Jerusalem, Judea, Etc... Etc... | Disruptive Presence 3

In which John and David find more to talk about in Acts 1:8. In this episode they discuss the range of welcome initiated by the Holy Spirit and what that might mean for the early church and us. Does God have an agenda for the Holy Spirit and the Church but human agendas can get in the way sometimes?

Episode 56 of the Two Texts Podcast | Disruptive Presence 3

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Music by Woodford Music (c) 2021

Transcript

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[00:00:00] David: John after a short break we're back, but still in acts chapter one. And, and maybe still in acts chapter one, verse eight. 

[00:01:08] John: absolutely. It's there's so much in that opening, opening passage, and, and it is worth slowing that right down. Because it does set us up for a lot of stuff. That's gotta happen in the later chapters of the book of act. So the, so the introduction a bit like Luke introduces the gospel is, is really powerful. 

[00:01:30] to give us big ideas at the beginning, which freed the journey throughout the book. And we've seen Luke do that in the pattern already programmatically in his gospel and, and he's doing the same sort of thing now. 

[00:01:42] David: Yeah. It's as if he's he's like all great all great movie directors. They have, they have certain things they like to do. And I was thinking, anybody could go back and listen to previous two text episodes thinking about stuff we talked about in even the Christmas series where we talked about Mary and how much, the language of Mary's song helps you make sense of. 

[00:02:05] Of what's going on throughout Luke's gospel. I think that Luke's Luke does this in acts chapter one, verse eight, you could almost, if you're the type of person that highlights your Bible, you almost wanna highlight chapter one, verse eight, keep referring back to it. It's only one verse even memorize it cuz as you make your way through the through this book, you're gonna see it played out. 

[00:02:28] Shall I read the, the verse just for a moment, just to remind if, if, if you've, it's a couple of weeks since the last episode acts chapter one, verse eight, it simply says this, but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So we talked in the last episode, John, about how, about how the there's a, a, a future certainty. You will receive power. You will be my, my witnesses. So, so there's this framing and, and, and don't kind of disconnect the, the power of the holy spirit and the being of the witnesses, cuz I think what you're gonna see in access so often that when left to their own devices, The disciples will not be witnesses in Jerusalem, Juda Samira in the end of the earth, they'll actually shut things down and keep things safe. 

[00:03:18] And, and, and that's maybe a, a longstanding church problem that throughout our history of the church, our tendency has been to try and close things down and keep things safe and acts is showing us that the holy spirit. Anything other than that as a plan 

[00:03:35] John: absolutely. 

[00:03:36] David: of, of, of this disruptive presence of the holy spirit, right? 

[00:03:39] John: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And of course, we've already, as we've alluded to on a number of times in our previous two podcasts, we've already had a huge hint on this coming to us at the end of Luke. When Jesus is speaking to the disciples at the end of Luke, he says these just beautiful words, he's teaching them. 

[00:04:00] And he says from the scriptures, the Messiah will. rise from the dead on the third day. And repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached. And, and this is it in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And then we get this gorgeous language, nuanced language. You are witnesses of these things. 

[00:04:21] I am going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the. until you have been clothed with power from on high. So you read Luke 24, those last few verses 46 to 49 ish and then jump straight to X one eight. Whoa. It's like, it's like, it's part of the same conversation. It's like, we've just, broke off and then come back in and you're getting this pickup of this idea of beginning a Jeru. 

[00:04:51] Nations of the world and cloth with power in Luke 24 and non X one eight, you will receive this power. And, and it seems to be that Jesus is really pointing to the fact this power is imminent. It's, the power of this spirit is coming now, and as a result of that, you're going to be my witnesses in, in Jerusalem, all Judea Samaria, and the ends of the earth. 

[00:05:17] And So I, I love, I love the connectivity of that in the, in the Luke and Corpus, how he pulls those two ideas together so beautifully within that. And, and of course at, at the core of this is this idea. Of not only, I, I think for me, David X, one eight brings together some, two magnificent ideas. 

[00:05:38] One is, is clearly hematological. You will receive power referring her to the holy spirit. And it's also this missiology and you will be my witnesses in, in Jerusalem, Judea. And I love the fact that. In to see a way that Luke has introduced the power of the spirit with the mission of Jesus in his gospel. 

[00:06:01] He's now introducing the power of the spirit with the mission of the church or the mission of the aplasia in the book of acts. And these two things seem to be in the thinking of Luke and in his agenda, theologically inextricably linked the power of the. 

[00:06:16] David: mm-hmm mm-hmm 

[00:06:16] John: And the mission of, of the community or the mission of the servants of God. 

[00:06:21] And, and that is put front and center right at the beginning for as an X one eight. 

[00:06:25] David: my brain's just gone somewhere, John, that in all my years of studying and teaching this stuff and then separately studying and teaching Galatians, I I've never thought about this, but But that just got triggered by, by a word. So, so, Luke at chapter 24, verse 49, I'm gonna send to you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from one high. 

[00:06:48] So you just read that for us so that I've just re reread it, but , but just think about those, those words for a second. And that is, as you say, Pretty much. I, I just the same as what's said in the same as what's said in acts chapter one, verse eight, but you said something in the last episode or the episode before, forgive me for not remembering exactly when it is. 

[00:07:08] So often we talk about the. The, the kinda disconnect between Luke and Paul and both you and I have said in various times, I, I don't get it right. We know the historical witnesses that Luke and Paul are, are friends . And that Luke is, is very influenced and, and, and probably discipled by Paul and yet, so often people think that there's a, Luke says this, and Paul says that and they don't go together. 

[00:07:32] But here's just an interesting, if, can I paint a picture for a moment, 

[00:07:36] John: Please, please. I, I am with bearded breath waiting for this picture. David, come on. 

[00:07:41] David: So, so let me read a little bit more just to, just to paint. So Luke 24 the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead. On the third day. Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations. Beginning at Jerusalem, you are witnesses of these things. I'm going to send to you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you've been closed with power from on high. 

[00:08:02] Okay. So we hold that, then we've got acts chapter one, verse eight, you will receive power from the holy spirit. You receive power. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. Juds Samaria in the ends of the earth. Right. So we can see they line up. But now let's jump over to Galatians three, a passage that everybody knows. 

[00:08:20] Well, I mean, I, I'm not expecting people to immediately go, but when I read parts of it, I'm sure most listeners, oh, I know, I know this bit. I know this bit, look at what Paul does. So he's in this bigger argument about, about welcoming Christ, right? And he says this he says this to them to, to the Galatians, into Christ. 

[00:08:38] Jesus, you have been baptized right with Christ. You are clothed, right. But the Greek word there is exactly the same Greek word that Luke used over there in Luke chapter 24, verse 49. And the word is Indus, where we get the word in due from right. And, and to indu with power. So, so you, you are. In quite Christ. 

[00:09:01] So, so Luke's here referencing Jesus saying you're gonna Bedu with power cloth with power Paul's here going, you'll be closed with Christ, but this is again, gets quite exciting for me. Anyway, you've been baptized into Christ. You've been clothed with Christ. Let me just throw this out. Is this a reference to the holy spirit, right? 

[00:09:18] That, that you have put on Christ, then he says there is now no longer do. or free, masculine and feminine in the Greek, but you are all one in Christ. Jesus and, and if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs of the. Promise there. We get that same word back again. 

[00:09:43] So, so in Luke 24 witnesses, all nations together clothed with the holy spirit. And here we have Paul this famous piece of Pauline theology saying baptized into Christ, clothed with Jesus and divisions between nations ethnicities, genders divided. And as a result, we all become heirs of the promise and, and I've. 

[00:10:07] I actually just laid those two texts together until you said something just then I grabbed both texts and they're looking at the same time, but I mean, it fits together, doesn't 

[00:10:15] John: Does does absolutely. And, and you get that, that real sense of the ideas seated even way back in the old Testament, when God calls Abraham, this idea that he wants. A global family. He wants nations of the world to be blessed through the seed of Abraham, which is Christ Jesus. And that, that these things are now being pulled together in a representation of this, this new community, this community that will be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea. 

[00:10:50] Samaria and the ends of the earth. So, so you get all of that threading together. That, that, that, that God is, is building something. And, and the power of the spirit is one of the key agencies to enabling that something to happen. It's beautiful idea. 

[00:11:08] David: The, the whole vision of Abraham, isn't it? Genesis 18 verse 17. The Lord said, Shea, hide from Abraham. What I am about to do now, John, I'm just getting carried away of myself here about what I am about to do, right? 

[00:11:20] So this is, this is what, plus, I don't, how do you, how do you judge the time difference between Abraham and Jesus? Let's not for a moment, but it is a long time before Jesus, the Lord. Michelle I had from Abraham, what I'm about to do. And here we are then the, the year, 30 ad and the disciples are like, is this the time so, so that, that question of when's still hanging around there. 

[00:11:42] And then the Lord says is Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. So, I mean, I love that. You've just drawn that in there. So, so Paul is. There is a promise that was made to Abraham, that all nations will be blessed. That's what he's saying. 

[00:11:59] And, and, and in, in Galatians three, but what Paul's pointing out is if it's all the nations that's during Greek slave free, masculine and feminine. But. But the mechanism of finding our way into that promise is baptism in Christ and being clothed with Christ. And and then it's beautiful the way it all is tying together that Luke and Paul, I mean, my main point is not to say that Luke and Paul agree with each other. 

[00:12:23] I just think that is pretty obvious, but it's beautiful how all of these ideas are floating around in scripture constantly that God's trying to bring all things into the blessing. Isn't he. 

[00:12:33] John: For sure. A and of course he, programmatically in, in the book of acts, we see that we, we see this idea that actually this is to go right to the ends of the earth. Not just stay in Jerusalem. Not just, not just even to the boundaries of Judea, but, but to the wider world, the Samaritan world, the GENI world. 

[00:12:56] And, and this kingdom is to be represented and demonstrated to that world. So, so you, you, you, you have something well, what I love about Luke. Luke's not just been a Gentile here. He's not just going. Okay. Well, I wanna just make sure you all understand that actually, Jesus has come for the Gentiles, but Luke is actually picking up phenomenal threads that are resident in the Turnock itself in the old Testament itself. 

[00:13:22] And, and he is dynamically understanding the link between the ministry of Jesus, the work of the holy spirit and this new community as being the vehicle. Of ultimately blessing the nations of the world. And, and, and, and, when you understand that and you realize then Luke is not just driving sort of a Gentile agenda, he's driving a biblical agenda. 

[00:13:46] He's driving a Bible worldview here that, that includes the Gentile world. And, and he's celebrating that through, through this phenomenal programmatic statement, you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you and you will be. And, and I think that's really important that we're not just. 

[00:14:07] We're not just shoehorning Luke into a Gentile agenda. We are celebrating Luke's biblical agenda. And I think Luke and Paul are picking that up together. And it's, there's no doubt in my mind that Luke is influenced by Paul's teaching on these issues. There's no question about it in my thinking that a Gentile is so well versed in, in golden threads of Tana that he can pick up here and present to us in the, in the life of Jesus. 

[00:14:36] It's it's got to be partly the influence, Paul. 

[00:14:38] David: and, holding in that tension between even Galatians and, and, and acts there. I should tell, I should tell our listeners that we had a conversation where we were like, what should we do the next series on? And, I I'm always going, well, I'd always love to do a series on Galatians, but let's do acts. 

[00:14:55] And now it appears as if I'm just trying to turn the act series into a Galatian series. . But, but. You look at where Paul holds it, as we just said there, you know that what is the spirit doing? The spirit is breaking down boundaries. The spirit is, is destroying the, the created boundaries such as, slave free. 

[00:15:16] He is destroying religious boundaries, actually at some level, and, and that, that needs some nuance. But I think if you've tracked with the parable series, that's what Jesus is doing a lot, but he's the, the, the J and Gentile boundary is, is being, is being destroyed. And he's even, he's even breaking down, created boundaries of male and female that now, and again, this is important with, with Paul. 

[00:15:37] The boundaries are the Bo this is now let's just jump into Ephesians two for a second, do slaves and free, become the same. Do men and women become the same. Do Jews and Gentiles become the same. That's not what Paul inva imagines in Ephesians two it's that the boundary is taken away, that they can now be in communion. 

[00:15:57] Jews as Jews in community with Gentiles as Gentiles. And that's, that's the vision of God, but, but it strikes me as interesting that if you keep reading, no longer J Greek, but all slate are all heirs to the promise. Then you get this beautiful line that I can't get so close to and not read in a conversation with the holy spirit, Paul. 

[00:16:17] In verse six of chapter four, because you are his sons. Right. And let me just brief point there. Should we translate that word as children? Well, I'm gonna, I don't underst sound sexist, but I'm gonna say sons because of the argument that Paul's constructing about inheritance, right. That he's instructing he's he's. 

[00:16:35] He's leaning into Gregor, Roman inheritance ideas wherein the chief's son got the primary inheritance. So what Paul does is he's not masculine. Masculinizing everyone. He's putting us in the first place of inheritance. So because you're at the front of the line in inheritance, but then he also wants to do something really clever as well, by playing off the word son. 

[00:16:56] So verse six of chapter four of Galatians, because you are his son. So first in line for inheritance, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out Abba father. So you're no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you're his child, God has made you also an heir. Right? So look at, look at this beautiful image. 

[00:17:19] So we've talked about Galatians three, you are closed with Christ in Luke 24. You are clothed with power. What is the power that we're clothed with? It's the spirit. What spirit now let's go back to Galatians. It's the spirit of God's son, right? And then, and this for me is just beautiful. Paul has this little bit of Aramaic, the spirit who calls out ABA father. 

[00:17:38] Why is it ABA? Father ABA just means father, except that it's the Aramaic word for father. How do we know this is how I read this, John, how do we know it is the spirit of God's son that's in our hearts. It's because that spirit talks like Jesus , and I just think it's gorgeous theology. 

[00:17:57] John: Yes. Yes. Magnificent. It it's magnificent and you, you, you spot all those connectors and you think these guys seem to know what they were doing, and, and, again, you, you do realize that there are. Beautiful, beautiful threads being tied together here in this magnificent story. 

[00:18:16] And, and it's a mistake. So there there's a sense in which we've done this with the gospels, let each gospel writer speak for themselves, and then we pull their voices together. And it's the same with Luke. And it's the same here with Paul. Let Luke speak for himself. Let's trying to understand what Luke is. 

[00:18:34] Let Paul, but actually when we let Paul speak and Luke speak, we're, we're hearing echoes of the same conversation and, and we're seeing something of a bigger agenda that both men understand and are seeking to promote. And this, this beautiful sense of. This new community formed by the word of Christ by the power of the spirit that is now going to go into its world and challenge, at least in theory, challenge the divisions. 

[00:19:07] So was to call the nations of the world to him. It's just absolutely beautiful. It's beautiful. And it's all resident and that opening, opening statement. 

[00:19:16] David: an idea of resonance is beautiful. Isn't it? When you realize that it is. What is God trying to do? I love that line in, in Genesis 18, where God's like, shall we tell, shall we hide from Abraham the plan, right? the plan to bless all the nations of the earth. Right. And then, and then you get acts and you get this. 

[00:19:36] This beautiful sense of, well, in Luke 24, you get this sense. It's piecing together God's plan. And then Jesus comes along and says, well, what's the plan? The plan is the nations. The plan is, is all the nations. But prior to that, you had Joel and Joel's gonna appear for us in act chapter two. Isn't he, that God is pour out his spirit on all flesh rights on everyone. 

[00:19:53] And therefore, this is why I love just, just dropping the Galatians line in there, because what happens is what does the spirit of the sun do? Well, the question is, what does the son do? Well, the son does what the father does. The father wants all nations. The son wants all nations. And when, when we are clothed with this spirit, we too, now we get drawn into this all nations thing. 

[00:20:16] And, and that's why I think this little line Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth in acts chapter one, verse eight is so interesting. Because like, and I would encourage somebody to do this when you, when you get a chance after listening to this episode, just, don't just pick up, the NIV or the N RSV version of the Bible, that has section headings and just leaf take, take a minute and a half and leaf through acts from verse one eight onwards. 

[00:20:44] And notice how you see Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. You see it, don't you. 

[00:20:50] John: you do, you do, you, you see it very beautifully. And in, in fact, like roughly the first sort of seven chapters seem to be quite Jerusalem centric in that, in that conversation, Jerusalem, maybe Judea centric very well. You, you would say certainly. And I mean, there's totally respectfully Jewish centric, so you you've got a lovely Jerusalem centric ness, and then of course, From about chapter E at onwards, you're getting the Samaria story and the, the spirit coming to the, to the Samaritan context. 

[00:21:22] Amazing. Within that, of course, we're, we're starting to nudge out into the Gentile world with the Cornelius story in chapter 10, and then from 13, we're getting Paul and Barnabas or were so and Barnabus strict. Commissioned to go on what we sometimes call that first missionary journey. And they're, they are, they are absolutely moving out into, although they visit Jewish communities on that first missionary journey, they are moving 100% into Gentile territory. 

[00:21:48] So, so you, you see the expansion I ironically, of course you also see the. And we will touch on that struggle throughout the book of axon. Undoubtedly, there were moments of real struggle where to use your language. People tried to shut the door on the holy spirit or keep the holy spirit in a box. And of course, biblical history teaches us and church history teaches us the minute you start to try and screw the lid down on the God box. 

[00:22:16] God has a. An amazing and, and consistent habit of blowing your box sky high. So, and he does this, even in the book of X, he, he absolutely rattles the world of his followers in order to get them to move across the borders. And they've gotta move across borders, not only geographically, but borders, theologically, they've gotta move across borders ethnically and they've got to move across borders, probably psychologically in their own hearts and minds. 

[00:22:47] So a lot of borders get crossed in the book of acts and not all of them are geographic. But the holy spirit is the driving agency of that conversation throughout the whole of the narrative. 

[00:22:58] David: Tracking with what you said just there. So you will receive power, you will be witnesses in of course. I wanna just make the point that the Greek word for witness is marked. So, so this word martyr that we hear actually speaks to being a witness, to be, an announcer of something. 

[00:23:14] But so you will be my wi so you you'll receive power. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and the answer the earth. And exactly, as you say, by, by the time you get to chapter seven, We don't seem to have made much progress so we're still in Jerusalem and, and some pretty impressive things are happening in Jerusalem. 

[00:23:32] You read acts chapter one verse, apps, chapter one through the chapter seven, like, goodness me, it's inspiring. But we're still in Jerusalem. And so now, so think about all the things we've said, even in this series so far, this, this season of two texts that you will receive power, you will be witnesses. 

[00:23:49] It's, it's something that is not. It's something that God will do for you. This will happen, right? You will be my in, in the Greek, my Mar to race. Right. So now look at what happens in next chapter seven. In next chapter seven, we get the first martyr. Right. So Steven has to give his life up for the sake of the gospel. 

[00:24:11] So, so now we get somebody and, and we refer to him in Christian history. Steven is referred to as the first martyr of the church, but I think it's interesting that the word is martyr and the word relates to the word witness. So we've stayed in Jerusalem, despite Jesus's commands. Despite the plan of God, , we've stayed in Jerusalem and we get to chapter seven. 

[00:24:30] Now, Stephen is, is killed and stoned. I love the way Paul, Paul says this as Saul approved of they're killing him. So he just enters the story in not the most magnanimous of ways. Right. He enters the story, does Paul in a pretty ugly way. And then you get this line. Here's the line that opens acts chapter eight. 

[00:24:49] So Saul approved of they're killing him. On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered and guess where they were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. So read the whole sentence again on that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 

[00:25:12] Flip your Bible back to acts chapter one, verse eight. You will be my witness. This is what's gonna happen. The holy Spirit's coming, you will witness, where will you witness Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. So you get this uncomfortable sense that. The holy Spirit's plan is going to happen. And if the disciples aren't going to leave Jerusalem, themselves, things are gonna have to happen. 

[00:25:36] That will make that spread happen again, perhaps teaching us about the bigger plan of God that in the immediate things may appear bad. Cuz then you get acts chapter eight, verse four, those who had been scattered 

[00:25:48] John: Yeah, 
 

[00:25:49] David: the word wherever they went and, 

[00:25:52] John: indeed. Indeed. It's a 

[00:25:54] David: and so it it's it's it's fascinating. Isn't it, John? 

[00:25:56] John: totally, totally. And, and it teaches us again that, the Lord does have an agenda, an agenda to see of the world, an agenda to reach the world and he will do whatever he needs to do to move his community, to make that happen. Even if it means making his own community deeply uncomfortable to make that happen. 

[00:26:19] And, and I love, I love the language of X one a you. It's the genius of the, and again, it's not, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, then the ends of the earth, it's armed the, the idea that actually he wants a community to witness in all of these areas at the same time that, that, that there's a representation right across the spectrum. 

[00:26:41] And ultimately that is his desire. So that wonderful work done in Jeru. No problem with that, but actually his desire was armed, not then, but armed and again, an echo to also a word to us in the 21st century is that we are to be armed people, not then people, we are to be people who understand God has always had a global agenda. 

[00:27:06] He still has a global agenda. And until he brings all things into his purpose and plan in terms of consummation, that global agenda will continue forever. So, so you get this sense that we are either going to cooperate with that agenda or, or clash with that agenda. But if we are embracing. The heart of Jesus. 

[00:27:30] If we are opening up ourselves to the holy spirit, it seems to be that the B of acts teaches that we're going to be more likely to embrace the global agenda than not, but even then there can be struggle. And the Babak shows us, you can be filled with Jesus filled with the holy spirit and still struggle with your own. And, and that is a real tension within the book of acts, that, that you have men, women of God, who, who are struggling with the borders and happy to stay within their own confines, even though they're full of Jesus. And even though they're full of the spirit, and that's a real challenge to me, David, I of it, I, 

[00:28:11] I want to be, can I say this humbly? 

[00:28:13] I want to be humble. I, I, I want to realize. just because I believe I've got some form of relationship with Jesus and I've had an experience with the holy spirit that that does not mean I'm certainly the expert or that my view is right on everything or that even what I want to do is necessarily what he wants to do. 

[00:28:35] And that's why we've gotta keep coming back to this beautiful tax that reminding ourselves that his agenda is to the nations of the. 

[00:28:41] David: Goodness. What a, what? A huge point, John, what a huge point. Wow, of course. Cuz so often we hear this across church history. Something goes wrong in the church. We we're, we, we seem beset at the moment with, with situations of, of pastoral abusive power and, and, and pastoral, getting lost. 

[00:29:01] And, and so often what we hear is. But these people seem to be men of God. And, and what acts is opening up the window on exact, these you've said there is you can AB you can be a follower of Jesus who actually walked around with Jesus and be full of the holy spirit, but still allow your agenda to, to frame and decide how things are, what a huge point, what a huge point is. 

[00:29:23] It's it's as if. One of my ways of reading acts could almost be, Jesus saying to the disciples, listen, you will get the holy spirit, but make sure you keep up with him. 

[00:29:32] John: Absolutely.