Today I took some much needed time to go through the book of Acts.
There is so much confusion over what the church is and does today that I
wanted to go back to its start and be reminded of how God designed it.
While the culture around us may be changing, the role and work of the
Church does not. That is simply because God Himself does not change nor
does His Word. While we do need to be careful in taking a historical
account that documents God's work in a specific time and place to not
make it prescriptive (telling us what we need to do) instead of
descriptive (informing us of what has been done), that doesn't mean that
there still aren't things that remain the same with the Lord's design
and work. I'll just share with you three specific things that jumped out
at me in the book of Acts and the lessons from them for the church
today.
God Is The One Who Ultimately Does the Work
The
book of Acts is actually inaccurately titled. It shouldn't be called
"The Acts of the Apostles" but really "The Acts of God the Holy Spirit"
as it is His work and not any man's. In fact, Luke seems to go out of
his way to emphasize that every major occurrence is a result of the
action of God. He is the One indicated who pierces the hearts of the
crowd listening to Peter's sermon on Pentecost (Acts 2:37). The Greek
word for "pierce" indicates that this is something that happens to the
people from outside of them. It clearly was the convicting work of the
Holy Spirit and not something that originated from them internally. Luke
credits the growth of the Church with God and not the apostles or
members of it (2:47; 5:14; 9:31; 11:21, 24; 16:5). "And the Lord added
to their number day by day those who were being saved" (2:47). Jesus
Himself met Saul also known as Paul on the road to Damascus dramatically
turning his life around and changing his course (9:1-9). Paul didn't
have a chance to refuse the Lord of glory when confronted with His
presence! The Gentiles who believed were those whom God had already
appointed to have eternal life (13:48). Lydia didn't open up her own
heart to respond to the gospel message that Paul shared but the Lord did
(16:14) and God made sure that Paul knew that there were many people in
the city of Corinth whom He had sovereignly chosen to be His people
(18:9-10).
Throughout the entire movement of the early
church, God's Spirit directed, guided, and protected all that happened.
The Spirit sent out Barnabas and Saul/Paul (13:2) as well as guided the
decision of the Jerusalem Council (15:28), determined Paul, Silas, and
Timothy to go to Macedonia to minister as He shut the door to the other
directions in which they were heading (16:6-10), and called the ones He
desired to serve as elders in the church at Ephesus (20:28). God also
worked to remove every stumbling block that Satan tried to mount against
the Church. He took care of Ananias and Sapphira's tampering with the
truth before the church (5:1-11), released Peter and others from prison
(5:17-20); insured that Saul would be received by Ananias (9:10-16) and
that Peter would witness to the Gentiles (10:13-16) in light of both of
their apprehension, released Peter from prison again (12:6-17), struck
down King Herod (12:18-23), and protected Paul in order to bring him to
Rome where he could further spread the gospel message (27:1-28:10).
I
am certain that there are many more that could be shared that I have
missed but as you can see everything that took place all was a work of
God. No man could take the credit for what transpired in the life of
this church as it was growing and expanding. I think the same is still
just as true today. Any work that ever is accomplished in any
congregation can only be explained as it being a work of God's Holy
Spirit. We could never bring about the same results that God can. So,
does that mean that we can sit back and expect God to just take care of
everything? Nope. Because we do also see in the book of Acts an
important role that the Lord has called His redeemed church to play in
His marvelous plan of salvation.
The Means God Uses To Accomplish This Work of Growing His Church is The Church's Prayer and Proclamation
God,
in His infinite wisdom, has determined to do this great work of
expanding and growing His church through the means of the church itself.
Specifically through the church's praying and proclamation. We don't find these new believers lazy by any means. They are busy for the Lord!
First, they are a praying church.
And I am not talking about each member simply saying grace before a
meal or saying a few words to the Lord as they go to bed. They spent
time praying together as a church. The discipline served as part of the
regular routine of their gathering together (2:42). Just about
everything that they did was preceded in prayer whether it was seeking
the Lord's will for the replacement of Judas (1:23-26), commissioning
leaders (6:3-6; 13:3; 14:23), and asking for the sending of the Spirit
for new believers (8:14-17). God honored their prayers as well. After
they prayed for boldness in 4:23-30, we are told that "the place in
which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with
boldness" (v. 31). Such boldness can be seen with the scattering of the
apostles to spread that gospel message as well as with Stephen preaching
the gospel unto his death. Also, their earnest prayer for Peter in
prison (12:5) resulted with his release, much to the surprise of the
church (vv. 12-17). Paul and Silas' praying and praise brought about an
earthquake freeing them as well as leading to the conversion of the
jailer himself (16:25-34).
This is quite a contrast to
the activity of most American churches today. If the congregation has a
prayer meeting, and that is a big IF, very few people come out for it or
take it seriously. They claim to not have time to come before the Lord
with their brothers and sisters, admit their utter dependency upon Him,
and request Him to do the work that only He can do. No wonder we don't
see God do as much in our congregations today. We aren't petitioning Him
to do anything. I am convinced that we could see the same mighty works
of God moving today as that church in Acts if we would just follow their
lead and get on our knees together.
Second, this church was a proclaiming church.
Their main work in addition to praying was proclaiming the gospel of
God's grace to those who needed to hear it which is everyone. Luke
records not only the church's actions in this (6:7; 8:4-6; 14:1; 16:13;
17:2-3, 13, 17; 18:4, 28) but also even some of their evangelistic
encounters or sermons in detail (2:14-36; 3:11-26; 7:1-53; 8:26-40;
9:19-22; 10:34-43; 13:16-41; 17:22-31). The narrative ends with Paul
"proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ
with all boldness and without hindrance" (28:31). Without any question
this was the church's main goal . . . and of course it should have been
as their Lord and Master commanded them to do so (Matthew 28:19-20) and
stated that this was His purpose for them (Acts 1:8). Above all else,
they were committed to tell others about Jesus and the salvation that
can only be found in Him.
If prayer and the proclamation of the Word of God serve
as the two means that God uses to bring about His intended purpose in
the church, then why would the contemporary church neglect them or
attempt to do anything else? Could this be why many congregations today
are not seeing much spiritual growth (which is different from just
filling the pews with people whose hearts remain far from God)? They
have abandoned the only two means that God has ordained for Himself to
work through. In fact, in light of this we can refine the proper title
of Acts, "The Acts of God the Holy Spirit Through the Prayer and
Proclamation of the Apostles."
The Work That the Church Does Is Empowered By the Holy Spirit
One
final thing I want to point out to you concerning what we can learn
from the book of Acts. You will notice that as you read through this
historical account that even this proclamation of the gospel that the
church labored at to serve as the means of God's drawing men and women
to Himself was not done in their own strength. They did it relying on
the power that God provided for them in His Holy Spirit. Many times
before someone shared the gospel or had God do a mighty work through
them, we read that they were "filled with the Spirit" (4:8, 31; 9:17;
13:9-11). Those who were mature in the faith are also deemed to be
"filled with the Spirit" (6:3, 5; 11:24). I think the point communicated
with this phrase is that these men operated by the power of the Holy
Spirit to accomplish their appointed task.
Believers
today are no more stronger than these weak ones we read about in this
book. Remember that many of these apostles were the timid, confused,
stubborn disciples who cowered in fear behind locked doors after Jesus'
arrest. The only explanation for the courage we witness in Acts is that
they were relying on the power of the Holy Spirit that the Lord had
graciously given them to do the means which God worked through to bring
about His plan to grow His church. How much more could those in the
church accomplish today if they just would rely on the Holy Spirit that
dwells within them? To step out in faith and in Him find the confidence
to face the uncomfortable? David Platt hit the nail on the head when he
said, “Perhaps the greatest hindrance to the spread of the Gospel today
is the
people of God trying to do the work of God apart from the power and
presence of God.”
Putting all of this together we could
say that a better name for the book of Acts would be "The Acts of God
the Holy Spirit Through the Means of the Praying and Proclamation of the
Apostles Empowered By That Spirit." Of course, that would be a rather
long title but more substantial in capturing the essence of the book.
However, I think the bigger issue is whether what you see in your
congregation could be described as "The Acts of God the Holy Spirit
Through the Means of the Praying and Proclamation of His People
Empowered By His Spirit" or "The Acts of Man Through the Worldly Means
of Themselves Relying on Themselves." May God mold us into the model of
the church provided for us in the book of Acts instead of allowing us to
be molded by the model of the world.
Love in Christ,
Lee
Soli Deo Gloria!!!
