Dictations From The Spirit

We find in Chapter 11 three key transition points in the establishment of the early church. They are:

·      The realization by the Jewish Christians that Christ died for all – including the Gentiles

·      The final commandment of the Lord Jesus to the disciples before His ascension as outlined in Acts 1:8 was reaching its third and final frontier of preaching the Gospel

·      The grace of God arises to challenge the legalistic religious mentality

Our reading begins with Peter, who back in Chapter 10 came to the realization that Jesus’ sacrificial act on the cross to offer forgiveness of sins was not meant solely for the Jew, is called to Jerusalem to give an explanation for what just happened at the home of the Roman Centurion – Cornelius. The notion that God’s provision of forgiveness and a desire to have a relationship with the Gentiles was unthinkable. Somewhere along the way in the history of the Jews, all Gentiles – or non-Jews – became unclean, dirty, despicable, and grotesque – they were not even to be approached – they’re to be avoided at all costs.

Not surprisingly, they neglected an important verse in Isaiah 42:6: “I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles”. Judging by the capitalization of the pronouns “You” and “Your”, we see this verse is a special treat for us – a glimpse into communication within theTrinity. The Father is speaking to the Son and acknowledging His position – righteousness. Romans 3:10 reminds us that there is no one righteous – not one. Therefore, Jesus, the only begotten of the Father and co-member of the Triune Godhead, is the only One who can be called righteous.

The Father then lovingly assures the Son that He will hold His hand and will keep Jesus – a sweet promise of protection from a Father to His Son. Who does Jesus need protection from? Sadly, we will find out it is us because it was our sin that directed Him to the cross. The Father then tells His Son that He will be given as a glorious example of the covenant to the people. What is this covenant and who are the people? The covenant is that of the one that was made to Abraham way back in Genesis. God, speaking to Abram in chapter 12:2-3, promised to him, “I will make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Romans 4:16 reminds us that by our faith in the same God in Whom Abraham believed, we are partakers in the covenant, “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”

This is why it is so important we know the entire word of God. While Peter does not specifically quote this verse in Isaiah, it is there to defend what he has just witnessed. When we encounter situations in our lives that leave us wondering if something is of God or not, the complete Bible is the first place to go to and hold the issue up in the light of what the Scriptures say. Poor translations or abbreviated versions rob us of God’s ability to speak all of what He wants us to know about Him.

Verses 1-3 indicate Peter is being summoned by the Jerusalem-based Christian Jews to testify to the reality of the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit and his involvement. As we read through Peter’s accounting of the events, he almost sounds apologetic – like it wasn’t his fault. The fact is that what happened wasn’t his “fault” – it was the work of God. When we’re challenged by people when we share our faith, it is not us who are being challenged but Who is being challenged. We just recently heard what the Lord said to Paul on the road to Damascus – the persecutions Saul was instigating – Jesus asked him why he was persecuting Him! Think about that – the Lord takes our suffering on His behalf very personally – He identifies our suffering as though it is He that is suffering – and He does. Jesus suffers when we suffer – even today. He takes no joy in our pain.

When Jesus was tempted by Satan, the only weapon of defense He needed was His Word. When we respond to challenges against our faith, quoting God’s Word provides all we need – it is then up to the Holy Spirit and that person’s heart condition as to whether or not they will come into agreement with our defense. It takes the pressure off of us, doesn’t it? We put so much pressure on ourselves for so much of life – we carry burdens that really aren’t ours to carry if we know Christ. He can handle everything and more of our stuff – it’s our pride, need for control, and fear that blocks our faith and trust in Jesus’ worthiness to be Lord over all our lives. We so often think of negative connotations of the concept of “Lord“, but the reality of being fully submitted to the Lord means He is in charge of EVERYTHING – the good and the bad stuff. That should bring us peace – does it to you?

Do you recall some of the things your parents or grandparents taught you when you were children? I remember things like, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right!” How about “You need to eat everything on your plate because there are starving children in Africa”? One of my favorites was, “An education is one thing people can’t take from you”. How do we remember these quotes and exhortations? For me, it’s because they kept repeating them over and over again. Don’t we do that when we’re trying to make a point? We repeat it – to emphasize the importance that the message is sent.

Here in verses 4-17 we see a virtual identical recounting of what was revealed in Chapter 10. During the times when Dr. Luke originally penned Acts, it was written on a scroll. The largest scrolls were thirty-five feet in length – if they were longer than that, they would be too large to handle. Therefore, there was only so much room to write what was to be written. So the fact that this particular vision was repeated twice in the limited space on the scroll, we should pay close attention to the message – the Lord sees it as extremely important for us to understand. 

Since Carol covered this story in our last lesson, I’m not going to go over much of it other than one point. Peter has come a long way from his low point of denying Jesus three times. With the power of the Holy Spirit upon him, he has preached sermons that have led thousands to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, and he has healed people. We see in verses 7-9 an exchange between Jesus and Peter as a result of the vision he saw. It begins with Peter saying, “Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ Peter recognized it was the voice of the Lord. Now – notice what Jesus says isn’t a suggestion or ‘why don’t you give this a shot, Peter?’ This was a direct order. Yet, we see in this recounting that Peter is still struggling with his flesh when he replies, ‘Surely not, Lord!

In the position of Lord, which means a person in ultimate authority, there is no denying or questioning a command to those who the Lord has authority over. Therefore, Peter’s response to Jesus’ order is rebellion. To be fair, Peter is relying on the Law that was given by God Himself. The dynamic here is incredible. Peter is being forced to reckon with the fact that not only is Jesus the same God who gave the law to which Peter so stridently followed, but also that Jesus is now introducing an upgrade to the law – the concept of grace. Moreover, he is learning more deeply the concept of Lordship – meaning he’s been purchased by Jesus – meaning he’s owned by Him – and, therefore meaning he is to be obedient in all things that are commanded by Jesus.

Now we see the Lord’s response, and what does He do? Condemn? Scold? Express disappointment? No – simply an explanation, “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ God is demonstrating grace here as well – He could of reminded Peter how he failed Him by denying Him or could have thundered, “I am the Lord! How dare you say ‘no’ to Me?” He didn’t, did He? He simply explained the basis of His command, and He repeated it two more times to emphasize the importance of the message. This experience is confirming in Peter’s mind and heart the Lordship of Jesus in his life.

Learning to accept the concept of Lordship in the life of the Jerusalem church – not to mention today’s church – means having to accept change from interpretations of religion and tradition.  The church has 10% innovators, 80% maintainers, and 10% inhibitors.  The innovators are those who are naturally open to change and accept the principle that change is inevitable and requires adjustment.  The inhibitors are the ones loaded with rule books – legalists we’d call them.  The maintainers are open to change if it is explained (as Peter did in vs. 4), and if they are convinced that God is directing the change. 

 Going from inhibitor to maintainer to innovator is the process of coming to agreement with Jesus as Lord.  Peter completes his process when he acknowledges Jesus’ Lordship when he says, “Who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”  When the Holy Spirit achieves this goal, it is like an oil that loosens resistant hearts as it did here in Peter’s story.

Oh, how I pray I would live this acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty in my life all the time. I can come up with a quick list of those times when I knew I was doing something that I thought would keep God from accomplishing His purposes in my life. I’m sure the list is substantially longer – those times I wasn’t even aware my actions were getting in the way of God’s plan out of ignorance. That’s not meant to be an excuse. The fact of the matter is, though, it doesn’t really matter what I do or don’t do – if God wants to get something done, He’s going to get it done. Romans 2:11 reminds us He is no respecter of persons. Therefore, we need to think about how much easier life would be for all of us if we were to stop saying, or living, statements like Peter said, “Not so, Lord”. It’s the ultimate oxymoronic statement. The first transition point of chapter 11 is summed up in verse 18, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” This is the wonderful news for us – we, as Gentiles, are now cleansed by the blood of Jesus. I believe that’s worth a Hallelujah, don’t you?

The second transition point speaks to stepping into the final frontier of Jesus’ commandment in Acts 1:8, “..you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In chapters 2-10, the apostles in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria follow the commandment zealously. Here in chapter 11, we find them heading out towards the end of the earth. Verses 19-20 tell us, “¹⁹ Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. ²⁰ Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.”

The persecution verse 19 is speaking of started with the stoning of Stephen and has now picked up in intensity, and the believers are scattering abroad. I love to see how God works. Persecution is a weapon of Satan to knock down a movement of God, and the initial response by the believers achieves the enemy’s purposes – to get rid of these people professing the truth of God – that He loves us and wants all of us saved through faith in His Son, Jesus. But God, in His wisdom, uses the scattering of these believers just as a farmer takes his seeds for planting and spreads them in a bigger field. Therefore, the persecution’s intent is actually working in God’s favor to help spread the Gospel.

The map behind me provides you an idea of how far the people were scattered. We see Phoenicia in Israel on the Mediterranean coast. Cyprus was an island off the coast of present-day Syria. Antioch, located in Syria, was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, and it was dedicated to the Greek goddess, Daphne, who had been seduced by the Greek god, Apollo. Other than possibly Corinth, Antioch was one of the most immoral cities in all of the empire. The fact that Antioch would ultimately become the hub of the early church proves God’s concern for even the vilest of sinners. Not surprisingly, legalism is rearing its ugly head at this point – the gospel is only being preached to the Jews. However, we’re seeing others in Cypress and Cyrene – a city on the northern coast of Africa – coming to Antioch to preach the Gospel to the Greeks. God honored these efforts and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

The leaders in Jerusalem – having just accepted Peter’s accounting that salvation is not just available to the Jews – send Barnabas to Antioch to check out if what is going on there is consistent with what Peter experienced. We first learned of Barnabas in chapter 4 – his original name was Joseph, and he was a Levite from Cyprus. The apostles give him a new name, and it means “son of encouragement”. It appears all of us are going to be given new names in the Kingdom of God. Going back as far as Genesis, we saw Abram changed to Abraham and Jacob to Israel. In the New Testament, we saw Cephas become Peter and Saul become Paul. I wonder what my name will be? Hopefully none of the names I was called when I was a kid!

Barnabas is one of my favorite characters in the Scriptures. We learned in verse 24a that, “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” He was also the one who stood up for Paul in chapter 9 to the apostles who were understandably questioning the legitimacy of his conversion in light of his reputation as a persecutor. Barnabas’ response to what was happening in Antioch is presented in verse 23, “When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.”

Remember, this is a Jew by birth, but he is not letting his past belief system become a point of judgment or criticism. He sees the goodness in God by His grace, and is glad! I need to remember this – as I see how differently people worship and follow the Lord – I need to put aside my comfort zone and simply rejoice in the grace of God and be glad. Barnabas doesn’t stop with just being glad – he encourages them to be true to the Lord with all their hearts. He’s not encouraging them to be true to the law – it’s to the Lord they need to be true.

Jon Courson makes an important point about Barnabas’ encouragement in his commentary. Referencing Romans 10:10a, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified”, he acknowledges the importance that it is with our hearts, not our minds, that we be true to the Lord. I can fully relate to the importance of this point. When I first heard the gospel in my late 20s, it made a lot of sense to me intellectually – in my mind. However, my heart wasn’t in it, and my actions would go on to prove it. It wasn’t until I came to understand the sin-sickness in my heart at 35 that I truly became a Christian. When our faith becomes a matter of the heart, not just of the mind, the potential for a budding and intimate relationship with Christ becomes real.

With the church in Antioch growing rapidly, Barnabas recognized he needed help. He needed someone who could speak effectively to the Hellenists (Greek speaking Jews), Grecians, and pagans being added to the church. It’s now been seven to ten years since he last saw Saul of Tarsus, but he figured he would be the man for the job. Saul agreed to the assignment, and he and Barnabas spent the next year teaching a great number of people. We’re then told that the believers in Antioch were the first to be called “Christians”. Christian literally means “little Christ”. How cool is it when people call us Christians – that they see a little bit of Jesus in us. We should never take being called Christians lightly – it’s a title of honor because we bear the namesake of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Dr. David Otis Fuller has asked, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the church was, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” Verses 27 and 28 indicate some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them was Agabus. He, through the Spirit, predicted that there would be a severe famine across the entire Roman world. The test of a true prophet of God is to determine if what he/she is prophesying comes to fruition. If it doesn’t, then this “prophet” is a messenger of Satan. Agabus, though, is a real prophet as history tells us a great famine did indeed occur during Claudius Caesar (AD 41-54) when crops were poor for many years. Noted Jewish historian Josephus records that many people died during this time for a lack of money to buy what little food was available.

Warren Wiersbe makes an important point about prophecy, “The purpose of true prophecy is not to satisfy our curiosity about the future but to stir up our hearts to do the will of God.” The final two verses indicate that is exactly what the Antioch church did – they sent help. This is also an indication that the selling everything and sharing everything policy of the early days of the church was failing. It has been wisely said that, “we make a living by what we get. But we make a life by what we give.” The challenge each of us should meditate upon when considering where we are in our hearts in terms of service and giving is the phrase in verse 29, “as each one was able”. Other versions say, “every man according to his ability”. We need to regularly inspect our hearts and ask ourselves if are we giving to the Kingdom of God according to what we are able or to our ability?

I’ve mentioned the concept of legalism a couple of times in this lecture, and it is the basis of my final transition point of chapter 11 –the grace of God is arising as the key piece of evidence of a new believer in Christ. Adherence to the law was no longer the symbol of a person’s faith or relationship with God – that was based on behavior. The grace of God focuses solely on belief – not behavior. It’s always been like this – since Abraham. Romans 4:1-3 states, “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Do we see any behavior requirements in these verses? The fact of the matter is the law wasn’t even in place at the time of Abraham. It was his belief in God that made him righteous before God – not his behavior. Now don’t get me wrong, grace does not give us a license to go berserk. Romans 6:1-2a makes it clear, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not!” But it is not our behavior that makes us right before God – it is our belief. Our behavior should be the natural fruit of our belief – not the source of our belief. The latter is what legalism is, and we see in today’s reading legalism has been at war with grace even since the early church.

Dr. Daniel Brown, in his incredible book, “Embracing Grace”, makes this statement, “Legalism majors in guilt and misguided sacrifice – urging its followers to evaluate their relationship with God on the basis of standards and scores for their performance, rather than the basis of love and faith. Legalism condemns people for their deeds-in-the-flesh, rather than celebrating God for His work-on-the-Cross. It points to our insufficiency, instead of God’s all-sufficiency.”

I want to spend the last moments of this lecture trying to present the truths of what Scripture says to those of you shackled by the lies of legalism.

Let’s begin with the truth that God is not mad at you. Isaiah 54:9-10 plainly states, “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. ¹⁰ For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.” This assurance was made to the followers of Abraham, and we saw earlier, we are joint-heirs of the covenant God made to him. Do these verses sound like God is mad at you?

Secondly, because we have chosen to believe in Jesus, we have passed out of judgment. John 3:17-18a states, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned.”  Jesus goes on to say in John 5:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” What does this mean? The judgment and condemnation that is the fruit of the legalist is really sour grapes. All of that was nailed to the cross once and for all. Again – do you see behavior in these verses that make people right before God? No – it is belief.

Finally, we are saved from the wrath of God. Romans 5:9 points out, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” The term “justified” in simpler terms means “not guilty”. Our belief in the shed blood of Christ on the cross declares us not guilty of our sin for the rest of our lives. As a result of this, we are spared from God’s wrath, which is reserved for those who are still in their sin.

Dr. Brown beautifully sums up the point of grace over legalism when he says, “God’s primary longing is not to denounce His people and condemn their sin. He wants to deliver His people and forgive sin. God’s overriding passion is to restore our lost relationship with Him.” If you believe the Father accomplished this through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, then you are the apple of His eye and the object of His desire and affection. He’s not mad at you, He doesn’t need to judge you, and you don’t have to be afraid of His wrath.

My friends, it’s just all about Jesus and His grace. It’s about what He did for you – not what you need to do for Him. The behavior the legalist is looking for will come in time as you open your heart and let the Holy Spirit assure you that the promises of His unending and unfailing love are real and meant for you to heal all the damage that has been done to you. Your actions will become acts of love – not acts of shame-based obedience as the legalist propounds. Let go of the lies you’ve been hearing all your lives – you’re not good enough or you need to do more to make God not be angry with you. The truth is your Divine Daddy wants you to jump into His lap and just let Him love on you. Let’s pray for that right now.

Today’s chapter isn’t too long, so let’s take some time getting caught up where we are in our story.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Ok – maybe not that far back in the story. We have seen Jesus give the theme of Acts in 1:8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Then He was taken up to heaven.
        The church was inaugurated on the Day of Pentecost with the Disciples receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. These fearful, combative, and flawed men were now transformed into powerful witnesses and proclaimers of the truth that Jesus was the Messiah; that the people ordered Him to be crucified; but permanent forgiveness of sins was now available because Jesus was resurrected demonstrating God the Father’s acceptance of His sacrificial atoning act on their behalf.
        Peter gave a great sermon and the church was birthed with 3,000 new believers. The Lord kept adding to the church and a communal type of society was established where everyone was selling all they had and sharing the wealth. Peter and John encountered a lame man who was simply begging for food or money but ended up getting more than he begged for – a great example for us to think big in our petitions to God. Peter then gave another powerful sermon about Jesus being the fulfillment of the covenant He made with Abraham. The church had now grown to 5,000.
        Sadly, but not surprisingly, the power the apostles were demonstrating and the rapid growth in converts upset the legalistic Jewish leadership. These alleged representatives of God were doing anything but that.  Instead of being thrilled that people were turning to the Lord, they were more concerned about protecting their position in society. They tried to squelch the preaching of the resurrection and threw the disciples into jail for the night. Asking them where they got the power to heal the lame man, Peter – again filled with the Holy Spirit – delivered the truth that there is no other name under heaven, other than Jesus, by which one may be saved.

        The Jewish leaders tried to shut them up, but Peter and John said that wasn’t going to happen. In the face of this persecution, the people prayed for more boldness to preach the Gospel. We saw the communal effort expanding until a husband and wife tried to dupe the Holy Spirit by holding back some of their proceeds from their sold possessions. As we learned, this didn’t turn out too well for them and was a reminder that there is no such thing as secret sin – it always gets found out. People continued getting healed through the apostles and the Lord continued adding to the church.
        The Jewish leaders – in more and more fear of the good that was being done (that should tell us the condition of their hearts), threw the apostles back in jail where an angel of the Lord miraculously broke them out, and again they started preaching the resurrection. Arrested and put on trial before the Sanhedrin, the apostles once again told them they’re not going to keep quiet. We were then introduced to a man named Gamaliel (who we’ll later learn was the Apostle Paul’s mentor) who offered wise words to these knuckleheads. But before they would let the apostles go, they had them severely beaten. The apostles rejoiced in this as they would be worthy of suffering for Christ.
        So that gets us to where we are now. Our first revelation in today’s reading is that math is important to the Lord. Back in chapter 2 he was adding to the church. In chapter 5 the math turns to subtraction with His dealing with Ananias and Sapphira. Now He is multiplying the church. Notice in each case Who is doing the arithmetic!

Now we learn of division – and this is not of God. God is a God of unity. There was an uprising in the communal efforts. There was a sect of the Jews who had adopted the secular Grecian ways, and this put them at odds with the conservative Jews. Part of the communal living was to take special care of the widows in the daily distribution of rations. These Greek-speaking Jews also known as Hellenists, protested that their widows were getting short-changed in the dolling out of rations.
        The issue was brought to the disciples, and we get a glimpse into what the Lord is doing in their hearts. They could have responded with a “not my problem” attitude. Rather, the disciples acknowledge they are the problem – they’re trying to do too much, and their stretched duties are creating potential toeholds for the enemy to get into the church. Therefore, we see the beginning of the recognition of defining roles and responsibilities within the body of Christ. The Twelve make the point they should not leave the Word of God to serve tables. I’m certain that this statement wasn’t about them thinking they were above such duties – they likely had already been doing this for some time. They had learned the lesson of humble service from Jesus in His washing of their feet.
        This statement was about their recognizing their specific gifts and responsibilities for the Body of Christ. They could continue to serve tables and that would be a humble and helpful act; however, it was not what was best for the Body of Christ. Their best value was establishing the truth that Jesus was the Messiah and demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to remember this in our roles in the church. You may have heard of the “80/20” rule – 80% of the work that needs to be done is handled by only 20% of the people. This is not a healthy or sustainable scenario.
        The 20% are typically made up of either sincere hard working servants of the Lord who keep accepting additional responsibilities because no one else is offering to help; or, the other group of people are the control freaks who are certain they can do the work better than anyone else and don’t allow others to pitch in. In either case, burnout sets in and even bitterness rears its ugly head for the lack of help. A healthy church body encourages all members to recognize their God-given gifts, to facilitate and lead them to the activities that line up with their respective gifts, and then show grace to allow them to grow in their service. To further emphasize the importance of spreading the responsibilities across all the people, D.L. Moody used to say that it was “better to put ten men to work than to try to do the work of ten men.”
        Getting back to our story – the disciples established a deacon-like position and then spelled out the qualifications for these positions. The NIV only points out that these men should be full of the Spirit and wisdom. The NKJV offers one other qualification, and the order of the qualifications is interesting to me. First – according to the NKJV – they must be of good reputation. Our reputations matter – they are symbolic of our relationship with God. What kind of an example are we setting as God’s children when we’re out partying, using bad language, telling off-colored jokes, or anything else that could dishonor God? When we do this we run the risk of being stumbling blocks to people who are looking for a difference in us – in anyone. I don’t want to hear excuses like ‘Jesus hung out with sinners’ – yes He did, but He didn’t act like them. It takes courage not to follow the majority of the world in their fleshly indulgences – and most people come to respect that courage. Our reputations do indeed matter.
        Secondly, the man for this position must be filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. You might think this should have been the first requirement, but think about what duties these men would be performing. Disreputable people can cause doubt and fear in those who are receiving the service – they don’t trust their motives – there must be an angle to why they’re doing what they’re doing. A lack of trust in the fairness of the treatment of the Hellenistic widows was what prompted this move in the first place. The requirement of being full of the Holy Spirit was to ensure there was a true commitment to service. Without the Holy Spirit, we run the risk of our motivation for service to become self-glorifying instead of God glorifying. The requirement for wisdom was a recognition that the assignment was going to require actions that satisfied both sides of the issue.

 

        Warren Wiersbe points out in his commentary that when a church faces a serious problem, this presents the leaders and the members with a number of opportunities. Problems give us the opportunity to examine our ministry and discover what changes need to be made. In times of success, it is easy for us to maintain the status quo, but this is dangerous. Henry Ward Beecher called success “a last-year’s nest from which the birds have flown.” The disciples, drawing on the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, came up with a good solution.

        The decision to establish these positions pleased the people. It’s notable that this decision not only benefited them to maintain focus on their roles, it empowered these seven men by demonstrating faith in them. It’s also notable to understand the importance of the men selected: Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch. Again, who were the people doing the complaining? The Greek-speaking Hellenists. Look at these names  – they’re all Greek names – they’re Hellenists. This not just good wisdom, it is establishing a behavior that Paul stated in  Romans 12:10, “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.”

        A quick note about the laying on of hands from the apostles to the seven men. Many churches do this when commissioning people for service; however, the order today is typically to first put their hands on the people and then pray for them. Notably, in this passage, the apostles first prayed and then laid hands on them. I’m not sure this order is all that significant; however, it always makes sense before we do anything to give the issue over to God to allow Him to confirm or stop what is being presented to Him.

        Verse 7 states, “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Wiersbe calls this verse a “summary” verse that lets us know the story has reached an important juncture. In effect, we’re arriving at the climax of the ministry in Jerusalem with Stephen’s death because the persecution following his death will take the gospel to the Samaritans and ultimately to the Gentiles. It has been estimated that there were 8,000 Jewish priests attached to the temple ministry in Jerusalem, and a great many of them trusted Jesus Christ as Savior.

        There are two words for “crown” in the New Testament: diadema, which means “a royal crown” and gives us the English word diadem; the second word for crown is stephanos, the “victor’s crown”, which gives us the popular name Stephen. You can inherit a diadema, but the only way to get a stephanos is to earn it. Stephen is one of the most impressive people we’re going to learn about in Scripture apart from the apostles and prophets. He was a “full” man – full of faith, full of the Spirit and wisdom, and full of God’s grace and power. We’ll learn that he was a servant, a witness, a judge, and finally a martyr. He proves the Lord’s comments in Luke 16:10a, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.” He started serving tables faithfully, and the Lord rewarded his faithfulness with presenting him a history-making evangelistic opportunity.

        Another interesting point about Stephen was during his time there was believed to be about 460 synagogues in Jerusalem – some of them were built by Jews from various countries for their own use. One of these synagogues – called the Synagogue of the Freedmen – included members from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. The city of Tarsus was located in Cilicia, so Saul – who would become the apostle Paul – could have been in this very group of men who began to argue with Stephen. Again, the Scriptures tell us that Stephen performed great wonders and signs among the people. So what was the response of these “godly” representatives of the synagogue? To challenge him. Why? Because he was challenging them with the truth of where true righteousness comes from – the blood of Jesus.

        These men were no match for Stephen’s Spirit-filled wisdom. We remember what Jesus said, in Luke 21:15, “for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.” We need to remember this when we get full of ourselves and become overconfident in what we think we know. God’s foolishness exceeds our greatest fleshly wisdom. A personal “red flag” for me is when I’m starting to think I’ve got things figured out according to my understanding of how things work. If I get in that place, the Lord is quick to remind me that His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are far greater than mine. Challenging or debating with God has got to be one of the greatest wastes of time a human being can spend. You can’t win.

 

       So these members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (ironic name, huh?) realized they’re getting nowhere matching wits with Stephen, so what did they do? Instead of humbly submitting to God’s wisdom, they convince some people to lay false accusations against Moses and God. Interesting that they place Moses – the symbol of the law – before God as to who Stephen is allegedly blaspheming. Convincing people that he was blaspheming was probably not difficult if these people heard Jesus speaking of the destruction of the temple (when He was actually referring to Himself).

        I love the irony of verse 12, “So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.” The next verse tells us they bore false witness of Stephen – these “teachers of the law” apparently forgot the 9^th commandment in Exodus 20:16, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” The absurdity of the behavior of the Jewish leaders is truly staggering when you see them in the face of the very law they claim to be representatives of and experts in following it. It’s truly a mockery of God’s Word, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to us to see that Jesus saved His harshest attacks against these self-centered “leaders.”

        The Sanhedrin was the Jewish council of Pharisees and Saducees that was the presiding entity when dealing with interpretations of the law. Kind of like our Congress today – and every bit as inept and self-serving. Seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. To be fair, I’m sure there were some decent men in the Sanhedrin, just as not all members of Congress are bad people. The sad fact is, though, people who get into power (by God’s grace I might add), get drunk with this power and lose sight of what their true roles should be – servants.

        The final verse of chapter 6 states, “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” Do you think any of these leaders at this moment of seeing Stephen’s face radiating an angelic glow recalled what Moses looked like after he was in the presence of God? Wiersbe suggests that it was as though God was saying, “This man is not against Moses, He is like Moses – he is My faithful servant!”

 

        The image of Stephen’s countenance is stunning to me. There are few things that push me from zero to 60 faster on my “anger meter” than being wrongfully accused. The Lord has had to do a major work on me when it comes to being accountable for my behavior, and I’m thankful to report I’ve made some progress in this area – some. Owning our mistakes is an important step in our personal growth – not just in our relationship with God – but in general with our relationships with our spouses, families, and friends.

        When I speak of this point, I’m referring to acknowledging mistakes, poor decisions, faults, etc. that I have committed. It’s no fun admitting to the things we’ve done wrong, but there’s a “math” to it that makes some sense – a cause and effect can be determined. However, when it comes to being called out for something you have not done – that is really tough to swallow – and I confess I don’t handle this well at all. I become angry and indignant – and adding to my confession that my face does radiate – not like an angel – more like a red-faced devil.

        So I look at how Stephen is handling this perversion of justice and wonder how he is not only keeping his cool, but also he’s glowing like an angel who is perfectly at peace.     How does he do this? We need to remember Stephen was a full man – full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and God’s grace and power. Try to imagine a pitcher full of water. When a pitcher is full, no additional water can get into it – when something is full, nothing can be added to it. Stephen was so full of God, there was nothing that Satan or any of these Jewish leaders could add to him. No amount of lies and false accusations could penetrate the complete satiation Stephen had of God.

        I want that – to be so full of God as to not allow the relentless attacks of the enemy to change my countenance, attitude, behavior, and most importantly – focus on my role as a servant of God. Stephen must have known God had put him in this situation and, regardless of the outcome, he was to say what God wanted him to say as a faithful servant. He could be at peace because he had God’s peace – the Holy Spirit – filling him, guiding him, enabling him, protecting him, and, most importantly, loving him. 1 John 4:18 tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. God’s love for us is perfect because He is perfect.

 

        The concept of full and perfect is the same – they both indicate that there is a completeness – there’s nothing more needed. We remember Jesus’ response to Paul’s petitions for relief from the thorn in his side – Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” What was the Lord telling Paul? If Paul had Jesus’ grace, he would need nothing else. Everything else is just a distraction from the truth that God provides EVERYTHING we need.

        This is a hard concept for most of us to grasp – especially in today’s times. We’re barraged every day with reminders of what we don’t have, and because we don’t have this or that, our lives are somehow not fulfilled. This is a huge issue for all of us because when we recognize that God is not only able to provide all we need but also He is willing to provide it, we can begin to arrive at a place of peace and contentment. Can you imagine being in such a place? What does that look like to you? You’re so sure of God’s complete fulfilling love that no matter what the circumstances are, the presence of God in us in the person of the Holy Spirit gives us a fortress against those distractions and a freedom to serve God and His purposes. That’s where we should all be asking God to lead us – to be completely filled and fulfilled with the Holy Spirit.

        The world is not getting better loved ones – the forces of darkness are getting more aggressive as they must be realizing their time is drawing to a close with the Second Coming of the Lord. By God’s grace, He will grant you all you need by granting you Himself – the Light of the world. Bask in the glow of His presence, and who knows, you may end up with a face like the one that describes Stephen in this chapter. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so I believe what, or should I say Who, filled Stephen is absolutely available to fill us today. Let’s ask God right now to fill us with Himself.

 

“Holy Father, we thank you for Your Word. We thank you for Your Son. We thank you for Your Spirit. We thank you for the example of Your servant, Stephen, who demonstrated Your power in the face of life-threatening circumstances. We humble ourselves before Your throne of grace and ask that You fill us with Your Spirit and teach us that His presence in us provides us all we need to withstand the enemy’s efforts to lie, cheat, steal, and destroy the very peace Jesus purchased for us at the cross. Build our faith and constantly remind us of the promises of Scriptures that ensure You are ready, willing, and able to grant such a request to those who truly seek You. Fill us with You, Lord. Keep filling us so that we won’t entertain the temptations that You’re not enough. We trust that Your grace IS sufficient for each of us. We thank you, Father, that You are the God who offers such abundance, and we thank You in faith that You will grant this to each of us. We praise You, God. We love you, God. We thank you, God. In Jesus name, Amen.”

As a reminder, we saw in Chapter 1 the risen Lord offering a promise to the disciples in Acts 1:8: “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 end of the earth.” This was appropriately our memory verse last week as it is the theme verse for the entire Book of Acts.

To give you some perspective on where we are in time at the beginning of Chapter 2, it has been 50 days since Jesus’ resurrection. The reason we know this is verse 1 tells us, Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. The Day of Pentecost was one of seven feasts that were designated by the Lord and for the Lord.Leviticus 23:1-2 tells us, “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.”

The Hebrew translation for “feasts” means “appointed times”. In Kevin Howard’s and Marvin Rosenthal’s excellent book, “The Feasts of the Lord”, they comment, “The idea is that the sequence and timing of each of these feasts have been carefully orchestrated by God Himself. Each is a part of a comprehensive whole. Collectively, they tell a story.” They go on to say, “These seven feasts typify the sequence, timing, and significance of the major events of the LORD’s redemptive career.” For those of you biblical numerology geeks like me, the number 7 should ring a bell – it is the number of perfection or completion. Therefore, the seven feasts provide us the complete story of Jesus’ ministry in His first and second coming.

The first feast is the Passover.  Leviticus 23:5 “On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover”. This feast marks the time when the Lord had proclaimed the 10th and final plague upon all inhabitants of the land of Egypt. However, for His chosen people of Israel, He offered an escape from this death sentence by telling them to sacrifice a pure and spotless lamb, take the blood of the lamb and sprinkle it on the wooden door posts of their homes, and then take and eat the sacrifice. If they believed God and obeyed, they would be spared.

God delivered on this promise – as He does on all His promises, so He institutes the first feast to be the Passover to commemorate this first great act of love, mercy, and grace to the nation of Israel. The Passover is symbolic of Jesus’ sacrificial death – taking upon Himself our past, present, and future sin. If we believe He is the only begotten Son of God, He did die for us, and was raised from the dead, then we are given eternal life – we are spared from having to fear death because of The Lamb of God’s blood that was shed on the cross.

The second feast was to occur the next day after the Passover – the feast of unleavened bread.  Leviticus 23:6-8: “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.”

In the Bible, leaven symbolizes error or sin. It is the agent that causes fermentation. For all of us, when we die, our bodies will decay and ultimately return to dust (unless we choose to be cremated and speed the process up). This wouldn’t be the case for Jesus.  Psalm 16:10 reminds us, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” The feast of unleavened bread proclaims Christ’s body – the Unleavened Bread of Life – would not experience the ravages of death while in the grave.

The third feast was known as the Feast of the Firstfruits. Leviticus 23:9-10: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.” This feast actually was marked on the second day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. So Passover occurs on the 14th day of the month of Nisan (part of the Jewish Lunar calendar – by our calendar this is either March or April), the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was on the 15th day, and the Feast of the Firstfruits occurs on the 16th day.

The barley harvest – the first crop planted in the winter – is now, in the spring, beginning to ripen. The first sheaf (firstfruits) of the harvest is cut and, in a carefully prescribed and meticulous ceremony, presented to the Lord. The LORD’s acceptance of the firstfruits is an earnest or pledge, on His part of a full harvest. Therefore, the Feast of the Firstfruits is symbolic of the resurrection – the symbol of the Father accepting His Firsfruits’ offering – His Son.

Finally, we get to where we are now in our story – the Feast of Weeks – also known as the Shavuot in Hebrew. Leviticus 23:15-16b says, “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath”. Seven sabbaths equals seven weeks – or 49 days. Then we’re told to count the 50th day as after the seventh sabbath. There’s that number seven again. It is to occur precisely 50 days after the Firstfruits – the resurrection of the Messiah. The Feast of Weeks is also known as Pentecost.

This feast was marked by bringing two loaves of bread – baked with fine flower and leaven. These loaves were symbolic of the Jews and Gentiles coming together to form the church. Interestingly, this bread is to be made with leaven – the symbol of sin. This signifies that the church would be made up of sinners saved by grace. The remaining three feasts area:

·      The Feast of Trumpets – (Rosh Hashanah)

·      The Day of Atonement – (Yom Kippur)

·      The Feast of Tabernacles – (Sukkot)

The first four feasts speak to the LORD’s first coming and are held in the Spring. Interestingly, the final three feasts speak to Jesus’ second coming, and they are observed in the Fall. Now it is very clear we don’t know when the Lord is going to return, but it is kind of fun to speculate that if Jesus’ first coming lined up in the Spring season with the first four feasts, then could it be that His second coming will line up with the Fall feasts? What time of year are we in??? Like I said – it’s fun to speculate.

Chapter 2 can be separated into two sections: 1) The Coming of the Holy Spirit; and, 2) Peter’s great and fruitful first evangelistic sermon. This is truly the beginning of the church – the commencement of the process of identifying the bride of Christ which is still going on today. It has been 50 days since the resurrection and 10 days since the ascension. What are the disciples doing? Waiting on the Lord. Acts 2:1 tells us, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” This is the second time Luke mentions they are all with one accord and in one place. There’s no more mentioning of strife between them, no one asking who is going to be the greatest, and no separation of them. They are united in prayer, submission, and obedience. Very good things tend to happen when God’s people are united like this.

Acts 2:2-3 paints a mind boggling scene, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.” The first thing that happened is they heard from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. This isn’t a breeze in the trees – have any of you ever heard an accounting of what a tornado sounds like? A common description is as if there’s a large train roaring right at you. My guess this is more what it sounded like.

Next, they see something like divided tongues of fire. Now this isn’t really fire as these guys would have been pieces of toast! The order of the description is worth noting. The first thing that is noticed is audio – sound from heaven. What got my attention in the process of my becoming a Christian was first hearing the Word of God. It was only then that I could see God’s working. The disciples went from hearing from heaven to seeing something from heaven.

We then see a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in verse 4, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” In the book of Genesis, we have Isaac who is a symbol of Christ, and his servant, who is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, goes out looking for a bride for Isaac. When the servant identifies Rebekah, the first thing he does is give her valuable gifts. So it goes for us when the Holy Spirit identifies us as a part of the bride of Christ – He gives us gifts of immeasurable value.

1 Corinthians 12:7-10 provides us a list of these gifts, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same a Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”

The issue of speaking in tongues is a controversial subject within the church today. There are those segments of the church who hold to the position that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit – miracles, healings, and speaking tongues was specifically reserved for Biblical times, and they were used for the purpose of establishing the authority of the apostles. Once the church reached a certain size and the apostles died, these gifts were no longer available. They hold to the position that the Spirit moves in different ways at different times. There is another segment of the church – typically led by the Pentecostal and Charismatic sectors that believe all the gifts of the Spirit are available today. They claim that if God is the same now as He was then, then why wouldn’t these gifts be available now?

I’m not going to go any farther on this topic as it is not the focus of this chapter. The gifts of the Spirit are awesome things, but they are to be used solely for the building of the Kingdom of God. Personally, from a self-examination of my walk with God, it isn’t whether or not I have whatever gifts that He has given to me out of His grace, it is what I’m doing with them that really matters. In other words, it is not the gifts of the Spirit I measure myself against, but the fruits of the Spirit that reveal where I am in my relationship with Christ.

Galatians 5:22-23a provides the list of the fruits of the Spirit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” If you want to do a reality check of where you are in your relationship with God, honestly ask yourself – or more scary – ask a trusted friend – if you are walking each day with these at the forefront of your actions – not just on Sunday. This is not meant to be an exercise to build up condemnation in you if your not exhibiting these, but it is meant to be a reminder that this is how we can live if we allow ourselves to fully surrender to the truth of God’s love and grace and let the Holy Spirit guide our actions.

Because this is one of the feasts of the Lord which calls for Jews from all over to come to Jerusalem, there are many devout men from different countries – and they’re witnessing what is going on with the disciples. They’re freaking out because some of what the disciples are speaking are dialects native to the devout men’s homelands. They know these guys are simple Galileans, so how can they possibly be speaking in their native languages? This is the first of what we’re going to see time and time again of the demonstration of the power of God – signs and wonders – to further reveal the truth of the gospel that Jesus was the Christ – the Messiah.

Acts 2:13 says, “Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” As we so often find with people who reject the truth of God, they can’t let it go – they have to become antagonistic. A common method of this antagonistic behavior is mocking – making fun of people who have faith in God. We saw it with the people who mocked Jesus on the cross, and now there are some knuckleheads who can’t accept the reality of what is going on with the disciples, so the mockers accuse them of being drunk.

Ephesians 5:18 states, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit”. Have you ever noticed that drunk people get more powerful? Maybe not more powerful, but more bold – more talkative. I believe if we would allow the Spirit to fill us completely, it will be easier for us to be more bold and powerful – and more talkative – reaching out to people who need to hear the truth of Who Jesus Christ is.  It certainly worked for Peter as we transition into the second half of this chapter.

In Acts 2:14 which says, “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.” Peter is being obedient to the command of Acts 1:8 which tells them of their mission to be witnesses unto Him first in Jerusalem. He then tells the crowd they’re not drunk – it is only 9:00 in the morning. Clearly, these guys didn’t go to the same college I did!

So step 1 of his sermon is he identifies his audience. We need to remember this when we’re looking to speak to people – we need to identify with them to help us understand how to proceed with our witness. The second step is to proclaim the truth of who they are – in this case, who they’re not. They’re not drunken Galileans in town crashing a feast of the Lord – they’re here to deliver a serious message.

He wisely uses the Word of God to defend what is going on – he quotes the prophet Scripture from the second chapter of Joel in Acts 2:16-21: ¹⁶ But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.¹⁸ And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. ¹⁹ I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. ²⁰ The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. ²¹ And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’

This puts to rest the mocker – Peter is proclaiming that what has just happened is a fulfillment of prophecy. In actuality, the complete fulfillment of this prophecy will not happen until the Great Tribulation – this was kind of a sneak preview of coming attractions.

Peter continues in Acts 2:22-24a: “²²Men of Israel, hear 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— ²³Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; ²⁴whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death.” This is amazing preaching – in verse 22 Peter sums up the life of Jesus; in verse 23 he talks about the death of Jesus, and in verse 24 he spoke of the resurrection of Jesus. He presents the entire gospel in less than 30 seconds!

Verse 23 presents a bit of a challenge as it states that it was God’s foreknowledge that Jesus would be crucified, but He then says that the people have crucified Him. We see God’s sovereignty at work, yet he makes them accountable for their actions. Jon Courson says it well, “God is sovereign, yet man is responsible.” God knew everything we were going to do wrong before we did it, and He modified His original plan, which was void of sin, to factor in our behavior. We are accountable for our actions – even if God in His sovereignty already knew about it.

Peter then makes critical doctrinal statement in Acts 2:24b: because it was not possible that He should be held by it [the grave]. Romans 3:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. Since Jesus never sinned, death could not hold Him.

Peter demonstrates the power of the Holy Spirit as he draws on Scriptures to present his message – this is always the best way because God’s Word has power. Acts 2:25-29: ²⁵ For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. ²⁶ Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. ²⁷ For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. ²⁸ You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’ He’s quoting Psalm 16:8-11, but what is interesting about this passage is it is really Jesus talking to the Father about this very moment in history.

Peter goes on to remind us that David wasn’t just a king – he also was a prophet. In verse 30 he points out that David foretold that the Christ would come from the fruit of his body – Jesus would be a descendant of his.

A key point Peter makes in verse 32 is that not just he, but all the disciples had personally witnessed the resurrected Lord. This is significant because any story you tell gains great credibility when you can say you were a witness to the events of the story. Eye witnesses can be the cornerstone of making a case for or against something. For us, while we were not witnesses of the resurrected Christ, we are witnesses to the power of God through His Spirit in lives today. It’s not always in signs and wonders. It can be a restored marriage or a victory over an addiction. Proclaiming to be a witness to God’s power is one of the most effective weapons we have when sharing Christ with non-believers.

Peter then goes on to explain that the power that everyone just witnessed was the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  He then goes in for the powerful concluding statement of his sermon in verse 36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” The address is to all of Israel, he doesn’t sugar coat their accountability in the story, and then proclaims the truth that Jesus is the Messiah.

The sermon landed where all sermons should be focused – on the heart. The conviction of the truth of Peter’s sermon cut their hearts, and they ask what they should do. Peter tells them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins – and they, too, will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He then makes sure they hear this promise – the promise of the Holy Spirit is available to their children and anyone else whom the Lord will call. That same promise is available today.

We then are told that 3,000 souls were added to the church that day. That number might ring a bell. In Exodus 3:28 we’re told 3,000 people died the day the law was given. We again see the picture of new life – of life restored – with 3,000 lives now being saved. Isn’t that awesome?

Verse 42 gives us the framework for the church, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” The church was never more dynamic than it was in the beginning, so it is reasonable for today’s churches to follow these simple four objectives:

1.    Continuing steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine – this is the constant teaching of the Word of God

2.    Fellowship – God’s people need to be together – regularly – not just on Sundays

3.    Breaking of bread – not only do God’s people need to be together, but they need to get to know each other – the breaking of bread in Biblical times was a serious gesture of intimacy between people.

4.    Being in prayer – we simply cannot pray enough

The common theme of these four objectives is communication – communication with God through His Word; communication with each other to share what God is doing in our lives; and communication with God through prayer. God wants to hear from us. The people did just these things, and the church exploded. Please note the clear statement in the last verse of this chapter that it was the Lord who added to the church – not a church program, not a killer worship service, not an awesome new facility – it was the Lord adding to the church out of His grace.

There were many different ways I could have summarized this chapter, but I feel compelled to go in a direction that may seem strange. I’m finding as I get older and read the Bible, I’m focusing a little less on the knowledge aspect of Scripture and spending more time on the “what this means to me” component. From this perspective, I want to consider Peter. It has been just 53 days since he suffered the most crushing moment in his life. This big strapping tough guy fisherman who had promised the Lord he would die for him gets confronted by a young girl who calls him out for being associated with Jesus. Three times he denies even knowing Jesus. One of the gospels tells us that Jesus is present when this happens and He looks at Peter when he denies him the third time. Remember, Jesus told him he would do exactly what he did.

I believe the Lord’s process of restoring Peter began with this look. I don’t believe it was a look of anger or shock but a look of “it’s ok, Peter, I knew this would happen, and I still love you.” Is there anyone in this room who hasn’t suffered a deep wound in their life? Maybe it’s something you did, or maybe it’s something that someone did to you. Either way, the wound was so deep it has crippled part of who you thought you were even to this day. If this is true, I feel terribly for you, but I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can be free of the guilt, shame, anger, hurt, or whatever it is that you’ve been carrying around today.

How can I say such a thing? You may want to say to me, “Dan, you don’t know what I’ve done.” Or “You don’t know me, and you don’t know how much pain I’m in.” You’re right – I don’t know and don’t understand. What I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter. Look at Peter – he’s had this life shattering moment and just 53 days later, he is speaking in power the gospel – reaching out to thousands of people – I would guess not just a few knew of his failure. We’re looking at a totally transformed human being. How did he do it?

I see him accomplishing it in four steps:

1)   He would BELIEVE. He believed who Jesus was – he had spent the previous three years of his life day in and day out getting to know Jesus and witnessing His power and goodness. For us, that means we need to truly spend time in the Word of God getting to know Jesus. I promise you if you do this, your belief in Him will deepen.

2)   He would RECEIVE. He received the forgiveness that Jesus gave him. For many of us – including myself – this is a very hard step. The kind of forgiveness Jesus offers is complete – there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I recently heard a great comment about Jesus’ forgiveness – if He went to such an extent to forgive you and take away your sins, why on earth would He want to bring them back to remind you of them? Because it’s not God telling you that your forgiveness is bogus, it’s the devil. Peter fully received Jesus’ forgiveness.

3)   He would PROCEED. With the burden of guilt, shame, pain, and everything else Peter may have been carrying now gone, he was free to move forward. How many of us have been unable to truly move forward in our lives because of what we’re holding onto that Jesus already took care of? Allow yourself to imagine life without the bitterness, anger, and every other burden of the sins you have committed or were committed to you. It’s as if they were never there in the first place.  This isn’t easy because for many of us we have built our identities around our pain, so the thought of not being shackled by it opens up a door that seems totally foreign. I’m here to tell you it’s real.

4)   He would FEED. With the freedom to move forward, Peter’s devotion and appreciation for Jesus’ forgiveness and love compelled him to obey the Lord’s commandment to feed His sheep. Remember the Lord asking Peter if he loved Him, to feed His sheep? It was the least Peter could do – moreover, He wanted to please His Lord. I’ve found that when I take the focus off of me and think about whom I can minister to, I start to forget the junk that was holding me back in the first place. I believe that is one of the mysterious blessings of serving the Lord – He’s healing you while you’re working for Him healing others.

He would believe. He would receive. He would proceed. He would feed. My friends, Peter’s life was transformed when the Holy Spirit came upon him and cemented all the promises of his Lord into his heart, soul, and mind. He became free of his guilt and became a powerful servant for the Lord. I would like to end by asking the Holy Spirit to come upon each of you and cement the truths of the promises of God and free you of what holds you down. Let’s pray.

Acts – Lesson 2 – AM