We are studying Acts as an inspired analysis of corporate spiritual renewal, because all faith communities need spiritual renewal. We have seen how Luke records different elements of corporate spiritual renewal, not as separate chapters, but woven together in patterns that recur.
Let’s review chapters 2-6 and the patterns of corporate spiritual renewal and the importance of what may be called “word” and “deed” ministries. “Word” means verbally communicating the message about God’s love through Jesus. “Deed” means showing God’s love through practical acts of service and mercy. Acts 2-6 shows us that during times of corporate spiritual renewal, God’s Spirit works powerfully through the church in both word and deed to create wide-spread social favor, which leads to many people embracing Jesus and becoming part of the Christian community.
Read Acts 2:42-47. Notice the emphasis on the apostles’ public teaching (see Acts 2:42). They were publicly proclaiming and expounding the gospel through word — both building up the Christians and equipping them to share it with others, and undoubtedly speaking it directly to the non-Christians who attended these public teachings. But, notice also the two ways that they were showing Jesus’ love through deed. The signs and wonders of the apostles (see Acts 2:43) were mainly healing miracles — God’s Spirit working through the apostles to heal non-Christians. And the Christians practiced extraordinary generosity toward one another (see Acts 2:44-45), something that non-Christians would have noticed and been intrigued by. Notice the result (see Acts 2:47) — they were “having favor with all the people, and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Many people liked the Christian movement, and many of them became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah and joined them.
This pattern recurs in Acts 3. Peter healed a lame man who is not a Christian (see this deed done in Acts 3:1-8). As a result, many people became positively curious (see Acts 3:9-11),and Peter, explained that the Source of this redemptive power is the risen Jesus (see this done in word in Acts 3:12-26). As a result of this demonstration in deed and word that Jesus is real and good, the Jerusalem community responded positively to Peter (see Acts 4:21), and hundreds of people embraced Jesus as their Messiah (see Acts 4:4).
This pattern recurs in Acts 4:31-5:14. God’s Spirit enabled the whole Christian community to share the gospel with boldness (see Acts 4:31), and empowered the apostles to testify that Jesus has been raised from the dead (see this done in word in Acts 4:33). The same Spirit motivated them to extraordinary voluntary generosity (see this deed done in Acts 4:32-35) and empowered the apostles to heal many non-Christians (see this deed done in Acts 5:12a). The result was a widespread positive reaction (see Acts 5:13b) that led to many men and women believing and joining them (see Acts 5:14).
Finally, look at Acts 6:1-7. The Christian community was committed to the deed of daily feeding dozens, maybe hundreds, of widows. The fact that they were feeding both Greek and Hebrew speaking members was an extraordinary display of love that transcended normal cultural prejudices. The apostles delegated the leadership of this ministry to others so that they could stay focused on proclaiming the Word. As a result, (Acts 6:7 “so”), they saw a rapid increase of converts, including a large number of priests. Why priests? The Old Testament said they were responsible for distributing resources to the poor. Possibly, they saw the Christians doing a better job of this than they did, which created priestly favor toward the Christians, out of which many converted.
Luke is consciously recording this pattern as a core dynamic of corporate spiritual renewal. This was a core dynamic in Jesus’ public ministry (see Matthew 4:23-24a). As Luke says in Acts 1:1, this is simply the account of all that Jesus continued to do. Why is this dynamic so important? Why are both word and deed ministries so crucial to corporate spiritual renewal? There are two similar yet distinct answers to this question: The Words share the message of God’s love and explain how to receive it; the Deeds show God’s love and supply practical credibility to the message.
The Word is a message of mercy and restoration. It is bad news on the front end, because it offends our self-sufficient, self-esteem sensibilities. It tells us that we are not a good person who has made some mistakes, but rather we are guilty before a holy God, and deserving of His judgment, and that we cannot deliver ourselves from this verdict. It tells us that we are not a basically healthy person who just needs a little spiritual self-help, but rather we are broken beyond self-repair. This is bad news! But the good news is far better than the bad news! It tells us that God’s mercy is greater than our guilt, and that God’s redemptive power is greater than our brokenness. It tells us that through Jesus’ death, God offers us total forgiveness because Jesus took God’s judgment in our place. It tells us that through Jesus’ resurrection, God offers us total restoration, starting in this life and gloriously completed when Jesus returns.
But the words without Deeds that show God’s mercy and restoration have little compelling credibility. It would be like saying, “Why should I believe what you say when there is no evidence that it is restoring anything? You Christians are just as mean-spirited and unforgiving as everyone else. Your church does not work to restore our community.” No matter how important the message, the medium of that message is crucial for its effective communication. Even the most insightful song lyrics will not enlighten and move people unless they are set to beautiful music. The Deeds are like the medium/music — they make the Words attractive (see Titus 2:10). No matter how accurately the Words are communicated, few people will respond to them unless they see Deeds that display the love of which the Words speak. But when the Deeds adorn the Words, a redemptive explosion often occurs!
There is a powerful illustration of this dynamic in the post-apostolic period of church history (100-400 AD). Many know that during this time, Christianity spread like a “good infection,” from being a small religious sect that was mocked by most people, to a great spiritual movement that transformed the Roman Empire and the trajectory of Western Civilization,all without any military or political influence. What can account for this? The simple answer, of course, is Jesus. But historians note two key distinctives about His followers:
They talked to people about Jesus in widespread and sacrificial ways. It was not just a few eloquent spokespersons, though they had these; it was also that the average Christian shared their faith at home, at work, in their neighborhood, when traveling, and throughout their daily lives. And they shared this message even when they were being mocked, ostracized, and killed. “Martyr” is the Greek word for “witness”and thousands of Christians became martyrs rather than retract what they said about Jesus. What is this? This is the ministry of the Word.
They also lived extraordinarily loving lives toward one another and the people who did not believe in Jesus. One historian, Alan Kreider, names three major factors for why people converted to Jesus during this period: healings and exorcisms and other miraculous good deeds, the dignity with which Christians treated women and the marginalized, and the astonishing practice of spontaneous goodness, especially to the poor and needy.
Rodney Stark cites an example of the third factor in his book, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History. He tells the story of an epidemic that swept through the Roman Empire in 260 AD. This precipitated a striking contrast between the response of the Christians and their pagan neighbors. Most of the healthy pagans simply left town, abandoning their sick loved ones to save their own lives. But most of the Christians stayed to care for the sick, especially including their pagan neighbors. Dionysius, a church leader, describes it this way: “Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love... never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them became sick and departed supremely happy... The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.” Is it any wonder that Christianity gained many new believers in the aftermath of this epidemic?
A century later in 362 AD, Emperor Julian the Apostate rejected his Christian upbringing and tried to return the empire to its pagan roots. He complained bitterly about one of the main reasons why he was unable to prevent the continued growth of the Christian movement: “The religion of the Greeks does not prosper. Why do we not observe how the charity of Christians to strangers has done the most to advance their cause? It is disgraceful that these Christians support our poor in addition to their own, while everyone is able to see that our co-religionists lack aid from us.” What is this? This is the ministry of Deeds, refuting the mockery and adorning the Word.
There are many other examples of this dynamic, such as the Wesleyan revival or the growth of the church across China. Conversely, whenever Christians neglect this dynamic, renewal dynamics are stifled, and the church shrinks, first in spiritual influence, and ultimately in number.
By God’s grace, we have been blessed by excellence in Word ministries at our local church gathering here in the Midwest of North America. We have weekly teachings, various classes offered, a high Biblical literacy, and opportunities for evangelistic training. This is an extraordinary blessing, both to us and through us to others.
But my church, like any church, can be in danger of hindering the Spirit’s work of renewal by an inadequate emphasis on Deeds. Jesus may not be having the redemptive impact in our cities that He wants to have through us, and one important reason for this may be that we are not communicating His love through Deeds to the extent that He wants us to.
Without acknowledging this weakness, our community is in danger of being deprived of the opportunities to experience the love and goodness of Jesus through our Deeds. It is crucial that churches are best friends to their neighborhoods, villages, cities, and to be left without them would be a huge loss, even if the surrounding community does not share the same belief system.
The first step is to form personal convictions about these biblical principles Paul is addressing. We need to let God speak to our hearts about it, so that we more clearly see and feel the connection between our Deeds and Jesus showing our city that He is real and good.
We can be serious about the witness of our Deeds at work and in our neighborhoods. We should be known for being the most helpful and the most caring in the places where we spend the majority of our waking hours. And we should speak humbly about our faith in Jesus as our Deeds create opportunities.
Following God’s will and direction and using the spiritual gifts of service and mercy will also lead to opportunities to share God’s love as people are blessed by how you show His love. Simply involving oneself in the community, in a variety of spaces and capacities, is an easy, achievable way to share our faith through Deeds.
What might happen if we respond to the Lord’s conviction and direction to show His love through Deeds like these? How might our lives be transformed by using our gifts and serving like this? How might Jesus’ reputation be enhanced in our communities as it sees His followers humbly and sacrificially helping to make it a better place? How many people might become open to the message of Jesus and even come to a church gathering? How many of these people might discover that Jesus is real and good, and receive His forgiveness and become His followers? What kind of ripple-effect for good might this have in families and neighborhoods all over our community?
We have been talking about how Deeds show God’s love and supply practical credibility to the message. But where do you get the motivation to do these Deeds over time, to serve people who may not like you, when there is no temporal advantage to doing this?
Not from guilt, thinking God might be angry if we do not do it, not from peer pressure from our other Jesus-following friends, not in order to become important, thinking it will grow our church or give us status. These motives are inadequate as they do not give the necessary perseverance, and inappropriate because they are self-centered instead of for others and for Jesus’ glory.
This kind of motivation comes only from the Word: The Words about God’s grace motivate us to do good Deeds freely and with joy. Read Acts 4:31-33. As the message of God’s grace becomes our focus and goes deeper into our souls, we begin to want to give God’s love away to others, not to earn His acceptance, impress others with our goodness, or establish our significance; but because it gives us joy to give freely to others what we have freely received! This is why we focus on and expound in-depth the doctrine of grace (see Titus 3:3-8)!
