Our vision for the church here at Highbury is that it be a place to
share Christian Friendship
explore Christian Faith and
enter into Christian Mission
with Christ at the centre
and open to all
Where better to find a map for the kind of church we want to be than in the Book of Acts.
And so this evening we have begun a journey through Acts to seek a map for the church of tomorrow in our own church at Highbury.
It had never occurred to me before.
Over this Easter period this year we have
been looking at what it takes to be
Easter people. For the first time
in a long time I found myself turning to the longer ending of Mark’s Gospel and
also to the Shorter ending of Mark.
The earliest manuscripts finish at
Mark:16:8. Was it that the ending had
been lost and later writers felt a need to supply an ending? Or was it as I am persuaded that Mark’s gospel
finishes with that note of fear in Mark16:8, as a reminder that the beginning
of Good News of Jesus Christ, Son of God, speaks very much for a people facing
a world of fear now as much as in the mid 60’s when the gospel was first
written.
But in both of those endings it is the
other way round. They really do read as
if they are summarising and bringing together the accounts of the resurrection
in the other three Gospels.
Each of those endings brings the gospel to
a climax precisely at the point at which Luke begins the second part of his
magisterial account of Jesus Christ and of the Body of Christ let loose in the
world, the book of Acts.
And all that had been commanded them they told
briefly to those around Peter. And afterwards Jesus himself sent out through
them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal
salvation.
In those last words we have moved from a
summary of the climax to the other three gospels to effectively a summary of
what is described in the Book of Acts.
The climax to the longer ending is even
more closely linked to the Book of
Acts.
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to
them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the
good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message
by the signs that accompanied it.
That captures the beginning of the Book of
Acts and in a sense sums up what Acts is all about.
Today has been a special day for us as a
church family. It is our Gift Day and
it is a Day of Prayer that we have called to uphold the life of our church in
prayer.
We had a good Deacons Day yesterday when we
looked at our proposed structures and prepared the way for us to look to
appointing Ministry Leaders to help lead us forward in the worship, the
pastoral care, the mission and the discipleship of our church, and in our work
with children and with young people.
We will be doing a progress report of the
work so far and the work we shared yesterday at our Church Meeting on
Thursday. Do join us for what promises
to be another important Church Meeting.
As we now move towards identifying the part
we each can play in the church life we share together and in seeking those
Ministry Leaders I thought it would be good to focus on the Church as the Body
of Christ in our services.
In
the mornings we shall be taking a thematic approach, beginning by exploring the
different parts of our mssion statement.
I want to complement that by digging more
deeply into the Bible in our evening services.
Where better to turn than to the Book in the New Testament that more
than any other tells about the beginnings of the Church and gives us a glimpse
of the kind of Church life we are called to model our church life on.
And so I thought it would be good to read
through the Book of Acts together on Sunday evenings. It will take us quite a while – at 28
chapters it is the longest book in the New Testament. But it will be full of variety, full of
excitement and will give us a rich glimpse of the nature of the Church at its
very beginning.
One thing I like to do in reading a book is
to have a look at the blurb on the back cover.
It will as often as not give a concise summary of the content of the
book, and often include commendations from other other writers.
The last part of that longer ending of
Mark’s gospel could serve as a commendation from the anonymous author of that
appendix to Mark of the whole of the Book of Acts.
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to
them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the
good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message
by the signs that accompanied it.
It shows us the precise point at which the
Book of Acts begins – as the Lord Jesus is taken up into heaven and sits down
at the right hand of God.
And then it encapsulates what the whole of
Acts is about. It shows how in the space
of a generation the newly born church goes from a tiny rump of a handful of
dejected followers of Jesus locked away in an upper room in Jerusalem to a
significant movement that has penetrated the heart of the Roman empire and is
about to become the most significant force for change the world had ever seen.
They went out and proclaimed the good news
everywhere.
That’s the thrust of Acts.
But Acts is equally clear that those first
followers of Jesus could not do that on theironw.
It’s the story of the way the Lord worked
with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
At the heart of the life of the church we
are called to be is a passion to go take that good news of Jesus Chrsit
everywhere. And at the heart of the life of our church is the conviction
that we are not alone, but the Lord is with us in all we do. And the message we share is not simply words
but is confirmed in the actions that themselves become signs of the truth at
the heart of the Good news.
If that’s the commendation on the back
cover of the book. The opening verses
provide us with a summary of what the whole book is going to be about. Indeed, there was no blurb in the days Acts
was written, but the opening verses are the nearest we get to it.
Someone thinking of reading the book as
a whole will have their imagination
caught at the very outset and they will be left in no doubt as to what it is
all about.
Not only that but it immediately becomes
apparent that it is the second part of a two volume work.
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about
all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to
heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom
he had chosen.
As in the best of TV serials the opening
begins with a succinct recap of the first volume.
After his suffering he presented himself alive
to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty
days and speaking about the kingdom
of God Jerusalem
Resurrection was accompanied by a
promise. The promise of an unseen yete
very real strength.
That period of resurrecton lasted 40 days.
At the very last the disciples are still
full of questions.
So when they had come together, they asked him,
‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel
They feel as if they are on the threshold
of something great. But not for them to
know times and seasons.
We live as Easter people. But we also live as people of the end
times. But not for us either to know
times and seasons.
Then comes something Jesus says that gives
the framework for the whole of the Book of Acts.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem ,
in all Judea and Samaria
That’s exactly the story that’s going to
unfold in Acts. The upsurge only starts
as the power of the Holy Spirit comes up on the disciples. They then become witnesses. And what they witness to begins where they
are in Jerusalem Samaria (Chapter 8) to the ends of the
earth (9-28) and the heart of the Roman Empire, Rome
It’s the model for our church today.
We need the strength and the power of the
Holy Spirit.
We are to be witnesses of the Good
News. Our task is to share the news.
We are to begin where we are but not limit
our horizons.
That’s the thrill of being part of the world-wide church.
It’s a privilege for us to have
partnerships with the world wide church
of Jesus Christ Malawi Malawi
On Thursday afternoon they are going to
come over to meet us. Come along on
Thursday afternoon to be inspired by sharing our stories with them and hearing
their stories too. Very much part of
this world-wide partnership that starts small and goes to the ends of the earth
and only does that in the power of the Holy Spirit.
When he had said this, as they were watching,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.While he was going
and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood
by them. They said, ‘Men of
Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been
taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into
heaven.’
It’s one of those powerful moments in the
Gospel story.
I haven’t marked it before.
But this year our friends at St Luke’s have
invited the other churches of Cheltenahm to join them on the evening of Ascension
Day. It’s our Open the Book evening but
I thought it would be good to go and share.
That sense that the risen Christ is one
with the Father, and yet let loose by his Spirit in the world. It is the climax to the story so far. And we stand in between whiles looking to his
final coming in glory as well.
Acts captures what it meant to be
church. It captures what it means to be
church. And I for one look forward to
meeting some of those great characters from the church and finding they speak
as much to us today as ever they have spoken.
