Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This morning

This morning we begin a new series in the book of Acts.

Over the last couple of months we’ve looked at the events leading up to Jesus’s crucifixion and his subsequent resurrection.

Then we looked just a little bit at one of Jesus’s appearances to his disciples following his resurrection.

Now we want to turn to the events after Jesus’s ascension into heaven.

What happened after Jesus left?

Now that they were on their own, what did the disciples do?

Did they continue to hide in locked rooms like we’ve seen them do a few times already?

Did they return to their old lives, their old jobs, like we saw over the last couple of weeks?

Well the book of Acts, which is also known as The Acts of the Apostles, is probably the best place to start looking for those answers.

Acts begins with Jesus’s ascension into heaven and then goes on to detail what the apostles did in the following years.

Before we get into the scripture itself, let’s look a little bit at the externals.

Things like the author, date of writing, etc.

First of all, Acts is the third longest book in the New Testament (only Matthew and Luke are longer).

Luke and Acts together make up 30% of the New Testament.

Now why should it matter that those two book make up so much of the text of the New Testament?

Well...

Can anybody tell me who wrote the book of Acts?

The vast majority of scholars believe that the book of Acts was written by the same author who wrote the gospel of Luke.

There are many factors that play into this decision by scholars, they look at the similarity in the styles of writing.

The grammar, the word choices, etc.

They look at historical documents from the time period to see who contemporaries attributed the writing to.

But one of the most compelling reasons is actually in the books themselves.

Both books begin with a greeting to the author’s friend Theophilus, who was a Greek believer.

And Acts begins with a reference to “the first book” which is most likely, the Gospel of Luke.

So who was this author?

Who was Luke?

There is actually not much written about him in the New Testament.

He is only mentioned by name three times, all in the “greetings” sections of Paul’s letters.

But from these few times he is mentioned and from studying his own writings in the gospel and in Acts we learn quite a bit about him.

Paul refers to him as a doctor, which indicates a person of some education and social standing.

From Paul’s greetings we also know that he was a travelling companion of Paul.

He was with him on at least the occasions that Colossians, Philemon, and 2 Timothy were written, which were all periods of imprisonment for Paul.

Since we know that he was a travelling companion of Paul, and since Acts recounts the stories of Paul’s missionary journeys we know that Luke was an eyewitness to many of the events that he is writing about.

A Christian physician

• Traveling companion of the apostle Paul

• Part-time historian

• An eyewitness of many of the accounts in this book

• A gifted storyteller with an eye for detail

• A good lay-theologian/historian

AUTHOR PROFILE: LUKE

• A Christian physician

• Traveling companion of the apostle Paul

• Part-time historian

• An eyewitness of many of the accounts in this book

• A gifted storyteller with an eye for detail

• A good lay-theologian/historian

When was Acts written?

Most scholars place the writing of Acts somewhere between 60-65 AD.

I’ve seen some dates as late as 80 AD, but all of these are within about 50 years of the events surrounding Jesus’s resurrection.

So it’s well within the realm of possibility that Luke would have been an eyewitness to the events he describes in the book of Acts.

So that’s just a quick overview of the history of the book.

And let’s talk about this eyewitness thing for just a minute.

Acts

A Chinese farmer, after having cataracts removed from his eyes, made his way from the Christian compound to the far interior of China.

Only a few days elapsed, however, before the missionary doctor looked out his bamboo window and noticed the formerly blind man holding the front end of a long rope.

In a single file and holding to the rope behind him came several blind Chinese whom the farmer had told about his operation.

They all knew the farmer had been blind, but now he could see.

He told them of the doctor who had cured him; naturally, all these other blind people wanted to meet the doctor who cured the blind man.

The cured man could not explain the physiology of the eye or the technique of the operation.

He could tell others he had been blind, the doctor had operated on him, and now he could see.

That was all the others needed to hear.

They came to the doctor.

A Chinese farmer, after having cataracts removed from his eyes, made his way from the Christian compound to the far interior of China.

Only a few days elapsed, however, before the missionary doctor looked out his bamboo window and noticed the formerly blind man holding the front end of a long rope.

In a single file and holding to the rope behind him came several blind Chinese whom the farmer had told about his operation.

They all knew the farmer had been blind, but now he could see.

He told them of the doctor who had cured him; naturally, all these other blind people wanted to meet the doctor who cured the blind man.

The cured man could not explain the physiology of the eye or the technique of the operation.

He could tell others he had been blind, the doctor had operated on him, and now he could see.

That was all the others needed to hear.

They came to the doctor.

That’s the way our Christian lives ought to be.

We don’t need to all be trained theologians.

We don’t need to understand all the intricacies of God’s mysteries.

We don’t need to lead perfect Christian lives.

All we need to do is to tell others what Christ has done for us.

That’s the way our Christian lives ought to be.

We don’t need to all be trained theologians.

We don’t need to understand all the intricacies of God’s mysteries.

We don’t need to lead perfect Christian lives.

All we need to do is to tell others what Christ has done for us.

That’s Acts.

That’s what the first few verses are setting up.

It’s a written witness, a faithful telling of the work of God in the first days of the church.

So let’s look at those verses now.

Luke here is setting up this idea of witness.

He’s saying, “Theophilus, look, these are things that we have seen, that we have experienced, and they’ve changed our lives.”

He’s showing that this isn’t just some story, because there are multiple witnesses (the apostles) and there is much evidence (He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days).

This isn’t just something made up, it’s real, and it’s been experienced by multiple people, over the course of time.

So it’s 40 days following Jesus’s resurrection.

He’s spent these last several weeks appearing to his disciples, showing them proof of his life, and teaching them about kingdom of God.

What he’s been doing here is instructing them on what he wants them to do after he returns to heaven.

And then we read these verses:

Acts 1:6-11

Acts 1:6-

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Remember, we’ve talked a lot the last few weeks about how the apostles just didn’t quite get it.

They didn’t quite understand what Jesus was here to do.

Even now, after watching Jesus die on the cross and then come back to life three days later, just like he had told them he would, they are still hoping for that earthly kingdom that everyone was expecting.