Transcript

INTRO:  Good afternoon and welcome back to the Sunday School Podcast, the pod all about digging deeper into the Bible using social, historical, and scientific context.  I’m Sean Parker, and today we’re going to talk about the early church.

This is the church in the first century AD.  AD is short for Anno Domini, which means the year of our Lord.  Jesus’s coming had such an impact on the world that we mark our calendars by it.  His early followers believed so strongly in His teachings, that they took his message all across the known world of that time.  They sold their possessions, lived hard lives, and many ultimately went to their brutal deaths in His name.

The foundation of the early church was built on a rock.  As it says in Matthew 16:18

18And I tell you, 

you are Peter, and 

on this rock

 I will build my church, and 

the gates of 

hell shall not prevail against it.

(Transition)

According to Acts 11:26 the term Christian was first used in Antioch.  It says:

For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

This was the first time a distinct delineation was officially made between the new church and the traditional Jewish faith.  As the early church’s leaders would show, Christianity wasn’t intended to be a replacement, but rather a continuation of that faith.  

In Acts chapter 7, Stephen would address the Sanhedrin to discuss this very thing.  He gave a lengthy discourse on the history of the OT.  He showed that throughout Israel’s history, God’s people rejected all the prophets sent by God.  The point he was making was that Israel was repeating their past mistakes, by rejecting God’s Messiah.  They stoned him for it.

The early church dealt with a lot of persecution.  Dealing with persecution, then boldly ignoring it to further the church’s cause was kind of the theme of the entire book of Acts.

The suffering of the early church should strengthen our faith.  They knew the truth of Jesus’s resurrection.  They were willing to suffer horrible atrocities to share that truth with others.  How much more willing should we be to share the gospel?

Most of the persecution faced by the early church came from Jews who had rejected Jesus.  One man was particularly hostile towards the new Christians.  His name was Saul.  In just a moment, I’ll tell you how a divine encounter on a Damascus road, would lead Saul to change the direction of the early church forever.

(Promo)

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(Transition)

Saul was a member of a religious order known as the Pharisees.  They were one of two major sects that held power in Jewish culture during Jesus’s time.  The other sect being the Sadducees.  The Sanhedrin, which was a 70 member supreme court, was composed of both Pharisees and Sadducees, so both parties held an amount of political power.

Christianity posed a great threat to that power, so the Pharisees and Sadducees persecuted the early church severely.  Chief among those persecutors was Saul.  Saul was a prominent Pharisee, in that he studied under Gamaliel.  Gamaliel was a prominent Jewish leader, who actually came to the defense of the early apostles in Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5:34-40

34But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, 

a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36For 

before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, 40and 

when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 

Gamaliel’s words would ironically ring true.  Had the Chrisitan religion been built on lies, it never would have been able to rise above the early pressures and persecution.  Perhaps, Saul remembered these words spoken by his teacher when he is later converted on the road to Damascus.

Saul was headed to Damascus to arrest new Christian converts.  He has been persecuting Christians for some time now, and was even present at the stoning of the first documented Christian martyr, Stephen.

But, while on his way to Damascus, he is confronted by none other than Jesus himself.  Jesus appeared in a blinding light.  He asks, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Saul, recognizing being in the presence of God, asks, “Who are you, Lord?”

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Saul believes, is baptized, and immediately begins to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues.

Can you think of anyone with a better testimony?  If I were founding the early church, I likely wouldn’t have chosen one of its chief persecutors as one of its early leaders.  Thankfully, however, God’s plans don’t follow human “wisdom.”

God would use Saul to spread Christianity to the Gentile nations.  Gentiles being those not of Jewish descent.  Gentiles make up most Christians today.  Most Jews rejected Jesus.  They had expected God’s Messiah to come and gloriously remove them from bondage, and establish an eternal kingdom.

Jesus did just that, but not in the way they expected.  They had misunderstood or ignored the prophecies of Isaiah foretelling of Jesus suffering on the cross.  But despite the opposition of the majority of Israel, the early church would still flourish.

The spread of Chrisitianity in the first century could only be described as directed by the hand of God.  12 regular men were called to follow Jesus.  Those twelve grew into about a hundred and fifty disciples.  At Pentacost, about 3000 lives were added to the church.  To that number, the lord added daily those who were being saved. “Believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:14). In Jerusalem, “the disciples multiplied greatly;” even “a great many” of the Jewish priests were “obedient to the faith” (6:7). In Samaria, “the multitudes with one accordheeded the things spoken by Philip” (8:6); “both men and women were baptized” (8:12). Indeed, “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria…continued to increase” (9:31, NASB)

What is stopping the church from growing today?  Why aren’t we following the early church’s example?  Most of us live in a country where we are free to practice our faith, yet we allow ourselves to be shut down by the mild persecution of a troll on Twitter.  We are allowing our culture to be consumed by idolatry and antitheism.  

The men of the early church were bold.  They were filled with the Holy Spirit and driven to take the saving message of Jesus to all the nations.  They met fierce opposition.  Opposition that we don’t have to face today.  They were willing to die for their cause, and most of them did.  Yet, that didn’t stop them.

It’s like Paul’s teacher Gamaliel said, “So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

When the church of today is following God’s will, nothing should be able to overthrow us.  Let’s be bold today for Christ.

Outro:  As always, I hope you enjoyed this episode.  If you did, don’t forget to leave a review in whatever player you use to listen to podcasts.  

Don’t forget to subscribe.  New episodes are released every Sunday.  God bless!