Jerusalem Jews for Jesus II
(Acts 1:1-8, part two)
1.True story from Reader’s Digest:
Our surname, Stead, rhymes with bed, but people often say steed, like the horse. One day a business associate of mine came over to the house and was greeted by my mother.
"Is Mr. Steed in?" the woman asked.
"He’s Stead," my mother snapped.
"Oh, no," the woman gasped. "I was talking to him only yesterday."
2. Last names create all sorts of confusion. Our name gets so mangled that we order pizza under an alias: Vase. Even then, half the time, it is written as Base.
3. But last names serve many, many useful purposes, one of which is to connect us to past generations. As we go through the uncertainties of life and change, a sense of connection helps us gain our bearings and creates an identity for us.
4. Biblical Christianity does not go back a mere 2,000 years, but at least 4,000. We worship one God who refuses to be represented by an image, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
5. Christianity is not a new religion, but is Trans-cultural Messianic Judaism. By the word "church," I do not mean an institution, but the conglomeration of all truly born-again Christians who make up the Body of Christ.
6. We call this the "invisible church."
"…body of the elect who are known only to God, and contrasts with the "visible church"—that is, the institutional body on earth which preaches the gospel …Every member of the invisible church is saved, while the visible church contains some individuals who are saved and others who are unsaved." [Wikipedia]
7. There is a special sense in which every true believer -- every member of the invisible church -- is connected directly to Jesus Christ and to Israel.
Main Idea: Our Faith has roots that go back to the beginning: we are connected.
I. The Church: Connected to Jesus Through the APOSTLES’ Teaching (1-3)
A. By READING what Jesus’ did (1-2a)
B. By the TESTIMONY and ministry of the Apostles (2b-3)
II. The Church: Connected to Jesus’ Power By the SPIRIT (4-5)
A. We Experience the same Spirit that EMPOWERED Jesus (4)
B. The Spirit Would BAPTIZE them (5)
"Being baptized in the Holy Spirit means being immersed (baptized) in the presence and being of God" (Holman Bible Dictionary). Through the baptism of the Spirit, God takes the believer and places Him in the Body of Christ, the Universal Church.
1. As the Spirit came upon Jesus’ at His BAPTISM, so the Apostles would be baptized by the Spirit
• The initial promise of the Spirit was given to the apostles, in this context
• But, when Pentecost actually comes, ALL believers present were baptized by the Spirit
• Why was this? Because all believers are ministers; all believers are priests; all believers have a role to play.
• Learn this principle: God might extend His promises to groups beyond the promised group, but God will keep His promises to the original group as well…
2. Both the Spirit’s dwelling and baptism are a GIFT
• In OT, the HS regenerated, but did not indwell
• In NT, the HS indwells all believers and baptizes them into the Body of Christ, though there was a transition time as recorded in Acts…
• How water baptism contrasts to Spirit baptism
• Note a principle: spiritual does not eliminate physical baptism
3. The evidence seems to indicate that Jesus submitted His will to the Father’s and worked His works with the permission of the Father in the power of the Spirit
• So the Christian is to submit to the Father and find power to live the Christian life by means of the Spirit of God living within him/her.
4. We are special people. God created us. Christ redeemed us. We are Temples of the Holy Spirit. We ought to have a healthy sense of self-respect. God thinks highly of us, and, whereas arrogance is wrong, self-respect is right.
"All you idiots, fall out!" shouted the sergeant at the soldiers standing in formation. As the rest of the squad dispersed, one soldier remained at attention. The sergeant stalked over and raised a single eyebrow. The private grinned. "Sure was a lot of them, huh, sir?" From Reader’s Digest.
Our Faith has roots that go back to the beginning: we are connected.
III. The Church: Connected to ISRAEL (6-8)
A. God’s promises to Israel still STAND (6)
1. Leviticus 26:40
40 " ’But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’ "
2. Acts 3:17-26
"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22For Moses said, ’The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’
24"Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. 25And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ’Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."
2. Since God is Sovereign, He will regenerate the Jews and exalt their nation because all these matters are in God’s hands, not man’s
Jeremiah 31:31ff
31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD.
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God,
and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ’Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the LORD Almighty is his name: 36 "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me."
37 This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD.
3. We know that God will be faithful to us and we can depend upon His faithfulness as we argue from greater to lesser: If God will fulfill His plans to future Israel despite the general rejection of the Messiah by most Jews, then God will fulfill His plans for we who know Him and serve Him. We acknowledge the words of Paul in Romans 11:29, "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."
B. Denying Israel’s Future Implies Disagreeing with the Apostles THREE Times
1. In Acts 1:6, you have to say they are ignorant
For example, John Lightfoot wrote, "It is very apparent, that the apostles had the same fanciful conceptions about the earthly reign of Christ with the rest of that nation."
("Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, Volume 4," p. 10, Hendrickson).
2. In Acts 3, cited above, where Peter is offering the return and reign of Christ to the Jews if they will repent -- you have to do interpretational gymnastics.
3. In Acts 21:20, where the Apostles encourage Paul to make a Nazarite Vow and have sacrifices offered at the Temple; this shows the compatibility of Temple Worship -- including sacrifices -- with the New Covenant, a detestable thought to Replacement Theologians
C. The Return of Christ Has Been SET By the Father and Not Revealed (7)
• It is not for the disciples to know
• I believe it is not for us to know
• The current rage: world catastrophes in 2012
D. But God’s Concern is WORLDWIDE (8)
1. How the APOSTLES would have understood this
• The Apostles probably originally understood this as, "Go the Jews who are dispersed throughout the world." They probably understood the Great Commission in a similar manner. As we progress through Acts, we find out that God wants to include gentiles within His New Covenant people as well…but this understanding came slowly…
• The Apostles understanding was correct but incomplete!
• The strategy is "evangelize in your area but get the word beyond your area"
2. The POWER would come from the Spirit
3. We are all WITNESSES in varying degrees
• Difference between a missionary and a witness
• Good witness or bad (Sunday restaurant tips)
• Lost people often view Christians as hypocrites who are seeking to force others to act like Christians even they themselves do not do so…
• Example: Christians who push for the 10 Commandments to be displayed but cannot recite them
• They view as us judgmental and looking down upon them -- and this is indeed very often the case…
