Apologetics, First Century Style

Acts 1:3

Throughout the book of Acts, the central message that seems to be taught by the Apostles and the disciples is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Every other religious founder on earth has died, but the founder of Christianity came out of the tomb and is alive today!  Luke says that after Jesus was crucified, He gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.  What is interesting is that the Greek word translated as “proofs” is used only in this passage.  Nowhere else is this Greek word used in all of the New Testament.  The word has the idea of a proof that directs a person to a conclusion; just like a normal apologetic.  What this means is that Jesus’s appearances were convincing, even to those who had not expected a resurrection.         

Luke lists at least three specific proofs, and these are probably categories of proofs that can be developed further.  First, Luke says that Christ appeared to the Apostles over a period of forty days.  He did not appear just once, twice, or three times.  Christ’s followers saw him multiple times so that is was clear that they were not dreaming or hallucinating.  Second, Luke says that Christ spoke and taught about the kingdom of God.  The disciples clearly remembered that He taught about the kingdom of God because just a few verses later they are talking about it; this was the same Jesus.  Third, Jesus ate with them, and what a meal that must have been!  They saw Jesus put food in his mouth, chew it up, swallow it, and eat some more.  What more proof does a person need that Jesus is alive?

The disciples saw Christ, they heard Christ, and they shared a meal with Him.  There can be no refuting something that is this certain!  Over the centuries, skeptics have tried to disprove the resurrection.  Ironically, many of those skeptics have followed the evidence and have become believers in Jesus Christ.  When you follow the evidence for the resurrection of Christ there is only be one infallible truth – Jesus is alive!  The early church proclaimed the resurrection from the mountaintops, in the middle of the city, on the hills of the deserts, to the religious leaders, in the synagogues, and to anyone who would listen.   So, what then is our problem for not proclaiming this infallible truth? 

 

On the Heels of the Resurrection

Acts 1:1-2

I have read many of the resurrection passage that are given in Scripture and have always dreamed of what it must have been like to see a resurrected Christ!  That dream will be a reality one day!  But, honestly, my dream ends there and I can now sit back and rest – Selah.  As I began to ponder this thought I had a strange feeling that I was forgetting something.  Shouldn’t seeing the resurrected Christ be enough for anyone?  As I read this text in Acts 1, I realized that something was missing.  Jesus didn’t stop his work after the resurrection; He continued to pour his life into his followers.  In Luke 24:45-49, Christ appears to his disciples after the resurrection and “connects all the dots” for them.  You see they thought, like I did, that after the resurrection everything is over.  Verse 45 says that Christ opened the minds of the disciples so that they could understand the Scriptures?  But I thought they already knew the Scriptures?  Yes, but there were more Scriptures to be written!  Thus, verses 46-49 summarize what will take place as we read through the book of Acts: the disciples preach the resurrected Christ, salvation for all nations is offered beginning in Jerusalem, the disciples will be His witnesses to all people, and Christ will send the Holy Spirit to give them the power to accomplish these things.

Then it hit me in a phrase like this: we must not stop with the resurrection; we must continue on to fulfill the Great Commission.

So what does all this mean for readers of the 21^st century?  It means we must follow through.  Christians cannot be content with only the resurrection, and the hope it gives us for the future.  We have a job to do now.  We must carry out the Great Commission just like the followers of Christ did in the book of Acts.  Forgetting to follow through can cause us to become selfish.  By this I mean that if we don’t share the gift of salvation with others we are being selfish.  When refuse to move pass the resurrection toward the Great Commission we become selfish.  Now, this entry is not to discuss the many facets of the Great Commission, of which I believe there are as many as there are kinds of people.  But here’s the bottom line as I try to pull all this together.  The disciples imbibed all they could from the ministry of Jesus for 3½ years, but there came a time when they had to put what they absorbed and learned into practice.  They could not continue to sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary did, it was time for them to get up and serve like Martha did.  Continuing to sit at the feet of Jesus and not pass on what they learned to others would be selfish. 

If we are going to follow through then let’s make sure we have soaked with Jesus first, then we can unselfishly serve Christ by obeying his command to make disciples.

 

The Gospel Train

...a synopsis of Acts

I can remember in my childhood years singing the song, “The Gospel Train.”  Little did I know that while it was a hymn sung by many protestant denominations in the 1900s, it’s origins run deep into the Unground Railroad.  It was actually a song sung by slaves that were planning to escape and head north for freedom.  Slave owners had no idea that a group of slaves were planning to escape because singing was a common part of any slaves’ day.  But when I think about the phrase the Gospel Train, I think of the book of Acts.  You see the book of Acts is the inspired story of the one and only Gospel train that shoved off from the station in Jerusalem and didn’t stop until it rolled into its destination in Rome.  There were many people who got on the train, but there were also many unsuccessful attempts to stop this train.  When Luke wrote the book of Acts he wanted to show his readers that nothing could stop the Gospel from traveling to its intended destination.  It began with Jesus in Jerusalem (Acts 1) and would travel all the way to the Gentiles in Rome (Acts 28).  

Upon reading the last few verses of Acts 28, a feeling of closure is far from the words of Luke.  Acts ends quite abruptly (much like the book of Jonah) and leaves many questions unanswered.  Or does it?  For Luke, his chronicle of the Gospel’s work through a variety of men and women was finished, but for us, who read the book of Acts in the 21^st century, we realize that the work of the Gospel is not finished! In many ways the Gospel train is still rolling from destination to destination.  The question we must ask ourselves is what are we doing to direct people towards that train?  Are we hindering people from getting on that train, or worse, are we trying to stop that train?  Sometimes I think we live like the train never existed, at least that is what our actions show.  But we cannot get away from that whistle; a constant nagging that there is room for more people to come aboard.  Some just need an invitation from a friend, while others might take a little work on our part...aren’t they worth it? 

Ray Stedman, an author and pastor, entitled his written sermons on the book of Acts as, “God Unfinished Book.”  It’s a great description of the book because it shows that there is still more to be written.  The stories of Peter and John, Stephen and Barnabas, Paul and Silas, may be ended in a historical sense, but they have passed the baton on to the Christians in the 21^st century.  Our methods may be different, and our culture a little dismal at times, but our message will always be the same.  Like it or not, we are part of God’s Unfinished Book.  May our stories reflect the same earnestness, faithfulness, and compassion as those before us.

Greetings!

The purpose of this blog is to journal my thoughts as I study out God's Word in a variety of venues.  I teach several Bible studies on a regular basis and desire to make theology relevant for the world in which we live.  It's my hope that the overflow that the Holy Spirit reveals to me through studying His Word is something that I can write down in way that will be beneficial to all who read this blog.  I plan on studying all kinds of biblical related issues, I especially like Bible book expositions as I believe a person can learn more from this type of study than any other.  I welcome your comments and want to interact with all readers.  All that being said, I plan on starting out this blog with a study of the book of Acts that will commence shortly...