#29 - Who Is Building Christs Church?
#29 - Acts 6–9
BIBLE TEXT SECTIONS:
Acts 6 - Seven Chosen to Serve - Stephen is Seized
Acts 7 - Stephen’s Speech - Stoning of Stephen
Acts 8 - Saul Ravages the Church - Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria - Simon the Magician Believes - Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
Acts 9 - Conversion of Saul - Saul Proclaims Jesus in Synagogues - Saul Escapes from Damascus - Saul in Jerusalem - Healing of Aeneas - Dorcas Restored to Life
Read Acts yourself then…
watch the Bible Project video on Acts
Neil Evans COMMENTS:
Jesus was gone, at least physically. It had been so comforting, hopeful and even exciting when His followers could spend time with Him, watch, listen and talk with Him. Then He was killed. Then back with them, then gone again. It was a confusing time. Jesus had said He was leaving, but would not leave them alone. He said He would send the Holy Spirit to not only be with them but be in them. They were beginning to understand what Jesus meant when He said He would never leave them, as they experienced God doing astounding things in their midst. The spiritual excitement they felt as they were learning what it meant to be Christ’s “Church” was contradicted by the hostility of their Jewish countrymen.
It had been relatively easy when Jesus was with them. He did the teaching, healing, and answered all the criticisms of the enemies.
Jesus had left them with a seemingly impossible task of making disciples of everyone in the whole world. But it was beginning to happen. As people were reminded of how Jesus had fulfilled all the Old Testament promises regarding the Messiah and they experienced God’s forgiveness like never before, their numbers grew rapidly. With the joys of growth came the challenges of helping them all grow in their understanding of what God was doing for them and the world. In addition to the task of teaching all the new followers of Jesus about God and His newly expressed love, there was the need to most effectively and lovingly minister to each other. How can these be accomplished?
The first priority is to have qualified Bible teachers who are set free by the church to do just that, teach the Bible. The whole story of the Bible is that God set out to do for us what we could never do for ourselves, namely pay for our sin, reconcile us to God and give us His LIFE now and forever. Secondly, when the Apostles were overloaded with other ministries, the church took over serving the daily needs of the people. And, those servants needed to have Godly character as they represented God Himself ministering among the people. Third, the privileged responsibility of making disciples fell on everyone, not just the leaders. In the process of being a servant to the widows, Stephen was a dynamic teacher as well. Fourth, be willing to suffer any persecution for representing Jesus accurately. Stephen talked about Jesus and it cost him his life. Jesus followers were pursued and prosecuted to the death even when they moved away from Jerusalem. It required that they encourage, comfort, and challenge each other. Fifth, Jesus’ followers were willing to talk with anyone; to strange, suspect people like Simon the magician and an Ethiopian eunuch. This required leaving the familiar and following God wherever He led. It required believing that God could save and use anyone, including vicious opponents like Saul.
It is true that many people of many different times and places have had the qualities of service, diligence, commitment, conviction, courage, sacrifice, and have seen radical transformations in themselves and others. What made and makes true followers of Jesus Christ different? At first glance, on the surface, possibly nothing. Christians rarely follow Jesus with any perfections. Like everyone else, they have always been prone to hypocrisy. But on a closer look perhaps there are things radically different.
In Acts 22:10 Paul recounts that when Jesus appeared to him in a blinding light on the road to Damascus, he asked Jesus: “what do you want me to do?” The book of Acts is often referred to as “the Acts of The Apostles.” But according to Luke it is the follow-up to what Jesus began to do in the Gospel of Luke. Thus, according to the historian Luke, and to the stories told in Acts, it is more accurately called “The Acts of The Risen Lord Jesus Christ.”
So, what sets true followers of Jesus apart from people with similar passions for things other than the God of the Bible? I think it can be seen in Saul’s question to Jesus in the moment of his blinding arrest. Saul asked Jesus: “What do you want me to do?” It is true that Saul went on to become Paul the great Apostle of Jesus who faithfully, diligently, sacrificially, served Jesus to his death, like many of Jesus’ named and unnamed followers have done all down through history. But as I read not just the book of Acts but the whole Bible, there is something that is remarkably different about God’s people. Many people ask the God they serve the same question: “What do you want me to do?” But true followers of Jesus ask it with a different emphasis. The most common, the most natural way to ask the question is: “What do you want ME to do?” Or, put another way, “What can I do for you, God?” Not to linger on the blind arrogance of such a question, the true followers of Jesus (inconsistently and often hypocritically) ask the question with a different emphasis: “What do YOU want me to do?” The fundamental difference is who gets the glory from whatever is done. The story of the fledging followers of Jesus is that the ones truly following Jesus gave HIM all the credit and glory for all that the Holy Spirit of God accomplished in and through them. This is certainly true of Stephen, Phillip, Peter, Paul and the people whose lives were transformed in their individual interactions with Jesus in the Holy Spirit. True followers of Jesus have a deep desire to obey God, and they do so with humility recognizing that anything and everything of any eternal or real value is done by God’s power for God’s Glory and none of our own. It is often pointed out that the idea of being a witness for Jesus is being a sign post pointing not at ourselves but at Jesus. That is exactly what the true Church of Jesus Christ has always done and always does.
As a side note it must be said that it is the awful tendency of our sinful nature to seek glory for ourselves (always claiming to honor God, of course). Thus Jesus' Church is always a work in progress, learning not just what God wants us to be doing but why we do it (for His Glory not our own) and how we do it (by His Power and not our own). Perhaps the greatest thing Jesus did in Acts and continues to do today is be patient with His people.
BIBLE TEXT SECTIONS:
Acts 6 - Seven Chosen to Serve - Stephen is Seized
Acts 7 - Stephen’s Speech - Stoning of Stephen
Acts 8 - Saul Ravages the Church - Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria - Simon the Magician Believes - Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
Acts 9 - Conversion of Saul - Saul Proclaims Jesus in Synagogues - Saul Escapes from Damascus - Saul in Jerusalem - Healing of Aeneas - Dorcas Restored to Life
Read Acts yourself then…
watch the Bible Project video on Acts
Neil Evans COMMENTS:
Jesus was gone, at least physically. It had been so comforting, hopeful and even exciting when His followers could spend time with Him, watch, listen and talk with Him. Then He was killed. Then back with them, then gone again. It was a confusing time. Jesus had said He was leaving, but would not leave them alone. He said He would send the Holy Spirit to not only be with them but be in them. They were beginning to understand what Jesus meant when He said He would never leave them, as they experienced God doing astounding things in their midst. The spiritual excitement they felt as they were learning what it meant to be Christ’s “Church” was contradicted by the hostility of their Jewish countrymen.
It had been relatively easy when Jesus was with them. He did the teaching, healing, and answered all the criticisms of the enemies.
Jesus had left them with a seemingly impossible task of making disciples of everyone in the whole world. But it was beginning to happen. As people were reminded of how Jesus had fulfilled all the Old Testament promises regarding the Messiah and they experienced God’s forgiveness like never before, their numbers grew rapidly. With the joys of growth came the challenges of helping them all grow in their understanding of what God was doing for them and the world. In addition to the task of teaching all the new followers of Jesus about God and His newly expressed love, there was the need to most effectively and lovingly minister to each other. How can these be accomplished?
The first priority is to have qualified Bible teachers who are set free by the church to do just that, teach the Bible. The whole story of the Bible is that God set out to do for us what we could never do for ourselves, namely pay for our sin, reconcile us to God and give us His LIFE now and forever. Secondly, when the Apostles were overloaded with other ministries, the church took over serving the daily needs of the people. And, those servants needed to have Godly character as they represented God Himself ministering among the people. Third, the privileged responsibility of making disciples fell on everyone, not just the leaders. In the process of being a servant to the widows, Stephen was a dynamic teacher as well. Fourth, be willing to suffer any persecution for representing Jesus accurately. Stephen talked about Jesus and it cost him his life. Jesus followers were pursued and prosecuted to the death even when they moved away from Jerusalem. It required that they encourage, comfort, and challenge each other. Fifth, Jesus’ followers were willing to talk with anyone; to strange, suspect people like Simon the magician and an Ethiopian eunuch. This required leaving the familiar and following God wherever He led. It required believing that God could save and use anyone, including vicious opponents like Saul.
It is true that many people of many different times and places have had the qualities of service, diligence, commitment, conviction, courage, sacrifice, and have seen radical transformations in themselves and others. What made and makes true followers of Jesus Christ different? At first glance, on the surface, possibly nothing. Christians rarely follow Jesus with any perfections. Like everyone else, they have always been prone to hypocrisy. But on a closer look perhaps there are things radically different.
In Acts 22:10 Paul recounts that when Jesus appeared to him in a blinding light on the road to Damascus, he asked Jesus: “what do you want me to do?” The book of Acts is often referred to as “the Acts of The Apostles.” But according to Luke it is the follow-up to what Jesus began to do in the Gospel of Luke. Thus, according to the historian Luke, and to the stories told in Acts, it is more accurately called “The Acts of The Risen Lord Jesus Christ.”
So, what sets true followers of Jesus apart from people with similar passions for things other than the God of the Bible? I think it can be seen in Saul’s question to Jesus in the moment of his blinding arrest. Saul asked Jesus: “What do you want me to do?” It is true that Saul went on to become Paul the great Apostle of Jesus who faithfully, diligently, sacrificially, served Jesus to his death, like many of Jesus’ named and unnamed followers have done all down through history. But as I read not just the book of Acts but the whole Bible, there is something that is remarkably different about God’s people. Many people ask the God they serve the same question: “What do you want me to do?” But true followers of Jesus ask it with a different emphasis. The most common, the most natural way to ask the question is: “What do you want ME to do?” Or, put another way, “What can I do for you, God?” Not to linger on the blind arrogance of such a question, the true followers of Jesus (inconsistently and often hypocritically) ask the question with a different emphasis: “What do YOU want me to do?” The fundamental difference is who gets the glory from whatever is done. The story of the fledging followers of Jesus is that the ones truly following Jesus gave HIM all the credit and glory for all that the Holy Spirit of God accomplished in and through them. This is certainly true of Stephen, Phillip, Peter, Paul and the people whose lives were transformed in their individual interactions with Jesus in the Holy Spirit. True followers of Jesus have a deep desire to obey God, and they do so with humility recognizing that anything and everything of any eternal or real value is done by God’s power for God’s Glory and none of our own. It is often pointed out that the idea of being a witness for Jesus is being a sign post pointing not at ourselves but at Jesus. That is exactly what the true Church of Jesus Christ has always done and always does.
As a side note it must be said that it is the awful tendency of our sinful nature to seek glory for ourselves (always claiming to honor God, of course). Thus Jesus' Church is always a work in progress, learning not just what God wants us to be doing but why we do it (for His Glory not our own) and how we do it (by His Power and not our own). Perhaps the greatest thing Jesus did in Acts and continues to do today is be patient with His people.
Check out these LINKS:
Watch Bible Project video about Acts
Read "Bible Words to Ponder" related to this week study
Read "The Gospel"