Episodes from Acts - Stephen

Acts 7:48-60

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:

“‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things?’

“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

John 16:1-4

“All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

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The Fact That Divides

We’re continuing our journey through episodes in the book of Acts, and the incident between Stephen and the Sanhedrin was a clash of two groups of people. In fact, these are the only two groups of people into which humanity can fall: those who are Jesus’s people, and those who are not Jesus’s people.

So we are going to look at two things this morning: first, the fact that divides Stephen and the Sanhedrin; and secondly, the response that divides them.

The fact that divides Stephen and the Sanhedrin.

Our reading from Acts was recalling the end of a long sermon given by Stephen, recounting the whole history of God’s dealings with his people. And Stephen ends with a brazen condemnation of the Sanhedrin — that is, the religious leaders of the time. He says:

“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: you always resist the Holy Spirit!”

And the reaction of the Sanhedrin at this point is, understandably, fury. But then Stephen goes one step further when he looks up to heaven and says:

“I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

And when they hear this, the reaction of the Sanhedrin crosses over from fury to murder. Before, they were really angry. But now they have gone beyond anger. They are so overcome with rage that the only thing they can do is instantly kill Stephen.

So what is it about Stephen’s words that flips a switch in their hearts and minds? Let us look again at what he says:

“I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Of course, the Son of Man is Jesus. And for Stephen, the fact that Jesus is standing at the right hand of God is the best possible news. It means that Jesus — in whom Stephen has put all his hope and all his trust — is not only utterly vindicated by God, but is reigning in power in heaven.

And this Son of Man language is also important because it reflects a prophecy from the Old Testament book of Daniel, in which Daniel sees God giving all authority in heaven and earth to this human-divine figure called the Son of Man. Stephen is saying: Jesus is that Son of Man. Jesus is the one who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. And for Stephen, this is amazing, because he has tied his entire identity — his whole life, with all its hopes and dreams — to whether Jesus really is who he claimed to be.

Imagine being so confident in a particular racehorse that you bet every single penny you own on that one horse. Nothing left in the bank. Nothing left in savings. You have staked everything on this one horse winning the Gold Cup. Now imagine the level of personal investment you would feel in whether that horse actually wins. You have bet your whole life on it. And now imagine the elation you would feel when you see that your confidence was well grounded — as the horse wins the race by a mile. That is the level of investment Stephen felt in Jesus.

So imagine how elated he felt when he saw with his waking eyes the fact that Jesus had won. And every true Christian feels this level of investment in Jesus. His people cannot be indifferent about his identity and victory. A true Christian is someone who has staked their whole life on whether Jesus really is who he says he is. So every Christian can feel elated at Stephen’s words of vindication.

But these words of Stephen are the worst possible news for the Sanhedrin. In the inverse way to Stephen, they have staked everything on Jesus not being who he says he is. If Jesus really is God’s judge, then they did the worst conceivable thing in killing him. If Jesus really is the Daniel Son of Man, then their whole religious system collapses. If Jesus’s followers are vindicated, then the Sanhedrin have been wrong their whole lives.

The response that divides Stephen and the Sanhedrin.

Now imagine with me a mother and her child. This mother pours her whole life into her child — all her time, effort, money, and reason for living. And then imagine that child becomes a teenager, runs away from home, and deliberately goes against everything the mother taught them. How can the mother not descend into the deepest kind of fury — the collapse of everything she has staked her whole life on?

For the Sanhedrin, if Stephen is right, the result is not simply an alternative or interesting worldview. The result is a complete negation and dismissal of everything they have built their lives upon.

But here is the thing. Remember at the start I said Stephen and the Sanhedrin represent the only two possible reactions to the news that Jesus reigns in heaven. Often, in our minds, we imagine a third category. We think to ourselves: “Well, those nasty, vindictive, fundamentalist Sanhedrin — I would never react like that. They are the baddies.”

But in reality, the Sanhedrin were in a better position than most people, because they rightly perceived the implications for them of the fact that Jesus reigns in heaven. That fact profoundly contradicts the foundation upon which most people build their whole lives.

Because if Jesus really is reigning in heaven, then there is a final judgement. And it will not be on the basis of good deeds versus bad deeds, but on the basis of whether we truly love him or not.

And if Jesus really is reigning in heaven, then he is what we should be living for — not our families, not our community, not even our church.

If we are making anything other than him the deepest reason for living, that is not simply mistaken. It is the deepest kind of rebellion against him.

So Jesus reigning in heaven was the fact that divided Stephen and the Sanhedrin. But their responses divide them too. Let us look at Stephen’s final response to his vision. His last words are extraordinary:

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

How on earth can Stephen say this of the people who are murdering him?

Well, if Jesus is the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father, then being lifted up into the closest proximity to God in heaven is not about whether you are a good person or a bad person. It is about having Jesus as your advocate. Stephen knows that his salvation is not because he is good, but because Jesus has had mercy on him. And so he can look even at those who are stoning him to death and pray that they too might receive Jesus’s mercy.

But conversely, for the Sanhedrin, if Jesus the Son of Man really is standing at the right hand of the Father, then proximity to God is not about being good or bad, but about having Jesus as your advocate. And for them, as we have seen, this is the worst possible news.

Because they have spent their whole lives trying to climb the ladder — trying to draw near to God through their own efforts, through being good, and most importantly, through being better than other people.

So, when Stephen challenges this, they have a choice. Kill their own self-identity and let Stephen and Jesus be right — or kill Stephen and let their own self-identity be right.

And each one of us faces exactly the same choice. We cannot become true followers of Jesus until we have killed our own sense of self-identity: all the things we are proud of; all the things we have built our lives upon; our deep-down sense that we are decent, respectable people. If that makes us uncomfortable, then that is probably a good thing. Because the Holy Spirit may well be working in us, helping us to lay our whole lives at the foot of the cross.

And if you can say: “I have been through the discomfort of killing my self-identity. I have staked my whole life on Jesus.”, then praise the Lord. You too will one day see him, as Stephen did, ready to receive you into eternal bliss.

Episodes from Acts - Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine. ”

John 16:12-15

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

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“You Will Receive Power and Be My Witnesses”

I don’t know about you, but I love films like The Lord of the Rings. I love the book, I love the films, and one of the great things about them is that it is really easy to tell who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.

If you’re an orc, you’re a bad guy. If you’re an elf, you’re a good guy. And guess what happens at the end? The good guys win, there is a wonderful victory, and everyone lives happily ever after.

But there is something deeply frustrating about that, isn’t there? Because that is not what real life is like. Real life is much more difficult and much trickier than that. It is a lot harder to tell who the good guys and bad guys are. There is not often that wonderful fairy-tale ending. It can be frustrating watching films or reading books like that and thinking, That’s just not real life.

And when we read the book of Acts, we can sometimes feel something similar. We read about amazing miracles, thousands of people coming to faith after one sermon — that might happen this evening, we’ll wait and see! We read of extraordinary miracles taking place, and even joy when the apostles were imprisoned and put to death. And we look at our own day and think, That’s a bit frustrating, because life just doesn’t seem like that for us.

So we are going to look at three things from our passage describing that first Pentecost together, to see how the Holy Spirit might begin to do something similar in our own day.

All together in one place.

In chapter 2, verse 1, it says:

“When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were together in one place.”

So — they were all together in one place.

God is, of course, everywhere. But there are situations where he is especially present to bless his people. That was the case in Eden. We are told that Adam and Eve walked in the presence of God in the Garden. But when they sinned, his special presence departed. Much of the beginning of the Old Testament is about preparing for God once more to dwell among his people — first in the tabernacle, then in the temple. But again, the Lord’s people turned away from him, and his special presence to bless departed.

The amazing thing about Pentecost is that this is round three. This is when God’s Spirit returns to bless powerfully — never, ever to leave again.

The Bible calls Christians God’s temple because we are all bricks, as it were, in the spiritual temple of God. God’s temple today is not a place; it is a people. And it is the Holy Spirit in us that makes us that temple. If you read the book of Kings, you will see that God’s presence did not appear in the temple until King Solomon had finished putting every stone in place. So it is no surprise that the first time the Holy Spirit came to dwell in believers was when they were all together — all the living bricks of this new temple united.

Near where I grew up in Wales was a place we often took visitors — a huge hydroelectric dam with a beautiful reservoir behind it high in the mountains. Would the water company have begun filling up the reservoir if the dam wall were incomplete? Of course not. Every brick had to be in place. Then — boom — the power starts flowing.

Perhaps we wonder why the Spirit seems less powerfully at work today than he was in the time of the apostles. But the book of Acts consistently links the unity of believers with the Spirit doing amazing things.

Of course, we cannot force the Spirit to do anything. But equally, we should not expect him to work wonders in our day if we are not unified as believers. This is why our first Sunday benefice service is so important. It is not just a pleasant opportunity to catch up with people. It is exactly the sort of place where the Spirit is at work — when we, as a body of believers, are all together in one place.

So, we have seen unity as one way the Spirit works powerfully.

The images of wind and fire.

We are told:

“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house.”

And then:

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire.”

These physical manifestations of the Spirit at Pentecost are not merely special effects. They are not God showing off. They are crucial symbols of the power of the Spirit.

Wind and fire are elements of nature that provide power, aren’t they? Wind powered ships in the ancient world. Fire heats houses and cooks food.

These images tell us something profound about the Holy Spirit: like wind and fire, he provides power for the church.

That is a good thing. He is capable of surging his power into us as Christians, especially when we are all together working for the gospel. He provides power over sin, despair, fear, and doubt. But like wind and fire, he is not to be trifled with.

I think there are two opposite mistakes we can make when it comes to the Holy Spirit. The first is not to plug into his power at all. This is like somebody refusing to use any source of naturally generated power. No wind power. No fire. No solar. No nuclear. Instead, they say, “I shall power my house with my own exercise bike.” Perhaps the village as well!

But of course, you cannot do that. It is ridiculous. We all rely on power generated beyond ourselves.

And the opposite error is to think of the Holy Spirit as an endless power source we can simply switch on and off at will: “Zap — power — boom — healing!”

Now, no offence, but if some of our friends across the pond can occasionally lean towards that second error, we are certainly guilty of the first. We ask: Why does the Holy Spirit not seem to do those amazing things now as in the book of Acts?Perhaps much of the answer is that we are trying to power our spiritual lives ourselves rather than plugging into what the Spirit can do.

What does that look like? First, expecting him to do amazing things. He can still heal today. He can still do miracles. Secondly, asking for his help. After all, he is a person. Unlike wind and fire, he is not an impersonal force. He is the third person of the Trinity. And thirdly — perhaps most difficultly — not being afraid of losing control.

This is the big one, isn’t it? We do not like handing over the steering wheel of our lives to somebody else. We fear what might happen if we really allow the Holy Spirit to empower us.

But that is a bit like saying: “Well, either I generate electricity on my own exercise bike, or else Chernobyl will happen.”

There is a happy middle ground — letting the Spirit empower our ministry and lives.

So, we have seen the Spirit works through unity, and through these images of wind and fire.

Tongues.

We are told:

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Why do you think the first sign of the Holy Spirit coming in power was the ability to speak in lots of different languages? To answer that, we go back to Acts chapter 1, verse 8 — really the motto verse for the whole book of Acts. Jesus says:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

You see; the Spirit came with an express purpose: to empower the early church to bear witness to Jesus throughout the whole world.

Think of a charity set up for one purpose — perhaps famine relief. Over time, perhaps, it becomes involved with all sorts of fashionable causes: climate change, social justice, gender issues. This is known as mission drift. And it nearly always results in donations declining, because people want their money to support the purpose the charity actually exists for.

We still ask ourselves: Why does the Holy Spirit not seem to work as powerfully now as he did in Acts?

Well, think of the Holy Spirit not only as the major donor but the only donor of spiritual power to the church. The Spirit gives power to the church for the purpose it exists for — witnessing to Jesus Christ and him crucified.

So, we should not be surprised if, when the church experiences mission drift, the Spirit appears less interested in donations.

Climate change? Important.
Saving the parish? Important.
Fundraising? Important.
Regular communion? Important.

But if those things become so central that they distract us from the church’s primary purpose — bearing witness to Jesus — we cannot be surprised if the Spirit’s power is less tangibly at work in our day.

Conversely, when we begin to make witnessing to Jesus our personal and communal priority, we may expect to see the Spirit provide power in extraordinary ways.

I will end by relating something that happened last weekend. I was at a men’s conference at which our own Stephen Blake was speaking. He was talking about his time as a prison chaplain at Long Lartin prison — a very difficult place. High security. Men who had committed truly heinous crimes. It was difficult because, as a chaplain, he could not be seen to be proselytising or converting anyone.

And yet he said something remarkable. Every week, miracles happened. Every week, some murderer came to faith. Every week, someone shared the gospel with another inmate, and three more men came to faith. Every week, impossible obstacles seemed to stand in the way — and yet the gospel advanced.

Why is it that miracles happen in Long Lartin, and yet we do not seem to see them happening so often in our own lives? Could it be our expectations? Could it be that the Spirit provides power when we are outside our comfort zone?

I have certainly experienced that. When I was training as a vicar, on mission, the Holy Spirit seemed to do amazing things in the most uncomfortable situations. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The Holy Spirit will be with us when we fly the flag for Jesus — when we courageously share our faith, and when we fulfil the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. So let us pray that the Holy Spirit would give us that strength, even in our own day.

Episodes from Acts - Matthias

Acts 1:12-26

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus— he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.”

(With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms,
“‘May his place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in it,’
and,
“‘May another take his place of leadership.’

Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

Luke 22:24-30

Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

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The apostles, and we, are to witness simply to what we have seen in Jesus

Judas Iscariot cuts a tragic figure in the gospel narratives. We don’t know much about him, except that his father was called Simon and his surname suggests he probably came from Kerioth, a town down in the far south of Israel, in contrast to Jesus’ other Galilean disciples.

We don’t know how or when Jesus called Judas to follow him; he must have had potential in Jesus’ eyes. But soon it became apparent that there was something lacking in his devotion; he was the group’s treasurer, but John tells us that he would steal from the purse; and he is only ever recorded addressing Jesus as ‘Rabbi’, never ‘Lord’ like his colleagues.

And that lack of devotion turned into treachery, after the incident of the woman pouring expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet - it seems that was the final straw that prompted Judas to betray Jesus.

And let’s remember that was an act of choice - the Scriptures tell us that he was prompted by the Devil, never persuaded nor propelled. It was his choice to turn his back on Jesus and sell him over to the authorities.

Judas’ fate was gruesome - the detail is confused, for in today’s Acts passage by Luke he falls headlong and manages somehow to disembowel himself in a field; in Matthew he goes away and hangs himself.

We can’t explain that variance, but it’s not important, for his work was done - he had betrayed the Lord and sealed his own fate, while unwittingly providing for us and all Creation the path to salvation and forgiveness, to eternal life and to immeasurable blessing.

He was a man who walked with Jesus yet never knew him. His heart was hardened. He was a man who was lost - a son of perdition.

His death left a void in the lives of the disciples. So, let’s think that through for a few minutes. Just two headings this morning - and the first is: vacancy.

1. Vacancy

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus—he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” Acts 1:15-17

It was around 6 weeks or so since the crucifixion. The disciples had lived through the immeasurable emotional turmoil of the loss of their beloved Lord, then discovering he had risen back to life, and then the excitement of being part of his ongoing ministry for 40 days until he ascended back to heaven, as recorded in the first half of Chapter 1 of Acts.

And I detect a real sense of bewilderment and sadness about the fate of Judas in Peter’s words - he was one of our number and shared in this ministry. It’s as if Peter still couldn’t quite believe what Judas did.

The early church - the disciples and their associates - had continued to meet together in prayer to worship the Lord and seek out his will for them. Peter reflects further with the group on the inevitability of the betrayal, taking a reference from Psalm 69, a psalm about King David’s own betrayal by an enemy, linking it with another verse from Psalm 109:

“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, “‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and ‘May another take his place of leadership’” Acts 1:20

Their prayerful reflection brings Peter to a conclusion: that Judas’ vacated place in the Twelve needs to be filled by another.

There are three good reasons for why this is so:

• First, the choice of Twelve as the number of disciples is highly significant, mirroring the 12 founding tribes of Israel, descended from Jacob’s 12 sons. Just as the nation was established through those 12 sons, so the new Israel, the spiritual Israel, was to be founded on these 12 disciples. 12 was the full tally.

• Secondly, the 12 are to have a role in the final Day of Judgment, as we heard in our gospel reading. Jesus told the disciples:

I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 22:29-30

It’s not clear quite what that means, but it is clear that the 12 tribes of Israel will somehow be assigned the 12 disciples as their judges.

• Thirdly, there is work to be done: Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8 was that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came on them; and they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

They needed the full complement of disciples to proceed with that momentous task.

And so they nominated two men, Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias; and they prayed and cast lots for God to show them his choice. We may raise an eyebrow over the casting of lots; but there was a long Old Testament biblical tradition of casting pebbles or sticks to find God’s will.

But interestingly this is the last time in the scriptures that such casting of lots is ever mentioned - the reason being of course that within a few days the Holy Spirit was to be given universally to the early Church, and to all those ever since who have yielded their heart to Jesus.

From now on, such external mechanisms are no longer needed, for God speaks by his Spirit to our hearts and guides us in his will and his ways. As the book of Hebrews reminds us:

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. Hebrews 8:11

So the choice was made - and Matthias was appointed. The group was once more complete, in readiness for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them at Pentecost.

But we need to go back just a little and ask, why these two men? What was their qualification to become the missing member of the Twelve?

2. Qualification

Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” Acts 1:21-22

It needed to be someone who had been part of the movement from the very beginning - someone who had witnessed the baptism of Jesus three years previously, been with him throughout his ministry up to his death; and then was still part of the band who saw first-hand the risen Jesus.

It’s likely both of these men were part of the larger group of followers known as the seventy two that Jesus sent out in twos to go ahead of him to every town and place on his route (Luke 10).

They were both men who knew the Lord first hand; who had experienced the miracles, heard the teaching and finally saw the resurrected Jesus for themselves.

So they were well-qualified for this new role, which Jesus commanded in Acts 1:8, as we have already heard:

‘.. you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The 12 Disciples - the word means one who follows - had become the 12 Apostles - the word means one who is sent.

And this qualification is important, not just for those twelve men, but also for us in our time. Because their primary qualification to be Apostles was simply that they knew Jesus.

These were not theologians, they were not rabbis, they were not intellectuals or philosophers or mystics - they were just men who had been with Jesus.

In a few weeks’ time I have the dubious privilege of doing Jury Service. I have two weeks set aside when I may be sitting in Oxford Crown Court hearing the testimony of witnesses. (Or, more likely, sitting around in a waiting room while they decide whether or not they need me!)

But the point is, the people standing in the box giving evidence will be simply there to tell the story of what they saw and heard. It’s not for them to decide whether the accused is guilty or not. They just tell what they know.

And it’s just the same with Christian witness. You and I are probably not called to be theologians, philosophers, experts in religion or mystics - we are called, just like those apostles, simply to tell what we know, what we have seen and heard.

It is not our job to convert people or persuade people - that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. He does the converting. We simply tell what we know - what we have seen and heard.

And for the Christian that story of course will be about Jesus - about the Lord who has won our heart. About the Lord who died and rose again for us, who forgave our many sins, who gives peace in our hearts, who gives us hope for the future.

The Lord whom sometimes we doubt, who often we fail, the Lord for whom our hearts are often lukewarm.

Our witness must be honest, with all its uncertainties. We don’t invent things we don’t feel, for anyone hearing our testimony may see straight through us if we lie about what we know.

But let’s begin at least where we are. As the man said in Mark’s gospel, Lord, I believe: help me in my unbelief. And the more time we spend with Jesus - in worship, through communion, by opening our scriptures, and in prayer - so the more we will get to know him. And the more it will be evident to those with eyes to see, that we have been with Jesus.

I trust the knowledge of Jesus in your heart is something you treasure, something that is important to you. I trust that you enjoy being with him. If so, it is something also that you must be ready to share with others.

We may be asked any sort of question - these days it’s mostly likely to be something along the lines of - Why do you go to church? Isn’t religion just a load of nonsense? Isn’t it irrelevant?

To which our answer is not an intellectual justification of faith - but simply an account of what we know, what we have seen and heard through being with Jesus.

And that’s all he expects of us.

Do you find that daunting? Take heart from the man born blind in John 9:24. The Pharisees challenged him about Jesus. We read this:-

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man Jesus is a sinner.”
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see! “

Episodes from Acts - Ascension

From Ascension to Mission

We all know the rhythm of a good television series, don’t we?

One episode ends, the immediate problems are resolved, the music begins, and the credits roll. But that is not, of course, the end of the story. The characters remain, the story continues, and often the next episode opens up something bigger than we first imagined.

And this is a helpful way to read the beginning of Acts.

Luke wrote the first part of his report about Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, and we heard the ending of that as our first reading. We might think, “Well, there we go — story done. Jesus has done his work, the credits roll.”

But Acts opens by saying these amazing words: that Luke’s first book, the Gospel, was all about what Jesus began to do and teach. Acts shows us what Jesus then continues to do and teach — no longer visibly in Galilee and Jerusalem, but invisibly and powerfully from heaven, by his Spirit, through his witnesses, the apostles.

Acts is not really the story of Peter and Paul and Barnabas and all the others — or even of the early church. At the deepest level, the book of Acts, which we’re going to be studying in our sermon series over the next few weeks, is the story of the ascended Lord Jesus continuing his mission by the Holy Spirit through ordinary people who bear witness to him.

There are three things for us to think about this evening.

The continuing Christ

Acts chapter 1 says that Luke’s first book recorded all that Jesus began to do and teach. And that’s amazing, isn’t it? Because it shows that the earthly ministry of Jesus was only the beginning.

The ascension that we’re celebrating this evening does not mean that Jesus has gone away into retirement, as it were. It means he has gone to the throne. He is continuing his work, orchestrating salvation — but now from heaven.

So really, Acts is not the Acts of the Apostles in the strictest sense. That title is actually a bit of a misnomer. It is the acts of the ascended Christ through his apostles.

Imagine watching the opening episode of a great drama. The first episode introduces the characters, the conflict, the promise, the mission. And then, just as it ends, the words appear:
To be continued… That is what Luke is doing: Acts is the continuation.

And this matters for church and ministry today, because it shows us that we are not caretakers of religious memory. We are not museum custodians. We serve the living, reigning Christ, who still speaks through his word. Jesus began to do and teach amazing things during his earthly life, and that did not finish with the last chapter of Acts. It continues even today.

Jesus still does his work through his church — in the preaching of the word, in gathering sinners, in building up our faith, and in changing lives.

So when we pray, when we share the gospel with others, when we welcome people into church, when we study the Bible together, we are not trying to keep a dying institution alive. We are participating in the continuing mission of Jesus.

The confused commissioned

In verse 6, the disciples say to Jesus:

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

And if you have been following Jesus’ mission through the Gospels, that should really be a face-palm moment. You think, “Oh disciples — have you really still not understood? Do you really still think Jesus’ mission is about restoring Israel as a kind of military power against the Romans?”

And yet, actually, it is not a stupid question because the Old Testament really did promise restoration. Jesus really is the king. But the disciples still do not fully grasp what his mission is really about. And this shows us that the missing piece is the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had told them to wait for the promise of the Father. It shows they did not merely need more information — they already had more than enough knowledge. What they needed was illumination. They needed the Spirit to open their eyes and fit them for the task.

It is a bit like a problem I increasingly have with long-sightedness. Is anybody else here long-sighted? These glasses are only going to get thicker as I get older — that’s what it means — and my eyes will end up looking huge! When I pick up a book without my glasses, I can see there is writing on the page, but I cannot understand the specifics of what it says because it is all one big blur.

In the same way, the disciples knew there was a kingdom of God, but they needed the glasses of the Spirit to enable them to understand what it actually meant. And it is the same for us today.

That is humbling for us, because it shows we can be religious and still misunderstand Jesus’ mission. It can all remain blurry. We are not naturally able to understand what God is doing unless the Holy Spirit helps us understand what the Bible says about him. The disciples needed the Spirit not merely to make them bold — though they certainly did need that — but to make their understanding clear.

So our churches must not be driven by nostalgia, habit, or institutional survival. We need constantly to ask:

What is the risen Jesus actually doing?
What mission has he given us?
What would it mean to be led by his Spirit rather than by our own assumptions?

We need to make sure that we are putting on the glasses of the Spirit whenever we read the Bible, whenever we think about the world around us, and praying that he would do this for us and for others. Because Jesus continues his mission by his Spirit, and that means we must not assume we naturally understand what he is doing. We have to depend on the Spirit to realign our vision with his kingdom.

The world-wide witnesses

In verse 8, Jesus says:

“You will be my witnesses.”

Notice that Jesus does not answer the disciples’ question about restoring the kingdom by giving them a date. He says:

“It is not for you to know the times or dates.”

In effect, he says: “Don’t worry about exactly when the kingdom will come in fullness. But do concern yourselves with this — you are about to receive power from on high through the Holy Spirit. Your task now is to bear witness to me.”

Beginning in Jerusalem, then spreading out through Judea and Samaria, throughout the Mediterranean world — and wonderfully, by the end of Acts, Paul is preparing to go to Rome itself, the very heart of imperial power, to bear witness before the emperor.

And notice what the disciples are witnesses to. They are not witnesses to vague values — as if Jesus’ central message were simply try harder to be good.

No. They are witnesses to a person:

Jesus’ life.
Jesus’ death.
His resurrection.
His reign.
His mercy.
His salvation.

Think for a moment about what it means to be a witness in court. A witness is not there to entertain, speculate, impress, or show off. A witness simply says:

“This is what I have seen.”
“This is what I know.”
“This is the truth I must tell.”

And as the church, we too are meant to stand in the witness box before the world — not to look impressive, but to be faithful in telling the truth about Jesus. That gives us the shape of Christian ministry. We are not called to be successful, popular, respectable, busy, or useful. We are called first and foremost to be witnesses.

That means church life must always move outward — from worship to witness, from fellowship together to mission, from receiving the gospel to speaking the gospel to others.

So this new series through Acts should encourage us to keep asking:

• How does the ascended Jesus bear witness to himself through his people today?

• How is he calling us to join in that work here and now?

The ascension is not Jesus leaving the mission behind. It is Jesus taking the throne from which the mission goes forward.

Acts begins with three great truths:

First, Jesus has not stopped working — and that is still true today.

Secondly, Jesus’ disciples cannot do his work without the Spirit — and that is still true today.

And thirdly, the church exists for one purpose: to bear witness to Christ — and that is still true today.

So let us now turn to the Lord in prayer, asking that he would help us to do this: to open our eyes to his truth, and to give us the same boldness that he gave to the disciples. Amen.

Acts 1:1-11

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Luke 24:45-53

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

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