Category: Book of Acts

Growing in Generosity

On By BrianIn Book of Acts, Virtue Miscellaneous

We see the generosity of the early church in Acts 4:32-37.  People were selling what they had and giving it to the church to meet the needs of their fellow Christians.  Our churches too should be marked by generosity.  How might we grow in this area?  Four suggestions:

  • Look for opportunities.  Each Sunday after church, ask yourself some questions:  What needs did I see or hear about today.  How might I respond with generosity this week?
  • Remember that generosity takes many forms.  You might generously give of your money as the early church was doing.  You can also generously let others borrow items that you have.  You might also generously give of your time.
  • Do what you can.  If you become aware of a need for $100, but you can only give $20, give what you can.  Even the little you can give will be an encouragement.  And God may be leading several others to give small amounts that will add up to meet the entire need.
  • Follow the Lord’s leading.  If God impresses upon your heart that you should meet a need, do it.  You can’t do everything, and God doesn’t expect you to do everything.  But when God moves your heart to give, do it.

Acts Articles – Jesus 03C

On By BrianIn Book of Acts

In Acts 3, Peter gives us an incredible description of Jesus from many angles.  He is the Rejected and Suffering Servant.  He is the Holy and Righteous One.  He is the Author of Life.  Today, I want to briefly consider two more descriptions of Jesus and our response.

First, Jesus is the Prophet Moses Foretold in v22-23.  Back in Deuteronomy 18:15-19, Moses spoke of another prophet who was to come to whom the people must listen.  Peter declares Jesus is the one Moses spoke of.  And so we must, as Moses warned, listen to him.  Are you listening?

Second, Jesus is the Offspring Who Brings Blessing in v25-26.  Back in Genesis 22:18, God had promised Abraham that in his offspring all the families of the world would be blessed.  And in Jesus indeed have the nations found great blessing.  Peter mentions just some of them in Acts 3:

  • Jesus blots out our sin (v19).  On the cross he bore our sins that they might be washed away.
  • Jesus turns us from our wickedness (v26).  He not only removes the penalty for sin, but also the power of sin.  Where before we walked in sin, now we follow him.
  • Jesus brings time of refreshing (v20).  This may refer to the Holy Spirit who now dwells within us.  Truly the presence of the Lord refreshes us – a foretaste of the day when we will dwell with God forever.
  • Jesus will restore all things (v20-21).  One day when Jesus returns, there will be a new heavens and earth without suffering, sin, or death.

Jesus is the Prophet to whom we must listen.  And he is the source of many blessings for us to enjoy!

Acts Articles – Jesus 03B

On By BrianIn Book of Acts1 Comment

In Acts 3:15, Peter portrays Jesus as the Author of Life.  He is the source of life.  Again we have this indication that Jesus is God, for of course God is the source of life.  He gives physical life, as he gave physical healing to the lame man earlier in Acts 3.  He also gives spiritual life; we can find spiritual healing in him.  Let’s apply this truth to ourselves today.

Jesus gives us life.  He gives us spiritual life, abundant life, eternal life.  As Jesus makes clear in John 17:3, eternal life is knowing the Father and His Son.  Eternal life is to have a relationship with God.  This is what makes us different from the rest of the world.  We have a real relationship with our Creator.  The rest of the world is spiritually dead – separated from God.  But Jesus gives us spiritual life, a relationship with himself. 

What a privilege!  The more we grasp this truth, the more we ought to cultivate this relationship.  We should want to grow in this relationship.  God has given us a book to know him better.  And we can speak to him at any time.  Jesus has given us life – a relationship with him.  Are we cultivating this relationship or squandering it?

Acts Articles – Jesus 03A

On By BrianIn Book of Acts

In Acts 3:14, Peter portrays Jesus as the Holy and Righteous One. 

He is the Righteous One:  Once again we find an echo from Isaiah 53, this time verse 11, where the suffering servant is referred to as the righteous one.  Other echoes come from Isaiah 32:1, Jeremiah 23:5, and Zechariah 9:9 which all predict that the coming Messiah King will be characterized by righteousness. 

He is the Holy One: That Jesus is the holy one suggests that Jesus is to be understood as God, for we see such references to God in Isaiah 40:25, 43:15. 

He is the Holy and Righteous One: The title in general speaks of his perfection – he is holy and righteous.  This again echoes from Isaiah 53, where verse 9 speaks of the suffering servant having done no violence and having no deceit in his mouth.  Peter later will echo Isaiah 53 in I Peter 2:22 where he says Jesus committed no sin, nor was their deceit in his mouth.

So Jesus is the Messianic King.  Jesus is God.  Jesus is without sin.  Two applications for today:

First, Jesus is our King and God to whom we owe our total allegiance and worship.  We are to obey him in all things.  It doesn’t matter if we feel like it.  It doesn’t matter if we want to obey.  It doesn’t matter if we think Jesus is right or not.  Regardless of our feelings, wants, and thoughts, we must obey.  We must submit.  And we must worship.  Worship includes submission, but then goes further to include praise and honor.  We must offer up our praises to our great God.  We must live for his glory.

Second, Jesus is our righteousness.  He lived a perfect life.  We don’t.  We fail to give Jesus our total allegiance and worship.  But the good news is that his perfect life is attributed or accounted to us.  II Corinthians 5:21 speaks of this miraculous exchange where the Suffering Servant bore our sins, and we now bear the righteousness of the Holy and Righteous One.  In Christ, we change clothes.  He takes my filthy dirty rags upon himself, and he gives me his pure white robe to wear.  So now when God looks at us, he doesn’t see our sin, he sees only the perfection of Christ.  He sees us righteous.  What a glorious truth!

Acts Articles – Jesus 03

On By BrianIn Book of Acts

In Acts 3:13-18, Peter portrays Jesus as the Rejected and Suffering Servant with clear echoes of Isaiah 52-53.  He begins in v13 by saying that God glorified his servant Jesus, an echo of Isaiah 52:13 where the servant will be high and lifted up and exalted.  Peter goes on to show how Jesus is the rejected servant delivered over to Pilate and denied by the people of Jerusalem, as Isaiah 53:3 depicts Jesus as the rejected servant who is despised and rejected.  Peter shows Jesus as the suffering servant in v18, and Isaiah 53:4-8 depicts the suffering of the servant as he stricken, wounded, crushed, oppressed, and afflicted.  And so Jesus is the rejected and suffering servant from Isaiah 52-53.  Two thoughts for us today:

First, Jesus can identify with our suffering:

Have you been despised?  So was Jesus. 

Have you been rejected?  So was Jesus.

Have you known sorrow and grief?  So did Jesus.

Have you been afflicted?  So was Jesus.

Have you been wounded?  So was Jesus.

Have you been crushed?  So was Jesus.

Have you been oppressed?  So was Jesus

Have you been stricken?  So was Jesus.

Have you suffered?  So did Jesus.

Have you known pain?  So did Jesus?

And when you face death.  Jesus faced it too.

He is not distant, untouched by our infirmities. 
He has been there.  He knows.  He cares. 
He endured it all for you.  And so now we endure it all for Him.

Second, Jesus bore our sins in our place:

He is the suffering servant who was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for iniquities.  The Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all.  He died for our sins.  The big sins that make us cringe.  The small sins we deem insignificant and yet are disgusting in God’s eyes.  He bore all of our sins on the cross to remove our guilt so we could go free.

Acts Articles – Witnes 02-3

On By BrianIn Book of Acts

Throughout the book of Acts, we see the early church proclaiming the gospel.  But what is the gospel?  One probable reason for the many evangelistic sermons recorded in Acts is to help us better understand the gospel and so better share the gospel.  John Stott in his commentary on Acts gives four categories of the content of the evangelistic messages, and so four categories we must include when sharing the gospel.  His four categories are: gospel events, gospel witnesses, gospel promises, and gospel conditions.  Here I want to apply his categories to the messages in Acts 2 and 3, and then to the message we share:

  • Gospel Events:  We must tell others about what Jesus has done that our salvation is based on.  In Acts 2, Peter speaks of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension.  In Acts 3, Peter focuses on Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.  We too must tell others what Jesus has done to save us – especially his death and resurrection.
  • Gospel Witnesses: In both Acts 2 and 3, Peter gives two witnesses to what Jesus has done.  First, he appeals to Scripture, quoting numerous Old Testament passages that point to Jesus doing exactly what he did.  Second, he appeals to his own witness of Jesus’ resurrection.  This was an essential part of being an apostle – that they had seen the risen Christ.  And the apostles have recorded their witness for us in the New Testament.  So when we share the gospel, we should use the Bible.  The prophecies and eye-witness accounts point to the truth of our message.
  • Gospel Promises: In Acts 2, Peter focuses on forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit.  In Acts 3, Peter rewords them as the blotting out of sin and times of refreshing (a reference to the Holy Spirit?), and then adds another: the return of Jesus for the restoration of all things.  And of course there are many more gospel promises we could mention: reconciliation, justification, new life, adoption, sanctification, and on the list goes.  When we share the gospel, we should include some of the gospel promises that would attract that person or group of people to Jesus.
  • Gospel Conditions: Finally, we need to tell people how they can receive these gospel promises made possible by the gospel events as given to us by the gospel witnesses.  In Acts 2 and 3, Peter calls the people to repent, to turn from their rejection of Jesus, and as such to believe in Jesus as their Messiah and Savior and King.  We too must call people to turn from their sin to Jesus, to repent and believe.

Gospel events, witnesses, promises, and conditions.  This is the gospel presented in Acts that we present to others.

Acts Articles – Service 03

On By BrianIn Book of Acts1 Comment

In Acts 3, Peter and John come across a lame man whom they serve by healing in Jesus’ name.  The result is praise to God and an opportunity to share the gospel.  Their example suggests several principles for us as we seek to serve others:

  • We should serve others using the opportunities God gives us.  Peter and John were on their way to a prayer meeting.  They could have been too pre-occupied to notice the lame man.  They could have been tired and not felt like helping.  But they stopped.  They used the opportunity God gave them.  Are we watchful for opportunities to serve?  Or are we too pre-occupied with our own agendas?  Are we too tied to our feelings?
  • We should serve others using what God has given to us.  Peter and John tell the man they have no money to give him.  But God has given them the power to heal the man, and so they do.  They used what God gave them.  We may not have money to help someone.  We probably can’t heal anyone.  But we shouldn’t worry about what we can’t do.  Rather we should focus on what we can do, serving in the ways God enables us.
  • We should serve others as representatives of Jesus.  Peter heals the man in Jesus’ name – according to his power and authority.  Peter is just a representative of Jesus.  As the crowds gather, Peter asks the crowds why they stare at him as if he had made the man well.  Instead, he points the crowds to Jesus.  Here is an important point.  In serving others we point to Jesus not ourselves.  This means our actions require explanation.  Without explanation, the crowds would have been impressed with Peter, so Peter points them to Jesus.  In serving others, it is possible for people to become impressed with us, and so we need to point them to Jesus.  Our service is not about us, but about Jesus working through us, so we must point to Jesus.  Lifestyle evangelism requires words to explain our good deeds, or we witness simply to our own goodness.
  • We should serve others so that God may be praised.  The lame man who is healed begins leaping and praising God.  The crowds too begin to praise God (4:21).  Certainly one goal in our serving others is to help them – because we love them.  But our ultimate goal should be that God would be praised – because we love him.  People are to see our good works and glorify God.  But if we don’t point them to Jesus, who gets the glory?  Often we do.  People praise us.  They are impressed with us.  And we rob God of his glory.  This is a serious matter.  We need to be careful when we serve that we point people to Jesus so they praise God and not us.
  • We should serve others with the hope of sharing the good news of Jesus.  Peter’s service led to an opportunity to share the gospel.  That should be our hope – that our service would open doors to share the gospel.  Their greatest need is Jesus, so our greatest service is to tell them about Jesus.  May our service bring many such opportunities.

Acts Articles – Church 02C

On By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life, Habit of Prayer

In Acts 2:42, the early church devoted themselves to prayer.  The context is the church.  They were devoted to praying together.  What about us?  Are we devoted to meeting together for prayer?  Do we love God and his people so much that we want to gather together before the throne?  What is our attitude?  Are we devoted?  How might we grow in our devotion to praying together?

Acts Articles – Church 02B

On By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life

In Acts 2:42, the early church devoted themselves to the breaking of bread.  There is some debate as to whether this refers to simply eating meals together (part of their devotion to fellowship) or to the Lord’s Supper.  As the Lord’s Supper was often connected to eating together (see I Corinthians 11), the answer might be both.  As we already addressed their devotion to fellowship, let’s consider briefly their devotion to the Lord’s Supper.

As Jesus commanded, they were devoted to coming together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  They came together to remember Christ’s death for them.  We too need this devotion.  We too need to regularly remember what Christ has done for us.  Indeed Christ’s sacrifice for us is a large part of our motivation for the other three devotions, and all of our devotion. 

He died for me.  In amazement and gratitude, I’ll live for him.

Acts Articles – Church 02A

On By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life

In Acts 2:42, the church devoted themselves to the fellowship.  Fellowship has the idea of sharing – both sharing with and sharing together. 

Verses 44-45 describe the sharing with.  They were generous.  They shared what they had with each other, and especially with those in need.  They weren’t clinging to their stuff, but were willing to share, to even sell what they had to give to those in need.  We need this generosity today – not only for the good of each other, but to break free of the materialism that grips our land.  Generosity opens our clutching hands; it teaches us to give instead of hoard.  We too need to be devoted to the fellowship – generously sharing with others.

Verse 46 describes their sharing together.  They came together publicly (in the temple) and privately (in their homes).  They gathered together regularly.  They spent time together.  They shared their lives together.  Part of this sharing together was eating together.  We like to joke about fellowship being tied to food, but fellowship is often tied to food in the Bible.  Jesus is always eating with people.  And here, the early church is eating together.  Eating together implies friendship, a relationship.  Refusing to eat with someone shows division.  So we eat together in part to show our unity with one another.  We need to make time in our busy lives to eat together, to do things together, to do life together.  We too need to be devoted to the fellowship – sharing our lives together.

Verses 46-47 go on to tell us that they ate together with glad and generous hearts, praising God.  Fellowship was a joyful thing for them.  They delighted in one another.  They enjoyed coming together.  They praised the Lord for each other.  Is that your attitude?  Are your sharing together?  Are you sharing with?  Are you devoted?  How might you need to grow in your devotion?