The book of Acts.
In the first video we watched Luke open the book
by showing us how the Risen Jesus was exalted
as the King of the world.
He promised to send the Holy Spirit
as His own personal presence
to empower His followers,
to go out into the world
and bear witness to the good news about His Kingdom,
until he would return one day.
And so the movement began in Jerusalem as the Spirit
came and formed Jesus' followers into the new temple
promised by the scriptural prophets.
But this generated conflict with the leaders of Jerusalem.
And so it led to the persecution of the Christians.
but the Spirit transformed it into good:
it actually became the means
by which the originally Jewish Jesus' communities
were pushed outside Jerusalem
to become a multi-ethnic, international movement.
And the flagship Church of this diverse Jesus' movement was in Antioch,
the largest city in that part of the Roman Empire.
So we left the story with Barnabas and Paul
serving in Antioch church.
And the Spirit prompts the church
to send them on a missionary journey,
which opens up a whole new section of the book,
the stories about Paul and his co-workers
traveling to different cities around the Roman Empire
announcing the good news that Jesus is King.
The first mission is into the interior
of what's called Asia Minor found in modern Turkey.
And it ends with an important meeting of the Apostles back in Jerusalem.
The second mission is through Asia Minor
and then into ancient Greece.
And then the third mission is through that same territory again
and it concludes with Paul's journey all the way back to Jerusalem.
Now in recounting all these stories
Luke has highlighted a number of important themes
by repeating them.
So first is the continued mission to Israel;
whenever Paul enters a new city
he always goes first to the Jewish synagogue
to share about the risen King Jesus
and how He's forming a new multi-ethnic family of God.
The most often lots of people come to recognize Jesus as the Messiah
but some oppose Paul.
Sometimes they even throw him out of town as a dangerous rebel
who opposes the Torah and Jewish tradition.
And this tension culminates after the first journey
leading to an important council in Jerusalem.
So Paul discovers that there are some Jewish Christians in Antioch
and they're claiming that unless non-Jewish people
become Jewish by practicing circumcision, the Sabbath,
obeying the kosher food laws,
that they can't become part of Jesus' family.
But Paul and Barnabas they radically disagree.
And so they take the debate to a Leadership Council in Jerusalem.
Now there Peter, Paul, and James, the brother of Jesus
they all show from the Scriptures and from their experience
that God's plan was always to include the nations within His covenant people.
So they write a letter requiring non-Jewish Christians
to stop participating in pagan temple sacrifices
but they don't require them to adopt an ethnically Jewish identity
or obey the laws in the Torah.
Now this decision was groundbreaking for the history of the Jesus' Movement.
Jesus is the Jewish Messiah
but He's also the risen King of all nations.
And so once membership among His people is not based on ethnic identity
or following the laws of the Torah;
it's based simply on trusting Jesus
and then following His teachings.
And it's this multi-ethnic reality of the Jesus' Movement
that leads us to the next theme
Luke wants us to see in the missionary journeys, namely:
the clash of cultures between the early Christians
and the greek and roman world.
Luke records multiple clashes in Philippi, Athens, Ephesus.
Paul goes and announces Jesus
as the revelation of the one true God
and as the King of the world
who shows up all other gods and idols as powerless and futile.
And his message is consistently viewed
as subversive to the Roman Way of life
and he gets accused of being a dangerous social revolutionary.
These stories show how the multi- ethnic, monotheistic Jesus' communities
did not fit into any cultural boxes known to the Roman people.
The ancient world had just never seen anything like them.
And the Christians aroused more than just suspicions.
Another theme Luke repeats is
how Paul and the Christians
are constantly being accused of rebellion
even treason against Caesar, the Roman Emperor.
People heard Paul correctly:
he was announcing that there's another King Jesus
and they also correctly saw that the Christian Way of life was the challenge
to many Roman cultural values.
But every time Paul gets arrested and interrogated before Roman officials
they don't see any threat and he's dismissed.
These stories show us the paradox
that the early church presented to the world;
it was a Jewish messianic movement
but it was ethnically diverse, full of communities
that treated men and women
and rich and poor and slave and free,
all as equals.
And they all gave their allegiance to King Jesus alone
and no other god or king.
And so their very existence
it turned upside down the core values of roman culture
but the Christians pose no military threat
because Jesus taught them to be people of peace.
And so the only crime Paul and the Christians can be accused of
is not conforming to the status quo.
The books final section returns the focus to Paul's witness
spreading from Jerusalem to Rome.
His final missionary journey ends back in Jerusalem
where his controversial reputation precedes him.
He gets attacked by Jewish people who think
that he's betrayed Israel which attracts the attention of Roman soldiers
who think Paul's a terrorist from Egypt starting a rebellion.
And so he gets arrested.
From here Paul is put on trial:
first before the Jewish leaders of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem
but then before a series of Roman leaders in Caesarea.
There's governor Felix
who puts Paul off for the next governor Festus
who eventually brings Paul before King Agrippa.
He ends up in prison for years
even though at each trial the charges never stick to him
because all he's doing is announcing
that his hope in the resurrection has been fulfilled in King Jesus.
This is hardly a crime.
But at this point the Roman legal machine can't just turn him away
and so Paul ends up appealing to Rome's highest court.
Now you would think that all this prison time would be a setback for Paul
because his heartbeat is to be on the road starting new Jesus' communities.
But the Spirit orchestrates everything for good in this book.
And so the imprisonment gives Paul time
to have his most important apostolic letters written.
And these become the way
that his missionary legacy is carried on long after he dies.
Eventually Paul was transferred as a prisoner to Rome
and after a terrifying near-death voyage across the Mediterranean,
Paul ends up in house arrest in Rome
awaiting his delayed trial.
And so he's able to host in quite a nice house regular meetings
that reach Jews and Gentiles.
And the books final words are about
how Paul is announcing the Kingdom of God
and boldly teaching all about the Lord Jesus, the Messiah
totally unhindered;
all happening right under Caesar's nose in Rome.
The unified work of Luke acts it does so much more
than give us a history of Jesus and the early church.
He's showing how the Kingdom of God came on earth as in heaven
through Jesus' life, death and resurrection;
through the coming of His Spirit
to empower the church to bear witness from Jerusalem
to the ends of the Earth.
And as Luke has told the story he's given us scores of example
of what faithfulness to King Jesus looks like.
It looks like sharing the good news
of the risen King Jesus in word and in action.
It means forming diverse Jesus' communities
where people of all kinds come together,
where they're treated equally
and give allegiance to King Jesus
and live by His teachings.
And all of this is done by trusting in the power
and the guidance of the Spirit
to lead the way forward.
That's what the book of Acts is all about.