SUBJECT
TEXT--~A~ct;2_s.2;l.:.!:8!..______CLASSIFICATION: - --EXPOSITORY TITLE "THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT" --BIOGRAPHICAL - -TEXTUAL --TOPICAL SCRIPTURE READINv------DEVOTIONAL
DELIVERIES: Date Hour Place lvv ·+A Rttul~ and Commenb: p,g,c A.A1. §;n, A'Ylf~7,X VV' X+- 7 / J..effeQ ..2.i:,ntll~y'A1) f.tt.5T&RS .A-,vn ,1,)- F,~c, ?- -)..~ -'13 A-fi'l , -5,r-, A->1f du; r;x {'rl-'f t-f+Y 1 ! Y:Y.y. t-rW 0G / INTRO: NO OTHER INSTITUTION IN ALL THE WORLD HAS BEEN THE OBJECT OF SUCH UNCEASING EFFORT TO MARTYR · ITS L~ADERS, PERSECUTE ITS MEMBERS AND ERADICATE ITS MEMORY FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH AS THE CHURCH. THE BOOK OF ACTS RECORDS THE THRILLING STORY O? THE GROWTH AND VICTORIES OF THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT . FROM A HANDFUL OF 120 MEMBERS IN CHAPTER~, THE INFANT CHURCH GROWS TO 3,000 IN CHAPTER~ BY CHAPTER ~ITJU'HE CHURCH EXPLODES TO MORE THAN 5,000 ! IN THE FACE OF PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM Tllf CHURCH IN ACTS CONTINUES TO MARCH ON LIKE A M IGillY ARMY . ,..,..,., '"' • ~ ~ ------THE ,..CHURCH TRIUMPHANT" IS THE THEME THAT ECHOS THROUGHOUT THE 2~ CHAPTERS OF ACTS. THIS IS THE THEME THE CHURCH TODAY NEEDS TO HEAR THAT IT MIGHT BE CHALLENGED TO BECOME THE CHURCH TRI UMPHJH·.J.T\lfN O1.IR TIME. "7Ac,s /;g · I. 'THE PURPOSE OF~ THE=~ CHURCH~=~~ TRIUMPHANT= - -NOTE: Christ knew that for the church to become the "church triumphant" its marching orders must be clear, its pu ose spelled out in such a manner as no man could misunderstand. And so he says: --Acts 1 :8 --NOTE: The marching orders are clear! The purpose of the church is without question! "Ye shall be WITNESSES!" 1. The e of Witnessing WM+ 1'i • . --Acts 1 :Ba "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost_~ come u on you. ) -} - -EXEGESIS: There were .some things the disciples could not know ( :7) but the one thing they could know was the experience of power. The Holy Spirit is the promised power. Equipment for service came in this enduement. Our age knows much about atomic power, the ene:ivg y in nature which transcends man's powers. That energy_un seen has always been present in the universe, but not harnessed until our day. So it was with the disciples as they waited ·n the Upper Room. The power was there but they dtd not enter into its benefits until the appointed day of disclosure . Up to that time t hey were limited in knowledge, but now they would experience unlimited -2- strength for their task. The Acts is the record of the acts of the Holy Spirit t hrough the church. Supernatural strength is furnished by t he Holy Spirit's presence within the disciples. A wit ne ss is one who bears testimony . (Baker, pp. 12, 13) . --APPLY: Power is never achieved when ursuea for itself. In the d ivine economy, as we have glimpses of it in the Bible , power always goes with a commission. It came to the disc iples at Pentecost; it comes to anyone whe never he squarely faces an undertaking .. Churches pray often _and v...e.hemently, "O Lord, give us power," and forget that an essential part of the answer is in their owp hands . ~ That answer is to tackle something definite for which t hey ne€d power. (Luc-cock , pp . 12 -13) . n _l ~ 2. The Sub ect of w· essing - T~ ~ °T ,t · --Acts 1 :Bb "And ye shall be w itness es unto ~ " ':i}.J..i {le. ' --NOTE: Throughout The Acts this is the em ha s i ~ .,, com romises _~her commission, she neglects Christ at c er peril. (Baker, p. 12~ Vi __I Cor. 2 :2 (Paul) "For I am determined not to know a ny t hing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified!" - -APPLY: We ..are to be witnesses of"C hrist no matter what the cost . In Greek the word for witness and the word for martyr i s t he same word (Martus). A witness had t o be ready to become a martyr. To be a witness means to be loyal no_m..?tter wh_~t the cost. (Barclay, p . 5) '7tt ~ / 2 . Tlie S here of Witnessing - 7._-e. Pe~r~ete'f "f "" -- cts 1 :Be "In Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria , and unto the uttermost part of the earth. " - -EXEGESIS: The book of Acts illustrates perfectly the - sphere of witnessing: (a) the church in Jerusalem ~ Chapters l-r:--7; (b) the church in~Judea and Samaria,~ Chapters 8-8; (c) the church in the~, D:r/- ,: ---~ EA1trH11 "4LJTT!'~/110S1' ,,,,rr 0 ,,.,,. C hapters 10-28 . (Baker, p . 12). - -ILLUS: In aviation effective use is made of a device - 3- known as an "artificial horizon" as an aid in landing in a fog. There is a tragic suggestion in the words, for the gospel has been 'mprisoned by painfully artificial horizons not the divine horizon of human need, but.the man-made horizon of borders of breed or birth or class interest. The great commission to go into every corner of the world's life is inherent in the dangerous, explosive nature of the I truth itself. (Luc cock, p. 15) . - - ru'PLY: ;Ne. dare not forget the urgency for geographical and numerical expansion. I~ permanent- oom ls ion - l.a i n the tjJe1:! a in f the church...... When th at com - pulsion is relaxed, creeping paralysis sets in . .:M•~~-A few years ago when Mrs. Sara King Iselin, a "sos ial arbiter" of New York and Newport, died, and Assoc-iated Press dispatch carried this paragraph:~ "She was known a the most exclusive of 'the great ladie~ ·oft e c1 y. o new names had been added to her invitation list in twenty five years." No new names in twenty-five years! There is a Mount Everest of achievement in rigid exclusiveness !)Yet that perfection of complacency has been almost reached by many a church. There have been no widening circles, no movements from Judea to Samcy_ii r,.to the ends of the earth, in the life of too many churches. They sit like "great ladies" in musty parlors, awaihtng rigor mortis. The Church Triumphant' s sphere of witnessing is \ destined to reach every realm of human experience. (Luccock, p. 6). T~XA.5 DOO • ·• -> .- - BRIDGE : In fulfilling :its purpos~ the church has \encountered opposition in the form of persecution. PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH TRIUMEHA.NT- - cts 12:1-3 (READ) ~ I - -NQlftE: The persecution under Herotl Agrippa I was the third major assau1t upon the disciples, the first being by the Sadducees and the next by the Pharisees. Herot lost no opportunity to strengthen himself with the Jews; and when the Jerusalem disciples approved of Peter's conduct in the home of Cornelius, he may have seen an opening for -4- increasing his favor with the Jews, (Stagg, p. 128). - ..;EXEGESIS : The infant church knew the blast of evil which came from the dictatorial powers of the state. The i ssues of the first century were centered in the demand of the state to worship the Emperor as the kurios or the Lord. In this the citizens of the Roman Empire might have any religion they chose, but everyone must be subservient to tl:iis final worship of the god-emperor as the deity. Christians found that they could not acknowledge the em peror in this way and so they were persecuted and killed because of the.tr refusal. They confessed that Jesus the Christ was THE LORD, the Kurio5i. (Baker, pp. 73-74). 1 . Persecution Without" (Open Antagonists) - -Act 2:1 READ) --NOTE: Well J:b.ere' s nothin-g novel ca bout that. There's nothing new in that statement. The Herods of the world have always hated the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ! That ungodly monster who was the grandfather of this HeroiL.sought to~ ,Moythe infant Jesus. And now his "worthy descendant 11 seeks to destroy the infant church. And so right from the vepy beginning the Church learned to cope with such oppostion and such antagonists and soon learned not to fear greatly no matter how mighty Herod looked on his throne. And how little and insignifi cant the Church seemed to be. Because they learned there is a pw-ner on their side, fighting in them and through them, they knew that they could conquer the mighty Herods ! But notice the rest of this sto in A s 12 :2 - (READ)! ) And t hi s has been :the story through the centuries. The enemies of the Church have laughed in triumph. They have destroyed the ins ,' tution that claimed to hava the blessing of God ·upon it J,u"ftime and again as they have rejoiced in their victories t hey have found that theirs were but empty and hollow victories--they have been "eaten of worms" and die BUT the Word of God grows and multiplies! > .So we hgye learned~not t(0fear greatly those · open forces of e vil. But my day and yours has,jeen a new phenomenon-- -5- opposition to the Church and indifference to the Church coming from a new source. Not from some 1,mg des ot or self-acclaimed spokesman of ism.·Wfi&"typifies ,materialism and secularism but from those who claim to love God. · We ha~ nothing to fear from those like Madeline 0' Hair. In fact I feel that she is the best argument Christians have goi ng against Atheism. But we have everything to fear from those .enemies who claim to be .frie nds of God. For the Church today is wounded .in the hous_e of its :'friends" r~ 2. Pers cution From About (C hurchless Christians) - - - - :}IOTE: Certain earnest souls have apparently become convinced that the Church is so encrusted with evil and so entangled with the world and face s such perilous times that it is doomed to failure! And they have ceased to hope, they have ceased to work and it seems that they have ceased to pray that the Church of JE; sus Christ will become t he Churc h Tri umphant. It is an impossibility to separate Christianity from the Church. Such a concept never existed in the minds of the early Christians for "The Lord added to the Church daily such as should (were being) saved" (Acts 2.:47B). The word "church" is used by Jesus, the founder of the Church, 22 times. 21 of the times the meaning is so re stricted it can have but one me aning-·-the loc al c hurch, just like this local church. And he further says of the Church, "The gates of hel shall not prevail against it!" (M att. 16 . 18b). (The Church Triumphant, pp. 2-3). 3 . Persecution From Within (Baptized Unbelieversl. > - - NOTE: Franklin H. Littel, a noted writer on the history -6- ,.,--~,,~~r;,vrru-1 ...... -·· ... · ·--- , - - - · - · . . . _,.. . ,, of the church in the U.S. points out that\many churches in an effort to attract new members have ta"'k en in people whose preparation was sketchy at best. Such members often had only the lt'!aguest notion of _what the chur.ch they were joining believed or required .1/ (Kelly) JI As a result ... the churches became filled with baptized pagans, who soon outnumbered those who ha._d gained and kept some understanding of i:he obligations of ·discipleship." - BRIDGE: In the face of such .relentless peTsecution the church grew and became the church triumphant! But the church's problems are not limited to persecution. The church has perplexities of its own. III. THE ERPLEXITIES OF THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT - -N9TE: As so often ha ing and the future was full of promise, problems arose .from within tts own fellowship ! --Acts 6:_1 "And in those days, when the number of the dispiples were multiplied, the-re arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Heprews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration." --NOTE :- This was only the beginning of the perplexities of the early church. On the first missionary journey Mark deserted the party and returned home. On the second missionary journey Paul and Barnaba s had a falling out over Mark .1 Luke records (Acts 15:39) "The content. on was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed_ unto Cyprus " f ull T,~ --1LLUB: Ever since my firstJ}pastorate as an 18 year old unj.v--Brs i ty student' I have beeo. wai ting for things to settle down to "normal." Aft e . ears in the pastorate I have cGn- • eluded hat J have never served a "normal" church. In fact I have concluded that there is no such thing a-s a "normal" church.">The church triumphant, so long as it is composed of human beings and is fulfilling its purpose, will always be faced with perple~sities. The church in -7- Acts certainly was . Two things usually create all the problems a church ever experiences. They are: (1) Programs and (2) People. A church with no program and no people would have no perplexities! · 1 . The Perplexity Bee se of Its Pro ram · - -NOTE: If I had been a member of that li ttle church back ere that launched the revival on the day of Pentecost and if omebody had made a motion in business meeting, "I move that on Pentecost day we launch a campaign to introduce the gospel of Christ to Jerusalem and that our goal be 3,000 converts in 'one day; I further move that following this we send out a mis .' sionary force that will effect the whole world. 11 I can hear myself getting up and saying, 11 Now, now, .brethren, I have a lot of faith , but there is no need in being pre . sumptious. about this thing. Now I believe in the ...12 roro i se a£ od_and think in time we should give due consideration to carrying out Christ's great commission, but there is not any need for our bein foolish h to think that we can do a wild ,impossible thing like that. Taktng the gospel to the entire world--that' s ridiculous. 11 And I could have given a lot of reasons why we couldn't do it--more reasons than you can give t oday. That church d idn't have a ghost of,a chance , it's whole program we s wrong! in the first place - ·(1 ) It was in the wron,g location 1 - -NOTE: If I had been starting the first Church I would have 1known better than to have started it in Jerusalem. I would have started it over in Galilee in some quiet village where we had a lot of friends and where the first members came from. But ehere were several things against starting the Church in Jerusalem. (a) 1rst hey l'@d pl~ty of religion there already- Josephus said they had 400 synagogues in Jerusalem! And in addition they had the mighty Temple. TheY. had the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Why did they n.eed that little old group of Christians. There wasn't any need for another church there. (b) And on top of that, enemies of the Church lived there. ''he murderers of Jesus ived t here and they would have been happy to have murdered every member of that Church! And you talk about facing adverse onditions. We do not face conditions as terrible as those faced in the First -8- .JJ.J. . { 'fl~ '!If/ p f Y /3ecA-vS~ () ·- :t:T'; - -.. ,z~ century . There are people who hate the Church today. · There are peopte who do not particularly love this Church, I am sure. But you don't face any enemies like that, not any who would want to kill every member of this church, they would want to spare some of you. So you do not ha_ve the oppost iion they had which ari ses from being in the wrong location. (2) It was too small They certainly had a mighty small army as they marche d out to do the will of God. At most there were 120 believers but I'm not sure all of t hem belonged to the C hurch. They had 12 charter members and they had alread lost one. '.And yet here they started out on a wild impoE;sible movement to evan gelize Jerusalem and t o t ake the gospel to the whole world. -- Numbers! We talk sometime as if numbers i,Sthe most important book in the Bible . But that id not make any difference to them. ,; It had better not make any difference to us. Remember that God i s on the side of righteousness and that changes the balance . ( (3) It d1 not have enDllgh money - OTE : They had the handicap of poverty. They were so poor. They were just a bunch of fishermen and peasants. (4) It did not have th~ri ht R:ind of im_age ._ 'I (5) It did not have adequ phy_s_lc.-a.l facilitie.s. \J/' (6) It was an unfavorable time - --NOTE: The were expecting a war to break out. Rumors were that the Romans were going to come and dest~OY. t ~ - • . -- "Di ~ I• - 2. he Perplex·ty Because of its Peo le ~ ,,, ,, (l) They h 12 charter members, all Galeleans, ob .S cure men, except one Apparently only one had any standing in his home ow .,, He was called "The Man of Kerioth." Maybe the C of C had elected him the "man of the year" or something, I don't know. But since s.e was such an outstanding man they elected him treasurer and you know that scoundrel turned out to be a thief! The treasurer of the first church that ever existed turned out to be a thief. Now with members like that you can't do much, can you?· That 1/12 of their membership- thieves and betrayers of the Lord. We have a better -9- average than that, don't we ? (2 ) Judas is now gone--not holding t e Church ~'..,..,J;:,..,,,.l~ there was another prominent member who was still there, Simon Peter. And on the night t he Lord was betrayed he got on a bragging spell. (You never knew Baptists to do that, did you?) He would never forsake Jes l!ls. And yet he got in wi.th the wrong crowd and denied he knew Jesus an t he third time he cursed. He remained in the Church and on the day they la unched their great campaign , he stuck 11) h imself up in the pulpit to preach the sermon! 'S:£./fov 'AIJ,) 13) Thomas, a good man in many ways but mighty care less about his church attendance. He even missed the first Easter Sunday, and that's really going some when you do that! And then he was a lways looking on the c3:ark side. i.e. 11 let us go that we may die with him. 11 1 (4) James and John--High tempered men · --NO'l'R: Wuuldn't let man c _ast Qut devil~ J Wanted to bllITl Samariatian. city down ... r1J.+'fLeff H~ '7')( --BRIDGE: W ith t hose kind of members_ how could that church accomplish anything? That's j u_st 5 of them, but that is 5 of the 12 . I can't tell you a l5dut the ot hers be cause the Bible d oe,sn 't tell o t their having ever done any thing-. Frank 'St-ag.qL grof. of N. T. in Southern Seminary &ays in his book on Acts the reason-the scripture doesn't tell a bout them is that· t hey probably didn't do anything . M.a ybe .;,,41e have some members like that too. - -'.APPLY _: Now the purpose of ooking er the first century church in comparison with Christ's church today is this-- I want to remind you that God has always had to do his work through weak and imperfect men and women. So, can't you see, no hards ips we have today are as great as those of that early church, yet they .invaded their entire world with the gospel. ' .Before a generatio had passed away not a city of any importance in the Roman el mpire had not been invaded by Christians and did not have its owrr church. --BRIDGE: How did they do it? How can do it? W ith such persecution and perp exities, how can the Church experience victory and truly become the II Church TriLtmphant -10- Let's see how victory came. to the early Church, for victory comes to the Church today in ex actly the s ame way. IV. THE POWER OF THE CHURCH TRIUMP.EANT .-f, ) - --NOTE: After Peter and John had "preacheii h Jesus the resurrection from tha dead (Acts 4:2b) Luke reports that ''many who eard the word believed; and the number of the men was about 5,000 ! 11 ~cts 4:4). This resulted . in Peter and John's being arrested and asked by the Sanhedrin, "By .rhat POWER •.• have ye done thu;? 11 (Acts 4: 7b) • A:. 1: 8The question is still asked of the church triumphant ) t today. What is the power of the church triumphant? • ., . Tfie Power of P r ,Ae-t5 If l't --N()TE: Luke tells that for 10 days and nights before launching t heir crusade on Pentecost the church prayed. Dr. L. R. Scarborough used to say that is the difference! They prayed 10 days and nights , preached 3 0 minutes and had 3 ,i OOO saved. We do it differently today. We preach 10 days and nights, pray 30 minutes and have 3 saved. We must place the eu;wbasi s where they placed it to expe rrence the vj.ctorie s they experienced . · 3 . The Power of P rsonal Involvement A-d$ I : (3 --NOTE: When they launched the campaign, old doubting Thomas, swearing Sim0n PE:. .:1::: .c, James and John with their bad t e mpers , in spite of their weaknesses, the Bible says, they were all there . Isn't that a wonderful thing. The I power of personal involvement! It is still required today. Off. yo"~ ScAT- ~'Y' -J;he Sif£U -ti Lost Peq,lt MEET!. 'f- . Tlie Po~~r· of -Uni-, - ~~ - - CTS ·2 :1 "They were all with ONE -ACCOR , ' --NOTE: That doesn't mean they always agree , u they did always love one another. They were united in Jesus Christ with one another. The pagan would say, "Beh~ld how those Christians love one another! 11 -11- 5, . The Power of o ous Optimism --NO!R: They knew that in spite of the<..':i~r ...iu.~!-.:...:~~~i;. in spite of their lack of oney, in spite of all their personal limitations they were going to win! And so they went out happy and joyous even when they were being k illed and the world could not under stand . And that's the spirit in which we must win the victory-today if we would continue t o be "The Church Triumphant! 11 For Jesus said, "Be of gooo cfi er, for I have OV"ercome the world!" - • CON: "Like mighty army Moves the Church of God .•. 11 ; Like a mighty army Moves the church of God; Brothers, we are treading Where the saints have trod; We are not divided; All one body we, One in hope and doctrine, One in charity. Onward, Christian soldiers, Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus Going on before! . i - 12- I The Church Triumphant Acts 1:8 I. The ____of the Church Triumphant - Acts 1:8 1. The ____ of Witnessing - Acts 1:8a 2. The ____ of Witnessing - Acts 1:8b 3. The ____ of Witnessing - Acts 18c II. The ____ of the Church Triumphant-Acts 12:1-3 1. Persecution from ----- Acts 12:1 2. Persecution from ---- 3. Persecution from ---- III. The ____ of the Church Triumphant - Acts 6:1; 15:39 1. The Perplexity Because of Its ____ 2. The Perplexity Because of Its ____ IV. The ____ of the Church Triumphant 1. The Power of the ------Acts 1:8a 2. The Power of ----- Acts 1:14 3. The Power of ----Involvement - Acts. 1:13 4. The Power of ----- Acts 2:1 5. The Power of Joyous ____