Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00003A
|
00:21 Welcome back to Books of the Book
00:23 I'm Pastor Mark Howard. I'm here with by co-host, my brother, 00:26 Pastor Jim Howard and we are looking in to the book of Acts. 00:29 We have been studying the book of Acts and today we are going 00:32 to pick up where we left off in Acts chapter 1. In fact, we're 00:37 going to review a little bit and look at the driving force of 00:42 mission behind the early church. Now we have been in the 00:46 practice of praying before we open the word or get into the 00:49 word so I'd ask if you'd just bow your heads with me here. 00:53 Father in heaven, we do ask that you would bless our time in your 00:56 word and I pray your Holy Spirit would give us spiritual 00:59 understanding in spiritual things. We ask it in Jesus' name 01:02 Amen. Now at our last time together 01:06 we looked at Acts chapter 1 verse 6 where the disciples 01:10 asked Jesus a question that has plagued them repeatedly through 01:13 the ministry of Jesus. They're thinking about their Messiah 01:16 coming and building up his earthly kingdom and they say, 01:20 in fact I'm reading in verse 6, Therefore when they had come 01:23 together they asked him saying Lord will you at this time 01:26 restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not 01:29 for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put 01:33 in his own authority. But you shall receive power when the 01:37 Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me 01:41 in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of 01:45 the earth. Now it's interesting that Jesus says that the Father 01:48 has put the times and seasons in his authority, which means 01:51 they're not insignificant, they are important, but what Jesus is 01:55 doing here is he's telling his disciples I don't want you to 01:59 get so caught up and side tracked in trying to determine 02:03 the time of my coming, my return, that you forget 02:08 the mission that I have given you. 02:09 And we talked last time about the fact that the 02:12 early church was mission driven. It was this burden to get the 02:16 gospel to the world that drove them to their knees and praying 02:19 for the power of the Holy Spirit waiting for the promise of the 02:23 Father so they could carry forward the commission 02:26 that Christ had given them. 02:27 That's right. And I think this particular passage is especially 02:32 helpful when it comes to the second coming of Christ because 02:37 even though God specifically wants them to focus on the 02:41 mission, he doesn't want them to be discouraged. Remember that 02:45 the second coming of Christ is the blessed hope and they needed 02:48 to have that hope. Interestingly the very next thing that 02:51 happens in the book of Acts gives us a little bit of an 02:55 understanding of the second coming. Let's pick up there in 02:58 Acts chapter 1 and verse 9. It says: Now when he had spoken 03:03 these things while they watched he was taken up and a cloud 03:07 received him out of their sight and while they looked 03:10 steadfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood 03:14 by them in white apparel who also said, Men of Galilee, why 03:18 do you stand gazing up into heaven. This same Jesus who is 03:23 taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as 03:28 ye saw him go into heaven. So here they were; they were 03:32 watching Jesus and suddenly he began to be taken up. It's 03:36 fascinating when you read this passage how many places it talks 03:39 about them just beholding and gazing upon Jesus. 03:43 That's right. There's several that refer to sight, to seeing. 03:48 That's exactly right. In verse 9 it says while they watched. It 03:52 says that a cloud received him out of their sight. It says they 03:57 looked steadfastly. It says that they were gazing up into heaven. 04:01 And then in verse 11 it says that they saw him go into 04:05 heaven. So clearly there's these many different allusions to the 04:09 fact that they were watching. Their eyes beheld him as he left 04:13 and the reason we need to emphasize this is because when 04:16 many refer to the second coming of Christ they believe that when 04:21 Jesus comes it will be in secret as it were. They take passages 04:26 of scripture that refer to him coming as a thief which in 04:30 reality refer to him coming suddenly and they take that 04:33 to mean that when he comes no one is going to see him. But 04:36 this scripture helps us understand what it's going to 04:39 look like doesn't it. It basically says just like 04:42 he went up with you watching, watching, watching until he 04:45 disappeared from your view, so it will be that he will come 04:48 back and you will be able to see him. This is the only thing that 04:52 harmonizes with scripture really. 04:53 That's right and I'd like to say to our viewers, you know there 04:56 are a lot of things that we can hear that become a mainline 04:59 belief and we don't say this to be critical of anybody but 05:02 remember that we said that one of the benefits and blessings of 05:04 the book of Acts is that here we are able to test a lot of 05:09 doctrinal or theological view points from the reality of the 05:15 New Testament history and experience. We see in this idea 05:20 of the rapture, of course today the secret rapture is something 05:24 that is taught a lot. It's not something that had taken a 05:28 large hold on Christianity in times past. It's a fairly recent 05:32 teaching. But as you point out, Jim, it doesn't harmonize when 05:36 we look at what is being portrayed here in scripture. 05:40 The angels are very clear that this same Jesus will come in 05:46 like manner. That's right. And you know you 05:48 look at some of the common teachings of the day and they 05:51 point to a picture of humanity going about their business and 05:57 then one day Jesus suddenly raptures away or catches up the 06:02 believers and the unbelievers are left behind wondering what 06:06 happened. They're looking around trying to figure it out. Well 06:09 according to this text they won't have to try to figure it 06:12 out because just like Jesus went up and they saw him clearly go 06:16 up, we'll be able to see him. The Bible says in Revelation 1:7 06:20 Behold he comes with the clouds and every eye will see him. 06:24 It says that as lightening flashes from the east to the 06:28 west so the coming of the Son of Man will be. So we know that 06:31 everybody is going to be able to behold Jesus when he comes 06:34 and this particular passage in the book of Acts helps us to 06:37 clearly see that. But beyond seeing the manner of his coming 06:40 it also was a great encouragement to these early 06:43 disciples. They looked and their hearts were being drawn out and 06:48 this angel reassured them, he will come again just like you 06:52 saw him go up, he will come. 06:54 That's right. It's a powerful promise and it's what the New 06:57 Testament church called the blessed hope and the glorious 06:59 appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well as we 07:02 continue on in the chapter in verse 12 the Bible says there in 07:06 Acts 1:12: Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called 07:10 Olivet (or the Mount of Olives) which is near Jerusalem a 07:13 Sabbath day's journey. And when they had entered they went up 07:18 into the upper room where there were staying Peter, James, John 07:23 and Andrew, Phillip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James 07:26 the son of Alpheus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of 07:30 James. Now obviously we have here all of the disciples of 07:34 Christ excepting Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. They are 07:37 gathered in the upper room and they are not the only ones we 07:41 see as we go on here. Verse 14 it says: These all continued 07:44 with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and 07:48 Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. And in those 07:51 days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples. All together 07:54 the number of the names was about 120 and he said, Men and 07:58 brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled... He goes on and 08:02 talks about Judas and Judas betrayal and it's interesting 08:06 that as he finishes up talking about the betrayal of Judas, 08:10 he says in verse 20, and of course the death of Judas, he 08:13 says in verse 20: For it is written in the book of Psalms 08:17 let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in 08:21 it and let another take his office. Now this is a powerful 08:26 passage to think about because sometimes, and I'll preface it 08:30 by saying this: One of the things that the book of Acts 08:33 teaches us very clearly is that the early church was an 08:38 organized church, it was an organized body. It wasn't a 08:43 scattered, free-flowing, free- wheeling bunch of renegade, lone 08:48 ranger type led by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes people get 08:51 this idea that when the Holy Spirit leads things it's just 08:55 everybody's running helter skelter off this way and that 08:58 way and doing whatever they want to do. But when we come to the 09:01 book of Acts we don't see that. I think it's important for us to 09:05 understand... My mind goes to the demoniac of the Gadarenes. 09:09 When Jesus had healed the man, cast the demon out of him... 09:13 but prior to that he'd come to the man and asked him what is 09:17 your name and the demon spoke through the man and he said our 09:21 name is Legion or my name is Legion for we are many. Now a 09:26 legion is a company of soldiers in the Roman army. Depending on 09:30 who you read it can be anywhere between 2000 and 6000 soldiers. 09:34 But here's the point. It was an organized band of soldiers and 09:38 the devil and his demons were basically saying we're an 09:42 organized band of soldiers carrying out a very well-planned 09:46 warfare. And God does not go against an organized army with a 09:51 disorganized army. So what we see here is Judas betrays Christ 09:55 and he dies. Hey, what's the big deal, we've got 11 instead of 12 09:59 let's go on. The Holy Spirit's going to lead us and we'll just 10:03 go and take on the world. But that's not what happens. Not 10:06 only is that not what happens but Peter here quotes from 10:09 scripture and shows that the scripture foretold not only the 10:13 betrayal of Judas but also the replacement of Judas. 10:16 Let another take his office. 10:19 Isn't it fascinating that when you look at... This is the first 10:23 real strong example we have. But when you start looking at 10:27 how the early apostles built their understanding of what the 10:31 church should be and as they preached they continually 10:35 referenced the fulfillment of prophetic scriptures. 10:39 We're going to hit this again and again, but they didn't just 10:43 do this based on their own opinion. In fact, if you look at 10:48 verse 21 the first word there in the New King James translation 10:52 is therefore. Therefore of these men and it goes on to talk 10:57 about replacing Judas. So he's quoting from scripture, Let 11:00 another take his office. And then he's saying because the 11:03 scripture has testified that this should happen, therefore 11:07 we should be in harmony with scripture. When I look at this 11:11 there's another point that strikes me, Mark. Judas as we 11:16 read about him in the gospels, you know, he was the one who had 11:20 charge of the treasury. He was certainly in outward appearance 11:25 perhaps the most qualified. Dignified, outstanding. 11:30 Perhaps eloquent, certainly he probably had a bearing that was 11:34 a little bit more polished than that of the others who were 11:38 apostles. Well he appeared to have been 11:39 more schooled or educated than the other apostles were because 11:42 you know a good number of them were fishermen and that type of 11:45 thing. That's right. In fact, if you go 11:47 back to verse 13 where we read it lists them out, Peter, James, 11:56 John. I mean it starts off with the inner circle, right. And who 11:57 are the inner circle but fishermen. I mean these are not 12:01 what you would call the most qualified of business types and 12:06 Judas was. But at the end of the day Judas is being replaced 12:10 and they are moving forward with the mission that Christ gave and 12:15 something about that strikes me. You know, it isn't really about 12:20 simply our intellect or training though those things are very 12:24 important. But to a great degree it's about the heart and the 12:28 willingness of these fishermen to follow Jesus wherever he 12:32 called them. That's right. Well there's more 12:36 that we could say on this. In fact, we're going to say more on 12:38 this but we're going to want to take a break and when we come 12:41 back we're going to talk a little bit more about that 12:43 qualification to witness. Join us in a moment. |
Revised 2014-12-17