Day Five: God acts through men

Three hours through, 28 chapters, and covering a period of approximately 30 years. Phew! Feels a bit like a marathon, trying to keep up with the disciples as they preach the Gospel here there and everywhere. Do keep a map handy when reading through this book - it is most helpful to keep places in order! See maps here.

Let's have a look at those summaries in the intro post:
Which statements are reductive or inaccurate? Why?
1) This book is really about the life of Peter and Paul.
I would argue this is reductive in the worst sense - throughout the book, the whole point is it is not about the men, but God. You could make the statement it is about the life of Peter and Paul, but that is not a summary of the book, and certainly not its point.
2) This book is about the early church and a model for how churches can grow.
Acts does provide some info about the early church, and many examples of growth, but again, this is not the primary point, and though we can learn a lot from the examples and practices, we should seek to find God's principles for churches -  not just copy external ways of doing things.
3) This book is about miracles and how we can exercise miracles today.
This book has miracles in it, but includes no instruction on exercising miracles today. Definitely not the point of Acts. As in the gospels, the signs are merely confirmation of the message preached, not gimmicks to convince people. As we go through Acts, we get fewer tales of miracles and signs, and they diminish in importance, so they are definitely not the point of the book.
4) This book is about missions and world Christianity started.
Definitely yes to the first clause in that sentence, provided we are thinking of missions as God working through men to spread His Word, that His Name be glorified! Terrible emphasis in the second clause though - Christianity never started a world. God works through Christians and Christianity to influence the world. The world is changed dramatically as a result of the deeds in this book, but this is all God.
5) This book is an historical account of a faith community.
Again, yes, I can agree with this statement, but I would tend not to use it as a summary of the book. It is far too detached and ambiguous as to what a faith community is.
6) This books the dispensational work of God.
Now this one is tricky! It really depends on what the writer of this question means by dipensational. I am quite familiar with dispensationalism, but by saying something is the dispensational work of God? It really depends on further explanation as to whether I could affirm this or not, but in any case, this is not a summary of the book. At best, it is a statement of the character of the book as trustworthy as the revealed Word of God, but doesn't tell you what it is about.

So how would I summarise it? Difficult, but I'll give it a go:

"Ordinary men, chosen and sent by God Himself, are instruments in His hands as He does extraordinary things, bringing the grace wrought by Christ to ALL of mankind - spreading this good news joyfully in the face of persecution, for His Glory."

Sorry, it is a little more verbose than the other examples, but I can't think a the moment how to reduce it further.
OK, further thought: Christ says to the disciples that He is sending them out as witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore a shorter summary might be:

"The witness to Christ throughout the world, through the life of those empowered by the Holy Spirit"

Excellent link under 'just wool gathering'. An excellent summary of the preaching in Acts.


Now on to the themes noticed throughout my reading of the book of Acts.

First, we must note the message preached. from start to end, this book is full of sermons from many disciples, to audiences of many different cultures, before people of different status, and in different locations. To individuals and to crowds, the word preached was the same, starting at the audience's own background and leading to Christ. Essentially, it boiled down to 'you have rejected Him' - 'you must repent' - 'you must believe' - 'and your sins will be forgiven'. To the Jews, the preachers either start with the history of Israel, or (as Paul did) their own history with Judaism. To the Greeks, the argument is from Creation, the world around that the Greeks can see and have studied.

As we start the book, we see Christ briefly, promising the coming of His Spirit, and then after He leaves, they do receive said Spirit. After this point, except in one case in Samaria where the Spirit came upon the people after witnesses from Jerusalem came, the coming of the Spirit is directly associated with the repentance and belief.

The first few chapters of Acts, we see the Word starting to move out. It is immediately preached to all cultures when the Spirit is received, and then we see it going out into all Jerusalem, Samaria, to the Gentiles (Cornelius), to Damascus, to Africa(Ethiopia), and beyond. Salvation comes to people from any background, even the ones most ardently opposed to the Word (e.g. Saul persecuting Christ).

We also have a strong sense of joy and boldness in persecution. Now I do not recall any situation in Acts where the Disciples/Apostles prayed for the persecution to stop, or lesson. On the contrary they rejoiced in it, and went on preaching the Word anyway. Whether at the hand of Roman or Jewish authorities, or at the hands of mobs of angry men, the punishments and incarceration never hindered their enthusiasm to preach the gospel. Sometimes, they avoided capture, other times they went ahead to places knowing they would be captured. The key there is that they listened to God, not men, and didn't apply any blanket rules about 'safety first' or 'never flee'. The men used their trials to speak the truth about Christ, often before rulers - people they were unlikely to otherwise meet.

There is a strong current of humility in the true disciples, contrasted with a lack of humility in some others. A number of times, the disciples were worshipped, but they immediately did all they could to stop that, recognising they were but men, and that all glory is God's - He alone should be worshipped. Herod, who didn't stop the people calling him a god, was struck dead. A magician, seeking power to do signs for its own sake, was cursed.

The importance of the purity of the church and an intolerance of corrupt doctrine is evident. Annas and Sapphira fall dead because they lied to God - such deceit was not tolerated. Jews seeking to cause the Gentiles to obey Jewish religious rules caused a council meeting of elders to be called to settle the matter and declare that the Gentiles were not required to obey the Jewish rituals.

In Paul's journeys, you can see his anxiety for the spiritual welfare of the people he teaches. We see him spending much time in Corinth and Ephesus, both hotbeds of religious worship of false gods.

We see people working together, and not neglecting their own duties. The disciples refused to settle money distribution matters in Jerusalem, but delegated the role to others - their job was to preach the word and pray. The believers show concern for each other's well being by sharing goods, and people in other areas providing funds for the persecuted in Jerusalem.

Near the start, we have a statement by Gamaliel (who, incidentally, was Paul's teacher), to the effect that 'if this is not of God, it will die, as we killed their leader  -  if it is of God, it will not die, and don't try to stop it'
Praise the Lord that it did not die! Our Leader may have been killed, but that was according to His own purpose, and having risen again, He is on the Throne, and His Spirit lives within each of us.

Lord, we read of Your witness through these, Your apostles. May we ever appreciate more Your great gift to us, extending Your grace to the whole world. May we learn from the example of those who have gone before us. These, and many other Christians, who have witnessed of You. Not to copy their external actions, but to learn from their passion and joy for You, their compassion and love for their fellow men, and their boldness in proclaiming Your glorious Word. Use us as You seek Lord. Guide us we pray, to be willing tools in Your hands, for Your glory and not our own. Strengthen and encourage us when men persecute us for Your name, and grant us joy in those times. In Your Name, according to Your Divine Will and Purpose, we submit ourselves to You.