Author: jwm

The people of Israel had finally entered the promised land. The presence of God with his people had been powerfully demonstrated as he brought the walls of Jericho crashing down. But in the midst of that triumph, Israel is laid low by sin in the camp. That sin has to be dealt with if God’s people are to live in fellowship with him. In Acts 4:32—5:16 the New Testament church encounters a similar crisis.

Live in the power of the resurrection. The gospel touches all of life. Unity, the unity for which Christ had prayed in John 17:22–23, marks the early church. It is more than an expressed concern. It affects the pocketbook. Believers shold property and shared with the needy. The sharing was voluntary, Acts 5:4. An outstanding example was Barnabas, called, “son of encouragement” by the believers. While there is no requirement in Scripture that all Christians hold their property in common, the attitude and motivation ought to continue.

“Luke’s definition of fellowship challenges our attitude toward, and use of private property. One tangible example of the Spirit’s renewal in the early Christians with their attitude of partnership, their bias toward sharing with needy Christians. Their instinctive expression of family love was to give over their own resources into the service of others; and this reaction displayed the grace that ‘was upon them all’ (Acts 4:33).”

Dennis E. Johnson, The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption, pages 77–78

Continue reading “The Spirit at Work in the Church”

How do you pray when you are under pressure? More often? More intensely? For relief from your problems? Listen to the early church pray in Acts 4:25–31 and learn from them.

Begin your prayer with praise. Praise God that he is sovereign. Note that the disciples pray to a personal God who hears prayer. The term they use to address God reflects the truth that he is the sovereign master of all. The corresponding term is servant, used by the believers of themselves later in the prayer. That sovereignty is evident in his creating all things and also, then, ruling over them. This sovereign God has spoken by the Holy Spirit (note the close relationship between the Spirit and the Word) by the mouth of David.

Continue reading “Pray under Pressure”

We live in an age of equality, in which everyone (supposedly) is equal to everyone else. That is true in religion as well, where the one offense seems to exclusivity. But Biblical Christianity does claim to be exclusive, though hopefully not in an arrogant way.

Salvation is found in no one else. The name of Jesus had brought healing. The commotion caused by the healing of the lame man and Peter’s sermon had caused the arrest of Peter and John. Now the Sanhedrin demands to know what authority or name lay behind their act, v.7. The way the question was asked was demeaning. “Men like you!” would be the force of it today. Peter responds with a bold affirmation that it is by the name of Jesus that this “act of kindness” had been done, v.9. (The words for healing and salvation are the same in Greek.) The name of Jesus had given a holy boldness to Peter, who had denied his Lord a few weeks earlier.

Continue reading “No Other Name”

“What’s in a name?” asked Shakespeare. Although not something that prevented Romeo and Juliet from loving each other, the names Montague and Capulet were significant in the play. Far more significant is the name of the One in whose Name the lame beggar was healed, as Peter explains in Acts 3:16.

Trust in the name. Understand the name. Peter explains the miracle. Not only does God do something wonderful, but he also provides an explanation, an interpretation. Rather than power or godliness of their own, it was the name of Jesus that had healed the lame man. In the Bible, the name represents the person. Precisely because God is who he is, you must not take his name in vain. You are to hold him in reverence, recognizing his holiness and power. When Moses asked to see the glory of God, the Lord came down in the cloud and proclaimed his name, Exodus 34:5-7. In the New Testament Mary and Joseph are told the name to give to Jesus. Because of this don’t treat lightly the fact that you are called by his name: Christian!

Continue reading “Healed by Faith in Jesus’ Name”

The primary purpose of the Book of Acts is not provide a handbook for the life of the church. Rather, it describes the work of the risen Christ through his Spirit, extending his kingdom from Jerusalem to Rome (the ends of the earth). Yet, as it does that, in Acts 2:42–47 Luke shows you what a church, deluged by the Spirit, looks like.

Devote yourself to the apostles’ teaching. Proclaim the good news about Jesus. In Acts 2 Peter has just proclaimed Jesus as crucified and risen. He has challenged his hearers with the knowledge that the One whom they put to death is Lord’s Christ! God’s call (v. 39) might be translated “summons,” see Acts 4:18. It is a call to the nations to repent as the blessing of the Holy Spirit extends beyond Israel. The command grows out of a conviction of sin, v. 37. Don’t allow the call to repentance to be minimized as you present the gospel. Though it may not be popular to call people to repentance, ambiguity regarding man’s sinfulness makes it impossible to appreciate the depths of God’s grace in Christ. Repentance involves a change of mind, leading to a new life. It not only marks conversion, but also characterizes the entire Christian life this side of heaven. The primary mark of the church is the preaching of the Word. No church is perfect in that, but faithfulness in the Word is essential, or the church loses its reason for existence. The kingdom belongs to those who have turned (and continue to turn) from sin to Christ.

“In some respects, Pentecost may be viewed as the inaugural revival of the New Testament epoch. Certainly the description of the conviction of sin experienced, the ‘sense of awe’ (Acts 2:43) which was evoked, and the detailed model of what church life ought to be (Acts 2:44–47) point in that direction. This is what revival is. To develop further the metaphor of the flow of water, we might say that revival is the unstopping of the pent-up energies of the Spirit of God breaking down the dams which have been erected against his convicting and converting ministry in whole communities of individuals, as happened at Pentecost and in the ‘awakenings’ which have followed.” (Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Holy Spirit, p. 90)

Continue reading “What Does a Spirit-Baptized Church Do?”