#28 - What Jesus Continued To Do?
Acts 1–5
BIBLE TEXT SECTIONS:
Acts 1 - Promise of the Holy Spirit - Ascension - Mathias chosen to replace Judas
Acts 2 - Coming of the Holy Spirit - Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost - Fellowship of Believers
Acts 3 - Lame Beggar Healed - Peter speaks in Solomon’s Portico
Acts 4 - Peter and John before the Council - Believers Pray for Boldness - They Had Everything In Common
Acts 5 - Ananias and Saphira - Many Signs and Wonders Done - Apostles Arrested and Freed
Read Acts yourself then…
watch the Bible Project video Acts
Neil Evans COMMENTS:
Luke was a very careful historian. He wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. It is interesting that Luke describes his “first book” as what Jesus “began to do and teach.” This clearly implies that Luke believed his book of Acts was a record of what Jesus continued to do after what is recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus Himself made a remarkable statement recorded in the last verse of Matthew. Jesus said: “… behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So, Luke and Jesus agree that the book of Acts is really about what Jesus continued to do “with” His disciples as they followed His instructions to “make disciples of all nations.”
In Acts 1, Jesus disappeared into the clouds. In Acts 2 The Holy Spirit transformed lives and empowered disciples to be and do things only God could do. In some unique way Jesus is truly present with us in the Holy Spirit. The things accomplished by Jesus’ disciples are by God’s doing. The book of Acts is a record of God transitioning from being physically present with His people to being Spiritually present in them as they spread the message of Jesus from Jerusalem to Judea and beyond.
Their message was indeed miraculous as they saw God healing people, rescuing people from prison, and most of all transforming lives. The miracles tended to give credibility to the amazing message they shared. And credibility was needed because God was changing from declaring Himself to the world through the Jews and their familiar but rather complicated religious system. God was now using what Jesus called His “Church” to reach the world. And, His church was externally much different than Israel. Basically, there was no Temple, no sacrifices and fewer rules. Rather than a building, God lives in His people, and love for God and others is the basic rule. The tendency of the Jews (all of us for that matter) was to become proud of their efforts to follow God’s laws. It was pride that made the Jews angry and jealous of Jesus, which led to His crucifixion. This same attitude prompted opposition to the Church that Jesus was spreading through His followers.
As the disciple shared Jesus’ message some listeners were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) and sincerely asked “what shall we do?” Others heard the same message and were “greatly annoyed” (Acts 4:2) and responded by oppressing Jesus’ disciples. The same message prompted strong but opposite feelings. The feelings were not confirmations of the truthfulness of the message heard, but signals that the message needed to be more carefully considered. One group thought seriously about the message, the other simply considered their feelings and acted on them as true.
I tend to listen more to my feelings than to take the time and effort to evaluate whether they are true or not. I think most people are that way, and live a lot of their lives based on ideas that are not true. In fact most of the people we will read about in the book of Acts respond to the message of Jesus on the basis of their feelings rather than a careful evaluation of what is being said. The people who respond positively to the message do so on the basis of the facts presented rather than how they feel.
To be clear, our emotions play a big part in our lives. And the Truth prompts an emotional response in us. But we must be sure that what we believe is true does not rest on how we feel about it. Ananias and Saphira “felt” that they could safely pretend to be extravagant givers, which they were not. Their feelings led them to believe lying to both men and God was okay. If they would have considered the facts they would have told the truth and lived. If the Jerusalem Jewish leaders would have carefully considered the commonly known facts about Jesus their response may have been much different.
Being a witness of Jesus is a great privilege and a great responsibility. We must be as careful as Luke to present the historical facts of the Bible and encourage people to make their decisions about the Good News, based on researchable facts. Their responses will certainly have emotions involved but will not rely on feelings as the basis of their conclusion.
As Luke begins to describe the fledgling Church, he describes it seeking to be faithful Jews and faithful followers of Jesus at the same time. As time passes they learn that the legalism of the Jews was not what God wanted for them. They slowly, and often with great opposition, transition to being Christians, followers and witnesses of Jesus Christ.
BIBLE TEXT SECTIONS:
Acts 1 - Promise of the Holy Spirit - Ascension - Mathias chosen to replace Judas
Acts 2 - Coming of the Holy Spirit - Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost - Fellowship of Believers
Acts 3 - Lame Beggar Healed - Peter speaks in Solomon’s Portico
Acts 4 - Peter and John before the Council - Believers Pray for Boldness - They Had Everything In Common
Acts 5 - Ananias and Saphira - Many Signs and Wonders Done - Apostles Arrested and Freed
Read Acts yourself then…
watch the Bible Project video Acts
Neil Evans COMMENTS:
Luke was a very careful historian. He wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. It is interesting that Luke describes his “first book” as what Jesus “began to do and teach.” This clearly implies that Luke believed his book of Acts was a record of what Jesus continued to do after what is recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus Himself made a remarkable statement recorded in the last verse of Matthew. Jesus said: “… behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So, Luke and Jesus agree that the book of Acts is really about what Jesus continued to do “with” His disciples as they followed His instructions to “make disciples of all nations.”
In Acts 1, Jesus disappeared into the clouds. In Acts 2 The Holy Spirit transformed lives and empowered disciples to be and do things only God could do. In some unique way Jesus is truly present with us in the Holy Spirit. The things accomplished by Jesus’ disciples are by God’s doing. The book of Acts is a record of God transitioning from being physically present with His people to being Spiritually present in them as they spread the message of Jesus from Jerusalem to Judea and beyond.
Their message was indeed miraculous as they saw God healing people, rescuing people from prison, and most of all transforming lives. The miracles tended to give credibility to the amazing message they shared. And credibility was needed because God was changing from declaring Himself to the world through the Jews and their familiar but rather complicated religious system. God was now using what Jesus called His “Church” to reach the world. And, His church was externally much different than Israel. Basically, there was no Temple, no sacrifices and fewer rules. Rather than a building, God lives in His people, and love for God and others is the basic rule. The tendency of the Jews (all of us for that matter) was to become proud of their efforts to follow God’s laws. It was pride that made the Jews angry and jealous of Jesus, which led to His crucifixion. This same attitude prompted opposition to the Church that Jesus was spreading through His followers.
As the disciple shared Jesus’ message some listeners were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) and sincerely asked “what shall we do?” Others heard the same message and were “greatly annoyed” (Acts 4:2) and responded by oppressing Jesus’ disciples. The same message prompted strong but opposite feelings. The feelings were not confirmations of the truthfulness of the message heard, but signals that the message needed to be more carefully considered. One group thought seriously about the message, the other simply considered their feelings and acted on them as true.
I tend to listen more to my feelings than to take the time and effort to evaluate whether they are true or not. I think most people are that way, and live a lot of their lives based on ideas that are not true. In fact most of the people we will read about in the book of Acts respond to the message of Jesus on the basis of their feelings rather than a careful evaluation of what is being said. The people who respond positively to the message do so on the basis of the facts presented rather than how they feel.
To be clear, our emotions play a big part in our lives. And the Truth prompts an emotional response in us. But we must be sure that what we believe is true does not rest on how we feel about it. Ananias and Saphira “felt” that they could safely pretend to be extravagant givers, which they were not. Their feelings led them to believe lying to both men and God was okay. If they would have considered the facts they would have told the truth and lived. If the Jerusalem Jewish leaders would have carefully considered the commonly known facts about Jesus their response may have been much different.
Being a witness of Jesus is a great privilege and a great responsibility. We must be as careful as Luke to present the historical facts of the Bible and encourage people to make their decisions about the Good News, based on researchable facts. Their responses will certainly have emotions involved but will not rely on feelings as the basis of their conclusion.
As Luke begins to describe the fledgling Church, he describes it seeking to be faithful Jews and faithful followers of Jesus at the same time. As time passes they learn that the legalism of the Jews was not what God wanted for them. They slowly, and often with great opposition, transition to being Christians, followers and witnesses of Jesus Christ.
Check out these LINKS:
Watch Bible Project video about Acts
Read "Bible Words to Ponder" related to this week study
Read "The Gospel"