Fast Track Chapter 7: The Church

Chapter 7

The first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) cover the life of Jesus, from 4 B.C. to 33 A.D. Many wonder what happened after that time period. Did the disciples carry out the Great Commandment? How did we get from Jesus' ascension to churches sprouting up all over Europe and the Middle East? There are theories, rumors, and guesses, but skeptics were looking for a verifiable record of the next couple of decades.

The book of Acts records the "acts" of the disciples during those next few years. This book was written by an ancient historian and doctor named Luke. (Luke has been praised by modern historians for his precise research and accurate firsthand accounts. Acts served as Luke‟s follow up to the biography of Jesus he also wrote. Acts was written to Theophilus, a man with questions and doubts, who wanted to sort through all the facts before believing. Theophilus was a man exploring questions of faith, and Luke provides him evidence and proof for consideration.

Jesus went up; Spirit came down; Church went out

Acts begins with a summary of the final chapters in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). You could summarize the message with three arrows: Arrow Up, Arrow Down and Arrow Out. When Jesus went up, He promised to send the Holy Spirit down to empower His followers to go out. As God‟s promises were fulfilled in the book of Acts, the message of Christ began to spread. Christ-followers flooded the countryside and overwhelmed the Roman Empire with a message of love. This marginalized, underfunded, and ragtag group of disciples delivered a unique message unlike any religion, philosophy or teaching.

What was this powerful message and movement? Simply put, they proclaimed that a dead man was alive again. They proclaimed the historic fact that Jesus actually came and physically, bodily, and historically defeated death. This message was not primarily a teaching, a philosophy, a sermon, or a set of dogma. At its core, the messengers went out with this statement: "Christ offers a way to defeat death: physical, spiritual and emotional death." People from every background, religion, and culture face the common enemy of death. Never had a movement promised to overcome death. This death-defying movement was also backed up by actual historic evidence. Jesus offered to not only defeat death, but give us His life, one that is more abundant. The movement spread like wildfire to everyone: outcast, poor, rich, affluent, Greek, Jew, Roman, African, European and Ethiopian. Since death is the great equalizer, a death-defeater was the great unifier of cultures and backgrounds. Everyone wanted to know how to make sure death didn‟t have the last laugh.

God lit up their world

The movement began by waiting. Jesus and the angels had instructed the Christ-followers to wait for His Spirit to come upon them. The promised Spirit of God came upon them 50 days later on the day of a Jewish feast called Pentecost. This arrival served as a true taste of God's kingdom come. This Spirit transformed the cowering disciples waiting in an upper room into bold evangelists, declaring this death-defeating message without fear.

When the Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Comforter, came upon them, a small fire appeared over their heads. This was a symbol that God's presence was upon them, just as God appeared in a pillar of fire in the Old Testament. He was appearing as a fire to remind them that His Spirit would be burning inside them now. This new reality meant that when a person becomes a follower of Christ, the very Spirit of Christ comes to live in their hearts. When you accept Christ, God resurrects your spirit toward Him in the present and promises to resurrect your body when you physically die in the future.

Peter was one of the disciples that the Holy Spirit entered in the upper room. He was filled with boldness, and transformed from a denying coward to a passionate pastor. Peter went out to speak to the people gathered in Jerusalem for the Pentecost Feast. Travelers had come from all over the world for the feast. Many different languages, tribes, and cultures were gathered together. As Peter got up to speak, everyone heard him talking in their own native tongue. The Spirit of God "translated" Peter's words into the dozens and dozens of languages represented in the audience.

The Ultimate Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Peter launched into preaching "the Gospel" (a.k.a. God‟s good news.) He explained that there is a gulf between us and our Creator; we don't live up to our own standards, let alone God's. God gave us His law and the prophets to show how far short we fall, and recognize the need we have for forgiveness. We couldn't be good enough for God. In fact, when God came to us in Jesus, we didn't even recognize Him or receive Him. We killed God in the flesh. Peter explained that this was part of God's plan. Religion is about mankind "trying to get to God." The Gospel is about God coming to us. Religion is about what we do for him, which is inadequate. The Gospel is about what Jesus did for us, which is marvelous. God made a way to give us the gift of righteousness, that right standing with God. Peter called on the people to receive this gift from God. Peter reminds the people that Jesus defeated death and offers to defeat death for anyone who believes on Him. Thousands responded to this death-defying message and accepted Christ.

People were so struck by God's generosity gift of His son to deliver them from death that they began to give generously to each other. They began to help the poor who were followers of God, but also help poor skeptics as well. (Ancient historians, like Josephus, later recorded that the Romans never gave anything to anyone. The Christ- followers brought about a cultural transformation through this radical individual generosity. Even the skeptical Roman Emperor Julian wrote, “Their success lies in their charity to strangers ... The impious Galileans (i.e. Christians) support both their own poor and ours as well!”)

Do your giving while you’re living, so you’re knowing where it’s going

Christ-followers were inspired by the generosity of God. They knew Christ was rich in heaven, but left His riches to become poor on Earth. They knew that through Christ‟s poverty on Earth, humans could be heirs to God's priceless kingdom. This radical philosophy of generosity unleashed a new wave of generous benevolence across the Roman Empire. One man named Barnabas, a wealthy land owner, was so generous that he was known as the Son of Encouragement. His giving inspired a wave of financial philanthropy across the globe. His motto could have been: “Do your giving while you‟re living, so you‟re knowing where it‟s going.”

This was not Socialism or Marxism, which mandates giving through government coercion. This was not a top-down government redistribution of wealth, an elimination of property rights, or any form of external coercion at all; this was an inside-out conversion that produced individual, loving generosity. (The Bible teaches property rights, incentive and freedom through enterprise, which clearly contrasts with the economic and political theories of Fascism, Communism, Marxism, and Socialism. The Bible‟s message of compassionate aid for the needy and hands-on service to the poor, positions it against Hedonism, materialism, Gnosticism, and Hinduism.) This message of generosity was unlike any teaching ever seen before or since. These early Christ-followers took their personal income and private property and chose to give it away to others in need.

One couple, Ananias and Sapphira, wanted to be "known" as generous givers. The couple gave a large contribution from some land they sold, but they lied about the amount. They held back some of the proceeds. Peter confronted them. He affirmed that they didn't "have to give" since it was their private property and money. But he held them to account about lying to God and others about the amount they gave. Peter knew their motives; they gave to impress others, not to honor God. Soon after, a significant financial dilemma struck the early church. Many poor widows were being neglected. Some assumed that racism was involved, since some were having their needs met while others were being neglected. Peter brought a group of folks together to take care of the financial needs, including a new church leader named Stephen.

This new team administrated their finances, assessed individual needs, and addressed the issues of racism and neglect. The church and surrounding community responded powerfully. Many were added to the church and joined the radically generous group. The new message of Christ began to bring a new ethic of generosity, compassion, and racial unity to the whole region.

Stephen, first Christian martyr

Christians began to teach that life was a sacred, God-given gift. In response, they started hospitals and orphanages. They believed in the sanctity of life for unborn children, exploited poor, abused slaves, neglected women, and abandoned children. This new value for life inspired a generous revolution that rescued orphans, created jobs for the poor, inspired new laws outlawing the horrific Roman games, as well as establishing personal rights for individuals regardless of socio-economic standing. Since anyone could be adopted as a child of God, Christ-followers treated everyone as inherently valuable from the womb to the rocking chair. Stephen‟s leadership in the group would inspire centuries of generosity into the future.

Stephen became a significant force in the early church. He would eventually be brought before the Sanhedrin (a corrupt, political religious group that wanted to stomp out the Christian movement.) Stephen preached the new message of Jesus, giving his own Fast Track summary of the long history of God's work from Genesis to that moment. He concluded that God's people have always resisted Him, His message, and His offer of forgiveness. The Sanhedrin were infuriated. They were offended that Jesus‟ message would suggest that religion was not only inadequate, but antagonistic toward God. They stoned Stephen to death using large rocks. As Stephen was killed, he looked up to the sky and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God ready to receive him into Heaven. This bedrock confidence in God and his death-defeating power made Christ-followers fearless – even in the face of death. They refused to recant. They refused to deny their Savior and friend. At Stephen‟s execution, a man stood in the background and looked on, holding the coats of the killers. This eyewitness, named Saul, would soon become a revolutionary character in his own right.

Saul saw the light

Saul was a religious Pharisee who tried to stomp out the believers, now commonly referred to as followers of “the Way.” For Saul‟s entire life, he‟d been obsessed with rule-keeping, dotting i‟s and crossing t‟s. The religious zealot was so offended by the Christ-followers‟ message that he crisscrossed the countryside, jailing and murdering Christians who refused to recant. His rampage of persecution quickly made him a legendary foe of the movement.

One day, while traveling on a road to Damascus, a bright light appeared to Saul and his companions. The force of the light knocked him to the ground and blinded him. Jesus appeared to Saul and told him to stop hunting His followers.

Saul was shocked to learn the truth; he had been persecuting the very God he was working so hard to impress. Saul realized that his religiosity had blinded him to the truth of Christ‟s identity. Jesus restored Saul‟s sight, changed his name to Paul, and commissioned him to proclaim the death-defeating message. Paul spent the next few years learning about the Way, under the mentorship of an older man named Barnabas. Once trained, Paul's radical life change would be used by God in extraordinary ways. As a primary spokesman to the Gentiles, to Kings, and anyone who would listen, the energetic and intelligent Paul was a leader‟s leader.

Paul circled the known world three times

The rest of Acts track Paul‟s journeys as he carried the death-defeating message of Christ to the whole world. Paul spoke boldly of Christ's forgiveness, leadership, and identity as God. Paul circled the known world three times on his a trio of missionary journeys. Each time, he targeted large cities, knowing that if the message was rooted there, it would change the countryside. Paul invited anyone he met to explore the message of Christ. He would reason with them and pepper them with compelling evidence from history, eye-witnesses, and the Scriptures. He would reveal the impotence of religious works to fix the heart of mankind. He would ask everyone to receive Christ as their forgiver and leader. Along the way, Paul spent time training believers and setting up elders to pastor new communities of Christ-followers called churches. These churches were called to be a light-proclaiming message of the "good news." They weren‟t buildings; churches were gatherings of people who wholly embraced the message of eternal grace. The simple message inspired the churches, and the familiar refrain spread like wildfire: “We fall short of God‟s standards and turn to hollow things for purpose and identity. Only God satisfies our needs through his free and eternal gift of grace, peace and forgiveness.”

Time and again during his travels, Paul clarified the message of grace to any skeptic, follower or church leader who would listen. The evangelist offered them (and us) a choice to ponder: At the end of our lives, we can either have fairness or forgiveness. A fair trial might sound appealing, but in actuality, it would doom us. It would result in revealing just how far we fall short of God‟s standards. Choosing forgiveness instead allows God to put things right on His terms, transferring a redeeming spiritual credit from His account to yours. This gift of God's righteousness is offered freely to any who would receive it.

During these three trips around the world, Paul visited cities and started churches in a variety of European cities: Philippi, Colossi, Galatia, Rome, Ephesus, and Thessalonica. He then wrote letters to these churches to encourage them, instruct and clarify God's work and identity in Christ. In each of these letters, Paul unapologetically repeats the message of grace.

Here comes the judge! Paul presented the case for Christ

Paul then took his commission from God to speak to rulers, kings, and judges of his day. He fashioned a strategic plan to maximize his limited time. Paul wanted everyone to know Christ, but he chose to specifically spend time trying to reach leaders. Paul knew that if he could transform a leader, a ruler, or a king, the entire countryside could be transformed with it. The former attorney used his persuasive tongue to present the historic accuracy of Christ's resurrection to three influential and affluent rulers. Paul's entire ministry philosophy was shaped by Christ‟s commission to challenge leaders to change the world. While people from all walks of life could receive the message, Paul specifically targeted influential cities and rulers for his energies. He presented his case to Felix, Festus, King Agrippa, and aimed for an audience with Caesar himself. Paul‟s life was filled with difficulty: shipwreck, attacks, and imprisonment. Reaching leaders was rarely a glamorous or personally rewarding commission. But Paul felt compelled to tirelessly work to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the “movers and shakers” of his day.

One day, while preaching in an open square, a mob attacked Paul and placed him in prison. He was beaten, imprisoned, and supernaturally delivered many times. Toward the end of Paul‟s ministry, we see him waiting in jail for his trial before a series of important leaders. He stood first before the Roman Governor Felix. Each time Paul shared the message of the Gospel with such rulers, he shared his astonishing faith story. He reasoned intelligently with these educated men, presenting evidence of Jesus Christ‟s physical resurrection from the dead. Many of these rulers were intrigued by the potential that Jesus really had died and raised Himself from the dead. Paul told them to investigate the facts themselves since the eyewitnesses were still alive and these events “didn‟t happen in a corner.” Paul could have been freed at this time; but he yearned for an audience with Caesar in Rome, and knew that remaining in prison helped his cause. Determined to address the Emperor himself, Paul was placed on a ship bound for Rome.

Paul’s Perfect Storm

On the prison ship, Paul continued to share the message of Christ with his captors. They traveled across the Mediterranean Sea during a season of severe storms. The boat hit a major tsunami. Paul remained calm, knowing that His steadfast God was with him. Paul learned in a vision that God would help him and the crew survive the battering storms. The ship crashed onto land after much struggle. The soldiers were scared that prisoners would run away if they allowed them to swim to shore. The guards considered killing all the prisoners, but Paul convinced the guards to bring them all ashore. The crew started a fire for warmth, and scared out a venomous snake from among the logs. The startled reptile struck Paul. But surprisingly, the poison had no effect; instead Paul was supernaturally protected and healed. The evangelist used this opportunity to again proclaim the Gospel, reminding the soldiers and natives that death can occur at any time. He reminds them that the Grim Reaper is not conquered by good works, philosophy, or religion. Only Jesus Christ went toe-to-toe with death and came out victorious. Paul challenged everyone to consider putting their faith in the great, death-defeating champion known as Jesus Christ. The book of Acts ends with Paul, more intent than ever to make it to Rome for an audience with Caesar.

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