The Acts of the Apostles 28

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense IV

Acts 7:30-36.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 18, 2022.

We have been looking at Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin, although he is actually on offense here.  Last week, he reminded them about the rejection of Moses. 

Today, we are going to be reminded of the fact that God later sends Moses back to Egypt to serve as His representative.  He would be used first to deliver Israel from their bondage, and second to bring them to their promised inheritance.

Deliverance in God is not just about getting out of trials and difficulties.  We cannot say, “God get me out of this difficulty,” and then, “I’ll take it from here,” after He delivers us.  God is a deliverer, but He is not AAA.  Of course, if the AAA guy tries to tell you how to live your life, you will remind him that you are only paying for him to tow your vehicle to the shop.  However, with God, there is always a positive thing that God is bringing us towards when He delivers us out of difficult things.

Let’s look at our passage.

Remember that the rejected Moses came back to lead them out of Egypt (vs. 30-36)

Stephen calls to their attention that the rejected Moses is sent back to Egypt to lead Israel out of slavery.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why he would be pointing this out in light of the events surrounding Jesus. (The backdrop to this found in Exodus 3-4).

We last saw Moses hightailing it out of Egypt because Pharaoh has put his picture on the Top 10 Most Wanted List in all of Egypt’s post offices (just kidding about the picture).  At 40 years of age, Moses flees from Egypt into the Sinai and then keeps going into what we would call northwest Saudi Arabia, the land of Midian in those days.

The Midianites came from a man named Midian.  He was the offspring of Abraham and his marriage with Keturah, whom he had married after Sarah had died.  The several sons that he had with her were given gifts and sent eastward so that they would not interfere with God’s promise to give the land to Isaac.

Moses meets a “priest of Midian” named Reuel, and also called Jethro.  He marries one of Jethro’s daughters and has two children.  It is 40 years later (Moses would then be 80) that God shows up to call him back to Egypt. 

This part of the life of Moses is skipped over very quickly.  In fact, this happens a lot in the Bible.  Sometimes Christians can wonder why God doesn’t do something supernatural everyday in their life, but we forget that even biblical prophets sometimes felt the same way (see Habakkuk 3:2).  God does do amazing supernatural things from time to time, but He also is with us in the in between times of routine.  It is there that we live out the faithfulness of trusting Him.

In fact, human beings were not created to be in a frenetic state of excitement all of the time.  It would kill us.  So, we serve God greatly during the times of routine, even if it doesn’t seem to be something great to us.

This brings up another issue.  If the only thing you ever do is marry and raise a family to replace yourself in the next generation with the torch of faith, then that is a great thing.  Think of how many people have failed to do this, and have even caused the fall of people from believing God.  We can be very poor at seeing what is really great.

We don’t really know where Moses received his understanding of God.  Was it all from the bush forward, and directly from God?  Or, is it possible that this priest of Midian, his father-in-law, still held to the faith of Abraham his ancestor?  There is no way to know.

Let us notice that the call of God upon Moses began long before he could show himself faithful to God.  God did not spare the child in the basket because his faith was so strong.  Yet, there comes this time as an adult where God comes knocking, and Moses is going to need to respond with faith.  It looks like Moses was a little shaky in his faith.  At one point, he even tells God that the plan is great, but that He should do it with someone else.  So, what is the key to responding in faith when God comes knocking?  The key is to live a life of faith during the routine times.  It may seem like God isn’t doing anything, but nothing in our life goes to waste with God.

The forty years of being trained in the wisdom of Egypt in the house of Pharaoh and the forty years of learning to be a husband, father, and shepherd in the desolate wilderness would be important parts of God’s preparation in the life of Moses.  Don’t get me wrong.  Everything you are going through is important for you right now, but it is also preparatory.  We are not generally told why God allows us to go through what we do, but God will not waste it in the end.  God often uses the routine times to build in us the greatest thing that we can have and that is faith in Him.  So, let’s be faithful today.

At 80 years of age, Moses has a spectacular event.  The Angel of the Lord appears to him in the middle of the wilderness in a burning bush.  It is clear that he is not intending to go back to Egypt, but God has different plans.  Don’t you just love it when God has plans other than what you have?

It is not a burning bush that draws his attention.  I have read that bushes on fire are a common thing in that area.  However, this bush is not being consumed by the fire.  This is what causes Moses to go over and see what is up with this bush.  It is then that he finds out that this is no normal bush and it is no normal fire.  It is the Angel of the Lord.

This picture of a natural thing on fire by God and yet not consumed is an important one.  It is a good picture of how God made human beings.  Our God is a consuming fire, and yet, He created us to be filled with Him and yet not be destroyed.  Of course, our fallen, mortal state does need to be resurrected in order for us to be perfectly fit to dwell in the presence of God.  However, even in our mortal state, God has made us to be capable of being filled with His presence and displaying His glory without dying.  Two things operate together to make this possible.  First, there is His work of mitigating, or moderating, His powerful glory.  However, there is also our faith in Him.  God is to be feared because He does not suffer fools.  However, the believer who trusts in Him does not need to fear that God’s presence will consume him.

This also connects to the Day of Pentecost.  The 120 believers had tongues that looked like fire come down and set above their heads.  They each became a bush on fire from the presence of God, and yet not consumed.  Quite the opposite, they become a source of life.  They are not a big Redwood, or a Cedar of Lebanon, but rather just a simple bush on fire of God.

The cross itself is the most ignoble tree of the earth, and yet the Son of God hung on that cross as the fire of God’s wrath came down upon him.  The cross is a place of consuming and Jesus did die.  Yet, he was not destroyed because He is the Lord of life.

This angel speaking from the bush is no normal angel.  It is the Angel of the Lord.  This passage in Exodus is one of the classic passages of demonstrating that this angel is unique from all of the others.  Though he is an angel (messenger), he speaks as if he is God.  In another place, God refers to this unique angel as having His Presence within him and having His Name upon Him.  Some scholars of Israel before the first century would even refer to this as being a Visible Yahweh versus the Invisible Yahweh.  It was a way of God accommodating Himself so that people could see and interact with Him.  Of course, this Angel of the Lord could only be the Lord Jesus Christ.

Regardless, the Angel tells Moses to remove his sandals because he is on holy ground.  The idea of sacred space is huge in the Old Testament.  You don’t just walk into sacred space without making sure you have permission and do it in the proper way.  To us moderns, it may appear that God is creating arbitrary barriers to approaching Him, but it is anything but arbitrary.  We are taught to be very careful how we treat holy things, things set apart for God’s purposes, as opposed to the common things that are for our own purposes.  Christ makes us holy and shows us how to humbly approach God the Father in prayer.  This space is not holy because of its coordinates on the earth.  It was holy because God was there.

This brings up another issue.  What are God’s holy things?  Do you not know that you were made to be a holy, sacred space, for God?  Do I treat my life as a common thing to do whatever I want, or do I recognize that I am a holy person set apart for His purposes, and so I should be careful what I do?  How many Christians tell themselves that fornication isn’t so bad because many people are doing far worse in this world.  Yet, this excuse will not stand us in good stead.  We should not fool ourselves that God won’t care.  The only way to fix this is through repentance and faith in Jesus.  This can cleanse us so that we can go forward.  When the temple was defiled, you couldn’t just say, “Oops!” and then just continue on with sacrifices.  They would have to stop and cleanse the temple before they could resume service to God.  For Christians, we must listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, instead of grieving Him, and repent before the Lord while putting our trust in the way that Jesus shows us to live, in Him period.

The Lord also let’s Moses know who is talking to him, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Moses hides for fear of dying from seeing God, but God instead reveals to Moses a new name for Himself.  He is to be called Yahweh, The Being One.  In the past, He is the Being One; in the present, He is the Being One; in the future, He will still be The Being One.  All things that exist find their source in The Being One.

Following this, the Angel has a message of deliverance for Israel.  Three phrases are given by Stephen to represent God’s message:  I have seen their oppression; I have heard their groaning; and, I have come down to rescue them.

Have you ever doubted that God saw your difficulties and heard your cries?  Have you doubted because He didn’t come down and rescue you in the past?  This is part of the faith that we are called to have.  Imagine how many Israelites died in slavery before this moment.  A generation passed away in liberty and then finally a generation will see deliverance.  Is this fair?

We don’t always understand the timing of God, but know this: He always sees and hears, even if He doesn’t come down to rescue.  Death itself is a type of rescue that takes the righteous into the presence of God.  I doubt that in the Resurrection those who experienced deliverance in Egypt will grouse over those who didn’t.  This kind of thing becomes irrelevant in light of eternity because they all had to have faith, whether waiting for deliverance, or being delivered. 

So, why does God wait for deliverance?  First, it calls for us to learn humility, which is an essential part of imaging God.  Some would emphasize that none of us deserve deliverance, but I think this misses the point.  There are things that we need to learn and experience before we are delivered.  This is true as individuals, or as a nation, or as a world.  God’s timing optimizes His grace with our ability to learn.  God sees you and He has a day of deliverance for you regardless of how your trial goes.  In fact, the cross itself is God declaring, “I see you; I hear you; and I have come down to save you!”  In some ways, Moses is a type of Christ, but in this burning bush episode, he is a type of us coming to the cross and receiving a revelation of who God is.  There as the wrath of God burns upon the Son of God, He tells us that He sees us and hears us and will save us.  Yet, this burning God/man is asking you to participate in His deliverance of others!

Did God need Moses to deliver Israel?  Why is God in Midian convincing Moses to go to Egypt?  God technically doesn’t need us in the sense of our abilities, but He does need us in the sense that He created us to bear His image.  No father needs their son to come and work with them.  The boy isn’t good at it and often gets in the way.  But, a father also needs, or wants badly, for his son to grow up and become a man like He is.  Of course, we will never be Gods like our Father is, but we can participate in His divine nature as Sons of God.  God often waits because it is the only way we will ever learn to become like Him, and He calls us to join Him in the deliverance of others (as well as ourselves) because He wants us to learn to become like Him!

Stephen emphasizes that God sends Israel a deliverer that they had rejected, “the Moses whom they disowned.”  If they wanted to be delivered, then they would have to get behind Moses and follow him.  There would not be another.

Moses would become a savior and a ruler over them because God chose him.  However much Moses had been trained to lead, it is not he who would do the heavy lifting of saving Israel and bringing them to the promise land.  God would do the great wonders and signs.  Whereas, Moses is His representative.  Even surviving in the desert is not mainly at the ability of Moses, but the provision of God.  The ruling of Moses is mainly him explaining the laws that God had legislated.  The ruling, and saving, of Israel by Moses is overshadowed by the Angel of the Lord, the true Savior and Ruler of Israel.  Moses was simply a mediator.

This is the tension that exists between being called of God and yet not to do it in our own wisdom, strength, reason, etc.  Sure, our past is preparatory, but not always for us to do what we think.  Many times, our training helps us understand that God is working due to the contrast.  Ultimately, we must be prayerfully making decisions and asking God for wisdom. 

Are not our people in slavery today under the Pharaoh of this world?  Can we not hear the Holy Spirit saying that He sees, hears, and has come down?  Who among us will choose to labor with God?  Perhaps today, He is intersecting your life and calling you to come with Him to work for the souls who are held in bondage to sin in this world.

Defense IV audio

The Acts of the Apostles 16

Subtitle: They Had All Things In Common

Acts 4:32-37.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, September 4, 2022.

Today, our passage deals with a theme that we saw back in chapter 2, verses 44-45.  There Luke was giving a summary of the daily life of those who believed in Jesus, and how they took care of one another.

Essentially, Luke is showing that they took care of one another like family.  Yet, it was more than that.

This was a special time in the Church in which the Messiah had come and the promised Holy Spirit was being poured out.  This Holy Spirit was moving powerfully among God’s people.  It was quite common for people to stay in Jerusalem even though they lived somewhere else.  They did not want to miss out on the almost incredible things that God was doing.  Similarly, they were gathering every day in the temple where the apostles preached Jesus and encouraged the believers.  This dynamic led to a period of time where there were many reasons why people would put off normal matters of business, work.

How we need to once again become a people who are led and impassioned by what the Holy Spirit is doing.  Don’t be so sure that you have the same kind of heart.  The Holy Spirit is not inactive in our day and age, and yet many act as if He is.  Only through prayer can we get to a place where we recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing, and where He is leading.  God help us not to settle for a good life that is ignorant of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our day and age.

Let’s get into our passage.

The believers care for one another (vs. 32-37)

The issue of lacking what one needs from day to day is front and center in this passage.  Jesus spoke about this in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:25-34.  He basically tells believers not to be anxious about their daily food, clothing, or shelter.  If they would seek the Kingdom of God first in their life, then they would find God supplying these things as needed. 

Notice that the emphasis is on our primary focus.  Of course, we will need to work, budget, and buy food.  However, we should never let this become our priority.  Jesus is speaking to people who often found themselves in poor circumstances.  They could have all kinds of reasons to become anxious and then be led into complaining against God (remember Israel in the wilderness).

In desperation, we can often live life at a very surface level that is focused upon survival and our fleshly needs.  Don’t get me wrong.  A person needs to eat, and be clothed, and have shelter.  Yet, when our life first worries about these things and then becomes consumed with them, then we are never happy.  People, who are eating and dressing quite luxuriously, people who are living in houses, or apartments, that are orders of magnitude higher than kings in the past had, can still find themselves anxious about that stuff because it has come to mean more to them than God and His kingdom.

Only Jesus and his purposes can satisfy our inner needs.  We have a promise from him that we don’t need to worry; we just need to put his kingdom first.

In this passage, we have a practical expression of how the early Church was making sure that no one among them fell into circumstances where they were going hungry, without proper clothing, or without shelter from the elements.

We should also note that there are two sides to this issue.  In Matthew 6, Jesus was speaking to the needy (really all of us).  The person in need is not told that they shouldn’t worry because the Church will cover all their needs.  They are told to make the Kingdom of God their focus, and then God would make sure that they had enough to eat, etc.  However, God wants to help us is His business.  Our job is to refrain from worry, and trust God to provide, as we do our best.

However, the other side of the issue is about those whom God wants to use to meet those needs.  God is amazing.  Whenever somebody lacks anything, God always makes sure that there is somebody who has plenty enough to meet that need.  This is not a matter of law or commandment.  God’s people are called to be volunteers out of love for Christ.  We give as the Lord Jesus puts it on our heart.  That said, this can become a cop-out for the person who is greedy and doesn’t want to give.  We can say that God hasn’t told us to help anyone, all the while our fingers are deep in our ears.  God is calling us to maturity.  If God has blessed you with anything, then you need to be asking for what purpose has He done this?  Only for you to consume?  This is more than unlikely.  We will be accountable for how we have used God’s things that He has entrusted to us, within this life that He has given to us.

Lastly in this matter, a person who lacks financially still has areas in their life where they can be used of God to help others.  Also, a person who is financially wealthy still has areas in their life where they have needs that only others can meet.  No one is wholly in one category or another.  This takes spending time in prayer in order to understand the ways in which we can meet others needs, and the ways in which we are still quite needy ourselves.

In verse 32, Luke says that the believers were of one heart and one soul.  This is similar to the phrase “in one accord,” which focuses on having a singular passion for God’s purposes.  The words heart and soul have lots of overlap and basically point to that inner life as opposed to our body.  The heart is pictured as a kind of control center of our thoughts on one hand, and of our desires on the other.  In essence, the believers were living in a way that was as if one person was doing all of the thinking and desiring.

The only way that a group of people can have one heart and one soul is by the help of the Holy Spirit.  Tyrants will use brute force and manipulation to control the people, but God doesn’t operate in this way, and neither should the leaders of the Church.  This can’t be done in the flesh.  Paul tells us to let the mind of Christ be in us (Philippians 2).  With this in mind, we can see our need as believers is to let the Holy Spirit direct our heart and soul to be like that of Christ.  He needs to direct our heart.  We need to have our thoughts conformed and our desires conformed to those of Jesus daily.  This is not an internal taking over by God, but a cooperation.  The only way this can successfully be done is through reading the Word of God, daily times of prayer, and walking with Jesus in obedience.  This is where we fight the giants internally in our soul.

Let’s look at verse 33 before we talk about the way the early Church dealt with financial needs in their midst.  It is pretty common in Acts to have a specific story about something that happened, and then follow it up with a general summation of what God was doing in the Church.  This verse is one of those summary style verses that lets us know that God was answering the prayer of the early Church.  We are once again reminded that God was working powerfully through the apostles as they preached about the resurrection of Jesus.  The great power is the dunamis power of God’s amazing work.  It is literally mega-dunamis.  God did extraordinary things through these apostles.  Just like the man lame from birth being healed in his 40’s, we are going to see more amazing miracles in the book of Acts.  These powerful demonstrations would not only let the leaders of Israel know that Jesus was multiplied in his followers, but it would also let Israel know that God had not abandoned them.  He was still pouring out His mercy and grace upon them.

This is an amazing thought.  They had taken the greatest gift of grace possible, God’s only Son, and crucified him.  Yet, here is God; here is Jesus showing them great and powerful signs and wonders.  He was essentially saying, “Even now, I will forgive.  Simply put your faith in my Son, Jesus!”

Just as there was great power through the apostles, so too, there was great grace upon the believers.  This is literally saying that grace, and that greatly (mega grace) was upon them.  It is easy to only think of grace in terms of salvation, but this term is broader than just salvation here.  It speaks to the favor, or good-will, of God resting upon them.  Jesus was not only dispensing mega powerful works by the disciples, but he was also pouring out mega grace upon his Church.  Jesus by his Spirit is the source of this overall atmosphere of God’s favor upon these believers.  This would be a supply in which they would display God’s grace among themselves, and it would then overflow into the larger community around them.

The early Christians were a people marked by the favor of God.  We can be mistaken in such judgments.  Perhaps, we may believe that the American Church is the most favored of God in every generation.  If we use the mind of the flesh to determine God’s favor, then we are guilty of the same sin of Job’s comforters, and the disciples themselves who thought wealth was a sign of God’s favor.  This was not the case with the early Christians.  The favor of God was upon them as obviously as the pillar of fire was to Pharoah that day.

Now let’s talk about the fact that the early Church took care of those who were needy in their midst.  When verse 34 says, “Nor was there anyone among them who lacked,” it does not mean no one ever had a need.  This is not some declaration that you will never have a need if you really trust Jesus.  No, many of them did have a need, a lacking.  However, those needs were being met by other brothers and sisters in the faith of Jesus.  Just like an adult son would take care of his aged mother when she is widowed, so they took care of those who encountered difficulties in life.  Most likely, they saw this number increase as persecutions led to many being arrested, imprisoned, and even executed. 

Down through the ages, the righteous have always wrestled with such things.  We are told that John Bunyan (author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, and The Holy War) spent years in the Bedford County Jail.  It bothered him that his wife and child were home penniless.  However, God used believers to care for them during this time.  It was humbling, but John knew that he was doing God’s work.  So, his family lacked in the sense of having need, but they didn’t lack because God laid it on the hearts of believers to supply their needs.

Luke describes further why these needs would be taken care of.  In Acts 6, we are going to see that they had a daily distribution of food for widows, for example.  Verse 32 says that their attitude towards their possessions was not a selfish one.  Instead, they had all things in common.  This doesn’t mean that they liquidated everything and joined a commune as some cults promote today.  It doesn’t even mean that they treated all their property as belonging to the poor.  In truth, they knew that their wealth was God’s in every way.  Therefore, they were merely stewards of God’s stuff in this life that He had given them.  It is much easier to give when your heart is not stingily clinging to the things “you have amassed by your hard work.”

In verse 34-35, we see how they were covering the needs.  When it says, “all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them,” it does not mean that no one had houses anymore.  It simply means that, as it was needed, those who had an excess of possessions would sell them from time to time.  This money was then given to the apostles, and they distributed it to those in need.  This was all done voluntarily and as God moved on their hearts.

Luke gives an example of a man named Joses.  This is not the ½ brother of Jesus mentioned in Matthew 13:55. This man is a Levite who was from the Island of Cyprus.  The name Joses is a diminutive form of Joseph.  Clearly, Joses had been in Jerusalem early on.  Was he one of those people in the crowd hearing Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost?  Or was he one of the 120 who were filled with the Holy Spirit in the upper room?  Some even speculate that he was one of the 70 sent out by Jesus.  Of course, those possibilities are merely conjecture.  Yet, Joses became a very influential person in the early Church. 

We are told that the apostles called him “Barnabas.”  In fact, this is the name that will be used of him from here on in the New Testament.  Barnabas is Aramaic and means “Son of Encouragement.”  Interestingly, the term encouragement is from the same root as the term Paraclete that is used of Jesus to refer to the Holy Spirit.  It is essentially one who comes alongside of another to help in whatever manner that will help.  It is a very broad term.  In this passage, Barnabas encourages people by giving money to the apostles so that no one in the Jerusalem Church will lack what they need.  Later, we are going to see Barnabas standing alongside of Saul of Tarsus when he believes on Jesus.  Barnabas came alongside of Saul, who came to be known as Paul, and helped the apostles to accept Paul into their fellowship.

Just as there are cautionary tales in the Bible (think of Cain, King Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, Judas, and many others), so there are many who are encouraging examples to us, even exemplars of what we should aspire to be.  Clearly, Jesus is the Exemplar of exemplars, but it is good to see righteous individuals who do particular exploits in the name of Jesus.  Pay attention to the negative examples in Scripture that we should avoid becoming, and the positive examples that we should allow to inspire us to follow Jesus more avidly.

So, what about us today?  Our culture is not as conducive to being aware of everyone’s needs.  In fact, 1^st century Jerusalem was a far different culture than 1^st century Rome, or Thessalonica.  Paul actually tells the Thessalonians that some of their people were being lazy, not working, going from house to house eating food, and being busybodies.  Paul said that such people need to work hard and eat their own food in quietness.  This corrective teaching has a fine edge put on it in the statement, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.”  (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NKJV).

Our culture loves to give lip-service to concepts like love and grace.  However, it often becomes perverted and twisted into something that is contrary to what God calls us to do.  It is not the Church’s job to make sure that no one ever goes hungry.  Sometimes a person has to experience powerful hunger pains in the natural before they ever come awake to the powerful, spiritual hunger pains that they have been running from.  It is our job to follow Jesus in truth.  It is our job to be led by the Spirit of Christ as we minister to and care for those who are believers and those who are lost.

May God help us to be open enough that others in the body would know if we are hurting.  This is nothing to be ashamed of.  It is an opportunity for Christ to demonstrate his compassion in us and through others.

All Things In Common audio

The Acts of the Apostles 1

Subtitle: Jesus Promises The Holy Spirit

Acts 1:1-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 24, 2022.

Today, we begin a journey through the book often called Acts.  We will take our time to go verse by verse, which will make this a long journey.  From time to time along the way, we will pause the series for special occasions.

The setting of the book (1:1-3)

First up, let’s talk about the setting and situation that gave rise to this book of our New Testament.

The author is not identified, but there is basically no dispute that the author is Luke the physician.  This is attested within the 2^nd century and there is no dispute from anyone at the time. 

We should note that even the Gospel of Luke does not identify the author in its verses.  However, the oldest copy of the Gospel of Luke that we have dates back to the 2^nd century (AD 100’s) and has written on it in Greek “According to Luke.”

In verse 1, the author refers to a former account, “The former account I made…”  He explains the subject matter of the earlier account.  It was about “all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up…”  This clearly describes a gospel account, and makes Acts a second volume that essentially starts where the Gospel of Luke leaves off.

As for the title of the book, there is no title given by the author.  It is simply an account describing what happened from the ascension of Jesus forward.  Thus, it is historical with a theological emphasis throughout it, much like the gospel.  Since the Gospel is about what Jesus did and said, so this book has been referred to as The Acts of the Apostles, and the shorter form Acts.  Of course, we should recognize that Jesus is still acting through his disciples by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts are addressed to an individual named Theophilus.  The name means “friend of God,” and is used only in Luke 1:3 and Acts 1:1.  It is a Latin name, so the person is most likely a gentile convert.  I say this because Luke states that he wants Theophilus to be certain of the things in which he had been instructed (Luke 1:4).  Also there, Luke states that he had a perfect understanding of all things from the very first that he was writing about.

All of the Gospels portray a transitional period after the Resurrection of Jesus.  There are 50 days between the feast of Passover and the feast of Pentecost (called the feast of Weeks in the Old Testament).  Note that Pentecost is a Greek word for 50.  During the first 40 days, Jesus appeared on multiple occasions giving them commands, proving that it was really him, and that he was not just a spirit.  Luke states in Acts 1:3 that Jesus gave them infallible proofs of his resurrection to establish its reality beyond a doubt.  We see this with Jesus having them touch him and eating food in their presence and yet appearing and disappearing within locked rooms.

These first appearances happened in and around Jerusalem.  Then, there was an appearance in the area of Galilee.  This seems to be the situation that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15:6 in which he mentions Jesus appearing to “over 500 brethren at once.”  The end of the Gospel of Luke places the ascension of Jesus on the east side of the Mt. of Olives near Bethany.  This is a short distance from Jerusalem towards the east.

Verse 3 also tells us that Jesus used this transitional time to speak of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.  This would be particularly important to the disciples because they were perplexed at how the crucifixion, and now resurrection, of Jesus would connect to the awaited Kingdom of God.

Jesus instructs the disciples (1:4-8)

This opens with the last appearance to them in this transitional period.  Jesus is giving them his last instructions before going into heaven.  Jesus commands them to wait in Jerusalem for the “Promise of the Father.”  This idea of waiting may seem strange or unimportant to us.  However, the followers of Christ (and even the followers of God throughout history) are to be characterized first as a people who have waited on God the Father. Isaiah 40:31 reminds us that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and be able to fly, run, and walk without growing weary.  We are not an inactive people, but we are not driven by the mission or task itself.  We wait upon the Lord and follow His leading like the righteous of every age.

The Promise of the Father is a reference to the prophecies regarding the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  In Joel 2, the Father promises that a time will come when He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.  This is as opposed to being poured out on a few individuals hear and there, which was how it was experienced before then.

If there is any doubt about what promise Jesus means, it is put to rest in verse 5.  John the Baptist baptized people in water, but they were about to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  We should remind ourselves of Matthew 3:11 at this point.  John himself said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  (NKJV). 

Salvation is sometimes pictured as the Spirit of God putting or baptizing a person into Christ.  The disciples present were all saved members of Christ and his body.  Here the picture is reversed and Jesus will immerse his disciples into the Holy Spirit.  Notice that this picture shows a person being completely surrounded by the Holy Spirit.

There is another picture that is used of the Holy Spirit and that is being filled with the Spirit.  At salvation, Christ dwells in the believer through the Holy Spirit.  However, being filled with the Spirit pictures the Spirit flooding forth and filling our whole inner being until it overflows.  Both these inner and outer pictures are pointing to the same idea. 

Of course, salvation and Spirit baptism can happen simultaneously or separately.  The reason the disciples had to wait was mainly about the fact that the coming of the Holy Spirit in this new outpouring needed to coincide with the feast of Pentecost.  Just as the death of Jesus happened on Passover and conceptually tied to the sacrifice they made in Egypt, so the coming of the Holy Spirit conceptually tied to Pentecost.  This was a celebration of the harvest that God had given up to that point and the further harvest that would be realized in the months ahead.  The baptism of the Holy Spirit is connected to the harvest of believers who would come into the Kingdom of God through the work of the apostles and the Early Church.  They would be like a rock in the pond causing ripples down through history to our very hour. 

We see in verse 6 that the disciples are more concerned about Israel and what Jesus was doing in regard to reestablishing the kingdom.  Old Testament prophecy pointed to a time when the Anointed One of God (Messiah/Christ) would: break off the Gentile dominion over Israel, bring back those of Israel who had been dispersed to Gentile lands, fix all that was wrong with Israel, and bring the world under his righteous administration.  They believed that this would happen up until the cross, where their hopes were dashed.  Yet, these hopes were now restored since the Resurrection of Jesus.  They are like kids often are, asking the Lord, “Are we there yet?” 

Jesus tells them that it is not for us to know the times or seasons that are under the Father’s authority.  The Father would determine when that would happen and He was not giving the disciples more information.  It is important that Jesus expects it to happen.  He doesn’t berate them for not understanding that the Kingdom was only a metaphor and would never happen literally.  This is the approach that many liberal Christians take with such prophecies.  However, Jesus refocuses them.  Our focus is not to be on the “when” of God’s Kingdom restoration of Israel. 

Instead, their focus is to be on receiving power to be witnesses of Jesus to the ends of the earth (verse 8).  This power would come when they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  We will talk more about this when we get to chapter 2.  However, we must always remember that the power behind our activity must always be the Holy Spirit.  We must not let the lesser power of institutional momentum and pride of a brand fuel the task of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.  The pouring out of the Holy Spirit would essentially be about giving a witness to the world of who Jesus is, what he did, what he has made available to us presently, and what he will do in the future.  We can be filled with the presence of God because of what Jesus has done.

In verse 8, Jesus highlights the concentric circles of the expansion of this witness.  It would start in Jerusalem, move to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.  Imagine, here we are today at the ends of the earth from Jerusalem talking about Jesus!  Yet, there are still many who need to hear about Jesus, and they also need to see Jesus in us.

May God help us not to run ahead without the help of the Holy Spirit in doing this work.  Without Him we will fail, but with Him we will succeed at doing the work!  That said, neither do we want to hang back when the Spirit of God begins to move.  May God help us to walk in step with His Spirit, and to stop in sync with His Spirit.

Acts Jesus Promises audio

The Things that God Hates 7: A False Witness who Speaks Lies

Proverbs 6:16-19; 1 Kings 21:4-16; John 3:35-36; Revelation 3:14.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 26, 2021.

This morning we will look at the 6^th thing on the list of things that God hates, and we find it in verse 19 of Proverbs 6.  God hates a false witness who speaks lies.

God hates a false witness who speaks lies

The word for “speaks” is literally breathing out, or exhaling, lies, which is a metaphor for speech.  It should remind us of the fact that breath, wind, and spirit are linked conceptually in the Bible.  Thus, it pictures a man who is breathing out lies.  His spirit is not a good spirit and is in league with the work of evil spirits, irrespective of the idea of possession.

Another grammatical thing that we should look at is the phrase “false witness.”  The word false can refer to the testimony itself, but it also speaks to the intent and character of the person who is witnessing.  This is a witness who is not committed to the truth and God.  They are a deceiver.  If a false witness says anything that is true, it is twisted and part of a deception, even if just to throw you off the scent of their deception.

In order to highlight this abominable issue, we are going to look at an event that is recorded in 1 Kings 21.

Ahab is king of the northern tribes of Israel.  About sixty years earlier 931 B.C., Israel had split into two kingdoms with the southern portion taking the name Judea, and the northern portion taking the name Israel.  The Bible tells us in 1 Kings 16:31 that Ahab was more wicked than any other northern king before him.

What did he do to deserve such a description?  He continued the worship of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel to keep his citizens from going to Jerusalem and its temple.  He also married Jezebel who was the daughter of a Sidonian King, a Baal worshipper.  This leads to Ahab building a temple to Baal in his capital city Samaria, and promoting Baal worship.  In fact, he begins to persecute the true prophets of Yahweh by imprisoning them and putting some to death.

Our problem in this chapter has to do with a vineyard next to Ahab’s summer palace in Jezreel.  He offers its owner, Naboth, either money or another field in trade, but Naboth refuses.  We will talk more about why later. 

Now, Ahab is a wicked man, but through his wife, we see that there are different levels of wickedness.  Ahab is more apt to pout and throw fits when people don’t go along with his plans.  Whereas, Jezebel has no boundaries and no qualms with using lies and murder to get what she wants.  When Jezebel finds out what Ahab is pouting over, she upbraids him and promises to get the vineyard for him.

A couple of week ago we talked about people who devise wicked plans in their hearts.  Well, this is exactly what Jezebel does.  Of course, Ahab knows what kind of woman he has married, and later God holds him accountable for her actions.  Jezebel is a leader who sees her position (and Ahab’s) as a means for her own benefit, and not for the people’s.  The people are just sheep, food, and assets to leaders like this.  Everyone is expendable for the sake of the great ego of such a leader.  Jezebel’s plan involves two scoundrels, worthless individuals, who will lie and say that they heard Naboth blaspheme God and the king.  This is a capital crime in Israel, and notice how she uses a cloak of morality to keep the populace going along with the ruse.

Wicked plans often need others in power to go along with it.  These others didn’t hatch the plan, but they knowingly carry it out.  Some do this out of fear because they don’t want to lose their life, power, and authority.  Others may simply do it out of their own lusts.  Perhaps they see themselves getting ahead or getting in the favor of the king, which could come in handy down the road.  Jezebel uses the kings seal to send a message to the elders of Jezreel.  This message tells them to have a fast and seat Naboth in a very public place where to scoundrels can accuse him of blaspheming God.  They are then to take Naboth out and execute him.  Regardless of what they were thinking, the elders of Naboth’s town sell him out in order to please the king.  They know it is all a lie, and yet they go along with it. 

Such wickedness is bad enough between nations, but for a leader to do such a thing to their own citizen is unconscionable.  God deliver us from such leaders, but it is not only kings that can abuse their power.  Every level of power over others down to our job and families can be abused in wickedness.  The wrath of God is coming for such things, and woe to the person who is found by him doing it.

Wicked plans always crush innocent people in order to satisfy the lusts of the wicked.  However, Naboth is not just innocent of the lies against him.  The story pictures him as a godly man.  In general, it would be his right not to sell to Ahab, but in Israel land was a birthright that was passed down from your ancestors, and ultimately it was a portion given by God.  To sell it would be seen as the same as Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of beans.  Naboth knows that the land has been given to his family by God, and he will not sell it for any price.  A gift from God meant more to him than mountains of money.

Ahab and Jezebel have nothing on Naboth because he has lived a godly life.  They then concoct bald face lies to pin on him.  Did anybody from Jezreel protest that day?  Who were these scoundrels accusing their friend Naboth of something they knew could never be?  In fact, although it is not mentioned in this story, 2 King 9:26 makes it clear that Naboth’s sons were killed with him, so there would be no heirs.  All of this because Ahab thought it would be nice to have a vineyard that was close to his palace.

Ahab didn’t enact the plan, but he knew it was going on, and was all too happy to rise up and take possession of the land after the heinous deed.  This was an abomination to God on Jezebel’s part, Ahab’s part, on the part of the leaders of Jezreel, and on the part of everyone who remained silent in the face of obvious wickedness. 

God then sends Elijah who just happens to catch Ahab as he is in Naboth’s field.  What is God’s message?  In short, Ahab will die in the same place that the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth and his sons, outside the city like an outcast.

Of course, the Pharisees tried this ploy on our Lord Jesus.  In their midnight phony trial, several witnesses were put forward as false witnesses against Jesus, but their testimony didn’t match and would stand the light of day.  However, the Lord knew what would give them the charge they sought.  When he declares that they will see him sitting at the right hand of the God, and coming on the clouds of heaven (a direct reference to Daniel 7:14), they believe that he has blasphemed, and that is what he was tried for, blaspheming God and the king (Caesar). 

Yes, in this world, wicked men seem to get away with wicked plans.  However, do not go along with them, no matter how afraid you are, or how much you will get ahead in this life by it.  This is an abomination to God and a righteous man will do his best to expose them.

So, what does God love?  I want to look at John 3:35-36 and then Revelation 3:14

God loves one who witnesses to the truth

If we are to carry out the imagery in Proverbs, we see that Jesus is animated by a pure spirit, wind, breath.  It is a holy spirit that is truth itself, and gives witness to the truth without fault.  This is the one who is loved of God.

Yes, it seems obvious that the Father loves the Son, but He loves us too because we have put our faith in the Son.  Jesus is the perfect image of God.  For all of the lies that Satan has spread against God, Jesus hanging on the cross shuts the mouth of all accusations for all eternity.  How can you question God’s love and motives after that?  Jesus became our template, but he also is our leader.  We will never get to being like him without his direction and help.  He is also the one who empowers us by his Holy Spirit.

The main purpose of this life is for us to learn to become more like God the Father through Jesus.  Of course, there are many who are trying to be gods in this world, and it will only get worse until the One True God ends it.  You cannot separate God’s power from His character.  You can’t try to obtain that power and reject His character.  It will never work.  There are two paths presented to us in this world.  The first is from the spirit of this world and it encourages humanity to follow its lusts, and pool its gifts in order to make ourselves gods.  God’s path requires us to turn away from our lusts and to embrace Jesus.  Of course, we won’t become God, but we will be like Him; we will be the Sons of God.  No matter how god-like humans become, we will one day have to give an account to the One who truly is God.  No one who is unprepared can survive that moment. 

Christians must not become tempted by that path, no matter how successful it may look.  Keep your eyes upon Christ and become more like him, not this world.  If we believe in the Son, we will see eternal life, and the wrath of God will not remain upon us, but His love will rest upon us.

In Revelation 3:14, I want to focus on two of the Titles that Jesus uses for himself.  The first one is The Amen.  It may seem to be a strange title, but it really isn’t.  “Amen” basically means that something is true and trustworthy.  Jesus used this to emphasize his statements to his disciples.  It is translated as “verily” in the KJV, and “most assuredly” in the NKJV.  Twice, Jesus doubles up the word, “Verily, verily I say unto you.”  This is a way of doubly intensifying the meaning.

Jesus is a metaphorical Amen to the Father’s will.  He not only assents that the Father’s plan is true and trustworthy, but he gives his strength to carrying it out.  He is not just declaring true and trustworthy things.  He himself is the Truth and Trustworthiness!  When we stand in Christ, we stand alongside the greatest one of all creation declaring a cosmic “Amen!” to the Father.  When we follow Christ and obey his commands, we are shouting “Amen!” to the Father in heaven with our lives.  Father, we praise you for you are True and Trustworthy regardless of what we see and experience down here!

He is also called The Faithful and True Witness.  I mentioned this earlier, but think of all the slander that the enemy whispered about God the Father throughout history.  Jesus came down to set the record straight.  His death on the cross makes it clear that the Father does not want people to die in their sins and go into the Lake of Fire.  Jesus did not just give a faithful and true witness about God.  He was Faithful and True in all that He said and did, faithful and true to his Father in heaven.

Yes, you and I have a lot of work to do to become like Jesus, and there are many in this world who are witnessing of Jesus, using his moral credentials, but they are not being faithful and true to God’s Word.  With the help of Jesus, this work will be finished in us, if we will just believe him and his word.  Let us be faithful and give a true witness of Jesus, and in so doing, become more like our Father in heaven!