I recently re-read the book of Acts and read the book, The Challenge of Acts:
Rediscovering What the Church Was and Is, by N. T. Wright along with it. This book is not a commentary. It is not a devotional. It is between the two. It dives deep at some points, but is mainly an overview of the book of Acts. I loved this book because it brought to life the beginning of the ancient church.
I would challenge everyone to read the various presentations of the Gospel throughout the book of Acts by Peter, Stephen and Paul. Compare these sermons with the Gospel presented today.
Here are some quotes from the book:
- This book offers a kind of bird’s-eye view of the Acts of the Apostles. There is a lot to be said for verse-by-verse exegesis and exposition of the New Testament, but there is also a lot to be said for, on occasion, standing back and seeing the larger sweep of thought and noting the way certain themes are highlighted and developed.
- Acts is a page-turner. Thirty years or more of early church history flash before our eyes: full of interest, lessons to be learned, characters to ponder. It’s easy to cherry-pick parts that seem to speak to us directly; the danger then is that we miss themes that emerge in a more overarching way. Some of those are powerfully relevant to the challenging life and work to which the followers of Jesus are called today.
- Everything in this book hinges on Jesus’ resurrection, not simply as an odd dramatic miracle that God did for Jesus, but as the launching of God’s new creation in the person of his son.
- The mission of the Church is not about preparing for Jesus to become king. It is implementing the fact that he has become king,
- The point is the homecoming of God: God is doing at last what he had long intended and promised. Having come in the person of his son to fulfil the messianic predictions, God now comes in the person of his spirit to fulfil the even more personal promise to dwell in and with his people.
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