Acts

by

The Act of SERVE (Acts 6)

As I continue to look at the “Acts of Acts” in this sermon series, it seems like each chapter has the apostles, or early Christians, involved in an act that we have a tendency to try to avoid.  Yet it was these very acts of God in their lives that transformed a fledgling group disciples in disarray into a mighty force that turned the known world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We live in a time where we need such a transformation in the church and in the lives of the individuals who follow Jesus.

As we reach Acts 6 in our sermon series, we find a need and an example of the Act of SERVE!  Let’s look at some lessons we can learn from the example of the early church.

  • Shortage:  Sometimes we are not serving because we don’t know where to serve or what is needed.  The Act of SERVE often begins when we listen to people and allow God to show us a genuine shortage or need.  While complaining is not a godly characteristic — God says to do everything without grumbling or complaining — open listening to the complaints of others can often reveal a real shortage that is just waiting for someone to serve.  It was the complaints of the Grecian Jews that made the apostles aware of a shortage in the needs of widows being met.  When God calls you to grow in the Act of SERVE, spend time with God looking for a shortage that He may be equipping you to meet.
  • Enlist:  Sometimes we fail to serve because we don’t notice the need, other times it is because we notice the shortage and it seems too big and impossible for us to do on our own.  This is where the next principle comes in — the Act of SERVE often calls us to enlist others to meet a need that is beyond what God has equipped us to do on our own.  When we enlist others it gives them an opportunity to serve with us and it allows us to train together for future needs God may call us to meet.  In Acts 6, the shortage was made known and the apostles recognized a need to enlist others to meet the need as it was necessary for them to stay focused on the work God had given them in prayer and ministry of the Word!  Learning to enlist others to meet a need that is larger than you can do on your own or would take you away from work God has already called you to do, is a vital quality to help you grow in the Act of SERVE.
  • Results: This is the fun part of growing in the Act of SERVE — the results!  When we begin to regularly notice areas of shortage and are able to enlist others in meeting real needs, God gives the results.  God calls us to serve one another out of obedience to Him and in reflecting the nature of Jesus.  Jesus-style love is like faith — it requires action to be alive.  Jesus says that the results of this type of love among Christians is that the world would know we are His.  Verse 7 of Acts six begins with the word “so”.  It is a transition that indicates because the shortage was identified and people were enlisted to meet it, the word of God spread and the number of disciples increased rapidly!    When we are growing in the Act of Serve, we commit to being faithful and trust God to provide the results.
  • Vision:  Sometimes we are not serving because we need an eye exam and corrective lenses that help us to see people and situations as Jesus sees them!  Our vision becomes cloudy and cynical as the world tries to convince us that the only needs that exist are self-created and therefore not our problem.  The Act of SERVE requires that we have the vision to see the service we do as vital and important enough that the quality of our character is at the core of the requirements for the task.  At first glance, it would seem that the need presented in Acts 6 is so basic and mundane that the qualifications for someone to meet that need would be pretty basic — we might go looking for people who had experience in the food-service industry — yet the problem is addressed with true vision when the primary qualifications for those who would serve is that they are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.  When we spend time asking God to help us see people and situations as He sees them and when we view the spiritual qualities of our life as the most important qualification that we have, we are well on our way to growing in the Act of SERVE.
  • Envy:  If only I could leave chapter six without discussing this final point.  Yet there it is, unmistakable envy rearing its ugly head directed at one living out the Act of SERVE.  It still happens.  People serve God with reckless abandonment and as they serve others in His name God brings about the amazing result of drawing people to Himself.  There seems to be a part of us that is so much about us that we can’t stand to see others reap the results of faithfully serving God — at least not if their results look better than our results.  We must be very careful that we allow absolutely no room for envy to take root and express itself in our life.  It is one of those thoughts that we must take captive and make obedient to the word and will of God.  It is also something we must be warned of — when we grow in the Act of SERVE, others will envy the results that are provided by God.  Knowing it is coming will not keep it at bay but it should help us to rest in our relationship with God and break the power that envy has over us.  When the religious leaders saw the results of God working through Stephen’s Act of SERVE, envy settled in and grew to great hatred and animosity expressed toward Stephen.  When you set out to grow in the Act of SERVE, you must be on guard against envy by being prepared and allowing God to give you the confidence to stand firm in your relationship with Him.

So, how are you doing in living out and growing in the Act of SERVE?  Do you spend time with God noticing the Shortages, Enlisting the help of others, trusting God for the Results, seeing everything with the Vision of Christ, and guarding yourself against Envy from within and without?  I pray that the act of SERVE expressed through your life will boldly show the world that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior!

by

The Act of FEAR (Acts 5)

The fear of God can be a very confusing topic as modern Christianity has done its best to make its version of the gospel more appealing and user-friendly.  We focus on the love of God, even at times to the exclusion of His sovereignty.  God tells us in Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom.  Sometimes learning the lesson of the fear of the Lord can be painful and costly.  Such was the case in the New Testament church as it began to grow from infancy to maturity.

As we reach Acts 5 in our sermon series, we find a couple whose lack of fear of the Lord cost them their lives and their example caused great fear to grip the church and all those who heard what had happened.  So, how do we know if we’re growing in a healthy fear of the Lord?  Let’s look at some things that went wrong, and right, in Acts 5 as we learn how to grow in our fear of the Lord.

  • Falsehood:  How much value do you put on truth?  Really?  How do you know?  Would an examination of your actions reveal the same value on truth that your words would say or would your deeds tell a different story?  Ananias and Sapphira hatch a plot that seems to have no benefit other than to perhaps make themselves look better in the eyes of people.  Upon questioning, Peter makes it clear that there was no requirement for them to sell their property, no requirement to give all, or any, of the proceeds once the property was sold.  Their sin wasn’t in keeping back some of the proceeds, it was in giving an impression that was different from reality.  A genuine fear of the Lord requires that we see falsehood as more than “little white lies”, but as the deadly sin that it is in God’s view.
  • Exposure:  I have often heard it said that if God dealt with sin in the church today as He did with Ananias and Sapphira, the church would be full of straight-living Christians.  Unfortunately, while that’s a good thought, I think the church would be pretty empty as most of us would be dead!  Sometimes it is the fear of exposure more than the fear of God that keeps us making right choices.  While intellectually we probably don’t believe it, our actions often say quite loudly that we don’t really think God sees or knows our every action.  When questioned separately, Sapphira had the opportunity to “come clean” and confess her sin, which was already known, yet chose to hold fast to the deadly deception.  God gives us the opportunity to come clean and confess our sins to Him who is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  This voluntary exposure gives us a clean slate before God so that when our deeds are exposed at the final judgement, the sin in our life need not be exposed before God because it has been washed clean in the blood of Jesus!  The fear of the Lord ought to drive us to voluntary exposure where we confess our sins and receive forgiveness that only God can offer.
  • Accusation:  Living a godly life does not exempt you from accusation.  As a matter of fact, satan is the master accuser and the more you seek to live a life pleasing to God, the more he will attack you with one accusation after another.  Sometimes we live as if our fear of accusation against us is greater than our fear of the Lord.  After the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, fear gripped the entire church yet the apostles continued to preach and teach publicly with great boldness.  Even when jailed, and released by an angel of the Lord, they kept on doing what God had commanded them.  How often is a simple accusation against us enough to keep us quiet?  Are we confident of the message and command God has given us?  A genuine fear of the Lord says that I must obey God rather than men even when the accusations hit hard.
  • Rejoicing:  Life is hard!  Living life as a Christian can be hard as well!  It seems that sometimes we forget that or we think that God ought to smooth everything out for us.  Paul writes and tell us, “Rejoice in the Lord always!  I will say it again, Rejoice!”.  He does so because God knows we need that reminder because things get tough in life.  The end of Acts 5 tells us that the apostles left the meeting of the Sanhedrin rejoicing.  Must have been a nice peaceful meeting where everyone was getting along with each other, right?  Oh, wait, there’s more!  The previous verse tells us the apostles were flogged and ordered to speak no longer in the name of Jesus — not quite the action that we would think should bring about rejoicing.  Yet here they were, rejoicing that they were counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus!  A real fear of the Lord causes us to rejoice at every opportunity to be identified with Jesus — even when that opportunity is in suffering.

So, how is the act of FEAR being expressed both in and through your life?  Are you putting off Falsehood, voluntarily Exposing yourself to God through confession, living life so that the Accusations against you have no place to stick, and are you Rejoicing that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life?  I pray that the act of FEAR brings great knowledge and wisdom to you and to many others through you.

by

The Act of BOLD (Acts 4)

It is hard for me to read the book of Acts without being overwhelmed by the sheer boldness that is shown by the Apostles and Christians represented on its pages!  It is nearly impossible to miss the power of God at work as the disciples are transformed from a small group huddled together in fear in a small upper room following the crucifixion of Jesus to bold preachers of the gospel of Jesus with disciples numbering over five thousand by Acts chapter 4.

It seems that a missing quality in the lives of many Christians and churches today is the act of BOLD that made the early church come alive with power.  We have too often bought into a politically correct, soft-spoken acceptance of any way is as good as any other.  Following the act of healing found in Acts 3, we are able to see some critical elements to living with The Act of BOLD as we look at Acts 4!  Here are some bold characteristics we should cultivate in our life.

  • Bold Belief:  The religious leaders of the day were “greatly disturbed” because Peter and John were teaching and proclaiming the bold belief that Jesus had resurrected from the dead.  This bold belief did two thing — it got them thrown in jail by the leaders and it drew more followers to the ways of Jesus.  When you act with a bold belief, there will be some who are troubled by your belief and seek to discredit you or even do you harm.  That is part of the price  you pay for a bold belief that will lift up Jesus and draw others to Him.  Does your bold belief make it clear in your life that Jesus has the power to change you?  You cannot expect to bring change into the lives of people by sharing the gospel if your belief in Jesus hasn’t changed you!
  • Bold Obedience:  Another quality that I see in Peter and John that seems to often be missing today is a bold obedience to the authority of Jesus!  When you truly have a bold belief, there will be many who would like to silence you and make the gospel of Jesus ineffective.  Peter and John’s response to being commanded to no longer talk about the resurrection of Jesus was that they must obey God rather than man.  Many times we base our definition of right and wrong on our feelings, popular opinion, or what will be least offensive.  Does your bold obedience cause you discomfort as you lovingly stand for God’s Word as ultimate truth?  If bold obedience to God is not a part of you life, you will have great difficulty in seeing the results of obedience to God in others through the message you share!
  • Bold Living:  The bold belief and bold obedience of Peter and John translated into bold living!  When your life is sold out for Jesus Christ, you live with a boldness that understands the power of the resurrection.  Not only did Peter and John express a bold obedience to God when commanded to stop speaking or teaching about Jesus, they prayed for greater opportunities to do the very thing they were told not to.  They lived with a boldness that asked God for an even greater display of His power through more healings, miraculous signs, and wonders.  Their request was for the ability to speak with an even greater boldness.  Does your bold living ask God for more opportunities in and through you life for His power to be displayed?  If bold living is not a part of your life, you will struggle to make an eternal impact in the lives of any who are watching your actions and listening to your words!
  • Bold Decisions:  Ultimately, the act of bold ought to lead us to bold decisions!  Even in the face of persecution, we see the number of people making the bold decision to follow the way of Jesus growing from the 3000 who were baptized in Acts 2 to over 5000 in Acts 4 as people respond to the message of the resurrection that Peter and John are sharing.  The chapter ends with the reporting of the bold decision of believers to share whatever they had that could be a benefit to other believers.  In a culture so obsessed with obtaining more and more stuff, it is a very bold decision to accurately evaluate what is excess and voluntarily give away anything that could help a brother or sister in Christ.  Do your bold decisions go against the status quo and acknowledge God as provider and owner of all that you possess?  If fear and selfishness keep you from making bold decisions, you will likely never help the people who God has put in your life to be helped by you!

So, how is the act of BOLD being expressed both in and through your life?  Are you sharing a bold Belief, a bold Obedience, a bold Living, and a bold Decision as you encounter Jesus and the people He brings across your path?  I pray that the act of BOLD brings great transformation to you and to many others through you.

by

The Act of HEALing (Acts 3)

You don’t have to look far to find someone in need of healing.  If we consider all the types of aches, pains, sickness, and brokenness that exists, it shouldn’t take long to realize that each of us need to experience healing on a regular basis.  The good news is that God can heal the innermost parts of a person in ways we would never expect and never even realize we needed!

In keeping with my acrostic method, I titled the Acts 3 sermon, “The Act of HEAL”, but that was just grammatically awkward even for a title. 🙂  So I modified it for this article to “The Act of HEALing”.

Acts chapter three has two main parts — the story of a man who is healed and the explanation that the act was only astonishing because the people refused to acknowledge the power of God revealed through his son, Jesus.  As we consider this chapter, I want us to look at four components that made the act of healing possible or overflowed into life as a result of this man’s healing.

  • Heart:  Foundational to us receiving genuine healing, or us sharing such healing with others, is the act of an open heart.  In explaining why people would not understand and accept his teaching, Jesus quoted from Isaiah in saying, “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”  (Matthew 13:15)  Our heart must be open to the working of God and His Spirit in our life.  We must also open our heart to see people as God sees them.  When we close our heart we fail to see people who are in need of God’s healing.  Peter and John approached the temple with hearts open to God and in doing so noticed a man in need.  The act of an open heart aligns our eyes with Jesus and we begin to see people in need of healing as He sees them.
  • Expectation:  The act of expectation can mire us in the mud of brokenness, settle us in the dust of average, or propel us beyond the ceiling of possible!  When Jesus encountered a man in need of healing in John 5 he asks the man, “Do you want to get well?”.  What do you expect from an encounter with Jesus?  What should people expect when they encounter Jesus through you?  Do you fail to even see the possibility of healing because you don’t expect it?  Do you fail to offer the real gift of healing to others because they expect something less?  The man Peter and John encountered was expecting money, food, or some small act of kindness.  While they did not have the ability to give any of those things, they saw beyond the expectation and offered the healing power of Jesus.  The act of expectation must reach new levels as we expect God can bring true healing to all in need.
  • Amazing:  Have you ever had an encounter with someone who made you say, “Wow!  That was amazing!”?  These amazing moments usually come when your expectations are exceeded.  When I began working at the camp we had an oft-repeated slogan, “and then some”.  The idea was that we would do our best to meet expectations . . . and then some.  Our goal was the “Wow!” factor.  We wanted our campers and guests to have an amazing experience.  How about your encounter with Jesus?  Do you live like it is amazing?  How about your interactions with people each day?  Are they amazed at how much you talk and act like Jesus?  People took notice of a formerly crippled man they had probably passed by day after day without a second thought because his life had an amazing encounter with the power of Jesus.  The act of amazing in our life ought to make the healing power of Jesus attractive to all who see us.
  • Leaping:  There is something about unexpected excitement that tends to make people jump for joy.  From sporting event victories to solving game show puzzles, people from all walks of life do a lot of leaping.  The man in the text was leaping and praising God because it was the best expression of the act of healing he had received from God.  What does the act of leaping look like in your life?  If you have experienced the healing power of God you ought to be leaping for joy in ways that are noticeable to your neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family.  Perhaps we don’t leap so much because we have forgotten how much we’ve been healed.  The act of leaping expresses our joy of receiving the healing of God in our life.

So, how is the act of HEALing being expressed both in and through your life?  Are you living out the act of Heart, Expectation, Amazing, and Leaping as you encounter Jesus and the people He brings across your path?  I pray that the act of HEALing brings great joy to you and to many others through you.

by

The Act of CHANGE (Acts 2)

There are many jokes about change because as much as we like to think others need to change, most of us are much more resistant to the idea of change when it involves us!  Last week we looked at the Act of WAIT which prepared the disciples, and should prepare us, for the CHANGE that we see in Acts chapter two.

It is important to note an often overlooked detail of the events in Acts 2 — the crowd that the apostles are in the midst of is described as God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven!  Yes, even those who believe in God, who fear God, need to hear the message of God from time to time in ways that call them to change!

Acts chapter two has all kinds of lessons in it for us as individuals and for us as the church — the body of Christ.  Here are six components that I see which contributed to, or resulted from, the change that takes place in many lives from that day until now.

  • Correction:  Sometimes we need to gently and accurately correct the perception of others before we have any hope of them listening to the truth.  Other times we must have our perception corrected before we can begin to make necessary changes.  In Acts 2, the perception of some of the crowd was that the apostles were drunk.  Instead of being offended, Peter steps up and addresses the crowd based on their view of authority!  Remember, this crowd was God-fearing Jews.  Peter met them where they were and corrected their perception with scripture that they would have held as authoritative.  The act of Correction should bring us, or those listening to us, to a point of recognized authority.
  • Hearing:  Once we reach a point of recognized authority, the next step is hearing what that authority has to say.  How often do we resist change because we are not willing to hear what is being said?  This is a version of the old, “I know what the Bible says, but . . .”.  We may know what God says in his Word, but if we’re not doing it then we’re not really hearing what he has to say!  This hearing is a two-way street — we must take the time to really hear those we are sharing the gospel of Jesus with just as much as they need to hear the message.  The act of Hearing ought to connect us with our listener and our listener with God.
  • Accepting:  The intended result of the correction and hearing is the accepting of the message of change — in the case of Acts 2, the message of salvation.  James tells us that we ought to not simply be hearers of God’s Word, we ought to do what it says!  Accepting a message that calls us to change means that we will change.  We don’t know the exact size of the crowd that had gathered in Jerusalem but we do know that about three thousand of them accepted the message and were baptized that day!  Many others were corrected and may have even heard, but the real change didn’t take place until the message was accepted.  The act of accepting call us to respond to the message of truth with the appropriate action of change.
  • Noticing:  When real change takes place, we begin to notice things from a different point of view.  We may claim to be changed, but how often do we not notice the people around us?  While the message and response of salvation gets most of our attention in chapter two, the story doesn’t stop there.  As a result of the change in their life, people begin noticing that others are in genuine need and hurting.  While the needs of Christians increase greatly soon after this due to persecution, at this point the needs that exist are the same needs that existed unnoticed the day before.  When we accept the act of change in our life, we ought to notice that people really are hurting and genuine needs really do exist.  The act of noticing takes our eyes off of ourself and causes us to look toward the interests of others.
  • Giving:  Just as accepting ought to be the expected outcome of correction and hearing, giving should be the natural response to noticing.  John warns us that if we notice a brother or sister in need and have no pity on them, how can the love of God truly be in us?  The first act of giving is the giving of ourself, our everything, to God.  It is this change in our life that helps us to give to the needs we notice.  We realize we are stewards, managers of God’s possessions, and we give out of his abundance not out of our means.  These early believers in Acts 2 not only noticed the needs of other believers, they gave freely to any who had need.  The act of giving acknowledges that all the stuff in our life belongs to God and it is His to use in meeting the needs of everyone.
  • Eternity:  The act of change that makes a real difference is the one that impacts where a person spends eternity.  This is why the other components of CHANGE are so important.  Change for the sake of change isn’t all that significant.  Sometime it can be a good thing to break us out of our comfort zone and other times it can be so distracting and upsetting that it is harmful.  The change that matters is change that aligns us more fully with the will and word of God — change that molds us more fully into the image of Christ.  The act of eternity causes us to see the hardships of this life as momentary troubles that are preparing us for the eternal reward that is waiting for all who call upon the name of the Lord and are saved.

So, how many parts of this act of CHANGE is God calling you to work on?  I pray that we see the act of Correction, Hearing, Accepting, Noticing, Giving, and Eternity from God’s perspective and we eagerly accept his act of change in our life.

by

The Act of WAIT (Acts 1)

I’m preaching a sermon series through the book of Acts for the Sunday evening worship gathering at the church I attend.  The plan is to take a chapter-by-chapter look at what act God would be calling us to take as we learn to apply His Word to our life.  Tonight’s sermon took a look at Acts 1 and asked, “What do I do when God calls me to wait?”.

Waiting can be an important part of life if we embrace the usefulness that God has in it for us.  It was this time of waiting in Acts 1 that God uses to change the disciples from the scared, run away from trouble, group of men at the arrest and trial of Jesus to the bold, confident preachers of Acts 2!  So, what can we learn from them about what to do when God says, “Wait”?

  • Worship:  Central to our being able to learn from having to wait is our ability to worship God and connect to Him as our God.  Worship is simply using our time to acknowledge and express to God his worth.  While we often associate worship with singing and music, it ought to be much bigger and broader than just that.  As they gathered to wait, the disciples of Jesus expressed their worship through constant prayer.  Sometimes God calls us to wait because we need to strengthen our connection with Him and learn to truly worship Him before He can do the work through us that He desires.
  • Accept:  Having to wait also gives us the time necessary to accept what was, or what has happened, in the past and be able to look forward to changes God may require.  The disciples needed time to accept that Jesus really had resurrected from the dead then ascended into heaven.  I wonder how long they would have stayed staring into the sky if God had not sent the two messengers to tell them Jesus had ascended into heaven and would return in the future.  It was through the accepting of the return of Jesus to heaven that they would be open to God immersing them in His Spirit.  Often God calls us to wait because there are things we need to deal with and accept before He can do the work in us that He desires.
  • Inspect:  Waiting also gives us an opportunity to inspect God’s Word and see how our actions stack up against it.  As the disciples inspected scripture during their time of waiting, it helped them to understand why Judas had acted the way he  did and also pointed out their need to select someone to take his place as an apostle.  Inspecting is a powerful tool to refine and improve the way we do life if we use God’s Word as our inspection standard.  Many times God calls us to wait because there are areas of our life that we need to inspect with the magnifying glass of God’s Word before He can fully mold us into His image.
  • Train:  Many times we are not ready for what is next and God has us wait so we can complete the necessary training.  As the book of Acts opens, the disciples have been given their assignment, the same assignment that you and I have been given — “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)  The command was given yet they were still told to wait — they still needed training, in their case immersion in the Holy Spirit, before God could accomplish His intended work through them.  God often calls us to wait because there is training that He needs to do in us before He can accomplish His intended work in and through us.

If you’re like me, you don’t like to wait.  I pray that when you consider what God did in the lives of the disciples as He called them to wait, you would embrace the act of waiting when God wants to use it to accomplish amazing things in your life!