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Book of Acts: Church on Fire a Six-Week Series on the First Cycle of Acts

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Book of Acts: Church on Fire a Six-Week Series on the First Cycle of Acts Book of Acts: Church on Fire A Six-Week Series on the First Cycle of Acts. The Jerusalem Church Date Sermon Title Sermon Text Oct. 13 The Mission Acts 1 Oct. 20 The Holy Spirit (i.e. the power) Acts 2:1-41 Oct. 27 A Day in the Life of the Church Acts 2:42-47 Nov. 2 A Miracle, A Movement, Opposition, and Prayer Acts 3-4:31 Nov. 10 Internal Opposition Acts 4:32-5:11, 6:1-7 Nov. 17 External Opposition: Persecution & Scattering Acts 5:12-42, 6:8-8:3 Introduction to Acts: The book of Acts is most appropriately called The Acts of the Holy Spirit rather than The Acts of the Apostles. While the story follows the life and ministry of many of Jesus’ disciples, God the Holy Spirit is the Chief Character and Actor in this story. The book of Acts is a beautiful picture of what happens when the Holy Spirit is at work in the life of those who put their faith in Jesus. I’m excited for this journey and hope you are too. Author: Luke, a physician who was a close associate of the Apostle Paul, wrote the book of Acts. He went on many of Paul’s missionary journeys but is best known for writing the Gospel of Luke and Acts. These two books are actually two volumes of the same book. The book of Luke deals with the life, teaching, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus, while the book of Acts focuses on the gift of and work of the Holy Spirit after Jesus ascends into heaven. Purpose: Like the book of Luke, it is written to Theophilus. There is some debate as to who Theophilus is, as his name means “lover of God.” So the questions becomes: Is this a general book written to all Christians “lovers of God” or is Theophilus an actual person? Most likely Theophilus is a wealthy Christian who had commissioned Luke to put together an orderly and accurate account of Jesus’ life and the movement of His followers that resulted. It is also possible that Theophilus is a seeker to whom Luke writes in order to convince him that salvation is in Christ. Either way, both Luke and Acts are incredibly well researched historical documents that give us an “orderly account” of both Jesus’ life and the initial movement of Jesus followers. These two works are without equal in recording ancient history and very well respected within the scholarly community—even by non-believers. Approaches to Acts (Prescriptive or Descriptive): There is no little debate in the church as to how to take the accounts of Acts. There are some that would say Acts is primarily descriptive in that it simply tells us what happened, but that it is not meant to be copied. Others view the book of Acts primarily prescriptively as they think what happened in Acts is what should happen today. They believe that the church has lost something from this bygone era and that we would fix all of our problems if we simply did everything that they did. Obviously the book of Acts is descriptive. It tells the story of what happened, but is it more? Of course it is. Much of the Bible is written in narrative form, which tells stories in order to teach theological truths. But while Acts is more than simply descriptive, the application of the stories in Acts is far more nuanced than simply copying their forms. Cultures have changed, thus forcing us to do as least basic contextualization. For instance, it would be wonderful “do church” without the need for buildings, but our particular city doesn’t have a “temple court” for us to gather in. (The Temple court was a really big outside area that many people in the city gathered in, much like a park). In addition to that, our climate necessitates that the majority of our meetings are indoors. J Let me give you an example of where this comes into play. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples, “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.” Most scholars agree that this as the key verse in setting up the literary structure of Acts. In chapters 1-7 the church is a witness in Jerusalem, chapters 8-12 record the church being a witness in Judea and Samaria, and chapters 13-28 chronicle the story of the church being a witness “to the end of the earth.” But the question becomes, is there something more for the church today to pull from this other than a table of contents? It is, after all the last recorded words of Jesus. Is this also a strategy for reaching the world that each church can employ? I think so. In calling His disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Jesus is calling them to reach the city they are in. Expanding to Judea involved moving out a concentric circle. The people were still very similar culturally to them, but just a little further away. Samaria on the other hand was rather close geographically but really different culturally. The charge to be witnesses to the ends of the earth referred to all the other people groups they would eventually bear witness to, although it took them a while and included persecution to scatter them. Is it responsible for us to apply this text to our situation by saying that we are called to reach our Jerusalem (Duluth), our Judea (Northern Minnesota), our Samaria (those who are geographically near but culturally far away), and the ends of the earth (like India or Ecuador)? As a church, we think so and have used this as a framework for mission. Not all of the stories in Acts work prescriptively however. An example of something in Acts that I would consider only descriptive is the decision making process at the end of chapter one (casting lots). We do not cast lots to determine our leaders anymore because Acts chapter 2 happened. The Holy Spirit indwelling all believers is a game changer. Let me give you one more example of how this might work. Also, although the early believers met in temple courts as well as “house to house” (2:46), I do not think we need to meet in actual temple courts as those don’t exist in our culture. However, I do think it sets a precedent for meeting in large and small groups. Where verses like this can create tension today is easy to see. Those who like big gatherings tend to focus on the numbers of the Jerusalem church and their large gatherings, while those who like house churches point out that there were no church buildings and that the church met from house to house. There really isn’t a tension here in Acts. The early church did both, they met as a large group and as smaller groups. This gives us a lot of freedom when trying to find culturally appropriate forms of expression. A Discussion on Form and Function: A vitally important part of a healthy church ministry is a right understanding of form and function. A function of the church is something that every healthy church should have as part of their ministry. These are things like: worship, prayer, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, generosity, communion, baptism, preaching, etc. Every healthy church must incorporate these functions into the life of their church and when they don’t, they cease to be healthy. Ministry forms however, allow for a great diversity of cultural and contextual expression of these forms and can change often. So to summarize, forms change, but functions do not. We can change how and when we pray, but we cannot wake up one day and think that prayer is no longer needed. Why this long discussion? A huge problem happens in churches that elevate forms to the level of function. This is what is happening when someone makes a case for a “biblical style of worship.” As if the right way to worship God is with hymns or choruses or with an electric guitar or an organ. Another example would be Sunday School vs. City Groups. Is one a right way and the other wrong? No. While we have strong convictions about City Groups over Sunday school, they can both be a very appropriate expression of discipleship, fellowship, prayer, evangelism, etc. I long for Rock Hill to be known as a community of worshippers. How that happens will change many times. That it happens should never change. I often tell people that my dream is to be a 70-year-old preacher, still preaching at Rock Hill, hating the music, but loving the young people who love it. J This is a proper understanding of form and function. I am indebted to a man named Gene Getz who began writing about this in the 1970s. Religious Context: The cultural context of the book of Acts is very different in the first section of the book (In Jerusalem) than it is in the second and third sections. The Roman Empire as a whole was very diverse, with a high value on religious tolerance. The Romans, and the pluralistic society that they created, didn’t see one’s religious beliefs as impacting one’s life very drastically. This made the absolute Lordship claims of Jesus Christ incredibly counter- cultural to them. In Jerusalem and Judea, however, it was quite a different story.
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