Christ’s Blueprint for His Church: Go Back to Jerusalem

January 6, 2019 in Christ's Blueprint for His Church

Transcript

Christ’s Blueprint for His Church
Studies in the Book of Acts
“Going Back to Jerusalem”
Acts 1:1-8

INTRODUCTION:
A few years ago, Rachel was working in our garden down in Paris, KY and, apparently, she lost both her rings: her engagement ring and her wedding band. So, we ordered one ring, a new one and Rachel got to design it herself. On the band on each side, she went back to the word of God, back to King Solomon, and chose a verse from the Song of Solomon: “I am my beloved and my beloved is mine.” But the designer created the new ring after Rachel’s pattern, her specifications.

The world is lost and our country is very confused. Paganism in its many forms is making a comeback in the religious area. Homosexual marriages have been legalized by our Supreme Court and the confusion over gender identity illustrates just how confused Americans are about what is truth and what is fantasy. That confusion certainly spills over into the religious, spiritual, Christian world. While the vast majority of Americans still claim to be “Christian,” eastern religions as well as Islam are slowing growing in strength and even many Americans who claim to be Christian view these religions as different roads to the final destination: heaven.

As Christians, as members of the church that belongs to Christ, it is important for us to keep our bearings headed in the right direction. It is important for us to keep our feet firmly planted in reality and keep our hearts focused on Christ and our minds firmly grounded in the word of God.

To that end, the focus of our monthly series in 2019 will be: “Christ’s Blueprint for His Church: Studies in the Book of Acts.” I have selected a dozen themes from the book of Acts which, I believe, are important for all Christians, everywhere, to grasp, to understand.

We begin with the idea that we need to “go back to Jerusalem” to get our bearings on what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be the “church” of Christ. I’m not saying and no one believes that we need to reproduce the first-century culture. We are not wanting to be “First century” Christians. I think we do want to be Christians who honor Christ in our lives. But what that means is that we need to go back to Jerusalem to get the pattern, the guiding teachings and principles, that Jesus would have us to know.

The prophet Isaiah (2:2-4), some 700 years before Christ was born, told His Israelite audience that a new “house of the Lord” was going to be established in Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem will be preached the law of the Lord and all the nations of the world will go to Jerusalem to learn the law of the Lord so that they might please the God of heaven.

Combine that prophesy with Jesus’ statement to His twelve apostles that they should go back to Jerusalem, after His ascension, and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit who would guide them into all truth (Luke 24:47-49; John 16:13). We need to listen to what the Holy Spirit revealed to the apostles, beginning in Jerusalem in Acts 2 and see how the Holy Spirit guided the apostles in the first century to establish Christianity and churches of Christ throughout the Mediterranean world. As we move through the book of Acts, we want to look for the answer to this question: “What did Jesus want all Christians to do for all time, in every congregation?” When we answer that question, we’ll have the pattern for the church of Christ and we’ll have our guiding star to lead us into a very uncertain future.

GOD OPERATES ON A PATTERN PRINCIPLE:
This point is made early, very early, in man’s history. Let’s take a look at God’s command to Noah to build the ark:

Gen. 6:14, 22; 7:5

Gen. 6:18. The covenant &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; God’s presence depended on Noah obeying God’s pattern.

The principle is seen, again, when God commands Moses to build the tabernacle in the book of Exodus:

Exodus 39:1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31, 32, 42, 43; 40:16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32
Exodus 40:34. The covenant &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; God’s presence depended on Moses obeying God’s pattern.

For a third illustration, we see that when King David decided to build a permanent structure for the worship of Jehovah God, the temple, he could do so only under the guiding oversight of Jehovah God. He had to build it according to the pattern given to him by God: 1 Chr. 28:11, 12, 19; 2 Chr. 4:7; 5:13-14; 7:1-3. The covenant &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; God’s presence depended on Solomon obeying God’s pattern.

I’ve already mentioned Isa. 2:2-4 and how Isaiah pictured a new law going out from Jerusalem but he was not the only prophet to anticipate new things coming out of heaven. Amos 9:11-12 pictures the fallen tabernacle, or dynasty, of David being rebuilt. Daniel 2:44 pictures a new kingdom being established. Jeremiah 31 says a new covenant, which will bring the forgiveness of sins, will be offered by God. Ezekiel 36 promises the Holy Spirit will be given from heaven which will enable man to have a new mind and a new heart in order to be faithful to God. Zechariah 13:1 says that God will provide a fountain of forgiveness of sins.

We do not have the time to go into all of these prophecies about the coming of Jesus and the establishment of His church. But, we do know that all of these prophecies found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the establishment of Christianity, the church of Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus lived and did most of His teaching in Jerusalem, then you might say that we need to go back to Jerusalem to get our pattern for Christian living.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO JERUSALEM:
Let us begin with Jesus’ promise to establish His church / kingdom, in Matthew 16:17-19.

In Matthew 16:28, in that same context, Jesus promises that He will begin His kingdom within the lifetime of His generation.

In Matthew 26:26-29, Jesus promises that the new covenant promised by Jeremiah, would begin once Jesus offered His blood for the forgiveness of our sins.

We jump to the end of Luke’s gospel and see where Jesus told His apostles to go to Jerusalem and there, they were to wait for the “promise of the Father,” the Holy Spirit, to clothe them with power: Luke 24:46-49.

This was the promise that Jesus had made earlier in the upper room at the Passover feast, when He told His apostles they would be guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth: John 16:13.

So, “all roads lead to Jerusalem,” where the new covenant was offered, Jesus was killed for our sins but raised for our sanctification, where forgiveness of sins was made available and where the plan for forgiveness of sins was first preached.

Let’s take a look at the first few verses of Acts 1:1-8. Everything was ready, from God’s perspective, for Christianity to be established. After Jesus ascended, the apostles went back into Jerusalem (1:12) and waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit, which happened ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven (2:1-4). Peter preached to his Jewish audience and told them what God wanted them to know and do on that occasion and we’ll come back to this chapter in February.

But, in Acts 8:4, as a result of the persecution instigated by Saul of Tarsus, the Christians spread out from Jerusalem and took with them that same gospel message to which they had been obedient since Acts 2. We notice in verse 5 that “preaching the word” is the same thing as “preaching Christ.” If we drop down to verse 12, we’ll see that “preaching the word” is also the same thing as “preaching the good news [gospel] about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” The Christians will be accused in Acts 17:7 of preaching that (besides the Emperor), there is “another king, namely Jesus.”

Thus the early Christians went all over the Roman world preaching that same message that had been given them through the Holy Spirit beginning in Acts 2, in Jerusalem.

Look in 1 Corinthians 11:23 for just a moment. Notice here, relative to the Lord’s Supper, that Paul is handing on to the Corinthians what he, himself, had received. That’s what our sermons and Bible classes are all about: handing on to our own generation what Paul or the other NT writers had received from the Holy Spirit. This is the pattern, the plan, for what we need to do today. Remember that our question is: What did Jesus want all Christians, everywhere, in all churches to do? In 1 Corinthians 4:17, Paul writes that he teaches the same thing everywhere in every church.

Finally, let’s look at a few passages from 2 Timothy, Paul’s last letter he wrote before he was beheaded for preaching the gospel of Christ.

First, 2 Timothy 1:13-14: “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

Notice a few things here: There is a “standard” that has been passed on. It is a “treasure” entrusted to us. We are to “retain” that standard and the Holy Spirit wants us to retain that standard.

Then in 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul says, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Keep passing the same standard, the same treasure, the same pattern to subsequent generations.

That’s what this series of monthly lessons is going to be about. What was that “pattern” that was given through the Holy Spirit, revealed through the teachings and behavior of the apostles, that God wants all Christians, everywhere, for all time to follow?

We study Acts to learn how God wants us to live, worship, and be His church.