When
I finish something I like to stop and ask myself several questions. What is it that I just saw? What was actually accomplished here? How did this experience change me or my
outlook on things? Was this something
that was impactful or was it just a waste of time, energy, resources,
etc.? In other words, I like to try and
figure out the differences in myself, the world around me, or the thing I’m
dealing with from beginning to end. Did
a book I just read change the way I feel about something? Did that particular experience open my eyes
to something new? I recently built a
table out of some old pine boards that Amy and I repurposed. I enjoyed being able to see that I had taken
this group of old canning room shelves and turn them into a table that our
entire family can eat at. There was a
sense of accomplishment to my finally being done with that table (although I
won’t tell you how long we had held onto those boards before beginning that project). The transformation from stained and tattered
boards to a 9 foot farm table was tangible and easily identifiable.
Well,
we’ve spent the past seven months looking at the growth of the early
church. However, we really haven’t
stopped to think about how far it has come.
We’ve spent so much time lately talking about Paul and his missionary
journeys and imprisonments and trials that some of us have probably forgotten
how this all began. Remember, the book
of Acts began in the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ resurrection. Fast-forward thirty years later and we have
Paul sitting in Rome proclaiming the gospel (something that would have been out
of the question at the start of Acts).
The questions that I want to both ask and answer today about Acts are the
same ones that I mentioned just a moment ago.
What is it that we’ve just seen?
What was it that was actually accomplished? How did this experience change things? And was this impactful or just a big waste of
time?
What
is it that we’ve just seen? Well, in
short, we’ve just seen the spread of the gospel. As I said, Paul teaching about Christianity
in Rome would have been unimaginable thirty years earlier. It would have surely ended up with his
execution taking place much quicker than it actually did. It’s commonly thought that Paul spent an
additional 5 years in Rome after his imprisonment teaching prior to his being
martyred by Nero. What we see over the
course of the 28 chapters of Acts is people convert, leaders emerge, missionary
journeys…in short, we see gospel expansion.
We could also say that these same things answer the question about what
was actually accomplished. Remember
Jesus’ words to the apostles that we read just a moment ago, “But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.” That’s exactly what
happened. Chapter 2 tells of the coming
of the Holy Spirit and his descending upon the apostles. The rest of the text from then through the
end of chapter 7 is about witnessing in Jerusalem. Chapters 8-12 are about witnessing in Judea
and Samaria, and chapters 13-20 about witnessing in other areas (the end of the
earth). So, what we see over the course
of the book of Acts is a fulfillment of Jesus’ final words to his disciples.
It
almost seems comical to ask the questions of how this changed things or if this
was all just a waste of time doesn’t it?
However, I think that the answer to these questions is a crucial one. You see, it is without debate (in my opinion)
that the single most significant event in human history is the death and
resurrection of Jesus. Even for those
who don’t believe that it happened; it is still the most significant historical
event. Why? Well, it’s because that one event became the
dividing line so-to-speak for entire groups of people. Think about it in terms of today and think of
the number of groups out there that hate Christians. In other words, there are people who hate
those who simply come down on the other side of the argument from them as to
the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Well, the book of Acts is really the first
generation of this division and distinction playing itself out. The book of Acts is but a foretaste of the
persecution and hardships that Christians have known ever since Jesus’
ascension.
I’ve
got a good friend of mine who about once a year me and him, along with several
other friends, try and get together at his family’s fishing camp in north
Louisiana. We spend all day running trot
lines, fishing, smoking barbeque, and just enjoying each other’s company. Now, when we’re all out there, his dad will
usually gives us a list of things to do while we’re there around the
house. Usually it’s basic maintenance
things that we don’t mind doing since we’re all using his place. However, there was one time a few years back
when he wanted us to move a pile of scrap wood from one place to another. Notice that I said he just wanted us to move
it. He didn’t want us to burn it, use
it, stack it neatly, or anything else that might be noticeable or
productive. He literally just wanted us
to move the stack from one spot to another that was only about 10 feet
away. Now, we did it, but after
completing it none of us felt like we had really accomplished anything.
I
don’t get that same sense when I think about the book of Acts. Even though there seemed to be hostility
towards Christians from beginning to end, I feel like something had changed. It just seems that when we see the growth of
the church over the 28 chapters of the book of Acts that even though
Christianity had not become what we think of today, it had still reached a
pretty substantial point by the end of Acts.
So, things changed greatly and obviously it wasn’t a waste of time. In fact, even if no one in the book of Acts
was converted to Christianity it wouldn’t have been a waste of time. Remember, Jesus didn’t say that his disciples
would convert others, but that they would simply be his witnesses. Their mission wasn’t to convert but to
proclaim. It’s just like our mission
isn’t to convert but to proclaim. I said
a few weeks ago that one of the great comforts that I have come to take as both
a pastor and a Christian is that I know that it’s not my job to convert people
to the Christian faith. My only job is
to be a faithful witness and proclaimer of the good news of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. It’s God’s job to convert
someone, not mine. I would be in a world
of trouble if it was up to me and my abilities, but it’s not.
Now,
getting back to the task at hand, what really happened during the book of
Acts? Just think about what you would
say if someone asked you to quickly explain what took place within this
particular book. Well, we could quickly
say that the gospel went forth. However,
if they wanted a little more detail we could give that to them. We could talk about the sermons, the signs,
the healings, the preaching, the apostles, and the martyrs. We would certainly mention Paul’s conversion
and his subsequent ministry and travels.
We would probably give great attention to the life of Paul in describing
the book of Acts. However, remember what
I said last Sunday; the book of Acts is about the gospel and not one person or
a group of people. I heard a phrase this
past week that brilliantly summed up the view that we ought to take of any
biblical figure other than Jesus: “the
man goes in the ground and the message moves on.” You see, the point, the theme of the book of
Acts really is the going forth of the gospel.
The book of Acts is both the initial spread of the gospel after Christ’s
resurrection and the establishment of Christ’s bride as well. Remember that it’s in the book of Acts that
we first find Christ’s followers referred to as Christians (11:26).
As
we’ve looked at the book of Acts, one of the questions that I have been
encouraging each of us to keep in mind is how the practices and focuses of the
early church ought to shape our views, outlooks, and goals for our own churches
today. Now, we saw things that gave
order to the church; we saw Deacons established to care for the needs of the
congregations. We saw Paul go and
establish churches and put leaders in place.
We even saw regular times of worship practiced by each church. However, I want to tell you what we didn’t
see (and these are just my observations).
We didn’t see a lot of bickering and fighting over trivial things. Sure, we know that it took place; we can tell
that from Paul’s letters. However, it
wasn’t something that Luke (as the author of Acts) focused upon. Even the things that were disputed were
serious theological matters, as opposed to the fact that most of the fighting
that we see in churches today (which is over music selections or what we keep
the thermostat set on). The church in
Acts seemed to be focused upon the entirety of the life of the church instead
of just the Sabbath day worship. The
Christians of this time seemed to display their faith much more on a daily
basis than just a once a week type of thing that ashamedly many Christians
today practice.
However,
as I look at Acts and I think about things that I see and don’t see when
compared to the church, there is one thing that stands out above all: the focus was on “go” much more than “gather”. Now, let me explain this statement. As I’ve already said, there’s no denying that
we see the early church gather regularly for worship. There’s no question that we’re called to
gather together for regular corporate worship.
However, the congregations in the early church seem to have a much
higher view of “going out” with the gospel.
They seem to have a greater importance placed upon the taking outward
and proclaiming God’s word. You see,
that’s one of the great fallacies of the modern American church in my
opinion. We’ve come to look at ourselves
so much like businesses and pastors as CEOs and Sessions as Boards that we’ve
lost sight of what we are supposed to be founded upon. Instead of gospel proclamation and kingdom
growth being the intended goal we’ve come to focus upon just maintaining the
company. There’s more thought given to
building improvements and upgrades than how we’re ministering to the community
around us. There’s more attention paid
to whether or not budgets are sufficient than to the work that supported
missionaries are doing. There’s a sense
that the focus in on simply continuing to gather together for worship is more
important than proclaiming God’s word to those outside of the church. I think that many churches in America today
have chosen to make their mission statement “Lord, just let us continue to
exist” instead of “Lord, use us however you see fit.”
I
was talking with a pastor friend of mine several months ago and he was telling
me about his church and that he had looked at the numbers and he thought that
they could squeeze about 10 more years out of their resources if things went
right. They cut all programs and
everything because they needed to in order to survive. Not trying to insult my friend, I simply
asked him, “So, how are y’all glorifying God?
How are you reaching out into the community? How are you fulfilling the Great Commission
by running the church that way?” My
friend looked at me with what was at first an angry look and said, “We’re
not.” He quickly began to weep and sob
and confess that he had focused upon just existing instead of proclaiming. We prayed, we talked honestly, and he thanked
me for helping him to refocusing his priorities.
Now,
y’all I’m going to do something that I’ve gone back and forth about all
week. You see, we’re not in a place to
dissimilar from my friend’s church. This
very church is at the crossroads of simply existing or actually going out into
the world. I want to ask you a tough
question: what do you do for the
kingdom? What do you do to take God’s
word out into the world? Is your faith
more than just gathering for worship on Sunday mornings or is that the extent
of it? Now, I know that the answering
machine may be filled up when I come in to the office tomorrow, but I don’t
really care. Part of my calling is to
say the things that we need to hear and not just what we want to hear. Y’all, we’ve spent 7 months looking at the
formation and work of the early church.
How has it affected us? Has it
stirred us to a greater emphasis on getting back to that mindset of going out
and being God’s witnesses, or has that central message fallen on deaf ears? You see, to me it’s pretty clear, between
Jesus’ words in the Great Commission and what we have here in the book of Acts,
I know that our mission as a church, as the bride of Christ, is to be much more
than simply existing, making budget, maintaining, etc. I know that our mission is to boldly take
God’s word and the good news of the gospel out into the world. The question now becomes, are we actually
doing that, or are we failing in our mission and focusing upon something else? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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