The Fellowship of Ailbe

ACTS RAPID GROWTH IN JERUSALEM F. Michael Slay A DEEP Study The Fellowship of Ailbe

Acts 2:29-3:16 Rapid Growth in Jerusalem Two aspects of the apostolic ministry start to take shape miracles and fellowship. We re pleased to provide the DEEP studies in PDF format at no charge. We hope you will find them helpful and encouraging as you press on in your journey toward spiritual maturity in the Lord. The Fellowship of Ailbe offers many opportunities for training, prayer, personal growth, and ministry. Please visit our website at www.ailbe.org to discover the many other resources available to serve your needs. This includes many email newsletters such as our worldview study ReVision, our devotional newsletter Crosfigell, and the DEEP. We are a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. Our goal is to promote revival, renewal, and awakening, following the teaching of Scripture and the example and heritage of our forebears in the faith. T. M. Moore, Principal tmmoore@ailbe.org Thank you. Acts 2:29-3:16 Rapid Growth in Jerusalem Copyright 2018 F. Michael Slay The Fellowship of Ailbe www.ailbe.org All scripture references are noted. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NKJV stands for the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2

1 Acts 2:29-36 (ESV) Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Peter wraps up his sermon by connecting all the dots. David, being therefore a prophet, foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. But y all are witnesses too. Peter adds that this Jesus, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. This really puts the screws to the audience. He s challenging them to explain what they re seeing. He s playing off the mockers claim that it s new wine. He s effectively asking, Well, which is it? But Peter has one more surprise up his sleeve; the Messiah isn t the one they were expecting. He s not just the Holy One David had been waiting for; He s the Lord. For David says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. We re often told to, Accept Jesus as your savior. What happened to, Lord? Aren t we supposed to confess Him as Lord? Yes, and we re supposed to be serious about it. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21 (NIV) Do you consider Jesus your Lord, or merely you savior? If it s the latter, deepen your commitment. Confessing Christ isn t a one-time thing anyway; we should pledge allegiance every day. Declare your allegiance to the Lord of the universe. He s Lord of the universe anyway, whether you confess it or not. You don t accept Jesus; you follow him. 3

2 Acts 2:36-41 (ESV) Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. This is interesting, not for what it says but for what it doesn t say. The audience responds, Brothers, what shall we do? not, Brothers, what shall we do to be saved? Just as Peter s sermon wasn t about getting into heaven, so their response isn t about that either. But remember, they re responding to Peter chewing them out. God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus but you crucified Him! Ouch. Peter s logic is impeccable, and they get it. This is a total face-palm moment and they simply want to know what they should do about it. Peter s response is astonishing. He doesn t even mention a long penance. They don t have to work it off. And not only that, they re about to be massively blessed. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. But there s another twist. Since they were cut to the heart already, why do they still need to repent? Didn t they just do that? Close, but not quite. Remorse is the beginning of repentance, but to truly repent you have to turn away/change your mind/be converted. Peter is calling them to act on their remorse and sign up. And the church grew 2,500% in a single day. The first of Martin Luther s 95 Theses is, When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said Repent, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. Imagine repenting anew every day. Yet as long as we remain sinful creatures that is, all our lives we should. 4

3 Acts 2:42-47 (ESV) And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. This passage is easy to misunderstand. At first glance, it sounds like they all quit their jobs and lived in some kind of hyper-commune where you couldn t even have your own toothbrush. That would be silly, unethical, and nothing like what actually happened. They wouldn t have lasted six weeks living like that. Obviously, Luke is describing something else. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship. The key word here is, devoted. It s one thing to have fellowship, but quite another to be devoted to it. These people really loved each other. And we re not talking emotion here; they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. That s real Christian love serious sacrifice for one another. There s nothing syrupy about this. It s about doing love, not feeling love. But this still can be misunderstood. They were selling their possessions but not all their possessions. They couldn t have been breaking bread in their homes if they had sold them. Too be sure, selling real estate was part of this see Acts 4:34-35 but this was not done in an unwise way. The call of Christian fellowship is to boundless love and sacrifice, not to stupidity. We still fall short. But the root of this problem isn t our greed or our affluence; it s that we don t follow the first part. The first Christians devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. This wasn t a weekly thing either. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. They were full time Christians. Yes, they kept their jobs and kept their homes but day by day they studied, and worshipped, and celebrated, and ate together. These DEEPs are an attempt at facilitating daily study of the word and daily connection with the Lord. But they re just a start. Ask God to show you how you can make Him a more steady part of your life. Also, ask Him to show you how you can fellowship more regularly with your brothers in Christ. 5

4 Acts 3:1-10 (ESV) Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, Look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk! And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. The man lame from birth was asking for the wrong thing. He was there to ask alms of those entering the temple. It never occurred to him to ask to be healed. Peter gave him the shock of a lifetime. Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk! And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. But Peter gave him more than just his legs; Peter gave him faith. The beggar had been lame from birth. Leaping around in the temple isn t such a great idea for someone who has never practiced jumping before; one bad landing and he s back to square one. That didn t matter to him. He had just seen could even feel the power of Jesus Christ in his own body. In an instant, he went from no faith to rock solid faith. It s all true! Praise the Lord! I d jump too. Our prayers are often off base just like the beggar s request to Peter. But just as Peter gave him what he needed instead of what he asked for, so God often honors our requests by giving us something other than what we want. It s amazing that God would even entertain our clueless rants, but he does. Prayers are best understood by looking at them through the retrospect-o-scope. Think back. What were your most off base prayer requests ever? How did God answer them? How did those answers match up with what you asked for vs. what you actually needed? Now comes the hard part why were you off base to begin with? Next consider your recent, most fervent prayers. Assume for the moment that they re off base too. Can you imagine how that might be the case? Ask God to help you grow closer to His will by illuminating your situation. Ask Him to stretch your mind and show you your errors. Be willing to let this hurt. 6

5 Acts 3:11-16 (NIV) While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon s Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. Picture this scene. The man held on to Peter and John, and this draws a crowd. People actually came running to them. They were astonished but, more importantly, they thought this was Peter s doing. This is a perfect opportunity to preach the gospel, and Peter lays it on them brilliantly. But think about how easily this could have gone wrong. They thought Peter was the source of the healing power. They were close to worshipping him. That s a great temptation; we see idolized people destroyed by their success all the time. But Peter seems immune. Why? Because he denied Christ three times. The worst moment in Peter s life was, in a way, the best. His complete failure is seared into his memory. It s ever before him and ever painful. It keeps him humble and it keeps him dependent on his Lord. He will go on to lead an exemplary life, living and dying for Christ. The slogan, No pain, No gain fits life in Christ much better than it fits exercise. Our sin and our slow learner nature necessitate tough, clear lessons from God. Nothing focuses the mind like pain. Peter may have spent the rest of his life wishing he hadn t failed so miserably that fateful night. But he should have eventually learned to appreciate that it happened. Failure is sometimes the secret of success. Without our failures, there would be no gospel. How do you feel about your past? Can you see the point of your mistakes? Or do they eat away at you? Pain is a good thing. Physical pain keeps us from injury. Emotional pain drives us to Christ. Stuff is supposed to hurt, but don t let the pain confuse you. Lay your pain before the Lord and ask Him to reveal his purposes. Do not shrink from being reminded of your mistakes. Search for meaning, not comfort. Understanding makes pain bearable. 7

Questions for reflection or discussion 1. How did you come to Christ? 2. What aspects of your conversion get renewed regularly? What parts don t? 3. How s your QT? What works best for you? 4. Recall a prayer that you now see as misguided. How did God respond? What did you learn? 5. Do you carry a lot of guilt? Items for prayer: 8