Acts - Lesson 4

We discussed the manner of Judas’ death and Peter’s reference to Psalm 69 last week. This week I want to start with a look at Peter’s reference to Psalm 109:8. I’ll read Acts 1:17-20 to get us started.

Acts 1:17-20 … For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,
     “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’ (Psalm 69:25); and “‘Let another take his office’ (Psalm 109:8).

Christ’s death and suffering was in your place under the punishment of God but those who participated bear their own guilt. Judas did what Judas wanted to do and he bears the responsibility and the liability for his actions.

Psalm 109:1-8 … Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin! May his days be few; may another take his office! 

We really don’t know all the sins that Judas committed during his tenure as treasurer for Jesus and the other disciples. We know he misappropriated funds so he was a thief but we also know that he had his own agenda and Jesus wasn’t fitting into it. Psalm 109 gives some idea (prophetically) of the depth and variety of his sin. In these 8 verses are vivid in their description of the trial of Jesus. Lying witnesses were interviewed. Jesus was hit and beaten without cause. In return for love He was given evil but He was in prayer. Then the Psalm changes from “they” to the singular “he”. Judas had a wicked man who manipulated him and refused his repayment of the blood money. Judas literally had THE accuser (satan) at his right hand, Judas stood guilty before the perfect Judge, and his praying was the sin of remorse without repentance. Judas days were few and, at this point in the Book of Acts, Peter is seeking to see another take the office of Judas.

Acts 1:21-26 … So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Peter argued that the 11 apostles needed one of the men who had been present with Jesus (from John the Baptist to the Ascension) to move back to a full 12 apostles. I’ve heard sermons preached about how this was wrong and they never should have picked another person to take Judas’ spot. The argument is generally that Paul was picked by God and Matthias by man. I don’t think that really holds water. First, Paul didn’t really occupy the same position that Judas vacated, secondly, the Psalm (Scripture) commands a selection, and thirdly, Paul wasn’t going to be available for years. Casting lots seems pretty “random” to us because we are modern and often lose track of our stated belief in a sovereign God. If you don’t think God controls the toss of the dice then it actually means you don’t believe in God. The actions of the disciples at this point are consistent with Old Testament Scripture and practice.

So does that mean we should all head to Las Vegas and try our hand at gambling? No, God will not bless your greed and has told you what to do. However, you don’t need to believe the universe is fundamentally random in order for statistics to be a useful tool for understanding and learning how things generally work (under God’s sovereign control).

Acts 2:1-4 … When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

Remembering the obedience to the command of Jesus, they were doing what they were told. They had 10 days of seeking God after the ascension prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This event was a fulfillment of many prophecies, types, and shadows from the Old Testament and even in this book the first chapter is the promise and this second chapter sees the fulfillment.

The promised Holy Spirit comes in Acts chapter 2 with 2 symbols and those symbols are wind and fire. 

WindThe use of wind would have made a natural connection for anyone who was speaking Hebrew, Greek , or Latin but we can miss it. In each of those three languages wind and spirit go together. It is the same word and in all three languages it takes a substantial breath to say the word. In Hebrew it is “ruach”, in Greek it is “pneuma”, and in Latin it is “spiritus”. They were each words that if repeated used up all the breath in your lungs. They required exhaling. If you take this concept back into your reading of Scripture you find it helps you read and appreciate other verses. For example, in Genesis 1:2 when Scripture says that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” you understand the movement and action of the wind on the waves rather than simply a static hovering.

In Genesis 2:7 when God created man then He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” and moved Adam from being dead matter to living matter by His breath. Think about when we studied the Gospel of John and read about Nicodemus. Jesus used language that literally meant that Nicodemus needed to be born again from above just like the first time. When Jesus explained this he said;

John 3:5-8 … Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You (All Y’all - it is plural) must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 

Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus who know Scripture very well and would have understood the reference back to Adam and then how that would apply to him (and all mankind) needing to be born again into a new life by the power of the Spirit. When we studied Isaiah we read, “Stop trusting in man who has but a breath in his nostrils” and we understand that to mean that a man is only a one breath being. We are just barely alive. If we stop breathing for just a few minutes then we die. God is eternally alive. The Holy Spirit is the Holy Breath and “being” is in God as part of His divine nature. How could the Holy Breath stop breathing? The Great I AM can’t stop being. We can clearly trust Him for our being.

Here in Acts we need to see the parallel between Genesis 1:2 and Acts 2:2. In Genesis the Wind or Spirit blew across the waters in creation and here in Acts the Wind or Spirit moves in creative power to bring about new birth. At this point in history, God the Holy Spirit (or Wind) began to bring men and women to spiritual life.

We practice water-baptism as the first thing a convert to Christianity does because Spirit-baptism is the first thing a convert to Christianity experiences. It is a necessary part of the conversion process that a Christian is baptized in the Holy Spirit. We have talked fairly extensively about baptism but briefly, water-baptism is your testimony that you were in Christ on the Cross (water being the symbol of God’s wrath) and have been baptized in the Spirit.

Here in Acts we read about being filled with the Holy Spirit. First the room was filled and then the believers were filled. We see a specific manifestation of the Spirit here and that is speaking in tongues. Some Pentecostal believers confuse “Baptized in the Holy Spirit” with “Filled with the Holy Spirit” and they are not the same. We are to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. The evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is further confused with speaking in tongues. That isn’t the “general” evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The general evidence is that you are a witness of Christ. Do you testify to Jesus Christ and does God bless that testimony with the conversion of men and women? That is the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. You can see why speaking in tongues would be a much easier thing to present as evidence.

FireSo we have tongues of fire distributed so that we can speak out what we have been filled with. We are filled by the Holy Spirit with a purpose. We need to be filled by the Holy Spirit so that we can say what God wants us to say. We see fire in the Old Testament in a number of settings. God made a covenant with Abraham while Abraham slept (Genesis 15:17). God made the covenant unilaterally (it was independent of Abraham who was asleep) and God was represented with a “firepot” and a “flaming torch” in covenant making.

First of all, those of us with light bulbs need to remember that fire brings light and illumination. Peter was able to see things in the Old Testament that he had been unable to see before. We see things we couldn’t see before after the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, those of us with heaters living in the South during the summer time need to remember that fire brings warmth. There is nothing like a campfire in the dark for attracting people. John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11).

Thirdly, fire spreads and Jesus has promised to send fire on the earth (Luke 12:49). As we live we must be filled with the Holy Spirit or we won’t have anything incendiary to speak. We don’t have this in our experience in the way we should have it. This is something for each of us to pray about and see God’s filling to be witnesses as we participate with God in what He is doing.

Ezekiel said;

Ezekiel 34:11-13 … “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

The day of clouds and thick darkness is over. The atonement has been made and we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit so He can use us to seek, rescue, bring, gather, and feed His sheep. It is our duty but it is also a rich privilege to surrender to the Holy Spirit in this activity.

Memory Verse Psalm 20:6-8

This week’s Fighter Verse (http://www.hopeingod.org/resources/scripture-memory/fighter-verse-program) is as follows:

Psalm 20:6-8 Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer Him from His holy heaven with the saving might of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.

In King David’s day, this Psalm was for the congregation to speak on behalf of the king. It is a blessing that we have verse 6 and 8 to frame verse 7 as our memory assignment. You may have only memorized verse 7 in the past. While verse 7 truly encourages us to trust God in every crisis, the prophetic aspects of the Psalm give us even more depth and reason to worship God. We need to see Christ on the Cross for us in verse 6. We know that mankind and their rulers plotted against our Sovereign Lord even though He made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them (Acts 4:24-30). But the raging and scheming of men was within God’s sovereign control and God had purposed to save His Anointed (also meaning His Christ) as a testimony and to give to His Anointed those of us who sit at the ends of the earth as His possession (Psalm 2). God answered from His holy heaven when He raised Christ (also meaning His Anointed) from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heaven. His Anointed is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but in the age to come. All things are under His feet and Christ is head over all things to the Church which is His body (Ephesians 1:20-23).

Some will trust in strength and some will trust in wealth but, if our eyes are open, how can we ever trust in the material things of this world in the light of His grace? We cannot place our trust in the strength of wealth of this world when we have rested our faith fully in the name of the LORD our God. Christ died for us while we were lost and He justified us by His blood. While we were His enemies our Lord saved us from the wrath of God and now we are reconciled to God through His Anointed (Romans 5:6–11).

Those who trust in strength, wealth, or any human tradition apart from Christ will ultimately fall. All of God dwells in Christ. In Him we are raised from the death produced by our sins. He raises us as a result of His perfect work of atonement (Colossians 2:8-15) so that we can stand firm, clothed in His enabling armor, in service to Him for the sake of the Kingdom (Ephesians 6:12–13).

Acts - Lesson 03

First we had a question a couple of weeks ago that I forgot to address. Phil asked about where the use of AD and BC came from and about the way it essentially affirms the historical presence of Christ.

The system was developed by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus (Short Dennis because of his humility) in AD 525. By birth, he was a Scythian and that means he was probably Iranian or Turkish or Russian by birth (an easterner anyway) but he was a Roman. There was no consistent (universally accepted) use of a numbering system for years at the point. In fact, even after AD 525 the system suggested by Dionysius was not used. He was concerned about getting the dates for Easter worked out. It wasn’t until Bede used it to date events in his work of AD 731 titled “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” that it became big in Western Europe.

You probably have seen some use of CE instead of AD and BCE instead of BC because AD stands for anno Domini or the year of our Lord and BC stands for before Christ. The messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida, June 13-14, 2000 A.D., resolved to encourage Southern Baptist individuals, churches, entities, and institutions to retain the traditional method of dating and avoid this revisionism. This has been a point of conflict for some folks. Apparently the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been using CE and BCE since 1964 in the "Watchtower". Trinity University in Texas had a complaint about a Muslim’s diploma that said “year of our Lord” and apparently this young lady didn’t notice the big letters at the top that said “Trinity”. So it was a monk in AD 525 who didn’t like counting years in which Diocletian was emperor of Rome who started the process. And these arguments do bring us back to the key point of the historical Jesus and His Church. 

One thing that I’m concerned to make sure that you take away from the first lesson is the historical reality and the historical necessity of the physical death and resurrection of Christ. This is because it is essential to biblical Christianity. We need to pick up our stuff and just go home if Christ was not physically dead and physically resurrected in approximately AD 33.

In the second lesson, we need to remember our utter dependence on the Holy Spirit for our witness to the Gospel of Grace. As the 2000 Faith and Message says, “Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” We also need to see that our witness is to the reality of the Gospel message of forgiveness of sins and a right standing with God through the work of Jesus on the Cross.  In addition, the testimony of Luke in the Book of Acts is that each time someone was filled with the Holy Spirit they became witnesses to the work of Jesus.

Today we will start reading just after the ascension of Jesus and right after the disciples were told to stop staring off into space and do what Jesus told them to do. 

Acts 1:12-14 …Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

The travel from the site of the ascension to Jerusalem was very short so it was as far as you could travel on the Sabbath without breaking the restrictions on travel. That would have made it about ¾ of a mile. 

They were spending their time together in prayer and in one accord. We see the leadership mentioned in this list but when Peter spoke there were about 120 people present. This is the last mention of Mary in the Bible. Note also that the mention of Jesus’ brothers would include any sisters that He had. The word is better translated siblings but we just don’t speak that way.

During the 10-day period between the Ascension and Pentecost the disciples were called on to practice patience and obedience. Acts can be thought of as a bridging book like the book of Joshua as a people enter into the promises of God. Like Joshua there is a waiting period at the beginning of the book. They people of Israel crossed the Jordan and then they were told to wait and consecrate themselves. We generally like immediate action. We immediately want to know why we need to wait. Well in this case to be obedient to what Christ said to do. Of course it is easy to say that for the disciples and hard to practice that in our life.

This is to be an active waiting. We often waste our preparation time with a lack of discipline. When we wait we just wait rather than prepare. It is telling on our attitude that we tend to spend more time in spiritual disciplines when things are going wrong than when things are going well. This is a lack of discipline that we need to overcome in our lives.

The Disciples practiced obedience, they enjoyed fellowship, and they prayed ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication). Each of these categories would be filled to overflowing by the group in the upper room that numbered about 120 after 10 days. The revelation of Christ’s divinity would have produced adoration, they would have confessions of being cowardly, they would give thanks for forgiveness and healing, and they would have poured out their hearts in supplication for the power to be His witnesses. Revival is preceded by prayer.

Acts 1:15-16 … In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 

In addition to prayer, they had been instructed in the Scriptures by Jesus and they were studying Old Testament Scripture. Here Peter makes the connection of Old Testament literature to Judas. The time in prayer and Bible study was changing them already. I think it would be hard to overestimate the impact of Jesus teaching ministry on these folks over the period of 3 years. Now, as the Holy Spirit was working, they were seeing connections that they didn’t see before. Peter previously couldn’t even see that Jesus had to die and be resurrected. Now he sees the relevance of Scripture to the death of Judas.

Acts 1:17-20 … For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’ (Psalm 69:25); and “‘Let another take his office’ (Psalm 109:8).

The field was acquired by the money that Judas returned to the priests as a result of remorse but not repentance. Matthew tells us that Judas went and hung himself. This appears to have been done in private and consequently, thanks to Dr. Luke, it appears the rope broke at some point, he fell (although this word is only used once and may mean he wasn’t found until he swelled up), and he burst open. His suicide wasn’t necessarily at the Field of Blood. Given that, first, this seems to be a parenthetical comment, and secondly that Luke was a physician with interest in human life and death, it seems possible that this was a comment on Judas’ death being isolated and his decomposition being advanced when he was found. In either case, the Scriptures don’t conflict but instead give a fuller account of what happened.

Peter quotes two portions of Scripture from the Psalms and I’d like to read more of these Psalms because they are remarkable in this context.

First we can read a bit more of Psalm 69 with Christ speaking prophetically through the Psalmist.

Psalm 69:19-21 … You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

How many hours do you imagine Peter wept after reading that? He denied Christ three times with cursing and then the Holy Spirit took him to the phrase, “Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.” All of the disciples must have been broken by this Psalm. And that is not to say that we would have done any more than run and hide. We should also be moved by this verse because we too are in need to the Holy Spirit every moment of every day to be obedient and faithful.

Psalm 69:22-26 … Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

The table was the snare for Judas and by extension, as Paul indicates in Romans, for all Jews. He was confident that he was getting what he wanted but the bread was a trap that gave away his identity as the betrayer. Jesus told him to do what he had to do quickly and his eyes were darkened. It is important to remember that Judas, in each moment, did what he wanted to do. No violence was done to Judas’ will but God judged him for his actions.

Acts - Lesson 02

Remember that last week we stressed the historical reality of Jesus death and resurrection. Jesus spent 40 days with the disciples making sure that they believed that His resurrection was physical. Toward the end of the 40 days then we have a fairly natural “now what?” question coming from the disciples.

Acts 1:6-8 … So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

They were asking when Jesus was going to establish a political kingdom in the physical land called Israel. They had waited 3 years, seen their hopes destroyed by the crucifixion, and had their hopes renewed by the resurrection. They were now convinced that the resurrection was real. By asking about restoration is was clear that they were thinking of a earthly restoration to something like King David or Solomon only better. They were tired of being ruled by pagans. Jesus had said that His kingdom was not “of the earth” and they had heard it but had not understood it. It was common to expect the Messiah to set up an earthly kingdom and free Israel from the oppression of the Romans who were really only that last in a long line of occupying forces. John the Baptist has preached, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2) and we are to pray “Your kingdom come” every time we pray (Matthew 6:10).

Luke says that Jesus, “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20–21). In another place Jesus tells the parable of the talents because He was, “was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately (Luke 19:11–12). John tells us that in responding to Pilate, “Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36).

Don’t think that because the Kingdom is spiritual that it is less real. The Holy Spirit is God. That is all the reality there is. So the Kingdom is more real and not less real because of the way in which God manifested it at the beginning. 

The idea of a spiritual kingdom was present in Scripture and clear in the teaching of Jesus. It wasn’t taught that it would always be spiritual and never manifested in fullness on the earth but it was going to be spiritual first.

So the disciples ask the question and Jesus answers in very strong language telling them, in essence, that it isn’t your business to know. This knowledge isn’t yours. This knowledge doesn’t belong to you. This is the Father’s knowledge and He sets those times. You will not know this.

You are responsible for all that is written in Scripture. That includes those portions that discuss eschatology or the end times. However, this verse alone should make you back up and check your wallet if someone tells you they know the day and the hour. That information does not belong to mankind. You know the kingdom is right now in a spiritual sense and there is a not yet aspect that you can’t know. You’ll probably find that dissatisfying. You must know the signs to be obedient but hopefully you won’t feel obligated to start marking up a calendar.

The reason you shouldn’t be dwelling on the times and seasons is because you have a job to do. That job is to be a witness in your city, your region, and the world empowered by the Holy Spirit. That is what the Book of Acts is all about really. We get to see how it is done as we read the pages. However, keep in mind that we are to be Christ’s witnesses to the Gospel. Again, we’ll get to read examples because 20 to 25% of the book is recorded speaking but keep in mind that our witness must be of Christ and His atonement. He paid the price to end the death sentence that was hanging over our heads and we are justified by faith and we are His bondservants.

Think about the Apostle Paul. Can you imagine him testifying that he was unhappy even though he was religious and he was seeking more and then he found Jesus and acquired his best life right now and recommends it for everyone? No you can’t imagine that if you’ve read Paul. The self righteous killer of Christians was knocked down, blinded, and yelled at by Christ. Then his life really got complicated as he was beaten, nearly drowned, bit by snakes, pelted by rocks …

Our testimony is the Cross because the Good News is there. The Law shows your separation and falleness but you can be set right with God by the Blood of Jesus and that is the only way to be set right with God. Communicating the Good News as a witness to its truth is the core responsibility of the Church and each member as God equips you. I think you’ve heard it before but it bears repeating that the word witness gave us the name martyr. You don’t get martyred for saying that I’m happier because a guy named Jesus told me to be nice to people. You get martyred for saying that the one true God became flesh and died to pay for our sins and that is the only way to escape eternal punishment for our sins. That will make a first century Roman say you are an atheist and a 21st century modern say you are a narrow minded and intolerant person who shouldn’t share their views. Yes it is intolerant and ironic to say that Christians shouldn’t share their views because Christians are intolerant. That is because, in our secular culture, the unforgivable sin is to state that the spiritual beliefs of another person are false or even worse will result them being in hell.

We need to be careful to be moved by the Holy Spirit. Paul knew this through and through and asked the Colossians to “pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:2–6).  

We can’t be idle in respect to Jesus’ commands and we can’t use – as the disciples were already thinking of doing – the political processes of the world to win the kingdom with politics. You can’t do this by simply raising money either. God even has to be careful how much money He gives us because we are managed by it rather than the other way around. Simply passing laws will not enforce morality and promote the Gospel. We are utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit and our submission to Him to spread the Gospel and to avoid on the one hand, the sin of inattention to this command and, on the other hand, the sin of working for God without being submitted to Him.

Alfred Nobel (1833 to 1896) was a chemist and he invented and explosive that was stronger than anything known up to his time. He asked a Greek scholar fried for the Greek word for explosive power and the friend told him it was “Dynamis” so Nobel decided to use that word to name his discover and gave the world dynamite. The word “dynamis” is the word that tells what we are to get from the Holy Spirit that is translated power. This is the power to change people and each one of us is to have it and to use it but that requires submission. I had a friend who was Swiss like Alfred Nobel and he was in their military learning to use dynamite. They were removing stumps from a ski slope. Well Jean-Marie was pretty smart and he realized that all his leftover dynamite had to be carried back up the slope … so on the last stump he used all his left over dynamite. He was not in submission to his Sergeant and the Sergeant knew when the stump was atomized and a large hole was created. Fortunately for us, the Holy Spirit gives us the power and remains with us. When we do something stupid all the mess is us. But at least Jean-Marie in his weakness (maybe a little lazy) wasn’t going home with a full pack of dynamite. He was going to use it.

The first century Church understood that each person was a missionary in the place that God had put them. They were remarkably effective at spreading the Gospel in this manner as the Holy Spirit moved. Tertullian in approximately 200 AD said, speaking for the Church, “We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you – cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum – we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods.” (Apology, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963, 45.)

All the preconceived notions of restrictions that the disciples had at the time of the ascension were overturned. It was not to be a political kingdom, not an ethnically restricted kingdom, and not a geographically restricted kingdom. Even Tertullian did realize that the Church still had whole continents grow on that he had no idea of. 

When Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses” it is both an indicative and an imperative. It is what you are – an indicative – and what you are commanded to do – an imperative. It is prophetic as Jesus calls us into being and a command as He sends us to the world. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are made to be what we need to be. Now we just need to do it as our Sergeant says to do it.

Acts 1:9-11 … And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Jesus gave us the Great Commission and then ascended up into the sky and out of sight. This was a different thing for the disciples to see even though Jesus had been teaching for 40 days. The disciples were staring up into space when they because aware of two angels. The question asked by the angels was meant to break off the staring party and send the disciples to their assignment.
The promise of Jesus’ return should motivate us to action. He will return and we will give an answer for our actions. As in the Parable of the Talents we need to be doing what He has called us to do. Your time will be up someday. We don’t need to be motivated by fear but we desperately need to be motivated. We need to allow the love of God to drive us to action and I say we desperately need this motivation because of the surpassing worth of our Savior and our duty to be living sacrifices for Him. It is so purely right for us to work in this way in response to our justification that is complete. We are not earning something we are simply serving one who deserves all we have.

Acts - Lesson 01

I want to begin to discuss “The Acts of the Apostles” now. This book of the Bible gives us a glimpse into the way in which God implements and births the Church and in biblical language a Holy Nation. As Isaiah says, “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children (Is 66:8).”  

In addition to the miracle of the birth of the Church we’ll also see the presentation of the Gospel as central to the Church and a central concern of Luke the author of Acts. This is in fact the second volume of the works of Luke with his gospel being the first volume. The two books are similar in length and were limited in length by the weight of a scroll and the will of God. The Acts of the Apostles has 28 chapters and 19 sermons or at least formal addresses. These include messages by Paul and Peter while the longest is from Stephen the first martyr.

John Stott lists nineteen significant Christian speeches in Acts. He says that “there are eight by Peter (in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 15), one each by Stephen and James (in chapters 7 and 15), and nine by Paul (five sermons in chapters 13, 14, 17, 20 and 28, and four defense speeches in chapters 22 to 26). Approximately 20% of Luke’s text is devoted to addresses by Peter and Paul; if Stephen’s speech is added, the percentage rises to about 25%.” See John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: To the Ends of the Earth (Leicester, England: InterVarsity, 1990).

My primary resource material will come from James Montgomery Boice’s book titled, “Acts: An Expositional Commentary”. 

Luke was known as “Luke the physician” (Luke the Beloved Physician to Paul; Col 4:14) and both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts indicate that Luke was probably an educated Gentile (according to the flesh). He traveled with Paul and so much of the work is first hand and not second hand material. However, Luke had no problem using other sources.

It appears that an early date before A.D. 70 for Luke and Acts is appropriate. Since Acts ends with Paul under house arrest waiting to see Caesar you would need to admit that it was prior to A.D. 64 when Rome burned and Nero began a persecution of Christians. While the Jewish persecution had been strong the Romans had not been too bad before Nero. In addition, Paul was killed in A.D. 68 and Luke would have mentioned that so an early date is the natural conclusion.

Luke was a tremendous historian and we benefit from that. You can see a bit of his personality come out when he discusses something related to disease or medicine. He is a tremendous historian because he wrote a history of a small group of individuals that were scattered over a wide area and kept it within the context of the various cities that were impacted. He let us see what God was doing in history and showed how it was His Story. He did this without a library and without Google or Wikipedia. However, to be fair, he did have the Holy Spirit breathing through him.

Acts 1:1-3 … In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

We have 40 days from the Resurrection to the Ascension. Then after the Ascension they waited 10 days until Pentecost before the Holy Spirit was poured out. So Pentecost is 50 days after Passover.

Both the Gospel of Luke and Acts are addressed to Theophilus. It is likely that Theophilus supported Luke as he wrote his gospel and Acts. The name means “lover of God” and is a great name to have at the head of each of these books. In a way it personalizes the books for each believer who approaches the books as a lover of God.

John Stott says that the title of the book shouldn’t be “Acts” or even the “Acts of the Apostles” but rather “The Continuing Words and Deeds of Jesus by His Spirit through His Apostles.” I think that is a bit long but it gets the point across that Jesus is still acting by the Holy Spirit to do things through the Apostles. It even implies that He is working today and will continue to work on earth until the second coming.

The other reason we need to mention Luke as a historian is because of the historical nature of our faith. When we discuss the Cross then we mean that if you were present in A.D. 33 then you could have gotten a splinter from the Cross and that the Blood of Christ may have fallen directly upon you. He was fully God but He was fully man without mixture, separation, or confusion.

He was busy doing and teaching as Luke says but Luke also indicates that Jesus spent a substantial period of time proving to his disciples that He was really alive. They had seen Him die and He was patient to prove His resurrection to them. It was a necessary proof because the Gospel hangs on the resurrection of Christ. This wasn’t something that Jesus did as frosting for the cake. The whole cake rests on this.

Here is the logic of what Jesus was establishing for the foundation of the Church.

1)    The resurrection is a fact.

2)    The resurrection proves the deity of Christ

a.    He claimed His deity before the resurrection

b.    He claimed God the Father would raise Him

c.    Resurrection confirms claims “a” and “b”

3)    Christ must speak the truth because God can’t lie

4)    We can trust all of Christ’s teaching and the Scriptures

5)    God will forgive our sins because Christ said so

You can see that a historical resurrection is a necessity for our faith. Look at the following verses and see how Paul viewed the resurrection. 

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 … Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

The German Scholars spent 100 years looking for the historical Jesus and trying to move away from the Christ of faith. After about 100 years Albert Schweitzer pointed out that all they each had done was hit a dead end by creating a Jesus in their own image. The Christ of faith and the historical Christ presented in the New Testament are the same. Luke works to make sure we realize that he was creating a fictional character but rather than he is reporting on the works of a historical character as accurately as he knows how.

Acts 1:4-5 … And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

They only had to wait 10 days after the Ascension but they had to wait because apart from the empowering of the Holy Spirit they were not qualified to fulfill the Great Commission. But apart from qualification or ability to preach … they were not directed by the Holy Spirit yet. Their activities would not have been ordained they would have simply been their ideas of what Jesus would have them do. The WWJD bracelet is fine and dandy if you are asking God to direct you and empower you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it is God within you willing and doing what He wants. The WWJD bracelet is not a good idea if you are trying to think up what Jesus might be happy with or worse simply doing what you think is right and asking God to bless the mess.

You can ask why God made them wait 10 days. Well it was the Feast of Pentecost or Shabhu’oth. That is the Feast of Weeks (counting the time until the Torah is given) and a celebration of the wheat harvest (Festival of Reaping) and a celebration of the gift of the Torah or the Word of God to Israel.  Well that works for why as well as it being a Holy Day in which no work is done and for being a day that is a “pilgrimage festival” and brought many into Jerusalem (as we will see).

So it is a beautiful fulfillment of Shabhu’oth and gives the full meaning to Passover and the Feast of Pentecost. However, you can still ask way Jesus ascended 10 days earlier and I don’t know but it did give the disciples time to pray and prepare their hearts for receiving the ingrafted Word via the medium of the Holy Spirit. This is the time of the events of Ruth and Boaz. The kinsman redeemer story with a picture of Christ and a picture of the Church.

I remember that during the revival out west in the 70s that people were very careful not to move ahead of the Holy Spirit. The phrase “don’t strive” was common because there was an emphasis on doing what God said and not more than God said and not less than God said. These days it seems that we expect the 20% to serve the 80% with the view that if you aren’t striving then you’re in sin rather than vice versa. We are bad about ignoring the leading of the Holy Spirit to action but ignoring the leading of the Holy Spirit to inaction is a sin too.

I like the contrast of John’s baptism with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We’ll discuss various aspects of baptism as we proceed through the book of Acts but here we see the repentance from sins in the baptism of John contrasted with the motivation and enabling  action in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  

James 1:19-22 … Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James covers both aspects of turning from sin and from striving and turning to a submission to the word that is implanted by the Holy Spirit within you. You must be a doer of the word but you must not just be a doer. It isn’t an easy thing to learn. You will make mistakes but that is no excuse for ignoring the many commands of God on the topic of submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Twenty Attributes of God

The Character of God (from Grudem)

We spent many weeks going over the various aspects of God's character. I used the framework provided by Grudem in his book, Systematic Theology. Below I've provided just the definitions of each of the 20 attributes identified by Grudem. These are useful for meditation and for #2 of the Life Action Revival outline for your "Holy Hour".

Incommunicable Attributes

1. God’s Independence - God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy.
2. God’s Unchangeableness - God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.
3. God’s Eternity - God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time.
4. Omnipresence - God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.
5. Unity - God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times.

Communicable Attributes

A. Attributes Describing God’s Being
1. Spirituality - God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence.
2. Invisibility - God’s total essence, all of his spiritual being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself to us through visible, created things.

B. Mental Attributes
3. Knowledge (Omniscience) - God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act.
4. Wisdom - God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals.
5. Truthfulness (and Faithfulness) - God’s truthfulness means that he is the true God, and that all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.

C. Moral Attributes
6. Goodness - God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval.
7. Love - God’s love means that God eternally gives of himself to others.
8. Goodness in Mercy, Grace, Patience - God’s mercy, patience, and grace may be seen as three separate attributes, or as specific aspects of God’s goodness. The definitions given here show these attributes as special examples of God’s goodness when it is used for the benefit of specific classes of people.
     God’s mercy means God’s goodness toward those in misery and distress.
     God’s grace means God’s goodness toward those who deserve only punishment.
     God’s patience means God’s goodness in withholding of punishment toward those who sin over a period of time.
9. Holiness - God’s holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor.
10. Peace (or Order) - God’s peace means that in God’s being and in his actions he is separate from all confusion and disorder, yet he is continually active in innumerable well-ordered, fully controlled, simultaneous actions.
11. Righteousness, Justice - God’s righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right.
12. Jealousy - God’s jealousy means that God continually seeks to protect his own honor.
13. Wrath - God’s wrath means that he intensely hates all sin.

D. Attributes of Purpose
14. Will - God’s will is that attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation.
15. Freedom - God’s freedom is that attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases.
16. Omnipotence (Power, Sovereignty) - God’s omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will.

E. “Summary” Attributes
17. Perfection - God’s perfection means that God completely possesses all excellent qualities and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for him.
18. Blessedness - God’s blessedness means that God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects his character.
19. Beauty - God’s beauty is that attribute of God whereby he is the sum of all desirable qualities.
20. Glory - God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself.