Doug McMasters: Well, good to see you this evening.
Doug McMasters: I'd invite you to take your Bible with me and go over to the book of Acts, the book of Acts.
Doug McMasters: If you're looking at the church Bibles, the Pew Bibles, you can find it on page 966.
Doug McMasters: It's been a delight to go through this series, route 66.
Doug McMasters: We will finish it up right at the end of the year, just before Christmas.
Doug McMasters: It will be at a completion and I think it's a great sort of corpus for us as a church to go back to from time to time.
Doug McMasters: We had our Membership Matters class this afternoon and one of the things that we do in that is introduce those who are considering membership to our Statement of Faith.
Doug McMasters: Obviously can't go through the Statement of Faith in a short little meeting like that, but able to cast them back to a series that Micah and I and a couple others contributed to called Defining Doctrines, which was about our statement of faith, and to be able to say to folks just sermon audio, Defining Doctrines.
Doug McMasters: There's 40 messages that will help you understand better what we believe as a church.
Doug McMasters: So in years to come perhaps you know for folks coming in saying I wonder what is in Zechariah or something like that, to be able to go back and say there it is.
Doug McMasters: I was talking to someone just a couple of weeks ago who's recently visiting our church and she's just beginning to read the Bible.
Doug McMasters: You're here, didn't mean to embarrass you, right?
Doug McMasters: And was able to say look, route 66 is perfect.
Doug McMasters: Listen to the message.
Doug McMasters: It'll introduce you to what you're about to read.
Doug McMasters: It might give you a helpful entry point to understand what's about to unfold for you as you turn the pages of the Bible.
Doug McMasters: So tonight we're in the book of Acts.
Doug McMasters: A couple of weeks ago well, a couple of weeks ago, a week and a tiny bit ago ago a week and a tiny bit ago, we celebrated in this room Good Friday, and we think about our Savior giving himself up on the cross.
Doug McMasters: One of the sayings on the cross is a Greek word, tetelestai, which means it is finished, right, and that word has a lot of meaning.
Doug McMasters: It is finished in that the work of redemption has been completed, scripture has been fulfilled, and so we often talk about the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: That's a phrase you might even hear a number of preachers or teachers use the finished work of Christ.
Doug McMasters: Well, tonight we're going to talk about something the ongoing work of Christ and that's in the book of Acts.
Doug McMasters: So take a look at chapter 1 and verse 1.
Doug McMasters: As Luke continues from the gospel of Luke now into this second volume, and he says I wrote the first narrative, theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
Doug McMasters: So there's that sense of the beginning to do and teach.
Doug McMasters: But there's a second volume that Luke writes about.
Doug McMasters: And what is that?
Doug McMasters: But there's a second volume that Luke writes about and what is that?
Doug McMasters: After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them, by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Doug McMasters: So the rest of the book of Acts talks about the ongoing work of Jesus Christ, and tonight we're going to be able to discover more about that.
Doug McMasters: And one of the things that I hope we all recognize as we do so is that we're not just having a historical look at the early church, but to be able to find ourselves included in this ongoing work of Jesus Christ, because we're part and parcel of that story that's ongoing yet to this day and I hope it shapes our attitude and understanding about how we do participate in that.
Doug McMasters: One of the stories that I like to tell is a story about Sir Christopher Wren, who was the architect for the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral in London.
Doug McMasters: It's a beautiful edifice.
Doug McMasters: If you ever get an opportunity to go to London, I would highly encourage you taking some time to visit St Paul's Cathedral and, if you're not afraid of heights, to go up as high as you can go.
Doug McMasters: There's a little whispering gallery there where you can hear one another and if you're really daring, you can make your way through the see-through ladders up to the outer ring and get a nice view of London from the outside.
Doug McMasters: It's quite remarkable and one person was going through there and talking to some of the workers and he said what are you doing today?
Doug McMasters: And he said well, what do you think I'm doing?
Doug McMasters: I'm putting one stone on top of another.
Doug McMasters: He's like well, okay, let's kind of figure that out, but I thought maybe he'd give me a different answer.
Doug McMasters: Says to another person, another worker what are you doing today?
Doug McMasters: Well, I'm earning a wage to pay for my family's needs.
Doug McMasters: And then he talked to a third worker and said what are you doing today?
Doug McMasters: I'm helping Christopher Wren build this grand cathedral.
Doug McMasters: So three different perspectives about the same work.
Doug McMasters: One person, literally one stone on top of the other.
Doug McMasters: Another person thinking in a transactional way this is, I'm doing this in order to get what I need to take care of the things that I'm responsible for.
Doug McMasters: And then another person seeing the big picture I'm part of the building of this cathedral.
Doug McMasters: This is a monument that I am participating in the building of.
Doug McMasters: So today, you might be a member of New Hyde Park Baptist Church and we might ask you what are you doing today?
Doug McMasters: I'm showing up for a service.
Doug McMasters: What are you doing today?
Doug McMasters: Well, you might have something a little more noble than that to answer.
Doug McMasters: Or you might say I'm a member of the body of Christ and I'm participating in the ongoing work of Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: You see how perspective changes a lot of things, and so today, I hope that we'll be able to catch that glimpse, not just an understanding of the historical account of the book of Acts.
Doug McMasters: So what we're going to look at are four aspects of the book of Acts, and in so doing, we're going to be going from front to back and front to back and front to back and front to back, because they're all intertwined.
Doug McMasters: It's not like one thing and then another, and another and another.
Doug McMasters: These aspects weave their way through the whole book of Acts, and so I'd like for us to get a flavor of all of them as we move, and I don't want to highlight each of them in a sort of chronological way.
Doug McMasters: I'd like for us to be able to catch it and understand the layers of what's being said here.
Doug McMasters: So we're going to look at the message of the church, the growth of the church, the focus of the church and then the breadth of the church.
Doug McMasters: The message of the church talks about the proclamation of the early church.
Doug McMasters: The growth obviously has geographical aspects, but there's more than just geographical growth going on in the book of Acts.
Doug McMasters: The focus of the church what is it that they were primarily about?
Doug McMasters: Obviously connected and a little nuanced from the message, but there's something there that we want to highlight that will help us in our day, I think.
Doug McMasters: And then the breadth of the church who's included in this kingdom that Christ is building?
Doug McMasters: So let's dive in.
Doug McMasters: Let's start with the message of the church, and the book of Acts captures the essential proclamation of the early church, centering first of all on an understanding that God has acted in a way to fulfill promises from the Old Testament.
Doug McMasters: So when you read the book of Acts and you catch a hold of the proclamation that's there, one of the things that you will see quite often are references back to the Old Testament and how those things that were promised some hundreds of years ago are now being enacted in fulfillment.
Doug McMasters: That's quite an important thing.
Doug McMasters: In fact, that was one of the things that really motivated me personally to begin to understand how the Old Testament and New Testament related to one another.
Doug McMasters: I'd always thought of it in a more flat fashion, but when I read the book of Acts and started noting how often the Old Testament was quoted and how often the fulfillment of the Old Testament was spoken about, I said I need to understand this better, and so I started going back into the books that the apostles quote and began to wrestle with why did they use this verse and this passage to elucidate the Savior?
Doug McMasters: It's not the sort of clear Isaiah 7, micah 5 kind of things that you hear right around Christmas time.
Doug McMasters: They went places I wouldn't have expected.
Doug McMasters: Why did they do that?
Doug McMasters: Why did they go there?
Doug McMasters: And so that drove me to really understand better how the Old Testament New Testament interact with each other.
Doug McMasters: But one of the things we'll understand is that they were determined to express, particularly to the Jewish audience in front of them in the early chapters of the book of Acts, that God had acted, through Jesus Christ, in fulfillment of promises made many, many hundred years ago.
Doug McMasters: So let's go to chapter 2.
Doug McMasters: You'll see that.
Doug McMasters: Chapter 2 and verse 30.
Doug McMasters: There's a lot of places I could go.
Doug McMasters: I'm just going to be very selective here, brothers and sisters.
Doug McMasters: Verse 29, I can confidently speak to you about the patriarch David.
Doug McMasters: He is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day.
Doug McMasters: And since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne and, seeing what was to come, he spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah.
Doug McMasters: He was not abandoned in Hades and his flesh did not experience decay.
Doug McMasters: You turn over to chapter 3 and go to verse 19.
Doug McMasters: You will see something very, very similar.
Doug McMasters: Verse 17,.
Doug McMasters: Now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did.
Doug McMasters: In this way, god fulfilled what he had predicted through the prophets that his Messiah would suffer.
Doug McMasters: Therefore, repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out.
Doug McMasters: And then it goes on to and you can see a number of places where there are, perhaps in your edition of the Bible, bolded print face to talk about Old Testament quotations of Scripture.
Doug McMasters: So drop down just a little bit further in verse 24, right in that area.
Doug McMasters: Well, we could back up a little bit to 21.
Doug McMasters: Heaven must receive him until the time of restoration of all things which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.
Doug McMasters: And Moses said the Lord, your God, will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.
Doug McMasters: You must listen to him and to everything he tells you, and everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people.
Doug McMasters: So the Jewish people were saying you really need to listen to Jesus.
Doug McMasters: He is the one that God has sent to us.
Doug McMasters: A little further down in the same chapter, verse 25,.
Doug McMasters: You are sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors saying to Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.
Doug McMasters: God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.
Doug McMasters: What is the Abrahamic blessing to the world?
Doug McMasters: Repentance and the reception of the Savior.
Doug McMasters: That is how God blesses the nations.
Doug McMasters: This is reinforced.
Doug McMasters: We go to chapter 10 and we can find there in verse 43.
Doug McMasters: In verse 42 it says that well, I'm going to keep doing this.
Doug McMasters: Verse 40 god raised up this man on the third day and caused him to be seen, not by all the people, but by us, whom God appointed as witnesses who ate and drank with him.
Doug McMasters: After he rose from the dead, he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.
Doug McMasters: All the prophets testify about him that, through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.
Doug McMasters: Over and over and, over and over again, calling out the life of Christ, the message and the proclamation in fulfillment of prophecies given.
Doug McMasters: Message and the proclamation in fulfillment of prophecies given Paul in Acts.
Doug McMasters: Chapter 26 makes mention of that.
Doug McMasters: So, jumping right to the back or near the back, verses six and seven, where he's on trial, and he says this now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors, the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day.
Doug McMasters: He said this is the fulfillment.
Doug McMasters: They're looking for something, but they're not looking in the right place, and the place is the designated place of Jesus Christ himself.
Doug McMasters: So the apostles understood that the arrival of the Savior was the culmination of God's promises given in the Old Testament.
Doug McMasters: So what was the message and it's something we're very familiar with, and I thank God that we are what did the early church emphasize when they preached Christ?
Doug McMasters: Did they emphasize his example?
Doug McMasters: Did they emphasize the fact that he was a great teacher, philosopher?
Doug McMasters: Did they emphasize that he was a wonderfully moral man who stood before us as an example of how to live a just and good life?
Doug McMasters: What did they emphasize?
Doug McMasters: Yeah, they emphasized the crucifixion for one.
Doug McMasters: So let's jump back to the very front end of this book.
Doug McMasters: So let's jump back to the very front end of this book Acts, chapter 2.
Doug McMasters: It wounded us to know that the death of Christ was not some accident, but done in the determined plan of God, in Acts, chapter 2 and verse 23.
Doug McMasters: Though he was delivered up according to God's determined plan and foreknowledge.
Doug McMasters: You use lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him, and then it says that God raised him up from the dead.
Doug McMasters: So there is very clearly a statement about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, chapter 3, verse 13.
Doug McMasters: Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this?
Doug McMasters: Why do you stare at us as though we had made him walk by our own power of godliness?
Doug McMasters: The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.
Doug McMasters: You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you.
Doug McMasters: You killed the source of life whom God raised from the dead, and we are witnesses of this, of this.
Doug McMasters: Chapter 4, in verse 11,.
Doug McMasters: It tells us here that Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.
Doug McMasters: And again back in the book of Acts, in chapter 26, paul confirms in verse 23 that Christ's suffering and resurrection were meant to bring light to both Jew and Gentile.
Doug McMasters: He says this to this very day.
Doug McMasters: I've had help from God and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place, that the Messiah would suffer and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.
Doug McMasters: So what is the message of the early church?
Doug McMasters: It is a message of fulfillment that has at its center the crucifixion of Christ, and you've probably already gathered there's more to it than just that right.
Doug McMasters: We've not only talked about the crucifixion, but we've also talked about the resurrection.
Doug McMasters: I would dare say the book of Acts speaks as much, if not more, about the resurrection of Christ than even it does the cross of Christ.
Doug McMasters: Let that sink in for a minute.
Doug McMasters: The resurrection of Christ is a greater emphasis in the apostolic preaching than even the cross.
Doug McMasters: There's something going on there that we, some 2,000 years later, need to pay more attention to.
Doug McMasters: I won't take you back through those passages.
Doug McMasters: You heard them but let me just quickly state a couple.
Doug McMasters: Acts 2.24, it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him, so Christ was going to rise.
Doug McMasters: Acts 2.31 and 32, peter explains that David foresaw the resurrection and affirmed that Jesus was not going to be abandoned to the grave and his body was not going to see decay.
Doug McMasters: Acts, chapter 3 and verse 15, the people by the apostolic preaching are told you killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.
Doug McMasters: And there's something more so, not just the death of Christ, not just the resurrection of Christ, but also the ascension of Christ.
Doug McMasters: So let's go back to Acts, chapter two, for a second Verse 33.
Doug McMasters: God has raised this Jesus.
Doug McMasters: We're all witnesses of this.
Doug McMasters: Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear.
Doug McMasters: For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says.
Doug McMasters: The Lord declared to my Lord Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
Doug McMasters: Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.
Doug McMasters: So there is a very clear proclamation of the ascension and exaltation of Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: I don't know if you caught a little bit of what was just said there, but there's a little phrase that connects to the passage of Scripture we looked at this morning in Isaiah, chapter 32.
Doug McMasters: It talked about the coming kingdom and the flourishing of new life when the Spirit is poured out on us.
Doug McMasters: And how do the apostles here express what's happening in the book of Acts, in chapter 2?
Doug McMasters: When the Spirit is poured out on us.
Doug McMasters: It's almost the exact phrase us.
Doug McMasters: It's almost the exact phrase.
Doug McMasters: So the promises from the book of Isaiah, in chapter 32, that talk about the righteous king and the right realm that's full of justice and equity, has been inaugurated by the exalted Lord Jesus, who's poured out his spirit into this world through the proclamation of the apostles, chapter 3 and verse 13.
Doug McMasters: The God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant.
Doug McMasters: Jesus has glorified his servant Jesus More.
Doug McMasters: That's preached there, not just the crucifixion of Christ, not just the resurrection of Christ, not just the ascension and exaltation of Christ, but also his return and judgment.
Doug McMasters: Acts, chapter three, verse 20 and 21.
Doug McMasters: So just a little bit further down from what we just read, it says in verse 19, repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you, as the Messiah.
Doug McMasters: Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things.
Doug McMasters: And then it keeps on going and talks about judgment.
Doug McMasters: The Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me, from among your brothers.
Doug McMasters: You must listen to everything he tells you, and everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people.
Doug McMasters: What is the ultimate judgment of humanity?
Doug McMasters: What do you do with Jesus?
Doug McMasters: That is the ultimate statement of judgment.
Doug McMasters: What are you doing with Christ?
Doug McMasters: Acts, chapter 10, verse 42.
Doug McMasters: He commanded us now, this is Christ, after he's risen from the dead.
Doug McMasters: He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be what the judge of the living and the dead and all the prophets testify about him that through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.
Doug McMasters: How do you escape the eternal judgment of God?
Doug McMasters: By fleeing to Christ.
Doug McMasters: That's how this one, who has come as a savior, will come again as a judge, and he will not be offering mercy on that day.
Doug McMasters: He will be executing judgment.
Doug McMasters: And the only way to be free from that judgment is to be in Christ himself, to flee to the one who has the power to hold you eternally responsible for what you've done with him.
Doug McMasters: And so, intermingled with all of this, not only a declaration about Jesus, but a call, and you've already heard it from me so I'm not going to repeat.
Doug McMasters: It is a call to repentance and to faith, and there are many places through the book of Acts where that happens.
Doug McMasters: They don't just declare the facts of Christ, they press Christ on the conscience, they press it home to Jew and Gentile alike that this person is not just simply a religious figure that you might be benefited by paying some attention to.
Doug McMasters: This is the Lord of the universe and he has offered salvation to undeserving people, and the only way to be free from your guilt and free from your sin is to acknowledge him in repentance and faith.
Doug McMasters: Acts 2, verse 38, repent to be baptized.
Doug McMasters: Acts 3, 19, urging the people to find forgiveness and renewal in the restoration of all things.
Doug McMasters: Acts, chapter 10, that we looked at in the baptism of the Gentiles who had believed, just like the Jewish people had done.
Doug McMasters: In Acts chapter 17, verse 30,.
Doug McMasters: In the apostolic preaching, god has commanded all men everywhere to repent.
Doug McMasters: So the message of the early church, which ought to be the very central message of the current church, is this very simple and yet very profound message that God has fulfilled his promises through the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension, the exaltation and the coming judgment of Jesus Christ himself.
Doug McMasters: He's victorious over sin and death and he offers salvation to the undeserving.
Doug McMasters: He has come to save the unsaved.
Doug McMasters: He's come to declare life where death reigns.
Doug McMasters: The question is, all of us need to ask ourselves how am I responding to him?
Doug McMasters: So that's the first of four points, the message of the early church.
Doug McMasters: Now we're going to look at the growth of the early church, and there is remarkable growth.
Doug McMasters: What begins in Acts, chapter 1, with what seems to be a rather timorous group, as someone put it this way, the book of Acts transforms the locked door of the upper room in Jerusalem and brings us to the very portals of Caesar's palace.
Doug McMasters: Right, I think that's a great way to look at it.
Doug McMasters: So, geographically, there's quite a transformation there, and also a transformation about confidence and boldness.
Doug McMasters: So I want to give you a blueprint for that growth, and you can find it in Acts 1.8.
Doug McMasters: You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, which we discussed in Acts 2.
Doug McMasters: And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth, judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth.
Doug McMasters: Now there seems to be just a few stages there, but I want to offer sort of six expansive stages of geographical growth.
Doug McMasters: And at stage one is in Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: And you go to book of Acts.
Doug McMasters: In chapter two you see them proclaiming the gospel in Jerusalem itself.
Doug McMasters: In Acts, chapter six, as they continued to preach in Jerusalem, the scriptures say the word of God continued to spread and the number of disciples in Jerusalem grew larger and larger and a great number of priests accepted the faith.
Doug McMasters: And so there's no geographical movement yet, but there is growth of numbers and even reaching into those people that were entrenched in the Jewish religion, the priests.
Doug McMasters: Stage two Palestine.
Doug McMasters: So let's go to Acts, chapter 9.
Doug McMasters: Verse 31.
Doug McMasters: It says there so the church throughout all Judea, galilee and Samaria had peace and was strengthened, living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit.
Doug McMasters: It increased in numbers.
Doug McMasters: So there's expansion, geographical expansion, numerical expansion.
Doug McMasters: Just turn over a little bit to Acts, chapter 12 and verse 24.
Doug McMasters: And there we find it moving not only from Jerusalem, not only into the regions of Palestine, but also into Antioch and beyond.
Doug McMasters: In Acts, chapter 12 and verse 24, the word of God spread and multiplied.
Doug McMasters: It spread and multiplied.
Doug McMasters: So regionally, geographically and numerically it's growing through the regions of Antioch and beyond.
Doug McMasters: So in Acts, chapter 16, we can turn to verse 5.
Doug McMasters: It moves beyond these regions into Asia Minor.
Doug McMasters: Acts 16 and verse 5, it says this so the churches were strengthened in faith and grew daily in number.
Doug McMasters: And you might be able to see at the very next verse in the heading over that in my Bible says evangelization of Europe.
Doug McMasters: Right, and that's the next stage.
Doug McMasters: And that's the next stage it moves from Jerusalem into Palestine, up into Antioch, into Asia Minor and then into Europe.
Doug McMasters: In Acts, chapter 19 and verse 20, it says this.
Doug McMasters: It says in this way the word of the Lord spread and prevailed.
Doug McMasters: And then, when you get to Acts, chapter 28, the very last chapter of the book of Acts, in verse 31, it says Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house and welcomed all who visited him.
Doug McMasters: And where is he?
Doug McMasters: He's in Rome itself.
Doug McMasters: And it said he proclaimed the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus.
Doug McMasters: Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
Doug McMasters: We started off in Acts, chapter 1, lacking boldness and feeling completely hindered.
Doug McMasters: And now we are at the end of the book of Acts with full boldness and no hindrance, and we've seen the development geographically, as it's moved from Jerusalem to Rome.
Doug McMasters: There are other things that we could talk about.
Doug McMasters: That talk about the kind of growth.
Doug McMasters: So there's geographical growth, there's numerical growth, but there's also a growth of confidence in the proclamation.
Doug McMasters: This is something for us to understand.
Doug McMasters: Now there were barriers there.
Doug McMasters: Right, there were all kinds of barriers that they had to get past.
Doug McMasters: They passed over cultural barriers, geographical barriers, religious barriers, and yet the gospel grew beyond every one of those hindrances.
Doug McMasters: We should have the same sense of confidence that the gospel can cross over geographical, cultural and religious barriers.
Doug McMasters: It can overpower every one of those.
Doug McMasters: When God is going to move into an area, he is unstoppable.
Doug McMasters: The third thing we want to look at is the focus of the church.
Doug McMasters: The focus of the church and I think it is easily seen in that very last verse of the book of Acts is easily seen in that very last verse of the book of Acts.
Doug McMasters: What is the apostle Paul doing?
Doug McMasters: He's proclaiming the kingdom of God in Rome.
Doug McMasters: He's teaching about Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
Doug McMasters: I think there's a lot to be said there.
Doug McMasters: Early in the book of Acts there were all sorts of theological constraints, ethical constraints, and when you get near to the end of the book of acts you're starting to realize that there's some political and religious constraints, not just from the jews but also from the gentiles and the roman powers themselves.
Doug McMasters: And yet here at the end of it, you see that this freedom has surpassed the political dimension, it's surpassed the religious dimensions, and what it's telling us is that the focus of the church is not to intertwine itself with any of those things, that there was no earthly system, not even the most powerful empire in the world at the time, was going to stop and silence the gospel.
Doug McMasters: And so the apostle Paul was careful to distinguish and to keep focused on the message of Jesus Christ and not to turn it into some sort of quasi-political effort.
Doug McMasters: As he preached the gospel and others preached the gospel, they were scrutinized by Jewish and Roman courts and constantly they were found innocent of any effort of starting or maintaining a political insurrection.
Doug McMasters: Do I need to repeat that?
Doug McMasters: Because there is a danger in our generation and in our country of intermingling the Christian faith with a political movement, intermingling the Christian faith with a political movement, and the only ones that are going to lose in that effort are the Christians and the gospel.
Doug McMasters: But the Apostle Paul was careful to maintain his integrity and his focus on the gospel so that there was no way they could ever say that he in some way was intertwining with some political insurrection against the ruling powers.
Doug McMasters: And they weren't good people.
Doug McMasters: They certainly deserved to have their opponents and even their opposition, but Paul wasn't going to be a part of that.
Doug McMasters: He had one thing to talk about the kingdom of God.
Doug McMasters: He had one thing to talk about the kingdom of God, jesus Christ, and to be able to do it with boldness and without limitation.
Doug McMasters: So he stayed on message and while Rome symbolized the highest human authority at that time, through the gospel and the focus on the gospel, paul was able to show an infinitely greater power, one that challenged not just earthly dominions but spiritual dominions and conquered them through the resurrection and life of the gospel.
Doug McMasters: What does this tell us?
Doug McMasters: That, as believers, our kingdom is not of this world.
Doug McMasters: That needs to be our focus, that we need to live our life radically different from the political maneuverings of our day, and we need to stay a hold of that, because we're not here to overthrow earthly powers.
Doug McMasters: It's tragic.
Doug McMasters: Even today I was reading an article that just sort of enmeshed Christian belief, evangelical Christian belief, with political powers.
Doug McMasters: I thought what is going on here?
Doug McMasters: In Acts, chapter 26, paul explains that, as he proclaimed the fulfillment of what Moses and the prophets had said, that he was bringing a message that brought light to the Jew and to the Gentile.
Doug McMasters: It transcended ethnic, national, political barriers.
Doug McMasters: 26, chapter 26, verses 22 and 23.
Doug McMasters: So we need to be sure that we stay focused.
Doug McMasters: We don't allow the political parties to shape the contours of who we are as God's people.
Doug McMasters: We're not simply a small part of one political party's influence, nor can we think that God's work and will will be accomplished through them either.
Doug McMasters: It goes both directions.
Doug McMasters: Let's the last part.
Doug McMasters: We'll look at the breadth of the church and all of these, like I said, are a bit intertwined and as you go from Acts 1 to Acts 28, you can see all of them brought together in all these different places.
Doug McMasters: But the book of Acts documents for us an unfolding realization that the gospel is for all nations.
Doug McMasters: I had a friend of mine write me a note a little over a year ago and he asked me what I thought was a rather perplexing question.
Doug McMasters: He said this.
Doug McMasters: He said do you think that Jewish people who believe today are part of the church?
Doug McMasters: And I know what he was driving at.
Doug McMasters: He's kind of a.
Doug McMasters: His eschatological view was getting ahead of his biblical understanding, I think, and what he was asking was a question that had to pertain to schemes of eschatology.
Doug McMasters: And instead of jumping into that argument, I just wanted to make him think a little bit.
Doug McMasters: I said it's a rather interesting question that you ask.
Doug McMasters: I think it's a question that would have been completely baffling to the early church, because it was the opposite question that they were asking.
Doug McMasters: They weren't asking could a Jewish person who believes be part of the church?
Doug McMasters: The question they were asking was could a Gentile be part of the church?
Doug McMasters: Because they were convinced that what they were believing in Jesus Christ was exactly what the Old Testament promised they should be believing.
Doug McMasters: Hopefully.
Doug McMasters: Well, I haven't heard from him since, so maybe Actually I have, but hopefully it provoked a little bit of thought on his part.
Doug McMasters: But what are we doing here?
Doug McMasters: It's a question that in the book of Acts was asked as Jesus is about to ascend into the heavenlies.
Doug McMasters: What's the burning question that his disciples have?
Doug McMasters: Are you, at this time, going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
Doug McMasters: What does Jesus tell him?
Doug McMasters: This is none of your business right now.
Doug McMasters: Right now, there is something for you to hold on to, and he doesn't get into the discussion the way they wanted to discuss it, but he answers their question Proclaim the gospel question.
Doug McMasters: Proclaim the gospel, bring the message of Christ all over the world, and you might just find the answer to your question.
Doug McMasters: And so the breadth of the church is the gospel is for all peoples.
Doug McMasters: It's an expansive movement that embraces the Jewish people, embraces the Samaritans, embraces the idol-worshiping Gentiles, and it's a message that continues today.
Doug McMasters: This is not an American gospel, this is not a Western European gospel.
Doug McMasters: This is a gospel for all peoples, and if God's providence leads there to be a greater influx of belief in Christ in South America than in North America, so be it.
Doug McMasters: If he means to expand the church in Asia and we find ourselves, little by little, declining influence in the world in Christian circles, let them have it.
Doug McMasters: This is how God operates.
Doug McMasters: He is not bound to be a blessing to a particular group.
Doug McMasters: He is going to be a blessing to all peoples, just as we looked at right at the very beginning, that blessing comes in the repentance of sins, the reception of forgiveness and the belief on Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: The early church wrestled with this, as you know.
Doug McMasters: They wrestled with this question.
Doug McMasters: They thought the gospel was for the Jewish people and they were astounded to find it moving into Gentile circles and it took them a long time to try to understand how to interact with one another.
Doug McMasters: Wonderfully and eventually they did.
Doug McMasters: And we may find ourselves wrestling with how the gospel interacts in different ways with different cultures that we meet and move into with the gospel.
Doug McMasters: I loved what one of my friends did.
Doug McMasters: He was part of an evangelistic group and they headed up the prayer breakfast for California, for the governor of California, and one year they're asking themselves who isn't at this prayer breakfast?
Doug McMasters: And of course there's a lot of all the political people and everything.
Doug McMasters: And they said you know who's not at this prayer breakfast?
Doug McMasters: Gang members.
Doug McMasters: And they thought how can we, as people who are operating the governor's prayer breakfast, find a way to be able to reach into the gang members of California?
Doug McMasters: And the year that I went to the governor's prayer breakfast there was about 10 guys that were the meanest, orneriest looking fellows you've ever seen in your life, and they had already come to faith in Jesus Christ and were there as kind of a reunion, because these men thought let's reach out beyond our comfort zone to move into a place that's completely different than who we are, to bring Christ to them.
Doug McMasters: And here these guys were converted to Jesus Christ and at the prayer breakfast that I happened to attend, and talking with the same degree of love and excitement about Jesus Christ as anybody else there who was a believer.
Doug McMasters: So let us not be afraid.
Doug McMasters: We have a wonderful message to proclaim.
Doug McMasters: God is going to bring gospel growth to it in so many different ways.
Doug McMasters: All we need to do is stay on focus and not be ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God to salvation for all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.
Doug McMasters: Let's pray.
Doug McMasters: Father, we thank you for your word.
Doug McMasters: We thank you for how wondrously the gospel has brought life.
Doug McMasters: Here we are, some 2000 years later, and still speaking with wonder and excitement that a savior has come, and we're grateful that he's come to us, and we long to see him brought into the lives of others so that they might join with us, not only now, but in that eternal day when we are free from all the bondages of sin and any of its effect and we can live our lives fully and completely in your presence with great joy.
Doug McMasters: Father, help us to keep our focus.
Doug McMasters: There's so many ways that people seek to maneuver and to manipulate your people and your message.
Doug McMasters: Lord, help us to keep centered on Christ in his person and his work, that which he did and that which he is still doing.
Doug McMasters: And, lord, we ask this in Christ's name, amen.