Walking Through Acts
We continue our “Walk Through Acts” where over the last several months, we
have been progressing through the book of Acts linearly and systematically
starting with Acts one verse one. What I hope has been happening in your hearts
and in your minds as we have taken this journey together, is that you have or are
beginning to see how the beginnings of the Church in the first century have a
direct correlation to what we believe and what we practice today. I remember
when we first began, I harped a lot on this one word that described the nature
and structure of the Church. What was that word? It begins with an “E.” The
answer is “Ecclesiology.” What I hope is that you are comparing what you’ve
grown up learning or doing in a Church to that of what is described to us in the
book of Acts.
I recognize and am aware of the fact that many of you in here today grew up in a
different Church tradition than the one you find yourselves in now. And perhaps
you are visiting for the first or second time today and are still trying to figure out
what we believe here at Union Christian Church. I will point you to our website or
our YouTube channel where you can indulge yourself in all the messages regarding
the book of Acts up to this point. I will also let you know that there is a fast track
to understanding what we believe here and what we value here at UCC and that is
to join our Foundations Class which is at 9am on Sunday mornings for the next
few weeks. We just started this morning, but I would love to have you join us for
the remainder of the class which will be going on for a few more weeks. We will
be meeting in the classroom located right off the gym. I’d love to see you there
next Sunday morning and again, it begins at 9am.
Last week we became acquainted with a man named Apollos. And he was mighty
in the Scriptures and the Jews were no match for the preacher from Alexandria.
Today, we pick up in the account of Paul’s third missionary journey. Last week, we
were in the city of Ephesus, and today, we will find ourselves in the same city.Acts 19:1a
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland
country and came to Ephesus.
Let me place us as a first century observers here in this city of Ephesus. Ephesus
was a great city, known for its political influence, it’s thriving economy as it was a
center of commerce as merchants would come and go thanks to its harbor on the
Aegean sea. It was also a religious city. Still, pagan worship was the predominant
religion, however, through the work of Apollos and Priscilla and Aquila, many were
being won to Christ.
If you were to transport yourself back to this time and found yourself standing in
the midst of the city, your eyes would catch the looming 25,000 seat theater. You
would take notice of the shops of the silversmiths that made most of their money
from making idols to sell. The shop owners may be beckoning to you to come and
look for yourself to see if anything struck your interest. And as the hot sun
beamed down upon your skin, you would turn and notice the town hall, or the
stadium, the Magnesian Gate and just a bit north east of the stadium, your eyes
would fall upon the great Temple of Artemis.
I don’t know if any of you have been to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
but it is a sight to behold, truly a work of art. (Show the picture of Lincoln
Memorial) What was the Lincoln Memorial modeled after? The Parthenon which
is located in Athens. (Show picture of the Parthenon). The man who designed the
Lincoln Memorial was Henry Bacon. He felt that the memorial to a man who
defended democracy should be based on a structure found in the birthplace of
democracy. Now, what’s this got to do with the Temple of Artemis? Here’s a
picture of what the Temple of Artemis probably looked like. (Show picture of the
temple of Artemis). There is one remaining column still standing today. This
structure would have dwarfed The Parthenon. It is said that it was twice the size
of the Parthenon. And let me just let you in on something. Structures that big are
not built if its meaning and significance is not great among the people. That’s the
culture Paul, and Apollos and Priscilla and Aquila found themselves in.
One thing, we also have to try to understand is this. Christianity is not like any
other religion that was tolerated by the Romans. The idea of it was so completelyforeign to the world at this time. No wonder, in earlier chapters, and Jesus was
preached and there were accusations that this is an introduction to a strange
religion. And strange it was. The task at hand for Paul and others was a daunting
task. Imagine you’re standing in the Ephesian street with the Temple of Artemis in
the background. And you’re trying to explain to the gospel of Jesus to someone.
“Hey, have you heard about Jesus who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?”
“Only Caesar’s king.”
“Have you heard about the one True God?”
“Where have you been? We’ve got many gods. There’s no such thing as one True
God.”
“But he is real.”
“Where’s his temple then?”
“We’re the temple.”
“Uh-huh. Where do you make your sacrifices?”
“We don’t do that.”
“Let me get this straight. You claim to have a new religion, but you don’t have a
real temple, you don’t make sacrifices and you claim it’s the one true religion?”
It would be the equivalent to me inviting you over to my house after service today
and, upon arriving, you don’t find a house. You ask, “Where’s your house?” I look
down and point, “this rock.” “Is this a joke?” Nope. “Where’s your kitchen?” Don’t
have one.” “Where’s your bed?” “The ground.” You wouldn’t be all that convinced
would you? This is the landscape of the current mission field. I’m sure that as Paul,
Apollos, and Priscilla and Aquila stepped foot into Ephesus, they not only saw but
felt what they were up against.Acts 19:1b
There he found some disciples.
It is there in the city of Ephesus that Paul finds disciples. Now, remember that the
word disciple means pupil or student. So who were they disciples of? We will
confirm this later as we read on, but we need to take note that these are disciples,
students of John the Baptist. I want you to also keep in mind that the term disciple
is not always synonymous with the word “Christian.”
Acts 19:2
2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And
they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
What was Paul doing here? This is very reminiscent of the account of Philip
running into the Ethiopian eunuch back in chapter eight. Philip hears the
Ethiopian reading from the book of Isaiah. And Philip asks him, “Do you
understand what you are reading?”
What Paul and Philip are demonstrating by asking these questions is a method we
can utilize to gauge where someone is at in their faith journey. When we ask these
kinds of qualifying questions, we can then determine what that person needs to
hear in light of the gospel. The Ethiopian was missing Jesus when he was reading
the Scriptures. And here, the disciples of John the Baptist did not have an
understanding of the Holy Spirit. Now even that requires some explanation. The
translation we have says, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” One
may think right away that they just simply haven’t heard of the Holy Spirit. But this
kind of reading of Scripture falls flat.
Reece,
“It would be hard to believe they have never even heard of the Holy Spirit. They
would have met Him if they had read the books of the Old Testament. They would
have heard John the Baptist refer to Him.”What Paul is asking them is, “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you were
baptized?” Here, Paul is equating belief and baptism as we will see affirmed very
shortly in the next verse. Again, understanding the teachings of John the Baptist
that taught the baptism of repentance, there was no teaching about the reception
of the indwelling Holy Spirit upon getting baptized. And so, the response from
these men is that they were not aware of the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit
upon being baptized. Therefore, Paul is clued in to where he needs to go next in
his evangelistic efforts.
Acts 19:3-4
3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's
baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling
the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”
I think one thing we may not have given too much thought about is how much of
an observer Paul is. Anytime Paul walks into a city, he observes the environment
around him.
Whenever he has a chance to speak in the Jewish synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia,
he knows his audience. The Jews love their history and so Paul chronicles their
history and points out to them that everything they had read about and learned
about pointed to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. When Paul and Barnabas
enter Lystra, a farming community in Acts 14, he speaks to them in farming terms;
he talks about rain, and crops and the different seasons and, in that presentation
he points them to Jesus. When Paul steps foot in Athens, he feels sick to his
stomach because of all the idolatry he saw there. But he sees an opportunity to
share the gospel by introducing them to their unknown God and references
secular poets such as Aratus and Epimenides all the while pointing to the One
True God. And here in Acts 19, Paul uses his understanding of what the disciples
of John the Baptist understood about baptism to point to Jesus.
When we engage with people around us who are unsaved, we would be wise to
observe the context we find ourselves in. Our methods may change person to
person, culture to culture but the message we carry never changes. It will always
stay the same. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Paul is telling these men here inEphesus, you know the promised Messiah John was speaking about, the one for
whom the way was being prepared? That’s Jesus.
As evidence that the book of Acts lays the foundation for what we believe, we get
a glimpse of Paul’s doctrine on baptism.
Reece,
“We should not pass on without calling attention to Paul’s belief in the necessity
of baptism for salvation. His questions (‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
believed?” and “Into what then were you baptized?’) demonstrate that he had no
concept of believers (men justified by faith) who had not been immersed. There
was no such thing with the apostle as “unimmersed believers” in the fellowship.
Indeed, it was he who wrote, (in Galatians 3:27) “For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
Acts 19:5-7
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when
Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began
speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
Here we see an instance of a re-baptism occurring. We must pay attention as to
why it was necessary.
Barnes,
“The disciples of John were re-baptized, not because baptism is designed to be
repeated, but because they never had been, in fact, baptized in the manner
prescribed by the Lord Jesus in the Great Commission.”
Over the years, I have encountered questions about re-baptism. “I got baptized
when I was younger, do I need to get rebaptized?” “I’ve not been living for God for
as long as I can remember, but I’m already baptized. Do I need to be baptized
again?”Because this may be a question on your mind right now, either for yourself, or
someone you know, I want to take some time to answer this in a definitive way.
Dale,
“Often young people who study for the ministry feel that their increased
knowledge of the meaning of baptism may require another baptism. But if one
should be baptized every time his knowledge increased concerning baptism, he
would constantly have to be re-baptized. However, there must be a scriptural
basis for a valid baptism; and any person who has accepted Christ without the
basic understanding of what he was doing may well have reason to question and
to be concerned about this matter. It seems clear that if one comes into the
church of Christ upon the basis of a baptism which was understood and accepted
as unnecessary to salvation, his baptism would be invalid. If a boy or a girl
accepted Christ on his own faith, he has no cause to question; but if it was on the
basis of his parent’s desires with little or no will of his own being exercised, he
should be gravely concerned. If he was baptized “In the name of Jesus only,” and
understood this to be a denial of the Godhead, his baptism would be invalid.
Reduced in its simplest terms, a valid baptism necessarily includes the basic belief
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the only Savior; that Christ has
commanded true repentance to sin and obedience to the command of Christian
baptism, which is by immersion; and that the person baptizing should so baptize
in the in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit. What is miscalled
“re-baptism” becomes a rare thing when a proper investigation has been made in
each individual case.”
Here's a question you may be asking yourself now. What validates a proper
baptism. Jack Cottrell says this in is article addressing re-baptism.
“There is general agreement that three criteria must be met for a baptism to be
valid. I.e., a valid baptism is one which has been applied in the proper FORM, to a
proper SUBJECT, for the proper PURPOSE.
First, the proper form of baptism is immersion in water.
Second, the only proper subject for baptism is an individual (1) who is old enough
and mature enough to understand that he or she is a sinner who is lost and needssalvation; (2) who understands that God is providing that salvation through the
death and resurrection of Jesus; and (3) who is able to obey the gospel as the
understood means of receiving this salvation.
The third criterion, i.e. the true purpose of baptism, is the most difficult to apply.
In my judgment the only consistent understanding of Scripture is that baptism is
for salvation. This means, at the very least, that baptism is the point of time when
God works the work of salvation in the repentant believer’s heart and life.
Certainly anyone who understands this and receives baptism for that purpose will
never have to be rebaptized.
But what about an individual who did not have that specific understanding of his
or her baptism when the act was performed? What about those who have been
taught that the only reason you need to be baptized is “because Jesus
commanded it,” or to show others that you are a believer? Does the efficacy of
baptism really depend on whether or not the person being baptized has a proper
understanding of what is going on?
My conviction is yes. I know that many in Restoration Movement churches
routinely accept into membership anyone who has been immersed as a believer
(e.g., any Baptist). I am suggesting, though, that this reveals an attitude of
disrespect and nonchalance toward the Bible’s own teaching about this subject,
plus a serious lack of concern for the convert’s own spiritual status.”
Now, I know for some of you, this may be the first time you’ve ever heard this.
Some of you may disagree with it. What I want you to do is to wrestle with it and
hold it up to Scripture to see if it holds up. I am convinced by this account we are
reading about here in Acts 19 that if one is baptized under a false understanding
of the purpose of baptism, as is the case with the disciples of John the Baptist
(they were baptized by immersion), re-baptism is necessary.
We must also take note that these men were given miraculous spiritual gifts, not
as a result of baptism, but of the laying on of the Apostle’s hands.Acts 19:8-9
8 And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning
and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became
stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the
congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning
daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
And here we see a pattern of opposition arising as a result of the gospel being
preached. Just as Paul had to leave the Synagogue in Corinth because of the
hostility of the Jews, continuing to then preach in the house next door (house of
Titius Justus), Paul leaves the hostility of the Jews in the Synagogue in Ephesus to
the continue preaching in the hall of Tyrannus. There’s a lot of scholarly debate on
who this Tyrannus was, however we won’t need to get into all that today. We just
know that he was supportive of Paul and is ministry and provides a space away
from the hostility of the Jews so he can continue preaching the gospel.
Acts 19:10
10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of
the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Piano to play here.
Isn’t that incredible? That Paul’s ministry in Ephesus resulted in all the residents
hearing the gospel?
There was a Scottish/Canadian missionary named John Geddie who served the
people of Vanuatu. Here’s what was written about him on the occasion of his
death.
“When he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872
there were no heathen.” – said of John Geddie
We have a mission field right here in Terre Haute. And there’s a lot of work to do.
Don’t think that, just because you see church buildings on every corner here, thatthere’s a lot of those who are saved. The opportunity is right here in front of us to
reach the lost. I will end with this Scripture that serves as a reminder to all of us to
be in prayer and to engage in the activity of evangelism.
Matthew 9:35-38
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
harvest.”