Acts Study Guide - Chapters 5, 6, & 7.pages

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CITY LIFE GROUP STUDY QUESTIONS

Acts Chapters 5, 6 & 7 Important Verses You Need To Know: But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4 ESV) Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. (Acts 7:54-57 ESV) Park Here: In chapter 5 we are introduced to two groups of disciples, some are obedient and some are not. We then see signs and wonders done by the apostles which results in arrests being made by the religious leaders of Jerusalem. In chapter 6 we see deacons chosen by the church elders to help assist the church community. We then see one of these deacons live out his Christianity even in great trial leading to death. In chapter 7 Stephen gives a profound speech declaring the gospel from the OT all the way to Jesus. These chapters end with our first martyrdom of the early church and show the differences again between the obedient followers of Christ and those that are not. Think Chapters 5: It’s easy to understand why—in the face of uncertainty and persecution—the early church would huddle up and pool their resources. There is strength in numbers and comfort in community. We, as contemporary Western Christians, fail to feel this same urgency toward connecting to others—even to our Christian brothers and sisters. Our culture, for the most part, elevates individual responsibility over communal mutuality or group solidarity. Independence is viewed as a virtue while dependence is generally seen as a weakness. Without the perceived pressures to share, many don’t. For the first disciples, however, the need for community came as a confrontation. It was in their face—an issue to be dealt with earnestly. Survival, for the early church, meant interdependence. Individuals needed the group, and the group relied on individuals. If someone failed to contribute in a meaningful way, the whole community felt it. Regardless of the cultural whispers that might suggest otherwise, the Church’s situation today is no different. There are real needs in the community of faith—needs, that when left unmet, affect not just the needy but everyone. Interdependence, now like then, is God’s divine way of ordering people (1 Cor. 12:12-31), and where other, more selfserving structures are introduced, bodies hit the floor (Acts 5:5, 10). Where Luke, the author of Acts, reports of the early church and their community, “There was not a needy person among them (Acts 4:34),” Ananias and Sapphira soon threaten that ideal. Rather than stewarding their goods for the benefit of others, the couple covets their own possessions and lies about the sale. Greed and dishonesty threaten the health of the emerging church, and God’s judgment is swift. How far many of us need to go to where we begin to see our resources differently—as not belonging to ourselves but belonging to others—to the family of God.

Think Chapters 6 & 7: The freedom to choose is a big deal to most people. To choose between alternatives is what makes us human, some would say. You could argue that humans always choose that which they desire the most. If I choose a donut over a carrot, for example, it’s because I most desired the donut. On the other hand, if I choose the carrot over the donut, the choice was no less genuine. I desired the carrot, not for the immediate sugary satisfaction that the donut could provide, but perhaps because in that moment my long-term health proved more desirable. The point is, what I find most desirable, I choose. It cannot be otherwise. While God is not a pastry or a vegetable, He does present Himself and His glory in this way, as most desirable, and those who behold it are forever changed. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. This comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). Those who have seen God in all His glory are compelled to follow, for He is most desirable. They will, in freedom, chase after Him because they cannot do otherwise, and this is no paradox. Stephen the disciple, full of grace and power and doing great wonders and signs among the people, was someone captured by this vision and transformed to greater degrees of glory. Even as stones crashed into him, he saw into heaven and was compelled by that display of glory to choose Christ as more desirable than even life itself. Adversity will surely come for us all. Perhaps not to the degree of martyrdom, but all forms of multiplication—from evangelizing the lost, to home groups birthing new groups, to campuses becoming autonomous churches—come at a cost. If we fail to behold the glory of the Lord, we will cease to move forward. We will rather choose what is most immediately satisfying. We will choose the donut.

Just Do It: 1. • Make it a discipline to regularly give financially to the church. 2. • Find a place to faithfully serve in the church. 3. • Intentionally practice delayed gratification. 4. • Pursue relationships with those who are different from you. 5. • Maneuver yourself spiritually into a position where you can continually gaze into heaven 6. and behold God’s glory. 7. • Review your life in the church—the rituals, customs and traditions that have or still mean church to you. Lay them against Scripture and consider how the Spirit may be challenging your presuppositions. 8. • Consider how you might respond to new challenges presented by your church leadership regarding multiplication in the face of what is comfortable.

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