What an Overview of Acts Teaches us about Our Times
When pastors preach through a book of the Bible, they usually do so section by section, chapter by chapter. But sometimes it is useful to step back and observe some of the larger threads and patterns in a book, lest we miss the forest for the trees. So this morning I’m going to give a high-level review of the first nine chapters of Acts, which I believe have particular application for us, given the events of the last ten days. We want to read the story that we’re in, in light of God’s story in the Scriptures—where we’ve been, where we are, and what might be next. Because while history does not repeat itself, it does rhyme.
In this section of Acts, there are four main groups: 1) the apostles (the leaders of the fledgling church); 2) the believers (those who have embraced the risen Jesus as the Messiah); 3) the Jewish crowds (among whom the apostles are ministering and preaching); and 4) the Sanhedrin (the Jewish leaders who oppose the new Jesus movement). The first seven chapters of Acts follow these four groups as they collide with one another in Jerusalem again and again.
Escalating Conflict
And it is indeed a series of collisions. Conflict abounds in these chapters, with the apostles and the Jewish leaders publicly colliding three times (4:1–22; 5:17–41; 6:8–7:60; for purposes of this message, I’m treating Stephen as an apostle, even though technically he was not). The cause of these collisions is obvious: The Sanhedrin opposes the apostolic testimony. What’s not so obvious is that their opposition escalates over the first seven chapters, and this escalating opposition is one of the key ways that Acts ought to shape our imaginations. We can recognize this escalation in three ways:
· the motive for arresting the apostles
· the response to the apostolic witness
· the resolution to the tense situations
In terms of motive, we move from theological annoyance (Acts 4) to envy and jealousy (Acts 5) to outright hatred and slander (Acts 6–7). In the first collision, the Sadducees arrest Peter and John because they were “greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:2; Sadducees, you’ll remember, didn’t believe in the resurrection, Acts 23:6–8). In the second collision, the Sadducees, “filled with jealousy,” arrested the apostles (Acts 5:17). Finally, unable to withstand Stephen’s wisdom, they stir up slander and lies against him in order to have a pretense for his arrest (Acts 6:10–14).
In terms of the Sanhedrin’s response, we move from amazement (Acts 4) to barely controlled anger (Acts 5) to uncontrollable rage (Acts 7). In each collision, the apostles stand before the council and give a defense. And in each case, the response of the Jewish leaders escalates. After the apostolic testimony in Acts 4, the leaders are “astonished” at the boldness of the apostles (verse 13). They can’t believe that uneducated fishermen could understand the Scriptures with such insight. In the second collision, Peter and the apostles stand firm under scrutiny, and their testimony is met with barely controlled rage (they want to kill the apostles, but Gamaliel is able to calm them down, 5:33–40). In the final encounter, Stephen’s sermon sends them into a frenzy of teeth-grinding rage (7:54).
Finally, in terms of resolution, we move from verbal warning (Acts 4) to violent warning (Acts 5) to murder by mob (Acts 7). In the first encounter, after the Jewish leaders get over their amazement, they release Peter and John with a verbal warning (“Don’t preach in this name anymore,” 4:18). After the second, they add a beating to their warning (“We already told you once,” 5:40). And the final encounter ends with the stoning of Stephen.
The Roots of Rising Opposition
What accounts for this rising conflict? Why does the hostility and violence intensify in this way? We see two main causes. First is the phenomenal growth of the church. Acts 1: 120 people (1:15). End of Acts 2: 3000 people (2:41) with more added every day (2:47). Acts 4: five thousand men (4:4). Acts 5:14: “more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” In light of this growth, it’s no surprise that the Jewish leaders move from viewing the apostles with annoyance to being filled with envy and jealousy. They are losing their grip on the people, as the ranks of the church swell with people from all walks of life.
The second cause of the escalation is the apostolic boldness. It is this boldness that initially astonished the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:13. But what do we mean by boldness? Christian boldness is courage and clarity about Jesus and sin.
We see both elements in Acts 5:27–32.
The high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
“You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” What teaching? The teaching about the resurrection of Jesus. The apostles are preaching the lordship of the risen Jesus. “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” That’s what every sermon in Acts is about. God raised Jesus. God exalted Jesus. Jesus is Savior. Jesus is Lord. Jesus forgives sins. There is no other name by which we can be saved. This is the message the apostles preach in defiance of the Sanhedrin’s threats. They are determined to fill Jerusalem with the good news about who Jesus is and what God has done through him.
But it’s not simply that they boldly preach about who Jesus is and what he’s done. They also preach clearly and courageously about sin, and in particular the sin of betraying, rejecting, denying, and murdering Jesus. “You intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. You’re trying to blame us for killing him” (Acts 5:28). “That’s exactly right,” responds Peter. “You killed him by hanging him on a tree” (5:30). It’s remarkable how often the apostles strike this note, in Jerusalem no less, only a few months removed from the crucifixion itself. This is very fresh, and yet the apostles make it a repeated and central note in their preaching, both to the crowds and to the Jewish leaders. “You killed him; God raised him” appears in every sermon in these chapters (2:23, 2:36, 3:13-15, 4:10-11).
“This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” (Acts 2:23)
“God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36)
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” (Acts 3:13–15)
“By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. . . . This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders.” (Acts 4:10–11)
And this clarity and courage about the particular sin of killing Jesus is one part of the larger apostolic clarity about all sin and the need to repent.
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. . . . Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” (Acts 2:38, 40)
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. . .” (Acts 3:19)
“God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” (Acts 3:26)
“Every one of you from your wickedness.” Not your neighbor’s wickedness. Not the wickedness of those people over there. Your wickedness. This is Christian boldness—clearly and courageously testifying to the resurrection of Jesus and the need to repent, both in general and in the specific ways that we have rebelled against God. Christian boldness doesn’t muddle the message; that would be confusion, not clarity. And Christian boldness doesn’t muzzle the message; that would be cowardice, not courage. And such boldness, which leads to the explosive growth of the church, accounts for the escalating hostility to the apostles on the part of the Jewish leaders.
Where Boldness Comes From
It’s not enough to know that the apostles were bold in the face of threats; we must press in to see where this boldness came from. The first and most important source of boldness is the Holy Spirit. The apostles are bold because they ask God to make them bold. They pray for boldness, and we’re told, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).
But the Holy Spirit doesn’t operate in a vacuum. He uses means. And the most obvious means in these chapters is the formation of the church. In fact, the early chapters of Acts have a rhythm: Luke moves between focusing on the internal workings of the church to focusing on the church’s witness in the world. Inward and outward, inward and outward, with each outward movement including greater growth and greater opposition. One reason for this rhythm is to show the kind of community that produces Christian boldness. Christian boldness emerges from a resilient community, united in one heart and soul around the testimony of the resurrection. This is why the inward focus of Acts 2:42–47 and 4:32–37 is so crucial. A resilient community is a community of grace, in which believers steward their resources to meet the needs of others. There is a deep and abiding commitment to the proposition, “There will be no needy person among us. We will sacrifice our wealth in service to the household of faith” (4:32–35).
So great power in preaching the resurrection leads to great grace in meeting needs, particularly in the church. But it’s clear in Acts 1–7 that generosity doesn’t stop at the doors of the church. Grace spills over the banks of God’s household and meets the needs of outsiders. Christians are committed to seeking the good of the city. Thus, the apostles are out among the people, healing and restoring those who were broken (3:1–10; 5:12–16). What’s more, the early chapters of Acts show us the necessity of holiness and integrity. A bold church is a holy church. Whenever there is a genuine work of God, it won’t be five minutes before counterfeits show up, aping generosity (like Ananias and Sapphira pretend to be as generous as Barnabas) in order to win fame and renown (5:1–11). Thus, not only must a boldness-producing community be filled with generosity and sacrifice, it must be holy, upright, and honest. As Ananias and Sapphira demonstrate, we cannot lie to God and expect his blessing (5:4–5). God is not mocked; he is a consuming fire, and insists that we live in holy fear before him.
So where does Christian boldness come from? It comes from God the Father, who fills us with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gathers a people around the preaching of the death and resurrection of Jesus, uniting us in heart and soul, so that we sacrifice to meet each other’s needs and seek the good of the city and live holy lives of reverent fear.
Application
So let’s apply this pattern to our own day. Over the last twenty years, and especially the last ten, we’ve seen escalating conflict in our country as the Christian faith and reality collide with our secular insanity. While the collision is widespread over many issues, sexual ethics in particular are a flashpoint. Like in Acts 4 and 5, we’ve seen smaller-scale collisions through cancel culture and social pressure and the legal harassment of Jack Phillips, Baronelle Stutzman, and Kim Davis, who were legally persecuted for refusing to affirm and celebrate gay mirage. Our regnant Sexual Pharisees and Sadducees, the leaders of the Rainbow Sanhedrin, essentially said, “We’ve told you once; we’ve told you twice. Bake the cake, bigot. Or else.”
And last week, with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we found our American Stephen. Like the apostles, Charlie never went to college; he was an “uneducated, common man.” Like Stephen, he was neither a minister nor an apostle, but an evangelist. Like Stephen, he was a man “full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5), “full of grace and power” (Acts 6:8), and as a result of his labors, the word of God increased, and disciples multiplied in our country (6:7). Like Stephen, he was known for his boldness—his courage and clarity about Jesus and sin—for his willingness to go to the Leftist indoctrination centers that we call universities and discuss and debate and dialogue about the most important issues in our nation and in reality. And like Stephen, he was very effective, so that his opponents were “not able to withstand the wisdom and Spirit with which he was speaking” (6:10). And as a result, he, like other faithful Christians, was slandered as a fascist, a racist, a bigot, a Nazi (6:11-14). He was accused of blaspheming the current gods of secularism, progressivism, wokeness, and the gender cult. He spoke against their high places and claimed that Jesus intends to change the wicked customs and practices that have taken root in America, especially among young people (Acts 6:13-14). He told them, “Trust Christ. Go to church. Get married. Have babies. Leave a legacy.” And, as a result of his faith and his boldness, he filled the enemies of Christ with teeth-grinding rage, and like Stephen, when they could not answer his arguments, they “stopped their ears” and murdered him in public (Acts 7:54-58). That’s where we are in the story. At this moment, in Arizona, we are in Acts 8:2: “Devout men buried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him.”
Which raises the question: what’s next? If the pattern holds, what’s next? I see an opportunity, a temptation, and an exhortation.
First, the opportunity. Stephen’s execution is a turning point in the narrative. As a result, a general persecution against the church broke out, which resulted in a scattering of the church throughout Judea and Samaria. This looks like the end of something great, as the enemies of the gospel, filled with rage and fury, seek to smother the work of God. But then, Acts 8:4: “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” Not grumbling about injustice. Not shrinking back in fear because of what happened to Stephen. Not despairing at Saul’s harassment. They went about preaching. These people are exiles, refugees, outcasts from their home. But they don’t act like refugees; they act like missionaries. They don’t act like they got kicked out; they act like they got sent out.
The martyrdom of Stephen launches the Samaritan mission, the same mission that Jesus promised in Acts 1:8.
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
“Now they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.” (8:1)
“Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.” (8:5)
And remember that the Samaritans were outcasts in the first century, shunned and despised by the cultural elite in Jerusalem. So the Christian outcasts from Jerusalem preach to the lost outcasts of Samaria, and the Samaritans receive the good news of the kingdom of God, are baptized into the name of Jesus, and receive the Holy Spirit at apostolic hands (8:12–17).
So may we seize the opportunity that God has given us, and show the same joyful and grateful courage and boldness that Charlie Kirk did, and may the Lord spark a revival in surprising places. We’re already seeing seeds of it among those who, like the Samaritans, have been despised by our current elite—especially Gen Z (who are the casualties of the Sexual Revolution), young men (who have been the scapegoat and whipping boy for woke America), and reality-respecters (who are the equivalent of God-fearers in the book of Acts).
But that leads to the temptation. As the Samaritan revival takes off, we meet Simon Magus, a sorcerer and Samaritan celebrity who thought he was somebody great. We’re told that “many paid attention to him” (8:9-11); he was an influencer with millions of followers on social media. But when the attention shifts from him to Philip as he preaches the good news of the kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, Simon wants in on it. He even gets baptized. But when the Spirit falls as the apostles lay hands on the church, we see that Simon’s “conversion” was opportunistic. He tries to buy his way in, offering money to get some of that spiritual power and seeking to co-opt the church for his own ends. And Peter rebukes him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours (note that) and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity” (Acts 8:20–23.)
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom, the chief threat will be allowing his deeply Christian legacy to be co-opted by opportunists who want to baptize it for their own purposes. The temptation will be to “Unite the Right” to “Fight the Left” by watering down the central truth that Jesus Christ alone is Lord, turning it into a generic call for “faith in God” (or just general “faith”), or muting our witness on the evil of homosexuality in order to link arms with secularists and gays against the trans terrorists. And while it is possible to be co-belligerents with members of other religions in some common political projects, and while we can be grateful that some homosexuals condemn the trans-insanity, we must not allow the desire for a big tent to smother Christian boldness or dilute the full Christian gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone.
And that brings me to the exhortation to boldness and to hope. Now is the time for courage and clarity about Jesus and sin. The wickedness of our nation reeks to high heaven—the abortion genocide, sexual immorality (from pornography to no-fault divorce, from fornication to every color in the sexually deviant rainbow), racial and ethnic hatred, lawlessness and the perversion of justice, and ultimately our rejection of the living God and his Son Jesus Christ. We must be bold in the face of threats and dangers. As the early church prayed when their lives were threatened,
Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:24-28)
The hand and plan of God was behind the crucifixion of Jesus, and the martyrdom of Stephen, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk. He is the Sovereign Lord, and he has good and wise purposes for everything that comes to pass. And so they prayed:
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. (Acts 4:29–30)
And here is the hope. One of the other striking parallels between Acts and our day is the approval of Stephen’s murder and the celebration of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Acts 8:1: “Saul approved of the execution.” Many of us have been shocked that thousands of our fellow citizens have rationalized, justified, and celebrated the murder of a young husband and father. But here’s the hope, and how we should pray. In Acts 8, Saul stood by and approved the brutal murder of Stephen. In Acts, he collided with Jesus on the Damascus Road, and the world was never the same. Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save.
If we lift up the Son of God, he will draw all men to himself.
