Preaching on Acts

Acts is the sequel to Luke. The two books are so closely linked that many prefer to see them as one work, Luke–Acts. Luke writes the Gospel of Luke for Theophilus, and then begins Acts with the words, ‘In my former book, Theophilus’ (Acts 1:1). Clearly, these two books are meant to be read together.

Acts is the story of what Jesus keeps doing once he’s ascended to heaven. It is not primarily the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ or even the ‘Acts of the Holy Spirit’ (though the Holy Spirit and the apostles are active throughout Acts). First and foremost, Acts is the story of the risen Lord Jesus and his ongoing work from heaven. Acts says that the Gospel of Luke records what ‘Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven’ (1:1, my emphasis). The implication is that Acts is about what Jesus continues to do and to teach now that he has ascended to heaven.

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This is seen in the recapitulation of many events from Luke in Acts. Many of the miracles the apostles do in Acts are strikingly similar to miracles Jesus does in Luke and the other Gospels. For example, Peter and John’s healing of the lame man in Acts 3 is very similar to Jesus’ healing of the paralysed man in Luke 5. Paul’s raising of the dead woman in Acts 9 is very similar to Jesus’ raising of the dead girl in Mark 5 (even down to the phrasing: ‘Tabitha, get up’ (Acts 9:40); ‘Talitha koum!’ (koum means, ‘get up’, Mk 5:41).

Like the Gospel of Luke, Acts is not just about the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles, but, also about the restoration of the Jews.

The Salvation of the Gentiles and the Restoration of the Jews

A common mistake is to view Acts through the lens of ‘replacement theology’, where the gospel is preached to the Jews, the Jews reject it, and so it is preached to Gentiles that they might replace the Jews as God’s people. This is not right. Acts describes the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s ultimate people, the church. That church starts with—and is initially made up almost exclusively of—Jews. Acts is at pains to show that the means by which God will reach the Gentiles is by first restoring a remnant of his covenant people. This is why the apostles have to elect a twelfth apostle to replace Judas (Acts 1:12–26)—because the apostles represent a renewed Israel.

The gospel is first preached primarily to Jews (Acts 2–7); and even when it is preached to Gentiles, it is still always first preached to Jews (‘When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you,’ Acts 3:26) and has a great impact on them (e.g. Acts 9:20; 13:14; 14:1 etc). God’s mission is to reach the whole world, but his means for doing so is through a restored Israel in the form of born-again Jews.[1]

This doesn’t mean that Gentiles are less equal than Jews in Acts (or anywhere else in the Bible: ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile . . . for you are all one in Christ Jesus’, Gal 3:28). It just means that Jewishness didn’t become completely irrelevant with the coming of Jesus and the Spirit. God is still concerned to keep his promises to his first covenant people, through the blessings of the gospel coming to them (a theme taken up elsewhere in Scripture, for e.g. Rom 11).[2]

What follows are outlines for three sermon series that together cover the entire book of Acts.

Series 1: Acts 1–7

This covers Jesus’ commissioning of his disciples, ascension to heaven, giving of the Spirit at Pentecost, and the growth of the gospel in Jerusalem. Using Acts 1:8 as an organising schema for the book (which is good, though not the only way to approach it), this block covers the Jerusalem phase of ‘Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

This section can be covered in eight sermons:

1. The ascension, the apostles’ mission, and the replacement of Judas (chapter 1).
2. Pentecost (chapter 2).
3. The healing of the lame man and the healing power of Jesus (chapter 3).
4. Threats from without: external persecution (chapter 4:1–31).
5. Threats from within: Ananias and Sapphira (chapters 4:32–5:11).
6. Persecution continues (chapter 5:12–42).
7. The beginnings of multicultural mission: Hebraic and Hellenistic Jews (chapter 6).
8. The gospel forced into the world: persecution scatters the disciples (chapters 7:1–8:3).

Series 2: Acts 8–15

This block covers the spread of the gospel to Judea and Samaria, and the beginning of its spread to Gentiles.

We broke it up this way:

1. The gospel goes to the Samaritans (chapter 8:4–25).
2. The gospel goes even further, to an Ethiopian God-fearer (chapter 8:26–40).
3. Paul’s conversion and mission to the Gentiles (chapter 9:1–31).
4. The gospel for all the world: Peter and Cornelius (chapters 9:32–10:48).
5. The first church plant: Antioch (chapter 11).
6. A clash of kings: Herod versus Jesus (chapter 12:1–24).
7. The first missionary journey: a start in Cyprus (chapters 12:25–13:12).
8. The mission continues: Pisidian Antioch (chapter 13:13–52).
9. The gospel goes to out-and-out pagans: Iconium, Lystra, Derbe (chapter 14).
10. The Jerusalem Council (chapter 15:1–35).

One of the notable things in this section is the way in which the gospel spreads to increasingly non-Jewish people. After going only to Jews in Acts 1–7, the gospel then spreads to Samaritans (ethnically part-Jewish, 8:4–25); God-fearers (ethnically non-Jewish but still connected to Israel, for e.g. the Ethiopian eunuch and Cornelius, 8:26–11:19); and then total pagans (for e.g. Greeks in Antioch; and the Lycaonians: 11:20–14:20).

This climaxes in Acts 15:1–35, when the elders in Jerusalem debate whether Gentiles who become Christians must also become Jewish or whether they can stay Gentile (answer: they can stay Gentile).

Series 3: Acts 16–28

This block covers Paul’s so-called second and third missionary journeys, and his trials.

We broke it up this way:

1. Recap and three scenes before Philippi (chapters 15:36–16:10).
2. Philippi (chapter 16:11–40).
3. Thessalonica and Berea (chapter 17:1–15).
4. Athens (chapter 17:16–34).
5. Corinth (chapter 18:1–22).
6. Ephesus (chapters 18:23–19:20).
7. The turn to Jerusalem (chapters 19:21–20:12).
8. Farewell to the Ephesian elders (chapter 20:13–38).
9. Arrival in Jerusalem (chapters 21:1–22:29).
10. Paul before the Sanhedrin (chapters 20:30–23:25).
11. Paul before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa (chapters 24–26).
12. Off to Rome (chapters 27–28).[3]

There is lots of exciting material here, as well as opportunities to cross-reference with the letters Paul wrote to the churches he planted, helping you enrich people’s understanding of both Acts and those letters.

[1] I am very much indebted to my wife Suzie, who is doing her PhD on Luke–Acts, for this insight.

[2] This point also has nothing necessarily to do with the modern nation state of Israel, simply ethnic Jewishness and God’s plans for it in his overarching plan of salvation.

[3] We chose to linger in chapters 16–20 because it suited our preaching calendar, but you could condense this section: three scenes before Philippi and then Philippi (15:36–16:40); Thessalonica, Berea, Athens (17); Corinth (18:1–22); Ephesus (18:23–19:41); back to Greece and then farewell to the Ephesian elders on the way to Jerusalem (20).