Greg Ford - The Church's Role in God's Plan
We’re in a series of messages we’re calling «Cover to Cover.» We’ve been in the Bible since January 5th, and we’re going all the way through. We took about 11 weeks to look into the Old Testament and spent some time discussing how to read the Bible, focusing on the literary and historical elements that ultimately lead us to better theology. We began really in Genesis 1, 2, and 3, examining the Garden of Eden and what we can take from that story-that God’s love for humanity started at the very beginning. You know, with Easter coming up, we think about the cross, and we think about God’s love. But God’s love did not begin at the cross; it started in the garden. It was fulfilled on the cross, but it began in the garden.
We see it all the way back when God created human beings in His image and placed them in an ecosystem — a world where they could use their gifts and abilities and have the free will to live the lives that God has given them. We discussed that it’s God’s intent for people to live in a right relationship with Him, with ourselves, and with each other and the world around us. That was established in the garden. But, of course, they had free will, which means they could do whatever they wanted; they could make decisions. It’s only a matter of time before exercising free will leads one to make decisions that clash with others. We see in the Adam and Eve story that they sin; they disobey God. It wasn' t the worst sin you’ve ever seen; it wasn’t the epitome of wickedness, but it was disobedience. They disobeyed something God had told them to do. At one point, we see they’re confused; Eve wanted to be wiser; she wanted a good thing, but she went about it the wrong way. That’s part of just being human; sometimes you know you’re doing wrong, and sometimes you don’t, but you end up with the collateral damage of your decisions.
It’s really the meta-narrative of the whole Bible that unfolds in Genesis 1, 2, and 3: creation, then we have the fall and flesh, we have redemption, and then we have restoration, which means there’s a new opportunity that God gives. Their decision cost them the garden, but ultimately God opened a new door, a new opportunity. They had a family and moved forward. When we look in Genesis, we see that as humanity expands and grows in number, so does the chaos and the collateral damage of flesh and fall.
A few weeks ago, we looked at how God does what we might call a Greenfield project. Basically, it’s like if you had a business, and you loved the business, and you loved the employees-the people who work for you-you care about them, but the business has become chaotic; it’s in disarray. It may have even picked up some toxic cultural traits, and you think, «You know what? I’m not going to demolish this business; I’m not going to sell it. I’m going to keep it, but I want to hit the reset button.»
Instead of destroying it, you take a handful of people and say, «I’m going to take 100 people, and we’re going to go to a new place. We’re going to establish new buildings, a new work environment. I want you to forget everything you knew; we’re going to re-onboard everybody for a year on mission, vision, values, and culture — all the important things. I don’t want you to even talk to the other employees because there’s a reason this thing is chaotic over here.» For a season of time, you set them apart. Eventually, once they get the hang of what you' re trying to teach them, and once they really catch the vision and values, you send them back into the business because you want the whole business to operate this way.
That’s kind of what God does with Abraham. He sets him apart and says, «I’m going to make a great nation out of you. I’m going to bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. For a season, you’ll be set apart, but one day I’m going to send you back.» He gives them law, land, sets up things like the temple, the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the kings and prophets to ultimately lead people in the way that God intended. Yet, as we looked at it over the last few weeks, it sort of wasn’t working. At times, things would go well, and then flesh and fall would take over. So, it was just a lot of missteps. Yet in the Old Testament, you start to see this prophetic hope. You have these prophets ultimately saying, «Look, God’s not giving up on humans, and eventually there will be a new king and a new kingdom that will not pass away.»
So, God not only makes a covenant with Abraham about the nation; He makes a covenant with Moses, saying, «I’m going to make you a kingdom of priests.» He makes a covenant with King David, saying, «Through your line will come a king and a kingdom that won’t pass away.» They’re looking forward to this. We started looking last week at the gospels-the «euangelion,» the new king and the new kingdom. That’s what «gospel» means: good news. But that was a term in that day described to big news -a new king, a new kingdom is here. And that’s what Jesus begins talking аbout: «The kingdom of God has come. I came to fulfill what God has always intended to do.»
Today we’re going to look into the book of Acts. Okay, Acts was written by Luke. So, think about Matthew, Mark, Luke, John-Luke is the same guy who wrote Luke. Luke was not an eyewitness for Acts; he was actually like a documentarian. He went, and he was a physician. He was someone who would have been really good at research, note-taking, and accuracy. He’s the most historically accurate of the gospel writers. But he interviewed people and pulled together all these eyewitness accounts. However, you' ll see in Acts that he talks a lot about «we.» So actually, Luke was present for some of the events in the book of Acts.
Look at this; go ahead and put up Luke 1:3-4 and Acts 1:1 next to each other. In Luke 1:3-4, he says, «I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.» He mentions this guy Theophilus. Of course, you’ll notice in Acts 1:1 he says, «In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach.» So he mentions Theophilus.
Well, who is that? The short answer is we’re not totally sure. Nobody knows exactly who Theophilus was. Theophilus may have been a real person. The name means «friend of God.» There may have been an actual guy named Theophilus; it’s a Greek name. He may have been a patron; he might have been someone who said, «You know what? I’m going to fund Luke’s research and work because I think this needs to be documented and written down.» This was the second half of the first century. So you’re talking about the destruction of the temple; you’re talking about persecution from Nero. The early church, or the Jesus movement, is under threat. Was this just something we should perpetuate and keep going, or is this something that just needs to die here? Theophilus may have been someone who said, «We need to get this in writing; we need to preserve this.»
Theophilus could have been a sort of moniker for just the kingdom of God or church communities-like, «Hey, if you’re a friend of God, this is addressed to you.» Either way, it doesn’t totally matter; it’s just that’s who he’s writing to. The naming of Theophilus helps us understand that both books were written by Luke. Most people think they were probably separated later; he may have written them all at one time and then separated them into two books. Acts means the Acts of the Apostles.
All right, I’m going to give you a key verse, and then we' ll look at an outline and go from there. So I’m going to start with maybe the key verse in the book of Acts, although there are many, but Acts 1:8- this is Jesus before he ascends to heaven, at the end of his physical life. He says, «But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.» Now, he’s speaking to his apostles- the apostles who are going to do these acts. He says, «You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.»
All right, let’s deal with the second half of that verse first, and then we’ll return to the first half. So he says, «You’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.» Now, think about that. If you’re a first-century Jewish audience, this is going to ring a bell with the Abrahamic covenant: «I’m setting you apart for a season to do something so that I can bless the world through you.» Setting you apart, then sending you out. This is a signal. Luke is saying that Jesus is telling them now is the time to go from set apart from the world to sent into the world.
Let me give you the outline quickly. You might want to remember this; screenshot it or something. In the book of Acts, the main character-make no mistake about it — is Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They’re the main characters; they carry the whole book. But you' ll have two apostles that really are the characters that the plot follows. At the beginning is the Apostle Peter. Through Peter, the gospel begins in Jerusalem; the good news spreads throughout Judea and Samaria, and then it spreads to the Gentiles in chapter 12. From there, the storyline will start following the Apostle Paul. Through the Apostle Paul, he' ll go on three missionary journeys to spread the gospel throughout the Mediterranean Rim into Asia and Europe. Eventually, just like Jesus went on trial, the gospel spread through Jesus on trial. The Apostle Paul will also go on trial, which will lead him to Rome to stand before King Agrippa, and it’s ultimately through his imprisonment and trial that now the gospel will go to the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire isn’t just about Rome; it’s the ends of the earth.
So, let’s go back to Acts 1:8. We see the relationship between what we’d call the Great Commission-to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth- but it says you’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. What Luke is going to do in the first few chapters of Acts is connect the events of the early church back to the Old Testament for a very important reason. The people he’s writing to are questioning, «Should we stick with this? Is this movement really of God? Is following Jesus the thing, or is this something that’s just going to fizzle out?»
To a lot of them, the idea of a new covenant that Jesus fulfills-the Torah fulfills the law, that people are the temple, and so on- is a turning point. This is a breakthrough moment; something different is happening here. It’s going to hit you at a deep level of disorientation. You might think, «Wait, wait a second. It’s hard to pivot like that.» Think about it. We’ve been doing things for a while. Have you ever had something where you thought, «Why are we doing this?» and the answer was, «Well, because we’ve always done it?» You might not have even been doing it for that long-maybe 10 or 20 years. Imagine thousands of years of looking at the Torah-613 laws-and looking at the temple. We don’t even question if this is right; we know this is from God. Now, to start rethinking this stuff and to look at what it means for Christ to be the fulfillment, and what this new covenant entails, is tough.
So, what Luke does is connect all of this because they’re feeling like they’re dishonoring the Old Testament. He’s going to show them, «No, no; look. Let me show it to you in the Old Testament and find your place.» All right, the first thing he says is, «You’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.» That is part of the prophetic hope of the Old Testament. I’ll give you a few quick excerpts: Isaiah 32:15 says, «Till the Spirit is poured out on us from on high.» Ezekiel 36:26– 27 says, «I’ll give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.» Joel 2:28– 29 says, «Afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people; your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.»
To the recipients of the book of Acts, they thought the Holy Spirit of God only filled prophets, priests, and kings. Now, he says, «No, look; the prophets have been hoping for a day when that Spirit that filled prophets, priests, and kings will fulfill all-servant men and women and all people. It will be available.» So again, Luke is demonstrating where we are: «You are here.» In Acts 1:9, it talks about the ascension, which puts Jesus in the clouds. This again is an illusion back to Daniel 7:13, where it talks about Jesus, the Son of Man, being in the clouds and being the one whose kingdom will not pass away.
Again, it’s imagery they were familiar with that connects Jesus as the Messiah. In Acts 2, Jesus sends them to Jerusalem, saying, «Here’s your next step: go to Jerusalem and wait.» Wait for the promise. What’s the promise? The promise is the Spirit. Jesus said, «I’m going to send my Spirit, and they’ll empower you.» So they go to wait. In this moment as they pray, it says that wind and fire filled the room essentially as they prayed, and it said tongues of fire were set on their heads. Luke is using imagery from the Old Testament related to the tabernacle and the temple.
The tabernacle was the portable temple when they were nomads in the wilderness. When they would set up camp, they would set up a portable temple in the middle, with tents set around it. When they took the Promised Land, they built a physical temple. What is that? That’s the presence of God. In the Holy of Holies, the Spirit of God is present. In Exodus 40:38, it says, «The cloud of the Lord hovered over the tabernacle during the day, and at night, fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it.» This was in the tabernacle, and in 2 Chronicles 7:1, it says, «When Solomon finished praying at the dedication of the temple, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the temple.»
So, the imagery of the tongues of fire would take their minds to the temple and the tabernacle, showing that God’s presence was there. The glorious presence of God is represented through fire. Now, what’s incredible is that when they realize their identity as the new temple, both Peter and Paul will say later, «Don’t you know you are the temple? You are a royal priesthood.»
The transition is from the temple as the holy place to where we are now the holy place. This is again within the new covenant. What’s really cool is that once they understand this, they start to instinctively, organically, through the power of the Holy Spirit, perform the function of the priesthood and the temple in the world. We go back to Leviticus and Deuteronomy and observe the four responsibilities of the priest: 1) to put God’s character on display, 2) to help people navigate atonement when flesh gets in the way, 3) to intercede for others, which doesn’t just mean to pray for them but to help bridge the gap between them and God, and 4) to facilitate resource distribution.
After they are empowered through the Holy Spirit, it says in verse 45 that they sold property and possessions to give to everyone who had need. That’s what the temple was supposed to do. You bring your offering to the temple, and the temple distributes, but they started to look and say, «We are the temple; I see a need, let’s take care of it.» It says in chapter 4:32–35, «All the believers were one in heart and mind; no one claimed that any of their possessions were their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s grace was so powerfully at work in all of them that there were no needy persons among them.»
In chapter 2, it says that God was adding to their number daily. They were bridging the gap; they were putting God’s character on display; they were helping people connect with God and find atonement. It says from time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the disciples' feet to be distributed to anyone who had need.
What you’re going to see is a quick transformation from the formal temple and priesthood to the spirit-empowered temple of the people of God, and they now clash. There’s now conflict. The first opposition to the Jesus movement is the temple; it’s the formal temple, it’s the formal priesthood. Peter, as the main character of the apostles, steps in and courageously stands up against the status quo, ultimately taking physical beatings.
Peter and John heal a man who was blind, and when asked how they did that, Peter says, «You really want to know?» They reply, «Yes.» He says, «Well, the Jesus of Nazareth-the one you guys killed -is the one who empowered us to do that.» What you have is again the Holy Spirit-empowered temple of people in conflict with the old system and structure, and it becomes so violent that it drives them out into Samaria and Judea, ultimately to the ends of the earth.
Peter’s an interesting character to follow. We know he had a close relationship with Jesus; he’s a fun guy to read through the gospels and into Acts because you see his slow but sure maturation. Peter is courageous; you have to give him credit for willing to stand up, willing to stand against the status quo, willing to face potential punishment, and willing to be flogged and beaten. They commanded him, «Don’t speak anymore in the name of Jesus, or worse will happen,» but he kept doing it. He was tremendously courageous.
You see three kinds of opposition in Acts: one is opposition from the temple, second is opposition internally within the apostles, and third will be from the Greco-Roman world. In Acts 10, we' ll see Peter deal with his personal internal conflict. While he was willing to stand up at the temple, we see in Acts 10:9 that «Peter went up on the flat roof to pray; it was about noon, and he was hungry. While a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance, and he saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners.» He sees a vision or a dream of some kind. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, «Peter, get up; kill and eat them.»
But Peter declared, «No Lord!» What a testament to how anchored we can be in our mindset. What in your life would you be so dogmatic about that even if an audible voice from heaven gave you instructions, you’d say, «I’m good?» No, Lord! That’s a vivid story because it shows how we can shut cases in our minds. We' re no longer curious. You have a voice from heaven calling you, and Peter is so entrenched in his way of thinking that he tells God no. He says, «I’ve never eaten anything that our Jewish customs have declared impure and unclean.»
But the voice spoke again. How many of you are thankful for a God who will repeat himself to give you a second chance? We’re going to see He gives more than a second chance. Sometimes you’ve got to give yourself a bit of grace. We do things because we’ve always done them. We have thousands of years of precedent of behaviors, habits, and things we have just accepted as truth. We don’t even question them. Now he says no, but God’s voice speaks again: «Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.»
The same vision was repeated three times. God is giving him repeated chances, understanding that sometimes when something hits you the first time, you rebel against it; you push it away; you object. You’re not even curious about it. The voice speaks again. It’s repeated three times, and the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven. Verse 17: Peter was very perplexed. The language in Greek indicates he was troubled, at a loss, not understanding how this could be.
He might say, «How could this be? We have God’s law in black and white, and I’ve done this all my life.» He doesn’t want to eat reptiles or birds; it’s not about the food; it’s about people. He’s looking to reconcile this. He’s perplexed; he can’t make it make sense. Now look at this: «What could the vision mean?» This illustrates a shift from objection to introducing a question. Most people don’t go there. Many see something perplexing and say, «I don’t get it, and I don’t want to get it.» But here Peter goes from perplexity to curiosity: «What could this mean?»
Throughout the book of Acts, you' ll see people who have no desire to be part of anything new God is doing. One thing we learn from this is that the kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus are God’s ideas, so they’re going to happen with or without us- with or without me. Nobody could stop it: not the temple, not disobedient disciples, not King Agrippa, not the Greco-Roman Empire. There’s no empire, no king; nobody can stop God from doing His will.
Many people once introduced to what God was doing stop at perplexity and say, «I don’t get it,» and they don’t want to know. But Peter, to his credit, moves from perplexity to curiosity: «What could the vision mean?» It says just then, men sent by Cornelius-a Gentile introduced early in chapter 10 -arrived, and this intersection will be catalytic for the gospel going to the Gentiles.
These men sent by Cornelius found Peter standing outside the gate, asking if a man named Simon Peter was staying there. Verse 19: «Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision,» which indicates a progression. It says he is moving from perplexed to pondering, reflecting. Most people don’t move from perplexity to softness that quickly.
Peter is opening up his mind to what God is trying to show him. He’s puzzled, and while he’s pondering, the Holy Spirit said to him, «Three men have come looking for you. Get up; go downstairs and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, I have sent them.» Verse 21: So Peter went down. Obedience.
The same progression we see in Peter — going from objection to openness to obedience — seems to be a trajectory for disciples following the will of God and the voice of Jesus. Often, God will introduce something that you want to say, «No?» «No, Lord, I’ve never done that before.» «No, Lord, I’m unfamiliar with that territory.» «No, Lord, I feel too old to be learning new stuff.» But He puts it in front of you, and you have a decision: Am I going to go from objection to openness?
If you go from objection to openness, and then from openness to obedience, you can see God use you in a very powerful way. The same sort of thing happens with the Apostle Paul. In chapter 9, we see the famous story of Paul on the Damascus Road. For those unfamiliar with the story, Paul is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Peter. Peter is taking this Jesus movement forward; Paul thinks the Jesus movement is heresy. He believes the Jesus movement is against God, and he’s so convinced he’s right that he’s willing to kill for it.
He’s being violent about it and believes he needs to extinguish everyone in this Jesus movement. So, he’s going at full speed in what he believes is the right direction until he sees the light. He realizes, «I couldn’t have been more wrong.» Some of you may have had experiences like that. At one time in your life, you knew where you were going; you knew you were right, but something happened. Maybe it was traumatic, or perhaps it was something outside your control. At some point, you went to your knees, fell hard, and realized, «I can either die right here, or I can turn around and do a 180.»
That’s what Paul does in chapter 9. He turns on a dime after he saw the light. He repents and starts following. The story is told in chapter 9, but in chapter 26, we see a golden nugget. Paul stands before King Agrippa and gives his testimony about what happened in chapter 9. He says in chapter 26:14, «I saw the light; we all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, why do you persecute me? '»
Saul thought he was persecuting for God but realized he couldn’t have been more wrong. He identified the voice as Jesus, and He asks, «Is it hard for you to kick against the goads?» What does that mean? It’s not a term we use today. A «goad» was like a cattle prod. If you’re a farmer and want to plow land, you have an ox. To direct the ox where you want it to go, you use a goad.
In our context, we might say someone is «goating» somebody else, which means you prod or nudge them to do something. But in this context, if the ox is stubborn and doesn’t want to go where you’re trying to lead it, it kicks against the goad. One end is dull; the other is sharp. If you don’t want to go with the blunt end, you will feel the sharp end. God is asking Paul, «Why are you kicking against where I’m trying to take you? I’ve got a plan, and I’m inviting you in. I made you for a purpose; we’re supposed to do something great together. Why are you fighting me? Why don’t you trust me?»
Are you going to go where you want to go and kick against the goads, or will you follow my nudging? You have these two people: Peter and Paul. Peter’s main mission was to the temple, while Paul’s was to the Gentiles. This missionary journey and the letters Paul writes addressed the same challenging question: «If I’m called at one point to be set apart from the world and now I’m sent into it… Jesus came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. What are the areas where we need to be aligned as kingdom citizens?»
Brothers and sisters, we need to agree on these things, hold each other accountable, and then determine what areas it’s okay to be different. You will see in Acts 15, they have a whole council discussing this. They’re talking about the Gentiles coming in with different cultures. «Are we going to make them obey the 613 laws? If not, which ones do they obey? What are the permissions in the Kingdom? What do we all need to agree on, and where is it okay to be different?»
You' ll see the Apostle Paul contextually interacting and writing letters that focus on creating a diverse, inclusive, loving environment based on the law of love and the power of love, ensuring that not everything goes unregulated. We need some regulations and things to agree on. Next week, we' ll start looking at some of these patterns and the steep learning curve Paul led them through. That’s really what the epistles are designed to deliver to us.
All right, let’s close in prayer. Lord, we come to you in Jesus' name. As we look at chapters 9 and 10 of Acts, we see these two prominent characters in the Bible, Peter and Paul-both of them asked to do something way outside their comfort zone. It’s totally understandable; the resistance on every level-spiritually, cognitively, emotionally -is significant. «You’re asking me to change my thinking now? To truly feel the responsibility to get it right? Am I rushing into this, or is this really you, God?»
Lord, I pray that you would help us as a community, as a church, and as individuals to look into what you’re up to in this world and what you’ve invited us into — our own Acts of the Apostles. Help us to be receptive to your direction and not to respond to Your voice with, «No, Lord, I have never.» Help us not to kick against the goads but to allow you to guide us on the path you want us to be on. I pray for us as a congregation as well as individuals, as we go into our families, relationships, and situations.
Often we find ourselves in positions where we have to ask, «What are you asking me to rethink? What do you need me to reopen? What does it look like to go from objection to openness to obedience?» I pray, God, that for each receptive heart, you would provide guidance on a personal level. We love you; we thank you and praise you. In Jesus' name», everybody said, «Amen.»