ACTS: CHURCH ON MISSION | Lesson 2 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points
Read Acts 2.1-47
INTRODUCTION / CONTEXT / CONNECTIONS
1/ There can be no doubt that this Day of Pentecost is one of the most momentous events in the entire history of the redemptive Kingdom of God. We’re all used to hearing that the Book of Acts is a ‘transition’ book. And it is. A lot of things are changing over from the old to the new. So let me introduce you to at least three key changes to look for as we make our way through this chapter and the rest of the book.
[1] Conversion of Covenants. We use the word ‘convert’ or ‘conversion’ quite commonly to signify changing over from one thing to another. So here in the Book of Acts, we will witness a number of conversions from the Old Covenant fulfilled in the New Covenant that is in Christ’s blood and Gospel. For example, see chs 10 & 15. See also Ezekiel 37 and Jeremiah 31, in particular.
[2] Convergence of the Ages. There have been several distinctive ‘ages’ from the creation until we get to the last and final New Age … the New Heaven and New Earth – the New Creation. They can also be summed up in four ages: Creation, Fall, Redemption, New Creation. When Christ came, He inaugurated the ‘last days,’ that is, the ‘last days’ of the age of Redemption before the New Creation is fully ushered in. See Hebrews 1.1-2. What we will begin to witness here at this Pentecost is the announcement and enactment of the witness of the churches leading up to the ‘end of the ages’ at Christ’s Second Coming. All the previous ages are converging on this occasion. See also 1 Peter 1.20; 1 John 2.18.
[3] Confluence of Scripture. Confluence is when several streams all flow into one larger stream. What we will begin to witness here in the Book of Acts is the confluence of all the Old Testament Scriptures flowing and meeting together from this time on until they are fulfilled and completed in the end. Watch for them. All the Scriptures find their point of confluence in Christ – and the apostles are witnesses!
I / vv 1-13 | The Pentecost Phenomenon
1/ Jesus Christ had promised this first church that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. He had also commanded them to wait in Jerusalem until that ‘clothing with power’ came upon them before they commenced their world-wide ministry of His Gospel. They [and we] are dependent upon His empowerment for our Gospel witness. Now, on this Day of Pentecost, that day had arrived. They were obediently and faithfully serving.
2/ What is the Day of Pentecost anyway? There are several descriptive passages in the Old Testament, but one of the fuller ones is found in Deuteronomy 16.9-12. [1] It immediately followed fifty days after Passover and was inseparably connected with Passover – both on the calendar and in its significance; [2] It was a celebration of harvest of the winter grain crop; [3] It is also called The Feast of Weeks because it was the fiftieth day after seven weeks of harvest had been fulfilled; [4] It was one of the three ‘mandated’ feasts to be observed by the Jewish community; [5] Just as they were saved and redeemed from bondage by the blood of the Passover sacrifice, so they would be sustained by the continuing provision of God. So, in these ways, Pentecost was a continual reminder of the Exodus motif that would be written into God’s redemptive history from the time of the first Passover on until the final redemption in the end of the ages. And all of it is centered and focused in Christ who is our Passover and Redeemer! All of the Old Testament feasts and celebrations were descriptive ‘pre-enactments’ of the Gospel of Christ!
3/ On this promised Pentecost, there were several observable phenomena that could be explained only by the Presence of God and the activity of the risen, ascended, and reigning Christ who had been crucified and raised from the dead only fifty or so days before! We have here a descriptive account of the meeting of God and man in the assembly of this infant church. Sounds: everyone heard the sound like a mighty rushing wind. NOTE: that this sound came from heaven. That is where Jesus had ascended only ten or so days before! Sights: what was seen was like tongues of fire that rested on them. Both wind and fire have been signs of the manifested Presence of God in the OT. It may also be a fulfillment of Matthew 3.11 to give undeniable witness to the present and personal work of Christ and the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Speech: what occurred here is that the apostles began to speak the mighty works of God [v 11] in the native tongues and languages of the many various nationalities who were present [see vv 8-11]! All of this was performed, not in their own skill or previous learning – it was the result of their being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’! This was the doing of the Holy Spirit who was being poured out on them!
4/ Of course, since this had never happened before – no one had ever witnessed such a phenomenon – everyone was bewildered / amazed and astonished / amazed and perplexed. What were they witnessing, and ‘What does this mean?’ Still others were unbelieving and even mocked, accusing the apostles of being drunk, “They are filled with new wine.”
II / vv 14-21 | The Joel Prophecy
1/ Peter begins to explain: “No, these people are not drunk,” but that what they were witnessing was the fulfillment of what Yahweh had prophesied centuries before in Joel 2.28-32. We begin to see even the amazement and wonder of the apostles as they themselves also begin to witness the confluence of Scripture in their own experiences. And they are participating in it! Joel had prophesied that in the last days of the coming of Christ, that His Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh, meaning Jews and Gentiles alike [see v 21 & ch 10.47], and that they would prophesy, or bear witness to the salvation of God in Christ. We see the final Kingdom fulfillment of this beginning in Revelation 7.9-10.
2/ So, what does this Pentecost phenomenon mean? It means [1] prophecy has been fulfilled, v 16; [2] the Last Days have dawned, v 17a; [3] everyone can know God intimately and should make Him known faithfully, vv 17b-21; [4] that the fulfillment of these events are foretelling the last and final climactic Day of the Lord … the great and magnificent Day, vv 19-20; [5] and that God is calling everyone to believe the Gospel of the Christ He has sent – ‘and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved … everyone whom the Lord our God shall call to Himself’ [vv 21 & 39]! NOTE: this apostolic interpretation of the Joel prophecy is equating the LORD [Yahweh] of the prophecy with Christ who is fulfilling it – as the remaining part of the sermon will further explain.
III / vv 22-36 | The Gospel of the Risen, Ascended, and Reigning Christ
1/ So now, we come to the texts and content of what will be the first Christian, Gospel sermon of the ‘new age’ of Christ and the Spirit. This is the first sermon delivered by Peter and the other apostles to proclaim the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and reign of Christ from Heaven! NOTE: it is all about Christ!
2/ Men of Israel, hear these words… Peter addresses the ‘men of Israel’ because the Gospel is ‘for the Jew first.’ Also, Christ was sent first to the tribes of Israel in fulfillment of the Covenants. And, ‘Israel’ is where they are on this occasion. And, it was in Israel that Christ was crucified and the Gospel events Peter will describe occurred.
3/ Who is The Christ?
[1] He was Jesus of Nazareth who had ministered among them.
[2] God had given and borne witness that He was with Jesus through the well-known and undeniable mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
[3] Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God… This had been the covenant plan from the beginning of the world, and even from before the creation of the world. See Genesis 3.14-15; Isaiah 53; Revelation 13.8; et. al.
[4] They had crucified and killed God’s Christ by their wicked and lawless hands. Both the Jewish leadership and Roman executioners were indicted in this lawless deed. But, of course, in the end, it was God’s justice and mercy in His covenant redemption of His people from our sins that necessitated the death of Christ.
[5] Then God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. The Covenant plan of God for our redemption was fulfilled and effected by His resurrection and subsequent ascension and enthronement. Peter quotes from Psalm 16.8-11 to show the confluence of Scripture in the resurrection of Christ. David had prophesied the resurrection and enthronement of Christ 1000 years before in this Psalm. Although David wrote the Psalm also to describe how God would give him [David] ultimate victory over all his enemies, the words could be fulfilled only in Christ, as Peter illustrates. David’s flesh did see corruption, as they all knew. They knew where David’s burial site was. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that He would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Only Jesus Christ has and exercises the authority to conquer death and the sin that has caused death. The apostles are ‘witnesses’ by seeing it for themselves … and also by proclaiming that Gospel message here and going forward at Jesus’ command. Also, those who were hearing Peter deliver this message had been witness to Jesus’ resurrection.
[6] Not only did God raise Christ from the death in His resurrection, but He also exalted and enthroned Jesus at the right hand of God as was evidenced by His ascension.
[7] And, get this! what was happening at that very moment – what everyone was witnessing to their bewilderment, amazement, and perplexity … this otherwise inexplicable phenomena that was transpiring – was nothing other than that very same Jesus Christ fulfilling His New Covenant promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh as Joel and numerous other prophets had foretold! Jesus was doing this from Heaven! Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing! Yes, they had crucified and murdered the Son of God. Yes, they had served their roles as the descendants of the ‘seed of the serpent’; they had done all they could to rid themselves of the pesky ‘renegade rabbi from Nazareth’ who was jeopardizing their agenda and threatening their power and control over their self-made religion. But God had overruled them all and He was now advancing His eternal Covenant purpose and plan to save His people from their sins! The promised Holy Spirit was now being poured out upon His apostles and the churches who would succeed them down through all the ages until the very end when the New Creation will be ushered in at Christ’s Second Coming!
[8] More confluence of Scripture! Peter quotes yet another Psalm that foretold and promised this day and event: Psalm 110. This is one of the most-often-quoted Psalms in all the New Testament. And this is also more conversion of covenants! Psalm 110 was a promise that Yahweh had made to David in the covenant with David [2 Samuel 7]. One of David’s descendants would sit on his royal throne to rule the whole world. The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ This coming Royal Successor, this ‘Son of David,’ would reign as sovereign and supreme victor and ruler over all His enemies! This ‘Son of David’ is Jesus Christ! Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified!
4/ This is not only the message of that first Christian sermon on that Day of Pentecost, but it is also the only message that the Spirit-empowered churches have for all the succeeding ages. As Peter will declare in a message on another occasion, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved” [ch 4.12].
IV / vv 37-41 | The Abundant Gospel Harvest of Souls
1/ Do you remember how we said earlier that Pentecost [Feast of Weeks] was a celebration of harvest? Pentecost was to be celebrated seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you [Deuteronomy 16.9-12]. Pentecost was a remembrance of their bondage and enslavement in Egypt and how Yahweh had delivered them from bondage and brought them into the Promised Land. He had not only redeemed them [given them life] from slavery, but He had also promised to sustain that life He had given them by providing abundant harvests. Well, Christ had offered the Passover sacrifice to God for our salvation and redemption from our sins on His Cross fifty days before. He had been raised to life by His resurrection. He had ascended back to Heaven and enthroned at the Right Hand of God to give salvation to His people. He had poured out His Spirit on His church to proclaim that message of salvation to the ends of the earth beginning at Jerusalem. They had faithfully proclaimed His Gospel message of salvation. So now, God will give them the promised harvest – just as He promises to give us the harvest of souls as we continue to proclaim, preach, and witness that same Gospel.
2/ As Peter and the other apostles were proclaiming the Gospel, the Holy Spirit convicted these hearers of their sins [John 16.7-11]. “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” Peter’s response to them was to repent of their sins, believe on the Christ they had just proclaimed to them, receive the promised forgiveness of their sins through the redemption that is in Christ and His blood, and then publicly confess that faith in Christ by being baptized. Their baptism was not to effect the forgiveness of their sins, but rather to acknowledge and confess that Christ had forgiven their sins. Their baptism was not the ‘cause’ of their forgiveness, but rather the ‘effect’ of their having been forgiven of their sins. By so doing, “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [the promised New Covenant gift]. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.”
3/ God did, indeed, give them an abundant harvest on that day! “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
V / vv 42-47 | The Conduct of the Church Community
1/ The specific Christ-given, Spirit-empowered phenomena of this first Day of Pentecost do not need to be repeated and duplicated – although similar phenomena will occur on following occasions as more and more people groups are included to fulfill the ch 1.8 mission mandate. But, once given, they remain with us. The promise of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment of our faithful witness to Christ continues to reside in and upon Christ’s faithful churches as we carry out His Great Commission to the end of this age.
2/ But this first church and the early churches do give us models and examples for how we should continue to conduct the ministry and witness of Christ in the world:
[1] They were devoted to the Word of God, vv 42a-43: And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching… This was the authoritative expositions, preaching, and instructions of the apostles as they continued “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” [Matthew 28.20].
[2] They were devoted to one another, vv 42b, 44: …and the fellowship … and all who believed were together and had all things in common…
[3] They observed and celebrated the Lord’s Supper in the church, v 42c: …to the breaking of bread…
[4] They were devoted to prayer, v 42d: …and the prayers…
[5] They gave and shared with radical generosity, especially within the church, v 45: And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
[6] They constantly and continuously interacted with one another, v 46a: And day by day, attending the temple together…
[7] They continuously assembled and gathered with one another – both corporately [with the whole body] and in smaller groups, v 46b: …and breaking bread in their homes…
[8] They expressed in their worship and daily lives a spirit of awe, gladness [joy], and praise to God, vv 43a, 46-47a: And awe came upon every soul … And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God…
[9] They displayed the grace, beauty, and attractiveness of Christ in their demeanor and conduct, v 47b: …and having favor with all the people.
[10] They practiced daily evangelism – witnessing to others of their faith in Christ, v 47c: And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
~Dave Parks 