The Acts of the Apostles
Acts 1v1-8 - Introduction to Acts
Theme: The Holy Spirit initiates the spread of the gospel, and enables
it to succeed
Aim: Respond to the Holy Spirits prompting in your life! See how he wants
to use you!
Does anyone here play chess?
I only ask because I'd love to improve my game - but the problem is that while my tactics are fairly sound, I'm useless at strategies. Tactics used in chess would be forks, gambits and positional advantage. A favourite tactic is the Knight fork: check the King and attack the Rook at the same time. A strategy to use would be attrition after securing an advantage in a piece, say, a Queen or a Rook. Strategy applies to the game but tactics applies to the individual pieces.
Has God got a strategy for our church? I believe the Bible gives us a resounding "yes".
That biblical authority is found in the book of Acts, which we will be studying this year - the first 12 chapters before summer, and the rest of the book in the autumn. What I'd like to do today is an introduction, an overview of the whole book - something that will give us confidence as we read it ourselves, and confidence as we listen to each sermon in this series.
Acts won't tell us Gods tactics for evangelising our neighbourhood - the details are different in different ages, different places and different individuals. But Acts tells us an awful lot about Gods strategy - a gospel which is genuinely good news, joyful believers spreading the gospel wherever they go, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Who wrote it? Luke
Internal evidence
The author is apparently writing to Theophilus, and refers back to a former
book - which we believe is Luke's gospel, also written to Theophilus. (This
name means "lover of God", and some think it might be a generic term,
but the honorific "most excellent" in Luke 1v3 and the way it is written
suggests it is for a particular person - a Gentile most likely).
There are several passages in this book where the author stops saying "they" and starts saying "we". We can find them in ch16, 20, 21and 27. This strongly suggests that the author was a travelling companion of Paul. As we look through Paul's letters, we find that one name stands out as a particularly good candidate for this companion and that is Luke, described in Col 4v14 as "our dear friend, the doctor" and in Philemon 24 as a "fellow worker".
It was probably written about AD63, shortly after the end of the time period it portrays. Many think it is unlikely to be much later than that since it doesn't mention the burning of Rome and persecution of Christians in AD64, the martyrdom of Peter and Paul c.67AD and so forth
External evidence from the early church
The Muratorian Canon from AD170 explicitly states that Luke was the author
of the third gospel and "the Acts of all the Apostles". Eusebius in
c.AD325 lists information from numerous sources to identify the author of these
books as Luke. The early church seems to have no doubt about it.
So the book of Acts is the second book of a two volume collection. It is the second volume written by Luke, and follows on directly from his gospel. Both books are similar in length and cover a similar (30-year) time span. As a matter of fact, by volume of writing Luke is the single biggest contributor to the New Testament!
What kind of book is it? Theological History
Not plain history - although it does cover over 15 years in the first 11 chapters
there are many missing issues which we would expect an ordinary history book
to cover - for instance, how did James the brother of Jesus end up as the leader
of the Jerusalem church? What happened in Jerusalem? What about the Eastward
and Southward expansion of the gospel?
The choice of events is shaped by the theological message.
Not about the Apostles. Apart from Peter and Paul we hardly hear about any
of the others!
Not about the Holy Spirits work in believers. If it was, we would learn a lot
more about the time and manner in which the HS works in believers… but
we don't. Luke wasn't interested in telling us that (no matter how much we would
like to know!)
Not about "Church Order" or how churches should be organised. If it was, there would be more than cursory attention paid to details like the setting up of elders, transfer of authority and all those things. It is interesting that congregational, Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches would *all* trace their form of church organisation to this book! But Luke just doesn't seem that interested in describing how the early churches formed and worked.
So what is it about?
Key theme - the church expands from a mainly Jewish group based in Jerusalem
to a mainly Gentile group which reaches Rome, the heart of the Gentile world
- all under the inspiration and direction of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit filled the believers who worshipped God in other tongues, filled Peter so he could speak before the Sanhedrin, filled believers so they could proclaim the word of God boldly, gave wisdom to Stephen, guided Philip to an evangelistic encounter, strengthened and encouraged the church, guided Peter regarding conversion of Cornelius, through Agabus inspired aid for fellow believers, commissioned Paul & Barnabus for mission work, prevented Paul preaching in some areas, and compelled him to go to others, while warning of opposition.
Ways of dividing it up
<show OHP>
A book of two people - Peter and Paul
As you can see, the first portion of the book (which we will be studying up
to this summer) has Peter as the main protagonist. Peters ministry is dominated
by the idea of "who can be a Christian?", how does the gospel spread
from Jews to Gentiles. He is there when the first Jews, semi-Jews and Gentiles
become Christians. It can't be proved, but perhaps this is what Jesus meant
when he said that Peter would have the "keys to the kingdom".
Peter is a key figure at the council of Jerusalem in chapter 15, when the whole question of who can be a Christian is debated. After this, Peter pretty much disappears! This rather gives the lie to the idea of Acts being the history of the early Church… Luke has a different aim in mind, else we would probably hear much more about Peter and his colleagues!
About midway through the book the main protagonist changes, and Luke is suddenly much more concerned with Paul, chronicling the spread of the gospel through gentile lands in his three missionary journeys, reaching eventually to Rome.
There are interesting parallels which Luke draws between the two men. Both heal a lame man (3, 14), both do a miracle at a distance (5, 19), both exorcise a demonic spirit (5, 16), both confront a sorcerer (8, 13), both raise the dead (9, 20), both have heavenly visions (10, 16) and both have a miraculous release from prison (5, 12; 16)
It is also worth noting that the first portion is initiated by the church in Jerusalem, the second portion is initiated by the church in Antioch - a church plant which moves out from under the wing of Jerusalem and becomes a sister church rather than a daughter.
A book of geography
Taking the cue from Jesus' statement in 1v8 "you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth"
we can divide this book up on the basis of how the book hits each of these milestones.
The first seven chapters are focussed in Jerusalem, then after the martyrdom
of Stephen the Christians spread out to Judea and Samaria, preaching as they
go. Then we have the missionary journeys out from Antioch into Asia and Europe.
A book of increasing expansion
Another interesting and helpful way of dividing the book up is on the basis
of a key theme which Luke uses again and again. The expression "the word
of the Lord/word of God grew/people were strengthened" is repeated with
minor variations throughout this book. It is a brief summary statement before
the book takes off in a new direction. I have noted on the OHP slide the locations
of these in the book, each section shows the gospel moving out geographically
and demographically. It reaches new regions and also new people groups too.
Importance for us today
In 1v1 Luke explains that in his former book, the gospel, he wrote about "all that Jesus began to do and teach…"
In a very real sense, the book of Acts is about what Jesus continues to do and teach, now working through his body, the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus ascended to heaven, you could say he delegated his work to the church. Since that day the church, and the individuals who comprise it like us, have become Christ's hands and feet in this world. God exercises his compassion through us, God mends broken hearts through us, God tends the weary and broken-hearted through us, God reaches the lost… through us.
The Holy Spirit continues to initiate evangelism, spreading the gospel wider and wider as Christians respond to his promptings. This isn't just history it's real today! Today, in this world, in this town, in this church the Holy Spirit is waiting to move in our lives, leading us outwards with the gospel to the network of people that we know. How many times has someone come to mind, or an unexpected opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus arisen?
CS Lewis said "it is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or another of these destinations."
There are many unexpected heroes in this story - ordinary people moved by Gods spirit to fulfil Gods purposes.
While God leaves the tactics up to us, the book of Acts shows us his clear strategy - a church which is evangelistic, joyful and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
So what do we do?
Pray, listen for the Holy Spirits promptings. As a church and individually.
Look for the opportunities which he brings us, and courageously grasp hold of
them!
Alex White
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