Acts #1

Acts the Beginning

Thank you guys, and thank you Kristi & Eloise for that wonderful music, but before we continue in our studies tonight, please if you would: “Join me in a word of prayer.”

Last week, as you recall, we just went through a brief introduction into “The book of Acts”, which is Luke’s continuation of his gospel account. Tonight we’re going to get started with the study of Acts by going through the first chapter of the book.

The book of Acts picks up where the Gospel of Luke ends. Jesus has been making occasional post-resurrection appearances over a period of 40 days, but He is about to leave to go back to Heaven until He returns at His 2nd coming to set up His 1,000 year reign hear on earth. He leaves the 11 apostles their final instructions, remember Judas is no longer with them. While they await for the promised Holy Spirit, they try to attend to a little business. And we’ll start off by reading the first 11 verses of chapter one about His instructions to His disciples, and His ascension back to Heaven together. (Read text)

Luke addresses his writing to Theophilus as he did in his Gospel account. The use of the title “most excellent” in Luke 1:3, suggests that Theophilus had a position of some what high social status, but scripture doesn’t give us much information on just who he was. Perhaps he was a Roman court official that Paul was scheduled to meet with, or maybe a higher ranking Jewish rabbi which Luke hoped to provide with a less prejudicial and more reliable opinion of Christianity. We just don’t know. I tend to think he was Jewish and that Luke was Jewish also, contrary to what most scholars believe, because of what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:1–2. (“1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.”) Scripture.

Luke emphasizes, in his opening statement, that the entire earthly ministry of Jesus was only the beginning of His ministry, as we’ll see as He continues His ministry from Heaven. What Jesus had begun, while He was here on earth would continue to expand in geographic and spiritual significance through the work of the original apostles and especially through, the soon to be, apostle Paul.

Jesus’ public ministry on earth had lasted about three years. Then, after His resurrection, He appeared numerous times in various settings over a forty-day period to prove that He was alive. He appeared to Mary Magdalene in John 20:14 (14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.”). He appeared to a group of women in Matthew 28:9 (“9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.) He appeared to two men on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. And the apostle Paul tells us of numerous times He was seen in 1 Corinthians 15:5–8 (“5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”) (explain how these accounts confirm)

We need to understand that the apostle Paul is the only man to ever see and speak to the Lord Jesus after He had ascended back to the Father. Understanding this will be instrumental in understanding why God placed the book of Acts in our Bible.

Luke describes four stages of development Christ instituted for His disciples in the early all Jewish church: (A lot of scholars teach that there were already a few gentiles in the early church at Jerusalem but a good bible student will clearly see that’s just not the case). All these early believers were still practicing Judaism and keeping the law while believing Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. As did the 12 apostles.

The 1st stage of development was:

1. Jesus chose them. None of the apostles were self-appointed. The 2nd stage was:

2. Jesus commissioned them. He gave them specific instructions. In the 3rd stage:

3. Jesus showed Himself to them in verse 3. (“3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”) It was no ghost or apparition that appeared to them during that forty-day period. These disciples were irrefutable eyewitnesses to the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. And the 4th stage was:

4. Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit in verse 5, who would provide the power and authority they needed to carry out His instructions.

The instructions of the resurrected Lord to His disciples were very specific. He gave them a command not to leave Jerusalem, and a promise that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

As they were together with Him, the disciples had a question of their own in verse 6. (“6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”). At this point just before His ascension, the disciples were still expecting Jesus to re-establish the old Jewish kingdom of Israel from the days of King David and Solomon here on the earth very soon, as old testament prophesy had predicted. This is going to happen someday in the future at His 2nd coming, when Jesus sets up His 1,000 year millennial reign, but we know it hasn’t happened yet some 2,000 years later. But in verse 7 He tells them (“7 “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”)

The clarification from Jesus in verse 8 provides an outline for the book of Acts. Reading through Luke’s account, we only see the witness of the disciples in Jerusalem, then the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria. Luke never tells us that the 12 fulfilled the “Great Commission” that was given to them in Matthew 28. Only the apostle Paul midway through the book of Acts attempted to spread the gospel of grace to the ends of the earth. We will discuss more about this as we work our way through the book.

But after they received the Holy Spirit, they would never again be the same. The disciples’ own lives would be the first lives to change, and then they would touch the lives of many others. Jesus’ inclusion of Samaria in their mission in verse 8 is significant because of the spiritual, cultural, and racial barriers between the Jews and Samaritans. Right off the bat, Jesus is drawing His disciples out of their comfort zones.

Jesus being “taken up” in verse 9 shows a distinct break in His ministry as Jesus leaves the 11 and the earth behind and returns to The Father. He had been appearing and disappearing for forty days. What better way to show He would not be coming back anytime soon than to let them observe His final departure into the clouds? The Angels confirmed with certainty that He wouldn’t be returning for quite some time in verses 10 and 11. According to old testament prophesy, it would be 7 years before He would return and set up His 1,000 year kingdom, while Israel and the rest of the world, would be going through a time of tribulation and wrath during that time. But as Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4, Christians will not be going through that tribulation period. Only Israel and the rest of lost humanity.

No one had witnessed Jesus’ resurrection, but they did see its effects in the continued presence of the risen and living Lord. But they did witness His ascension, just not the effects of it, at least not for a short time. Their understanding would begin ten days later on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrived.

The number of believers that gathered after Jesus’ ascension was only a mere 120 people. It’s amazing to me that after 3 years of ministry and all the miracles Jesus performed, there were so few that believed in Him.

With the exception of Judas of course, all the apostles were present. And by this time, Jesus’ brothers, who previously hadn’t believed in Him before His resurrection, were also among the believers along with His mother Mary and other women. Though somewhat small, the group was constantly in prayer as verse 14 tells us. (“14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”).

Peter’s awareness of scripture led him to propose finding a replacement for Judas as the rest of chapter 1 tells us. (read the text, 12-26)

The Bible never provides the reason that Judas betrayed Jesus. I personally have no problem with excepting that it was just the way God planed His betrayal. Opinions are divided as to why. Whatever the motive, the tragedy is that, after realizing his mistake and experiencing remorse, he didn’t attempt to seek forgiveness and restoration. His gruesome death stands in stark contrast to the new life and fresh start the other apostles would receive.

Matthew wrote that Judas went out and hanged himself in Matthew 27:5 (“5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.”) There are additional details in verses 18–19.

Peter quoted portions of two psalms (69:25; 109:8) that had predicted the betrayal of Jesus and what should be done to replace His betrayer in verse 20. (“20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it’; and, ‘Let another take his office.’) These 3 passages provided adequate guidance for what action needed to be taken. With Jesus no longer available to consult, and prior to the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the apostles were using scripture to guide their decision-making and the discerning of God’s will for them. Never a bad thing to do. Whenever we, today, are not sure what to do, the first place we should turn is to the scriptures.

In determining who should replace Judas, they looked for someone who had belonged to their group from the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry and had witnessed His resurrection. Two possible candidates were named in verse 23. (“23 And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.”) To ensure that the decision was God’s and not theirs, they prayed and cast lots to determine which person should be selected.

Casting lots may seem like just tossing a coin to us, but it had long been a highly respected method of determining God’s will as numerous old testament verses tell us. Yet it is interesting to note that scripture says nothing more about Matthias, only that he was the one chosen to replace Judas. This is also the final mention of casting lots in the Bible. After the arrival of the Holy Spirit, it was no longer necessary.

Some people believe the apostles acted hastily and that Paul was intended to be the 12th apostle. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Paul would have never met the criteria they were using for selection, and Paul’s calling to apostleship was quite different from that of the others.

It’s not fair to evaluate the importance of people based on the amount of attention they receive in scripture. Many of the original Twelve remain essentially invisible throughout the book of Acts. The very fact that Joseph and Matthias were chosen for consideration at all, is testimony to their dedication and high moral character.

When we think of the spiritual nature of the church and realize that God chooses to work through His people, it is easy to rush forward and start trying to do things our own way. We design a plan to accomplish the mission of God and go full steam ahead only to discover that many times we’ve made a mess of things. Along with Jesus’ promise that His followers would receive power and authority through the Holy Spirit, there was also a command to wait, back in verse 4. Can you think of a time in your life when you should have waited on God and suffered because you didn’t? Or how about a time in your life when you did wait on God and it paid off? What can we do to ensure that in the future, we will wait on God to provide a clear message for us, through scripture, for all the circumstances surrounding our everyday lives? Something for us to think about.

Lets pray together:

As Kristi and Eloise are getting us ready to sing our last hymn tonight, and as we’re considering all the things we will soon be learning together about the church in the book of Acts, and if you have never honored God before by asking His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come into your heart and be your personal Lord and savior, this would be the perfect time to do just that. God has made that so easy for us to do. The Bible says that anyone, and I do mean anyone, who calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED. It doesn’t matter what your past might look like. Remember the apostle Paul, before the Lord saved him on that road to Damascus, how he persecuted the church, and had the Lord’s people put in prison and even executed. And remember King David who commited adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed in battle. Those two “Great men of God” commited terrible sins, and the Lord forgave them, and even chose them to do great things for Him. The Lord doesn’t care about our past, He just cares about our future. And He wants everyone to spend that future with Him in eternity, in that place He calls heaven. Don’t wait another second. If you have any doubt at all about your eternal security, or what’s going to happen to you when you die physically, I beg you to get it settled right now. Don’t wait another second. Get it taken care of right this minute, right here,--- just quietly, with your eyes closed, heads bowed, and your heart’s toward God, just pray a little prayer like this..............Just pray......

Please, as we’re singing our last hymn, if you need to, just pray that little prayer I mentioned as we sing. And God will save you !!