Acts - Part 1: Introduction
August 27, 2023
Tonight we begin a new series, a study of the Book of Acts. This will likely be a bit of a fly-over & not necessarily a chapter by chapter study. I DO really encourage you to do a full study of the Book of Acts while we’re in this series… it will likely last just a few weeks as we get into fall.
The REASON I’d like to study in Acts will become pretty clear as we read the first few chapters… not all together tonight, lol … but it’s an important step in your journey of becoming a Bible Scholar. If you hang out around here very much you’ll hear me say I believe that if you’re going to be a disciple of Jesus, a Learner Under Discipline, of the way that Jesus walked & lived, then you need to be a good Bible scholar. This doesn’t mean a Bible expert that can swing a scripture like a battle ax–cutting down every agnostic & atheist in your path–that’s not the way of Jesus & it’s not what we mean when we say we want to be Bible scholars. A scholar is one who has a desire & aptitude TO BE educated in a subject, not someone who already knows it all: a researcher, a student, someone who longs to be a specialist in a particular subject. My hope & desire is that each of us really desire to be a researcher, a student and become a specialist in the Word of God!
This first episode in the series, we’re going to do an introduction & hopefully whet your appetite for more of what Acts can teach us. Let’s read a bit & talk a bit.
Acts 1:1-2
1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
Right off the bat we have questions:
Who’s speaking here and what “first account” is he talking about? The Apostle Luke, same guy that wrote the Gospel of Luke.
Hold Acts 1 & go to Luke 1…
1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; 4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.
So in Luke 1, we’ve got this guy Theophilus mentioned, same as Acts 1… and Luke is saying that he’s trying to tell the story of Jesus from the perspective of someone who was an “eyewitness & servant of the word”... from the beginning. Now, Luke wasn’t one of the 12 disciples but he was definitely there with Jesus from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry… and then was a major part of the first Church.. So that’s what Acts is all about.
In these first verses of Acts, Luke says, “In my first book, I covered the life of Jesus from birth through his crucifixion (about 33yrs) … and now he’s starting the sequel, volume 2, of the life of the CHURCH for the next 33 years or so. Let’s jump in to v3
3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. 4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” ::
Now Luke gives a quick recap history, that after Jesus was resurrected, He appeared to different people in different ways for over a month before he ascended to heaven.
Luke 24:49 - And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
And he gives this amazing additional info in v5…Acts 1:5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
This is a throwback to something that John the Baptist said in his ministry so let’s look:
Luke 3:16 (NASB) – 16 John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
We’re going to talk about fire a bit more in a few min but this is how Luke sets the stage for the church that’s about to be born. Let’s read just a little bit further…
6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” “OH NOW you’re going to overthrow the Romans & give us back our land & stuff?” but… 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” “So you’re NOT going to overthrow the Romans & you’re going to give us some sort of power to go be door-to-door salesmen??” … they missed the point…again…but in THIS part of the story’s wind up to the drama, Jesus is explaining again that he’s not here to overthrow the Romans/eliminate the Romans…he’s here to give them ultimate power to ACT even if the Romans never go away! “The Romans aren’t the point… they’ll go away on their own… you need power to share my Word no matter WHO’s in charge…”
Luke is still giving some of this background / setup info before the drama in the story happens… It’s kind of like in a movie when they have to set up the REASON for the action that’s about to take place… Who are the characters? What's the setting & their life like? What’s the reason for the drama that’s about to unfold? If they just started right in with the drama we wouldn’t have an understanding of WHY the drama needed to be there from the start.
Like:: The first SCENE of “Star Wars: A New Hope”...the first Star Wars movie anybody saw, literally starts with drama… a big bad imperial starship chasing a smaller Rebel cruiser… there’s shooting & chaos & people running…and Princess Leia records a video message into a little robot to somebody we’ve never heard of (“Help us Obi Wan, you’re our only hope…”) and sends R2D2 off across the galaxy like a message in a bottle. We don’t know any of these characters, we don’t know the setting, we don’t know why all this drama is happening… that’s why RIGHT BEFORE that drama there was the famous “opening crawl”...all that text you’re supposed to read BEFORE the drama happens.
“In a Galaxy far, far away…It’s a period of civil war” (there’s our setting)...“Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire…” There are our characters… Setting up the drama that’s about to unfold…
Now it all makes sense when we get to the drama.
Same with the Book of Acts & Luke’s writing… He starts his book with an “opening crawl” giving us the back story before he jumps into the drama.
“In an Israel not so far away, The Evil Roman Empire rules the Jewish nation with an iron fist. The Jewish leaders of the day have become cowards, only relying the ancient Law of Moses to keep people in line with their rules…the scrappy rebels, the “Followers of the Way” remember that when Jesus was with them he said,“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (star wars scene change music…) Now the drama can start…
What’s the drama? Well, after Luke reminds us what Jesus said about staying in Jerusalem until they receive this mysterious promise…and telling us what the power of the Holy Spirit is supposed to do (“you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses”) vs 12 tells us they returned to Jerusalem to their secret base, just like the rebels… and from Rebel HQ they wait & pray. They decide while they’re waiting to replace Judas in the Big 12 – and a guy named Matthias gets the spot. (It’s a big honor but it’s not hard to do a better job than Judas… “Just don’t betray us & get us killed.”) Then we start Acts 2.
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
Ok, NOW we’ve got drama for SURE! We’ve got WIND and FIRE and crazy galactic languages! This is the drama they’ve been waiting for… and from this point on in the book of Acts, just as Jesus said, their mindset & their ministry is never the same again.
This opening SCENE of the book of Acts (the disciples waiting in the upper room, doing normal everyday stuff) then being filled with the Holy Spirit (super high drama, action movie style) gives us LOADS of information on WHY we have the book of Acts & why we should study it. This little rag-tag band of rebels is promised power…then they receive this power and the rest of the book of acts is like the first movie about how the disciples USE this power in a series that’s still being written to this day… we’re still writing the book of Acts. We’re a part of this church that began the day of Pentecost & is still making history today.
The point behind Acts is, just as Luke said, to tell you what happens when the people of God–the disciples, the followers there in the upper room–become filled with the SPIRIT of God–the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus & sent by God to give us power–and how they change the world.
What would you do for the kingdom of God if you were given the unlimited power to do it?
That’s where I want to end tonight: I mentioned that it would only be an introduction and that’s what we’re going to do. I really just wanted to get you prepared for YOUR part in the writing of the 21st century chapter of the book of Acts.
Next time we’re going to explore the wind, the fire & the tongues & see what these three things represent & how they accomplish the mission that Jesus sent the disciples on.
