I am currently trying to study the bible with the aim of writing a number of essays on what is a church and how we as Christians should interact with. While doing this I am re-reading Acts as a base line for what will come after. So I thought as I go, I would post some of my musing up here for you guys to read and comment on.

These are as I said musings and should not be taken as deep theological learning; they are more like observations than theory texts.

So here is the first one Acts 3 – Acts 5:16

Let’s start with a quick bullet point synopsis

1.      Acts 3:1-9 Peter and John while going up to the temple pass a beggar who asks them for alms but instead he is healed (this is the first example of healing post Jesus’ resurrection

2.      Acts 3:10 – 26 due to the commotion caused by the healed person whooping it up Peter is forced to give an explanation which turns into a Gospel message.

3.      Act4:1-22 Peter and John are taken by the Jewish leaders and made to explain their actions, Peter gives them the gospel. The leaders tell them to stop preaching in Jesus name and let them go

4.      Acts 4:23-31 Peter and John return to the other believers and make their report., The believers pray together for God to give them the boldness to preach more and that God would heal and make many more signs and wonders

5.      Acts 4:32 – 36 Luke summarises the church again, and gives Barnabas as a good example of this

6.      Acts 5:1-11 Ananias and Sapphira are then given as a bad example of this

7.      Acts 5:12-16 Many healings, and setting free of people with unclean spirits.

This to me is a very challenging passage of scripture, for obvious reasons.

Firstly we have the first healing in acts, Peter and John are going where they often went up to the temple to pray and are accosted by a beggar, instead of giving him cash, Peter heals him in the name of Jesus, (Now why does the Life of Brian come to mind here… “penny for an exbeggar!”). This of course draws huge attention to them as the beggar is so overjoyed that he goes jumping around telling everyone about it.

What I like about this is that it’s an everyday day for Peter and John nothing special but God uses them in the ordinariness of their day. Could this be Beatthedrum and Mrs Beatthedrum were walking into Starbucks when they saw one of the baristas has an arm in a sling…. could be! Now there is a challenge! (CHALLENGE 1)

The second thing I like is the fact that what is done cannot be disputed by the religious bigots of the day as the healed man is known and is obviously healed.

Thirdly when they report this to the believers after getting out of the court room the believers think “Hang on, the man was healed and then the gospel was given, not once but twice, THIS IS THE WAY FORWARD!!!” They then pray for more of this kind of ‘ministry’ boldness of preaching with miracles. And the Holy Spirit falls afresh on them in a major way, the room actually shakes. Now do we earnestly pray for this in our time, if the Apostles need it we do? We need to pray for miracles alongside bold preacher (CHALLENGE 2)

Thirdly we then have the summarisation of the believers living together and sharing as one. This is a great picture of the unity of the body so eloquently put by Paul in the Epistles. We are given a good example of this and an introduction to one of the main players for a few chapters later Barnabus, the son of encouragement.

There then follows probably the weirdest passage in the whole of the New Testament. Ananias and Sapphira have sold some land that they owned and have given most of the cash made from the sale to the Apostles. But they lie and say they are giving the full amount made on the sale. And then what happens,  a slight rebuke, No they drop down cold dead…… What’s this has God gone back to the law, aren’t they under grace? Well it looks like God takes this seriously. Why does he kill them and it is Him that takes their life. It’s a bit like Cain and Able we don’t know why Cain’s offering was not pleasing and Able’s was, we are told later but not in Genesis when the story is relayed to us first. Haven’t we all done something similar, told a ‘small’ lie to God, I know I have and to the church leaders, but here I am currently living and breathing………hang on…. nope no smiting here. I think the clue is in the next part…. Maybe we should watch what we say and do! (CHALLENGE 3)

There is then a huge outpouring many are healed and set free; even just with the passing of peters shadow people are healed. This is a major our pouring of the Spirit and Miracles unlike anything seen  since Jesus was strolling around and annoying pig farmers.

This I think is the link with Ananias and his Mrs, God was about to pour out his spirit in a major way and work many miracles, he needed full unity in the body and he wanted the full trust of those who were to do the work for him. The couple had felt that they could not give the whole amount and needed some back but instead of declaring this they decided to lie and cover it up. This shows a lack of trust in God as a provider and/or a lack of trust in the apostles and/or a wish to be raised up and shown in a good light ie Pride.

So here is (CHALLENGE 4) if we are going to cry out for the outpouring of God for boldness to preach and for miracles, we have to look at ourselves and ensure that we are right with him; the way to do this is constant repentance and spending time with Him above all others. We also need to remain humble in who we are, what we do and what we give.  Now there’s a challenge.

Sorry for the long post but I was enjoying myself too much to stop!