Last Sunday (July 20th) was the finale of our year-long look at the book of Acts. This journey through Acts had a profound impact on me. While I'm sure I could list more than these, here are my top 5 take-aways from our travels through the book of Acts:
- The power of the Spirit - There is absolutely NO way someone could read through this book and come to the conclusion that we humans are responsible for individuals coming to faith and the growth and expansion of Christ's Kingdom. Again and again and again we read about how the Spirit did mighty things as the Church grew and expanded. Nothing has changed - today the weight is off our shoulders as the Spirit is the one who continues to do the work of bringing people into the faith and growing them in that faith.
- The power of prayer - I LOVE how prayer was not a fringe activity of the church. Rather, prayer was foundational to everything they did as they were faithful to the leading of the Spirit. We are to imitate this centrality of prayer, both as individuals and as the Church.
- The power of community - There were no "Lone Rangers" in the early church. Even during instances of individual mission work (i.e. Philip and Peter), those were short lived as they quickly returned to be fed by and rejoice with the larger church community. Perhaps it's not such a bad thing for us to want each other, need each other, and deeply love each other as we live this Christian life together?
- Relentless Perseverance - Paul faced rejection so many times. How did he respond? Go find the people who will listen. Every time Paul was rejected in a town, he simply moved on to the next town in search of anyone willing to listen to his life-saving message. If, and when, we and our Gospel message are rejected, we are to be like Paul and keep going instead of being stopped in our tracks by rejection.
- Joining vs. Asking - This ties in very much to point 1, but throughout Acts it is clear that God is about His work and invites His people to join Him in that work. When we look at our lives in this way, things switch from "I'm going to do this and hope that God blesses it" to "I'm going to listen and pray in order to figure out where God is at work around me and then join Him in that work." And I'll be honest, this way of doing ministry is MUCH less stressful!
Next we will embark on a journey through Proverbs, but I am going to miss Acts. As commentator William Willimon wrote to conclude his commentary on Acts, "You and I live in the continuation of the story of Acts. Acts must close in an open-ended fashion, with the door still open for work and witness rather than closed by death, because the Spirit is still active. Luke is not simply writing history. He writes the story of the Spirit, the Spirit incarnate in people like you and me. Living here between the times, as we always have, there is work for the church to do. We need not be gazing into heaven when the Spirit is active here on earth. The period of the world mission of the church is now. There is still time to tell what has happened on earth. Since Pentecost nothing has been able to silence the tongues of God's faithful witnesses. In your church and mine the story continues. Nearly two millennia after Luke wrote to Theophilus, Acts reminds us that despite rejection, persecutions, setbacks, and our own lethargy or cowardice the gospel proclamation continued to the very end of the earth, by God's grace, unhindered.”
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