Bible Snapshots

We move to Luke’s second book the Acts of the Apostles. Some have considered the essential theme of this book as - “He is at God's right hand for us!” . The title, Acts of the Apostles is now given to the fifth and last of the historical books of the New Testament. The author styles it a "treatise. 

It was early called "The Acts," "The Gospel of the Holy Ghost," and "The Gospel of the Resurrection." It contains properly no account of any of the apostles except Peter and Paul. John is noticed only three times; and all that is recorded of James, the son of Zebedee, is his execution by Herod. It is properly therefore not the history of the "Acts of the Apostles," a title which was given to the book at a later date, but of "Acts of Apostles,”

Perhaps the essential summary of Luke’s treatise is found in Acts 1:8 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, and to the ends of the earth. Pope Francis Pope writing of such a mission “you will receive power from the Holy Spirit”. (Acts 1:8) Just like the Spirit broke the bonds of the Apostles’ fears in the days after Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are encouraged as Christian disciples to pray since it “allows us to be refreshed and strengthened by the Spirit as the inexhaustible divine source of renewed energy and joy in sharing Christ’s life with others.”

However, Rev’d John Stott of All Souls Langham Place fame points out. “God intends us to penetrate the world. Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is to be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it going bad. And when society does go bad, we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world; but should we not rather reproach ourselves? One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: Where is the salt?”

It is interesting that the word "martyr" comes originally from the ancient Greek legal term for “witness" and the book of Acts is full of witness statements. Another name used for the Acts of the Apostles is the Acts of the Holy Spirit who enables disciples of Jesus to witness who leave everything to follow Christ. Martin Luther once said, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”
(Martin Luther)

Risen and ascended Lord Jesus,

When we are numbed by the suffering of the world,

Take us back to the deep truth

Of your power and glory,

Of your invincible Kingdom,

Of your promise of reconciliation.

In the knowledge of this truth,

Help us to bring our gaze to earth

And find the strength to go into the world,

to do your will on earth as in heaven.

To build the kingdom of God

On earth as it is in heaven.