Session 1
Acts 1:4-11,23-26
Memory Verse: Acts 1:8
The entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is filled with the idea that God’s people should be a part of God’s mission to reach the whole world. The call to be His commissioned people in the Old Testament becomes more explicit in the Gospels and finally culminates with the Great Commission. The book of Acts brings together the idea of God’s people being sent on God’s mission by recounting the history of the earliest days of the church as it spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
As you prepare to lead this session, reflect on how you first heard the gospel and why you responded to it. Evaluate how well you are fulfilling the mission and purpose God has given you as His follower. Ask Him to increase your boldness and to guide you as you share these truths with the adults in your Bible study.
Have you ever witnessed a pastor ordination service? What typically happens when a young pastor is called to his first church is he sits before an ordination council and answers questions. The council then recommends approval, and the church votes to ordain him. As the young pastor kneels in front of the church, area ministers one by one place their hands on his head and pray for him as the church sets him aside for the gospel ministry. You don’t have to be a pastor to be commissioned for Christ’s service. Jesus calls and commissions every believer for His kingdom work. (PSG, p. 10)
The book of Acts is the second part of a two-volume work that we can think of as Luke-Acts. In the first part, the Gospel of Luke, the human author tells his primary reader (a man named Theophilus) that he was writing to provide “an orderly sequence” of the life and ministry of Jesus (Luke 1:3). The second part, the book of Acts, continued to unpack Luke’s mission and message.
In Acts, Luke wrote that the first narrative covered what Jesus “began” to do and teach. By implication, Acts explains how the work Jesus started continued through His people, even as He returned to heaven. Instead of Jesus doing and teaching by being physically present on earth, Acts recounts how the body of Christ, the church, continued the ministry that He began.
Reading the book of Acts can be a challenge in more than one way. For example, Acts can be cognitively challenging. For example, it’s not always easy to know which parts of the book are prescriptive and which are purely descriptive. Readers sometimes feel a tension between what is applicable for us today and what is simply a record of how the Spirit moved in the first century. Of course, we joyfully affirm that the entire Bible is relevant to all peoples in all generations, and we can learn from all of it. However, some of the stories recorded in Acts are one-time events that are not meant to be repeated.
In reading Acts descriptively, we can recognize that Acts 1:8 provides a “table of contents” for the entire book. Starting with Jerusalem, Jesus’s followers were able to witness His movement and experience great early success in Jerusalem. Over time, as they obeyed His leading, similar results were seen in Judea and even in the “sketchy” regions of Samaria. Ultimately, the gospel of Christ reached Rome, considered by many at the time to represent the ends of the earth.
A second way that reading the book of Acts can be a challenge is volitionally. Some sections of Acts are clearly prescriptive for us today. Beyond that, God provided timeless principles that we can glean for advancing His kingdom through missions and evangelism efforts. As we read the stories of the early church as recorded by Luke in Acts, we are challenged to be both bolder and wiser in how we share the gospel in whatever context the Lord places us.
However, despite the difficulties, Acts provides a blueprint for our lives today. The Great Commission is just as relevant for modern Christ followers as it was in the first century. We are still called to be His witnesses, whether that’s in our Jerusalem or He leads us to the ends of the earth.
Read Acts 1:1-26. How does Luke’s repeated emphasis on the Holy Spirit encourage you to serve in the Spirit’s power? (PSG, p. 11)
EXPLORE THE TEXT
4 While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(v. 4) Father’s promise: The promise related to the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the Spirit’s arrival on the night before His crucifixion (John 14:15-17). However, the Father is the One who sent the Spirit, so each member of the Trinity was involved in the promise’s fulfillment.
(v. 5) Baptized with the Holy Spirit: To this point, the Holy Spirit had come upon specific individuals at specific times for specific tasks (Ex. 35:31; Num. 27:18-21; Judg. 3:10). When the job was accomplished, the Spirit often would depart.
Now, instead of coming on one individual for a limited time, God’s Spirit now comes on all believers, filling their lives so they can advance His work. This baptism is never about drawing attention to any individual, but about bringing glory to God through the Spirit’s work.
(v. 6) Kingdom: Jesus’s followers still expected Jesus to build a kingdom. Of course, He did introduce the kingdom of heaven (or the kingdom of God) though His life, death, and resurrection. However, the disciples were looking for a physical kingdom that would overthrow Rome.
(v. 8) Power: Just as Jesus initiated a kingdom, He also endowed His followers with power. And just as they failed to recognize the nature of His kingdom, they struggled to understand the significance of His power. Jesus’s power brings spiritually dead people back to life (Eph. 2:4-5) and frees individuals held captive by sin (1 Cor. 1:18).
The disciples would finally understand when the Spirit arrived on Pentecost. Then, for the remainder of Acts, they demonstrated this power of God in their lives and words.
(v. 8) Witnesses: In Matthew, Jesus told His followers to make disciples. In Acts, He told them to be His witnesses. Being a witness for Christ simply means testifying to what He has done. Anyone who has been saved by Christ can testify about His saving work.
The word translated “witness” is related to our English word “martyr.” Church tradition tells us that all of the apostles, except John, died as martyrs while being Jesus’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. Brothers and sisters around the world continue to experience persecution for their faith.
(v. 8) Jerusalem . . . Judea and Samaria . . . the ends of the earth: We often think about the four settings in verse 8 geographically, and it is true that the early church’s witness began close to home before eventually spreading across the world. However, these locations are not just geographical. They are cultural, as well.
The apostles found themselves sharing the good news with people they did not like (the Samaritans) and people they knew little or nothing about (the ends of the earth). In each context, they shared the love and power of God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the same way, we are expected to focus on telling others about Jesus today, whether they are across the street or across the globe.
9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
The Ascension of Christ
After commissioning the apostles in verse 8, Jesus ascended into heaven as they watched (v. 9). The idea of Jesus going “into heaven” occurs four times in three verses (including three times in v. 11). By ascending into heaven, Jesus declared that His earthly ministry had accomplished everything the Father had planned. He had conquered sin and death; and, in fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, He had crushed the head of the serpent.
Since His ascension, Jesus has taken His place at the Father’s right hand, interceding for believers and preparing for His return. The promise of Jesus’s second coming should give us a sense of both urgency and patience. We should be urgent because millions of people have never heard the name of Jesus. But we should also be patient because discipleship is not microwavable. It requires care, attention, and a focus on the gradual maturation of faith. The urgency of the task is exactly why it is too important to rush.
(v. 10) Two men: These men were angels, heavenly messengers sent to communicate God’s will and plans to humans. The Old Testament frequently describes angels as “men” who come to share God’s message with God’s people.
In this case, the angels asked the disciples why they were gazing into heaven since Jesus would one day return in the same way. The implication was that the disciples had work to do after receiving the Great Commission from the Lord.
(v. 11) Men of Galilee: All of Jesus’s apostles (except Judas Iscariot) were from Galilee. Jesus’s choice of Galileans might have seemed like a surprise. It was not a place of great renown, and the men He selected were not biblical scholars. Aside from James and John, the Bible gives no indication that they came from influential and important families.
In short, they were not the sort of men with whom someone would start a movement. Yet, these are precisely the men Jesus entrusted with the task of world evangelization. This should encourage believers today. We don’t have to be perfect or even popular. We just have to be willing.
(v. 11) This same Jesus: Jesus was, is, and always will be fully human, just as He is fully God. That is why the Bible says this same Jesus would return in the same way they saw Him leave. When Jesus returns to consummate the kingdom of God and usher in the new heaven and new earth, He will still be fully human and fully God.
Jesus’s humanity is important for a couple of reasons. First, it affirms what the rest of the Bible teaches to be true. In 1 Timothy 2:5, Paul refers to Jesus as “the man Christ Jesus.” As we see in the Gospels, Jesus’s resurrection body was both in continuity with his pre-resurrection body and distinct from it. He bore the scars of His crucifixion (Luke 24:39), and yet He could appear inside a locked room (John 20:19). Jesus’s body is now a “glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21).
Second, Jesus’s humanity is important because He is the only One who can show us what it means to be genuinely human. He is the only person to live the way God created all humans to live. In fact, Jesus is still more fully human now than we are because He is all that we were designed to be-untainted by sin and its disastrous results.
23 So they proposed two: Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, “You, Lord, know everyone’s hearts; show which of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this apostolic ministry that Judas left to go where he belongs.” 26 Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias and he was added to the eleven apostles.
(v. 24) Prayed: The prayer in verse 24 is a continuation of the congregation being “continually united in prayer” in verse 14. Having returned to Jerusalem, the early church began the process of finding a replacement for Judas. In choosing a new apostle, the disciples were following Jesus’s example of starting out any task with prayer (Luke 6:12-16). Believers should pray when filling roles of service, seeking God’s will for both individuals and groups.
(v. 24) Know everyone’s hearts: Part of the apostles’ prayer was a confession that God knows the hearts of men. At the same time, they were acknowledging that they could not discern the hearts of people on their own, so they wanted God to make the choice. They were not equipped to know who would best serve as Judas’s replacement. Humans are easily deceived, which is why plugging into God’s will is so important.
(v. 24) These two: Judas had killed himself, and the remaining apostles interpreted Psalms 69:25 and 109:8 (see v. 20) as a call to replace him from the group who had followed Jesus regularly during His time on earth (v. 21). Like the apostles, Matthias and Joseph had seen Jesus’s miracles, heard His teaching, and participated in ministry. They also would have spent time with the resurrected Savior. This is the only time when Scripture suggests a replacement was named for an apostle. Despite what is taught by some today, this office was limited to a particular group of first-century Christ followers.
(v. 25) Where he belongs: Joseph and Matthias were being considered to fill a gap in the apostolic number. The gap was created by the suicide of Judas after he betrayed Jesus. The Greek wording for where he belongs suggests “a place of his choosing.” While Luke did not elaborate on where that place might be, the entirety of Scripture indicates Judas suffered eternal punishment for his sin (Matt. 26:23-24; Mark 14:20-21).
Cast lots
After more prayer for God’s discernment, they cast lots to make the final choice. It is not clear what lots were or how they were interpreted. While it might seem like this was leaving the decision to chance, the apostles were actually relying on God to reveal His plan by determining the outcome: The lot fell to Matthias.
Casting lots is not an activity that we should commend today. While there is Old Testament precedent
(1 Chron. 26:13ff), this took place before the coming of the Spirit and the completion of God’s Word. Today, believers have the Spirit, prayer, and the Bible to discern God’s will.
(v. 26) Apostles: In Greek, the term used here refers to one sent on a mission. It could also describe an ambassador or delegate. The original apostles were the twelve disciples. As noted, Judas was replaced by Matthias.
Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:14) and James (Gal. 1:19) were also called apostles. The term indicates a special role these leaders had in establishing the early church and spreading the gospel to the ends of the world. They provided teaching and guidance in a world before the New Testament was codified. In Hebrews 3:1, Jesus is identified as an Apostle. Having been sent by God to earth and fulfilling His mission perfectly, He set the example for the other apostles to follow.
Evangelism and Missions
It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ. (See Matthew 9:37-38; Romans 10:13-15.)
Use Other Scripture to help understand a Bible passage.
Read all the Great Commission passages: Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47; John 10:21; and Acts 1:8. List the key idea for each one. Record the similarities and differences between them.