You will be my witnesses... - Introduction to Acts Luke 1:1-4; 24:46-49 Acts 1:1-8 26 Apr 2009 HPC Evening Introduction Two weeks ago we finished the series on the Gospel of Mark and now we re going to study this very long and less famous book - Acts. I remember once David Cook said that Acts is like the Cinderella of the NT between two giants - John and Romans. I can see certain truth in this. So why are we studying Acts? Here are some scenarios for you. Have a listen because maybe you might identify with them: Scenario One: A small church gathering is going well in the sense that everything is organized according to a tried-and-tested program. Small home groups gather during the week, as part of the weekly must-do activity. What s taught in the bible studies and at Sunday school follow a predictable pattern. Worship services become routine. Certain individuals always seem to be the same ones who welcome new people because they re good at this role. Ministers faithfully preach the truth, organize events and try to generate enthusiasm for evangelism. But something is missing. Yes, the people from this small church love Jesus dearly. But deep down they question, is there a different way to witness for Jesus? Scenario Two: A young 20 y/o man who grew up in a Christian family, moved to a new city and joined the local church. Soon he was asked to lead the youth group. After several years, he is now thinking about quitting the church. Why? Because it s just become a burden - too many responsibilities. He s always being asked to do things and his name is on all the church rosters. Eventually he decides to move to a new church where he will never volunteer himself again. He still reads the Bible, meets up with non-christian friends at work, attends prayer meetings with some mission organizations, but has decided never to put his name down on rosters - no more responsibilities. He too asks: is there a different way to witness for Jesus? Scenario Three: A new church planting movement is just about to start. One couple went to the vision conference and their emotions were running very high. A vision statement was drafted and quickly spread through the internet - on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and personal blogs. The leaders are calling people to join the church planting teams. This couple is all fired up. However, this means that they need to leave all the current ministries behind, and they know that they won t be replaced because there is no one in the church who is able to fill their shoes. Should we keep the best or send them out? People start asking: is there a different way to witness for Jesus? Scenario four: A local church has been established in the community for a long, long time. The gospel is always preached faithfully and clearly. But predictably, every sermon ends with the same application - have faith in Jesus, read the Bible and pray!. The vision statement stays the same, the outreach method remains the same. But people who now live in the community have changed. They find the language the church people speak is hard to understand. There seems to be an impenetrable wall between the church and the world. Those with a heart for evangelism start to ask: is there a different way to witness for Jesus? 1
Did you see yourself in any of these cases? If you can, then it is a good time for you to listen to Dr Luke and take his prescriptions. The Acts of the Apostles is Luke s second volume. It is God s call to remember and reflect on His design for His church, and reconsider how our fellowship fits - or fails to fit - the blueprint. The Book of Acts records an original church planting movement straight after the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven. The history recorded in Acts is all real. It is full of people who don t get along, who don t catch on to the vision and who don t always rise eagerly to the challenge of discipleship. You probably can find yourself in these stories. On the other hand, the history is also real in demonstrating the powerful impact of Jesus - His death, resurrection and ascension. It shows us more about Jesus Himself and how the Holy Spirit worked among those flawed people. Hopefully God s instruction in Acts will serve as a road map for us all - giving us a fresh and powerful way to witness for Jesus whatever circumstance we find ourselves in. Luke s Gospel and Acts My prayer for this series is that we learn from Acts what God wants us to learn. We need light from the Early Church to shine on our churches today. This is why I see that it s so important for us to read and study Acts. And this is probably why Dr Luke carefully records the stories for us - so that we can learn and apply the lessons to our own church. Luke has written two volumes in the NT: the gospel of Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles. He states his purpose in the opening of his gospel. He tells us that Jesus life and work recorded in the gospel of Luke are true because he has done careful investigation. These are first hand resources. They have been written so that the most excellent Theophilus may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. The gospel serves as the foundation and the starting point of a new movement. As we expect a continuation of Luke s story of Jesus, at the very beginning of Acts, Luke states his purpose of Acts (1:1-2): In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. We normally call Acts the Acts of the Apostles, and some argue that Acts should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. But Luke is telling us here that Acts really is Volume Two of the Acts of Jesus. Acts shows us how the early church proclaims the truth of Jesus according to His instructions. There are three things Luke wants Theophilus to be clear about. At the end of Luke, before Jesus returns to heaven, Jesus summons the disciples in vv. 46-49, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." The three things to make certain are: 1. the message about Jesus and the truth of salvation - Jesus suffering, death and resurrection, repentance and forgiveness of sins. 2. the mission - the message will be preached to different nations in different ways. 3. the means to accomplish the mission - the power will come through the Holy Spirit. 2
The same three things are also clearly given by Luke again in Acts 1:3-8. And I believe these three things are the three major themes throughout the entire book of Acts as Jesus calls us to be His witnesses. So here are three questions that I d like to put forward at the very beginning of this sermon series: 1. Who re we witnessing for and about what? 2. Who empowers us to witness? 3. How do we witness? So, number one: Whoʼre we witnessing for and about what? First of all, we need to get the core message of Christianity right. Have you noticed that in recent years, the Sydney Morning Herald often has articles on the topics of religion and Christianity - for example, the World Youth Day, ordination of gays and woman, stem cell research, condoms not being used in Africa, etc. Christianity is examined and debated in terms of it s social implications and it s psychological ramifications. But all these articles hardly ever touch the real message of the Christian faith. People love to wade through Christianity s rich tradition but they fail to get to the heart of the faith. What is the core message of Christianity? What does the gospel message have anything to do with these social issues? As we read through the Book of Acts, one thing is clearly stated - the core message of Christianity. The book gives many accounts of people s statements about Jesus. Acts has 42 testimonies to the gospel. We can find 10 sermons - Peter preaches 5 sermons, Paul preaches 4 and Stephen preaches 1. There are thirty preaching summaries. Throughout the book, Luke always re-enforces the idea that the Apostles continue to testify to the Lord Jesus. It s all about Jesus. The Christian message is all about Jesus life, death and resurrection. The main emphasis is on His death and resurrection. In Acts, there are no specific details about Jesus life because Luke assumed people would read his first book. Jesus death and resurrection are what the Apostles talk about in Acts. Other religions attempt to win people over by saying how great Buddha is or how profound the prophet Mohammed is. But in Acts, the Apostles tell the Jews that they killed Jesus. In Stephen s sermon, he says that Jesus terrible death fulfills OT prophecy that people would reject the One God sent. The significance of Jesus death and resurrection is clearly articulated in Acts. In Jesus, God has fulfilled His promise to redeem a people for Himself. Jesus came as the Savior. Peter points this truth out clearly before the Jewish leaders in chapter 4, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. And the appropriate response to this gospel is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ (11:17). The Apostles call people to turn from their sins and turn to God. Their message is to have faith in God. The early Christians and the church today witness for the same person- Jesus. And we are witnessing about the same message - Jesus died on behalf of our sins. This is the core message of the gospel that hasn t changed over the centuries. If there is a different way to witness, that is the way we faithfully witness for Jesus, His death and resurrection. 3
Secondly, who empowers us to witness? Another major theme in Acts is the mighty activity of the Holy Spirit in the church. The risen Lord Jesus instructed the disciples through the Holy Spirit (1:2). He promised them that soon the Spirit would be poured out on them in power (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8). Jesus earthly ministry was carried out through the Holy Spirit. As the gospel spreads to the ends of the earth, the outpouring of the Spirit is extended to the Samaritans (8:17), and to the Gentiles (10, 11, 15). Often I hear people say that we don t teach the HS enough. Possibly this type of comment is made in the context of the pentecostal church movement which over emphasizes the so called power ministry. Some may ask, have you ever been to a Spirit-filled church? I think this is a difficult question to answer. How could you tell? By measuring the intensity of the drums and the singing in worship? By how loud the clapping is, how many raise and wave their hands in praise? Or do you sense the Spirit s presence more in the silence of meditation in a quiet sanctuary or in the solitary contemplation on the beach? Actually, these are the wrong questions to ask. What we really need to know is what does the Spirit intend to do among us? What s the Spirit s role? The Holy Spirit empowers us to witness. Too often we are more interested in the gifts of the Spirit than the giver of the Spirit. We re more concerned with our power rather than God s purpose. Here in v. 8 the relationship between the Holy Spirit and us is made clear. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses... (v.8). The power is the Holy Spirit in person; not a mere influence, but God Himself. Power means the ability to get the job done. The job is to witness, to spread the gospel of God s kingdom to the ends of the earth. That is the Spirit s primary work in the world. The purpose of the Holy Spirit s presence in any believer s life is not to witness to that individual s gifts, or power, or experiences, but to witness through that Christian, to the world, about Jesus. There is a big temptation that we all face. When we see other believers who seem to be more full of power, who appear to be better witnesses, or who live more godly lives, or who have a more acute awareness of the presence of God, it s very tempting to want what they ve got. We start to think of ourselves as ordinary Christians and others as more spiritual Christians. We just don t seem to have what they have. Many conferences, books, and videos are dedicated to providing the answer. But from v.8, we are taught that as we witness for God, we are already empowered. We are empowered to get His job done. The Holy Spirit is the One who makes us more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit brings all the power of Christ s risen life into our experience, so we can be used to witness to the gospel. We don t need books or DVDs to give us the power - we already have Him living in us at this very moment!!!! (Isn t this amazing? think about it!) Sometimes you might feel you lack power. But it s not because of any shortage in God s supply. Rather, it s because we quench the Holy Spirit. We refuse to allow Him to control our lives. Do you find it hard to step out of your comfort zone to reach out to your neighbours or work friends? Do you try to find excuses? The problem isn t that we lack the Holy Spirit s power. The problem is our own disobedience. Think about how daunting and impossible a task it was for these 12 guys to take the gospel out to a unbelieving world... But they went out and did it. If there is a different way of witnessing for Jesus today, it must be through the Holy Spirit. He alone empowers us to witness with confidence and boldness. 4
Thirdly, how to witness? Here is the commission from Jesus, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Jesus commands us to take the gospel message to all kinds of people everywhere. The core message is always the same - Jesus death and resurrection, and our response to repent and believe. The power is given - through the Holy Spirit. So, the question is, how do we present the message effectively so that people will believe? One of the major issues is contextualization. As we witness, we will face different opponents. The Jews believed the Christians were preaching against the temple, the law, their traditions and circumcision. The Greek philosophers suggested that the Christian message concerned foreign gods. And the Greek silversmiths and idol manufacturers saw in Christianity the danger not only that our trade will lost its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited (19:27). Throughout Acts, the apostles display an ability to present the gospel in amazingly diverse ways, but always pointing to the same gospel. When Paul preached to the Greek philosophers in Athens, he argued from the basis of their experience and reason. He didn t cite Scripture; he started with creation and reasoned from there. When the apostles spoke to the Jewish crowds in Jerusalem, or in synagogues around the Mediterranean world, they began by rehearsing OT history or by arguing that the prophecies of Scripture had been fulfilled in their time. Acts gives us many different examples in a variety of settings and to a variety of audiences. But the core message is never distorted or cut short. What about us, here in Sydney? No one can deny that today we live in an extremely multicultural community of Hurstville. The city council s motto is: Hurstville - A friendly, diverse and sustainable city built on all embracing community spirit, where we live, learn, work and play. In this all embracing community, there is a real challenge - how can we take the absolute truth of Jesus Christ to the different people groups with different religious, social and economic backgrounds? Our council encourages diversity. They probably are happy with the principle that there is no absolute truth. As long as we all live in harmony, the community will be sustained. But tonight, my question is, how do we creatively and effectively witness to the community around us? Not only here in Hurstville - but also at your workplaces, at your schools, in your families and neighborhoods. If there is a different way to witness to the communities around us, it must be the way that we can contextualize the gospel without compromise the truth. As we read through Acts over these next few weeks we will see how the early Church does it. Let s be willing to learn from those who have gone before us, who have taken the gospel out of Jerusalem and who ve done this through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. And let s be prayerful and expectant that God, through His Holy Spirit will work through us and in us to make us His witnesses wherever He has placed us. 5