holy Spirit is at work to convict.

When we examine the early chapters of Acts, one of the clearest things is the change in Peter. Other than Paul, he is the disciple who is described the most – impetuous, foolhardy, full of enthusiasm. He always had to push other people out of the way to make his presence felt. As a man he had a real call. He was the first to be called. He always heads the list. He heads the 12, heads the 3. He was the dominant personality, and became the spokesman for the others. He always opened his mouth before others spoke. He seemed to have real glimpses of revelation. When Jesus challenged them to say who He was, it was Peter who spoke up. And when people turned away, it was Peter who asked to whom else they could go. Peter saw ... and yet he didn’t see. He tried to deflect Jesus from going to Jerusalem, and Jesus had to rebuke him. He understood, but he didn’t understand because he didn’t understand the purpose for which Jesus had come.

But a tremendous change came, and that change was defined by the Day of Pentecost. People say he was a coward because of the denial. He was a man of courage and loyalty. He was ready to fight, but didn’t understand what the fight was to be. Probably the denial was the lowest point of his life. Peter wrote himself off, but Jesus didn’t – after the resurrection, He sent word to Peter.

Three time Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep – mirroring the three denials.
But despite all this, the disciples still wanted to know when He would restore the kingdom to Israel. They still saw Him as meeting their need, but He wasn’t there for that at all.

Peter went back to Jerusalem to wait for the promise. And then Pentecost happened, and the house was filled. God sent out His spirit, with wind and fire. Wind was associated with the spirit in Jewish tradition.

Ezekiel 37:9-15

This Gospel would be preached by men with tongues of fire. It would be preached in such a way that nothing could withstand it.

Stephen was the first one to pay the price for having a tongue of fire. They were all filed with the Holy Ghost, denoting new birth and a new creation, just as Jesus had promised.

I wonder what it was like when suddenly there was a mighty rushing wind and they began to speak. At that moment the church of Jesus Christ was born. These were the first fruits of His sacrifice. And once again, Peter is the first on his feet.

This is a different Peter, a man with authority. All the things he had failed to understand suddenly made sense. All the bits of the jigsaw started to come together, and he was able to communicate that to the people who were watching and listening.

Jesus had said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Peter hadn’t understood why that involved the cross, but now he understood. The truth of redemption was coming alive. The life of Christ was revealed inside him.

“You are the message.” At this time, Peter became the message. He was able to speak, convict because the Holy Spirit was working through him. And his words were tremendously challenging.

Acts 2:22-25

Acts 2:36

Peter didn’t pull any punches. This isn’t the Peter who hid when challenged by the maidservant. This is a man with authority, power and conviction. And they were pricked to their heart. The same mob who called for the crucifixion. Peter tells them they crucified Him. Peter comes in the power of the Holy Spirit, and says, “You did it.” And they ask what they should do, and Peter tells them to repent and be baptised.

This went far beyond the message that John preached, and the people responded to it. Jesus said ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free ... And it began on the Day of Pentecost. And the same Holy Spirit who birthed the early church lives and works within us. That power is as real today as then. The reality of the Holy Ghost convicting people of sin and filling them with Himself is as real today as then.

In Acts, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is just the same. Different format but just the same as when Jesus walked the earth.
Martin Lloyd Jones ...

God sent His spirit and hasn’t called Him home. The Holy Spirit is still at work, within individuals, within this church, within His church worldwide.

So we have a changed Peter – a man who is very different from the man we see in the Gospels, who has a sense of purpose and direction, who knows that God has selected him for a purpose, to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

In Acts 3, we have the account of the first miracle. A familiar story – the lame man healed at the Gate Beautiful. It must have been galling for the members of the Sanhedrin. 50 days before they had got rid of Jesus. They knew what they had done was unlawful. It was all wrong. The witnesses didn’t agree. On the cross, they thought they had silenced His voice forever. And here they are weeks later, and it sounds as though the same thing is happening all over again.

Once again they demand that these rebels be dragged before the Sanhedrin. Peter knows he has to give account of the fact that he has a faith, that God is at work, that the law and prophets have been fulfilled .

Acts 4:13

In the natural, Peter and John had little to commend them – no money, no status. Here they were, called before the Sanhedrin to give account. They were unlearned and ignorant. Why did Jesus choose people like that? He wanted to prove that people don’t come into the kingdom of God by natural ability or by what they do, but because something supernatural has been done to them, and they have been transformed.

“Peter had not been reading textbooks ... Something had happened to him. He had been filled with power. Hew was a new man. God’s power gives us power to live. It takes failures and puts backbones into them, making them new men and women so that where formerly they were defeated, they conquer ... That is Christianity, and there is only one explanation. They took knowledge that they had been with Jesus.”
Now by His spirit Jesus was living in them, and the authority and power He had was working through them.

Romans 1:16

Peter and John were convinced of the same truth. They had come to a place where they knew their lives were in God’s hands. All they wanted to do was fulfil what God wanted. He would take the consequences. They just had to proclaim the message.

They’re dragged before the Sanhedrin, which doesn’t baulk at sentencing people to die, and they are told not to teach and preach.

Acts 4:29-31

They didn’t snivel, cry. They didn’t say, “Shut their mouths.” They said, “Open ours.” They didn’t worry about the persecution. They didn’t pray that God would silence the Sanhedrin. Instead they prayed for boldness. I think there’s a lesson here for us. This church has come through turmoil, bit is our prayer that we want those silenced who would speak against us – or is our prayer that God protected this church, and that purpose hasn’t been completed. We need to get on with what God has given us today. We need to forget what people say against us. We have a world to impact and we are going to do it in the power of the Holy Ghost.

Peter and John were not important people. They had no influence. They took on the Sanhedrin. They took on the forces of Rome, the philosophies of the age. But their only source was God, and they asked Him that He would enable them, that they would be able to share all that Jesus had taught them, that they would be able to touch lives with the Word of life, touch bodies that needed healing.

How did this little group of people stand against the might of the Sanhedrin and the power of the Roman Empire and turn the world upside down? It’s been that way all down the ages. Luther stood against the power of the Catholic church with his revelation that salvation is by faith. He turned the world upside down. God could have used other people, but God had a perfect time, and used Luther to turn Christendom upside down and brought back the truth that salvation is by faith through the grace of God.

We look at 18th century England, deplorable moral conditions. Churches were empty. People scoffed at Christianity. It seemed the nation was locked in darkness. “But suddenly a boy called George Whitfield began to preach in a manner which shook church, congregations, England ... He was later followed by the Wesleys, and the whole face of England was changed.”

This is the Holy Spirit – not a suggestion, not a force, but the third person of the blessed Holy Trinity.

In Acts we see particularly the Holy Spirit making it possible for this message to be preached with holy boldness.

Acts 8:4

It took persecution to drive the believers out of Jerusalem. They went everywhere preaching the word. The Greek here is “talking”, not preaching. Every one of us can do that. We can share the word. There are moments when God opens things for you. Someone asks you a question, and you can respond with words you didn’t know you had. If you try it yourself it all goes wrong. But if God opens the way, you can share the reality of what Jesus has done.

And that’s what they did – sharing the Gospel, telling people what had happened to them. It was so different from everything they had ever known.

I can look back to the day God met me. I can only describe it as a light coming on inside me and I understood things in a way I had never done before. I can identify with Peter. There were years when I didn’t understand. But all through that time God was creating a need, showing me I didn’t have what it took. And when God came it was as though a light came on and I saw things differently. It was as though I was walking on air. There was a lightness, a joy, a confidence tat God had done something real. It wasn’t something I did. Something supernatural had been done to me.

Share what you have. You don’t have to have the whole counsel of God. We know only in part, but we can share the part we have, that God loves us, has spoken into our lives. Maybe we aren’t where we want to be, but we can share what we’ve got.

The Holy Spirit enabled them to speak.

1 Thessalonians 1:5

Everything was against Paul in this situation. It was a pagan city, the people had no Jewish background and they were living a life of sin. Paul came and began to speak the word in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. It wasn’t just his word – the Holy Ghost was speaking through him, and it bore fruit.

The Holy Ghost doesn’t just give us power to share, but also opens our hears to hear. Peter’s sermon at Pentecost was quite straightforward. There was nothing terribly special, but it came with power. The Holy Ghost took his words and planted them in the hearts of his audience and they were pricked in their hearts. They realised their guilt before God, and repented and were baptised and 3000 were added to the church. Later, 2000. Later the Gospel came to the Gentiles, because the Holy Ghost empowered both the speaker and the listener.

You see in this book also the importance of the Word of God. The book is punctuated by “and the Word of God grew and multiplied”. The word always came first. Peter asked for boldness to speak the word. The Holy Spirit and the word go hand in hand. Each of us needs that encounter with God which changes us on the inside. Where things we don’t understand, things we find difficult to believe suddenly become so simple.

The contrast between the Peter of the Gospel, unsteadfast, slow of heart ... and the same apostle as he meets us in Acts, firm, courageous ... is one of the most convincing proofs of the power of Christ’s resurrection.

I find it incredible that that gift is ours today. We can know that same power and authority. We can be part of God’s plan for His kingdom. We can take our place because we have the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives.
I want to finish where I started.

Acts 2:1

They were all in unity. They didn’t know what to expect, but they were standing together.

Psalms 133:1-4

There the Lord commanded the blessing. We’ve been looking at Nehemiah, which is about a people who stood together, who were prepared to fight for their brethren. Over the last five or six years, I’ve been asking God how we engender in a second generation that pioneer spirit which inhabits an early church. When this church was birthed, there weren’t huge numbers, but there was a common purpose. The school was something huge to us. You see the Queen Mary in sail, and you don’t know what it took to build her.

I asked God how we bring that spirit to a second generation. Because that school was born out of sacrifice. There were tremendous sacrifices on the part of the people. Some of you here are second generation, and I want you to lay hold of it. We can’t take people from where they are now and take them back twenty years and put them in a different situation.

I see that God is going to build another generation of pioneers. There is opposition, financial pressure. People are finding it difficult. And when you find it difficult, you begin to discover where your priorities lie. I want that pioneer spirit to be characteristic of every generation in this church. We have something that God has done in our midst which is precious, and we’re not going to let go. If we have to fight, we’ll fight, because where brethren stand together in unity, God commands the blessing.

God allows pressure because pressure works something in us. We don’t grow when things are easy. We sit down and enjoy it. But when there is pressure we have to draw on resources which are beyond us. We have to be like Peter and John who didn’t have status and power, but had the power of God. We have to stand because we believe this is what God wants.

At some time the baton has to pass. And the first generation of pioneers have to transmit it to the second generation of pioneers, and the ones who will take it are the ones who will not let go, who will go beyond every pressure and say, “I know what God has done, what He wants to do, and I will not let go.”

Acts (Part 1 of 4) - The Early Church

This is a very significant time to be studying the book of Acts.

I obtained a book called the Outline Bible some time ago. It gives a synopsis of each book of the Bible. The author says that Acts is the only unfinished book in the Bible.

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Tonight we’ll look at Luke, the author of the book, and then we’ll look at the theology. We want this to be relevant to our lives.

Acts 28:30-31

The book ends up with the fact that there was no hindrance to the proclamation of the Gospel. We are here because this is the church age. Time will end when the church is complete.

It’s exciting to study the book of Acts, because it is primarily about the church. This book should be called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel of the resurrection, the Acts of the ascended and glorified Lord.

Acts talks much about Paul. He wasn’t an apostle who met with Jesus. But the book is to do with the acts of the ascended and glorified Lord. It deals with the early church, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, how God moved, how evangelisation took place, how the Gentiles were included, and the emergence of the early church.

We’ll take themes from the book of Acts, and we’ll focus on the Holy Spirit. We need to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit wants to do in us individually and collectively.

In the Old Testament, we are mainly aware of the activity of God the Father, in the creation, the flood, the calling of Abraham etc.

Then we have the four Gospels, mainly about God the Son, manifesting God in the flesh.

Acts looks mainly at the activity of God the Holy Spirit.

We need to be careful how we refer to the Holy Spirit. We readily assume God the Father, and then the Son – down a bit from the Father. And the Holy Spirit is just “somehow” there. We’re aware of the Trinity, but if you put God in front of each one – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, it helps put the Holy Spirit in His rightful place. That’s why when you read the verse about grieving the Holy Spirit, it allows for that respect and dignity.

In acts we look at the activity of God the Holy Spirit.

We know the Spirit was present in creation. He moved through key individuals, and caused men to write the scriptures. 66 books all inspired by God’s Holy Spirit – God the Holy Spirit. The prophecy running through the Old Testament was that a day was coming when the Spirit of God would be poured out on all flesh.

Joel 2:28-32

That day was coming. It was prophesied. And in Acts we come to the occasion in time when the Holy Spirit was given.

John 7:37-39

There you have it again – the fact of the Spirit being promised and given.

Luke 24:45-49

And again – the promise of the Spirit. And God the Holy Spirit is the one who makes you emboldened, secure, as a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts we’ll see how when the Spirit came they were emboldened to be that witness.

Who wrote Acts? It was written by Luke. He wrote the Gospel and the Book of Acts, and you could treat them as one book. He wrote 40% of the New Testament. Luke and Acts are a two-part volume of one book.

We think of the Gospels as being written by those who walked with Jesus, but Luke didn’t. He was a doctor, an educated Greek. He was careful to pinpoint in history where everything happened.

Luke 3:1

You can’t get more specific than that. He intended to make things accurate and careful. This was the method by which the documents in the first century were regularly dated. Luke/Acts is the first attempt at an historical record of the Christian movement from the inside.

We’ve looked recently at the martyrdom of Stephen, and how vivid the account was. The criterion of the appointment of the seven deacons was that they should be filled wit the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere Luke uses eye-witness accounts. He goes in for thorough investigation, and claims that he was guided by the Holy Spirit.

We have two volumes of one book with a structured account of the life of Jesus, and then the growth of Christianity in Acts.

Luke 1:1-4

The Gospel was addressed to a particular individual and was an account of the life of Jesus. Now let’s look at how Acts starts :-

Acts 1:1-2

Luke was written to Theophilus and so was Acts. Luke refers back to the Gospel in the opening of Acts.

At the end of Acts, there’s an unfinished work. But look at the end of Luke :-
Luke 24:49-53

They went back to the Jerusalem, and it was there they were endued with power.

So you can see the link between the two books.

There are several possible divisions of Acts ...

In the first division, we see Chapters 1-12 dealing with the beginning of the church around Jerusalem, where the focus is on the leadership of Peter and John. And then the rest of the book deals with the expansion into the Roman empire, focusing on Paul and Barnabas.

Another division is to see Acts 1-7 referring to Jerusalem, 8-10 to Samaria and Judea, and 11-28 to the ends of the earth. You’ve thrown a rock in a pool and the ripples are spreading out, and the ripples are still happening, and one of them is here tonight. It’s exciting to study this as a church in the 21st century, each wanting to do what God wants in our lives.

A third division sees the book as six panels, each divided by the Holy Spirit bringing a close to that section, and at the end of each you change up a gear. More people join the church ... and more ... and more. You get a sense of what God is doing to establish the bride of Christ.

Under this division, the first section runs from 1:1 to 6:7, where we have a description of the primitive church in Jerusalem, its preaching, common life and the opposition. Everything is Jewish. The early believers continued in association with the synagogues – and you can understand that.

But now it was to go out from Jerusalem to the Gentiles – and a completely different mindset was required. Peter was required to eat something which he had always seen as unclean, but God said it was clean, and Peter realised he was caught up with the maelstrom of the church reaching out to the Gentiles.

In your own life, be careful if God brings across your path someone who you thought was beyond salvation. Woe betide us if we pigeonhole people. These people are those for whom Jesus died. Be open to what God wants to do through you in sharing the Gospel.

Acts 6:7

That marks the end of the first section, and things go up a gear. The number of disciples multiplied.

The next section runs from 6:8 to 9:31. Here we go out geographically to those activities carried out by the Hellenists, the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians. It includes the conversion of Paul who was a Hellenist Jew.

Acts 9:31

The ripple goes out again – Judaea, Galilee and Samaria.

The next section is 9:32 to 12:24, and gives a description of the first expansion to the Gentiles. The key is the conversion of Cornelius. His conversion was through Peter, not through the Hellenists. Peter was Jew, and it was a direct intervention of God.

Acts 12:24-25

Again the Word of God grew and multiplied.

Did this multiplication take place only in the early church to launch it? Is it a thing of the past? Obviously there was a start. But what are we looking for now in this church? We’re looking for what God wants to do here. That will involve preaching this Word so that faith will be engendered in others and so that others will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. The problem will be finding room for all the people.

The next section runs from 12:25 to 16:5. It describes the first geographical expansion into the Gentile world with Paul as leader. The church meets in counsel and does not reject its Gentile brothers, nor does it lay Jewish ritual practices on them. They had to come to terms with what was going on. Did they force these practices on people, or did they accept that God was pushing things out to the Gentile world? It shook their thinking.

Acts 16:4-5

Increased – multiplied. At the end of each section, there’s gathering momentum.
The next section runs from 16:6 to 19:20 and shows the expansion into Europe.

Acts 19:20

The final section runs from 19:21 to the end of the book, and describes the events which moved Paul and the Gospel on to Rome. Three times Paul is declared innocent of any wrongdoing.

The key to understanding this book of Acts is Luke’s interest in this momentum, in the switch from Jerusalem out to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Something similar happened with the Moravians, with them moving ever outwards, and you end up with Moravian missions in the Pacific islands. I believe people will go out from this church, and missionaries will go out.

Luke’s interest in the growth of the church means he doesn’t go into things you might have expected. He doesn’t go into biographical details. He doesn’t talk about church organisation. There are no details about how the deacons were appointed. We have principles in church organisation, but it’s not written down. He doesn’t explain how leadership passed from Peter to James. There’s no talk of Crete, etc, etc. He seems to know what he was going to write, and it was a direct line from Jerusalem to Rome. He’s not interested in standardisation of conversion. Sometimes baptism comes first. Sometimes it comes later. Sometimes he mentions tongues, sometimes not. There’s no indication that the Gentile churches had the same communal life as in Jerusalem.

But Acts is to be seen as a model – the joyful progress of the Gospel, changing lives. And because this is God’s purpose for the church, noting can hinder it.
I want now to look at the purpose of the book.

Purpose 1: At the beginning of Luke, Theophilus was mentioned. He was probably a Gentile official, and Luke wanted him to understand more clearly the historical events which underlie the Christian faith.

A handful of people. uneducated men and women, had turned the world upside down.

Acts 17:6

That’s power, when you turn the world upside down in the face of opposition! Whether it’s Wesley and Whitfield confronted with a world soaked in gin ... Within two centuries Christianity became the main force of the Roman Empire, and by the 3rd century Constantine declared it the official faith.

Acts 1:8

The key verse. That’s the ripple effect going out from Jerusalem.

Purpose 2: There are eight sermons of Peter in the book, one of Stephen, one of Philip and one of Paul.

Purpose 3: There are four things which show the continuation of God’s purpose in history.

History 1. The events in Acts are seen as being brought about by the will and purpose of God.

Acts 2:23

Acts 4:27-29

God brought this about and was undertaking what He wanted to do. They were in the path of God’s destiny for them.

History 2. The life of the church is seen as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy.

Acts 13:46-47

Complete confidence that they were in line with what God wanted. They weren’t wavering. There was an urgency, a focus. You can see the life of the church as the outworking of the Old Testament prophecy.

History 3. The church was directed by God at crucial times.

Acts 13:2

Acts 15:28

Acts 16:6

Acts 18:9

Specific intervention.

Acts 23:11

And again. Specific, clear, definitive, directional. The purpose of God. And that’s what we want in our lives.

History 4. The power of God was seen in signs and wonders.

Acts 3:16

Purpose 4: To detail the mission, which we know about from Acts 1:8.

Purpose 5: To set out the message, which was straightforward – Jesus, whom God raised from the dead is Lord and Messiah. He offers forgiveness of sins, and He sends the Holy Spirit. The main story relates to the spread of this message.

Purpose 6. To describe the progress made despite opposition.

Acts 14:21-22

Purpose 7. To talk about the opposition. This is why you can have confidence in what’s going on in your life. God is working out His perfect purposes for your life. And God will make things clear because He loves you.

There are parallels with the opposition Jesus faced. When Stephen was martyred and persecution came, it was the means of spreading the Gospel. It’s strange how God sees things and how God is in control of any circumstance for your good.

Purpose 8. A big theme is the inclusion of the Gentiles. There were tensions when this took place. Should Jewish practices be continued? Luke shows how the problem was solved. When the Spirit fell on the Gentiles, Peter was prepared to eat with them – but it’s not clear everyone else felt the same way. The Jerusalem council confirmed the point that circumcision was unnecessary, but set other standards.

Then Acts also chronicles the increasing refusal of the Jews to accept the Gospel.

The books does refer here and there to the organisation of the church.

Acts 4:32-37

Acts 2:42-50

It’s quite a lifestyle. Does it mean we sell our houses? I don’t think so. But what’s our heart in relation to our possessions? That’s the key thing.

Small group meetings, the importance of the Spirit, the source of joy and power, who guides the church in their choice of leaders, their evangelistic activity (generally in teams of two or four), based essentially on the lives of Peter and Paul.

What would it be like if I were to start recording the acts of the people of Trinity in 2009? Looking at each one of you who have made the effort to come here tonight. It would be a lovely book to write because of what God will do through you and for you, outworking His purposes.