It is my hope that this will be the first or many opportunities to share with you thoughts and insights as I read through Scriptures in preparation for sermons and Bible classes and for personal devotion.
Acts 1:1 “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.”
Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. They can, and perhaps should, be read as one narrative. Often, we separate the Gospels and Acts because the four Gospels set forth the life of Jesus while the Book of Acts tells what the disciples did after Jesus had departed into heaven. In fact, the full title that is often used to refer to the book of Acts is “The Acts of the Apostles.”
However, this first verse of Acts tells us that Luke had a different idea. He tells the person to whom he is writing that the Gospel he had written was about “all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” But if Jesus ascended into heaven, wouldn’t that be the conclusion of His work and teaching? Why is it the beginning? The answer comes when we connect Jesus’ command to the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit with the events of Pentecost. Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit and, through that Spirit working through the disciples, Jesus’ work continues. In fact, you can look at Peter’s words in Acts 3:12. After Peter healed a lame beggar, others were astonished at the power he displayed. In response, he asks them “Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” It is not the work of the Peter, but Jesus working through him. Acts is not the work of the disciples, but the continuing work of Jesus Christ through the disciples.
What does this mean for us today? The ministry of Jesus Christ continues. Like the disciples, we have received the promised Holy Spirit. Like the disciples, Jesus continues to reach out in grace to the world through us. The work we do as a congregation is not our work alone, but it is Christ, who lives in us, working through us. There are still people whom God is calling to His saving grace and we have the privilege of bring that message to them. Take the time to read through the book of Acts, keeping in mind that the work of God in and through the disciples that is set forth there continues in the ministry of St. Lucas today.
