THE NEED FOR CERTAINTY
1. They call it Korsakov's psychosis! In its most radical form the sufferer can't remember anything for more than a few seconds. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, tells about fifty-year-old Jimmy, who is just like that. He can't read a book, play a game, hold a connected conversation, know who he's speaking to or where he's just been! "Every few seconds Jimmy's world begins all over again." People can't live without roots! God knows that and that's why, in the OT, he insisted that the Jews endlessly tell the story of their beginning with God.
2. But it isn't enough that we repeat the same stories over and over again. A strong, healthy life can't be built on lies or wishes. We must have truth! And that's why people like Luke made a careful check of the Christian message. He looked to eye-witnesses and ministers of the word (Luke 1:1-4) and came back to tell Theophilus that what the Church formally taught him was true. He could rely on it! The two-part narrative (Luke & Acts) fully confirms what the early Church had "catechised" Theophilus in. (The verb in Luke 1:4)is "katacheo".)
THE HISTORICAL SCOPE OF ACTS
3. It begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome. It starts with the birth of the church and ends with Paul preaching in Rome while under house-arrest. It traces the growth of the church as it spread from Judea to Samaria and from there on into Gentile cities just as the Lord had said inActs 1:8 that it should. It traces this growth in the face of persecution and inner crises until the Gospel is freely preached in the capital of the world by the apostle of the Gentiles.
THE CENTRAL STORY OF ACTS
4. The central story of Acts is that God is at work! God is the central character in the book of Acts as he is in all other Bible books. It is God who promises the Spirit and who chooses Matthias. It is God who approves of Christ by miracles and anoints him with power to go about doing good, it is God who delivers him up to be slain and it is God who raises him from the dead and makes him Lord! It is God who foretold of the Jewish rejection of Christ, it is God who gives the Spirit to the obedient and it is God who gives repentance unto life to the Gentiles. From start to finish, Luke tells us, God is the One at work in Acts.
5. But the central story is, that God is at work in Jesus Christ. It's in Jesus Christ that God has shown himself as nowhere else! It's in him that God gives himself, bears the curse on the tree, forgives the sin, judges the world and reigns over all and everyone! It's in him that God comes to his people and fulfills all his promises to their fathers! It's in him that God restores the throne of David and establishes the house of David. It's in response to him that a Jew is counted as among "the people" (God's people) or excluded from them.
6. And the central message is that God is peculiarly at work in the death and resurrection of the Christ. God speaks to us in Christ in many ways, of course, but for Luke in Acts, the death and resurrection of Christ are especially revealing. You only have to glance at Acts to see how central the death and resurrection of Christ are to Luke. The next paragraph lists some places in Acts where the death and resurrection of Christ are mentioned. This will give you some idea how central these two truths are to Acts and the early Church.
7. See (Acts 1:3,22; 2:23-32; 3:13-15; 4:9-12,33; 5:28-32; 7:5; 8:32-33; 10:36-42; 13:27-37; 17:3,30-32; 25:19; Then in chapters 9, 22,and 26 Paul rehearses how the crucified but risen Christ appeared to him. The centrality of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the apostolic Church mustn't be missed by us! They didn't place this at the centre for nothing! It is in these events that God especially reveals himself and works redemption for Man. It's the cross and the resurrection that peculiarly offend Man (see I Cor 1:22-23 and Acts 17:30-32) but it is in these events that the power of God is peculiarly manifested.
8. Furthermore, the central message in Acts is that God is at work bringing salvation to all men! There is no elite group in Acts. More than any other book in the NT, Acts makes it clear there is salvation for all people.
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