Author: Ryan Hale

We know the names of those who traveled with Jesus and went on to be used by God to start the first church in Jerusalem. These are the disciples who became the apostles. Peter, James, John, and nine others. We know their names.

We know the names of the men who started churches all over modern-day Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, and beyond. Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, and several others were used by God to begin an incredible movement of church planting.

But there was a critical moment in which Evil, through the Jewish leaders and their persecution of the church, attempted to snuff out the church, attempted to close it for good. In Acts 8, it says that persecution broke out amongst those in the church in Jerusalem, causing many to flee from the city to go elsewhere to seek refuge. It was in that moment that the church was in real peril. Would it continue to grow? Or would it die? Would this large church go on to live? Or would it simply be a footnote in history?

A few chapters later, following the start of the persecution in Jerusalem, we receive an answer. The believers from Jerusalem continue what they had learned in this first church as they move out of the city, and then they are joined by others as well.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Acts 11:19-21

As these believers head out into new locations, what do they do? They continue to do what they learned to do in Jerusalem. And the result is that now, in Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch – which are in modern-day Lebanon and the island of Cyprus – these relatively new believers go to tell others and to share the Gospel.

In fact, they do a great work and see great results there in Antioch, and that new location, that new church where they would first be called Christians, becomes a church that may be considered amongst one of the greatest mission-sending churches of all time.

But what were their names? What were the names of these people who went to Antioch and began to share to Gospel, making disciples, and ultimately starting this church?

We don’t know.

The Bible doesn’t tell us their names.

We see that Barnabas comes later and he goes to get Saul to come teach the church for a year. We see the names of three other leaders in the church as we read the first few verses of Acts 13. But these first believers that escaped persecution and made a decision to continue to tell others in this crucial time? No, we don’t know their names, and that is a wonderful fact in the midst of this incredible work.

That is wonderful because, as I mentioned before, this was a critical time, and this was a critical decision. It would be much easier to retreat. It would be much easier to pull back and have a “personal faith”. It would be much easier to huddle together, to simply stay together without telling anyone else. After all, they were no longer in Jerusalem. The people around them didn’t necessarily speak the same language as them. The culture was different. And they didn’t have their leaders any longer. The apostles had stayed in Jerusalem. They were on their own. They were strangers in a strange land.

Yet they made the decision to be bold. With those that they could speak and proclaim the Gospel, they spoke and told others of the best news that they could possibly tell them: Jesus Christ is the Messiah for whom the world has waited and he offers them forgiveness of sins so that they can be reconciled to the one true, and only God, the creator of the world.

We should not care if the world knows our name. There is only one name that the world needs to know, the name of Jesus. He is the one to be lifted up. He is the one to be glorified. Our names can pass away, but his name will live forever. In him, we also will live forever, under his one and only name.

So like those that went before us, like those who left Jerusalem and went to Antioch, let us go and risk great things for him. Let us go to tell others of his name and how the world can know God, only through his name. Let us go to our neighbors, or let us go to another part of the world. God has different callings for each person, but this is the calling that Jesus has already given to each of us: To go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them also to obey what he taught us to do, lifting up one name and only one name – the name of Jesus.

The step that Peter took across Cornelius’s threshold to enter his house was a big one. Peter had make some significant strides forward in his maturity in Christ, but this one was one of the biggest. Physically speaking, Peter simply walked into a Gentile’s house, but it was a place that the Jews would consider to be “unclean”. Spiritually speaking, Peter just walked into a place that showed his understanding and acceptance of Christ as bigger than all of the Jewish traditions and prejudices against the Gentiles.

The passage reads as the conversion of Cornelius and his household, and it is. This entire house full of people is about the receive the Holy Spirit, the first time that Peter will have seen this amongst the Gentiles. But possibly in an even greater way, this passage shows Peter’s conversion, fully leaving behind the old, human ways of thinking that had bound him and taking on the way of God by entering into Cornelius’s house.

While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

Acts 10:27-28

How many people do we think of an “unclean”? I suspect that there might be quite a few. Those that are literally not clean, maybe they are dirty and smell bad. Or maybe those that come from cultures that are very different from ours. To us, what they eat or how they keep their home, or the way that they manage their society, is repulsive. It could even seem to be the very definition of “unclean” to us.

There could be many of these types of people, and even if we would affirm the idea in the company of others that we should be ready to go to these people, we frequently simply remain ready without actually going. There ends up being a difference in our public words and our true practice.

In Peter’s case, he needed to be taught, and thankfully, Jesus did teach him.

And we also have been taught. Through the example of Peter and many others, we can clearly see that which is God’s desire. He wants everyone to know him. Without prejudice. Without predetermination from a human perspective. He wants that all will go to the other person to tell them about him. That they also can be reconciled back to him through Jesus.

But like Peter, we can either be part of the problem, or we can be part of the solution. Peter could have chosen to ignore the vision that Jesus gave to him. Peter could have chosen to ignore the men who came to take him to Cornelius’s house. Peter could have stopped short of entering through the threshold of the home. He could have been what blocked the Gospel from going forward, but instead he became the conduit through which the Gospel came to Cornelius and his entire household. They received the Holy Spirit and were baptized.

Peter both learned a great lesson that day and went on to teach that same lesson to others, that God had given the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. But Peter only learned that lesson because he was willing to risk stepping over the threshold into Cornelius’s house.

Now, what about each of us? Will we learn the same lesson, pushing beyond that which, from our perspective, seems to be unclean? Will we be a block for the Gospel, or will we allow God to use us to bring forward the greatest story ever told and the greatest news ever heard? If we want God to use us, we will likely need to step over the threshold, take a risk, and allow him to work in the midst of that which seems to us to be unclean.

There is a saying amongst some missiologists, evangelists, and apostolic-type of people that goes something like this:

If you don’t do Acts 1:8, you may get Acts 8:1.

What in the world does that mean?

In Acts 1:8, just before ascending to heaven, Jesus had told his disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and then they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And so, what actually happens?

Jesus ascends to heaven, the Holy Spirit comes, Peter preaches, 3000 are baptized, and we see an amazing start to the church there in Jerusalem.

Yet, at least for a period of time, that is about as far as we see the church go. We don’t see that the people of the church went, nor were sent very far as they started the process of becoming the people of God that Jesus had told them that they would be. Depending on the timeline that you ascribe to, Acts 1 to Acts 8 may have happened over a period as little as one year to as much as three or four years. It is hard to say exactly, but the main point is that Jesus didn’t intend, and didn’t tell the disciples to go to Jerusalem to stay there. No, instead, he told them to stay there until they receive the Holy Spirit and then they would be his witnesses to the end of the earth.

When persecution comes for the disciples, we should see what happened as a result. What was the outcome of Stephen being killed and the persecution that broke out in Jerusalem?

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there

Acts 8:1-5

We see that there was great grief and mourning in the death and burial of Stephen, but his death was only the beginning. Saul came and began going from one house to the next, putting the believers in prison. He was working to destroy the church.

So, to avoid being thrown in prison, the believers were scattered and moved out of Jerusalem. Forcibly. They weren’t necessarily sent by the church, but they were sent out. They were sent out by the force of persecution. And how did God use this persecution?

Those who were scattered began to preach the word everywhere.

That which Jesus had told the disciples he wanted them to do began to happen. Even if it wasn’t under nice circumstances, or even if it wasn’t within the way that the church had planned it, the people of the church were scattered, they were sent, and thus God’s word was proclaimed everywhere.

We can even see with Philip, who was one of the 12 disciples, that Christ was preached in Samaria, just as Jesus had told his disciples to do. These were no longer the “pure” Jews that were hearing the word of God and following Christ. These were the hated Samaritans, the “half-breeds”, as they might have said, who had intermarried with the Assyrians as a result of colonization process by the Assyrian empire from centuries prior. And God is showing that the good news of Christ is for them as well as they hear the Gospel, believe in Jesus as the Messiah, and even receive Holy Spirit. Wonderful!

God is using these terrible circumstances for his glory. He is using the persecution of the believers to spread the word of God everywhere. God has, from the beginning, said that his image should fill the earth. Then Jesus told the disciples to make disciples amongst all nations, and he told his disciples that they would be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.

God has never intended that his people should stay in one place. His plan is not localized. His plan is that his people should make and execute a plan to fill the earth, reaching all people, going everywhere. No place should be excluded.

But to the extent that we do not do that, God will use any other means at his disposal…and what we see here in Acts 8 is that God can, and will, even use the evil of persecution for his purposes. Even in the midst of violence, God will turn the situation for his glory.

We should learn a lesson from what the first church in Jerusalem had experienced! We should join God in his plan. He does not intend that we stay in one place, but that we join him in doing what he is doing, to spread his image across the face of the earth, making disciples of all nations, as we go and become part of the fulfillment of his plan.

I’m good at coming up with a lot of different ideas. Ideas about doing this, or doing that, mostly in an effort to help the Gospel move forward, but sometimes also just thinking about how to create a project that will be ancillary in advancing the Gospel.

It is an important thing, I believe, to make sure that we do not sacrifice the work of sharing the Gospel or helping others understand and follow the word of God in favor, instead, of developing a project, even if it will be a help to the community, or eventually lead to the spread of the Gospel in a new way.

There was an example of this type of situation in the early church. In fact, it was even more challenging for them because apostles were facing a scenario where some of the widows in their community were not receiving the daily distribution of food. You might think that the right thing to do would be to stop everything and fix the problem. Or be the one to start taking the food to the widows so that the job would get done.

The apostles, though, knew that it was critical that they continue to speak, to preach, to declare the word of God. They knew that they had the responsibility to teach others. They had been with Jesus and they needed to help others understand who he is and how they also can follow him.

But of course, it is important that the widows receive food too! However, not at the expense of preaching and teaching the word of God:

So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

Acts 6:2-4

So they found 7 others. The first deacons, we might say. These seven men made sure that the food was distributed properly and that all of those who needed food received it.

And the result? The word of God spread! More and more people there in Jerusalem believed. And even a large number of priests, those from among the Jewish leaders, believed.

Both are necessary. We must care for people, but we absolutely cannot do the caring for others without speaking and proclaiming the word of God while obeying the command of Jesus to make his disciples. Many have believed that we can just do good deeds and the world will know that we follow Jesus because of this.

No they will not.

No one is wondering. No one is just going to ask you why you are a good person. No one is spending their time thinking about how they can be like you.

Yes, our deeds must match our words. But there must also be words.

There is a phrase that is misquoted to Francis of Assisi that says:

Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.

First, it is important to know that he didn’t say that. Francis most certainly encouraged the Francescan order to match their deeds to their words, but this isn’t necessarily a quote that can actually be attributed to him.

And second, it also runs against the words of scripture, contrary to what Jesus and other parts of the Bible teach. Jesus told us that we must make disciples, teaching them to obey everything that he commanded. Not even just teaching, but teaching to obey, to do what he said to do.

Or even, as Paul asked the church in Rome, how can they believe unless someone preaches to them…or for that matter, someone just tells them?

We must make our deeds follow and align with our words, but let’s not forget that we also must, as the first church did, speak the words of life, telling others about Christ and teaching them to follow him, doing what he said to do. In this way, we will also see the spread of the word of God and many come to know him.

Peter and John kept getting in trouble. They had previously been taken before the high priest and several of the other leaders and accused by the Sadducees of preaching of the resurrection. Now, they have been hauled before the Sanhedrin, the entire Jewish leadership council, to receive their judgment and punishment for having continued to preach and teach in Jesus’s name.

In the end, Gamaliel convinced the leaders in the Sanhedrin to let them go, saying that if what they are doing is from God, even they as the leaders of Israel wouldn’t be able to stop them. How right he was!

So they were beaten. Peter and John were flogged there in the Sanhedrin. And what did they do as they left? They didn’t go out complaining or licking their wounds that they had received as a result of the beating that they took.

They went rejoicing!

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Acts 5:41-42

How many of us would do the same? Most of our lives are built around trying to avoid pain. Most of our lives are built around trying to avoid shame, to avoid embarrassment.

But Peter and John knew that couldn’t be the story of their lives. They knew that they had experienced a new life, an eternal life. Even if their life would be cut short here on the earth, they had an eternal life to which they would look forward. Even if their life was considered to be an embarrassment by others here on the earth, they had an eternal life to which they would look ahead.

They rejoiced for the fact that they could be beaten, that they could be shamed, that they could be disgraced on account of Jesus’s name.

Did it feel good? Of course not. Were they masochists and want to keep receiving pain? I would assume they would not.

But in the end, did it matter to them? No. The only thing that mattered was the glory of Christ and that as many as possible could be saved and bring glory to Jesus’s name as well. That is what mattered, and is what still matters even today. And so we also should rejoice, even if – or maybe especially if – we are disgraced for the name of Jesus.

They were now leading a movement of more than 5000 men, Luke tells us in Acts 4. They not only saw the first 3000 join them on the day of Pentecost, but then subsequently, day by day, they continued to add more and more disciples as they went to the temple courts to preach and then meet as the Church, in fact the only church at that time, from house to house. They did this every day as this was the most important thing in their lives.

Of course, as the priests and the other Jewish leaders saw the disciples preaching and teaching the people, most especially in the temple courts, they were disturbed because they were teaching about Jesus, explaining to the people that he was the Messiah, that he had been killed by these same leaders, and that he had been resurrected. That upset the Sadducees, one particular sect of the Jewish leaders who claimed that resurrection was not possible, a position that many Jews had held, at least up until the time after the second temple was built.

Now, the Sadducees have Peter and John arrested as a result of their preaching the resurrection where they will then stand trial before all of the leaders, including the high priest of the time, Caiaphas. These same people that sent Jesus to his death through Pontius Pilate now had Peter and John in their hands and were making their plans on what they can do.

However, they had a challenge on their hands. First, Peter and John had performed a miracle by healing a man who was lame and could not walk. Now this man was walking around.

But second, these were just ordinary guys:

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Acts 4:13

So here, in some fashion, God was just using ordinary men who were performing miracles and teaching new teachings about Jesus, whom they had just recently killed. Everything that they were doing, everything that they were teaching, and everything that Peter and John stood for, stood in opposition to these Jewish leaders. God wasn’t using them. He wasn’t using high priest and the leaders. Their words weren’t being confirmed by miracles. And the people weren’t lining up behind them in droves in the same way. How can this be?

What Caiaphas and the other leaders noted was right: They had been with Jesus. They knew him. They taught what Jesus had taught. They did what Jesus had done.

And now, so much more.

What Jesus had done, what Jesus had told them, what Jesus had commissioned them to be and do was all being realized and coming true. It was starting. It was happening. It was moving forward, but it wasn’t happening with the “wise” or the “learned”, but it was happening through the simple. It was happening through the unschooled and the ordinary.

The difference? They had been with Jesus.

We also can do the same. We also receive the Holy Spirit and we can be with Jesus. We can be a people who spend time with him, who learn from him, who become his disciples. And when we do so, we can help others to come alive in Christ. Just as we see Peter and John carrying the message of Christ, the message of resurrection and new life to all of humanity who are spiritually dead in their sins, we also can do the same.

But we must walk with him. We must be with him. This cannot happen on our own. Instead, as Jesus said, we must remain connected to him. He is the true vine. We are the branches.

One way in which we do this here is to do what we call a “band” study and then meet together weekly to encourage one another and walk with one another. We also can walk with Christ, abide with him, and this allows us to be just ordinary people who can take this same message that Peter and John took to the people, also to those around us, such that Jesus would be known and others can live in him.

Peter reached down and grabbed the lame man’s hand, pulling him to his feet. He told the man, who was begging for money at the temple gate, that he didn’t have any money, but he did have the power of Jesus Christ within him.

Peter gave the man the ability to walk. Now the man could go on to work for himself, no longer begging by the gate as he had done day after day depending on others to give him a few coins, but instead he could walk!

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.

Acts 3:6-7

The people who were there at the temple came to see Peter. The man had gone into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. What a great miracle had been done for a man who could previously not walk!

Yet Peter doesn’t go on to tell the people about the gift of healing people. He doesn’t tell the people about how they too can lay their hands on people, if only they believe and receive the Holy Spirit.

No, he tells them about a much greater miracle than that. Peter tells them about how the dead came alive. He tells them about the resurrection.

And why?

Peter knows that they too can come alive. The people don’t even realize that they are dead before God, but in Jesus they will be made alive. They don’t realize that they are the walking dead, destined for judgment. But in Jesus, they can be changed into who they were made to be, living as a new creation in the image of God!

The miracle is the confirmation of what Peter is telling the people. The miracle is the power of the kingdom of God breaking into the physical world. Yet we should not look to be the person who just wants the miracle. We should seek the one who can do all things and know him. We must know Jesus so that we who have been dead can come alive in him because what he has, he desires to also give to us.

It is sort of a “whodunnit?” type of story. Or maybe, as is common even today, you could say it was a grand conspiracy.

Jesus was killed, condemned and sent to his death, after being found innocent by his judge. How is that possible?

For some time, the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, all searched for ways to kill him. Jesus was speaking against them. He undermined their power. He spoke of their hypocrisy. And so they looked for ways in which they could get rid of him.

In the end, these leaders, with the chief priest leading the way, created accusations that they knew would bring the crowds over to their side. They created a mob, and they whipped up the mob to such an extent that they called for the death of a man who had not done anything wrong. And even worse, they let a man go who was guilty of murder and insurrection. Everything in this scene, everything in the way that these people were acting, was upside-down!

But they didn’t have the power to kill Jesus. They could murder him, but then they would have to answer to the state. They would have to answer to the Roman government. No, the Jews weren’t able to kill him themselves. They somehow needed to convince the Roman government to do it for them. They needed a way for the Romans to condemn Jesus because then they would no longer have this guilt on their hands because they could point the finger at the Romans. It would be the Romans’ fault that Jesus had died.

And the Jews thought that they had a good reason to bring Jesus before them for judgment and execution. If there was anything that the Romans would not put up with, if there was truly any unforgivable sin, it would be to lead a coup in an attempt to overthrow the Romans. Allegiance to caesar was of paramount importance. Disloyalty to the Roman government would not be tolerated.

And so this is the charge that the Jewish leaders bring to Pilate. He claims to be the Messiah, a king! He claims to be the king of the Jews!

Pilate asked him, probably with a little bit of a scoff and a smirk as he looked at the man standing in front of him, “Is that right?”

“You have said so,” Jesus answered.

Pilate sees through the ruse that the Jewish leaders are trying to pull over on him. He doesn’t believe it for a second. In fact, he immediately pronounces Jesus to be innocent. No way. There is no possible way that this man is leading a revolution against the Roman government. Just look at him! Does he have an army following him? This is not the work of a coming king who is looking to overthrow the Roman rule.

And yet, through a series of maneuvers and in his desire to keep the peace, or be liked, or whatever his ultimate motivation really was, Pontius Pilate ends up deciding to send Jesus to his death. He condemns him to a horiffic death on the cross with a sign hanging over Jesus’s head that says, in all likelihood a taunt to the Jews and a sign of Roman dominance, The King of the Jews.

But was it the Jews or the Romans that should receive the blame? Should the Jewish leaders be to blame because they instigated and initiated Jesus’s condemnation? Or should it instead be the Romans who should receive the blame because they carried out the sentence of condemnation of an innocent man?

The answer is Yes, both are to blame, and yet the answer is also No, they aren’t fully to blame. Why? Because there is another party in the mix of this conversation that I haven’t yet mentioned. Who is that?

It is God himself.

After Jesus returned to heaven and the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Jerusalem, Peter stood up and began to speak. He explained what had really happened, what was truly going on in their midst:

Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

Acts 2:22-23

Upon whom does Peter place the blame for Jesus’s death? He is addressing the Jews as he says “Fellow Israelites”, and he says that Jesus was placed in his hands, but whose plan does he actually say it is that Jesus would be given to the Jews? It is God! It is God’s plan. He is the one who made the plan to kill Jesus. He knew in advance what he was going to do. God is the one who used the jealousy and anger of the Jews, in connection with “wicked men”, speaking of Pontius Pilate and the Romans, to kill Jesus. It was God’s plan that brought Jesus to his death!

We can see this prophecied and foreshadowed in several places throughout the Old Testament, although none would be more clear in explaining God’s plan than Isaiah 53. Specifically, we can look at the last few verses of the chapter:

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:10-12

This man is clearly identified as being crushed and suffering as a payment for the sins of the people. But what is more important is the alignment of what Isaiah says with what Peter said: It is the Lord’s will. It is God’s plan. In fact, God himself is the one offering Jesus as an offering for the forgiveness of sins. This is God’s plan.

So, who really killed Jesus? Thank God, it was God who, in his love and mercy for his people, who offered himself in the person of Jesus to be an offering, a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.

After Jesus was resurrected and was preparing to return to the Father, he was sitting one day and eating with his disciples. He had told them previously that he would send the Holy Spirit, but now he told them to make sure and stay there in Jerusalem to wait for the gift that was to come, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist had also spoken about this very same thing. He had told his disciples that he wasn’t even worthy to untie the laces of the sandles of the Messiah because he only baptized with water, but true power was on the way:

“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

John 1:26-27

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

John 1:32-34

John saw it. He knew what was happening. He understood who Jesus truly was, which put him in the place of understanding who he truly was. Yes, people from all over Judea were coming to him to repent and be baptized, but he knew that he himself was actually nothing in comparison to the real power that came from heaven, the real power that will be given by God’s Chosen One, the Messiah, Jesus Christ himself.

John knew that this is what counted. Yes, from a human perspective, we can take the action of walking into water and being baptized by others. This happens in the physical world such that we can see it. It becomes a testimony of the decision that we have made. A sign of the change that has happened within us as a result of God’s work in our life.

But as we stand before God, what truly counts is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are made alive before God. No longer spiritually dead, we are instead now given new life! We are spiritually resurrected and made to be a new creation before the Lord. This is who we are and the new identity that he has given to us.

So Jesus confirms what John had said to his disciples. He tells his disciples:

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:4-5

The Holy Spirit will change everything. It will be the release of the power of God, first upon the disciples, and then upon all believers in Christ. It is a gift that God will continue to give to others Jews who believe as well, now also, to the Gentiles.

The Holy Spirit will completely change the people in whom he comes to dwell. He will move the disciples from timidity to amazing boldness. He will change them from prejudice against the Gentiles to acceptance and love, and he will help them to leave their lives driven by the flesh to instead live lives of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These things, and so much more will be the marks of the change that the Holy Spirit will bring upon the lives of the disciples who will receive him.

And as we stand before God, the Holy Spirit is what makes the difference. God “marks” us with the Holy Spirit, sealing us within his kingdom, as part of his people. This is how God knows, and we know, that we are his, that we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and we are walking according to the Spirit, no longer according to our flesh because Jesus has baptized us with his Holy Spirit.

Doing the work that we do now in a spiritual or a “religious” context has given me a front row seat to how we, as human beings, align ourselves within hierarchies. For no other reason that I can discern than I tend to be the speaker and therefore teach others, and maybe – or, being honest, I would tend to say likely – also that I am an American and it seems that am frequently considered to be one who has money and can be financially or influentially helpful to others, I frequently have conversations where people tell me that they want to do the “work of God” for me, or as part of an organization together.

I’m not saying that organizations are bad, but Jesus warned his disciples against this tendency to create the hierarchies of people who are over and those that are under.

In fact, the disciples were having an argument about who was the greatest amongst them when Jesus rebuked them to explain how they were to relate to one another:

Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Luke 22:25-30

The kings of the Gentiles called themselves the Benefactors, but what were they really doing? They were lording over those who were under them. They were using their money to assume influence and power. Those that were being paid were being told by the others what to do. Not because it was right. Not because it was the leading of God that showed them the way, but because it was what that king wanted.

That Gentile king wanted to build his kingdom. He wanted his own power. Not the kingdom of God, but a kingdom with his name upon it. His power. His money. His influence.

And it is for this reason that the king would lord over the others, forcing them to do what he wanted them to do through the use of his money. Calling himself a Benefactor, but acting as a king in the place of God.

And this is what Jesus was warning his disciples against. Don’t do this. Don’t be like this! No, instead, be like the one who serves. Don’t try to determine who is the greatest. Those who do that act like the Gentile kings because they are trying to build their own kingdoms. No, instead, be like one who serves. “Do as I have done”, to paraphrase Jesus.

Jesus conferred a kingdom upon the disciples. It is the same kingdom that we are a part of even today. But it is not a kingdom where we become the kings. Jesus is the king. He is the one who rules over this kingdom. He made the disciples to be the judges to rule over the 12 tribes of Israel, but he is still the king. He is the head. None of us are, nor will be. Instead, our role is to be the servant. Regardless of what we do. Regardless of what we look like from a human perspective. Regardless of the accolades that others might give or whom others seem to say of us, we are each just servants at the table, and we must remain servants at the table. That is our role.

Jesus came as a servant despite being a king. We must continue his example and follow his lead as we work within his kingdom to God’s glory.