As I was sitting in church this last Sunday, my pastor began to say something that shall resonate within me forever. He was discussing the first 8 verses of Acts. I can’t remember the context in which he said this, but I remember what he said “We see this as radical Christianity, but no it is normal Christianity.” He was speaking in reference to all of the events recorded in the book of Acts. I thought about his statement for some time after that, and realized how true it was.

As Christians we so often read the book of Acts and think, “Man, those guys were on fire for God. They did some awesome stuff. They were radical.” But really, isn’t that how God wants us all? Doesn’t he want each and every person to be totally committed to him and his mission here on earth, just as the apostles were? It isn’t radical, it is normal.

This statement prompted me to read the book of Acts. When I decided to read the book of Acts, I thought, why not do a blog series on what the Acts Christian looks like? So as I dig deep, I’m going to do my best to share my thoughts and studies with you.

The book of Acts…where to begin? Acts was written by Luke, who also wrote the book of Luke, surprisingly enough :) . A commentary I read said that without Acts, without this history, the entirety of the New Testament outside of the Gospels would be cloudy. Why? Acts is the bridge between the subject of the Gospels, the perfect God-Man Jesus and his mission to die for the sanctity of the world, and man. What do I mean by this? I am meaning that, from the Gospels, we glean who Jesus is and what he came to this earth to do. We also understand from Matthew 28:19, that Jesus had imparted a mission to his disciples “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Then in Romans, and the rest of the Pauline epistles we see this mission in action. But this leaves a big question, a giant chasm if you will, in this mission. How did the Gospel go from Jews standing around in Jerusalem, watching Jesus ascend into Heaven, to Rome and beyond? Was it by the power of the men whom Jesus had discipled? Hardly so! Based on the character sketches given to us by the Gospels of some of the men, they would hardly be up for the task. Peter was infamously known for denying our Lord, hardly the type to carry out such a task. James and John, along with Peter, consistently fell asleep while Jesus prayed in the Garden, as if to say “Lord, your ideas, your plans, are not as important as our sleep.” These stories and several others clearly show that these men, imperfect and human, were not adequate in their own power to carry out this great task. How then did the Gospel go from Rome to Jerusalem, even grabbing the heart of a murderous, Christ hating man in Paul, along the way? It was done by the key player in the book of Acts, The Holy Spirit.

We see as we read the book of Acts that the Holy Spirit is the key character in the book. Some have said that a better name for the book would be “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.” I tend to agree. We see in verse one of Acts, something pivotal, something that gives us insight into the book and what it is all about. It is about the continuation of the work of Jesus through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and His empowerment in the lives of weak, half-hearted, feeble, imperfect believers. Verse one says “…of all the Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen…” (actually that includes some of verse 2 as well).

Acts is about the agenda of the Holy Spirit, about the Holy Spirit working through our lives, empowering us, to accomplish His task, that of saving a lost and desolate world for the Glory of Jesus Christ. So often, churches and Christians alike take the first part of the Great Commission, the “Go” and run with it. They try to plan and formulate and create human agendas and programs to aide in conquering this great task. They go full-bore ahead, then fail. Why? Why do they fail constantly, and eventually give up? It seems to be they forget the little word “Lo” at the end of the Great Commission. This little word is another word for “behold.” Here Christ is saying “Hey, guys I’m gonna be with you to accomplish this.” How is He going to do this? Through the Holy Spirit! We are only tools, we don’t need to create the agendas, plans or programs. Jesus has those figured out already, we just need to be willing to be a part of that plan, and be willing to be used. Thus, the book of Acts shows us countless illustrations of men and women that were willing to just be a part of that plan, not make the plan, and were willing to be used as instruments by the Holy Spirit. It is this reason that men like Peter and James and John were able to accomplish the great task set before them. It is this reason that the Gospel went from Jerusalem to Rome.

Are you willing to join me in this journey? I don’t know how it is going to shape up. I hope I can continue this on a regular basis. I hope my world gets rocked. Do you want to join?

Advertisement