Hello, and welcome to Lechem Panim. Thank you for joining us today as we begin a new series on a book of the Bible that has so much to say to us as we face these difficult and unusual times. If you are seeking a book that shows what God can do in and through men and women sold out to Him, this is it, as it gives us an account of the dynamic birth and explosive growth of the Early Church. And of course I am talking about the book of Acts, a book that (in the midst of what we are facing now) will really help us to grasp...
Hello, and welcome to Lechem Panim. Thank you for joining us today as we begin a new series on a book of the Bible that has so much to say to us as we face these difficult and unusual times. If you are seeking a book that shows what God can do in and through men and women sold out to Him, this is it, as it gives us an account of the dynamic birth and explosive growth of the Early Church. And of course I am talking about the book of Acts, a book that (in the midst of what we are facing now) will really help us to grasp what it means to be the Church during all these trials that we are facing in these days.
Who’d You Follow?— Now the way I want us to start off today is by having you think of the many giants of the faith in and throughout all of scripture; the men and women you admire the most. And I want you to think; which is the one (besides Jesus, of course) that (if you were given the opportunity) you would want to follow around the most? If you had the opportunity to minister with and be discipled by anybody (to share in their life experiences) who would that be? Would you join Noah in his ministry of building the ark and preaching repentance to the people? Would you sit under Daniel in Babylon and then Persia, joining him in prayer in that room with its windows open facing Jerusalem; would you even be willing to join him in a den of lions? Would you follow David through his many excursions; joining him on the battlefield to face Goliath or running with him in fear from King Saul, who would be seeking to take both of your lives? You know, what is amazing when we think of these giants of the faith is that nobody that we would want to seek to follow, to sit under, and to emulate had a perfect or stress-free life. Many (if not all) of them faced persecutions and dangers like we can’t even imagine.
Following Paul— There are a number of men (and women) in scripture I look up to and would love to follow, but whom I also think would be very challenging to follow in ministry. And one of these in particular (although I would love to follow him), it would be incredibly difficult because of what he faced. He was the victim of numerous hate crimes, being pelted with stones; being whipped mercilessly; dealing with imprisonment and even shipwreck. And of course I am talking about the apostle Paul. I can think of few people I admire more than him; and yet at the same time I think about how difficult it would be to share in his ministry. And [We know enough of what Paul and his fellow travelers endured to know that anyone identifying with Paul and the cause of Christ were candidates for the same sufferings.]
Growing Pain— But suffering (especially for the sake of Christ) is not something we should seek to avoid. And that’s because suffering and difficulty is what causes us to grow. This is why James writes in…
James 1:2-4 (ESV)— 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Strengthened Character— And so while in looking at the life of Paul our flesh might hesitate to want to share in his sufferings, we know that to walk with somebody like that through the things that they faced would be both an honor and a privilege; and would produce such a strength of character in us.
Luke, A Companion of Paul— Paul had that steadfastness; and those who walked with him had that steadfastness as well. And one of those men who walked with Paul is the author of our book; a man who was willing to follow Paul to the ends of the earth for the sake of the Gospel; and that was a gentile convert to Christianity by the name of Luke; author of both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. [Although some of the material in Acts was no doubt collected from different sources by Luke, much of the material comes from his own experiences traveling with Paul (Col 4:14; 2Tm 4:11; Phm 24). {There are}…many instances in Acts where the point of view changes from “he/they” to “we,” implying that the author himself was there with Paul during those periods.] He was with Paul in the midst of many of his trials and tribulations. He was with Paul on Paul’s second missionary journey and saw the savage and brutal attacks on Paul and Silas, their subsequent imprisonment, and their miraculous release (16:10-17). He was with Paul on Paul’s sea voyage from Caesarea to Rome when (as you remember) the ship was overcome by a storm of hurricane-like force that battered and ultimately wrecked their ship upon the coast of Malta. Luke had swum with Paul through the breakers as the ship ran aground before being broken apart by the waves. We also know that (among other circumstances) Dr. Luke also stayed by Paul’s side when Paul was under arrest in Rome (27:1—28:16; Col. 4:14). Now the question is, “Why go through all of this?” Why would anyone choose a religion like Christianity that would involve so much pain and suffering?
Beans or Songs— [Tim Stafford, a senior writer for Christianity Today, wrote in one of his articles, saying: A pastor I know, Stephey Belynskyj, starts each confirmation class with a jar full of beans. He asks his students to guess how many beans are in the jar, and on a big pad of paper writes down their estimates. Then, next to those estimates, he helps them make another list: their favorite songs. When the lists are complete, he reveals the actual number of beans in the jar. The whole class looks over their guesses, to see which estimate was closest to being right. Belynskyj then turns to the list of favorite songs. "And which one of these is closest to being right?" he asks. The students protest that there is no "right answer"; a person's favorite song is purely a matter of taste. Belynskyj, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Notre Dame asks, "When you decide what to believe in terms of your faith, is that more like guessing the number of beans, or more like choosing your favorite song?" Always, Belynskyj says, from old as well as young, he gets the same answer: Choosing one's faith is more like choosing a favorite song. Tim Stafford writes: When Belynskyj told me this, it took my breath away. "After they say that, do you confirm them?" I asked him. "Well," smiled Belynskyj, "First I try to argue them out of it.”]
Meaningful or True?— The concept of truth is an important issue because it affects how we view Christianity. Are we Christians only because it is meaningful to us, or is it because we know it to be true? You see a lot of people today (even many Christians) think that what is true for me is true for me and that what is true for you is true for you. But what they really mean is “what is meaningful for me is meaningful for me and what is meaningful for you is meaningful for you.” It is pretty much the same as choosing your favorite music artist; it simply comes down to what you feel speaks to you. But I want to stress to you that this is not how the early Christians came to faith in Christ. If choosing Christianity was like choosing a song, I am sure they would have sought a different tune. No, for the disciples it was more than that. Listen to what Luke writes in…
Luke 1:1-4 (ESV)— 1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Eyewitnesses —> Certainty— You have the word “eyewitnesses”, which is why there were ministers by the way. People were willing to be ministers because there was eyewitness evidence that Christianity (founded on the resurrection of Christ) was actually true. And then you have in verse 4 this amazing word. And that is the word “certainty”. Luke writes to Theophilus in order (he says) that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Now look at the rest of Luke’s introduction at the opening of the book of Acts. It says in…
Acts 1:1-3 (ESV)— 1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Why Luke Followed Christ— Any Christian who says you can’t prove (at least beyond a reasonable doubt) that Christianity is true has not really read Luke; because Luke believed the resurrection was a proven event. And the evidence he uncovered is what provided Luke with the intellectual groundwork to be able to receive and accept Christ. You see, if you were a Christian at that time, you had a good reason. It wasn’t just because you found Christianity to be meaningful or because it gave you warm fuzzies inside. No, it is because it was true; it was verifiable; it was rooted in facts; in history; in geography. It wasn’t out there somewhere in the cosmos. No, Jesus had happened right there in their very midst! There were witnesses (hundreds of witnesses) to His resurrection. And these early Christians had nothing to gain in this world for following Christ other than pain, persecution, and even death. And what I want you to note is that Luke’s decision to follow Christ could not have been an easy one. Luke abandoned his whole livelihood. His whole medical career he abandoned completely to follow Christ. As the disciples who had been fishermen left their nets to become fishers of men, so Luke left his practice to become a physician (not just for people’s physical bodies) but for THE Body of Christ; for the sake of the Kingdom. He went from a clinic (whatever that looked like) to binding Paul’s many wounds and no doubt caring for him and nursing him back to health after his many beatings; and he himself may have endured some of that. This was a major life change for Luke; a change that can only be explained (not by the latest fad religion on the block) but rather in encountering the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The truth changed him; and Luke allowed it to re-shape and change the course of his entire life.
Truth Shaping Us— And that is how it always is when we truly encounter Jesus. It changes us; it empowers us; it moves us out of our comfort zone and makes us willing to face any persecution necessary in order to bring people the good news of the hope of salvation in Jesus. My hope is that in and throughout our study, we also might not just learn the history of the early Church, but that we will also experience the same kind of Spirit-empowered change that Luke, the apostles, and the rest of the believers experienced as they followed Christ. May we embrace the truth as fully as they did. And may it shape us into being the men and women Christ has called us to be. Amen.
