The church of Christ on McDermott Road

The Gospel of Luke focuses a lot of attention on Jesus’ ministry to marginalized and disenfranchised people (women, the poor, Samaritans, moral outcasts, etc.). Luke continues this theme in the book of Acts. When Jerusalem rejected the Gospel and persecuted the church, Jesus recruited people like Philip to proclaim the Gospel to the disenfranchised (Samaritans, the demon possessed, practitioners of magic, and a eunuch). Jesus is recruiting us to take the Gospel to the marginalized and disenfranchised. Are we willing to realign our lives with his mission? (Scripture: Acts 8:35-39)

During the earthly portion of his ministry, Jesus recruited people to be disciples by telling them to take up their cross and follow him. We’ve diluted the idea of “cross bearing” into a metaphor for simply enduring difficulties. However, Jesus’ audience understood that taking up their cross meant accepting martyrdom. Stephen was the first disciple to truly experience this, but he certainly wasn’t the last. Realigning our lives with the mission of Jesus means surrendering ourselves completely to him, even to the point of death. Once we consider ourselves crucified with Christ, the rest should come pretty easy. (Scripture: Acts 7:54-60)

One of the first internal problems the church faced was ethnic tension between Hebrew-speaking and Greek-speaking Christians. The Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked during the daily distribution of food. When their situation was exposed, the apostles shepherded the church wisely by appointing Greek-speaking men to oversee the fair and equal distribution of food. One of the reasons the church needs Spirit-filled overseers is to make sure no one is overlooked. Especially because the world is not fair or just, the kingdom of God must be. Our Spirit-filled shepherds manage the various needs of a diverse flock. They settle disputes, reconcile those who are at odds, and even administer a type of justice on behalf of the wronged. (Scripture: Acts 6:1-4)

Peter, as all elders must be, was a teacher. He taught about Jesus “in season and out of season,” when people wanted to hear and when they didn’t. Even after he was told to stop teaching about Jesus by the Sanhedrin, he continued to do so. When the Sanhedrin asked why he disobeyed their orders, Peter said, “We must obey God rather than men.” The church continues to need Spirit-filled elders to boldly teach the Good News “in season and out of season.” And every Christian needs to humbly submit to our shepherds’ teaching. (Scripture: Acts 5:27-32)

Peter was an apostle and at some point he was also an elder in a church (see 1 Peter 5:1). It’s easy to read about the miracles Peter performed and dismiss them as having little to no significance for the church today, because such miracles no longer happen. However, ministering to those who sick and hurting is still one of the primary roles of shepherds (James 5:14). This is why it is imperative shepherds be Spirit-filled men, full of compassion, gentleness, kindness, and love. At some point, we all find ourselves in need of the tender care of our shepherds. (Scripture: Acts 5:12-16)

The story of Ananias and Sapphira is one many of us would rather skip over, but we must not ignore the parts of Scripture that make us uncomfortable. This Christian couple conspired and lied about the money they were giving to the church community. Because of their lie, they both died immediately. This story might remind us of Nadab and Abihu, from Leviticus 10. Both not only deal with death, but both deal with the seriousness of  being priests in God’s temple. Do we take our priestly role as seriously as we should? (Scripture: Acts 5:1-11)

After their first arrest and being threatened by the Jewish authorities, the early church did not try to seize political power or rally the people in rebellion. They did not even pray to be spared the pain of persecution. They recognized the weakness of their enemies’ threats and prayed, “Grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” When we recognize threats of persecution looming over the horizon, do we fear? Do we try to seize earthly power? Or do we recognize the weakness of our enemies’ threats and pray for boldness to keep speaking the name of Jesus in love? (Scripture: Acts 4:29-31)

The Jewish council of rulers, elders, and scribes arrested Peter and John and eventually told them to stop speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus. Peter and John’s response was, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). No matter how much the council threatened to punish them, Peter and John were determined to keep speaking the name of Jesus. Speaking about Jesus likely annoys people today, as it did then. There are those who would rather we keep our beliefs to ourselves. Regardless, the name of Jesus must be proclaimed. Will we keep speaking about what we’ve seen and heard? (Scripture: Acts 4:13-20)

Scripture: James 5:13-20

(Scripture: Acts 3:1-10)