ACTS1:1 – 26
Bible Study Notes Rev. Betsy Perkins
Jesus Leaves But His Story Continues
- Luke begins his gospel sequel with the words, “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach…” This next book is about what Jesus continued to do and teach, through his followers by the power of the Holy Spirit. But of course, Jesus didn’t stop when Luke’s writing stopped. What are some ways that Jesus’ story is continuing to be told in your story?
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 0:00 – 11:15
The Sequel(1:1-8)
- Who is Theophilus (Luke 1:1-3, Acts 1:1)?
- Why do the disciples need to wait for the gift promised by God?
Jesus told his followers to wait for this to happen before they tried to do anything too much. That is important advice. Far too often, to this day, people blunder ahead, assuming that if they know a little about Jesus, and about God’s kingdom, they can just go off and put things into action in whatever way occurs to them. Luke would tell us to wait: to pray for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, and to find our calling and our energy from that source. If this is a play in which we are all called to take different parts, it is a play in which the only true acting is what happens when the spirit of the playwright himself takes charge. N.T. Wright
- Joe Boyd says that Luke’s theme and Jesus’ central message was that “the Kingdom of God had come.” What does that mean?
- In the ancient world, messengers were always dispatched, far and wide, to announce the rule of a new king. What task does Jesus give his followers? What is their itinerary?
The Ascension(1:9-14):
- Where did Jesus go when he ascended? What other biblical stories include mention of a cloud (for example, Ex.40:34, Luke 9:34)?
In the Bible, heaven and earth are the two halves of God’s created world. They aren’t so much like the two halves of an orange, more or less identical but occupying different space. They are more like the weight of an object and the stuff it’s made of, or perhaps the meaning of the flag and the cloth it’s made of: two ways of looking at the same thing… Talking about ‘heaven and earth’ is a way, in the Bible, of talking about the fact… that everything in our world has another dimension, another sort of reality, that goes with it… You could call this other reality, this other dimension, the ‘inner’ reality, if you like, thinking perhaps of a golf ball which has an outer reality (the hard, mottled surface and an inner reality (the tightly packed, springy interior)…
If these illustrations don’t help, leave them to one side and concentrate on the reality. The reality is this: ‘heaven’ is God’s space, and ‘earth’ is our space. ‘Heaven’ isn’t just ‘the happy place where God’s people go when they die,’ and it certainly isn’t our ‘home’ if by that you mean (as some Christians, sadly, have meant) that our eventual destiny is to leave ‘earth’ altogether and go to ‘heaven’ instead. God’s plan, as we see again and again in the Bible, is for a ‘new heavens and new earth’ and for them to be joined together in that renewal once and for all. ‘Heaven’ may well be our temporary home, after this present life; but the whole new world, united and transformed, is our eventual destination. N.T. Wright
- How do Jesus’ resurrection appearances help us understand the new and coming reality of ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’?
- How do the disciples respond to Jesus’ instructionsand to the incredible events of that day?
The first and most important response to this extraordinary, unprecedented and still hard-to-describe event is of course, worship. Luke often tells us about the early Christians devoting themselves to prayer. As we go back with them on this occasion from the Mount of Olives to the house where they were staying, and look around the room and see these puzzled but excited men and women – including Jesus’ own mother – giving themselves to prayer, we ought to feel a strong identification with them. All those who name the name of Jesus, who worship him, who study his word, are called to be people of worship and prayer. Why? Well, it’s obvious isn’t it? It is precisely in worship and prayer that we, while still on ‘earth’, find ourselves sharing in the life of ‘heaven’, which is where Jesus is. N.T. Wright
- How do ‘earth’ and ‘heaven’ overlap in worship and prayer? How have you experienced that?
The Twelve Restored(1:15-26):
- Who are the ‘apostles’? Why do there need to be 12?
- What do Peter and the other disciples do to find guidance on how to deal with the problem of losing one of the Twelve?
- What are the qualifications for Judas’ replacement?
- How is the decision made? Why do they do it that way?
Verses 21-22 show… that the primary apostolic task was to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus himself. As we shall see, if you take that away from Acts you are left with nothing. The resurrection defines the church, from that day to this. They church is either the movement which announces God’s new creation, or it is just another irrelevant religious sect. N.T. Wright
In light of this passage and our discussion, what one truth about God and about yourself stand out as something to “take to heart” this week?
Are there steps you will take, by God’s grace, to more fully apply it to your life?
Resources: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, 2015
N.T. Wright, Actsfor Everyone, Part 1 2008
Max Lucado, Life Lessons from Acts: Christ’s Church in the World, 2018
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – The Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 2014
Add Your Comment