April 27, 2025 • 45 mins
Have you ever thought about where you fit in the continuing story of God's work? The book of Acts documents a remarkable transformation as a small, fearful band of believers becomes an unstoppable movement that reaches the very heart of the Roman Empire. But this isn't just ancient history – it's a story we're still participating in today.
When we examine the message proclaimed by the early church, we discover something profound. Rather than emphasizing Jesus as merely a moral teacher or philosopher, the apostles boldly declared his crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and coming judgment as the fulfillment of promises God made centuries before. Surprisingly, the resurrection receives even more emphasis in their preaching than the cross itself, reminding us that without Easter morning, Good Friday would have remained merely a tragedy rather than the pivotal moment in salvation history.
The growth documented in Acts follows a clear geographic expansion – from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, Asia Minor, Europe, and ultimately Rome itself. With each advance came increasing boldness and the overcoming of seemingly insurmountable barriers. Cultural differences, religious traditions, and political powers all proved incapable of stopping the gospel's advance.
Perhaps most striking is how carefully the apostles maintained their focus on Christ's kingdom rather than becoming entangled with political movements. Despite facing scrutiny from both Jewish and Roman authorities, they consistently distinguished their message from any political insurrection. This distinction preserved Christianity's universal appeal and prevented it from becoming merely another faction vying for earthly power – a lesson modern believers would do well to remember.
The question becomes: how do you see your role in this continuing story? Are you simply putting one stone on top of another, earning a wage, or participating in building God's grand cathedral? Your perspective changes everything about your engagement with Christ's ongoing work. Listen and discover how the book of Acts still speaks powerfully to believers today.
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Episode Transcript
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Doug McMasters (00:00):
Well, good to see you this evening.
I'd invite you to take yourBible with me and go over to the
book of Acts, the book of Acts.
If you're looking at the churchBibles, the Pew Bibles, you can
find it on page 966.
It's been a delight to gothrough this series, route 66.
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We will finish it up right atthe end of the year, just before
Christmas.
It will be at a completion andI think it's a great sort of
corpus for us as a church to goback to from time to time.
We had our Membership Mattersclass this afternoon and one of
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the things that we do in that isintroduce those who are
considering membership to ourStatement of Faith.
Obviously can't go through theStatement of Faith in a short
little meeting like that, butable to cast them back to a
series that Micah and I and acouple others contributed to
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called Defining Doctrines, whichwas about our statement of
faith, and to be able to say tofolks just sermon audio,
Defining Doctrines.
There's 40 messages that willhelp you understand better what
we believe as a church.
So in years to come perhaps youknow for folks coming in saying
I wonder what is in Zechariahor something like that, to be
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able to go back and say there itis.
I was talking to someone just acouple of weeks ago who's
recently visiting our church andshe's just beginning to read
the Bible.
You're here, didn't mean toembarrass you, right?
And was able to say look, route66 is perfect.
Listen to the message.
It'll introduce you to whatyou're about to read.
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It might give you a helpfulentry point to understand what's
about to unfold for you as youturn the pages of the Bible.
So tonight we're in the book ofActs.
A couple of weeks ago well, acouple of weeks ago, a week and
a tiny bit ago ago a week and atiny bit ago, we celebrated in
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this room Good Friday, and wethink about our Savior giving
himself up on the cross.
One of the sayings on the crossis a Greek word, tetelestai,
which means it is finished,right, and that word has a lot
of meaning.
It is finished in that the workof redemption has been
completed, scripture has beenfulfilled, and so we often talk
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about the finished work of JesusChrist.
That's a phrase you might evenhear a number of preachers or
teachers use the finished workof Christ.
Well, tonight we're going totalk about something the ongoing
work of Christ and that's inthe book of Acts.
So take a look at chapter 1 andverse 1.
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As Luke continues from thegospel of Luke now into this
second volume, and he says Iwrote the first narrative,
theophilus, about all that Jesusbegan to do and teach until the
day he was taken up, after hehad given instructions through
the Holy Spirit to the apostleshe had chosen.
So there's that sense of thebeginning to do and teach.
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But there's a second volumethat Luke writes about.
And what is that?
But there's a second volumethat Luke writes about and what
is that?
After he had suffered, he alsopresented himself alive to them,
by many convincing proofsappearing to them over a period
of 40 days and speaking aboutthe kingdom of God.
So the rest of the book of Actstalks about the ongoing work of
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Jesus Christ, and tonight we'regoing to be able to discover
more about that.
And one of the things that Ihope we all recognize as we do
so is that we're not just havinga historical look at the early
church, but to be able to findourselves included in this
ongoing work of Jesus Christ,because we're part and parcel of
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that story that's ongoing yetto this day and I hope it shapes
our attitude and understandingabout how we do participate in
that.
One of the stories that I liketo tell is a story about Sir
Christopher Wren, who was thearchitect for the rebuilding of
St Paul's Cathedral in London.
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It's a beautiful edifice.
If you ever get an opportunityto go to London, I would highly
encourage you taking some timeto visit St Paul's Cathedral and
, if you're not afraid ofheights, to go up as high as you
can go.
There's a little whisperinggallery there where you can hear
one another and if you'rereally daring, you can make your
way through the see-throughladders up to the outer ring and
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get a nice view of London fromthe outside.
It's quite remarkable and oneperson was going through there
and talking to some of theworkers and he said what are you
doing today?
And he said well, what do youthink I'm doing?
I'm putting one stone on top ofanother.
He's like well, okay, let'skind of figure that out, but I
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thought maybe he'd give me adifferent answer.
Says to another person, anotherworker what are you doing today
?
Well, I'm earning a wage to payfor my family's needs.
And then he talked to a thirdworker and said what are you
doing today?
I'm helping Christopher Wrenbuild this grand cathedral.
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So three different perspectivesabout the same work.
One person, literally one stoneon top of the other.
Another person thinking in atransactional way this is, I'm
doing this in order to get whatI need to take care of the
things that I'm responsible for.
And then another person seeingthe big picture I'm part of the
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building of this cathedral.
This is a monument that I amparticipating in the building of
.
So today, you might be a memberof New Hyde Park Baptist Church
and we might ask you what areyou doing today?
I'm showing up for a service.
What are you doing today?
Well, you might have somethinga little more noble than that to
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answer.
Or you might say I'm a memberof the body of Christ and I'm
participating in the ongoingwork of Jesus Christ.
You see how perspective changesa lot of things, and so today, I
hope that we'll be able tocatch that glimpse, not just an
understanding of the historicalaccount of the book of Acts.
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So what we're going to look atare four aspects of the book of
Acts, and in so doing, we'regoing to be going from front to
back and front to back and frontto back and front to back,
because they're all intertwined.
It's not like one thing andthen another, and another and
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another.
These aspects weave their waythrough the whole book of Acts,
and so I'd like for us to get aflavor of all of them as we move
, and I don't want to highlighteach of them in a sort of
chronological way.
I'd like for us to be able tocatch it and understand the
layers of what's being said here.
So we're going to look at themessage of the church, the
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growth of the church, the focusof the church and then the
breadth of the church.
The message of the church talksabout the proclamation of the
early church.
The growth obviously hasgeographical aspects, but
there's more than justgeographical growth going on in
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the book of Acts.
The focus of the church what isit that they were primarily
about?
Obviously connected and alittle nuanced from the message,
but there's something therethat we want to highlight that
will help us in our day, I think.
And then the breadth of thechurch who's included in this
kingdom that Christ is building?
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So let's dive in.
Let's start with the message ofthe church, and the book of Acts
captures the essentialproclamation of the early church
, centering first of all on anunderstanding that God has acted
in a way to fulfill promisesfrom the Old Testament.
So when you read the book ofActs and you catch a hold of the
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proclamation that's there, oneof the things that you will see
quite often are references backto the Old Testament and how
those things that were promisedsome hundreds of years ago are
now being enacted in fulfillment.
That's quite an important thing.
In fact, that was one of thethings that really motivated me
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personally to begin tounderstand how the Old Testament
and New Testament related toone another.
I'd always thought of it in amore flat fashion, but when I
read the book of Acts andstarted noting how often the Old
Testament was quoted and howoften the fulfillment of the Old
Testament was spoken about, Isaid I need to understand this
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better, and so I started goingback into the books that the
apostles quote and began towrestle with why did they use
this verse and this passage toelucidate the Savior?
It's not the sort of clearIsaiah 7, micah 5 kind of things
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that you hear right aroundChristmas time.
They went places I wouldn'thave expected.
Why did they do that?
Why did they go there?
And so that drove me to reallyunderstand better how the Old
Testament New Testament interactwith each other.
But one of the things we'llunderstand is that they were
determined to express,particularly to the Jewish
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audience in front of them in theearly chapters of the book of
Acts, that God had acted,through Jesus Christ, in
fulfillment of promises mademany, many hundred years ago.
So let's go to chapter 2.
You'll see that.
Chapter 2 and verse 30.
There's a lot of places I couldgo.
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I'm just going to be veryselective here, brothers and
sisters.
Verse 29, I can confidentlyspeak to you about the patriarch
David.
He is both dead and buried andhis tomb is with us to this day.
And since he was a prophet, heknew that God had sworn an oath
to him to seat one of hisdescendants on his throne and,
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seeing what was to come, hespoke concerning the
resurrection of the Messiah.
He was not abandoned in Hadesand his flesh did not experience
decay.
You turn over to chapter 3 andgo to verse 19.
You will see something very,very similar.
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Verse 17,.
Now, brothers and sisters, Iknow that you acted in ignorance
, just as your leaders also did.
In this way, god fulfilled whathe had predicted through the
prophets that his Messiah wouldsuffer.
Therefore, repent and turn backso that your sins may be wiped
out.
And then it goes on to and youcan see a number of places where
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there are, perhaps in youredition of the Bible, bolded
print face to talk about OldTestament quotations of
Scripture.
So drop down just a little bitfurther in verse 24, right in
that area.
Well, we could back up a littlebit to 21.
Heaven must receive him untilthe time of restoration of all
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things which God spoke aboutthrough his holy prophets from
the beginning.
And Moses said the Lord, yourGod, will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among yourbrothers.
You must listen to him and toeverything he tells you, and
everyone who does not listen tothat prophet will be completely
cut off from the people.
So the Jewish people weresaying you really need to listen
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to Jesus.
He is the one that God has sentto us.
A little further down in thesame chapter, verse 25,.
You are sons of the prophetsand of the covenant that God
made with your ancestors sayingto Abraham all the families of
the earth will be blessedthrough your offspring.
God raised up his servant andsent him first to you, to bless
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you by turning each of you fromyour evil ways.
What is the Abrahamic blessingto the world?
Repentance and the reception ofthe Savior.
That is how God blesses thenations.
This is reinforced.
We go to chapter 10 and we canfind there in verse 43.
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In verse 42 it says that well,I'm going to keep doing this.
Verse 40 god raised up this manon the third day and caused him
to be seen, not by all thepeople, but by us, whom God
appointed as witnesses who ateand drank with him.
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After he rose from the dead, hecommanded us to preach to the
people and to testify that he isthe one appointed by God to be
the judge of the living and thedead.
All the prophets testify abouthim that, through his name,
everyone who believes in himreceives forgiveness of sins.
(13:30):
Over and over and, over andover again, calling out the life
of Christ, the message and theproclamation in fulfillment of
prophecies given.
Message and the proclamation infulfillment of prophecies given
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Paul in Acts.
Chapter 26 makes mention ofthat.
So, jumping right to the backor near the back, verses six and
seven, where he's on trial, andhe says this now I stand on
trial because of the hope inwhat God promised to our
ancestors, the promise ourtwelve tribes hope to reach as
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they earnestly serve him nightand day.
He said this is the fulfillment.
They're looking for something,but they're not looking in the
right place, and the place isthe designated place of Jesus
Christ himself.
So the apostles understood thatthe arrival of the Savior was
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the culmination of God'spromises given in the Old
Testament.
So what was the message andit's something we're very
familiar with, and I thank Godthat we are what did the early
church emphasize when theypreached Christ?
Did they emphasize his example?
Did they emphasize the factthat he was a great teacher,
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philosopher?
Did they emphasize that he wasa wonderfully moral man who
stood before us as an example ofhow to live a just and good
life?
What did they emphasize?
Yeah, they emphasized thecrucifixion for one.
So let's jump back to the veryfront end of this book.
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So let's jump back to the veryfront end of this book Acts,
chapter 2.
It wounded us to know that thedeath of Christ was not some
accident, but done in thedetermined plan of God, in Acts,
chapter 2 and verse 23.
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Though he was delivered upaccording to God's determined
plan and foreknowledge.
You use lawless people to nailhim to a cross and kill him, and
then it says that God raisedhim up from the dead.
So there is very clearly astatement about the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ, chapter 3,verse 13.
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Fellow Israelites, why are youamazed at this?
Why do you stare at us asthough we had made him walk by
our own power of godliness?
The God of Abraham, Isaac andJacob, the God of our ancestors,
has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and
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denied before Pilate, though hehad decided to release him.
You denied the Holy andRighteous One and asked to have
a murderer released to you.
You killed the source of lifewhom God raised from the dead,
and we are witnesses of this, ofthis.
Chapter 4, in verse 11,.
It tells us here that Jesus isthe stone rejected by you
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builders, which has become thecornerstone.
And again back in the book ofActs, in chapter 26, paul
confirms in verse 23 thatChrist's suffering and
resurrection were meant to bringlight to both Jew and Gentile.
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He says this to this very day.
I've had help from God and Istand and testify to both small
and great, saying nothing otherthan what the prophets and Moses
said would take place, that theMessiah would suffer and that,
as the first to rise from thedead, he would proclaim light to
our people and to the Gentiles.
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So what is the message of theearly church?
It is a message of fulfillmentthat has at its center the
crucifixion of Christ, andyou've probably already gathered
there's more to it than justthat right.
We've not only talked about thecrucifixion, but we've also
talked about the resurrection.
I would dare say the book ofActs speaks as much, if not more
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, about the resurrection ofChrist than even it does the
cross of Christ.
Let that sink in for a minute.
The resurrection of Christ is agreater emphasis in the
apostolic preaching than eventhe cross.
There's something going onthere that we, some 2,000 years
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later, need to pay moreattention to.
I won't take you back throughthose passages.
You heard them but let me justquickly state a couple.
Acts 2.24, it was impossiblefor death to keep its hold on
him, so Christ was going to rise.
Acts 2.31 and 32, peterexplains that David foresaw the
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resurrection and affirmed thatJesus was not going to be
abandoned to the grave and hisbody was not going to see decay.
Acts, chapter 3 and verse 15,the people by the apostolic
preaching are told you killedthe author of life, but God
raised him from the dead.
And there's something more so,not just the death of Christ,
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not just the resurrection ofChrist, but also the ascension
of Christ.
So let's go back to Acts,chapter two, for a second Verse
33.
God has raised this Jesus.
We're all witnesses of this.
Therefore, since he has beenexalted to the right hand of God
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and has received from theFather the promised Holy Spirit,
he has poured out what you bothsee and hear.
For it was not David whoascended into the heavens, but
he himself says.
The Lord declared to my LordSit at my right hand until I
make your enemies your footstool.
Therefore, let all the house ofIsrael know with certainty that
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God has made this Jesus whomyou crucified, both Lord and
Messiah.
So there is a very clearproclamation of the ascension
and exaltation of Jesus Christ.
I don't know if you caught alittle bit of what was just said
there, but there's a littlephrase that connects to the
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passage of Scripture we lookedat this morning in Isaiah,
chapter 32.
It talked about the comingkingdom and the flourishing of
new life when the Spirit ispoured out on us.
And how do the apostles hereexpress what's happening in the
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book of Acts, in chapter 2?
When the Spirit is poured outon us.
It's almost the exact phrase us.
It's almost the exact phrase.
So the promises from the bookof Isaiah, in chapter 32, that
talk about the righteous kingand the right realm that's full
of justice and equity, has beeninaugurated by the exalted Lord
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Jesus, who's poured out hisspirit into this world through
the proclamation of the apostles, chapter 3 and verse 13.
The God of Abraham, isaac andJacob, the God of our ancestors,
has glorified his servant.
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Jesus has glorified his servantJesus More.
That's preached there, not justthe crucifixion of Christ, not
just the resurrection of Christ,not just the ascension and
exaltation of Christ, but alsohis return and judgment.
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Acts, chapter three, verse 20and 21.
So just a little bit furtherdown from what we just read, it
says in verse 19, repent andturn back so that your sins may
be wiped out, that seasons ofrefreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord and that hemay send Jesus, who has been
appointed for you, as theMessiah.
Heaven must receive him untilthe time of the restoration of
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all things.
And then it keeps on going andtalks about judgment.
The Lord will raise up for youa prophet like me, from among
your brothers.
You must listen to everythinghe tells you, and everyone who
does not listen to that prophetwill be completely cut off from
the people.
What is the ultimate judgmentof humanity?
What do you do with Jesus?
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That is the ultimate statementof judgment.
What are you doing with Christ?
Acts, chapter 10, verse 42.
He commanded us now, this isChrist, after he's risen from
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the dead.
He commanded us to preach tothe people and to testify that
he is the one appointed by Godto be what the judge of the
living and the dead and all theprophets testify about him that
through his name, everyone whobelieves in him receives
forgiveness of sins.
How do you escape the eternaljudgment of God?
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By fleeing to Christ.
That's how this one, who hascome as a savior, will come
again as a judge, and he willnot be offering mercy on that
day.
He will be executing judgment.
And the only way to be freefrom that judgment is to be in
Christ himself, to flee to theone who has the power to hold
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you eternally responsible forwhat you've done with him.
And so, intermingled with all ofthis, not only a declaration
about Jesus, but a call, andyou've already heard it from me
so I'm not going to repeat.
It is a call to repentance andto faith, and there are many
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places through the book of Actswhere that happens.
They don't just declare thefacts of Christ, they press
Christ on the conscience, theypress it home to Jew and Gentile
alike that this person is notjust simply a religious figure
that you might be benefited bypaying some attention to.
This is the Lord of theuniverse and he has offered
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salvation to undeserving people,and the only way to be free
from your guilt and free fromyour sin is to acknowledge him
in repentance and faith.
Acts 2, verse 38, repent to bebaptized.
Acts 3, 19, urging the peopleto find forgiveness and renewal
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in the restoration of all things.
Acts, chapter 10, that welooked at in the baptism of the
Gentiles who had believed, justlike the Jewish people had done.
In Acts chapter 17, verse 30,.
In the apostolic preaching, godhas commanded all men
everywhere to repent.
So the message of the earlychurch, which ought to be the
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very central message of thecurrent church, is this very
simple and yet very profoundmessage that God has fulfilled
his promises through the life,the death, the burial, the
resurrection, the ascension, theexaltation and the coming
judgment of Jesus Christ himself.
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He's victorious over sin anddeath and he offers salvation to
the undeserving.
He has come to save the unsaved.
He's come to declare life wheredeath reigns.
The question is, all of us needto ask ourselves how am I
responding to him?
So that's the first of fourpoints, the message of the early
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church.
Now we're going to look at thegrowth of the early church, and
there is remarkable growth.
What begins in Acts, chapter 1,with what seems to be a rather
timorous group, as someone putit this way, the book of Acts
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transforms the locked door ofthe upper room in Jerusalem and
brings us to the very portals ofCaesar's palace.
Right, I think that's a greatway to look at it.
So, geographically, there'squite a transformation there,
and also a transformation aboutconfidence and boldness.
So I want to give you ablueprint for that growth, and
you can find it in Acts 1.8.
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You'll receive power when theHoly Spirit has come on you,
which we discussed in Acts 2.
And you will be my witnesses inJerusalem and all Judea and
Samaria, to the ends of theearth, judea and Samaria to the
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ends of the earth.
Now there seems to be just afew stages there, but I want to
offer sort of six expansivestages of geographical growth.
And at stage one is inJerusalem.
And you go to book of Acts.
In chapter two you see themproclaiming the gospel in
Jerusalem itself.
In Acts, chapter six, as theycontinued to preach in Jerusalem
, the scriptures say the word ofGod continued to spread and the
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number of disciples inJerusalem grew larger and larger
and a great number of priestsaccepted the faith.
And so there's no geographicalmovement yet, but there is
growth of numbers and evenreaching into those people that
were entrenched in the Jewishreligion, the priests.
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Stage two Palestine.
So let's go to Acts, chapter 9.
Verse 31.
It says there so the churchthroughout all Judea, galilee
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and Samaria had peace and wasstrengthened, living in the fear
of the Lord and encouraged bythe Holy Spirit.
It increased in numbers.
So there's expansion,geographical expansion,
numerical expansion.
Just turn over a little bit toActs, chapter 12 and verse 24.
And there we find it moving notonly from Jerusalem, not only
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into the regions of Palestine,but also into Antioch and beyond
.
In Acts, chapter 12 and verse24, the word of God spread and
multiplied.
It spread and multiplied.
So regionally, geographicallyand numerically it's growing
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through the regions of Antiochand beyond.
So in Acts, chapter 16, we canturn to verse 5.
It moves beyond these regionsinto Asia Minor.
It moves beyond these regionsinto Asia Minor.
Acts 16 and verse 5, it saysthis so the churches were
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strengthened in faith and grewdaily in number.
And you might be able to see atthe very next verse in the
heading over that in my Biblesays evangelization of Europe.
Right, and that's the nextstage.
And that's the next stage itmoves from Jerusalem into
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Palestine, up into Antioch, intoAsia Minor and then into Europe
.
In Acts, chapter 19 and verse20, it says this.
It says in this way the word ofthe Lord spread and prevailed.
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And then, when you get to Acts,chapter 28, the very last
chapter of the book of Acts, inverse 31, it says Paul stayed
two whole years in his ownrented house and welcomed all
who visited him.
And where is he?
He's in Rome itself.
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And it said he proclaimed thekingdom of God and teaching
about the Lord Jesus.
Christ with all boldness andwithout hindrance.
Christ with all boldness andwithout hindrance.
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We started off in Acts, chapter1, lacking boldness and feeling
completely hindered.
And now we are at the end ofthe book of Acts with full
boldness and no hindrance, andwe've seen the development
geographically, as it's movedfrom Jerusalem to Rome.
There are other things that wecould talk about.
That talk about the kind ofgrowth.
So there's geographical growth,there's numerical growth, but
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there's also a growth ofconfidence in the proclamation.
This is something for us tounderstand.
Now there were barriers there.
Right, there were all kinds ofbarriers that they had to get
past.
They passed over culturalbarriers, geographical barriers,
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religious barriers, and yet thegospel grew beyond every one of
those hindrances.
We should have the same senseof confidence that the gospel
can cross over geographical,cultural and religious barriers.
It can overpower every one ofthose.
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When God is going to move intoan area, he is unstoppable.
The third thing we want to lookat is the focus of the church.
The focus of the church and Ithink it is easily seen in that
(32:19):
very last verse of the book ofActs is easily seen in that very
last verse of the book of Acts.
What is the apostle Paul doing?
He's proclaiming the kingdom ofGod in Rome.
He's teaching about JesusChrist with all boldness and
without hindrance.
I think there's a lot to besaid there.
(32:41):
Early in the book of Acts therewere all sorts of theological
constraints, ethical constraints, and when you get near to the
end of the book of acts you'restarting to realize that there's
some political and religiousconstraints, not just from the
jews but also from the gentilesand the roman powers themselves.
And yet here at the end of it,you see that this freedom has
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surpassed the politicaldimension, it's surpassed the
religious dimensions, and whatit's telling us is that the
focus of the church is not tointertwine itself with any of
those things, that there was noearthly system, not even the
most powerful empire in theworld at the time, was going to
(33:27):
stop and silence the gospel.
And so the apostle Paul wascareful to distinguish and to
keep focused on the message ofJesus Christ and not to turn it
into some sort ofquasi-political effort.
As he preached the gospel andothers preached the gospel, they
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were scrutinized by Jewish andRoman courts and constantly they
were found innocent of anyeffort of starting or
maintaining a politicalinsurrection.
Do I need to repeat that?
Because there is a danger inour generation and in our
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country of intermingling theChristian faith with a political
movement, intermingling theChristian faith with a political
movement, and the only onesthat are going to lose in that
effort are the Christians andthe gospel.
But the Apostle Paul was carefulto maintain his integrity and
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his focus on the gospel so thatthere was no way they could ever
say that he in some way wasintertwining with some political
insurrection against the rulingpowers.
And they weren't good people.
They certainly deserved to havetheir opponents and even their
opposition, but Paul wasn'tgoing to be a part of that.
(34:58):
He had one thing to talk aboutthe kingdom of God.
He had one thing to talk aboutthe kingdom of God, jesus Christ
, and to be able to do it withboldness and without limitation.
So he stayed on message andwhile Rome symbolized the
highest human authority at thattime, through the gospel and the
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focus on the gospel, paul wasable to show an infinitely
greater power, one thatchallenged not just earthly
dominions but spiritualdominions and conquered them
through the resurrection andlife of the gospel.
What does this tell us?
That, as believers, our kingdomis not of this world.
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That needs to be our focus,that we need to live our life
radically different from thepolitical maneuverings of our
day, and we need to stay a holdof that, because we're not here
to overthrow earthly powers.
It's tragic.
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Even today I was reading anarticle that just sort of
enmeshed Christian belief,evangelical Christian belief,
with political powers.
I thought what is going on here?
In Acts, chapter 26, paulexplains that, as he proclaimed
the fulfillment of what Mosesand the prophets had said, that
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he was bringing a message thatbrought light to the Jew and to
the Gentile.
It transcended ethnic, national, political barriers.
26, chapter 26, verses 22 and23.
So we need to be sure that westay focused.
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We don't allow the politicalparties to shape the contours of
who we are as God's people.
We're not simply a small partof one political party's
influence, nor can we think thatGod's work and will will be
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accomplished through them either.
It goes both directions.
Let's the last part.
We'll look at the breadth ofthe church and all of these,
like I said, are a bitintertwined and as you go from
Acts 1 to Acts 28, you can seeall of them brought together in
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all these different places.
But the book of Acts documentsfor us an unfolding realization
that the gospel is for allnations.
I had a friend of mine write mea note a little over a year ago
and he asked me what I thoughtwas a rather perplexing question
.
He said this.
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He said do you think thatJewish people who believe today
are part of the church?
And I know what he was drivingat.
He's kind of a.
His eschatological view wasgetting ahead of his biblical
understanding, I think, and whathe was asking was a question
that had to pertain to schemesof eschatology.
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And instead of jumping intothat argument, I just wanted to
make him think a little bit.
I said it's a ratherinteresting question that you
ask.
I think it's a question thatwould have been completely
baffling to the early church,because it was the opposite
question that they were asking.
They weren't asking could aJewish person who believes be
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part of the church?
The question they were askingwas could a Gentile be part of
the church?
Because they were convincedthat what they were believing in
Jesus Christ was exactly whatthe Old Testament promised they
should be believing.
Hopefully.
Well, I haven't heard from himsince, so maybe Actually I have,
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but hopefully it provoked alittle bit of thought on his
part.
But what are we doing here?
It's a question that in thebook of Acts was asked as Jesus
is about to ascend into theheavenlies.
What's the burning questionthat his disciples have?
Are you, at this time, going torestore the kingdom to Israel?
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What does Jesus tell him?
This is none of your businessright now.
Right now, there is somethingfor you to hold on to, and he
doesn't get into the discussionthe way they wanted to discuss
it, but he answers theirquestion Proclaim the gospel
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question.
Proclaim the gospel, bring themessage of Christ all over the
world, and you might just findthe answer to your question.
And so the breadth of thechurch is the gospel is for all
peoples.
It's an expansive movement thatembraces the Jewish people,
embraces the Samaritans,embraces the idol-worshiping
(40:25):
Gentiles, and it's a messagethat continues today.
This is not an American gospel,this is not a Western European
gospel.
This is a gospel for allpeoples, and if God's providence
leads there to be a greaterinflux of belief in Christ in
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South America than in NorthAmerica, so be it.
If he means to expand thechurch in Asia and we find
ourselves, little by little,declining influence in the world
in Christian circles, let themhave it.
This is how God operates.
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He is not bound to be ablessing to a particular group.
He is going to be a blessing toall peoples, just as we looked
at right at the very beginning,that blessing comes in the
repentance of sins, thereception of forgiveness and the
belief on Jesus Christ.
The early church wrestled withthis, as you know.
(41:29):
They wrestled with thisquestion.
They thought the gospel was forthe Jewish people and they were
astounded to find it movinginto Gentile circles and it took
them a long time to try tounderstand how to interact with
one another.
Wonderfully and eventually theydid.
And we may find ourselveswrestling with how the gospel
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interacts in different ways withdifferent cultures that we meet
and move into with the gospel.
I loved what one of my friendsdid.
He was part of an evangelisticgroup and they headed up the
prayer breakfast for California,for the governor of California,
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and one year they're askingthemselves who isn't at this
prayer breakfast?
And of course there's a lot ofall the political people and
everything.
And they said you know who'snot at this prayer breakfast?
Gang members.
And they thought how can we, aspeople who are operating the
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governor's prayer breakfast,find a way to be able to reach
into the gang members ofCalifornia?
And the year that I went to thegovernor's prayer breakfast
there was about 10 guys thatwere the meanest, orneriest
looking fellows you've ever seenin your life, and they had
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already come to faith in JesusChrist and were there as kind of
a reunion, because these menthought let's reach out beyond
our comfort zone to move into aplace that's completely
different than who we are, tobring Christ to them.
And here these guys wereconverted to Jesus Christ and at
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the prayer breakfast that Ihappened to attend, and talking
with the same degree of love andexcitement about Jesus Christ
as anybody else there who was abeliever.
So let us not be afraid.
We have a wonderful message toproclaim.
God is going to bring gospelgrowth to it in so many
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different ways.
All we need to do is stay onfocus and not be ashamed of the
gospel, because it is the powerof God to salvation for all who
believe, to the Jew first andalso to the Gentile.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for yourword.
We thank you for how wondrouslythe gospel has brought life.
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Here we are, some 2000 yearslater, and still speaking with
wonder and excitement that asavior has come, and we're
grateful that he's come to us,and we long to see him brought
into the lives of others so thatthey might join with us, not
only now, but in that eternalday when we are free from all
(44:29):
the bondages of sin and any ofits effect and we can live our
lives fully and completely inyour presence with great joy.
Father, help us to keep ourfocus.
There's so many ways thatpeople seek to maneuver and to
manipulate your people and yourmessage.
Lord, help us to keep centeredon Christ in his person and his
(44:54):
work, that which he did and thatwhich he is still doing.
And, lord, we ask this inChrist's name, amen.
Well, good to see you this evening.
I'd invite you to take yourBible with me and go over to the
book of Acts, the book of Acts.
If you're looking at the churchBibles, the Pew Bibles, you can
find it on page 966.
It's been a delight to gothrough this series, route 66.
(00:21):
We will finish it up right atthe end of the year, just before
Christmas.
It will be at a completion andI think it's a great sort of
corpus for us as a church to goback to from time to time.
We had our Membership Mattersclass this afternoon and one of
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the things that we do in that isintroduce those who are
considering membership to ourStatement of Faith.
Obviously can't go through theStatement of Faith in a short
little meeting like that, butable to cast them back to a
series that Micah and I and acouple others contributed to
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called Defining Doctrines, whichwas about our statement of
faith, and to be able to say tofolks just sermon audio,
Defining Doctrines.
There's 40 messages that willhelp you understand better what
we believe as a church.
So in years to come perhaps youknow for folks coming in saying
I wonder what is in Zechariahor something like that, to be
(01:26):
able to go back and say there itis.
I was talking to someone just acouple of weeks ago who's
recently visiting our church andshe's just beginning to read
the Bible.
You're here, didn't mean toembarrass you, right?
And was able to say look, route66 is perfect.
Listen to the message.
It'll introduce you to whatyou're about to read.
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It might give you a helpfulentry point to understand what's
about to unfold for you as youturn the pages of the Bible.
So tonight we're in the book ofActs.
A couple of weeks ago well, acouple of weeks ago, a week and
a tiny bit ago ago a week and atiny bit ago, we celebrated in
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this room Good Friday, and wethink about our Savior giving
himself up on the cross.
One of the sayings on the crossis a Greek word, tetelestai,
which means it is finished,right, and that word has a lot
of meaning.
It is finished in that the workof redemption has been
completed, scripture has beenfulfilled, and so we often talk
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about the finished work of JesusChrist.
That's a phrase you might evenhear a number of preachers or
teachers use the finished workof Christ.
Well, tonight we're going totalk about something the ongoing
work of Christ and that's inthe book of Acts.
So take a look at chapter 1 andverse 1.
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As Luke continues from thegospel of Luke now into this
second volume, and he says Iwrote the first narrative,
theophilus, about all that Jesusbegan to do and teach until the
day he was taken up, after hehad given instructions through
the Holy Spirit to the apostleshe had chosen.
So there's that sense of thebeginning to do and teach.
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But there's a second volumethat Luke writes about.
And what is that?
But there's a second volumethat Luke writes about and what
is that?
After he had suffered, he alsopresented himself alive to them,
by many convincing proofsappearing to them over a period
of 40 days and speaking aboutthe kingdom of God.
So the rest of the book of Actstalks about the ongoing work of
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Jesus Christ, and tonight we'regoing to be able to discover
more about that.
And one of the things that Ihope we all recognize as we do
so is that we're not just havinga historical look at the early
church, but to be able to findourselves included in this
ongoing work of Jesus Christ,because we're part and parcel of
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that story that's ongoing yetto this day and I hope it shapes
our attitude and understandingabout how we do participate in
that.
One of the stories that I liketo tell is a story about Sir
Christopher Wren, who was thearchitect for the rebuilding of
St Paul's Cathedral in London.
(04:23):
It's a beautiful edifice.
If you ever get an opportunityto go to London, I would highly
encourage you taking some timeto visit St Paul's Cathedral and
, if you're not afraid ofheights, to go up as high as you
can go.
There's a little whisperinggallery there where you can hear
one another and if you'rereally daring, you can make your
way through the see-throughladders up to the outer ring and
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get a nice view of London fromthe outside.
It's quite remarkable and oneperson was going through there
and talking to some of theworkers and he said what are you
doing today?
And he said well, what do youthink I'm doing?
I'm putting one stone on top ofanother.
He's like well, okay, let'skind of figure that out, but I
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thought maybe he'd give me adifferent answer.
Says to another person, anotherworker what are you doing today
?
Well, I'm earning a wage to payfor my family's needs.
And then he talked to a thirdworker and said what are you
doing today?
I'm helping Christopher Wrenbuild this grand cathedral.
(05:27):
So three different perspectivesabout the same work.
One person, literally one stoneon top of the other.
Another person thinking in atransactional way this is, I'm
doing this in order to get whatI need to take care of the
things that I'm responsible for.
And then another person seeingthe big picture I'm part of the
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building of this cathedral.
This is a monument that I amparticipating in the building of
.
So today, you might be a memberof New Hyde Park Baptist Church
and we might ask you what areyou doing today?
I'm showing up for a service.
What are you doing today?
Well, you might have somethinga little more noble than that to
(06:13):
answer.
Or you might say I'm a memberof the body of Christ and I'm
participating in the ongoingwork of Jesus Christ.
You see how perspective changesa lot of things, and so today, I
hope that we'll be able tocatch that glimpse, not just an
understanding of the historicalaccount of the book of Acts.
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So what we're going to look atare four aspects of the book of
Acts, and in so doing, we'regoing to be going from front to
back and front to back and frontto back and front to back,
because they're all intertwined.
It's not like one thing andthen another, and another and
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another.
These aspects weave their waythrough the whole book of Acts,
and so I'd like for us to get aflavor of all of them as we move
, and I don't want to highlighteach of them in a sort of
chronological way.
I'd like for us to be able tocatch it and understand the
layers of what's being said here.
So we're going to look at themessage of the church, the
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growth of the church, the focusof the church and then the
breadth of the church.
The message of the church talksabout the proclamation of the
early church.
The growth obviously hasgeographical aspects, but
there's more than justgeographical growth going on in
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the book of Acts.
The focus of the church what isit that they were primarily
about?
Obviously connected and alittle nuanced from the message,
but there's something therethat we want to highlight that
will help us in our day, I think.
And then the breadth of thechurch who's included in this
kingdom that Christ is building?
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So let's dive in.
Let's start with the message ofthe church, and the book of Acts
captures the essentialproclamation of the early church
, centering first of all on anunderstanding that God has acted
in a way to fulfill promisesfrom the Old Testament.
So when you read the book ofActs and you catch a hold of the
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proclamation that's there, oneof the things that you will see
quite often are references backto the Old Testament and how
those things that were promisedsome hundreds of years ago are
now being enacted in fulfillment.
That's quite an important thing.
In fact, that was one of thethings that really motivated me
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personally to begin tounderstand how the Old Testament
and New Testament related toone another.
I'd always thought of it in amore flat fashion, but when I
read the book of Acts andstarted noting how often the Old
Testament was quoted and howoften the fulfillment of the Old
Testament was spoken about, Isaid I need to understand this
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better, and so I started goingback into the books that the
apostles quote and began towrestle with why did they use
this verse and this passage toelucidate the Savior?
It's not the sort of clearIsaiah 7, micah 5 kind of things
(09:26):
that you hear right aroundChristmas time.
They went places I wouldn'thave expected.
Why did they do that?
Why did they go there?
And so that drove me to reallyunderstand better how the Old
Testament New Testament interactwith each other.
But one of the things we'llunderstand is that they were
determined to express,particularly to the Jewish
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audience in front of them in theearly chapters of the book of
Acts, that God had acted,through Jesus Christ, in
fulfillment of promises mademany, many hundred years ago.
So let's go to chapter 2.
You'll see that.
Chapter 2 and verse 30.
There's a lot of places I couldgo.
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I'm just going to be veryselective here, brothers and
sisters.
Verse 29, I can confidentlyspeak to you about the patriarch
David.
He is both dead and buried andhis tomb is with us to this day.
And since he was a prophet, heknew that God had sworn an oath
to him to seat one of hisdescendants on his throne and,
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seeing what was to come, hespoke concerning the
resurrection of the Messiah.
He was not abandoned in Hadesand his flesh did not experience
decay.
You turn over to chapter 3 andgo to verse 19.
You will see something very,very similar.
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Verse 17,.
Now, brothers and sisters, Iknow that you acted in ignorance
, just as your leaders also did.
In this way, god fulfilled whathe had predicted through the
prophets that his Messiah wouldsuffer.
Therefore, repent and turn backso that your sins may be wiped
out.
And then it goes on to and youcan see a number of places where
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there are, perhaps in youredition of the Bible, bolded
print face to talk about OldTestament quotations of
Scripture.
So drop down just a little bitfurther in verse 24, right in
that area.
Well, we could back up a littlebit to 21.
Heaven must receive him untilthe time of restoration of all
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things which God spoke aboutthrough his holy prophets from
the beginning.
And Moses said the Lord, yourGod, will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among yourbrothers.
You must listen to him and toeverything he tells you, and
everyone who does not listen tothat prophet will be completely
cut off from the people.
So the Jewish people weresaying you really need to listen
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to Jesus.
He is the one that God has sentto us.
A little further down in thesame chapter, verse 25,.
You are sons of the prophetsand of the covenant that God
made with your ancestors sayingto Abraham all the families of
the earth will be blessedthrough your offspring.
God raised up his servant andsent him first to you, to bless
(12:25):
you by turning each of you fromyour evil ways.
What is the Abrahamic blessingto the world?
Repentance and the reception ofthe Savior.
That is how God blesses thenations.
This is reinforced.
We go to chapter 10 and we canfind there in verse 43.
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In verse 42 it says that well,I'm going to keep doing this.
Verse 40 god raised up this manon the third day and caused him
to be seen, not by all thepeople, but by us, whom God
appointed as witnesses who ateand drank with him.
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After he rose from the dead, hecommanded us to preach to the
people and to testify that he isthe one appointed by God to be
the judge of the living and thedead.
All the prophets testify abouthim that, through his name,
everyone who believes in himreceives forgiveness of sins.
(13:30):
Over and over and, over andover again, calling out the life
of Christ, the message and theproclamation in fulfillment of
prophecies given.
Message and the proclamation infulfillment of prophecies given
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Paul in Acts.
Chapter 26 makes mention ofthat.
So, jumping right to the backor near the back, verses six and
seven, where he's on trial, andhe says this now I stand on
trial because of the hope inwhat God promised to our
ancestors, the promise ourtwelve tribes hope to reach as
(14:13):
they earnestly serve him nightand day.
He said this is the fulfillment.
They're looking for something,but they're not looking in the
right place, and the place isthe designated place of Jesus
Christ himself.
So the apostles understood thatthe arrival of the Savior was
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the culmination of God'spromises given in the Old
Testament.
So what was the message andit's something we're very
familiar with, and I thank Godthat we are what did the early
church emphasize when theypreached Christ?
Did they emphasize his example?
Did they emphasize the factthat he was a great teacher,
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philosopher?
Did they emphasize that he wasa wonderfully moral man who
stood before us as an example ofhow to live a just and good
life?
What did they emphasize?
Yeah, they emphasized thecrucifixion for one.
So let's jump back to the veryfront end of this book.
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So let's jump back to the veryfront end of this book Acts,
chapter 2.
It wounded us to know that thedeath of Christ was not some
accident, but done in thedetermined plan of God, in Acts,
chapter 2 and verse 23.
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Though he was delivered upaccording to God's determined
plan and foreknowledge.
You use lawless people to nailhim to a cross and kill him, and
then it says that God raisedhim up from the dead.
So there is very clearly astatement about the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ, chapter 3,verse 13.
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Fellow Israelites, why are youamazed at this?
Why do you stare at us asthough we had made him walk by
our own power of godliness?
The God of Abraham, Isaac andJacob, the God of our ancestors,
has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and
(16:24):
denied before Pilate, though hehad decided to release him.
You denied the Holy andRighteous One and asked to have
a murderer released to you.
You killed the source of lifewhom God raised from the dead,
and we are witnesses of this, ofthis.
Chapter 4, in verse 11,.
It tells us here that Jesus isthe stone rejected by you
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builders, which has become thecornerstone.
And again back in the book ofActs, in chapter 26, paul
confirms in verse 23 thatChrist's suffering and
resurrection were meant to bringlight to both Jew and Gentile.
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He says this to this very day.
I've had help from God and Istand and testify to both small
and great, saying nothing otherthan what the prophets and Moses
said would take place, that theMessiah would suffer and that,
as the first to rise from thedead, he would proclaim light to
our people and to the Gentiles.
(17:31):
So what is the message of theearly church?
It is a message of fulfillmentthat has at its center the
crucifixion of Christ, andyou've probably already gathered
there's more to it than justthat right.
We've not only talked about thecrucifixion, but we've also
talked about the resurrection.
I would dare say the book ofActs speaks as much, if not more
(17:56):
, about the resurrection ofChrist than even it does the
cross of Christ.
Let that sink in for a minute.
The resurrection of Christ is agreater emphasis in the
apostolic preaching than eventhe cross.
There's something going onthere that we, some 2,000 years
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later, need to pay moreattention to.
I won't take you back throughthose passages.
You heard them but let me justquickly state a couple.
Acts 2.24, it was impossiblefor death to keep its hold on
him, so Christ was going to rise.
Acts 2.31 and 32, peterexplains that David foresaw the
(18:38):
resurrection and affirmed thatJesus was not going to be
abandoned to the grave and hisbody was not going to see decay.
Acts, chapter 3 and verse 15,the people by the apostolic
preaching are told you killedthe author of life, but God
raised him from the dead.
And there's something more so,not just the death of Christ,
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not just the resurrection ofChrist, but also the ascension
of Christ.
So let's go back to Acts,chapter two, for a second Verse
33.
God has raised this Jesus.
We're all witnesses of this.
Therefore, since he has beenexalted to the right hand of God
(19:27):
and has received from theFather the promised Holy Spirit,
he has poured out what you bothsee and hear.
For it was not David whoascended into the heavens, but
he himself says.
The Lord declared to my LordSit at my right hand until I
make your enemies your footstool.
Therefore, let all the house ofIsrael know with certainty that
(19:49):
God has made this Jesus whomyou crucified, both Lord and
Messiah.
So there is a very clearproclamation of the ascension
and exaltation of Jesus Christ.
I don't know if you caught alittle bit of what was just said
there, but there's a littlephrase that connects to the
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passage of Scripture we lookedat this morning in Isaiah,
chapter 32.
It talked about the comingkingdom and the flourishing of
new life when the Spirit ispoured out on us.
And how do the apostles hereexpress what's happening in the
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book of Acts, in chapter 2?
When the Spirit is poured outon us.
It's almost the exact phrase us.
It's almost the exact phrase.
So the promises from the bookof Isaiah, in chapter 32, that
talk about the righteous kingand the right realm that's full
of justice and equity, has beeninaugurated by the exalted Lord
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Jesus, who's poured out hisspirit into this world through
the proclamation of the apostles, chapter 3 and verse 13.
The God of Abraham, isaac andJacob, the God of our ancestors,
has glorified his servant.
(21:20):
Jesus has glorified his servantJesus More.
That's preached there, not justthe crucifixion of Christ, not
just the resurrection of Christ,not just the ascension and
exaltation of Christ, but alsohis return and judgment.
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Acts, chapter three, verse 20and 21.
So just a little bit furtherdown from what we just read, it
says in verse 19, repent andturn back so that your sins may
be wiped out, that seasons ofrefreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord and that hemay send Jesus, who has been
appointed for you, as theMessiah.
Heaven must receive him untilthe time of the restoration of
(22:11):
all things.
And then it keeps on going andtalks about judgment.
The Lord will raise up for youa prophet like me, from among
your brothers.
You must listen to everythinghe tells you, and everyone who
does not listen to that prophetwill be completely cut off from
the people.
What is the ultimate judgmentof humanity?
What do you do with Jesus?
(22:34):
That is the ultimate statementof judgment.
What are you doing with Christ?
Acts, chapter 10, verse 42.
He commanded us now, this isChrist, after he's risen from
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the dead.
He commanded us to preach tothe people and to testify that
he is the one appointed by Godto be what the judge of the
living and the dead and all theprophets testify about him that
through his name, everyone whobelieves in him receives
forgiveness of sins.
How do you escape the eternaljudgment of God?
(23:20):
By fleeing to Christ.
That's how this one, who hascome as a savior, will come
again as a judge, and he willnot be offering mercy on that
day.
He will be executing judgment.
And the only way to be freefrom that judgment is to be in
Christ himself, to flee to theone who has the power to hold
(23:41):
you eternally responsible forwhat you've done with him.
And so, intermingled with all ofthis, not only a declaration
about Jesus, but a call, andyou've already heard it from me
so I'm not going to repeat.
It is a call to repentance andto faith, and there are many
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places through the book of Actswhere that happens.
They don't just declare thefacts of Christ, they press
Christ on the conscience, theypress it home to Jew and Gentile
alike that this person is notjust simply a religious figure
that you might be benefited bypaying some attention to.
This is the Lord of theuniverse and he has offered
(24:27):
salvation to undeserving people,and the only way to be free
from your guilt and free fromyour sin is to acknowledge him
in repentance and faith.
Acts 2, verse 38, repent to bebaptized.
Acts 3, 19, urging the peopleto find forgiveness and renewal
(24:48):
in the restoration of all things.
Acts, chapter 10, that welooked at in the baptism of the
Gentiles who had believed, justlike the Jewish people had done.
In Acts chapter 17, verse 30,.
In the apostolic preaching, godhas commanded all men
everywhere to repent.
So the message of the earlychurch, which ought to be the
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very central message of thecurrent church, is this very
simple and yet very profoundmessage that God has fulfilled
his promises through the life,the death, the burial, the
resurrection, the ascension, theexaltation and the coming
judgment of Jesus Christ himself.
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He's victorious over sin anddeath and he offers salvation to
the undeserving.
He has come to save the unsaved.
He's come to declare life wheredeath reigns.
The question is, all of us needto ask ourselves how am I
responding to him?
So that's the first of fourpoints, the message of the early
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church.
Now we're going to look at thegrowth of the early church, and
there is remarkable growth.
What begins in Acts, chapter 1,with what seems to be a rather
timorous group, as someone putit this way, the book of Acts
(26:21):
transforms the locked door ofthe upper room in Jerusalem and
brings us to the very portals ofCaesar's palace.
Right, I think that's a greatway to look at it.
So, geographically, there'squite a transformation there,
and also a transformation aboutconfidence and boldness.
So I want to give you ablueprint for that growth, and
you can find it in Acts 1.8.
(26:42):
You'll receive power when theHoly Spirit has come on you,
which we discussed in Acts 2.
And you will be my witnesses inJerusalem and all Judea and
Samaria, to the ends of theearth, judea and Samaria to the
(27:06):
ends of the earth.
Now there seems to be just afew stages there, but I want to
offer sort of six expansivestages of geographical growth.
And at stage one is inJerusalem.
And you go to book of Acts.
In chapter two you see themproclaiming the gospel in
Jerusalem itself.
In Acts, chapter six, as theycontinued to preach in Jerusalem
, the scriptures say the word ofGod continued to spread and the
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number of disciples inJerusalem grew larger and larger
and a great number of priestsaccepted the faith.
And so there's no geographicalmovement yet, but there is
growth of numbers and evenreaching into those people that
were entrenched in the Jewishreligion, the priests.
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Stage two Palestine.
So let's go to Acts, chapter 9.
Verse 31.
It says there so the churchthroughout all Judea, galilee
(28:15):
and Samaria had peace and wasstrengthened, living in the fear
of the Lord and encouraged bythe Holy Spirit.
It increased in numbers.
So there's expansion,geographical expansion,
numerical expansion.
Just turn over a little bit toActs, chapter 12 and verse 24.
And there we find it moving notonly from Jerusalem, not only
(28:38):
into the regions of Palestine,but also into Antioch and beyond
.
In Acts, chapter 12 and verse24, the word of God spread and
multiplied.
It spread and multiplied.
So regionally, geographicallyand numerically it's growing
(29:00):
through the regions of Antiochand beyond.
So in Acts, chapter 16, we canturn to verse 5.
It moves beyond these regionsinto Asia Minor.
It moves beyond these regionsinto Asia Minor.
Acts 16 and verse 5, it saysthis so the churches were
(29:22):
strengthened in faith and grewdaily in number.
And you might be able to see atthe very next verse in the
heading over that in my Biblesays evangelization of Europe.
Right, and that's the nextstage.
And that's the next stage itmoves from Jerusalem into
(29:44):
Palestine, up into Antioch, intoAsia Minor and then into Europe
.
In Acts, chapter 19 and verse20, it says this.
It says in this way the word ofthe Lord spread and prevailed.
(30:09):
And then, when you get to Acts,chapter 28, the very last
chapter of the book of Acts, inverse 31, it says Paul stayed
two whole years in his ownrented house and welcomed all
who visited him.
And where is he?
He's in Rome itself.
(30:30):
And it said he proclaimed thekingdom of God and teaching
about the Lord Jesus.
Christ with all boldness andwithout hindrance.
Christ with all boldness andwithout hindrance.
(30:50):
We started off in Acts, chapter1, lacking boldness and feeling
completely hindered.
And now we are at the end ofthe book of Acts with full
boldness and no hindrance, andwe've seen the development
geographically, as it's movedfrom Jerusalem to Rome.
There are other things that wecould talk about.
That talk about the kind ofgrowth.
So there's geographical growth,there's numerical growth, but
(31:13):
there's also a growth ofconfidence in the proclamation.
This is something for us tounderstand.
Now there were barriers there.
Right, there were all kinds ofbarriers that they had to get
past.
They passed over culturalbarriers, geographical barriers,
(31:36):
religious barriers, and yet thegospel grew beyond every one of
those hindrances.
We should have the same senseof confidence that the gospel
can cross over geographical,cultural and religious barriers.
It can overpower every one ofthose.
(31:58):
When God is going to move intoan area, he is unstoppable.
The third thing we want to lookat is the focus of the church.
The focus of the church and Ithink it is easily seen in that
(32:19):
very last verse of the book ofActs is easily seen in that very
last verse of the book of Acts.
What is the apostle Paul doing?
He's proclaiming the kingdom ofGod in Rome.
He's teaching about JesusChrist with all boldness and
without hindrance.
I think there's a lot to besaid there.
(32:41):
Early in the book of Acts therewere all sorts of theological
constraints, ethical constraints, and when you get near to the
end of the book of acts you'restarting to realize that there's
some political and religiousconstraints, not just from the
jews but also from the gentilesand the roman powers themselves.
And yet here at the end of it,you see that this freedom has
(33:05):
surpassed the politicaldimension, it's surpassed the
religious dimensions, and whatit's telling us is that the
focus of the church is not tointertwine itself with any of
those things, that there was noearthly system, not even the
most powerful empire in theworld at the time, was going to
(33:27):
stop and silence the gospel.
And so the apostle Paul wascareful to distinguish and to
keep focused on the message ofJesus Christ and not to turn it
into some sort ofquasi-political effort.
As he preached the gospel andothers preached the gospel, they
(33:51):
were scrutinized by Jewish andRoman courts and constantly they
were found innocent of anyeffort of starting or
maintaining a politicalinsurrection.
Do I need to repeat that?
Because there is a danger inour generation and in our
(34:16):
country of intermingling theChristian faith with a political
movement, intermingling theChristian faith with a political
movement, and the only onesthat are going to lose in that
effort are the Christians andthe gospel.
But the Apostle Paul was carefulto maintain his integrity and
(34:37):
his focus on the gospel so thatthere was no way they could ever
say that he in some way wasintertwining with some political
insurrection against the rulingpowers.
And they weren't good people.
They certainly deserved to havetheir opponents and even their
opposition, but Paul wasn'tgoing to be a part of that.
(34:58):
He had one thing to talk aboutthe kingdom of God.
He had one thing to talk aboutthe kingdom of God, jesus Christ
, and to be able to do it withboldness and without limitation.
So he stayed on message andwhile Rome symbolized the
highest human authority at thattime, through the gospel and the
(35:24):
focus on the gospel, paul wasable to show an infinitely
greater power, one thatchallenged not just earthly
dominions but spiritualdominions and conquered them
through the resurrection andlife of the gospel.
What does this tell us?
That, as believers, our kingdomis not of this world.
(35:45):
That needs to be our focus,that we need to live our life
radically different from thepolitical maneuverings of our
day, and we need to stay a holdof that, because we're not here
to overthrow earthly powers.
It's tragic.
(36:08):
Even today I was reading anarticle that just sort of
enmeshed Christian belief,evangelical Christian belief,
with political powers.
I thought what is going on here?
In Acts, chapter 26, paulexplains that, as he proclaimed
the fulfillment of what Mosesand the prophets had said, that
(36:30):
he was bringing a message thatbrought light to the Jew and to
the Gentile.
It transcended ethnic, national, political barriers.
26, chapter 26, verses 22 and23.
So we need to be sure that westay focused.
(36:58):
We don't allow the politicalparties to shape the contours of
who we are as God's people.
We're not simply a small partof one political party's
influence, nor can we think thatGod's work and will will be
(37:21):
accomplished through them either.
It goes both directions.
Let's the last part.
We'll look at the breadth ofthe church and all of these,
like I said, are a bitintertwined and as you go from
Acts 1 to Acts 28, you can seeall of them brought together in
(37:43):
all these different places.
But the book of Acts documentsfor us an unfolding realization
that the gospel is for allnations.
I had a friend of mine write mea note a little over a year ago
and he asked me what I thoughtwas a rather perplexing question
.
He said this.
(38:03):
He said do you think thatJewish people who believe today
are part of the church?
And I know what he was drivingat.
He's kind of a.
His eschatological view wasgetting ahead of his biblical
understanding, I think, and whathe was asking was a question
that had to pertain to schemesof eschatology.
(38:25):
And instead of jumping intothat argument, I just wanted to
make him think a little bit.
I said it's a ratherinteresting question that you
ask.
I think it's a question thatwould have been completely
baffling to the early church,because it was the opposite
question that they were asking.
They weren't asking could aJewish person who believes be
(38:49):
part of the church?
The question they were askingwas could a Gentile be part of
the church?
Because they were convincedthat what they were believing in
Jesus Christ was exactly whatthe Old Testament promised they
should be believing.
Hopefully.
Well, I haven't heard from himsince, so maybe Actually I have,
(39:14):
but hopefully it provoked alittle bit of thought on his
part.
But what are we doing here?
It's a question that in thebook of Acts was asked as Jesus
is about to ascend into theheavenlies.
What's the burning questionthat his disciples have?
Are you, at this time, going torestore the kingdom to Israel?
(39:39):
What does Jesus tell him?
This is none of your businessright now.
Right now, there is somethingfor you to hold on to, and he
doesn't get into the discussionthe way they wanted to discuss
it, but he answers theirquestion Proclaim the gospel
(40:04):
question.
Proclaim the gospel, bring themessage of Christ all over the
world, and you might just findthe answer to your question.
And so the breadth of thechurch is the gospel is for all
peoples.
It's an expansive movement thatembraces the Jewish people,
embraces the Samaritans,embraces the idol-worshiping
(40:25):
Gentiles, and it's a messagethat continues today.
This is not an American gospel,this is not a Western European
gospel.
This is a gospel for allpeoples, and if God's providence
leads there to be a greaterinflux of belief in Christ in
(40:45):
South America than in NorthAmerica, so be it.
If he means to expand thechurch in Asia and we find
ourselves, little by little,declining influence in the world
in Christian circles, let themhave it.
This is how God operates.
(41:06):
He is not bound to be ablessing to a particular group.
He is going to be a blessing toall peoples, just as we looked
at right at the very beginning,that blessing comes in the
repentance of sins, thereception of forgiveness and the
belief on Jesus Christ.
The early church wrestled withthis, as you know.
(41:29):
They wrestled with thisquestion.
They thought the gospel was forthe Jewish people and they were
astounded to find it movinginto Gentile circles and it took
them a long time to try tounderstand how to interact with
one another.
Wonderfully and eventually theydid.
And we may find ourselveswrestling with how the gospel
(41:52):
interacts in different ways withdifferent cultures that we meet
and move into with the gospel.
I loved what one of my friendsdid.
He was part of an evangelisticgroup and they headed up the
prayer breakfast for California,for the governor of California,
(42:13):
and one year they're askingthemselves who isn't at this
prayer breakfast?
And of course there's a lot ofall the political people and
everything.
And they said you know who'snot at this prayer breakfast?
Gang members.
And they thought how can we, aspeople who are operating the
(42:38):
governor's prayer breakfast,find a way to be able to reach
into the gang members ofCalifornia?
And the year that I went to thegovernor's prayer breakfast
there was about 10 guys thatwere the meanest, orneriest
looking fellows you've ever seenin your life, and they had
(42:59):
already come to faith in JesusChrist and were there as kind of
a reunion, because these menthought let's reach out beyond
our comfort zone to move into aplace that's completely
different than who we are, tobring Christ to them.
And here these guys wereconverted to Jesus Christ and at
(43:22):
the prayer breakfast that Ihappened to attend, and talking
with the same degree of love andexcitement about Jesus Christ
as anybody else there who was abeliever.
So let us not be afraid.
We have a wonderful message toproclaim.
God is going to bring gospelgrowth to it in so many
(43:42):
different ways.
All we need to do is stay onfocus and not be ashamed of the
gospel, because it is the powerof God to salvation for all who
believe, to the Jew first andalso to the Gentile.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for yourword.
We thank you for how wondrouslythe gospel has brought life.
(44:07):
Here we are, some 2000 yearslater, and still speaking with
wonder and excitement that asavior has come, and we're
grateful that he's come to us,and we long to see him brought
into the lives of others so thatthey might join with us, not
only now, but in that eternalday when we are free from all
(44:29):
the bondages of sin and any ofits effect and we can live our
lives fully and completely inyour presence with great joy.
Father, help us to keep ourfocus.
There's so many ways thatpeople seek to maneuver and to
manipulate your people and yourmessage.
Lord, help us to keep centeredon Christ in his person and his
(44:54):
work, that which he did and thatwhich he is still doing.
And, lord, we ask this inChrist's name, amen.
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