The book of Acts is full of dramatic, exciting stories. Last Sunday 19 June 2011, I preached at my church and below is most of what I said… plus a few added visuals.
The reason many people in Ireland have been reading GodActs together is because 2011 is the Biblefresh year recognising the 400th anniversary of the first publication of the King James Bible. GodActs is the PCI Board of Mission in Ireland’s contribution to the Biblefresh year. Do you see the Biblefresh logo on the cover of the booklet?
The King James Bible is the all time best selling book in the English language. Did you know that it is also the most stolen book in history?
This morning my title is Acts 29. But what is the Book of Acts all about?
Some Bibles entitle it the Acts of the Apostles – and it does tell the stories of what the apostles and disciples did after Jesus finished his earthly life.
Other people say that a better title would be the Acts of the Holy Spirit – and that’s an excellent title too because it was only after the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost that the apostles and disciples were empowered to do what they did.
So what is Acts all about?
- Acts is full of stimulating stories!
There’s Pentecost when the disciples experienced the power of the Holy Spirit and began preaching to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem from all over the known world for the festival. And everyone heard them in their own heart language.
Then there is the story of how Peter and John going to the Temple healed a man crippled from birth – a great story. The people who witnessed it were filled with wonder and amazement!
And what about Philip and the Ethiopian Chancellor of the Exchequer? That’s one of my favourites because he was the first African Christian… well, as far as we know.
And Saul’s conversion. The man, who hated the Christians and was cruelly hunting them down, became a Christian himself in a remarkable encounter with Jesus.
And then all the exciting adventures as Paul and his companions went on missionary journeys around the Mediterranean world.
Great stuff! Acts is full of the stories we remember from Sunday school.
Let’s ask the question again – so what is Acts all about?
- Acts is full of tough stuff!
After healing the crippled man, Peter and John were arrested and thrown in prison.
Stephen was stoned to death and became the first Christian martyr.
There was persecution and many of the Christians fled for their lives from Jerusalem.
James the brother of John was executed by King Herod.
Again Peter was imprisoned.
And what about Paul? Remember how the Lord told Ananias that he would show Paul how much he would suffer for the Lord’s name. And he did. Imprisoned, flogged, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked and eventually executed in Rome. Paul gives a horrific list of what happened to him in 2 Corinthians 11.
Do we gloss over all this tough stuff as we read Acts? Do we focus on the exciting stories and edit out the suffering that Christians experienced – both then and now?
So… let’s ask the question a third time – so what is Acts all about?
- Acts is about the growth of the Christian church!
That’s the core of Acts.
Remember the cover of GodActs? Those circles radiating out from Jerusalem…
Acts tells us how God used a relatively small group of Christians as they obediently carried out Jesus’ instructions in Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Rome and Ethiopia might not be the ends of the earth for us, but they were close enough in the first century AD.
Here’s the question for the final time – so what is Acts all about?
- It’s part of the big story of the whole Bible!
One of my favourite stories written by Luke isn’t in the book of Acts at all. It’s Luke 24 8 the story of the resurrected Jesus meeting two disciples, Cleopas and his friend (his wife?) on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognise Jesus as he talked to them…
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” v27
Jesus was saying that what we know as the Old Testament was all about him. It was all about how he would come to earth as the Messiah, but not in the way the Jews had expected. It explained that he would suffer and die and rise again to life on the third day.
Cleopas and his friend were overjoyed as they realised that it was Jesus – and then he disappeared. But they said…
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” v32
So what did they do? As it was getting dark, they hurried 7 miles back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples their story about meeting Jesus.
Many people throughout the UK and Ireland saw the Wycliffe presentation of the drama From Eden to Eternity performed by the Saltmine Theatre Company last March.
Here’s Paul’s conversion scene in the show…
Saul's meets Jesus on the road to Damascus
Those of you who saw FE2E might remember Paul’s words towards the end of the presentation?
“Salvation comes by Jesus Christ through grace. I preached his Word and helped his church to the last of my strength and the end of my life.”
And that is exactly what Paul did!
The last two verses of Acts 28 say…
“For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house [in Rome] and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Like Cleopas, Paul told people his story of how Jesus changed his life …and so did many others that we have never heard of. As they travelled around they told people about God’s love for Israel and about how, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they too could be brought into God’s family.
And the people that Paul told about Jesus told others, who told others, who told others …
Not that it was easy to be a Christian; sometimes the young church had to meet in secret, in caves and hidden places. When things were at their worst, Christians were thrown to the lions for public entertainment.
Satan roared, but the Church grew. Quietly, one by one, people told their friends and family about the good news of Jesus – and the people they told, told others who told others who told others…
And so the church grew – the Church that had been persecuted by the Roman Empire outgrew and outlasted the most powerful political force the world had ever seen. It wasn’t all plain sailing, with power and influence, came corruption and arrogance. But even at the worst of times, there were still those who kept their eyes on Jesus and what he had done and who told others about him… people like John Wycliffe, Martin Luther and William Tyndale.
The Church has done great things down through the years; there are amazing buildings, stories of great heroism and some truly remarkable people. But the strength of the Christian faith has always been the thousands, millions of individual Christians who don’t find their way into the history books.
People who told their story about Jesus in word and action.
Many many people quietly and unobtrusively followed in the footsteps of the first Christians and told people about Jesus and those people told others, who told others, who told others – who told you and me!
For the last few sentences, I’ve been talking about Acts 29 – the chapter that isn’t in the Bible; the chapter that began when New Testament history ended; the chapter that isn’t finished yet; the chapter we live in today.
Finally back to Acts 1:8 again…
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The first disciples heard these words from Jesus at a time when their lives had been turned upside down and inside out. Jesus had been arrested, crucified, came to life again, spent time with them. They were looking forward to amazing things happening as the Kingdom of God was restored to Israel!
But Jesus turned their lives upside down once again. He spoke these well known words – and disappeared via a cloud into the sky.
As we have seen in reading through Acts, they obeyed. In Acts 2 they were filled with the Holy Spirit – and began their mission… the roller coaster journey that is the Book of Acts.
And what about us? This same exciting roller coaster journey with Jesus awaits us – as a church, as individual Christians. How are we responding to Jesus’ words up there on the screen?
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
John 20:21 