“What Happened Next”
Intro to Acts
Acts 1:1-11
Introduction
I flew up to Portland this weekend (I had a paper I was delivering at a biblical studies conference). As I was flying, I got bored and was flipping through the in-flight magazine and I came across an editorial John Kelly, the CEO of Alaska Airlines.
•He was describing his love affair with new electronic gadgets; he mentioned that he had just bought a new G3 Macintosh computer and then reminisced about his first Macintosh, that he had bought in 1984, just after the Macintosh had come out.
•I could relate because I, too, have been a Macintosh fan for years, and I bought my first one in about 1985-86. You never forget your first PC; those good times you shared as you got to know each other; the games you played; the difficulties you worked through together (especially if you use Windows software).
•But then I thought, “he’s got to be wrong." First Macintosh couldn’t have come out in 1984 was only 15 years ago.
•Do you realize the personal computer revolution is less than 20 years old (now I realize
•It really is a revolution. That little silicon chip has completely transformed the world.
As I reflected on this I thought about the many “revolutions” of this sort that have occurred of this sort:
•The Copernican Revolution, where the way we view the cosmos was revolutionized. Earth circling the Sun.
•The Industrial Revolution, where an essentially animal powered society, became machine powered.
•The Computer Revolution, where practically everything we own is controlled by a silicon chip.
•Now the Internet Revolution; the information superhighway, where we have instant access to vast knowledge
What is a Revolution of this sort? It is a dramatic change in the way people think and act and view their world.
This morning we are going to begin a study of the greatest revolution in human history.
•A revolution that began with a single man; and when that man died he had little more than a hundred followers.
•Yet the revolution he began has changed the world. It has changed the course of human history.
•The revolution I am talking about is of course the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Over the course of last year we studied the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke.
•But Luke didn’t just write the story of Jesus’ life, he also wrote an account of what happened after he died and rose again.
•It is described in the book we call the Acts of the Apostles.
•Acts tells the story of how the early Church took the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and turned the world upside down with it.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Acts, ch. 1.
As I was sitting on the plane reflecting on this, my breakfast came. And there on the tray beside my box of Wheaties, was a little piece of paper. It had the Alaskan Airlines logo on it. It just has a simple quote, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever (Ps. 107:1).
•Now I don’t know the story behind that, I assume some key people at Alaskan Airlines are Christians.
•But it dawned on me, that the Revolution is still going on. The Word is still going out. The Good News about Jesus Christ not only reached the whole Roman Empire, and into Europe and Africa, and Asia and the Americas. But there it was, cruising along at 30,000 ft.
Let’s begin reading in Acts (1:1-11)
Notice a couple of things about how Luke begins in verse 1”
“my former book” [Gospel of Luke]
“Theophilus” Theophilus is the person Luke wrote the Gospel to. He may have been the person who sponsored it.
He wrote: about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.
•The implication is what? That Acts is what Jesus continues to do and to teach.
•But the book isn’t about what Jesus does (he’s in heaven most of it), but what his followers do.
•But Luke’s point is just that, it is about what Jesus is doing.
The book of Acts is traditionally called the “Acts of the Apostles,” as though it describes what the apostles did.
But that’s not a very good name. It should be called “The Acts of Jesus, Part 2”. You see the Gospel of Luke is the “Acts of Jesus, Part 1,” The Book of Acts is Part 2.
•The book reveals how Jesus’ work continues. The Resurrection was not end of the Gospel, it was only the beginning. Because now the message of the salvation that Jesus accomplished had to be taken to a lost world.
•Back in Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, "I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it." Acts is about how Jesus built his Church.
We are going to see how the Church, in the power of God’s Spirit, represented Jesus by boldly, fearlessly, honestly, uncompromisingly took the Gospel of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem to the End of the Earth.
And that’s our first point about the theme of Acts
1. The Role of the Church [according to Acts is to be]: Jesus’ Representatives
Verse 8 ( the theme verse of Acts) says the same thing. It says, “...and you will be my witnesses....”
You and I are Jesus’ representatives; Jesus’ witnesses.
•Every time you open your mouth, you speak for Jesus.
•Every time you go to work, you represent Jesus at your office.
•Every time you go to school, you represent Jesus.
•Every time you speak with your neighbor, you represent Jesus.
That is an awesome privilege, but it is also an awesome responsibility.
•And I have to admit there are times I’m not always a very good representative of Jesus. Sometimes I fail.
For one thing, I’m kind of an assertive person (my wife will tell you that). I don’t like to be taken of advantage of and sometimes I overstep bounds of courteous behavior. Its a fault, I admit it.
•It was not hard to think up an example as a I was preparing this message, I thought of at least three occasions...
•Rental Car Incident. One of my colleagues and I were going on a Bethel seminary retreat. We arrived to pick up a rental car, and nothing went right. They didn’t have the reservation. Then the computer was down. Then it took forever to get the car ready. I was so irritated. Then we went to get the car; found the right numbered space. Beautiful car. Guy said, “That’s not your car.” Sent us back in. I was fuming.
-I did all those things you do: asked for her name (pretending to write company); sighed constantly; rolled my eyes; made positive comments about their competition; stomped out without saying thank you. I did everything to show how displeased I was.
-I got in the car, and I thought what a terrible witness for Jesus Christ I had just been. What a terrible representative.
-I started looking around and wondering, “Was I carrying a Bible?” Hoping she hadn’t seen one.
-I felt like going back in and saying, “Did I mention to you I’m an atheist?” “That’s why I’m such a jerk.”
-We talked about the fruit of the Spirit two weeks ago. I did not manifest the fruit of God’s Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.” I had broken just about everyone of those.
-I was a terrible representative of Jesus.
Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses.” You are all of Jesus some people will ever see.
•In the early Church we see the Church reproducing the life of Jesus:
-Sharing everything in common; healing the sick; helping those in need; boldly proclaiming the truth (even when it gets them into trouble); being willing to suffer patiently.
I was reading Portraits in Courage
Every time we reach out and help someone , we represent Jesus.
T- Now you might say, “This is easier said than done.” How can I represent Jesus? After all, he was the Son of God. I’m just the son of Joe; or the son of Bob. He’s got a little bit of an advantage.
•But don’t forget what Jesus said to his disciples. We talked about it two weeks ago. He said, “It is good that I am leaving you, because when I do you will do even greater works than I do.”
•How? The answer is they will have him with them. They have the incredible power of the Holy Spirit.
•And that is our next point:
2. The Power of the Church (to accomplish its task is): The Holy Spirit
Look at verse 4: On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
He then says the same thing in verse 8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you...”
We will be talking about this event of the coming of the Spirit next week.
I almost did something stupid a couple of years ago.
When my son was five he and I were at a park in La Jolla. We had spent a day together walking around. We started back to the car, which was parked quite a way away. He was getting really tired, and I did not want to carry him up the steep hill five blocks. So I said, “You wait here. Play by those trees, I’ll be right back.”
•As I started up the hill. As I got half a block away I got a sinking feeling, “What if he’s gone when I get back.” If he wanders off, or worse.
•I turned around and I carried him up that hill.
•You see he was not ready to be out on his own alone. It was too dangerous.
Jesus says to his disciples, “You are not ready to be out on your own alone. Don’t go anywhere.” Like a parent. Stay in the house, I’ll be back to pick you up.
•And in a few days, Jesus came back through the Holy Spirit to empower them, to equip them, to take the Gospel forward through them.
•The Holy Spirit was his presence with them.
There is a passage in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas are on a missionary journey. And in one verse it says, “The Holy Spirit did not allow them to go....” A few verses later is says, “They did not go because the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them....”
•The Holy Spirit of God is identified with the Spirit of Jesus.
•For one thing, that tells us unmistakably that Jesus is God. His Spirit is God’s Spirit.
•For another, it shows that the Spirit represents God’s presence.
As we shall see, the Holy Spirit is the main character of the book of Acts. There are 57 references to the Spirit.
•The Church is empowered by the Spirit; they are led by the Spirit, they are filled with the Spirit to speak boldly; they are even disciplined by the Spirit.
•We called this the “Acts of Jesus,” But it could equally be called the Acts of the Spirit, because it reveals what Jesus accomplished through his Spirit. They recognized that they could do nothing apart from him.
If Jesus’ own disciples could do nothing apart from the Holy Spirit, what makes us think that we can?
Jesus said as much in John’s Gospel. He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Abide in me (stay connected to me, that’s what “abide means”)
Then he gave an illustration: No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine.” He adds, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” To “abide” means to stay connected.
•A branch has no life unless it stays linked to its source of nutrition.
•(I know. I have a grape vine in the backyard; each year when I trim it, I put the branches in a big trash bin. Within a day or two, they are shriveled and dry. They have no life, apart from the vine).
The only way we will be successful in the Christian life is if we live our lives in constant dependence on God’s Spirit.
•Because we are totally ill-equipped on own to accomplish the task.
•The disciples were totally ill-equipped on their own.
Nothing is worse than being ill-equipped. If you are a do-it-yourselfer like myself you know this. The right tool is everything. Having the right equipment.
•(Flat Tire Incident).
•When I was in seminary I worked for a lab picking up specimens at hospitals and medical centers. I drove around in a leased company car. One day I was driving along when I blew out my tire. No problem, I pulled over and got out. Opened the hatchback to find the spare. There was a spare, but there was no jack. Since I was not quite strong enough to lift the car, I was helpless.
-A guy eventually pulled up, He said, “Looks like you need some help!” I said, “Yeah, thanks for stopping.” He said, “Give me 5 bucks and I’ll help you.” What? You’ve got to understand, this was LA. I guess I should have thanked him for not shooting me. I paid the guy and he changed my tire. But I was not a happy camper.
-You see I was ill-equipped to accomplish the task.
• How’s your equipping? Only in the power of the Holy Spirit can you be Jesus’ representative.
•The American Express Card has the slogan, “Don’t leave home without it.” That should be the Christian’s slogan for the Holy Spirit, “Don’t leave home without him.”
-When you get up in the morning, give the day to the Lord, say “God, guide me with your Spirit.
-When you have important decisions to make, say, “Lead me by you Spirit.”
-When you see an opportunity to share your faith, say, “Give me courage by your Spirit to speak boldly.”
T- Because that’s what we’re all about: Proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone in the world. And that’s our last point:
We’ve seen the Role of the Church: Jesus’ representatives; We’ve seen the Power of the Church: H.S. Let’s see:
3. The Task of the Church: The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth
See verse 8 again: “and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Now this was a monumental task. “Take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”
•Think about it. Imagine I said to you: I have this message I want you to give it to everyone in the world.
•But you can’t use your phone line; you can’t use e-mail. You can’t buy an advertisement in the NY Times. Can’t use satellite television.
•You need to take it all over the world, but you can’t fly; you can’t even drive.
•“Here’s a pair of sandals. Start walking.”
How in the world did they do it. How did they take Gospel spread in Acts?
•They did it one person at a time;
•They did it one home at a time;
•They did it one town at a time; one country at a time.
And you know what, The Church throughout Acts is unstoppable.
•Jesus said as much. In Matthew 16:18 he said "I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." He didn’t say, “I’m going to try to build my Church” He didn’t say, “I’ve got this really good plan...” He said, I will build my Church.
Over and over again we see events and people trying to stop the Church
•Persecution. Only makes them stronger.
•Peter is imprisoned, an angel comes and brings him out.
•Paul is arrested and beaten and thrown in jail. The jailor hears the message and believes; a great church is started.
•In the end of Acts Paul is thrown in prison. And the last word of Acts is: He just kept on preaching. It is a great scene.
The narrative of the book of Acts is like a steamroller that just can’t be stopped.
Many of you have probably heard of the Internet virus that swept the nation two weeks ago. A computer virus is, of course, a program that is meant to be secretly transferred to your computer to do some mischief or damage.
•This virus would come disguised as an e-mail from a close friend, with the saying something like, “An important message from.....”
•It would then go to your e-mail address book and forward the same message to the first 50 names in your address book.
•Within hours it had spread throughout the country.
•They say it didn’t do any real damage, but it clogged up servers, those mega-computers that channel e-mail to people.
What was fascinating to me was how quickly this could spread (How many of you got hit?)
•How could that happen like that?
•The answer is, the Internet is just that, it is an vast network of inter-linking connections. Everyone is interconnected through their phone lines.
•While this could create potentially great damage, it also created great good. I heard that within hours that this virus hit, people had already written programs to catch and destroy it, and these programs were all over the Internet.
There is a great analogy there to the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.
•The Holy Spirit is our Internet connection. He links all believers worldwide together.
•He gives us a unified purpose. That purpose is to bring others to Jesus Christ.
•He gives us a unified direction.
•He gives us the power to take the message
Ads for Internet access say, “Get connected.” I can’t think of better advice for every believer in this room.
The Church in Acts exploded outward, and transformed their world, because they stayed connected to their power source, the Holy Spirit.
They stayed connected to their Lord, Jesus Christ.
•Let’s do the same. Through prayer, through mutual support, by lifting and encourage one another.
•Let’s close in prayer.
