Acts 1:1-11 Three Central Facts of Christianity
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter one, page 909 in the pew Bibles. So last week we began our work through the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the connection between the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. In it we are introduced to the Apostle Paul, and in fact the whole idea of the church is described here in the book of Acts and then developed through the Epistles of the New Testament. Here in the first half of the first chapter we have outlined for us three of the central facts of Christianity itself, the fact that Jesus is alive, the fact of the promised Holy Spirit to the church, and the fact that Jesus will one day return. If that sounds like a three point sermon, it’s not, it’s a five paragraph essay like Eva has been learning about in English class just read aloud.
Let’s look at our text for today, Acts 1:1-11.
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But 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.”
9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Let’s pray.
Quick quiz: Who wrote the book of Acts? Luke. So Luke picks up right where he left of in his Gospel, on the Mount of Olives at the Ascension of Jesus into heaven.
Luke reminds us in verse one and two, that in his Gospel he dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach and so infers that in this work, the book of Acts, he will deal with all that Jesus continued to do, but in this work Jesus was working through the Apostles and the Church by His Spirit that would dwell within them.
In verse three, Luke gives us our first point, the first central fact of Christianity: Jesus is alive!
3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
The word translated, “proofs,” means, “convincing evidence,” something that causes something to be known or verified or confirmed. Jesus appeared to the Apostles over the course of forty days, speaking with them of the kingdom, and eating and sharing fellowship with them.
You may see a footnote on verse four, on the word, “staying,” the original means to have fellowship and to be eating with someone. I love the fact that Jesus eating with His disciples is a constant and consistent proof that He is alive! It gives me great hope for the kingdom!
Jesus made breakfast for the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the locked room in Jerusalem He asked for something to eat and was given some broiled fish that He ate in their presence. He wasn’t a ghost, nor was He a hallucination, He was really there because He is really alive.
This is so important because without the true resurrection of Jesus our faith means nothing.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:14-24
14 …if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
We do not serve a dead Savior but a living one! No other world religion can make that claim.
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives!
The second central fact of Christianity starts there in verse four.
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But 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.”
The Promise of the Father is the Holy Spirit, and this was not a new idea that Jesus was just introducing.
Isaiah 44:2-4 says,
2 Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.
Joel 2:28-29 says,
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
Everyone will have equal access to the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus, male, female, slave, free, Jew, and Gentile, we are all one in Christ Jesus.
Jesus had told them earlier about the coming of the Holy Spirit after His departure though they did not yet understand in John 16:5-11.
5 …now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
And also in John 14:16-17,
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
The promised Holy Spirit that dwells in the heart of every believer in Jesus and works with what Ray Steadman called, “quiet power,” to help us know and understand God’s Word and to follow Jesus’ instructions. He gives the Church power to be witnesses to the world of what Jesus has done for us.
Remember from last week? This is the mission of the Church, to be witnesses for Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will give the power to accomplish that mission if we provide the willingness to obey Him.
9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
The third central fact of Christianity, the hope of the imminent return of Jesus.
This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God and by the same power of God He was taken up into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God and is, as Romans 8:34 says, interceding for us. But the day is coming when He will return in the same manner that He left and this is the great hope of the Church.
1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 says,
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
And Revelation 21:1-4,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
I pray you are encouraged by these words!
So, in conclusion, what are the three central facts of Christianity outlined in these verses? Number one, that Jesus lives! He appeared to His disciples over a period of forty days after His resurrection, He spoke with them, He ate with them, and fellowshipped with them. Number two, that the God the Father promised the Holy Spirit to live inside all who believe in Jesus in order to convict us of our sin and empower us to be obedient to Jesus’ commands, and the third central fact, the great hope of the Church, that Jesus is coming back, just like He left, with power and great glory to establish the eternal kingdom of God among His people that we might dwell forever in His presence.
Amen.
