A shorter post today, but a very important one. And one you’re going to have to do the bulk of the work for! Yesterday, we read Peter’s great speech at Pentecost, and the response – three thousand people added to their number in the one day. This led to the formation of a small community, of which Luke now gives a brief description:

Note this isn’t a prescription for how communities of believers should function; it’s a description. But having said that, it’s a pretty powerful and inspiring one. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a community like that? Although in our own context – different culture, different time, different social structures – the details might look a bit different. But the principles seem to be ones to which we would do well to aspire.

To think about

Now it’s your turn. I’m going to mention briefly the principles we see at work here in the earliest “church” grouping. For each, think about two things: (1) How are you in your church living this out? (2) How could you and your church be living this out better?

• Devotion to the apostles’ teaching (which we now have in written form, in Scripture)
• Devotion to fellowship (meeting together to share life and encourage one another to live for God)
• Devotion to the breaking of bread (this could mean the Lord’s Supper but probably just means shared meals in one another’s homes)
• Devotion to prayer
• Accompanied by God’s powerful actions
• Sharing of possessions, by which those in need can be cared for
• Joyful praise of God
• An upright reputation in the community
• Numerical growth

In our journey through Acts, we arrive today at Peter’s speech in chapter 2. It’s Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit has come upon each believer, giving them the ability to speak the gospel in the language of all those visiting Jerusalem from around the empire. This amazes everyone (although some think they’re just drunk). Peter then gets up to explain to the crowd the significance of this miraculous sign – it’s not spirits, it’s the Spirit:

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One of the most disappointing opening scenes of a movie I’ve ever watched was that of Executive Decision. (Spoiler alert: if you haven’t yet watched this 1996 action classic, you’re never going to.) The top-billed cast member was Steven Seagal, surely the greatest living actor of our time. If he’s still alive. From some of his recent straight-to-video releases I’m not entirely sure. But how that guy never won an Oscar…

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Yesterday, we saw in Acts 1:1-11 how the disciples were commissioned to continue Jesus’ work, being his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth – announcing the reign of God in his world. But they weren’t going to do this by their own power. (After all, they were just “men of Galilee” as the angel reminded them.) They were to wait for the Holy Spirit to give them the power to fulfil their incredible calling. But what to do while you wait?

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For the last two days, we looked at the genre and purpose of Acts. Now, we’re ready to dive in to the text itself!

Previously, on…

In any long-running TV drama – particularly one with a complicated plot – each episode will begin with a brief reminder of what has happened previously. It will show a series of brief scenes to bring to mind the storyline. And those scenes aren’t chosen at random: more often than not, each scene will show an element of the plot that’s about to be progressed in tonight’s episode.

That’s kind of what Luke does here in today’s reading, the opening of Acts chapter 1, recapping the “story so far” from his first book, the Gospel of Luke.

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