The first some of us had to learn at school. The second you would probably have had to look up in an encyclopedia, just as I did. But - so what? Both sets of facts have probably had an influence on our lives - fairly remotely! They are part of the large number of "givens" that we didn't decide, can't change and usually ignore!
But there is a God! He is the Creator and Lord! He has revealed himself as the Father who has loved us with an everlasting love, as the Son who came into our human history and give his life for our human sin and the Spirit, hidden but still at work to bring us to faith in Jesus as our Saviour, to restore us to a right relation to God and to complete that work of salvation within us!
Just some more facts from the encyclopedia? No! These facts require a response, a verdict - they deeply and closely affect us, they might revolutionise our life, we cannot ignore them!
Peter had told the people about Jesus - a man with divine authority. You put him to death. But this was part of God's own plan and God has raised him from death. "All the people of Israel, then, are to know for sure that this Jesus, whom you crucified, is the one that God has made Lord and Messiah!"
The people were deeply troubled. When they had called out "Crucify him!", they really thought they were doing the right thing - both by God and by their nation. Jesus was a trouble-maker and good riddance! That at least was the message their leaders had pushed with them - and they had believed it! But was this really the Messiah that they had killed? And he's alive? That was just a bit scary! If they had done that to the Messiah, what might he do to them? They had crucified him - God had made him Messiah - no wonder they were deeply troubled!
They said to Peter and the other apostles, "What shall we do, brothers?" They felt caught - trapped by their own gullibility, persuaded by their leaders, swayed by the mood of public opinion. What shall we do?
"Each one of you must turn away from his sins and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit. For God's promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away - all whom the Lord our God calls to himself."
When Jesus was dying on the cross, he prayed, "Father, forgive them - they don't know what they are doing!" Forgiveness is available for those who have rejected him, for those who have called out against him, for those who had him crucified, who watched him die.
God's plan was forgiveness. That doesn't make their violent actions any less theirs! The love of God and the hatred of the crowd flowed together in an act in which forgiveness is made possible for that crowd and for all people of all times. God's promise of forgiveness and of a whole new relationship with himself in this age of the Spirit is for everyone!
What shall we do? Repent - turn away from your sins and turn to God. Be sorry, not just for this particular sin, but for all your sins. Come to the one whom you have tried to remove from the scene. He isn't here to repay you for your rejection, but to forgive you and welcome you! Come and receive his forgiveness, his welcome!
And three thousand of them believed the message and were baptised.
"They spent their time learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers."
These people were not going to be content to "take on board" a new view of Jesus - like a new set of facts that we might add to what we already know. This new view of Jesus represented for them a new direction, a whole new way of life. It would affect everything they would do from this point on. It would be nothing short of revolutionary.
So they had made the first part of the response - they had believed the message and repented of their sins. As a sign of this repentance and faith, they had been baptised. They had crossed over from resistance to God's plan in Jesus to become part of the on-going movement of God's Spirit through his new people.
But what next? How were they to go forward from this point? How could they grow in this new relationship with their Lord? How could they together become part of the Body that would take this message to the ends of the world - even to Australia?
We notice carefully the pattern of early Church life. They spent their time in learning from the apostles - the apostles' doctrine the old Bible put it. The apostles, of course, were the ones who had been with Jesus. They had seen his miracles, heard his teaching... In a special way they were to interpret to all the believers what had happened. How and where this took place we aren't told. As the number of believers grew it would become increasingly difficult in a whole group and under the leadership of the twelve alone. In time there had to be other leaders and it became increasingly important that the apostles' doctrine came to be written down - became Scripture. This was a lengthy process and they didn't say, "Let's write the New Testament" - though that is what happened over a period of time.
How important for us to learn from the apostles! Do you have that hunger to learn more, to grow in your understanding of God and his ways, to deepen your relationship with God? It was a passion of these early believers. Read. Learn. Grow.
They spent their time in fellowship. This is one of those words that we use very loosely. The Greek word really means sharing together, holding in common, joint participation. Becoming a Christian is an individual commitment, but you can't be a Christian in isolation. You are part of a family, sharing in common the one Father, the one Saviour, the one Holy Spirit. For those early Christians, it was not just in the big meetings together to learn that they shared. The record goes on to tell us that they freely shared their belongings with one another and had meals together. In the rapid growth of the Church, the smaller groups for fellowship became essential.
They also shared in the fellowship meals - "the breaking of bread." This was, of course, a reminder of the meal that Jesus had with his disciples on the night he was betrayed. They would have continued to share that special sacramental meal as he had directed. Yet in another sense, every meal they had together was a reminder of the body that had been given for them.
And the prayers. A hundred and twenty of them had met for prayer in the upper room before the day of Pentecost. But now all the new believers were joining together regularly for seasons of prayer.
For us too, the same gospel message calls us to repentance and faith. That is always the beginning point in our response to God. That is what brings us forgiveness and leads us into God's family.
But... what next? For all Christians, and for the Church today, the four essential elements of the early church continue to be our priorities - learning from the apostles (feeding on the Scriptures), fellowship (we need one another), fellowship meals (and the reminder of the body of Christ given for us and created through us) and prayers (the continuing relationship with our Lord himself.
Reflect deeply on what God has done. Respond daily to him.
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