The Expanding Church in Acts 8-12

All right, Every Nation Seminary, welcome back to your lecture in the book of Acts. I hope that this is helpful to you. I hope that you're getting a sense of just how awesome your Bible is and just how amazing the history of God's people are, especially as it's been recorded by Dr. Luke here in the book of Acts. So today, we're going to be in our second lecture where we're going to look at Acts chapters 8 through 12. So let's dive in. What are the goals of this time together? Our goal here is that you would understand the Judea and Samaria sections of the book of Acts a little bit more clearly, and that you'll be able to see the evolution of this tiny Jewish community into a worldwide movement, because that's what Acts records. Acts is recording the movement of God's people from this little Jewish sect, follower of an unbeknownst Jewish rabbi who says he was Messiah, through the working of the Holy Spirit and going all over. the world and stopping at the doorstep of the emperor of Rome himself. I also want to explore with you the connective historical theological tissue that links Luke and Paul. There have been some discussions amongst some scholars that Luke and Paul are sort of in opposition to one another, but again, I just want to stress, and we'll talk about this more when you are in your letters class, that Luke is doing historical theology. It's just a little bit different than what we normally get. from the apostle Paul. So let's start in chapter 8. This is the mission work of Philip. So remember what just happened. What just happened was the great persecution that led to the stoning of Stephen, and it was supposed to end the church. But what it actually did was spread the church. And so Philip, this good Jewish Christian, is recorded doing a few things that no Jew would do normally. And the first thing that he's recorded as doing is going to Samaria. Now, It's difficult for me to underscore exactly how much Jews hated Samaritans. We've talked about it in other lectures, so I won't belabor the point, but if you can combine, you know, racism and nationalism and religious bigotry all into one nasty thing, that would be summarizing or coming close to the way Jews of the time felt toward Samaritans. But something so transformational has happened in this young Jewish man named Philip that the first thing that he believes he should do is to go to Samaria. and tell them about King Jesus. So this ends up being the reversal of racism and religious bigotry that characterized the Jewish people of the time, and replacing it with love and compassion that marked the Jesus community that was burgeoning in the book of Acts. So he goes to Samaria and he preaches, and then we get this story of him going and speaking to the Ethiopian eunuch there in chapter 8. Now this is fascinating. The Holy Spirit tells him that this is what he should do, and I love how Luke records this so matter-of-factly. The Holy Spirit spoke to this guy, and he went and did what the Holy Spirit said. It should really challenge us and stir our faith as readers of this gospel that the Holy Spirit, this is something that he did, and therefore something that he can still do. So he goes and he speaks to this Ethiopian eunuch. He kind of saddles up next to him as he's standing there and reading the scroll of Isaiah, but can't understand it. By the power of the Spirit and his own knowledge of the scriptures, Luke, or Philip rather, explains this text to him. And he says, well, I... what's keeping me from being baptized? And so they find water and they baptize him. And what I love about this is this leads to one of the weirdest and coolest miracles in your entire Bible, whereby Luke, or Philip rather, is teleported, moved somewhere else. And so he goes under the water and he comes back out in a place called Azotus. And he gets up and Luke simply records, Since he was there, he began preaching in all the towns between there and Caesarea. The big idea here, I mean, humor aside, sometimes your Bible is funny, and I just find that really funny. I just kind of came up, noticed that he was teleported by the Holy Spirit somewhere else, and went, well, I guess this is where God wants me to preach, and he just kept on going. But the big idea here is that the gospel is going out to the nations, and the Spirit is moving powerfully, even though there's persecution. In fact, persecution cannot stop it. No. This moment leads us to the conversion of Saul. This is a big moment. It doesn't get a lot of real estate just now because Paul's going to get a lot more real estate in the book of Acts later. But here's what we see here first, and I really want you to see this, how the Holy Spirit really saturates this story and really saturates the text. Jesus appears to Paul, Saul rather, and... blinds him and does all the stuff, and it's the Holy Spirit who seems to be orchestrating this whole event. So let's walk through it. One commentator says this, Saul's experience on the road to Damascus is the most famous conversion in church history. Luke is so impressed with its importance that he includes the story three times, once in his own narrative and twice in Paul's speeches. He is evidently anxious, as the Book of Common Prayer puts it, that we should have his wonderful conversion in remembrance. Saul's conversion, yeah, definitely the most famous and ends up being the most important in the book because the second half of the book is going to follow so much of what the apostle Paul will do. So let's dive in. How was Paul converted? What happened? Well, remember at this point, before his conversion... Paul is a zealot. You could compare him with Phineas of the Book of Numbers. This is something that N.T. Wright does. Phineas was zealous for the holiness of the Lord, and you'll remember that there was unholiness in the camp, and so Phineas grabs a spear and he skewers a Jewish man who was sleeping with a Moabite woman, I believe, and thereby cleansing the Jewish camp of the impurity of the... of the sin of this man. And the Bible describes him there in the book of Exodus, or in the book of Numbers rather, not as a murderer, but as someone who is zealous for the Lord. So in Paul's mind, I'm sure that he's comparing himself favorably to Phineas. He's zealous, even if his zeal leads to acts of violence. And here, right in that state, the Holy Spirit arranges this circumstance. Jesus shows up, knocks him off his horse, blinds him, and says, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Rise and enter the city and you will be told what to do. This is super important for us to understand. And the Holy Spirit in the background is arranging things. He's speaking to Ananias. Now imagine this, you're praying and the Holy Spirit comes to you and says, hey, I want you to go to that murderer who's been murdering all the other Christians that you know. And I want you to help him. I want you to pray for him. That would be unsettling, as you can imagine. And so... Ananias says, you know, I don't want to do that. Why do I have to do this? He's done so much evil in your name. But the Holy Spirit said, Jesus says to him, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So the Spirit is preparing Ananias, and Ananias obeys this. spirit-given vision of Jesus. And so I want you to see, you know, we talk a lot in Every Nation about the four E's, but here's a place where it totally shows up. Saul is engaged. Jesus appears to him, blinds him, confronts him. And then Ananias comes to him, reaches out to his enemy, lays hands on him, baptizes him. He's filled with the Holy Spirit. He feeds him. What's he being? He's being established in the church. He's being established in the sacrament of baptism. He's being established in the word and community. He's being equipped with the power and the filling of the Holy Spirit. In this narrative, very quickly after this happens, it says here he was with the disciples some days in Damascus, and he immediately proclaimed Jesus in synagogues, saying that he is the Son of God. Can you imagine the shocking nature of this particular event? But notice what the church knew. The church didn't go, oh, you haven't been to seminary, or, oh, you haven't been taught enough. He simply went out. He understood that it was his role now to go and talk about the... Lord, go and talk about the gospel. And that's what he did. Paul is preaching very shortly after his own conversion. And even though others are afraid of him, he's accepted by Barnabas. And what is the result? I love the way Acts 9.31 summarizes this. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. I love that. I love that. As Ananias was faithful, as Jesus did an amazing thing to Saul, great. things happen. This is meant to inspire us, I'm sure, and inspire Luke's readers that simple acts of faithfulness in response to the Holy Spirit can lead to amazing, amazing things. So after this, we get a scene that's very important. We get the scene of Peter and Cornelius. Now, this section presents, again, within a historical theological frame, a major question that must be dealt with, namely, how will non-Jews... be treated within this Jewish movement? What must non-Jews do to be saved? Do they have to become Jewish? Are Jewish Christians even supposed to go to non-Jews? That's been hinted at as Philip went to Samaria, but there are more and more non-Jews coming to Jesus, and they don't quite know what to do. Some, I'm sure, thought that this was not part of God's plan. Others thought that in order to be saved by Jesus, you needed to become a Jew first. Now, while in Jerusalem, this was easier because everyone was Jewish. Now, remember, before persecution, Everybody was there. It was great. It was one big Jewish family get-together, right? The nations were coming back in, but it was the nations to which the Jews had been scattered. Now they're going beyond simply the Jewish people into the people of the other nations to the Gentiles. And this presented quite a problem because Jews and Gentiles were oil and water. They weren't even supposed to hang out according to Jewish law. So after the persecution, this was a question that had to be dealt with. Think about this in terms of what it means for your apostolic leadership and for your work as a global missionary. We've got to think about how the gospel... is to go to not just people like us, but people very different than us. So we're looking at how this Jewish sect became an international movement. Remember I said that at the beginning of the lecture. We're trying to trace how it went from being the small group of people in Jerusalem to this worldwide movement. And here we see a key turning point in that evolution. So here's the story. God speaks to Cornelius, a devout Gentile, to call Peter over to him, to go and summon Peter. So the next thing that happens is in Joppa. And Peter gets this vision of all of these impure foods, all of these foods coming down on like a big picnic blanket, as you imagine. That, you know, there's pork and there's all kinds of shellfish and stuff that Jews were not supposed to eat. And he hears the voice of the Lord say, rise, Peter, kill and eat. And in the vision, Peter says, no, this happens three times. And then finally, the Holy Spirit tells Peter to meet with them. Peter's vision ends in Acts 10 with God saying this, do not call anything impure. that God has made pure. So the Holy Spirit tells Peter to go and meet with these men, and Cornelius' men meet with Peter and repeat the angel's message that the angel spoke to Cornelius, and Peter invites them into the house. Now, that already is crazy, because as a Jewish guy, that was not supposed to happen. Peter is slowly getting it. And the next thing that happens, they're in Caesarea, and Peter goes to Cornelius' house and explains that he's only a man. Cornelius drops down and begins to worship him, and Peter goes, oh, okay, okay. Now, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but there's only one God, and he gets him up, and he repeats the vision which relates to unclean men. So he goes from unclean food to unclean people, and he understands, oh, God's talking to me not just about food. So then Cornelius repeats the angel's message, and Peter gives the gospel to Cornelius' whole household. And as he's doing it, the Holy Spirit comes on the Gentiles, and Jewish Christians are amazed at this. They're all filled with the Holy Spirit. They begin speaking in tongues. And sometimes commentators have referred to this as the Gentile Pentecost. Because Peter is just there preaching. He hasn't even gotten to the altar call yet. And the Holy Spirit comes rushing in. So Peter concludes, therefore, that Gentiles are to be baptized. In Acts chapter 10, verses 47 and 48, we read this. Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? Do you hear how we're getting more of this connective tissue? to this small Jewish group that's becoming a worldwide movement. It's dawning on Paul, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that non-Jews are to be treated just like Jews are, because what saves them is trust in the message of Jesus, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Holy Spirit, at the preaching of God's Word, verifies this fact. So, the next thing that happens is they're in Jerusalem, and Peter goes to Jerusalem, and other... to go talk to other Jewish Christians and Jewish Christians complain, you ate with the Gentiles. Remember, you're not supposed to do that. But Peter responds by narrating from his perspective, the events of the books, the events of Acts chapter 10. And he repeats the vision and men come to Peter's house and he repeats the Holy Spirit message and repeats the angel's message. And he recounts the Holy Spirit coming on the Gentiles. And he concludes, he explains this to them that they, the same gift had. been given to them through faith. This is very interesting, right? So zoom out. Luke is giving us the same story again and again and again. In fact, this story is told to us four times from four different angles. We hear it from Luke to the reader, then we hear Cornelius tell it to Peter, we hear Peter tell it to the Jewish Christians, and then Cornelius tell it to Peter. And so Peter, I want to read to you from one commentator, John Stott, he says this. Peter was quick to draw the inevitable deduction. Since God had accepted these Gentile believers, which indeed he had, the church must accept them too. Since God had baptized them with his Spirit, can anyone keep them from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. How could the sign be denied to those who have already received the reality signified? Chrysostom expatiated on this logic. By giving the Spirit to Cornelius and his household, Before their baptism, God gave Peter an apologia magale, or a mighty reason for justification, for giving them water baptism. Yet, in a sense, their baptism was complete already because the Holy Spirit had done it, for God had done it himself. Peter was clear that in no point was he the author. but in every point God was. It was as if Peter said, God baptized them, not I. Peter was basically saying, look at what God's done. How can we stand in the way of what God seems to have done? This is an important turning point in the story of the book of Acts because Peter is now connecting the events that he's seeing to a theological conclusion about who Jesus is and how the ministry of Jesus is meant to go into not just Jewish communities across the world, but non-Jewish communities across the world. Now, look out for this because the same logic is going to come back up in Acts chapter 15 when we look at the Jerusalem Council. But for now, let me give you some summary thoughts. Repetition in the narrative. Why is this story retold so many times? It's retold because Luke wants us to see it. He wants his readers to see this story very clearly, that God wants the Gentiles. God wants the nations. He's come to the Jews, but he means to come to them and through them to the world. This has to... make you reflect a little bit on your own comfort level with holding the gospel story just to yourself and being content to living a nice Christian life to the exclusion of your neighbor who maybe you don't even like. I'm challenged as I read this, as I give you this lecture, the kinds of people that I know that are very different than me, that I frankly sometimes don't want to be inconvenienced to share the gospel with. This story challenges me because God wants them. God wants the nations. Luke wants his readers to see this, which is why he took the time. to recount the story four times to us as readers. So this destroys partiality in the church. So the idea of multiple classes in the church, or racism in the church, or sexism in the church, or any kind of bigotry, any of those isms that tend to vex human relationships, this is the kind of story that helps us conclude it's not to be that way. There's no Jew and Gentile, and Paul's gonna riff on this theologically later in the book of Galatians and in the book of Romans, which we'll talk about, that there is one people of God. and they are made the people of god by faith in jesus and the presence of the holy spirit and nothing else now the historical audience therefore is convicted by these events and the reading audience is encouraged by them this section then ends with uh with the church in antioch and this is really cool because after this persecution comes to the you know the church that had just been formed right there at pentecost a church is formed in antioch up the road as it were and now the church is multi-ethnic, it's international, it's growing, it's non-Jewish, and they're called, for the first time, Christians, which was meant to be a slur and became our moniker. Paul and Barnabas were team teaching there, and the church was growing, and they were growing, and this is where Paul's mission for the relief of the church in Jerusalem began. Agabus comes, and he prophesies that there would soon be a famine, and Paul and Barnabas commit themselves to somehow helping this event, which will motivate a lot of Paul's ministry as he builds a collection. We will read about that in the book of 1st and 2nd Corinthians, for example. So what do we want to conclude from this section in the book of Acts? I wanted you to understand the Judea and Samaria sections of Acts a little bit more clearly. Now we're outside of Jerusalem, but we're not yet on Paul's missionary journeys. We're just in the region. And in the region, the church has grown from this small, only Jewish thing to now a multi-ethnic kind of thing and a whole new church that's going to become very important for centuries. The church in Antioch has been formed. Now... I also wanted you to see the evolution of this Jewish community to a worldwide movement, which you have. And I want you to see how Paul's theology and Luke's historical theology are connecting, which I think I've shown you. And that is what this section of Luke is largely about.

So today, we're going to be in our second lecture where we're going to look at Acts chapters 8 through 12. So let's dive in. What are the goals of this time together? Our goal here is that you would understand the Judea and Samaria sections of the book of Acts a little bit more clearly, and that you'll be able to see the evolution of this tiny Jewish community into a worldwide movement, because that's what Acts records.

Acts is recording the movement of God's people from this little Jewish sect, follower of an unbeknownst Jewish rabbi who says he was Messiah, through the working of the Holy Spirit and going all over. the world and stopping at the doorstep of the emperor of Rome himself. I also want to explore with you the connective historical theological tissue that links Luke and Paul. There have been some discussions amongst some scholars that Luke and Paul are sort of in opposition to one another, but again, I just want to stress, and we'll talk about this more when you are in your letters class, that Luke is doing historical theology.

It's just a little bit different than what we normally get. from the apostle Paul. So let's start in chapter 8. This is the mission work of Philip. So remember what just happened.

What just happened was the great persecution that led to the stoning of Stephen, and it was supposed to end the church. But what it actually did was spread the church. And so Philip, this good Jewish Christian, is recorded doing a few things that no Jew would do normally.

And the first thing that he's recorded as doing is going to Samaria. Now, It's difficult for me to underscore exactly how much Jews hated Samaritans. We've talked about it in other lectures, so I won't belabor the point, but if you can combine, you know, racism and nationalism and religious bigotry all into one nasty thing, that would be summarizing or coming close to the way Jews of the time felt toward Samaritans.

But something so transformational has happened in this young Jewish man named Philip that the first thing that he believes he should do is to go to Samaria. and tell them about King Jesus. So this ends up being the reversal of racism and religious bigotry that characterized the Jewish people of the time, and replacing it with love and compassion that marked the Jesus community that was burgeoning in the book of Acts.

So he goes to Samaria and he preaches, and then we get this story of him going and speaking to the Ethiopian eunuch there in chapter 8. Now this is fascinating. The Holy Spirit tells him that this is what he should do, and I love how Luke records this so matter-of-factly. The Holy Spirit spoke to this guy, and he went and did what the Holy Spirit said.

It should really challenge us and stir our faith as readers of this gospel that the Holy Spirit, this is something that he did, and therefore something that he can still do. So he goes and he speaks to this Ethiopian eunuch. He kind of saddles up next to him as he's standing there and reading the scroll of Isaiah, but can't understand it.

By the power of the Spirit and his own knowledge of the scriptures, Luke, or Philip rather, explains this text to him. And he says, well, I... what's keeping me from being baptized?

And so they find water and they baptize him. And what I love about this is this leads to one of the weirdest and coolest miracles in your entire Bible, whereby Luke, or Philip rather, is teleported, moved somewhere else. And so he goes under the water and he comes back out in a place called Azotus.

And he gets up and Luke simply records, Since he was there, he began preaching in all the towns between there and Caesarea. The big idea here, I mean, humor aside, sometimes your Bible is funny, and I just find that really funny. I just kind of came up, noticed that he was teleported by the Holy Spirit somewhere else, and went, well, I guess this is where God wants me to preach, and he just kept on going. But the big idea here is that the gospel is going out to the nations, and the Spirit is moving powerfully, even though there's persecution. In fact, persecution cannot stop it.

No. This moment leads us to the conversion of Saul. This is a big moment.

It doesn't get a lot of real estate just now because Paul's going to get a lot more real estate in the book of Acts later. But here's what we see here first, and I really want you to see this, how the Holy Spirit really saturates this story and really saturates the text. Jesus appears to Paul, Saul rather, and... blinds him and does all the stuff, and it's the Holy Spirit who seems to be orchestrating this whole event.

So let's walk through it. One commentator says this, Saul's experience on the road to Damascus is the most famous conversion in church history. Luke is so impressed with its importance that he includes the story three times, once in his own narrative and twice in Paul's speeches. He is evidently anxious, as the Book of Common Prayer puts it, that we should have his wonderful conversion in remembrance. Saul's conversion, yeah, definitely the most famous and ends up being the most important in the book because the second half of the book is going to follow so much of what the apostle Paul will do.

So let's dive in. How was Paul converted? What happened?

Well, remember at this point, before his conversion... Paul is a zealot. You could compare him with Phineas of the Book of Numbers.

This is something that N.T. Wright does. Phineas was zealous for the holiness of the Lord, and you'll remember that there was unholiness in the camp, and so Phineas grabs a spear and he skewers a Jewish man who was sleeping with a Moabite woman, I believe, and thereby cleansing the Jewish camp of the impurity of the...

of the sin of this man. And the Bible describes him there in the book of Exodus, or in the book of Numbers rather, not as a murderer, but as someone who is zealous for the Lord. So in Paul's mind, I'm sure that he's comparing himself favorably to Phineas. He's zealous, even if his zeal leads to acts of violence.

And here, right in that state, the Holy Spirit arranges this circumstance. Jesus shows up, knocks him off his horse, blinds him, and says, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord?

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Rise and enter the city and you will be told what to do. This is super important for us to understand.

And the Holy Spirit in the background is arranging things. He's speaking to Ananias. Now imagine this, you're praying and the Holy Spirit comes to you and says, hey, I want you to go to that murderer who's been murdering all the other Christians that you know.

And I want you to help him. I want you to pray for him. That would be unsettling, as you can imagine. And so... Ananias says, you know, I don't want to do that.

Why do I have to do this? He's done so much evil in your name. But the Holy Spirit said, Jesus says to him, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

So the Spirit is preparing Ananias, and Ananias obeys this. spirit-given vision of Jesus. And so I want you to see, you know, we talk a lot in Every Nation about the four E's, but here's a place where it totally shows up. Saul is engaged. Jesus appears to him, blinds him, confronts him.

And then Ananias comes to him, reaches out to his enemy, lays hands on him, baptizes him. He's filled with the Holy Spirit. He feeds him.

What's he being? He's being established in the church. He's being established in the sacrament of baptism.

He's being established in the word and community. He's being equipped with the power and the filling of the Holy Spirit. In this narrative, very quickly after this happens, it says here he was with the disciples some days in Damascus, and he immediately proclaimed Jesus in synagogues, saying that he is the Son of God.

Can you imagine the shocking nature of this particular event? But notice what the church knew. The church didn't go, oh, you haven't been to seminary, or, oh, you haven't been taught enough. He simply went out.

He understood that it was his role now to go and talk about the... Lord, go and talk about the gospel. And that's what he did. Paul is preaching very shortly after his own conversion.

And even though others are afraid of him, he's accepted by Barnabas. And what is the result? I love the way Acts 9.31 summarizes this.

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. I love that. I love that.

As Ananias was faithful, as Jesus did an amazing thing to Saul, great. things happen. This is meant to inspire us, I'm sure, and inspire Luke's readers that simple acts of faithfulness in response to the Holy Spirit can lead to amazing, amazing things. So after this, we get a scene that's very important.

We get the scene of Peter and Cornelius. Now, this section presents, again, within a historical theological frame, a major question that must be dealt with, namely, how will non-Jews... be treated within this Jewish movement?

What must non-Jews do to be saved? Do they have to become Jewish? Are Jewish Christians even supposed to go to non-Jews? That's been hinted at as Philip went to Samaria, but there are more and more non-Jews coming to Jesus, and they don't quite know what to do. Some, I'm sure, thought that this was not part of God's plan.

Others thought that in order to be saved by Jesus, you needed to become a Jew first. Now, while in Jerusalem, this was easier because everyone was Jewish. Now, remember, before persecution, Everybody was there. It was great. It was one big Jewish family get-together, right?

The nations were coming back in, but it was the nations to which the Jews had been scattered. Now they're going beyond simply the Jewish people into the people of the other nations to the Gentiles. And this presented quite a problem because Jews and Gentiles were oil and water.

They weren't even supposed to hang out according to Jewish law. So after the persecution, this was a question that had to be dealt with. Think about this in terms of what it means for your apostolic leadership and for your work as a global missionary.

We've got to think about how the gospel... is to go to not just people like us, but people very different than us. So we're looking at how this Jewish sect became an international movement. Remember I said that at the beginning of the lecture.

We're trying to trace how it went from being the small group of people in Jerusalem to this worldwide movement. And here we see a key turning point in that evolution. So here's the story. God speaks to Cornelius, a devout Gentile, to call Peter over to him, to go and summon Peter.

So the next thing that happens is in Joppa. And Peter gets this vision of all of these impure foods, all of these foods coming down on like a big picnic blanket, as you imagine. That, you know, there's pork and there's all kinds of shellfish and stuff that Jews were not supposed to eat.

And he hears the voice of the Lord say, rise, Peter, kill and eat. And in the vision, Peter says, no, this happens three times. And then finally, the Holy Spirit tells Peter to meet with them.

Peter's vision ends in Acts 10 with God saying this, do not call anything impure. that God has made pure. So the Holy Spirit tells Peter to go and meet with these men, and Cornelius' men meet with Peter and repeat the angel's message that the angel spoke to Cornelius, and Peter invites them into the house.

Now, that already is crazy, because as a Jewish guy, that was not supposed to happen. Peter is slowly getting it. And the next thing that happens, they're in Caesarea, and Peter goes to Cornelius' house and explains that he's only a man.

Cornelius drops down and begins to worship him, and Peter goes, oh, okay, okay. Now, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but there's only one God, and he gets him up, and he repeats the vision which relates to unclean men. So he goes from unclean food to unclean people, and he understands, oh, God's talking to me not just about food. So then Cornelius repeats the angel's message, and Peter gives the gospel to Cornelius' whole household. And as he's doing it, the Holy Spirit comes on the Gentiles, and Jewish Christians are amazed at this.

They're all filled with the Holy Spirit. They begin speaking in tongues. And sometimes commentators have referred to this as the Gentile Pentecost. Because Peter is just there preaching. He hasn't even gotten to the altar call yet.

And the Holy Spirit comes rushing in. So Peter concludes, therefore, that Gentiles are to be baptized. In Acts chapter 10, verses 47 and 48, we read this.

Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? Do you hear how we're getting more of this connective tissue? to this small Jewish group that's becoming a worldwide movement.

It's dawning on Paul, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that non-Jews are to be treated just like Jews are, because what saves them is trust in the message of Jesus, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Holy Spirit, at the preaching of God's Word, verifies this fact. So, the next thing that happens is they're in Jerusalem, and Peter goes to Jerusalem, and other... to go talk to other Jewish Christians and Jewish Christians complain, you ate with the Gentiles.

Remember, you're not supposed to do that. But Peter responds by narrating from his perspective, the events of the books, the events of Acts chapter 10. And he repeats the vision and men come to Peter's house and he repeats the Holy Spirit message and repeats the angel's message. And he recounts the Holy Spirit coming on the Gentiles.

And he concludes, he explains this to them that they, the same gift had. been given to them through faith. This is very interesting, right?

So zoom out. Luke is giving us the same story again and again and again. In fact, this story is told to us four times from four different angles. We hear it from Luke to the reader, then we hear Cornelius tell it to Peter, we hear Peter tell it to the Jewish Christians, and then Cornelius tell it to Peter. And so Peter, I want to read to you from one commentator, John Stott, he says this.

Peter was quick to draw the inevitable deduction. Since God had accepted these Gentile believers, which indeed he had, the church must accept them too. Since God had baptized them with his Spirit, can anyone keep them from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.

How could the sign be denied to those who have already received the reality signified? Chrysostom expatiated on this logic. By giving the Spirit to Cornelius and his household, Before their baptism, God gave Peter an apologia magale, or a mighty reason for justification, for giving them water baptism.

Yet, in a sense, their baptism was complete already because the Holy Spirit had done it, for God had done it himself. Peter was clear that in no point was he the author. but in every point God was.

It was as if Peter said, God baptized them, not I. Peter was basically saying, look at what God's done. How can we stand in the way of what God seems to have done?

This is an important turning point in the story of the book of Acts because Peter is now connecting the events that he's seeing to a theological conclusion about who Jesus is and how the ministry of Jesus is meant to go into not just Jewish communities across the world, but non-Jewish communities across the world. Now, look out for this because the same logic is going to come back up in Acts chapter 15 when we look at the Jerusalem Council. But for now, let me give you some summary thoughts.

Repetition in the narrative. Why is this story retold so many times? It's retold because Luke wants us to see it. He wants his readers to see this story very clearly, that God wants the Gentiles. God wants the nations.

He's come to the Jews, but he means to come to them and through them to the world. This has to... make you reflect a little bit on your own comfort level with holding the gospel story just to yourself and being content to living a nice Christian life to the exclusion of your neighbor who maybe you don't even like.

I'm challenged as I read this, as I give you this lecture, the kinds of people that I know that are very different than me, that I frankly sometimes don't want to be inconvenienced to share the gospel with. This story challenges me because God wants them. God wants the nations.

Luke wants his readers to see this, which is why he took the time. to recount the story four times to us as readers. So this destroys partiality in the church.

So the idea of multiple classes in the church, or racism in the church, or sexism in the church, or any kind of bigotry, any of those isms that tend to vex human relationships, this is the kind of story that helps us conclude it's not to be that way. There's no Jew and Gentile, and Paul's gonna riff on this theologically later in the book of Galatians and in the book of Romans, which we'll talk about, that there is one people of God. and they are made the people of god by faith in jesus and the presence of the holy spirit and nothing else now the historical audience therefore is convicted by these events and the reading audience is encouraged by them this section then ends with uh with the church in antioch and this is really cool because after this persecution comes to the you know the church that had just been formed right there at pentecost a church is formed in antioch up the road as it were and now the church is multi-ethnic, it's international, it's growing, it's non-Jewish, and they're called, for the first time, Christians, which was meant to be a slur and became our moniker.

Paul and Barnabas were team teaching there, and the church was growing, and they were growing, and this is where Paul's mission for the relief of the church in Jerusalem began. Agabus comes, and he prophesies that there would soon be a famine, and Paul and Barnabas commit themselves to somehow helping this event, which will motivate a lot of Paul's ministry as he builds a collection. We will read about that in the book of 1st and 2nd Corinthians, for example. So what do we want to conclude from this section in the book of Acts? I wanted you to understand the Judea and Samaria sections of Acts a little bit more clearly.

Now we're outside of Jerusalem, but we're not yet on Paul's missionary journeys. We're just in the region. And in the region, the church has grown from this small, only Jewish thing to now a multi-ethnic kind of thing and a whole new church that's going to become very important for centuries.

The church in Antioch has been formed. Now... I also wanted you to see the evolution of this Jewish community to a worldwide movement, which you have.

And I want you to see how Paul's theology and Luke's historical theology are connecting, which I think I've shown you. And that is what this section of Luke is largely about.

Transcript for:The Expanding Church in Acts 8-12

Transcript for:
The Expanding Church in Acts 8-12