The Acts of the Apostles 19

Subtitle: A Powerful People

Acts 5:12-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 2, 2022.

What does it mean to be a powerful person?  If we use the world’s definition of a powerful person, then we are focused on someone who is in control of their life personally, who is financially powerful, and who has powerful social influence. 

It is easy for Christians to simply “christianize” these concepts rather than seeking God’s word for His definition of a powerful people.  The above concepts are focused on manipulating the world around us so that it conforms to our desires.  Using religion to do this is the very definition of witchcraft.

Don’t get me wrong.  God made us with a powerful ability to affect the world around us.  However, when we use those abilities for self-serving purposes, even to the point of co-opting religious garb to do it, we have prostituted God’s purpose in it.  Christians are those who wrestle with God in prayer over how to impact the world around them.  We don’t always perfectly understand it.  However, we must be convinced that He is the only leader that can teach us in this life.

Our passage today focuses on the powerful work that God was doing through the early Jewish believers in Jesus.  Let’s look at it.

Powerful things continue to occur (vs. 12-16)

So far in the book of Acts, we have seen some powerful things.  In Acts chapter two, we saw a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, followed up by Peter’s powerful sermon.  He challenged the people, “Be saved from this perverse generation...”  This led to 3,000 people being saved.

In chapter three, we saw the healing of the man in his forties who had been lame from birth.  Again, this was followed up with a sermon from Peter saying, “Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the LORD, and that He might send Jesus…”  Peter clearly saw a connection between the repentance of Israel as a nation and the return of Jesus.

In chapter four, Peter and John are arrested, threatened, and released.  However, they were not intimidated and continued to preach powerfully in the name of Jesus the Christ.

Chapter five explains the powerful deaths of Ananias and Sapphira.  This made sure that the believers and the unbelievers understood that God was at work in this group.

These verses here are another one of Luke’s summaries of how things were going with the Church of Jesus.  We are going to sift these verses into three categories: statements concerning the Apostles, statements concerning the believers, and statements concerning the others.

The Apostles-

After his death, Jesus sent his disciples to call all people everywhere to repent and believe on him.  He was God’s Anointed One, God’s savior for our sins.  He was also God’s anointed ruler for our world.  They are called apostles at this point because the term means “sent-ones.”  They are sent by Jesus to establish His Church, which means the “called-out-ones” by the way.  We are called out from among the world, but not to go away.  We come out from the spiritual prostitution of this world into the chaste life of a bride of Christ.  Our work is to pull others out from the cesspool of this sinning world.

Verse twelve reminds us that God did amazing signs and wonders through the hands of the apostles.  These are things that caused people not only to be amazed, but also to recognize that God was in them.  These apostles were just like Jesus, the same Jesus that was executed.

Healing was one of those ways that God got the attention of that first century.  Verse fifteen tells us that the apostles were healing people so much that others would bring their sick out to the street and lay them on beds, hoping that Peter’s shadow would touch them and make them well.  Now it doesn’t actually say that someone was healed this way, but that is what the people thought.  It is possible that something like this happened and word spread.  Desperate people will try anything that even has the faint odor of hope.

Yet, this is not about Peter, but rather about God’s call on his life, and his faithful, bold obedience to do what God’s Spirit led him to do.  If looking at Peter diminishes our understanding that it is the grace of Jesus that is doing this, then we need clarify the way we are looking at this.  Conversely, if we completely disregard that this is done through the hands of Peter, i.e., through his obedient faith, then we miss what God is showing us.  There are some things that God wants to do, but He has decreed that they would happen through the prayer of faith, and the actions of faith.  In short, Peter is cooperating with God, co-laboring with Jesus Christ, by the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

Verse sixteen also tells us that people from the surrounding towns and villages were coming to Jerusalem bringing sick people, and some who were tormented by evil spirits.  “They were all healed.”  This is a sign in itself.  Jesus was powerfully healing people and then the leaders pushed to have him executed by the Romans.  Yet, his disciples were now doing the very same thing.  This was getting the attention of the people.

Let me just say that it is clear that God used the Apostles in a way that was greater than those who were believing in Jesus.  It is also clear that Peter was used to a greater degree than the other eleven.  The apostle Paul was powerfully enabled among the Gentiles similar to Peter.  As Pentecostals, we can overly focus on the power aspect while missing the more important point.  The goal of the Good News is not to get more and more people doing what Peter and Paul did.  The goal is to change your mind about your sin, and about who Jesus is.  It is about surrendering your life to the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is about trusting him to cover your sins, and empower you to fight sin in your life, walking in his righteousness.  It is about that sorrowful pricking of the heart, where we turn away from rebellion against God, and turn towards faith in Jesus.  The one who believes in Jesus will walk as he did.  They will obey his word and the word of his apostles.  God will work powerfully through them, but it will not always look the same and be at the same scope.  We must quit worrying about the scope of His power in our life and simply cooperate with it.  Jesus did only what his Father had for him to do.  So, we too must not put our ego ahead of ourselves with dreams of parting Red Seas.  Instead, we are to be faithful and let God lead us in His powerful works expressed in our life.

The followers of Jesus-

Luke mentions the followers of Jesus, or the believers, in verse twelve.  We are told that they were in one accord.  We’ve seen this word before, and it means that they were focused with one passion as a group.  That passion was to live for Jesus and to do his work.  Luke uses this phrase of the believers seven times throughout the book of Acts.  It is not until the stoning of Stephen that it is used in a bad sense for the crowd who plugged their ears, seized him, and stoned him to death.  They were focused on the one passion of extinguishing the fire of Stephen’s preaching.

Can the Church of Jesus be of one accord today?  We might be tempted to say that the Church is too fractured to be of one accord.  However, remember that Israel was a fractured people at this time.  All of Israel was considered the people of God.  Yet, the ministry of Jesus had polarized society.  Those born of the Spirit were moving to one side of the Sword of the Lord, and those clinging to the flesh were moving to the other side.  Through Jesus, the Father was making a distinction between that which is holy and that which is unholy among His very people.  Thus, Luke is referring to those who are truly following the Spirit of God, not those who only had a profession of being the people of God. 

Can you not see how the Church has progressed to the same state that Israel was in so many years ago?  We have accreted millennia of fleshly institutions and people.  However, within this mass of the Church is a true, believing people.  The denomination doesn’t matter.  If a person is truly born again of the Spirit of God, they will quickly recognize the Spirit of God in another.  I put to you today that true believers across the world are of one heart and one mind to do the will of Jesus, rather than playing a religious virtual reality game.

The caution is that we must be careful about what spirit animates us, and what passion we are unifying around.  There is a sinful passion that operates in the crowd, the mob, this world even, to resist the will of God.  We must unify around the One True Lord, Jesus, and the One True and Holy Spirit of God.

Verse fourteen tells us that multitudes of men and women were being added to the Lord.  This is despite the fear that many felt when news of the death of Ananias and Sapphira was spread.  We should also note that they were “added to the Lord.”  All believers are ultimately added to the Lord within a local context.  No church belongs to the people there.  It will either belong to Jesus or it will not.  Let us strive to be a church that belongs to Jesus alone.

This was not a comfortable time for Christians.  In comfortable times, many people will join the Church, but they can simply be making a casual commitment.  They may join because there is a beautiful girl attending, and they hope to catch her attention.  They may join because they see a promising network of clients for their business.  They may see the potential of a place to amass social pride in religious matters.  The fleshly motivations are unlimited. 

Notice that no one casually becomes a true believer during times of persecution and difficulty.  This is part of the grace of God in it.  It is sometimes led by religious people who have no relationship with God at all.  Let me just say that you cannot have a casual relationship with the Creator of the universe.  You either take these things seriously or you don’t.  A serious believer doesn’t just read the Bible, but studies it as if their life depended upon it, as if it was actually a letter from your Creator to you.  A serious believer doesn’t just say their prayers, but seeks God for direction, wisdom, and guidance daily.  A serious believer goes to war against sin in their life, which begins in their heart and their mind, and affects their outward living.  I don’t know what you are going to do, but I’m going to serve Jesus seriously!

The others-

This brings us to the third group that Luke mentions here, the others.  Verse thirteen says that “none of the rest dared to join them…”  There was a hesitancy and a cowardice that kept them back.  Of course, there were some like the High Priest and others who were taking their stand against this group no matter what.  However, this is the group in between, the almost-persuaded group.

Let me just say that God is real, and therefore, it is a good thing to be careful about jumping on His side.  However, He is not some kind of psychotic parent who is beating people for no good reason.  If God disciplines us, it is to bring us to repentance so that we can have true life.  When we daily walk in repentance, we have fellowship with Him by His Holy Spirit.  It is a relationship that brings us healing from our sins and the sins of others, from the effects of those sins.  It gives us internal peace, true righteousness, and joy like a river in our soul!

The people who weren't joining them still had a respect for them.  They esteemed them highly, held them in high regard.  The word has a sense of honor in it so that the believers were seen as an honorable thing in their eyes.  Not everyone in the world is going to think that Christians are honorable.  It is not our job to focus on what the world thinks.  Instead, we are to live a life that is honorable by God's definition.  When a Christian casts off a lukewarm life and lets God transform their thinking and living, then they will be the hope of Jesus everywhere they go. 

If we are going to be despised, then let it be for following Jesus, not for following our own flesh and desires.  Every time a story comes out of sexual abuse, or financial embezzlement, it only shows that the mentality of Ananias and Sapphira is still with us.  You can't control other Christians, and shouldn't want to do so, but you can keep your eyes on Jesus, and live to honor him!  That will make you a person who is spiritually powerful.

Friend, no matter how bad a sinner you are, you can come to Jesus, that is if you are tired of struggling in those sins, and desire to be free.  Jesus can forgive you of your past, fill you with his Holy Spirit, and enable you to powerfully walk away from your sins!  Let’s be a people of power who are powerfully cleansing our lives of sin, powerfully guarding our hearts from the lies of this world, and powerfully doing the work that Jesus has given us to do!

Powerful People audio

The Acts of the Apostles 10

Subtitle: A Lame Man Is Healed

Acts 3:1-10.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 24, 2022.

In Acts chapter two, Luke describes a powerful scene, the giving of the Holy Spirit, and then a sermon from Peter.  We have this same structure in chapter three.  An amazing healing occurs, which provides a hearing of the Gospel.

Acts 2:43 stated, “Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.”  We have here one of those amazing wonders and signs done through the Apostle Peter.  It is the healing of a man in his 40’s who has never walked, but now he instantly is able to walk.  He was the beggar who was always at Gate Beautiful. 

This miracle was undeniable, reminiscent of the things that the executed Jesus had done, and was done through one of his disciples.  However, it provided a platform from which Peter could preach to the crowds in the temple.  Acts is invaluable because it cuts through almost 2,000 years of accreted tradition, and puts in front of us a sample of the kind of teaching given by those who walked with Jesus.

For context, this scene takes place at one of the temple gates in Jerusalem.  Peter and John are on their way to the temple and they are asked for money by a beggar.  The name “Beautiful” is not attached to any of the gates in any of the first century writings that we have.  Josephus does describe a gate made of Corinthian Bronze that was particularly outstanding from the rest.  This gate was called after the man who made the donation for its creation, Nicanor, and it was between the court of women and the area where sacrifices would be made in front of the temple building.  However, the story will end with Peter, John and the healed man in Solomon’s Porch, or colonnade.  This was a covered structure on the east wall.  A question then arises on whether it was actually a gate further out and they came into the temple compound? Or did they simply go back out to Solomon’s porch?  Ultimately, knowing exactly which gate this was will not change the story.

You can do some online searching to be able to see this.  Many models have been made over the years of what is described by those from that time.

Let’s get into the passage.

The lame man’s plight in life

We do not know this man’s name.  We do know that he had been lame from birth.  Because of this, he would be carried to the temple to beg for charity from the religious people who were going in.  This would be a “target-rich” environment, to be crass, since they are on their way to worship before God and more inclined to give.

People who are born with disabilities all have a similar experience physically and mentally.  However, some factors can be vastly different.  Do they have family, and does that family love and help them?  Is the family rich or poor?  Also, there can be other mitigating circumstances that make the situation worse or better.  We know nothing about these aspects of the man’s background.

We do know that he has been given a tough situation for life, and nothing about it is fair.  It just is, and that reality is physically, emotionally, and spiritually tough.

In all of the ministry of Jesus and his disciples, this man had never been in the right spot at the right time.  It seems impossible that he had not heard stories of a miracle-man healing people like him.  Acts 4:22 tells us that he is over 40 years old.  So, he has been carrying this heavy load for a long time, and, when there is hope that someone can do something about it, the man is executed.  How discouraged this man must be at the very least, if not angry at God and life in general.  However, God did care about this man and simply had another plan.

The lame man’s plea

It is 3:00 PM when the time of the afternoon prayers began.  Peter and John were probably meeting with other believers to participate in the prayers and then spend time talking and teaching in the outer court under Solomon’s porch. For them, these are exciting times. But the lame man was there that day begging for his daily food once again. 

The men who walked by him were not outwardly any different than others.  He had asked them for alms and was already looking for another person.  He doesn’t seem to know who they are and rejection is a large part of the experience of a person who has been reduced to begging.

Let me just point out that the Greek word for alms here is similar to the English word “charity.”  Charity technically means love, but can come to refer to the money that is given to another out of charity, or love.  Similarly, the word translated alms here is literally “mercies.”  The man is begging people to give him mercies.

Charity and mercy are an important part of being righteous.  The Law of Moses states in Deuteronomy 15:11, “For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’”  God calls His people to help the poor and needy, and yet also states that they will never cease from the land.  This lame man is not in a position to help the poor and needy because he is poor and needy.  Those who were in a position to help needed to demonstrate their righteousness through helping them.  This didn’t make them more righteous than the poor, but was how they could demonstrate faith in God. 

This begs the question.  How does a poor person demonstrate faith in God?  They do so by not letting bitterness and anger rule them.  They do so by praising God over the top of their difficult situation.  They do so by waiting on the mercy of God, which may never seem to be enough to our flesh, but in which our spirit can be content.  They do so by not looking to people to be their answer, but recognizing that God uses people.  They do so by remaining humble even though it isn’t fair.

The lame man praises God for healing

We don’t know if the Holy Spirit urges Peter to do this, or if Peter simply thinks, “What would Jesus do?”  Christ had given his apostles power to heal and cast out spirits when he sent them out in pairs to the towns of Israel.  There is no indication that Jesus took this power back.  As long as Jesus was with them, he led the ministry.  However, now Peter is in a similar situation that he has seen before, with and without Jesus.  He had been prepared for this critical transition from being a disciple of Jesus while he was physically on the earth, and being a disciple of Jesus while he is seated in the heavens.  Jesus may have been “dead and gone” in the eyes of the religious leaders, but through these twelve men, he was alive and well.

Peter first tells the man to look at them.  He has clearly made up his mind what to do.  This would be an important moment in the man’s life.  From this moment on, he would not need to beg at the temple.  He would know that God has seen him, and had provided an answer for him.  Peter makes him look at them first so that he would pay attention to exactly what is happening.

“Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.”  The apostles did not have any money.  They had not been working since they followed Jesus, and now Jesus was gone.  However, Peter knows that he has something else that he can give the man.  Peter has been given the spiritual gift of healing.

Now, healing in the Bible is not broken down into a science.  It doesn’t give us the 5 steps to securing your healing every time.

However, it does give some principles of things that impact healing.  Those who pray for others to be healed must have faith in God, and those who need healing must have faith in God as well.  Jesus himself did few miracles and healings in his hometown of Nazareth because most of them were full of unbelief that God was working through him (Mark 6:5).

It is also clear that some Christians have the spiritual gift of healing where others do not (1 Corinthians 12:30).  All believers have the ability to ask God for healing, whether for themselves or their loved ones.  This is the dynamic of a child asking a father for grace.  God sometimes answers such prayers.  However, there are people whom God particularly works through in the area of healing.  They will see more healings than Christians in general, and even spectacular ones.  However, the spiritual gift of healing is not a kind of power that they control.  The healing comes from the Spirit of God.  The gifted person is cooperating with the Spirit and acting as the mediator of the healing.  The Apostle Paul asked God to heal him of a malady three times and yet the Lord told him, “No.” 

This means that God’s purpose and will is involved in a way that cannot be boiled down to a simple, “God always wants to heal a sick person,” or, “God doesn’t do that anymore.”  There are seasons in God’s dealing with an individual, an area, a nation, and even this world.  There are seasons where God is granting more miracles and healings than normal, but there are seasons where God is seeing what we will do with the grace we have received.

I’ve noticed this dynamic with my own group, the Assemblies of God.  In the early 1900’s when this cooperating fellowship of churches began, it was quite common to see, or hear, of amazing answers of God through the miraculous and especially healing.  Over time, these healings became fewer and farther in between.  At the same time, a social dynamic was happening in this group.  Early Assemblies of God churches tended to be on “the other side of the tracks,” and its people were typically poorer.  Today, the Assemblies of God churches are by and large on “this side of the tracks,” and its people are more middle class.  I understand that these are rough generalizations, but we need to see that there is more going on here than just the faith of the individuals involved.  God is ultimately sovereign, and all believers need to keep humble before Him, rather than building a system that goes to one of two extremes- God always wants to heal, or God doesn’t heal any more.

I believe that God still heals people.  However, more blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.  We will be tested on both these things.  We must believe God enough to pray for healing, and yet trust Him if the answer is “No.”

The story is told of Thomas Aquinas, a theologian of the Church who as also a Dominican friar and priest.  He was in Rome and the pope was showing him an incredible display of gold, wealth, and precious jewels.  The pope then says, “Peter can no longer say, ‘Silver and Gold have I none!”  To which, Aquinas replied, “And neither can he say, ‘Rise up and walk in the Name of Jesus!”  This highlights an age-old problem of becoming rich, comfortable, and uninterested in the work that God is wanting to do.  God help us not to love the world and the things of this world to the point where we become irrelevant to His daily work.

There have been many charlatans with “healing ministries” through the years.  However, Peter is no charlatan who is looking for fame on TV and an empire that has a constant flow of money into its coffers.  Peter commands the man to rise up in the name of Jesus, while at the same time taking him by the hand and pulling him up.  This took a lot of faith on Peter’s part.  However, he was full of the Holy Spirit and in some way knew that this was God’s plan.

It is easy to think that the man asked for money, but received what he really needed.  This may be true, but on a deeper level than we think.  What good does physical healing do if a person does not become a believer in Jesus?  Think about the amazing medical technology that we have amassed in our world.  Who needs a healing Jesus when we can solve the maladies of the world through science and technologies developed off of it?  Of course, we can recognize that there are still sick people in our world today.  Technology is not yet the god that the world wishes it to be.  Second of all, what good does a perfect body that has never been sick do for the person who never puts their faith in Christ?  Yes, the person struggling with disease generally needs people around them that will help them, whether physically, monetarily, or both.  However, fixing the disease will only make a difference in their natural life.  Ultimately, we all need to come to faith in Jesus more than we need the troubles of our life fixed.  It is in the difficult times that we learn to trust more in God.

If I have money to give to a person who is in a difficult situation, then that is good.  If I pray for them to be healed, and God heals them, then that is even better.  However, if they do not put their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, then neither of those things will truly benefit them.  No amount of charitable giving, or healings, can fix the need of a soul to have its sins covered by the grace of Jesus made available through his death on the cross.

Think of it.  These weren’t even atrophied muscles.  He had never walked for over 40 years, and yet strength came into his legs, ankles and feet immediately.  This man was blown away.  He wasn’t healed in the name of Peter, or a particular ministry, or church.  He was healed in the name of Jesus.  Peter made it clear that he was representing Jesus, not himself.

They enter into the temple praising God.  The word for temple here doesn’t mean the main building where the Holy place was.  Only the high priest could enter there.  It means the temple compound, the large, flat structure upon which the temple building was built.  It is unlikely that he had ever been able to go in.  His job was to beg at the gate, but now he has something to praise God about, and he is leaping, shouting, and making no small commotion.

How many times can we indignantly look at others who are entirely too bubbly about praising God?  Yes, sometimes people can be putting on a show, but how do you know?  And, is your heart in the right place?  Excited praise is not always pretense.  Sometimes God has done amazing things in a person’s life.  Sometimes a person has learned to see the amazing grace of God that they are swimming in despite the lack of a healing, or miracle, or money.

Let us recognize that God does care about the poor and the needy even if they continue to be so.  It is not typically the rich and the healthy who are jumping up and down praising God, if they even go to church.  There is a day coming when God will wipe away every tear and restore all broken things to a pristine condition.  Where will I be on that day? 

Let’s be a people who are not so full of this worlds comforts that we have lost sight of the heart of God!

The Acts of the Apostles 5

Subtitle: Peter Preaches to the Crowd

Acts 2:14-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 12, 2022.

Today, we pick up at the Day of Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus.  As the Law was given at Mt. Sinai, so the Spirit of God was given in Jerusalem, or Mt. Zion.

A crowd had gathered due to the commotion caused by about 120 people speaking in foreign languages about the wonders of God.

Luke doesn’t clearly describe exactly what the scene looks like.  Are they still in the room with Peter speaking through a window?  Have they come out onto an open balcony?  Have they walked out into the outer courtyard around the Temple?  In the end, we have a large crowd that has gathered and Peter is given an opportunity to speak to the crowd, but now he is filled with the Holy Spirit.

We should be careful to recognize that the Holy Spirit does not take over people and control their body or speech.  There is a cooperation between the Spirit and the person He fills.

Let’s look into the passage.

The Holy Spirit speaks through Peter

Peter starts out by telling the crowd to “heed my words” (vs. 14).  The Holy Spirit had been giving the people languages to speak that many in the crowd had overheard and understood.  We can think of this as a particular way that the Holy Spirit can speak to people through believers.  Even more important, the activity itself is symbolic of things that would have meaning to those with eyes to see and minds to understand.

However, the event of mass speaking in tongues appears to be more about getting the attention of people in Jerusalem so that the Holy Spirit could speak to them in the regular language that would have been spoken in Jerusalem.  Peter is speaking by the Holy Spirit, but this time he is not speaking in a language unknown to him.  He is speaking with understanding of what he is saying.

How important it is for us to pay attention, to understand, and to properly respond when the Holy Spirit is speaking.  That may be in the occurrence of things that we do not understand, or when another person who isn’t perfect speaks to us.  In fact, sometimes the Spirit of God may speak to us through the unwitting words of sinners.  We must always be open and listening for what the Spirit is saying in the midst of what others say.

In John 16:14-15, Jesus said, “He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.”  (NKJV).  When the Holy Spirit is speaking, He is giving to us what Jesus is saying, and Jesus is giving Him what the Father is saying.  These are not merely words to hear and use for our own inspiration.  God has a purpose in those words and we should not co-opt His words for our purposes.

Thus, it is not enough to merely hear the words of God.  We should so thirst for the word of the Lord that we treat it all as precious.  I must understand these things!  Even then, it is not enough to merely understand the words.  I must live wisely in the counsel of those words.  In this life, we should put our faith completely in those words through willing obedience to the Spirit of God.

Now, we can get to Peter’s message.  He first counters the mockers who are saying that they are drunk.  Wherever God is moving, there will be mockers to ridicule it and put it down.  Don’t doubt that the devil and his spirits weren’t recognizing that this event of the Holy Spirit could really wreck their control on Jerusalem.  In this crowd, they find willing accomplices and assets that they can stir up and depend upon to do their will.  In fact, it is the opposite of what Peter is doing.  He is surrendering to the Holy Spirit, but the mockers are surrendering to the work of an evil spirit that seeks to thwart the good work of God.  We see this same spirit at work today, whether through false-believers, or non-Christians, whenever God is speaking.

Peter rejects the accusation that they are drunk.  He points out that it is the third hour.  In Hebrew reckoning, 6:00 AM would begin the morning hours, thus it was about 9:00 AM (+3 hours).  People who get drunk generally do so at night.  Of course, there are some who do get drunk in the day, but usually they are not up at 9:00 AM.

Those who give themselves to alcohol to the point of drunkenness are not following the Spirit of God.  Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:18, “do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” (NKJV).  Drunkenness, or better intoxication, leads to the oppose of a life that is being saved, fixed, and healed.  The phrase in Ephesians, “in which is dissipation,” actually uses the word for saving something and then fixes a “not” in front of it.  Instead of leading to a life that is filled with healing and life, it is a life that is falling apart and leading others around them to do the same.

Let me just speak to a fad in some parts of the Church that act like and teach that being filled with the Holy Spirit is just like being drunk.  This passage is saying the exact opposite.  It is not a God thing for Christians to appear to be completely out of control and stumbling over themselves.  There is a contrast between being filled with alcohol and what it leads to, and being filled with the Holy Spirit and what it leads to.  When a person is truly filled with the Holy Spirit, they will be a spring of life, a spring of salvation, healing and restoration, and they will be all those things the people around them.  The mockers are the wicked ones in this setting, but they are trying to slander this righteous remnant of Israel that was following God.

Peter then points us to Joel 2:28-32.  This is the first of three Old Testament Scriptures (the only ones at that time) that illuminate what God has been doing in Jerusalem for the last 2 months.  This is a small part of a larger prophecy about God’s dealings with Israel and the nations.

Joel opens up in chapter 1 talking about a locust army that seems to have literally destroyed the crops of Israel in his day.  This then turns into a prophecy about the Day of the Lord.  It is called the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord in Joel 2:31. The literal locusts of Joel’s day were a portend of a spiritual locust army that will come in the last days.  We don’t have time to deal with it today, but suffice it to say that the wording and imagery of Joel 2 is all throughout Revelation 9 and the locust army that comes out of the Bottomless Pit.  Remember that the Bottomless Pit is a prison for rebellious spirit-beings who were so bad that God had them locked up until the Day of the Lord’s judgment on heaven and earth would come.  There is a recurring theme of a supernatural army of evil beings coming on the earth out of the north, really a spiritual or cosmic north.  They come to torment mankind, and they come to destroy God’s people, even Israel.  Only God can rebuke this supernatural army and save His people.

In the middle of this terrible vision and prophecy of the Day of the Lord, God calls Israel to repentance.  Yes, the Day of the Lord is coming, but what you are doing today sets the table for what you will be eating then.  Israel is called to repentance and is told of the good that God has for them when they do.  So, Joel 2:28-32 is God’s promise that He will pour His Spirit out upon all those who repent and turn towards Him.  This contrast of God pouring His wrath out upon some and pouring His Spirit out upon others is an important understanding of all prophecy.

Notice in Acts 2:17 that this pouring out of the Holy Spirit takes place in the last days.  We have technically been in the last days since that day 1,990 years ago (give or take a few years).  We are in the last age of God’s work before He brings in His kingdom under the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Day of the Lord is the conclusion to this age and the transition into the Kingdom Age.

Some may ridicule (mock) that if the last days last for almost 2,000 years then the phrase is meaningless.  That is not true.  It is a harbinger to every generation that we must make our decision because God is getting ready to wrap things up.  The Day of the Lord is a day of judgment upon all nations, and upon the spiritual powers that deceive the nations.  In fact, when Jesus the Messiah was rejected, God has him sit at His right hand until the day that He makes the enemies of Jesus his footstool (i.e., Revelation 19 and the Second Coming).  Meanwhile, we are in a time of harvest (the feast of Pentecost was a feast of harvest).

Yes, Jerusalem would be destroyed and Israel taken into exile completely, but God’s judgment was not complete then.  God put pause on continuing to pour out his judgment on the nations, and instead sent His terms of peace to anyone on the side of His enemies who wish to switch sides.  Can you imagine playing a game where it is almost over and a Champion walks on the court or field for the other team that spells your doom?  Then, imagine that time-out is called and it is announced over the loud speaker that any team member that wants to switch sides can do so and they will be considered a true member of the other team?  This is the grace of God.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon whosoever would choose the side of Jesus, the side of God the Father, is pictured as having no barriers.  Both men and women, old and young, free and slave would be full recipients of God’s Holy Spirit.  This Spirit would cause them to prophesy, and to have dreams and visions from God.  Everyone of God’s people would become prophets.  If all of God’s people would be prophets than who would they prophesy to?  They would be God’s voice to the nations of the earth.

O Christian, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit in these last days so that our mouths, hands, and lives will be full of the eternal life of God, so that it will flow out upon a dry and thirsty world that is lost under the power of the darkness of the devil and those humans who are in league with him.  We are closer to the Day of the Lord than they were in the first century.  Instead of asking how much longer is God going to offer terms of peace, we must be faithful to be His voice, His emissaries, holding out life to the lost saying, “Don’t die; choose life!”

Verses 19 and 20 of Acts chapter 2 speak of signs and wonders that will come before the Day of the Lord.   Some of these will be in the heavens and some will be on the earth.  Let’s be clear that the Day of the Lord culminates with the Second Coming of Jesus to literally reign on this earth as God’s King.

Now, there were signs and wonders that occurred at the birth of Jesus.  The magi came out of the East having seen a star that portended a special king in Israel.  Also, a glorious band of angels appeared to shepherd in the fields of Bethlehem.  The life of Jesus was full of signs and wonders as he did the miraculous over and over again.  At his death, a darkness filled the land that cannot be explained by a solar eclipse due to it lasting too long.  All of these are signs pointing us to the reality that the Day of the Lord is near, but so too that the promise of pouring out the Spirit is even now here.

There are still signs to occur.  Zechariah 14 is a prophesy about the Second Coming of Jesus.  Jerusalem will be nearly destroyed and Jesus will break the clouds and deliver them.  In verses 6-7 of that chapter, he speaks of a unique day.  During the day it will be dark and at evening time it will be light.  It is also described as “neither day nor night.”  It appears that the light of the sun will be diminished to the point that throughout the day there is darkness, but at evening time it will be light.  This light presumably coincides with the return of Christ to deliver Israel.  I would assume that all of this is in relation to Jerusalem time.  It is worth noting that Revelation 16 also speaks of the 5^th bowl being a darkness on the kingdom of the beast that causes pain.

Thus, the tribulation period will see these signs of blood, fire, vapors of smoke, the sun turned to darkness and the moon to blood.  Those will be signs to those who are alive at that time just as the signs surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus were signs to those alive back then.  The strange events of darkness and an earthquake that ripped the temple curtain had no doubt circulated among the visitors of Jerusalem.  They had been prepared to hear what the Spirit of God had to say, what Jesus had to say, through Peter on that day.

The key point of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Joel 2 and quoted here in Acts 2 is that it will introduce a time where everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.  The Hebrew word for “saved” can be translated as delivered, or even escaped.  Remember the context is about this looming judgment of the Day of the Lord.  Those who call upon the Lord will be delivered from that judgment and escape it.  This is what Jesus was saying in Luke 21:36, “Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.”  (NKJV).

Listen, friend.  God doesn’t just want to give you a golden ticket into heaven, or a badge of honor saying, “I’m saved!”  He wants you to escape that horrible day of judgment that is coming upon this world.  His promise is that all who put their faith in Jesus will prove worthy to escape that awful day.  No, we won’t escape persecutions and suffering in this life.  But we will escape the destruction that the powers of this age are orchestrating for humanity.  And, we will escape the destruction that God has determined upon them and those who stand with them as His wrath is poured out.

It is important to remain humble and understand the tension between being the survivors of this age and also being the overcomers.  Both concepts are critical for us as believers.  We are not victims.  We are those who will survive the most devastating things that will ever come upon the earth, and even more, we will be those who overcame the powers of the devil and his angels, and the kings and powers of this earth.  Amen!

Peter Preaches audio

The Acts of the Apostles 3

Subtitle: The Tragedy of Judas

Acts 1:15-26.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 15, 2022.

Today, we deal with the sad subject of a person who has ministered with Jesus, and yet, has not really believed in him.  Judas represents those who have had very high positions within the Church of Jesus, but in the end, serve to betray Christ himself.  Of course, this same dynamic existed from the very beginning of Creation.  Judas will forever be known as the betrayer of Jesus.

We can be tempted to read about the destruction of Judas, or others like him, with an attitude that says, “Good riddance!”  However, our attitude should be one of sorrow saying, “We’ve lost another one!”

Let’s look at our passage.

The end of Judas

The tragedy of Judas is inserted by Luke as an aside to the narrative.  It functions like a parenthetical statement to bring readers like the earlier mentioned Theophilus up to speed on why the apostles were doing what this part of the narrative describes.  Judas had betrayed Christ and then committed suicide.

I am going to deal with verses 18 and 19 first, and then circle back to verse 15 and following due to this parenthetical nature.  It will help the narrative flow better for our purposes.

There are several points of contention that some people try to make out to be contradictions.  The first has to do with the statement that Judas had “purchased a field with the wages of iniquity” (30 pieces of silver).  There is no doubt that the phrase in verse 18, “Now this man…” is referring back to Judas.  Some believe that this statement is in contradiction to Matthew 27:3-8.

In Matthew, Judas is remorseful because he did not expect Jesus to be condemned to death (vs. 3).  It is not disclosed what Judas hoped to achieve other than enriching himself with the imprisonment of Jesus.  Judas wants to return the money, but the priests refuse to accept it.  Judas then tosses the coins at them, leaves, and then hangs himself.

The priests are unable to accept the money into the treasury because it was blood money.  Thus, they solve the dilemma by purchasing the potter’s field where foreigners who die in the region can be buried.  So, who bought the field, Judas or the priests?  The key is in understanding that the money cannot be officially accepted by the temple.  The money still belongs to Judas and the field is essentially bought in his name.  A cemetery is all that Judas obtained with the wages of his sin.

The second “contradiction” regards the manner of death.  Did Judas hang himself as Matthew says, or did he fall headlong and split open with his guts pouring out?  Again, there is no real contradiction.  Judas did hang himself as Matthew states.  However, Luke never says that this is the way Judas died, nor is the text actually saying he was walking along, tripped headfirst onto something (rocks?) and was mortally wounded by it.  In fact, it is extremely unlikely that a stumbling person could injure themselves so badly that their entrails all gush out.  Even the word “falling” is an attempt to smooth over the translation.  It literally says that Judas came to be headfirst.  Of course, a common way of understanding that is a fall.  Luke is more focused on showing the gruesome end of Judas than establishing exactly how he died.  It is just as likely that Judas hung in there with his body decaying until the branch broke or the rope broke.  He could have then fallen headfirst and broke open due to the decay of the skin.  Luke is showing the aloneness and indignity of the place that Judas ended up.

As humans, we might gain some satisfaction over the death of a betrayer.  However, I don’t see this in Jesus.  He knew who and what Judas was from the beginning.  In John 6:70, right after everyone was tempted to leave him, Jesus challenged the Twelve.  “Do you also want to go away?”  Peter answered for the group, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus then states, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”  Peter’s answer is an answer of faith that is based on Jesus.  Judas had no such faith.  I don’t believe Jesus is saying that Judas wasn’t human, but was a devil masquerading as one.  Rather, I believe he is stating that Judas has given himself over to spiritual forces, devils, that were using him, and he was doing their bidding.

We should also notice some other passages.  Ezekiel 18:23 tells us that God doesn’t take pleasure in the death of the wicked.  He would rather they turned in repentance.  This is the same thing that Peter states in 2 Peter 3:9. “The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  Whether Judas ever believed, Jesus clearly loved him and gave him a clear choice.  The end of Judas was the result of a series of selfish and wicked choices.

The field purchased by the priests in the name of Judas is also where Judas died.  Its name became Akel Dama, “Field of Blood.”  It would have been seen as a cursed place to avoid.  There is a sinister shade to the idea that the fruit of his betrayal was suicide in what would then become a cemetery for foreigners.

Judas is not the only betrayer of Jesus.  Jesus warned that many would betray him.  On the day that the Kingdom of Heaven is brought down to earth, Jesus describes the scene in Matthew 7:23. “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”  In John 6, Jesus made it clear that the problem for Judas was that he didn’t believe in Jesus.  There are many today who are betraying the cause and purpose of Jesus the Christ.  They do so all the while wearing a cloak of righteousness, but in the end, they are pursuing lawlessness. 

Do not focus on other to the detriment of your own soul.  If we believe in Jesus, then we will do what he commands.  Jesus held out a hand of redemption to judas to the bitter end, and so should we.

The position of Judas is filled by Matthias

In verse 15, the disciples are in Jerusalem waiting and praying for the Holy Spirit to be poured out, but someone needs to fill the position left vacant by Judas.  We are told that there are about 120 of them.  This could be broken down into The Eleven, The Seventy, and 39 others plus.

Peter broaches the subject of the vacant position by pointing to Scripture.  The Scriptures are quoted in verse 20 and they come from Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8. Both of these Psalms are written by David.  He is complaining in prayer to God that he has been hated by those close to him without a cause.  In fact, Psalm 109:5 states, “They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”

If you read these Psalms of David in their entirety, you can see David calling out to God for vindication.  David, who has been reproached like a cursed man, must endure those who have hated him seemingly being blessed.  They are entrenched in their inheritance in Israel all the while he is being pushed out of the inheritance that God has given him.  David asks God to give judgment and reverse the positions.

This idea of a portion, a lot, and an inheritance connects the story of David and his betrayers with that of Jesus and his.  It also connects back to the inheritance of the tribes of Israel.

In verse 17, it states that Judas had “obtained a part in this ministry.”  The word for “part” is connected to the Hebrew word for a Lot, A Portion, an Inheritance.  More on this later.

Scripture tells us that David was a prophet, and Peter declares that the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David.  Though he was focused on his situation, the Spirit of God spoke through him regarding the ultimate Son of David who would also be betrayed.  Those with whom God made covenants all lived lives that became prophetic enactments of future events connected to Messiah.  David’s initial rejection and betrayal was prophetic of the rejection and betrayal that the Messiah Son of David would experience.  Thus, Peter sees David prophesying that another should take the place of his betrayer.

A final point of how Peter saw this connection necessitating a person to replace Judas has to do with the number 12.  Why did Jesus pick twelve disciples to become his apostles?  We intuitively know it is connected to the 12 tribes of Israel.  I’ve already stated that the concept of a portion, or lot, grammatically ties these together.  However, Jesus promised the 12 that they would sit on 12 thrones ruling over the 12 tribes of Israel in his kingdom (Matthew 29:28; Luke 22:30).  Just as the tribes of Israel became the foundation of the nation of Israel and drew their inheritance by Lot, so the 12 Apostles would inherit the 12 tribes.  They are not each from the different tribes.  This points to a new order that Messiah would set up that was not simply based on natural blood lines.

Peter mentions some prerequisites to whomever would be picked.  They had to have accompanied the 11 throughout the time of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John up to his ascension into heaven.  They thus would be witnesses of his ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension.  Just as the tribes of Israel had witnessed the glorious deliverance from Egypt brought about by the Lord, so these were witnesses of the glory of Messiah.  Along with Jesus, these 12 would become the foundation and lay the foundation of the Called-Out-Ones who belonged to Jesus. They are to be his Church.  They would also be a foundational witness to the earth and to the heavens of the power and love of God shown to the sons of Adam through Jesus. 

You might recall the image of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven having 12 foundations, each one named for the 12 disciples.  One of them would have been named Judas, but he lost that glory.

Through this we can see the importance of having a 12^th apostle after Judas was lost.

Two men are chosen from among them, no doubt chosen from out of the 70. They are Joseph Barsabas and Matthias.  There is no electioneering here, and neither should there be.  Several men qualify, but only one can fill the post.  There were most likely others who qualified.  Serving God is not about the exact role or position that we receive.  It is not about the scope and number of people that it impacts.  It is simply about being faithful to whatever God gives you to do.  They would all go forth witnessing to the world of Jesus and the Resurrection, of the Gospel.

Matthias is the one who is chosen.  Two things stick out to me about the making of this decision.  First, the disciples prayed for God to reveal which of the two that He has chosen.  Two often, we can end up controlling who gets positions rather than letting God choose.  Prayer is essential in knowing the will of God.

Second, they cast lots to determine God’s will.  Historically, it was a common thing to cast lots in order to deal with decisions.  It served two purposes.  It was a way to satisfy strong, opinionated men.  They could all see how the lot fell and had a predetermined understanding of what its particular settlings would mean.  Though modern man would say that it is a random thing, the ancients often pointed to God controlling the lots.  We see this throughout the Old Testament, and as stated earlier, particularly with the inheritance of the 12 tribes of Israel.  There choice of casting lots is not by accident.  We never see them doing this again to make a decision (see Acts 15). 

Let us note that just as God had a portion for the 12 disciples, He also has a portion for you and me.  This lot in life involves our place in God’s Church, but also our place in the Age to Come.  Judas lost his place that day because he didn’t believe God.   Someone else ended up with a portion that could have been his.  Yes, this world can be a wilderness, but those who trust in Jesus will be blessed both now and in the Kingdom.  May we all serve in faithfulness in whatever post our Lord should give.

Tragedy of Judas audio