Acts: The Church is Born

I have long wanted to do a series on the history of the Christian Church. Church History was my favorite class in my undergrad studies. The Holy Spirit burns bright and strong through the mighty, humble, and devout men and women of Christian history. We’ll start in Acts, where the Church was born, then we’ll move on beyond the record of Scripture with our eyes on the movement of the Holy Spirit. I hope you’ll forgive me if I get a little excited and giddy from time to time. If you thought we took a long time with Hebrews, hang on because the story of the Church and the work of the Holy Spirit never ends.

But first let’s set the foundation: Acts was written by Luke, the same Luke as the gospel, and was intended to be a continuation of it: Luke/Acts. It was written to “Theophilus” an unknown Greek who may have provided financial support for Luke’s work. Luke used the same investigative style in both accounts and so we have rich records of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit at work. Luke often connects the story of the church with the events of world history, giving us time markers that support the validity of the claims. But Acts is more than history, it is also solid theology. It was well received and respected by the early church fathers.

Acts begins after Jesus’ resurrection when the Lord showed Himself to His followers to prove that He was alive (1:1-3). He promised them “a gift” from His Father – the Holy Spirit that would empower them to do all that Jesus told them to do (v. 4-8). Matthew recorded Jesus’ marching orders: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). In Acts, He gave them direction: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We will see them take these precise steps as they respond to circumstances that send them far and wide with the gospel. Mind you, the church has yet to reach “the ends of the earth,” so the mission continues to this day.

After Jesus; words, Luke reports that He “was taken up before their very eyes . . .” (1:9). This is the ascension and it is crucial to the work of the Holy Spirit. The church was born – but not yet empowered. 

Advent 2022: Why December 25th?

Did you know that the early church did not celebrate Christmas? The church’s testimony about Christ was completely centered on the resurrection. Church officials decided that the birth of Jesus should have equal emphasis with his resurrection. Pope Julius I picked the date in 350 AD, and it was formalized in 529 AD, when Roman Emperor Justinian declared Christmas to be a civic holiday. December 25th was borrowed from secular festivities as the designated day for celebrating. Both the Pope and the Emperor liked this date because it coincided with the pagan festivals celebrating the winter solstice, which dated back centuries. Combining Christmas with these ancient celebrations allowed the church to keep the winter holiday tradition while refocusing the party on the “new” religion of Christianity. It was a grand gesture, but the pagan influences of the holiday, unfortunately, stayed with it. Through the years the church has alternately banned and embraced Christmas as celebrations became more about feasts and parties and selfish behavior and less about the Christ Child. Yet Christians continually talk about “getting back to the real reason for the season.”

The truth is, we really don’t know the date of Jesus’ birth. At least not on a calendar. But the Scriptures do tell us exactly when the Child came. Galatians 4:4 says, “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman.” I find so much comfort in that. The Bible is chock-full of references to time, from the record of Creation to “the day [when] His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.” God actually does have a calendar of sorts – a divine calendar – and all of human history flows according to the plans He made before the creation of the world. Everything will happen “when the time has fully come.”

I hope you take that personally. Because the same God who established the universe’s timeline has your name on His calendar too. He is moving in your life according to His purpose and design. He is making things and people and events come together just as He planned. Beloved, your life is not some crazy quilt with pieces of all shapes, sizes, and colors haphazardly sewn together. It is a work of beauty, precision, and exactness, stitched firmly together with blood-red cords. Every moment of your life has been leading up to the magnificent finished project that will be revealed, “when the time has fully come.”

The point is not to know when He came, but to know that He came and why He came. To set you free from your bondage of sin and to give you eternal life. So feel free to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th with joy and thanksgiving for God’s perfect, divine plan. And remember that He’s an “on-time” God. It won’t be a second late. Nor will it be a second early. It will be “when the time has fully come.”