Building The Body Study 2 - Birth of the Body
- 4 days ago
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Acts 1:8 NIV
[8] 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.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.8.NIV)
Acts 2:5-11 NIV
[5] Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. [6] When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. [7] Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? [8] Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? [9] Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, [10] Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome [11] (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.2.5-11.NIV)
At the time of writing, my daughter is a few weeks away from graduating university. It will be a very proud moment for us as a family.
But I cannot ever forget the day she was born. I remember my wife telling me that her waters were broken. I remember the car ride to the hospital, monitoring her contractions the whole way. I remember the twelve hours of labour, holding my wife four times as she was given a spinal epidural. I remember the realisation late at night that what we knew already was going to happen: she would need a Caesarean Section. I remember being in the operating theatre while my daughter was born. I remember the three days of pure stress and anxiety at the hospital before she was ready to leave.
And I remember that moment when we took her home, tried to wake her for a midnight feed and she fell soundly asleep.
I will never forget the realisation that I had to be mature now – I was a dad.
The birth of our children is always a significant moment in our lives. We learn so much about them and about ourselves in those critically formative earlier years.
If we are to look at the church and properly understand it, we must begin at its birth.
And that birth was, of course, at Pentecost.
But days before Pentecost, as Jesus ascended into Heaven, He described perfectly what would happen at Pentecost. In fact, we could say that it was prophetic. These few sentences describe the mission statement of every church and every Christian.
Or, at least, they ought to.
They also define what the church is not all about.
And that is just as interesting.
So firstly, I want us to examine Who We Are Not.
Who We Are Not
Acts 1:7 NIV
[7] He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.7.NIV)
When I was a missionary in Pitești and Brașov in Romania, one of the first things I bought each year was a railway timetable. My team-mates always made fun of me. They had no idea why someone would do something like that.
But I had a very good reason. Every six months I had to renew my visa. Once or twice a year I would be on the road with missionary teams. Particularly when I was in Brașov, I would head once a month to preach in a church in a small town nearby that had a railway service.
The people who made fun of me sometimes had to come to me and say, ‘Paul, I need to get to this place or that place. Is there a train? When does it leave?’
That timetable didn’t cost a lot of money but it was very useful.
There are many who claim to have a timetable. They claim to have worked out the date when the Lord will come. They fill social media with posts about the rapture. They prepare their church to be ready for departure. They make all kinds of predictions.
But they are making complete and utter fools out of themselves, and – this has to be said – of the Word of God and the Gospel.
Look what Jesus Christ Himself said:
Matthew 24:36, 42-44 NIV
[36] “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
[42] “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. [43] But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. [44] So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.24.36-44.NIV)
Have you ever waited on public transport that hasn’t arrived? It can be frustrating, especially if its timetable it would come.
Those who try to predict when Jesus is coming are setting themselves up for a massive disappointment because, like with unreliable public transport, when you expect Jesus to come, He will not come.
One day you won’t expect Him – that’s when He'll come.
So let me make this absolutely plain: if you ever come across a church that says it's possible to know when Jesus is coming and makes a prediction of when that will take place, leave it right away. That is not a true church.
They are claiming to know something that not even Jesus Christ Himself knows.
They are claiming to know something that even the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost did not reveal.
They are liars. Jesus Himself said that it’s not for us to know. So we won’t ever know.
As Christians, we cannot and should not ever be involved even in speculation about the Second Coming.
Flee from it. Jesus has a much more important thing for you to do.
Having seen who we are not – that we are not people with insider knowledge of when Jesus will come again – let’s look at Who We Are.
Who We Are
Acts 1:8 NIV
[8] 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.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.8.NIV)
I would like you to imagine the following scenario: you have been the witness to a crime. You and your fellow witnesses are waiting outside of the courtroom for the hearing to begin. The police bring the accused and place him in the dock. One of your fellow witnesses manages to evade the police and the guards, runs towards the judge’s seat, leaps over his desk, sits down on his chair, and before the police can catch him, calls out, ‘You did it! I saw you do it! You’re guilty! I sentence you to life imprisonment!’
Then he gets dragged away by the police and arrested for contempt of court.
Why have I invented that ridiculous scenario?
I want you to see what Jesus said to the His followers:
Matthew 7:1-2 NIV
[1] “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. [2] For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.7.1-2.NIV)
Luke 6:37 NIV
[37] “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.6.37.NIV)
John 12:47 NIV
[47] “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.12.47.NIV)
And again, as John wrote:
John 3:17 NIV
[17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.3.17.NIV)
Far too often we have misunderstood our role. We are not judges. We do not stand in righteous condemnation of a world that, yes, thoroughly deserves it. But that is not our job.
That is God’s job.
Our job is to be a witness.
Now, that role might scare us. After all, nowadays there are expert witnesses in so many fields, such as forensic science, psychology, linguistics, criminology and many, many more. We might feel that we are expected to be an expert witness to the Gospel: someone who is instantly credible due to out deep and wide expertise and can answer any question.
Let me set your fears at ease: we are not.
Look at these verses:
John 9:24-25 NIV
[24] A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” [25] 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!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.9.24-25.NIV)
Acts 4:18-20 NIV
[18] Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. [19] But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! [20] As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.4.18-20.NIV)
Acts 22:14-15 NIV
[14] “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. [15] You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.22.14-15.NIV)
There is one thing all of us are complete experts at above all others, and that is our experience of what God has done in our lives. All that is expected of us is to bear witness to that, to testify of that, to tell of what we do know, not of what we do not know.
That is exactly what happened at Pentecost. Look at this:
Acts 2:11 NIV
[11] We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.2.11.NIV)
The declaration that shook the world at Pentecost was about God from the people who had experienced His blessing.
And that’s all it needs to be, because that’s all that is asked of us.
So we see who we are not – which is experts on the Second Coming – and we see who we are – witnesses to what God has done in our lives.
Thirdly, we also see What We Should Do.
What We Should Do
Acts 1:8 NIV
[8] 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.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.8.NIV)
When I was a teenager, I witnessed a violent crime. A friend of mine was stabbed in the doorway of a take-out food place because he refused to give a drug addict his Walkman (yes, it was that long ago). I was so irate at what had happened and the clear injustice of it that I gave my contact details to the police as a witness.
I don’t think I was a good witness, though. I don’t think I managed identify the accused in a police line-up.
Thankfully he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison before my testimony was required.
If we witness something like that, we have to speak up. We have to do our bit to ensure justice is done.
But what if we witness something else?
These verses refer to us as witnesses of what God has done in our lives, as we discussed earlier.
So what should a witness do?
They should speak up!
What did Peter say to the Sanhedrin?
Acts 4:20 NIV
[20] As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.4.20.NIV)
What did John say?
1 John 1:1 NIV
[1] That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.1.1.NIV)
Look at the demoniac Legion, and what Jesus told Him to do:
Luke 8:38-39 NIV
[38] The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, [39] “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.8.38-39.NIV)
If we are witnesses, we should be witnesses. If we have seen the Lord do amazing things in our lives and save us and restore us, even though we far from deserve it, then we should tell others about it.
That’s precisely what the disciples, in particular Peter, did at Pentecost (Acts 2:24-46).
We often find ourselves caught up in the incredible special effects of Pentecost: the tongues of fire, the rushing wind, the speaking in foreign tongues. But they are not the point of Pentecost. We do not do well if we seek them for ourselves. That shows us to be thrill-seekers rather than God-seekers.
The point of Pentecost is proclamation. It is the proclamation of the Gospel in multiple languages to those who needed to hear it.
Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit empowering a fearful group of men and turning them into powerful witnesses of the Lord’s glory. If we seek a new Pentecost, that is what we are seeking.
That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit that birthed the church. So we, too, as recipients of the Holy Spirit, must also proclaim the Gospel.
Romans 10:14 NIV
[14] How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.10.14.NIV)
Right from the very birth of the church, its priorities and nature are set. The church exists to declare the glory of God. That is its very reason for existence. If the church veers off to be a social club or a campaigning body or a means of entertainment even a support group then it has forgotten its purpose. It exists to declare the Word of God for the glory of God.
Nothing else is enough. Nothing else will do.
Apart from who are not and are and what we do, lastly, we see Where We Go.
Where We Go
Acts 1:8 NIV
[8] 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.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.8.NIV)
When I was growing up, traditional churches were very hot on the ideas of where a Christian should not go: a Christian didn’t go to a movie theatre or a nightclub or a bar or a casino or a concert or a strip club or a drugs den or a red light district. A Christian had to be super-strict to avoid even the appearance of sin.
Or so they said.
But in Scripture we read these searing words:
Colossians 2:20-23 NIV
[20] Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: [21] “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? [22] These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. [23] Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/col.2.20-23.NIV)
At the same time as many in the church were so religious about rules such as these, moral and even sexual scandals shook the church and brought it to its knees. Even today at time of writing, a man from a strict Christian background has been convicted of serious sexual crimes towards women.
At the same time as the church was super-strict about where Christians should not go, I very rarely heard any talk of where we should go. Those same ultra-strict churches were far from hot about obeying this command to go to the people who need the Gospel.
Compare Acts 1:8 with what happened at Pentecost:
Acts 2:5-11 NIV
[5] Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. [6] When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. [7] Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? [8] Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? [9] Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, [10] Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome [11] (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.2.5-11.NIV)
What happened here is a real lesson for us all. Jews were in Jerusalem from all across the Roman world: from east to west, from north to south. When the Holy Spirit visited Himself upon the disciples, these un-learned Galileans found themselves speaking in the very human languages of these pilgrims: not in Hebrew or Aramaic, but the heart languages of the places from where they came.
I take two fascinating and life-altering truths from this.
Firstly, God cares about us to communicate with us in our native language. As Christians, we should seek to do the same. That’s why Bible translation ministries are of the utmost importance and why every church must ensure the easy accessibility of their sermons and teaching materials (see 1 Corinthians 14:10-12 for an example). The Bible translation we use and the songs we sing are of much lower importance than making sure that our message is understood.
Secondly, that God cares enough about His Creation to send the Word of God to the ends of the earth. These Jews who had experienced this incredible event would doubtlessly carry it home to their family and friends.
In doing so, they would be following a command Jesus gave to His own followers:
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
[18] Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.28.18-20.NIV)
They became the means to take the witness of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
Eventually the disciples, Paul and the Early Church would follow. But their witness seems to have been less willing: it took persecution to move them out of Jerusalem (Acts 8:4), rather ironically at the hands of a man who himself became instrumental in the spreading of the Gospel among the Gentiles – Paul the Apostle (Acts 8:3).
What our verses in Acts tell us is that the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth was not something that happened by chance. Jesus prophesied it. Pentecost triggered it. The apostles and Early Church progressed it. Paul continued it.
And the missionaries who brought the Word of God to us obeyed the same command.
Now it’s our turn. Do we understand that the pattern set by Pentecost is not just one of signs and wonders, but of proclamation of the Gospel? Do we hear the call to get involved in Jesus’ mission?
Will we find our role in obeying this command?
Conclusion
Acts 1:7-8 NIV
[7] He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. [8] 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.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.7-8.NIV)
As a missionary for a highly evangelistic mission agency in my twenties, verses like this we’re very much my ‘go-to’ when it came to speaking in churches and conferences. They are clear, uncompromising and unmistakable. They are not open to misunderstanding.
But the whole thing that I missed until recently was the clear similarity between these verses and what happened at Pentecost.
And that is very important.
Think about it.
What does the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost not give the disciples? Insight into when Jesus will come again. Why?
Because it is not for us to know.
So all of these cults that have wild and outlandish conspiracy theories about what’s happening and when the Lord will come are complete and utter liars. There is no truth to what they say. They are undermining their own credibility.
For example, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have predicted the Second Coming at least eight times and none of them have happened. The Mormons have done it three times. Numerous other cults have done it. Hundreds of cultists have travelled to the Mount of Olives, convinced that it was about to happen. Others have headed to retreats or onto high mountains to prepare for it.
At least two cults have turned to mass suicide or murder when their predictions failed.
We have to take this seriously. We do not know the day or the hour. We cannot know the day or the hour.
We must concentrate not on predicting it, but being ready for it.
What the Holy Spirit does do is far more interesting.
He turned these timid disciples into witnesses of the glory of God. They filled the streets with their testimony. He also used the large number of pilgrims in Jerusalem to do what the disciples were reluctant to do: to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Now, please allow me to make a very important point here.
For centuries, many of the church have been reluctant to serve God overseas. I know it’s not for everyone, but that reluctance has often shown itself in obstructing the desires of other people to go.
In these verses, we see how the Holy Spirit birthed the church and drove the to share the message of the Gospel. He did it at Pentecost, at a time when the population of Jerusalem had been swelled with incoming pilgrims, meaning that Jews from across the Roman world were there.
Meaning that at Pentecost God brought the ends of the world to Jerusalem and used this opportunity to share the Gospel to them, so that they, in turn, would take the Gospel back to the ends of the world.
What is God doing with our cities and towns? Many of our countries have populations that are swelling with asylum seekers and economic migrants who have come to our countries to find a better life. None of us can blame them for doing that. If we can sweep the nasty, noisy politics out of the way for a moment, if we were in their position, we would do the same thing.
We are in a similar position to those disciples. We are surrounded by people from across the world. Instead of becoming angry that they are here and moaning about the loss of our way of life, why don’t we open our eyes to see the rich harvest in front of us?
Jesus famously spoke these words:
John 4:35 NIV
[35] Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.4.35.NIV)
Where did He speak these words?
Close to Jacob’s Well in Samaria, about Samaritans who were approaching Him to hear the Gospel. Those Samaritans were a mixed race, mixed ethnicity, mixed religion people who the Jews despised.
What if the fields are still white for the harvest, but they are white for the harvest among our migrant population?
What if reaching them for the Gospel in our nations could be a means for the Gospel to reach the ends of the earth?
What is striking about these verses is that the Holy Spirit was not given for the disciples to have a nice ecstatic religious experience, or to know deep spiritual mysteries, but to communicate the Gospel to a needy watching world.
Those Spirit-filled disciples were the spiritual ancestors of the church in Ephesus. They are our spiritual ancestors too.
It’s time their focus was our focus, and we obeyed the call of the Spirit to take the Word of God to the ends of the earth.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I see the challenge here. Forgive me for misunderstanding these verses. Show me how I can get involved in taking Your Word to the ends of the earth and truly bringing You glory, I pray. Amen.
Questions for Contemplation
Why is it important to realise that we will not know when Jesus is coming again? What effect should this have on us?
What did Jesus say the Holy Spirit would do? What did He do?
Why is it so important for us to realise why the Holy Spirit was given and what He did? How will you get more involved in this?
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