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Book of Acts: Church on Fire A Six-Week Series on the First Cycle of Acts. The Church

Date Sermon Title Sermon Text Oct. 13 The Mission Oct. 20 The Holy Spirit (i.e. the power) :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 -4:31 Nov. 10 Internal Opposition :32-5:11, 6:1-7 Nov. 17 External Opposition: Persecution & Scattering :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 . While the story follows the life and ministry of many of ’ 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 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 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 “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 . Either way, both Luke and Acts are incredibly well researched historical documents that give us an “orderly account” of both Jesus’ life and the initial movement of Jesus followers.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 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 and , 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.

The practiced their religion very differently from the Romans and were far less “tolerant”. They were awaiting a coming Messiah to deliver them from the Romans. The controversy in this region had far less to do with whether or not one could claim that much sovereignty over your life but rather with whether or not Jesus was this Messiah.

Point to Consider on Revivals: Many of us look at the work of the early church and think that it is normative for Christian life and practice. We read these stories and begin to ask: Why is it that we don’t see 3000-5000 people at once coming to salvation in Jesus Christ? What we often forget is that many of these first converts were the people who saw Jesus, who heard Jesus, many of these were even healed by Jesus. Now, His disciples were simply proclaiming the resurrection of Christ, claiming that He was the long-awaited Messiah and that salvation is found in His Name alone. While revivals seem pretty normal in the first 12 chapters of Acts, they tend to trail off in the remaining missionary work of the second half of the book. We see a few (like in in ) but we see a lot of ordinary faithfulness and salvation. Might I suggest that much of what the disciples were simply reaping was what Jesus had sown?

So, do massive movements of God still happen like this? Absolutely! There are places around the world as we speak that are seeing people come to Jesus in numbers more staggering than even these. God can and does work this way, and we pray that he would do this kind of thing in Duluth, MN. However, while God occasionally does the astounding, he most often works in ordinary ways through ordinary people living Gospel-Centered lives of mission. So should we seek these things? Absolutely! But movements like this are movements of God. We pray, we seek, we step out, we speak boldly, but God changes the heart.

Why are we studying just the first part? The book of Acts can easily be broken up into different movements or sections. I thought it would be helpful for us to look at the first couple years of the church over the course of six weeks in order to see how Jesus’ first disciples obeyed Him. The section we will look at describes how the disciples became witnesses of the Gospel in their own city of Jerusalem. Eventually they will bear witness to their surrounding area, but this doesn’t happen until persecution comes. I hope to have future sermon series that focuses on the other two sections of the book of Acts.

I pray that God works in mighty ways in our own church as we glean from the faith and example of Jesus’ first followers. May God move in our city as he did in those first days in Jerusalem.

Week 1: The Mission… What We’re Supposed to be Doing.

Scripture Passage: Acts 1

Commentary: Introduction to the Book of Acts and Theophilus (vv. 1-3): (See “Introduction to Acts” for the background and occasion for writing.) (3) “many proofs” Our faith and reason work together, they are not at odds with one another. Jesus had to show them that he was alive, because dead men don’t come back to life. Being a person of faith doesn’t mean that you check your mind at the door. Everyone is a person of faith, it just depends on what you put your faith “in.”

Jesus’ Commissions (vv. 4-11):

(v. 4) “Stay in Jerusalem.” Why do you think Jesus said this? Jerusalem had a unique role as the “city of God” but it was also the place where His death and resurrection happened. This was not home for the disciples, was. Jesus was telling them in essence, life will not be going back to the way things were.

(v. 5) Jesus promises the Holy Spirit again and ties it to the fulfillment of Scripture.

(v. 6) Time has passed between verses 5-6. It is astounding that the disciples, having heard all the things that they have heard, having seen all the things that they have seen, still don’t get it. They are thinking about the Kingdom of Israel, as if Jesus is going to be like King of old and bring back the glory years. They still don’t get how big Jesus’ salvation will be. This is a further affirmation of just how big of deal the Holy Spirit is in illumining their minds and directing their lives.

(v. 7) If anyone ever sets a date for when Jesus will return, beware. Jesus tells us that only the Father knows the time for the restoration of His Kingdom. (Isn’t it funny how someone in every generation claims to have “figured it out”? J)

(v. 8) This verse sets the scope for the remainder of the book. It is descriptive of the book, but also helps us to order our own lives.

Description of the Book: • Witnesses in Jerusalem – Acts 2-7 • Witnesses in Judea and Samaria – -12 • Witnesses to the end of the earth – -28

Prescriptive Ministry: • Our Jerusalem: our city and sphere of influence • Our Judea: those a little further away but still culturally similar • Our Samaria: those who are geographically close but culturally very different • Our Ends of the Earth: all nations and peoples of the earth

I would say that we all have some responsibility to be involved in being witnesses to all of these different people groups. Think concentric circles of influence: going and sending.

Final Words (vv. 9-11) These are the final words of Jesus before He is taken up into heaven. Last words have a powerful effect. Additionally, two appear and tell them that Jesus is gone, but He will come back in the same way He departed. It will not be clocked or hidden the next time. We will know.

Active Waiting & Decision-Making (vv. 12-26) As they were waiting for the Holy Spirit, the disciples decide to make a decision concerning who will be the 12th /apostle to replace . The number 12 is incredibly significant in Scripture. It is a number indicating completeness, but it also corresponds with Israel. The nation of Israel had 12 tribes, therefore the new covenant people of God symbolically have 12 apostles (figureheads) which indicates the new people of God.

They establish Criteria: 1. He needs to have been with us since the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. 2. He needs to be known and have godly character.

Two men are found that fit the criteria – Barsabbas called Justus and Matthias.

They Cast Lots, trusting the Sovereignty of God to decide between two equally qualified men. The lot falls to Matthias, so he is chosen. Casting lots was their version of flipping a coin or drawing straws.

Why do we not employ this method of choosing leaders now? Scholars have endless debates as to whether or not this is a viable way of determining the last apostle. Some think that the disciples jumped the gun and chose Matthias when God really was going to choose the Apostle Paul. We don’t know. This act is neither endorsed nor condemned. I’m pointing out the obvious as to why we don’t employ this method now – this happened before they had the Holy Spirit. Since we now have the empowering and leading of the Holy Spirit, we can make informed decisions by seeking His guidance.

Key Points: • The Holy Spirit is necessary in fulfilling mission. • The return of Christ will happen, but we will not know when. • It is important that we are witnesses within the sphere of influence God gives us.

Application/Discussion Questions: 1. How do you rely on the Holy Spirit to be a witness? 2. Where is your Jerusalem? Judea? Samaria? end of the earth? And how are you effectively witnessing to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ? 3. How do you know whether or not you have the Holy Spirit?

Week 2: The Holy Spirit Comes and the Church is Born

Scripture Passage: Acts 2:1-41

Commentary: Active Waiting (v. 1): Jesus had promised them the Holy Spirit and so they waited for him to come; however, they were not inactive. They seemed to be regularly gathering for prayer and encouragement. As we wait for the falling of the Holy Spirit, we should not be inactive, but wait with a sense of urgency and anticipation.

The Spirit Falls on Everyone (vv. 2-3): It is incredibly significant that when the Holy Spirit does come, He does not come simply on the 12, or simply on the men, or simply on the women, etc. The Holy Spirit comes and rests on everyone who was there. The promise of the Holy Spirit is a promise to every believer, not just leaders of the movement. This is an incredible truth that has significant outworking in the church. All of us have gifts and a role. All of us are called into mission and are equipped for the work. This is explained a lot more in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4.

The Believers Begin to Speak in Other Tongues (vv. 4-13): The scene described in Acts 2 is a crazy one. Not only are there tongues of fire falling on people, but then these people begin speaking in all kinds of different languages. In addition, the people who happen to be there (Jews who speak all kinds of different languages) all hear these men speak in their own language.

What’s going on here? What are tongues? Does this have anything to do with us? Is this gift present today? If so, should we pursue it? These are questions that godly men have written entire books on so it will be difficult for me to cover all of it here.

Let me cover the context of this text and deal with what is going on here. First, what takes place here should not be considered normative in the Christian life. This is the Holy Spirit’s initial splash on the scene (at least in this context of indwelling every believer—He obviously has been present during all of history); we should expect a little bit of a bang.

There are tons of parallels between the curse of Babel and the redemption of the church here. At Babel, humanity united in rebellion against God and therefore God scrambled their languages. At , the people of God are uniting in the service of God to draw in people of every tongue, tribe, and nation. As Jews are in Jerusalem from all over the world, this is one of the ways that God spreads the knowledge of His great salvation to the ends of the earth. We believe that God can and still does this sometimes. Human language can be an obstacle to the Gospel spreading, but it does not intimidate or stop God.

Peter Gets Up and Explains What Is Going On (vv. 14-41): (vv. 14-21) “We are not drunk; we are filled with the promised Holy Spirit. The promise of Joel the prophet is being fulfilled before your eyes. The Spirit of God is falling on everyone and they will see visions and prophesy. This is happening in conjunction with the predicted day of the Lord (both judgment and salvation) because Jesus has come. He was the one it was pointing to.”

(vv. 22-36) “You killed Jesus, but He is Alive.” The essence of Peter’s message is that the Messiah has come, but they (the Jews) killed Him. This is an incredible evil, but not outside of the plan of God. Though they had missed the Messiah and killed Him, Jesus was doing something for them that was beyond belief. He was dying as their substitute.

Though Jesus died, death could not hold Him. He is ALIVE, just as was promised/predicted by David. Jesus has risen in victory over death. “You killed Him, but He won. He’s alive.” Isn’t it interesting that the core of Peter’s sermon is on the resurrection? He preaches this in the very place where Jesus was killed and buried. The fact that Jesus’ followers began in the very place where He was killed and buried breaks all the known rules for how myths are formed. In fact, in light of the historical evidence, the resurrection is the most plausible scenario for this as any other explanations come up incredibly short.

(37-41) The people are cut to the heart. The people are convicted of their sin and rightly acknowledge that they killed God. All true belief begins with an awareness of our sin and unworthiness. It is here that the grace of God becomes truly amazing.

They repent (turn from their sin) and are baptized (publically declare their faith in Jesus Christ). Repentance and faith are like the two different sides of the same coin. You turn from something to something else. Notice also that this isn’t simply a private turning in the “quietness of their own heart.” This is a very public turning and identification with Jesus and His people. Jesus commands us to be baptized! It is the first act of obedience for the believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

They are forgiven. Their sin is atoned for and they are made clean. They receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise was not just for the first few in the door, it is what happens to every believer!

3000 people respond the first day! Incredible! This is what the Holy Spirit does; He saves people by opening their eyes to the reality of who Jesus is and what He has done. We must remember though that this isn’t what normal church life looks like. While massive revivals happen like this, we must remember that there is often much work to be done prior to conversion. To use the analogy of farming, there must be: working the soil, planting, watering, and harvesting. Often those preaching this text forget that these were the same people who had heard Jesus teach, seen him perform miracles, and even been healed themselves. We must keep this in mind when exploring the first few chapters of Acts; otherwise we might become overly discouraged when our experience doesn’t match these incredible events. However, we must continually remember that the power we minister with is not our own, but the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. See note on Revivals from Introduction.

Key Points: • The Holy Spirit falls on all present (the priesthood of every believer). This ties into the promise of Exodus 19 (Kingdom of Priests) and 1 Peter 2:9-10. • All people hear and understand the message in their own language. This is the reversal of the curse in Babel (for a moment) so that God’s purposes are accomplished. Rather than uniting in opposition to God, God unites them as He begins to call people from all different places. • Peter preaches the most seeker-insensitive sermon (“You killed God!”) and 3000 are saved and baptized. • The Holy Spirit changes everything.

Application/Discussion Questions: 1. How do you know that the Holy Spirit dwells in you? 2. Have you ever boldly shared the Gospel with anyone? If so, where and when? How do you do it? 3. Have you been baptized? If not, why not? 4. Have you ever spoken in tongues?

Week 3: A Day in the Life of the Church

Scripture Passage: Acts 2:42-47 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Commentary: This short passage of Scripture is a beautiful picture to us of what ordinary life looked like for the early church. Once they became followers of Jesus, what did they do? How did they spend their time? When did they gather? Where did they gather?

Look at the Components of their life together

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (discipleship)… There was much to learn about who Jesus was, why He came, and what that meant for their lives. The Gospel has limitless applications in everyday life and so a regular part of their meeting had to do with learning and growing in the knowledge of God and His Word. and the fellowship (community), to the breaking of bread… Much of what happened in their gatherings had to do with the sharing of relationships. Biblical fellowship or community is a unique thing indeed. It has to do with becoming family with people that you otherwise might not connect with. Time together facilitates this, eating together facilitates this, communion (intentional meals remembering the cross and resurrection of Christ) facilitates this, prayer facilitates this, worship facilitates this. It is the sharing of lives. What we see in the early church is a rich, deep community of relationships. and the prayers. Man, the early church prayed. And when they prayed, God moved. They devoted their lives and time together to intentional times of prayer. Take a look at a few of these (Acts 4:23-31, 6:1-7). John Piper says, “Prayer is a war time walkie talkie that connects us to God in heaven, the limitless provider. We should not be surprised that it malfunctions when we attempt to turn it into a domestic intercom to ask for more lemonade in the den.”

And awe came upon every soul (worship)… This was a worshiping community. There was a tangible sense of awe among them at who God is and what He is doing. It also tells us that they were praising God constantly. The church ought to be a worshiping community

…and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. God was moving in miraculous ways. God heals, restores, comforts, and so much more. Do we still expect Him to move and work in these ways?

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need (giving generously and meeting the needs of others). This was a generous people who took care of one another. Just as God had been generous toward them, they were generous to each other. This is not an endorsement of communism, but rather the radically new approach to life and things that the Gospel encourages. Keep in mind, this is all voluntary. No one was being forced into any of this, they were simply responding to the grace they had been given.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people (they gathered regularly). The early church recognized the need to continually get together. But where did they meet? Verse 46 tells us that they gathered in two types of places. The temple courts (large group) and from home to home (smaller groups). There is a tendency in all of us to emphasize one of these gathers above the other. Those who love production, large numbers, and excitement in their gathering can easily go to this verse and find a justification for their preferred method of gathering. Additionally, those who enjoy smaller groups of people will go to this same verse and talk about “house church” as being the true gathering of God’s people. Isn’t this being a little reductionistic? Isn’t there value in both? Of course there is. You can do things in a large gathering that you could never in a smaller one and vice versa. As a church, we fully embrace both. They are complementary, like two arms or two legs working together.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were begin saved (evangelism). This was not a holy huddle of Christians trying to keep the big bad world out. This was an incredible community of people who lived very publicly for Jesus Christ and welcomed others in as well. As they proclaimed and demonstrated the Gospel of Jesus, it was compelling and people came.

Application/Discussion Questions: 1. How well do you think this describes your experience as a part of Rock Hill? 2. What areas of church life are we strong in? Which ones do we need to grow? 3. What areas of church life do you tend to gravitate toward? 4. Which areas of church life do you need to grow in? 5. In light of this picture of what the church is to be about, is there anything God is calling you to do or engage in?

Week 4: A Miracle, A Movement, Opposition, and Prayer

Scripture Passage: Acts 3-4 Retell the story in your own words in the group.

Commentary: Scene 1: Peter and John go to the Temple at the time of prayer (3:00 PM). This is a normal activity for them. God often wants to work in the midst of your normal ordinary life by helping you see what you don’t currently see.

Scene 2: Peter speaks to and heals this crippled man. This man who has been healed creates a scene and thus a crowd.

Scene 3: Peter and John use this as an opportunity to boldly preach about salvation in Jesus Christ. Peter is very careful to give the glory of the miracle to God (not himself). He calls them to repentance and faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and so that times of refreshing might come.

Scene 4: Many people respond – the number of men grows to 5,000, but opposition also begins. Peter and John are arrested by the same men who arrested and killed Jesus. They spend the night in jail.

Scene 5: Peter and John are put on trial by the same men who killed Jesus. They give a defense of their Gospel, claiming the . These religious leaders hate Jesus and this new movement, but the fact remains, an incredible miracle has happened. This man who had been crippled from birth (that everyone had walked by on their way to the Temple for years) was now healed. They charge Peter and John to no longer preach or teach in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Scene 6: Peter and John boldly declare, “You’re crazy if you think we are going to listen to you rather than God. Salvation is found in Jesus and His Name alone.” The leaders are astonished by Peter and John because they are ordinary, uneducated men, but they recognize that they had been with Jesus.

Scene 7: Upon their release, they go to the church and the church has a prayer meeting that shakes the room they are in. In their prayer, they acknowledge God’s sovereignty over all things, including this current opposition. Then they pray for boldness in light of the circumstances and for God to do more miracles and wonders so that they can continue to have opportunities to preach. They do not ask God to take away the opposition, but rather for Him to give them opportunities and boldness in the midst of it.

Key Points: • We should be looking for ordinary and extraordinary opportunities to share the message of hope and life in Jesus Christ. • God can and does heal people. • Salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone; He is exclusive (4:12). • God is sovereign over all things, even the opposition His people face. • Prayer is powerful because God hears and answers it.

Application/Discussion Questions: 1. What part of the story stands out to you the most? 2. How is Jesus both exclusive and inclusive? 3. Have you ever been in a prayer meeting like that? Tell us about it. 4. Have you ever witnessed God do a miracle? 5. What everyday opportunities do you have to share the Gospel of Jesus?

Week 5: Internal Opposition

Scripture Passage: Acts 4:32-5:11, 6:1-7

Commentary: God is obviously on the move. The church is seeing incredible things happen. The Gospel is spreading rapidly and many people are calling on the Name of Jesus for salvation. There is a radical sharing of resources going on that can only be explained by the Gospel. In fact, a man in the church named just gave an incredible gift in order to meet the needs of people in the church (4:36-37). The church is doing what the church is supposed to be doing. And they lived happily ever after, right? Not exactly…

It should come as no surprise to us that God’s work would be opposed by those who have rejected Him and ultimately, by , who hates Him. In the next two weeks, we are going to see how the church faces opposition from both the inside and the outside in Acts 5-6. Both types of opposition can be incredibly dangerous to the effectiveness of the Church.

God’s work is opposed from the inside in two different ways.

1. People use generosity and gifts to make a name for themselves rather than for God. 2. The leaders have too much to do. They need a new structure.

Ananias and Sapphira (5:1-11): The story of ’s withholding of resources comes right on the heels of the story of Barnabas’ generosity and shows us how even really good acts can be distorted and used for evil purposes.

Imagine being at a church where people thought so much of God and so little of their own financial well-being that they sold really valuable things and donated them so that others could be taken care of. That would be incredibly compelling to witness. Well, in the early church, it was happening. We are told the incredible story of Barnabas’ generosity, but then shown how really good things can be distorted by sin and selfishness.

What would be your reaction if someone at our church sold a piece of property that they owned and took a good portion of the money from the sale and donated it to the church? We would be thrilled, wouldn’t we? We would be excited about how God could use that money for his Kingdom purposes and advancement.

Caveat. Rather than acknowledging that they were going to hold back some of the money gained by selling a piece of their property (which was their right to do), Ananias and Sapphira gave the appearance of having the same radical generosity as Barnabas, but had completely different hearts.

The fact that they were willing to conduct this charade betrays the condition of their hearts. They weren’t giving because their hearts were gripped by the Gospel of God’s grace, they were giving in order to look good in front of others. They didn’t give in order to make much of God in worship, but they gave with the goal of making much of themselves in their piety.

Before we are too quick to judge Ananias and Sapphira, we ought to consider all the sin in our own lives. Consider all the times we have done good things, not because we love God and people, but so that we can impress others with our piety in order to make them think we are good people. It’s sobering, eh?

We are often shocked by the severity of God’s judgment when it falls. This shocks us in part because God is long-suffering and incredibly gracious toward us. We wrongly think then that God’s mercy means that sin isn’t that big of a deal. However, we should not be shocked when the judgment of God rightly falls on sin. God is completely holy and glorious and all sin is incredibly offensive to Him.

The story of Ananias and Sapphira has many parallels with the story of Achan in the Old Testament (Joshua 7). Both occur at the founding of a new people. In both we see the severity of God’s judgment fall on His people as a warning to His people that He is not a God to be trifled with. Why does God judge Ananias and Sapphira or Achan and his family so severely, but not everyone? We do not know for certain, but what we do learn is that sin is to be taken incredibly seriously.

The Need for Deacons (6:1-7): The other area of opposition has to do with racial issues and logistical issues.

The Problem: The Greek speaking widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. The accusation was made that the Hebrew speaking widows were being better cared for than they were. Now the text doesn’t tell us whether or not there was any sinful motive in this (racism), but it does affirm the problem. It may have been sinfully deliberate or it may have been an honest mistake, but either way it had the potential to split the whole church down the middle (the Greek-speaking Christians vs. the Hebrew-speaking Christians).

The problem needed to be addressed, but if the disciples/leaders had addressed it, it would have created another problem. You see, when a church grows, the complexity also grows. As the complexity grows, the need for other gifts arises.

The Solution: The disciples appointed other leaders who were gifted differently to handle this area of ministry so that they could focus on “prayer and…the ministry of the word.”

A couple things to mention about this issue: 1. Priority is given to the ministry of the word and prayer. 2. As a result of this priority given, many of the priests (religious leaders and scholars) became followers of Jesus (6:7). 3. The ministry of serving is vital to the health and unity of the church. Notice that it may have been a logistical issue of care that nearly split the church, not a theological issue. 4. Who should be appointed as deacons? The disciples chose those who were full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit and those who are gifted and godly

Key Points: There is a temptation in all of us to do good things for ourselves and our own names rather than for God’s glory. When we do this we are using God and His gifts rather than worshiping God as the Giver of gifts.

Internal Opposition is often more dangerous than external opposition. Many of us have felt this acutely.

Logistical issues and ministry complexity can derail the church if not addressed.

There must be a priority placed on the ministry of the word and prayer, but not at the expense of other good things.

Application/Discussion Questions: 1. Have you ever given radically to God financially? In a way that didn’t make a lot of sense? Were you blessed or disappointed by giving? 2. Have you ever used good things like your generosity or your abilities to manipulate people rather than glorify God? 3. How have you faced internal discouragement when it comes to the church? 4. Have you given up on the church or do you think it is worth fighting for? 5. Do you have realistic expectations for your leaders or have you put expectations on them that they cannot possibly meet? (Consider that if people had expected to be served by the apostles, the rest of the church would have suffered.) 6. How have you been gifted by God to serve?

Week 6: External Opposition

Scripture Passage: Acts 5:12-42, 6:8-8:3

Commentary: Persecution breaks out. There have already been the threats of opposition from the religious leaders, but now it moves from threats to actual suffering. It comes at a time when it seems like, “everything they touch turns to gold” (5:12-16).

We see in the story that the arrest them because they are jealous of the following of this new group. Often those in power become blind and do whatever they can in order to preserve their power. This is no exception.

What man intends for evil, God uses for good. While they are spending the night in prison, an comes and frees them and tells them to go preach in the Temple the “words of Life.” This is obviously a great risk to take. If they had been cowardly, they would have taken off and run back to Galilee, but they obeyed.

They are then re-arrested and put on trial. The same group of men who killed Jesus question them as to why they had defied their order. When they respond yet again that they were compelled to obey God rather than them, the group is stirred into a frenzy. Had it not been for the words of , they might have killed the apostles then and there.

Instead, they had the apostles beaten and then released. The apostles leave “rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name (of Jesus).” Wow! What a testimony! Is this how you would have responded?

The apostles respond. Rather than cowering in fear or going underground, the apostles continue to do what they had been doing — “meeting in the Temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (v. 42).

As the story moves forward things begin to come to a head. After one more internal challenge, we are told the story of Stephen, the first martyr. It is worthwhile to read through the sermon that led to his death, but for our purposes in this study, I want to look at what happened and how it had a ripple effect on the church.

The Mission. While the church had been incredibly exciting to be a part of and experienced exponential growth, all of the growth had stayed in Jerusalem. Remember the command of Jesus (1:8, Mt. 28: 19-20) – that they were to be witnesses in Jerusalem AND IN ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA AND TO THE END OF THE EARTH? They had nailed the Jerusalem part, but not even thought about the others. In fact, there seems to be no hurry in getting out. The new converts stay in Jerusalem in order to be with the church, rather than taking the good news of Jesus back home with them. This in part created the unique economic sharing situation in the previous couple chapters.

Look at what 8:1-3 says: “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

Not only are we introduced to a new character that will have quite a bit of prominence in the early church (Saul/Paul), but we see that the effect of this persecution was the expansion of the missionary endeavors of the church. It is amazing to see how God uses this evil opposition to accomplish His purposes for spreading out His church “to the end of the earth.”

As mentioned earlier, in Acts 8-12 we see the church become witnesses to Judea and Samaria and in Acts 13-28 we see the church become witnesses to the end of the earth (or at least all the way to itself).

Key Points: • We should not be surprised at all when persecution breaks out and the church is opposed. This has always been the case in part. In fact, the church has usually thrived when it has been opposed. • The church rejoiced that they had been counted worthy to suffer for Jesus. What a perspective to take joy in suffering for the One Who suffered so much for us. • God often uses evil people and things to accomplish His sovereign purposes. (This does not mean He is indifferent or distant, in fact, He identifies with us in a profound way. See :4-5, Jesus says, “Saul, why do you persecute me?”).

Application/Discussion Questions: 1. Have you ever been persecuted because of your faith in Jesus Christ? If so, please share the story. 2. Have you ever rejoiced in your suffering? Why would you do that? 3. Would you describe your life as having a Holy Spirit inspired boldness? Why or why not? How can you grow in this? 4. How has God used something bad in your life for His good purposes?