Acts 1:1-11
Good morning! We’re stepping out in our new series on the
book of Acts. Last week, Carl gave us an
introduction to the series, and we learned a great deal about the author of the
book of Acts, Luke.
Luke is mentioned in several
of Paul’s letters. He was a well-known
and well-traveled disciple in the early church.
We learned that Luke was a medical doctor. As such, he was trained in making careful
observations. This background was a
great skill set to bring to make “an orderly account.”
As we get farther into the
book of Acts, there are points where we can see that Luke is present in the
events. He switches from the third
person to first person plural when he’s joined the group. Saying in Acts 16:10, for example, “We got
ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to
preach the gospel to them.”
We learned that the book was
first written in the 60’s AD both because of what is included in the story and
because of what isn’t included, most significantly, the destruction of the
temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
There are interesting
parallels and contrasts between the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. In Acts, the disciples, empowered by the Holy
Spirit, perform miracles like the miracles Jesus performed in Luke. Acts shows
believers not only among the Jews, but now also among the nations. And Acts
reveals the fulfillment of countless prophecies in the Old Testament that show
God redeeming not only members of the people of Israel, but people from every
nation and every tongue and every tribe.
The book of Acts reveals how salvation spread from believing Jews to
believing non-Jews.
I was most impacted last
week by what Carl shared regarding the persecution of the early church. This persecution is something that is key
thread through the book of Acts. We see
how God uses the persecution to scatter God’s followers and even more rapidly
multiply the gospel. God also uses persecution to refine the faith of those who
profess to follow Him.
Listening to the account of
Pliny the Younger who was a Roman governor of a province in Asia Minor, it was
stunning how mindless the persecution was.
It didn’t matter what the people did or what they were like. It only mattered whether they would do what
the Roman government told them to do which was ultimately to renounce Christ
out loud or face a public and painful death.
As time went on, the persecution became
even worse. But despite all this, Christians continued to multiply. It is
humbling to understand what those before us had to go through so that we could
have faith today. And throughout the world, there are still those who face
severe persecution, and the Bible tells us that a time is coming when it will
become worse again. – Carl Baum
Let’s pray before we step
into Acts, chapter 1. Father God, speak
to us from Your word today. Help us to
see what You want us to see and understand.
We do pray for the persecuted church.
Hundreds of millions of Your precious ones live under high levels of
persecution and discrimination because of their faith. Strengthen them and encourage them. Help them to know that You are with
them. Multiply Your church, we pray in
Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Here we are with Acts,
chapter 1, verse 1:
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. – Acts 1:1-2
P75 contains Luke
3:18-24:53, and John 1:1-15:8. The
format is called a codex which is the precursor of our modern books. This picture is the end of Luke and the
beginning of John. 102 of 144 pages have
survived. It dates to 100’s AD. It’s the most significant New Testament
papyrus found to date, due to its age and its agreement to later fourth century
sources. It was discovered in the
1950’s.
As Carl also highlighted
last week, Luke is writing about “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” This introductory statement tells us Jesus’
ministry continues in Acts. Even though
we will see Jesus ascend to heaven in the first verses of Acts, He’s still
actively involved, driving the story.
Luke stresses the work of
the Holy Spirit throughout the book of Acts including His enabling power. Here we learn that Jesus gave instructions
through the Holy Spirit which is in keeping with John 14:26.
The
Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach
you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. –
John 14:26
We’ll talk more on the Holy
Spirit today and in future messages in the series.
After His suffering, He presented
Himself to them 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. – Acts
1:3
Jesus’ ultimate suffering
was His death on the cross. However, He
rose on the third day, and He came to the disciples many times. What were Jesus’ convincing proofs that He
was alive? This is a list from a read
through of the gospel accounts following the resurrection, Acts 1, and I
Corinthians 15.
The stone was rolled away
from the tomb Matthew 28:2
The soldiers guarding the
tomb were made unconscious (all of them) Matthew 28:4
The testimony of the angel
to the Marys, “He is not here; He has risen just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.” Matthew
28:5, Luke 24:5-7
Jesus’ body was no longer in
the tomb Luke 24:12
The linens that wrapped His
body were still wrapped and not strewn about John 20:6-7
Jesus appeared to the
disciples multiple times
- to Mary Magdalene at the
tomb John 20:14-17
- to the women (Mary
Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and others) while they
were on their way to tell the disciples Jesus was risen Matthew 28:9
- to the two disciples on
the road to Emmaus (Cleopas and his friend) Luke 24:15-31
- to Peter in Jerusalem Luke
24:34, I Corinthians 15:5
- to the ten and those with
them as the two disciples from the Emmaus road were giving their account
(behind locked doors, John 20:19) Luke 24:36
- again to the eleven a week
later, again behind locked doors John 20:26
- to seven disciples at the
Sea of Galilee after Peter went fishing John 21:1-2 (the third time He
appeared)
- the eleven saw Him on the
mountain in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go Matthew 28:16
- to more than 500 I
Corinthians 15:6
- James and all the apostles
I Corinthians 15:7
- At the ascension on the
Mount of Olives 40 days after the resurrection Luke 24:44-49, Acts 1:6-9
Jesus had them inspect His
wounds from the crucifixion Luke 24:39, John 20:20, 26-28
Jesus had them touch Him and
confirm He had flesh and bones Luke 24:39
Jesus ate with the disciples
Luke 24:42-43, John 21:13-15, Acts 1:4
Jesus opened their minds so
they could understand the Scriptures (the prophecies about Him from the Old
Testament) Luke 24:45
Jesus breathed on them
symbolically bestowing the Holy Spirit John 20:22-23
Jesus performed the miracle
to fill the net with fish (153) John 21:6-7
Jesus built a fire and
cooked for the disciples John 21:8
Jesus restored Peter after
Peter’s betrayal John 21:15-19
Jesus told them to remain at
Jerusalem and await the baptism of the Holy Spirit Acts 1:4-5
Jesus gave them the Great
Commission after the resurrection Matthew 28:18-20
There is a variety of things
that Jesus did during those forty days.
In short, Jesus was with the disciples.
He was real to them in those days.
Things were different, especially His appearing and disappearing, but
many of the things that Jesus did after the resurrection were things that He
did before. Jesus was convincingly real
after the resurrection.
I tried to make this a
complete list, but I would not be surprised if you could find more things that
Jesus did. In fact, John admitted that
there was plenty more that Jesus did.
Jesus
did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I
suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would
be written. – John 21:25
Acts 1:3 also says that
Jesus spoke to the disciples of the kingdom of God. This too was something Jesus emphasized prior
to the resurrection. 50 times in Matthew
(eternal life 3 times), 14 times in Mark (eternal life 2 times), 30 times in
Luke (eternal life 3 times), 4 times in John (eternal life 14 times). The kingdom of God is not a small topic. Depending on the passage, it can refer to the
eternal kingship of God; the presence of the kingdom in the person of Jesus
Christ, the King; the approaching spiritual form of the kingdom, and the future
kingdom.
The kingdom of God, the
kingdom of heaven, and eternal life are often used interchangeably. The story of the rich young ruler includes
all three. If you remember, this young
ruler comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. He’s thinking about righteous acts, and he
tells Jesus he’s kept the commandments since he was a boy. Jesus then tells this rich man to sell all he
has and to come follow Him. When the man
leaves, Jesus explains that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God
or the kingdom of heaven. When the
disciples ask who then can be saved, Jesus replies, “what is impossible for man
is possible for God.”
[Eternal life, entering the
kingdom of heaven, being saved … Matthew 19:16, Mark 10:17, Luke 18:18, Matthew
19:23, Mark 10:24, Luke 18:24, Matthew 19:25-26, Mark 10:26-27, Luke 18:26-27]
The parables of Matthew
13:44-45 explain that the kingdom of God is a priceless treasure. Those who find it are willing to give
everything in exchange for it. Whatever
we might have pales in comparison to the kingdom of God.
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. For
John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit. – Acts 1:4-5
As we already discussed, this
opening of “on one occasion” again shows that this event of being with Jesus
after resurrection was something that happened multiple times. And, it indicates that Jesus ate with the
disciples more than once after His resurrection.
I heard a sermon once about
resurrection bodies. It took the example
of what Jesus could do in his resurrected body as a basis of what it will be
like for us. We won’t be ethereal
spirits. We will have bodies. And, we will be able to eat food. Isn’t that cool?
The gift the Father promised
is clearly the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave a
lengthy explanation in John 14, 15 and 16 about the Holy Spirit. Here, let’s look at just a few verses. (John 14:26, 15:26-27, 16:12-13)
When
the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father--the Spirit of
truth who goes out from the Father--He will testify about Me. And you also must
testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning. – John 15:26-27
I
have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit
of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His
own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to
come. – John 16:12-13
Those two passages give us
some attributes of the Holy Spirit that we will delve into in Acts 1:8. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit will cause
the disciples to testify, to be witnesses.
The Spirit will also give the disciples guidance beyond what they could
grasp while Jesus was with them.
We are told in a few days
they will be baptized with the Spirit.
That is nine or ten days in this case.
Luke has just told us that the ascension happens forty days after the
resurrection. Then, the Holy Spirit will
come at Pentecost which is 50 days after the Passover.
This is a funny story, but I
know a fellow at work who is pretty deep in the word. He can be so literal about things that it
will make you laugh. I remember years
ago that he insisted that the word few meant eight because I Peter 3:20 says
that in the ark “only a few people, eight in all, were saved.” Therefore, a few is eight. So we can also say based on Acts 1:5 that a
few can be nine or ten.
Then they gathered around
Him and asked Him, "Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom
to Israel?" He said to them:
"It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His
own authority.” – Acts 1:6-7
Jesus’ words about the
arrival of the Holy Spirit really got their attention, but probably not in the
way He meant. He told them that the gift
of the Holy Spirit was coming, and they all draw near and start asking
questions. You can hear their forks
clanging onto their plates as they drop what they’re doing to crowd
around. Their minds went first to an
earthly kingdom. So, why do they keep
coming back to an earthly kingdom?
You can look at the
situation of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus on several levels. At 1003 BC, God had promised David to give a
King to reign on his throne forever. And
yet, the kings after David were not faithful to follow God. First, the kingdom
was divided into north and south, Israel and Judah, and then ultimately, both
of those kingdoms were taken over and the people were taken from the land. Ever since the time of David, the Jewish
people were aware of a promised king that had not appeared.
Taking a long but not quite
so long range view, since the time the Babylonian captivity began in 605 BC,
the Jewish people had almost entirely been subject to Gentile government. The people were still waiting for the kingdom
to be restored. Babylonian, Persian,
Greek (Seleucid, Ptolemaic), and Romans ruled over Israel. As bad as the corrupt kings of Israel and
Judah were, at least they were Jewish.
In somewhat more recent
time, there had been a little more than 50 years when the Hasmonean dynasty
(Maccabeus family) ruled Judea independently.
Ultimately, the Romans made the Hasmonean leadership a puppet state,
followed by the Parthian Empire. So you
have this flash of Jewish leadership that ended up being dissolved completely
by 37 BC. At that time, the Idumean
(Edomite) Herods were recognized by Rome and the last Maccabean king was given
over to Rome for execution. At the time
of the crucifixion, you have a mix of leadership in Judea both the Roman
governor and the Idumean Herods.
Definitely not, the king they envisioned sitting on David’s throne
forever and ever.
And so, I don’t think we
should be too hard on the disciples for looking to an earthly kingdom. They likely didn’t know or remember Jesus’
exchange with Pontius Pilate before the crucifixion.
Jesus said,
My
kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight to prevent My
arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now My kingdom is from another place. – John
18:36
But look at how Jesus
responds to their question. He doesn’t
tell them that they’re wrong. A time
will come when an earthly kingdom under God’s rule will be restored. But, it’s not something that anyone but God
the Father knows. The kingdom of God in
our time is the body of Christ, all believers.
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. – Acts
1:8
You know I was really
interested in what Luke 4:1 says about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It says, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” That of course makes you go back to Luke 3. What happened before that to fill Jesus with
the Spirit?
In Luke 3, Jesus is baptized
by John the Baptist. The Spirit descends
on Jesus in bodily form, like a dove.
God the Father audibly declared, “You are my Son, whom I love; with You
I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22)
Jesus, the pioneer and
forerunner (Hebrews 2:10, 6:20) of our faith, goes before us even in this
filling of the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that
fascinating? We can look to Him in all
things!
Luke emphasizes the Holy
Spirit, and we will continue to see that throughout the book of Acts (57
times!). The equipping of the Spirit
will enable the Acts of the early church.
Carl gave us his four word
synopsis of Acts last week: “Pray and show up.”
Acts 1:8 is the outline of what we will see happening in Acts. After the arrival of the Holy Spirit in
chapter 2, the apostles were first witnesses to Jerusalem up through chapter
7. Then, the focus moves to Judea and
Samaria for chapters 8 till 12. From
chapters 13 onward, the gospel keeps moving outward toward the ends of the
earth: Antioch, Asia Minor, Greece, and
Rome.
God’s desire is for the
salvation of people in all these places.
Despite the fact that in Jerusalem Jesus was arrested, falsely accused,
subject to a sham trial, rejected by an angry mob, and wrongly executed. Despite the fact that in Judea the people had
rejected Jesus’ ministry and teaching.
Despite the fact that Samaria was supposedly filled with impure crossbred
pagans. Despite the fact that the ends
of the earth were filled with Gentiles not chosen by God like Israel was. God’s ways are not like our ways. God’s thoughts are not like our
thoughts. God wanted witnesses to go to
all these people in all these places.
The beginning of this
explosive move is the Holy Spirit granting the disciples power. It is definitely not something they are to
take on by themselves, in their own understanding.
It is fascinating that their
primary role is as witnesses. They are
not to be kings or rulers or generals or soldiers, but rather witnesses. They are to testify to what they have seen
and heard. That too is something that
takes the emphasis off the disciples and their abilities. They are to share what they have been
impacted by in the previous years, months, and even days.
In fact, it doesn’t even say
that they are to become witness or that they need to start acting like
witnesses. It says when the Holy Spirit
comes on you, you shall be My witnesses.
An indicative, a change of state rather than an imperative, a call to do
a thing. Remember John 15:27 we talked
about earlier where it says the disciples must testify. They won’t be able to not-testify.
If you have the Spirit, you
will be a witness. If you want to be a
witness, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We look at these things like
the Spirit descending bodily on Jesus, and the disciples getting to walk side
by side with Jesus, and we can wonder, are we really supposed to get the Spirit
like they did?
Luke 11:13 tells us,
If
you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
Him! – Luke 11:13
That’s pretty simple. If human parents with all their imperfections
know how to give good gifts, how much more does God the Father. What gift is a better gift than the Holy
Spirit?
Berk Wilson gave a great
message on the Holy Spirit at Faithwalkers.
One key thought he shared was from I Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all
baptized by one Spirit into one body … and we were all given one Spirit to
drink.” We don’t get more of the Spirit,
rather the Spirit gets more of you.
Berk also gave a physical
example using a glass of milk and chocolate syrup. First, he took the milk and added the
chocolate syrup without stirring. He
explained that a scientific analysis might show a few molecules of chocolate at
the top of the glass, but it sure wouldn’t taste very chocolaty if you drank
it.
Ephesians 5:18 tells us to
“be filled with the Holy Spirit.” The
verb tense there is to keep being filled continually. It’s like the chocolate milk, it has to keep
being stirred or it will settle out.
Couple that command to be filled (Ephesians 5:18) with Luke 11:13 that
God will give His Spirit to those who ask and with I John 15:14-15.
This
is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according
to His will, He hears us. And if we know
that He hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of Him. –
1 John 15:14-15
After He said this, He
was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They
were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men
dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said,
"why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been
taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go
into heaven. – Acts 1:9-11
I’ve taught on this passage
before, and I remember once comparing it to a visit Melissa made while I was in
Germany for a couple of months back in 2004.
The day she flew out was very clear, and I could see the plane fly off
till it was the tiniest speck in the sky.
Jesus ascended into a cloud at some point. The presence of the cloud is consistent with
the clouds that surround God’s glory as when He filled the newly constructed
temple in Solomon’s day.
Jesus’ ascension gave the
disciples clear understanding that this was a final departure from His first
stay on the earth. He had come and gone
several times both appearing and disappearing in the forty days following the
resurrection. By ascending into the
cloud, they could understand He was leaving and would not return until He comes
back to claim His own.
If that was still not clear,
we have the testimony of the two angels who come to tell the disciples what has
happened, where Jesus has gone, and how He shall return.
We also come to the title of
today’s message. “Why do you stand
here?” The disciples are encouraged to
focus on what they are supposed to be doing rather than wondering where and how
Jesus had gone. In this case, they were
instructed to return to Jerusalem and wait.
Luke 24 tells us this is
what they did. It also tells us how they
went.
When [Jesus] had led them
out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While
He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they
worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed
continually at the temple, praising God. – Luke 24:50-53
They went with great
joy. They weren’t sad. They were worshiping and praising God.
I love the way the Bible
uses these little phrases that have such meaning and power. Here we have the three simple words, “this
same Jesus.” There would be those who
would doubt Jesus was physically on the earth.
That is one belief I’ve heard attributed to Gnosticism. And yet, with three little words, Acts tells
us that this Jesus is one and the same.
The Jesus of the Gospels, of the cross, of the resurrection, of the
ascension, who is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. This same Jesus is coming back for us. Amen?
This week, I read Psalm 59
in the Amplified. Yesterday, I realized
that the current NIV translates the description of God in Psalm 59 in the same
way. David praises God in that Psalm as
“the God I can rely on.” I thought that
was a great description. We can trust
God, rely on Him. He is the God we can
rely on. What did Jesus say about His
return?
Then
will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven … coming on the clouds of
heaven, with power and great glory. – Matthew 24:30
Come Lord Jesus. Let’s pray.
Jesus, fill our hearts with Your
Holy Spirit today, right now. Give us
Your power and glorify Your Name. We
pray for the persecuted believers throughout the earth. Fill them with Your Spirit and give them Your
power, we pray. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
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