I am taken from the first chapter of the book of Acts, and we'll look at verses one through eight. That's Acts chapter one, verses one through eight.
The former accounts I have made, or I made Otheophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up. After, he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many and fallible proofs, being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me, you have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel and he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. May God richly bless both the reading and the hearing of his holy word. This morning I want to begin a walk through the Book of Acts. We want to open up the Book of Acts as an important portion of our understanding of the Christian faith, the establishment of the church. And so this year, we usually try to begin in the first of the year with a new book to preach through and Acts will be the one that we will focus on this year. So in the Book of Acts, we know that it was written by the Apostle Luke or it was the same one who wrote the gospel of Luke. And so in Acts, it really gives us the life and the structure of the church as established by Christ. And so this morning I want to look at five particular foundational or fundamental features in the Book of Acts in terms of what it's about and the premise and basis of what we have in this book. By the way, you notice that it's called the Book of the, or the Acts of the Apostles. Some have argued that it should be entitled the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Others have suggested it should be entitled the Acts of Christ, but I think either of these would be accurate because of what we will see in this book. Now let me say from the outset that it's important to understand Acts not just as a history book of the New Testament, which some have called it. It is called the Book of History in the New Testament because it does record the establishment of the New Testament church and certain foundational elements within the church, but we have to be careful that Acts is not read in a prescriptive, completely in a prescriptive way. In other words, there are some things that are described in the Book of Acts that are not recorded for us to replicate. In other words, what we see in terms of especially the dynamics of the falling upon the Holy Spirit or falling of the Holy Spirit upon those in the book of the second chapter here, this is not something that is to be repeated, it is establishing something that would be the norm in terms of the work of the Spirit, but the manifestation in terms of the outpouring of Spirit is not to be duplicated and so it shouldn't be presented in a prescriptive way. In other words, do this as they did and then we will experience the same thing. The whole point of the Book of Acts is to show the work of Christ through His church until His return. So there are some things that will be ongoing throughout the long history of the church until the Lord returns. We'll see this particularly when we get to chapter two and look at verses 41 and through 46 about the church continuing steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and the preaching and the teaching of the Word and breaking of the bread and how God brings life into the church through the preaching of that Word. There are some things that are continuously repeated because that is the nature of the church. But we have to be careful of trying to replicate or trying to duplicate certain phenomenal things that are given to us in a descriptive rather than a prescriptive way. And it's for this reason that we want to focus here in verses one through eight, the first chapter. I'm going to look at five things. Five things that are foundational or are fundamental to the Book of Acts. And the first thing to note, which I consider to be fundamental, is that Acts is about the resurrection or is anchored in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is anchored in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we mentioned, Luke is the author of the book and Luke has given us a record of the death burial and resurrection of Jesus in his gospel. But notice how he expresses this. He emphasizes in verse three that he is writing to the same authority. And he says in verse three, to whom, speaking of Jesus, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. So for Luke, the resurrection is not a subjective experience. For Luke, the resurrection is a historical, objective reality.
This reality becomes a foundational point for the Christian church. It is, you can have differences on a number of things in terms of our denominations and even in terms of our individual understanding of certain portions of revelation, the revelation of God's word, but the one thing that is indisputable, one of the things I should say that is indisputable and we don't have the ability or the right to say, well, I agree with that or I disagree with that, is the fact that Jesus has been physically bodily raised from the dead. And so from the very beginning, Luke makes it known that what he is about to open up in the book of Acts is about the actions of one who has been certified as dead but also testified as being alive. And so very in a very subtle way, he gives us even in verse three, the emphasis that his book will have is that this Jesus of Nazareth, which no one denies that he died, no one also can deny that he has been raised. And so that is a central feature in Luke writing this book. In fact, later in chapter two, we see it even incorporated in Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, looking chapter two, beginning in verse 23, or in fact, I'll begin with verse 22. He says, men of Israel hear these words of Jesus, these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it. And then he goes on to quote from the Psalms, David in particular, from Psalm 16, and he indicates that even the Psalm, Psalm 16 was aimed at talking about the fact of the resurrected Messiah. So the resurrection of Jesus is a foundational truth upon which the message of Acts rests. Brothers and sisters, I repeat, we do see in Christian circles, many elements of the basic Christian message that is being overturned, some are writing it off as not really being relevant, it doesn't really matter as long as you believe, whatever you believe in your heart, but here's where we must get very concrete. Jesus of Nazareth lived, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, and Jesus of Nazareth was raised. Now what you do with those facts, that's between you and God, but those three facts are indisputable. Jesus of Nazareth lived, and that is recorded in secular history. Jesus of Nazareth died, that is also recorded in secular history, and according to the eyewitnesses of his own day, Jesus of Nazareth was raised. He was raised and his grave is empty, and people had to try to scramble around to try to explain it, and it's interesting 2000 years later, people are still trying to scramble around and explain that empty grave, but Acts fully rest on the fact of a resurrected Jesus. And brothers and sisters, if we are to be true, to the gospel message, we must have a resurrected Jesus. This is not concocted because Luke says, what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, witnesses saw that the grave was empty. I witnesses saw that Jesus himself was seen alive after his crucifixion. So here is a cartel point in the message of the Book of Acts, the fact of the resurrection of Jesus. But here's the second thing that Luke wants us to know about the Book of Acts. Not only is it firmly entrenched in the fact of a bodily resurrection of Jesus, and we'll see as we open up the book itself, various aspects of why that's important for us in our own Christian walk, but the fact that Jesus is raised is central to the book because it's also central to the gospel. But here's the other thing, because Jesus is raised, the Book of Acts is about the continuing work of Jesus here and now. That's what Luke noticed the way he describes this in verses one and two, he says, now I wrote to you in the past and I love what the phrasing here in verse one, he says, the former account, I made of theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. And that phrase points us back to what Luke has recorded in the gospel, what Jesus actually did, but notice the phrase began to do and the implication is that what he began to do, what Luke has recorded in his gospel is the stuff that Jesus began to do and what he's writing here in the Book of Acts is what Jesus is continuing to do. And so his point is the Book of Acts is not about, it's not a tribute to a life that was well lived. This is not, this Luke is not writing a history of a life that has been lived and finished but Luke is taking the pen to write about the continuing work of the one who has been raised by the power of God from the grave. When we speak, and this is one of the reasons we see in the Book of Acts, when we see the apostles declare that Jesus is Lord and this becomes a point of contention within the Roman Empire because they are claiming as someone as being sovereign or a greater authority than themselves. And so what Luke is recording for us here in the Book of Acts is that not only has Jesus been raised, but what I'm about to tell you, what I'm about to unfold for you in this history is what he continues to do. And we see, therefore Jesus, even the resurrected Jesus, appearing to one Saul of Tarsus later in the Book of Acts because Jesus lives, Jesus lives, and he is at work even in the world today. So the Book of Acts is about the resurrection of Jesus, its anchor in that truth, and it is also about the continuing work of Jesus in the world today. Brothers and sisters, that's critical for us to understand that Jesus is at work in the world today. It's not sometimes in the ways that we anticipate or expect, but Jesus is at work and the Book of Acts illustrates to us, demonstrates in fact, declares to us the ways in which he is at work in this world today. Now some would think that if Jesus is at work in the world today, then this wouldn't happen or that wouldn't happen and that's why some people are just praying for Jesus to come on down, but here's what we see, that Jesus is who is raised is at work in the world, not just in the church, but Jesus is presently enthroned at the right hand of the Father and he is presently at work within the confines of this messed up world in which we live. Jesus continues to work and what Luke is recording for us is the continuing work of Jesus in the world in the here and now. Now in fact, because of his writing in the gospel of Luke, and giving us the ministry of Jesus in terms of his earthly ministry, it will be important for us to see the bridge and the connection between Jesus' work prior to his crucifixion and his continuing work in the world today after his resurrection. But that's the truth that the book of Acts is anchored on. Here's the third thing that we see that the book is that is laid out for us here in the book of Acts, and that is Acts is about the power of the spirit as central to the continuing work of Christ. Acts is about the power of the spirit being central to as part of the continuing work of Jesus. Jesus is at work in the world and we know that he is at work in the world, but he is at work in the world through the dynamic of the power of the Holy Spirit. Now this has seen particularly in verse 8, and there's another emphasis we'll make in a moment, but particularly in verse 8, it says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And certainly, as we mentioned before, some have suggested that instead of the book of Acts being called the Acts of the Apostles, perhaps it should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, but I think that's a false separation. We should not separate the works of the Apostle from the works of the Spirit nor from the work of Christ. Christ is at work in the world through the Apostles and people that he has appointed through his church through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Now notice we sometimes we talk about the church being launched and inaugurated here in the book of Acts, but notice what Jesus is doing in verse 8 is he is telling them there are certain things that you will not understand until you are empowered by the Holy Spirit. The power of the Spirit that is promised here is not the power to break bricks. I know there's a guy that comes on television and he wants to prove the power of the Spirit. And so he has the power team and they come break bricks. Brothers and sisters, that's not a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. Spirit, other people can break bricks. That's not proof of the power of the Spirit. The power of the Spirit is in conjunction with the work of Christ. And Christ didn't come not in his first advent nor in his second advent, does he come to break bricks. The power of the Spirit is a real power, but it's a power that can't be measured. And in fact notice what precipitates this because the disciples, Jesus talks about in fact Luke says in verse 3 that the continuing work of Christ is pertaining to the Kingdom of God. And Kingdom of God, boy, if there is a cloudy discussion. It is a discussion that's cloudy because people have different perceptions of what is meant by the Kingdom of God, including his disciples. And so we see that when Jesus begins to talk about the Kingdom of God that his disciples then in verse 6 raises the question, therefore when they come together they ask him saying, Lord will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? Now what it shows here is that, and Jesus doesn't even take up the error that they should have known better of, but what it shows is that his disciples still had a wrong perception of the Kingdom of God. And Jesus answers that because they are looking for a geopolitical Kingdom. They are continuing in the same mindset that they had in the earthly ministry of Jesus, assuming that and it's probably indicated even on Palm Sunday when Jesus rides into Jerusalem, and they cry out, Hosanna's, because they thought that the King had come, but then a few days later some of the same ones are crying, crucify him, why? Because he didn't go to the White House. That's why, well he was the one, we thought he was the one. Because he does not establish a geopolitical Kingdom, some are ready to wipe him out, kill him. And it proves at this point because when they ask the question, shall the Kingdom be restored to Israel at this time? Jesus does kind of, he does answer it, he says that it's up to God to reveal what is the appointed time and basically what he's talking about is not a geopolitical Kingdom, but if since you're talking of it in those terms, it's really the consummation of the Kingdom of God. Where all of the Kings and Nations will be brought before him in justice, but here's the point that they are missing. The nature of the Kingdom is not geopolitical and Jesus gives this statement instead. He does say in verse seven, that it's not for me to tell you the times, but notice what he does say in verse eight, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes. Part of the power of the Spirit is to first give us a right conception first of the Kingdom of God and secondly of the Kingdom. That's the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why it's greater than breaking bricks. You see, until the power of the Spirit overcomes us, then we will understand. That's the only time we'll be able to understand the nature of the Kingdom and of His Kingdom. See, it's only understanding through the power of the Spirit that Peter can say pray for the King, because he knows that there's a King greater than the Roman Emperor. The book of Acts is about the centrality, the necessity of the Spirit and the central part of the Spirit playing, the power of the Spirit, that he plays in understanding both the King and the Kingdom because without the power of the Spirit, we would neither recognize the Kingdom of God, nor would we recognize the King. And so Jesus tells them it's only after you have, in fact, notice what he says, that this is the promise of the Father. The promise of the Father is for not just the outpouring of the Spirit, but the work of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit in bringing people not only to conviction of their sins, but to bring them to saving faith in the Son of God and embracing Him as Paul says in Colossians, by embracing Him we become translated from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light. You see brothers and sisters, there's no separate event. The King has come. And that's what Luke, as well as the other gospel writers, tell us that the King has come. What does Jesus do when he is baptized and he defeats Satan and the wilderness and the temptation? He comes preaching. Repent, why? Because the Kingdom of God is at hand. And part of the power of the Spirit manifests in the ministry of Christ and the continuing work of Christ is to bring dark souls into the lightness of the Kingdom. So as Peter says that we have been translated, we have come out of the darkness into his marvelous light, the power of the Spirit, not only in awakening the souls to the King and the Kingdom, but the power of the Spirit until the return of Christ is strengthening us to do the work of Christ. What is it that we can do without the Spirit? What is it that God has required of us that we don't need the Holy Spirit to do? God has required us to love and so therefore he has poured his love in our hearts by his Holy Spirit. He has required us to embrace his son and to repent. We can't do so unless we have been empowered by the Spirit. Yes, the book of Acts is about the power of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit is central to the continuing work of Christ. The book of Acts lays out this power of the Spirit as Christ continues to work in this world. But also we see forthman. The book of Acts is about the execution of the Great Commission. You see Luke, in the Gospel records, we have the fact in fact Luke tells us in Luke 24 that the resurrected Christ begins to open up the Scriptures to his disciples and to teach them how all of the Scriptures ultimately point to him and then he gives the Great Commission. But notice what we see both in verse two as well as in verse eight. See, this is the power of the Spirit. He has commanded the disciples to preach and to go and make disciples. But in verse two it says this in verse two, well I'll begin with, well, verse two, yeah, until the day in which he was taken up after he threw the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen. Those commandments include the Great Commission. That's what Jesus began to do after his ascension. He did give them a Bible study, sort of a crash course, biblical theology study showing how all of the Old Testament Scriptures pointed to him. That's the indication in Luke 24, both to those in Emmaus that he caught up, that he encountered on the road to Emmaus, as well as to those who were gathered in the upper room. Jesus began to open the Scriptures and showed how all of those things spoke of him. But then he gave them commandments. And the commandments that he gives is contained for us in Matthew 26 in the Great Commission, where Jesus tells them that all power and authority has been given to me. And so the Spirit is the one who illumines the minds of the disciples. And here's what the book of Acts is about. The book of Acts is about the continuing work of Christ through the Spirit in the execution of the Great Commission. Get this again in verse eight. In verse eight he says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Well, that's in keeping with what Jesus has given them, has commissioned them to do to go into all of the nations and to preach and to teach and to baptize and to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And here's what we see. The book of Acts is about the work of Christ, the continuing work of the resurrected Christ, empowered by the Spirit, carried out by ordinary sinful men and women. That's what the book of Acts is about. It's not about human perfection. It's not about individual dreams and visions and aspirations of the church. It's about the continued presence of God through Christ in this world. The continuing work of Jesus of Nazareth in this world through his disciples in carrying out what he has commanded. Now sometimes I think there is a tendency for Christians to think that we individually and locally must individually carry out every aspect of the great commission or it's not being done. But if we understand the church from an Acts perspective, which the church is wherever the name of Christ is being called upon and people are brought to a saving knowledge of Christ through him, then what we understand is that it's a big old body. And we may be a finger over here. We may have an opportunity to serve in this capacity over here in carrying out the bigger picture. The point that we see here is that whatever it is in carrying out the great commission, this is not just an individual assignment, it's the corporate assignment of the church until the Lord comes. Brothers and sisters, we cannot do a whole lot of stuff. In fact, perhaps should not do a lot of stuff until we get a firm grasp of the message because the one thing that we must do and the one thing that we must be faithful in doing or else we cease to be a church, is to carry out the spirit of that commission, which is to preach and proclaim the Word of God and not just the Word in general, but the good news of the gospel. Because that is our commission, and so whether we equip others to go or whether we support someone who is in the field of sharing the gospel to all nations, that is what we are supposed to do. We are to uphold the name of Christ locally and internationally until the Lord returns. This is what we are empowered to do. Again, we are not empowered to break bricks, but we are empowered to preach the Word. We are empowered to go and make disciples of all nations, we are empowered to do that. We are empowered and we are empowered to do it in fact, commission to do it. And so what Jesus does in his resurrection, he meets with his disciples, he shows them a better way of understanding the scriptures and then he gives them the commission. The commission is to preach the gospel beginning in Jerusalem and Judea, all Judea and Samaria and to the outermost parts of the world and the interesting thing in the unfolding of the book of Acts is that's exactly what we see. We see the spirit falling upon them in Jerusalem. We see the disciples scattering throughout the region of Judea, ultimately we see them in chapter eight going into Samaria. And then finally we see at the end of the book of Acts. We see Paul going to the outermost parts of the world. The book of Acts records for us the missionary journeys of Paul and the missionary journeys of Paul, oftentimes, and sometimes we get so isolated on that I know growing up in Sunday school, the Paul's first missionary journey, the second missionary journey, we get so caught up in Paul's missionary journeys that we forget it's the great commission being executed. And it is about the great commission. It's not just about logging where Paul went and what he did. It's the fact that he has one who had been sent by God is carrying out the spirit of the great commission. And that's what the book of Acts is about. It's about the power of the spirit in executing the command that God has given or Christ has given to his church. That brings us to a fifth and final thing. Again, as we see in verse eight, the book of Acts is about the establishment and expansion of the kingdom of God. And understanding that the kingdom of God is not geopolitical in nature. The kingdom of God is neither right wing nor left wing. The kingdom of God is not chronicle by Fox or MSNBC. The kingdom of God is defined and chronicle by the word of God. It is by the gospel. In fact, we see that it is about kingdom. The great commission is about kingdom expansion. What does the commission begin with? And I've shared this before, many people you say, well, how does the great commission begin? And many people will say it begins by saying, go ye therefore, no, the commission begins with all authority has been given to me. All authority, heaven and earth has been given to me. Now go. And so the kingdom, the great commission is about standing in the authority and the kingdom of God. And that's what we will see the expansion of the kingdom. The kingdom expands to the extent that Judaizers are converted to the gospel. That Pharisees become Christians. That the Pharisee becomes a Christian. We see the transition of the kingdom of God. It extends to places that thought they were already included and they discover they are not. You see the book of Acts is about the kingdom of God. Expanding, being established and expanding. Expanding to take in those who were the cause of Christ's physical crucifixion, but expanding also to those who were strangers to the covenant of Israel. You see the kingdom of God expanding. And even the nature of that kingdom really recorded for us in Acts 19 when the apostles go in and they preach the gospel in the region of Ephesus. And as a result of them preaching the gospel, many people who practice witchcraft took all of their books on witchcraft and they burned it and they took all of their idols and they got rid of them. And the people got upset. The people who profit in bad religion has great profit in it. If you want to make money getting bad religion, if you have no conscience. But bad religion is very profitable to a lot of people. And so when the silversmiths and all of those who are responsible for the worship of Diana, their business was impacted. Why? Because the kingdom of God expanded. Because people turned away from the worthless idols. I wish the kingdom of God would expand in our churches today. I wonder what would be burned. But in any result, here's what we see. That as the kingdom of God expands and the people burn their magic books and they get rid of their idols, then those who make the idols were upset and figured they must do something about it. And when they decided to do something about it, what happens? The kingdom of God continues to advance. Brothers and sisters, the book of Acts. It's about a resurrected savior. The book of Acts is about the continuing work of that resurrected savior. The book of Acts is about the centrality of the power of the spirit in the continuing work of that resurrected savior. The book of Acts is about the great commission being carried out by those who are spirit led and spirit filled in carrying out the work of the savior. And the book of Acts is about the expansion and the establishment of that kingdom. I know as we look around us, it might look bleak for the church in our day. We just saw a law pass where homosexual marriages are being accepted in this state as well as in other states. Brothers and sisters, that's not where the kingdom is. The kingdom of God continues to expand. And here's what we have been able to play. The part we have been able to play is to be filled with the spirit, to know the king of the kingdom and to proclaim him and to serve him. Now, here's part of also the work of the spirit for us in this generation. And we see this even again in the book of Acts. How can we peacefully, properly coexist with those of another kingdom, even as we are brought into the kingdom of light? I think that's what the challenge will be politically for us in the generation in which we live, where godlessness is being ordained by the state. But we know the state is not the church. And so how then do we live to the glory of God in a godless generation? And that's the question that Acts answers. It tells us that we don't change institutions. We have not been empowered to change institutions. We have been empowered to proclaim the gospel and the gospel changes hearts. And it changes allegiances and it changes lives. Brothers and sisters, if we want to see change, then let us be committed to proclaiming the message of grace. In living in its light. That's what Acts is about. And so what we'll do in the following weeks is open up the content of this wonderful book to the glory of God. Amen.