Acts: The Church In Transition / Part 2

THE BOOK OF ACTS
The Church In TRANSITION: Part 2

The Gentile World
Acts 13 gives us the first glimpse of God’s pattern for a local church. It is independent of Jerusalem and the apostles. It has its church leadership and it commissions those the Lord would send out as missionaries. We see this pattern for the local church developed in the pastoral epistles and in Acts 20 where Paul addressed the elders of the church at Ephesus.

One thing the apostles did, which we can’t do today, is take the gospel first to the synagogue. Just as Peter announced the gospel to the Jewish nation in Jerusalem early in Acts, so Paul took it to “the Jew first” wherever he went. When the Jews rejected it, he said: “It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46).

Now a pattern is set for the Church age. At the end of Acts, in Gentile Rome, Paul called the Jewish leaders together “to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus both out of the Law of Moses, and out of the prophets from morning till evening. And some believed ... and some believed not” (28:23-24.). Paul then quoted Isaiah 6:9-10 and said: “Be it known ... that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.” The Jews “had great reasoning among themselves” (28:28-29).

Here again is a pattern for the Church age. Today, salvation goes out to the nations, and Israel is considered one of the nations. One day this will change, when the Lord Jesus returns to this earth, to His waiting earthly people. The Jews, of course, still have “great reasoning,” as do most who reject the gospel, seeking answers to big questions. Others try to fill their life with pleasure or their careers, and avoid the important questions of the why and how of human life.

All The Counsel Of God
Paul was a faithful teacher. He had not “shunned to declare ... all the counsel of God” (20:27). Do we teach with such care today? Or do we leave out things which may embarrass or give offense? Teaching God’s people, whether children or mature adults, is a serious responsibility. Paul had to warn the elders of the Ephesian church that some were trouble makers, some liked to lead others and some liked admiration. Indeed these tendencies may be present in all of us, however mature and spiritual we may seem to be. That was why Paul first said, “take heed to yourselves,” and then added, “and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers” (20:27-28).

Peter confirmed this in his first letter: “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:2-3). The Church is God’s flock, and a church office is by appointment of the Holy Spirit, not by men. The teaching of the Lord also comes to mind: “Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister: and whosoever will to be chiefest, shall be servant of all” (Mk.10:42-44; Mt. 20:25-28; Lk. 22:24-27).

Eldership in the church is not to be taken lightly, nor is it a matter of running things while the rest wait passively for the elder’s words and decisions. One oversees to assess needs, and then takes action in visiting and teaching to meet those needs and develop gifts.

Legalism
Acts 15 shows us one of the many ways in which men may speak “perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves” (20:30). The legalizers said, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved” (15:1). People are religious by nature, and one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the Christian life is “religion.” We always want to do something; we love ceremonies; and we forget that all Christians are priests. (1 Pet. 2:5,9.) We have no temple made with hands, for our bodies are “temples” and so is every congregation of Christians gathered to the Lord’s name (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16). Only the Lord’s Supper and baptism are ordinances; all else becomes legalism which stunts spiritual growth.

All that Paul and Peter warned about came true in the ensuing centuries as churches became the church outside of which there was no salvation, and the Word of God was superseded by the words of prelates dressed in the robes of old pagan religious systems. Jeremiah had warned about this unenviable trait in human nature: “The prophets prophesy falsely. And the priests bear rule by their means. And My people love to have it so. And what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jer. 5:31). Galatians was written to counteract this insidious doctrine, yet the world is full of religion, and there are few that love God’s Word and study it.

The solution suggested was simple: “Abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication” (15:29). Here we see a loving principle put into practice which Paul later elaborated in 1 Corinthians: “If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend” (1 Cor. 8:13). We may abstain from things in order not to give offense nor to cause confusion. We are not under Law but grace, so we ought to act with grace and love (Rom. 6:14). Salvation is by grace alone with nothing added to do. Man always wants to do something, so he can boast instead of giving thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some Principles of Evangelism
It is surprising to find so much dialogue going on. There are a few formal talks such as the speech made by the apostle on Mars Hill in Athens. Here most turned away saying they might listen again at some other time. Some mocked, as they did on the day of Pentecost. On that occasion some even accused the apostles of being drunk, and Paul before Agrippa and Festus was accused of being mad (26:24). All these things will people say of us and to us. We are in good company, as they called John the Baptist mad and the Lord Himself “a winebibber and friend of publicans and sinners” (Lk 7:34). When evil men spat at William Booth and his friends, he told them the marks of spittle were medals and not to wipe them off. How often I have felt angry when people pass by my evangelistic stand with a smirk on their faces. How foolish of me! I ought to be glad, for some men also smirked at the Lord and at the apostles.

Paul used his gifts as an intellectual when he dialogued daily in the philosophical school of Tyrannus. Yet he could be all things to all men. We ought to cultivate understanding and a manner that is acceptable to all whose hearts the Lord might open, whether rich or poor, ignorant or learned, noble or base.

Paul also dialogued with the church at Troas. It must have been a sort of question-and-answer session not just a lecture by the apostle. The word in the King James Version is “preached” but the original word is “dialogue” (20:6-7).

A more active involvement on the part of the church is also seen in Acts 17 where the Bereans “were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so” (17:11). To compare what the apostle said with the rest of Scripture was clearly something to be commended, and if for them so also for us. Indeed it is a principle which goes back to Deuteronomy, which tells us that the word of a prophet ought to come to pass and agree with what has gone before (Dt. 13:1-3; 18:21-22.)

Opposition to the gospel was never far away – often violent and brutal, with murderous intent. Today it is still so in many lands where the Lord Jesus is not known. At this moment Christians are being imprisoned for no crime other than reading the Bible, and places of Christian worship are being burned or blown up. Though he is extremely clever, there is only a limited range of methods open to the Evil One. If persecution is not overt and violent then it may take the form of ridicule or an intellectual attack on our belief. Even professing Christians may be led away by lures of Darwinism and pseudo-science.

The occult is another weapon in Satan’s armory. Acts 16 shows us a very subtle attack by this method. Opposition by powerful magicians failed in Samaria and in Cyprus, so Satan used a slave girl with powers of fortune telling. She did not – or rather the demon which inspired her did not – directly oppose the gospel. Rather, it did what demons had done when confronted by Jesus Himself; it seemed to offer approval of the gospel: “These men are servants of the Most High God, who show unto us the way of salvation” (16:17). First, this serves to confuse the whole issue and then it puts the servants of Satan, in this case the pythonic spirit of the Greek god Apollo (God of prophecy and divination), as fellow workers with God and His servants. “Be not unequally yoked” is a severe warning which many so-called evangelists today fail to heed (2 Cor. 6:14). Writing to the Corinthians Paul said, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Cor. 11:13-14).

The End
Paul is first shipwrecked and then a prisoner in Rome. He did not enter the city in triumph as did the emperors, nor did he possess great riches. He did, however, spend his time teaching and preaching, arguing and disputing. Onesimus was one of the fruits of his labors. In that beautiful but corrupt city, then the world capital, Paul called for the leaders of the Jews. He disputed with them, quoted from Isaiah 6, and then said: “Be it known, therefore, unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” (Acts 28:28).

The Acts is not a simple history of the Church – it is much more. It maps out the future course of this age in which we live, and notes the triumphs of the gospel and the failures of the Lord’s people. It shows us the dangers from men and from demons, and gives us wise insights into the methods of Satan as well as the safeguards God has given us to avoid his attacks and to beat them off. It shows us how the promise of the kingdom, to be set up on this earth, is yet in abeyance though certain, as it has been for more than two thousand years since the Lord came into His creation and lived among us in order to die for us.

The Book of Acts leaves us with promises for the future and shows us the setting up of the kingdom of God in human hearts, minds and lives. It shows us how to rely on God’s grace rather than on human resources and human strength, and assures us that God is always in control, so that Paul could write: “But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” (Phil. 1:12).

By Roger Penney

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