1. The Book of Acts
May 24th, 2009
Witnesses for Christ
When I was growing up I was not exactly what you would call a Bible scholar. In fact until I went to college I really didn’t know much about it at all. I had many opinions that I would support with Biblical texts taken horribly out of context. I spent my first year of Bible College just unlearning all the bad theology I had developed over the years. I had some whacky beliefs. You know until I got to college I thought the book of Acts was about the tool used to cut down trees? I thought it was spelled A.X.E. I had no idea but always thought that was interesting. It wasn’t until I enrolled in the class that I realized how wrong I was. Now I know I am not alone in this. You may not know it yet, but we all have some whacky beliefs that we think are Biblical.
We are going to be doing a series for the next few months on the book of Acts. Before we can get into the theology there are some important issues for us to cover. Let’s start by looking at the text, actually let’s rewind that a little more and start by just looking at the title. The title of the book of Acts is: the Acts of the Apostles. This is actually a strange title for after verse 13 of chapter 1 most of the disciples are not even mentioned. The book of Acts only really talks about two apostles. Peter dominates the first 12 chapters and toward the end of those we meet Paul who dominates the last 15 chapters. Acts isn’t about the Acts of the Apostles because the Apostles are not really the main characters. The main character is the Holy Spirit. Peter and Paul are important characters but the Holy Spirit is the real hero of the book of Acts. This book reveals to us so much about the Holy Spirit of God. So a better title would be: The Acts of the Holy Spirit. As we go through this study I hope we can come to a greater understanding of Him and realize that the Spirit is not some strange ‘it’ that we cannot wrap our minds around the Spirit is very personal and He is someone we can have a relationship with. The Holy Spirit is the only aspect of God that lives in you. We can get to know Jesus through our encounters with Him but without the Holy Spirit we cannot have a relationship with God. It is through the Spirit that we communicate with God and God communicates back. The Holy Spirit is not just the hero of the book of Acts He is the hero of our lives. Hopefully this series will help us get to know Him better.
Now let’s get into the text. It starts out in Acts 1:1: “In my” now we have to stop here and answer a very important question. Who is my? Who wrote the book of Acts? While the book does not exactly say who wrote it and yet there are really not a lot of credible options here. In fact there is really only one. Due to external evidence from the early church fathers living in the first few centuries of the church the author was unanimously believed it to be Luke. External evidence however can be at times unreliable so we must look to internal evidence. If Luke is the author of this book there should be some internal evidence from within the book itself to support that. Such evidence is found in the later chapters of the book of Acts in what are referred to as ‘we’ passages. These are passages in which the author uses the first person plural rather than the third person plural. When describing some of the things Paul was doing the author doesn’t say: they, he says we indicating that he was there as a traveling companion of Paul. When you chart the occasions of the ‘we’ passages in conjunction with the epistles we can establish who our possible candidates for writing might be.
To better answer the question of authorship we need to add a few more words. “In my former book” let’s stop here. Now we know that this is the second volume of an at least two part set. What is the first part? It is made apparent when reading through the book of Acts that the vocabulary, themes, and writing style are very similar and closely related to one of the Gospels. Both of these two books are very detailed making careful notes of locations and historical information. What is more both the book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke are dedicated to a person named Theophilus. So we learn that it is Luke who authored the book of Acts. Now let’s actually dive into Acts 1:
Ac 1:1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach Ac 1:2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. Ac 1:3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. Ac 1:4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. Ac 1:5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Ac 1:6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Ac 1:7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. Ac 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Ac 1:9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Have you ever noticed how some television shows will being with a synopsis of the plot? They start with “previously” or “last week on Lost: so and so did this and that while this other guy got captured and this girl fell from a tree.” This is not a new literary device. This is exactly what the first few verses of the book of Acts are doing. It is a quick refresher of where we have been so that the second volume of Luke’s work will tie in seamlessly with the first.
So after His resurrection the disciples are with Jesus and they ask Him about the time frame for the coming of the kingdom of God. So much has happened recently that they are wondering when this kingdom that Jesus was talking about establishing would begin. Can you hear us in the questions of the disciples? This is a subject of much interest even today 2000 years later. One of the common questions we ask is when. When is Jesus coming back? When is the kingdom He promised going to begin? Jesus doesn’t answer when. He answers who and what. Who gets to be a part of this new kingdom? What should we do while He is away?
Acts 1:8 is a rough outline of the rest of the book. We start in Jerusalem in chapters 1-7 then move to Judea and Samaria in chapters 8-12 then to the ends of the earth in chapters 13-28. This also establishes some important changes that will take place in the kingdom of God. We see that the kingdom shall go out beyond the borders of Jerusalem to the entire world. The kingdom of God that had been exclusive Jews up until this point will now be offered to everyone. The message will start in Jerusalem with God’s chosen people, then it will move out to Samaria with the half Jews, and finally the door will open all the way and the rest of the world will be given the opportunity to hear the word of God. We are all His chosen people. We all get to be a part of this new kingdom. It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you are male or female, slave or free. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, strong or weak, outgoing or shy. Everyone will be given the opportunity to become a child of God.
Jesus refused to speculate about ‘times’ and instead He gave them the task that they should be working on in the interim period before the kingdom comes. Jesus says: When isn’t so important right now. What you should be asking is what should we do until you return. See when the master of the house leaves He gives His servants responsibilities to carry out until He returns. The servant is then expected to fulfill that task regardless of how long the master is away. So Jesus says: let me worry about when you just worry about what you need to do. Jesus gives them His final command before ascending to heaven. Jesus calls all of His disciples to be His witnesses to the world.
We are called witnesses for Christ. A witness is a legal word for a person who bears testimony. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. For all Jesus disciples serve as His witnesses. If the world is a court and Jesus is on trial then Christians are the witnesses who defend Him with their testimony. Now in a court witnesses can be the key to understanding the case. A witness has a powerful role in the court. It is the witness testimony that can decide the fate of the defendant. It is our task to make the case for Jesus to the world. As the world sits on the jury trying to decide what to do with Him it is our testimony that may push them one way or the other. The way we live our lives is our greatest testimony to Him. What we do, how we live, how we treat others, how we respond to frustrations, and how we cope with difficult people is our greatest testimony in defense of Jesus. We serve as His witnesses both by what we do and what we say. How they view Him is a direct result of how we as His witnesses represent Him. Why do you think that people often view God as this petty judge? For years the church acted like a petty judge with its fire and brimstone preaching against anything they didn’t like. When you think about it most of the conceptions that people have of God are reflection of how they have been treated by His people. The world’s opinion of God is a result of our testimony. When we live for Him we acknowledge Him to the world that they may know Him. Jesus talks about witnesses in Luke 12:
Lk 12:8 “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. Lk 12:9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.
In our live we will be a part of two major trials. In the first trial we play the role of the witness who gives testimony for Christ. It is during this trial that will with either acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Savior or we will pretend we do not know Him. Declaring our allegiance to Christ in a world that may hate Him can be a pricey confession. In fact they may condemn us for our association with Christ. The truth is acknowledging Him may cost you everything. Being a witness for Christ may not be easy. Yet that is what His disciples are called to be. What He did for us was not easy but He did it out of love for us. Out of love for Him we must acknowledge Him before men and in so doing declare our allegiance and our association to Him.
In the second trial of our lives the roles are reversed but the outcome will be the same. The second trial is not a trial of Jesus by the world it is our trial before God. Here we are not the witnesses we are the defendants. Jesus is now witness, defense counsel, and judge. What Jesus says on your behalf in this court of heaven before God and the angels will fit with what you said and did on His behalf on His trial. If you stand up and boldly proclaimed Him to the world then He will stand for you before God. If you lived your life as a testimony to Him then He will give testimony on your behalf. If however, you denied Him. If you turned your back on Him and pretended not to associate with Him because you didn’t want the world to do to you what they did to Him then that is the response you will receive. If you acknowledge Him then He will acknowledge you. If you deny Him then He will deny you. Jesus will speak on behalf of all of those who served as His witnesses in this world and when Jesus speaks on your behalf you will not lose your trial.
Denying Jesus is easy. All we have to do is hide our association with Him. When we try to live as secret disciples keeping our faith hidden we deny Him. When we chose the things of the world over Him we deny Him. When we compromise what we know to be right or allow the opinions or reactions of others to keep us from testifying to the greatness of God we deny Him. Denying Jesus is easy because it costs us nothing. Acknowledging Him can be hard. It can come with a price. Yet no matter how hard it gets we know that it is worth it because our Lord and Savior promises us that if we are faithful to acknowledge Him then He is faithful to acknowledge us. No amount of suffering in this world can compare to the riches of the life to come. We are witness for Christ. So let us live out our testimony. Let us acknowledge Him with our lives.
