Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

What makes The Mona Lisa so special?

It is maybe the most iconic painted of all-time?

Why?

Why is it worth so much money?

Why is it considered to be Da Vinci’s best work?

Well, in many ways it is because it was something new.

People had not seen shading techniques be used to create such a realistic looking face

People had not seen an optical illusion be used by an artist to insinuate a smile even when the person in the painting isn’t smiling.

The Mona Lisa is popular because it reflects the glory of the artist.

It makes the observer stop and say, “The one who painted this has done a new and glorious work.”

With that in mind, consider these words from the French Reformer, John Calvin, at the beginning of his commentary on the Book of Acts.

Now, here is most lively painted out the beginning of Christ’s kingdom, as it were the renewing of the world…Here is, therefore, set down both the beginning and also the increasing of the Church of Christ after his ascension, whereby he was declared to be King both of heaven and earth.

-John Calvin

What we have in Acts is a painting, inspired by the Holy Spirit, poured out through Luke’s pen—showing us how the kingdom of Christ began to grow and spread after Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father.

A painting that shows us the Father orchestrating His eternal plan,

through the risen and exalted Christ,

and through the power of the Spirit,

using the Word to bring about salvation,

creating the Church, who are then sent out as witnesses.

Way back in the summer of 2020, we started a verse by verse study of Luke that we wrapped up in January 2023.

This is Luke’s sequel to his gospel.

And in it, Luke is showing how Jesus’ Kingdom mission carries on after Jesus’ ascension.

This is THE big picture of the book of Acts.

The period of time we will cover in Acts stretches about thirty years.

In that time, the Gospel will move from the Jerusalem—the epicenter of Judaism, to Athens--the epicenter of philisophy, to Ephesus—the epicenter of magic and sorcery, to Rome—the epicenter of the ancient world.

And as Luke tells us this narrative, he doesn’t just want us to how the church began.

That is the big purpose in his writing, but underneath that purpose, he has other bullet points on his agenda.

Luke writes so that his reader would have certainty.

He wants us to have assurance that God is accomplishing His purposes through Christ, bringing salvation to Israel and to the nations.

He wants us to see how God is continuing to keep His Old Covenant promises in the genesis of His New Covenant Church.

Luke writes to relieve ethnic tension in the church.

When all of those non-Jewish people started coming into the church, there was not a purely receptive reaction.

People were hesitant about the idea, and even adamantly opposed to it.

We will see that in Acts.

But we will also see how God led the church through it and Luke knows that is important so he is accurately recording it all

Luke writes to glorify the Triune God.

Acts is a very Triune book.

The Father is governing

The life and death and resurrection of the Son is the subject of the church’s witness

And the Holy Spirit is the power behind their work

The power of the full Godhead in the earliest stages of church history is on display in Luke

Luke writes as an apologist.

Christianity was under attack from the very beginning.

As Luke is keeping his careful notes, he is also giving us a record of how the church defended herself against false pagan religion, against established Judaism and against the political powers in charge.

WHY SEAFORD AND WHY NOW?

Now you might say, “All that is great,” but why do this at Seaford, now?

Well, the answer is not simply, “Because we did Luke and it feels like we should just keep going.”

We have had the plan to go from Luke to Acts from the very start, but when we made that decision, we didn’t know a host of things.

2020 was such a tumultuous time that there was a lot of uncertainty

One thing we certainly didn’t know is that we would be getting out of debt, just as the study of Acts was beginning.

But God knew that.

And I think that is important.

See, Acts shows us a lot that we need at SBC as we enter into a new and exciting season of ministry.

It shows us how the Gospel spreads through the faithful witness of the local church

It shows us the purpose of the local church

It shows us what biblical community looks like

It shows us the elements that God uses to grow His Kingdom

And these are all things we need to be shown.

We do not know it all.

We had a heavy building debt here and through the faithful giving of our members, the Lord delivered us from it.

But we do not have it all together.

We need God’s wisdom.

We need the historical context of early church history.

We need the stories of God’s faithfulness.

We need Acts.

So let’s dive into it.

We will look at the first eight verses this morning and see from the outset:

The foundation of the apostles’ mission

The content of the apostles’ mission

And the power in the apostles’ mission

And these points will really provide a framework to understand the entire narrative that follows

THE FOUNDATION OF THE MISSION (v.

1-3)

We begin with Luke addressing this individual named Theophilus—the same one we saw him address in the beginning of his gospel:

We don’t know much about Theophilus.

Some have argued he was a wealthy nobleman who actually funded Luke’s research because he was a believer and he desired the ordered account of things that Luke could provide.

That could be true, but we do not know.

The first book that Luke refers to in verse 1 is the Gospel of Luke.

In that, he dealt with the breadth of Jesus’ ministry on earth.

that is what “to do and teach,” means.

It is a summary phrase that encapsulates the work Christ did on earth.

He preached the message of the Kingdom and He did signs and wonders that confirmed His teaching and His claims

And Luke recorded all of that, right up to the day of His ascension and the commissioning of the disciples for their work of carrying on His mission (v.

2).

And then, in verse 3, Luke seems to go backwards.

In verse 2, we are talking about the ascension and the commission, but in verse 3, we are back to talking abut the resurrection and Jesus presenting Himself to the apostles and spending forty days with them.

Why would there be this reverse shift where Luke goes backwards and talks about the resurrection after already speaking about the ascension?

Well, I believe he is saying something about the mission that we will see the apostles on throughout the book of Acts.

To get this, look at the end of verse 2 again.

…After he had given commands through the Holy Spirit through the apostles whom he had chosen.

What commands are we talking about here?

What command was handed out by Jesus in Luke, just before the ascension?

Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations...

Each of the gospel writers record similar words where before Christ ascends, He is commissioning His apostles to carry on Gospel work:

So going back to Acts 1, right after Luke tells Theophilus that Jesus gave these commands to the apostles He has chosen, Luke points to the resurrection.

Luke points to the reality that Christ rose from the grave and that all of the apostles were witnesses to this.

That Jesus proved His bodily resurrection to the apostles in a myriad of ways throughout these forty days and that He taught them about the Kingdom.

And Luke does this because the mission the apostles will go on finds its foundation in that resurrection.

Teaching Point #1: The foundation of the apostles’ mission is the resurrection of Christ (v.

1-3).

The apostles will go on their mission in the authority of Christ, but the evidence they stand on that proves their truth claims is the empty grave.

They are going out and proclaiming repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations.