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Sunday morning 22nd July
Acts1v3: “to whom He also presented Himself alive
after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being
seen by them during forty days and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
Context:
Luke is continuing his previous work - the 3rd
gospel.
The gospel was all about what Jesus did and taught until
he was taken up into heaven.
Now that is slightly extended with acts 1v3-9.
We pick up the work of Jesus as it was after “his
suffering”.
What did he do after his suffering?
He showed himself. He testified to his resurrection.
He appeared to them.
He taught them about the Kingdom.
1) “After his suffering” - his work of suffering for us
is over!
That part of salvation is finished.
The atonement was a one off act in history. Never to be
repeated. Nothing to be added to that. The work of
paying the penalty for the sin of the world is over. He
has suffered. - past tense.
Luke makes much of this theme of the suffering of
the Christ in his Gospel.
“Luke 9:22 And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer
many things and be rejected by the elders, chief
priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed
and on the third day be raised to life."
Luke 17:25 But first he must suffer many things
and be rejected by this generation.
Luke 22:15 And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired
to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Post resurrection:
Luke 24:26 Did not the Christ have to suffer
these things and then enter his glory?"
Luke 24:46 He told them, "This is what is written: The
Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the
third day,”
So Jesus suffered - he had to suffer in order to pay for
our sins.
But the great relief now is that His suffering is over!
“after his suffering”.
That part of his work is over!
He has already suffered for us!
It can be a noble thing when someone suffers in the
place of another.
When someone pays the debt you owe out of their own
pocket!
Parents suffer for their children, out of love.
A noble thing on the part of the one who suffers.
Yet, for the one who receives the benefit of that
suffering it can be hard to take.
It is humbling, awe inspiring - that someone would
suffer for me!
Jesus has suffered for you. The work of the Cross is
over. It is finished.
Yet his work as Saviour is not over!
2) he testifies to the fact of his resurrection. Shows
that his suffering was not in vain.
“he presented himself alive”
- triumphant, victorious warrior!
This is the Warrior coming home from battle.
If it were not for this ‘presentation’ then the
suffering of the cross would have been lost! How fragile
the whole event was even at this point!
Jesus had to testify, witness to the fact of his
resurrection!
He is the One who suffers for us, and then the One who
witnesses for us!
He leaves nothing to chance. He does not want his
suffering to go unnoticed by the world, so he gives “many
infallible proofs”!
The word for “proof” is
only used here in the NT. It means to prove by sure
signs.
That is what Jesus was doing. In presenting himself
alive, he was proving that all that he said about
himself was in fact true!
He was really the Son of God, the Saviour of the world.
2) b. for the testimony to be complete there had to be
witnesses.
“being seen by them during forty
days ”
This small group of fearful, and despairing disciples
were the ones Jesus witnessed to.
They had thought that all hope was gone. That Jesus was
dead. That the adventure was over! But really for them
it was just beginning!
For 40 days Jesus witnessed to them, until they were
immutably convinced of the truth!
So Jesus testified to the fact of His resurrection and
he also did something else that was obviously of great
importance.
3) He taught them! “speaking of
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
The teaching ministry of Jesus is perhaps
something that we don’t rate that highly in comparison
to his work on the cross for example.
Yet here we find that Jesus spends his time teaching
about the Kingdom of God.
This was his major teaching theme before the Cross and
here it is again after the Cross.
How is the Kingdom and the Cross linked?
Access to the kingdom, is through the Cross.
We can take part in the Kingdom, the rule of God,
because Jesus has suffered for us!
So Jesus Testifies and Teaches.
Today, what is our role as followers of the Lord
Jesus?
We are to testify. We are to witness to the
resurrected Lord.
Prove that he is Alive, by the way we live and love.
And as the church we are to teach.
We are all involved in the teaching ministry here
through our prayer and support.
We reverence the Word, we anticipate the Lords Day with
great excitement because it gives us another chance to
be taught by the Lord - through his under-shepherds!
God has chosen to build his kingdom through testimony
and teaching.
Humble means, but under the power of God, life changing
and eternal!
sunday
evening 22nd July
Acts 4:13 13 When
they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that
they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished
and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Context:
Peter and john in chap3 had healed a cripple - 3v6.
This lead to many coming to hear them preach.
As they were preaching the temple guard, at the behest
of the priest and Sadducees arrested them and put them
in jail for the night.
Then they are questioned before the Jewish rulers.
They answer their accusers - and the text is the amazed
response of the rulers.
This verse is really all about the power of Jesus in
believers and unbelievers!
Jesus makes all the difference!
Because these men had “been with
Jesus” they were what they were!
Because of Jesus they were courageous.
Because of Jesus their “unschooled, ordinary-ness”
was no obstacle.
Because of Jesus unbelievers were astonished!
1) because of Jesus they were courageous!
Here Peter and John preach boldly, before the rulers /
teachers / elders v5.
“parrhsi,a parresia”
They had freedom of speech, assurance of
speech, confidence of speech.
Their audience had the authority to punish them most
severely, even kill them!
Yet Peter and John are not afraid.
They preached, they gave it their all!
Where did their confidence / boldness come from? Jesus.
These men had been with Jesus! - that was what made the
difference.
In our witnessing today we too need courage! We need
boldness.
We live in a post-modern / pluralistic / politically
correct society.
The exclusive claims of Jesus do not go down well!
Thus we need boldness. If we fear those to whom
we witness we will fail in our task!
If we are too worried about other peoples sensitivities
then we will not get far!
We need boldness, and courage!
How do we get boldness / courage ?
Simply by being “with Jesus”.
We walk with Jesus every day through prayer and
fellowship in the word.
We keep a close watch on the basics of our Christian
walk.
Church / fellowship / prayer life / bible reading and
memorising.
We take Jesus into our experiences of life.
As we live “with Jesus” He
will transform us. As with Peter and John:
2) because of Jesus their unschooled ordinary-ness was
no hindrance.
“avgra,mmatoj,
on uneducated (perhaps =
lacking formal rabbinic training) ”
They were uneducated in religious matters!
“ivdiw,thj,
ou m untrained or unskilled
man, layman; ungifted”
They had nothing outstanding on there CV - no degree or
doctorate!
They were just “men”!
Here we have ordinary, uneducated men! But that was no
hindrance!
Made no difference what they were, the only thing that
mattered was who He was!
And the great fact that they had “been
with Jesus”!
Makes no difference today what your
abilities or none-abilities are!
What matters is the power of Jesus. What matters is
being “with Jesus”.
He can take water and turn it to wine!
He can take the sea and turn it to a solid
walking surface!
He can take you with all your ordinary-ness and turn you
into a wonder for others to behold!
You may be thinking what can I offer. What can I give.
I have no qualifications, no special talents!
You may be discouraged at the seeming hopelessness of
your situation!
God is not looking for any of that!
All he is looking for is you in your plain
ordinary-ness!
“1 Corinthians 1v 26
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.
Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many
were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But
God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the
wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame
the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world
and the despised things--and the things that are not--to
nullify the things that are, 29 so that no-one may boast
before him. ”
Just follow him daily and He will transform the
ordinary into the remarkable!
It is all about Him. Make Jesus your passion and
life will never be the same again.
3) because of Jesus the extra ordinary and special
people were “astonished.”
Peter and John were a marvel to them! They “saw”
them.
It is easy for the special / privileged people to simply
ignore the ordinary people!
But here Peter and John are seen! They are recognised!
Indeed they cause astonishment!
How could it be that such ordinary men were the way they
were?
Then they remember: “these men had
been with Jesus”.
This was not the first time they had seen these men.
They had seen them with Jesus before!
They thought that if they just got ride of Jesus then
that would be the end of the matter!
But no! here are two others speaking with the same
authority and power as Jesus!
Jesus was still at work through his followers.
Jesus is the Person who cannot be ignored!
His power is unconcealable.
Wherever the power of Jesus is at work people are either
Transformed or Astonished.
He is still the same today!
All he asks of us is that we follow Him. Everything else
will look after itself.