Why Acts 2 Is NOT the Birth of the Church — Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to have everybody back again, and this is another afternoon of taping four programs for those of you that are watching us on television, and if those of you living in the Tulsa area ever would like to be part of our television class, well, you give the station a call or give us a call. We've put our 800 number on the board today. And again, for all of you who have been writing to us and helping us with support, all I can say is thank you from the depths of my heart. How I love most of all the letters that say, don't ever change a thing. Keep it simple, and that's what we intend to do. So we trust that we're reaching hearts that probably otherwise would never be reached. We can tell from our letters that a lot of folk are getting their eyes open to some things that they never knew were in this Book, and as I've mentioned so often, we aren't trying to build a following or anything like that. We have no one underwriting us. We're not connected with any group. We're just simply an informal Bible teaching class, and we trust that even those of you watching from your home will just feel that you're a part of us. All right, now today we're going to jump right into where we left off in our last program, and that would be Acts chapter 2. We more or less finished with verse 38, but let's back up to verse 36 again so we get the backdrop of this tremendous chapter, as Pentecost has now come 50 days after the crucifixion, and I maintain that it's a Jewish holiday. It is a Jewish crowd, a Jewish speaker, and I know, and I'll have to do a little explaining here, I know that I suppose 90-95% of Christendom feels that Acts chapter 2 is the birth of the Church, the Body of Christ. And I taught it that way for ever so long, and I was always uncomfortable because there were so many things that just didn't fit. There was just so much language in here that does not correlate with what we understand as Church doctrines. So I make no apology for the fact that I'm going to be pointing out some things that are probably contrary to tradition, but don't think for a moment that I don't know what traditional teaching is, and that is that here's where you have the beginning of the Gentile Body of Christ. But I say, how can it be, because of the language, because of the setting, and I'll be explaining my position more clearly as we go along. But right now, as we look at chapter 2, even if you drop back all the way up to verse 22, just look at the language that Peter uses, and it's plain English. I know it wasn't spoken in English, but it is for us, it's plain English, "...ye men of Israel," and that doesn't include Gentiles, as I read language. These were Jews at a Jewish feast day in the temple area. This wasn't a Gentile meeting, this was Jews. And then as you come down to where I said first, verse 36, now Peter says, "...therefore, after all that he had laid out in the previous verses, how that they had crucified their Messiah, that it was prophesied back in the Psalms, that he must suffer, that he must die, but that he be raised from the dead." So this wasn't anything new to Scripture. And then he comes down and he says, "...therefore, let all the house of Israel," and he doesn't say, "...and you Gentiles." He leaves it at that, "...therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, Lord and Christ." Now I don't want to ever be accused of being anti-Semitic by pointing out that Peter now puts the blame upon the nation of Israel. I am by no stretch of the imagination anti-Semitic. And I know that here in Acts, Peter will over and over lay the blame for the crucifixion on the Jewish nation. And of course they precipitated it. But never lose sight of the fact of what Psalms chapter 2 said in verse 1, that the kings of the earth and the people would consort together. And so the whole human race is guilty of having crucified the Messiah. But here Peter is dealing with the nation of Israel on covenant ground, and he's pointing out that they, who should have known better, rejected the one that God had sent to fulfill that Abrahamic covenant as well as the others. So I just don't want to be misunderstood when I point out that Peter says, "...you killed the Christ." Now verse 37, "...so when they heard this, the Spirit is convicting them, and they were pricked in their heart. And they said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And we laid that out so clearly, I trust, in the last program, that here the pronoun is we. God is dealing with the nation of Israel. And so the question was so appropriate. What must we, the nation, do? And then Peter's answer, and I compared that with Paul's answer last time with the Philippian jailer, Peter says, "...repent and be baptized every one of you." Now if you haven't before underlined that every one, because again I'm going to bring it out in chapter 3 where he uses that same identical statement. Every one. And of course the idea was that if every Jew, if every Israelite would have done just that, repented of their national sin, had they recognized that the one they killed was indeed their Messiah and their King, chapter 3 tells us God would have sent Christ at that time to be their King and yet set up the kingdom. So don't lose sight of that. Alright, so he says, "...repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Now as I teach these early chapters of Acts, I'm constantly reminding my class people, look for death, burial, and resurrection as a means of salvation. Look for it. Now you're going to have to look real hard, because it's not there. Now if it's not there, we have no right of putting it there. But the emphasis all through these early chapters is that they were to believe in the what? The Name. See? You were to believe in the Name of Jesus Christ. What did the Name imply? Who He was. And going all the way back to our studies in Matthew, when Jesus asked the Twelve, way up there in Caesarea Philippi, just shortly before the crucifixion, back in Matthew 19, He says, "...whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?" And they said, oh, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're a prophet, and so on and so forth. And then Jesus pointed, I think, right at Peter, and He says, "...but whom do you say that I am?" And what was Peter's answer? "...thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Period. He doesn't say, the one who died for me, the one who will be raised from the dead. He doesn't know that. And so the whole premise of Christ's earthly ministry to the nation of Israel was they were to keep the Law. He never told them, you're not under the Law. He lived under the Law. Israel was under the Law. But along with that, now they were to believe who He was. He was the Christ. Peter hasn't changed one iota. The only difference is now Christ has died, has been buried, and has been raised from the dead, and ascended back to glory, but not a word yet that salvation is now made available because of it. All right? So all He says is, repent and be baptized for the remission of sin. All right, now let's go on then and make a little headway here. Verse 39, "...for the promise is unto you." Now never lose sight of that verse in John's Gospel. He came unto whom? His own. And His own received Him not. All right? Keep this all in mind, that it's to the nation of Israel that He came, and here Peter is still dealing with the nation of Israel, "...for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off." Now some people think that that's a reference to Gentiles. I can't see that, because where were Jews at this time? From one end of the empire to the other. They had already been dispersed at the Babylonian captivity. Only a few came back. Most of them stayed out in Babylon, and then scattered. Earlier the ten tribes had been taken up into Syria. They never came back. So you had Jews all over the then known world. And so this is what I think He's referring to when He says, "...to those who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." In other words, those that would be brought in to a knowledge of salvation, even as Jews. Now verse 40, "...and with many other words did He," Peter, "...testify, and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Now think a minute. What was this generation of Jews guilty of? Rejecting, crucifying, see? And He says, don't identify yourself with those people. Come out from that thinking that He was an imposter, He was a blasphemer, He was just a carpenter's son. Separate yourself from that thinking, and come to realize that He was who He said He was. He was the Christ. All right? Verse 41, here's another verse, "...I used to twist this as far out of shape as anybody could do it." And I'm as guilty as anybody. Use this verse for years to get people to do something. "...And they that were gladly," or, "...they that gladly received His Word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Now, what did John the Baptist do? As soon as they repented, he baptized, see? And those believers became a separated group of Jews, even then already. Now you have the same thing here. It's just a furtherance of that same message, only now, of course, the finished work of the cross has been consummated so that God, so that God could save these people now based on the shed blood. But see, there's nothing to indicate in here as yet that these people are believing what we call the Gospel. And when I say the Gospel today, I think you all know what I'm talking about. First Corinthians 15, the first four verses where Paul says, "...and I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received." How that? Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. First Corinthians 15, that's the Gospel. But see, you don't see that in here. You don't see a word that Christ died for them, but rather it was what? You killed Him. And I pointed that out in the last program. What a total difference. So then they were added to this group of believers. Now I don't know if I'm going to have time in this 30 minutes, but we're going to define what the word church is all about in the New Testament, and it isn't always what people think it is. All right, so now then verse 42, "...they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine." What apostles are we talking about? Well the 12. And what did these 12 men know? Well not much more than that Christ had come and He'd fulfilled all the Old Testament promises. He had presented Himself as the King, as the Messiah, but Israel had rejected Him. So that's as much as they could go. I didn't intend to do this right now. I thought I might do it a little later in the afternoon, but I might as well do it now because I'm always afraid I'm being misunderstood, and it's very easy to do. Honey, we're going to go to 2 Peter, the little letters of 2 Peter, the last chapter. I think it's chapter 3, 2 Peter, chapter 3, drop down to verse 15, and again I want the camera on these verses because there's a lot of people out there, well -intentioned, well-churched, they don't know these verses are in their Bible. I know because I've had too many of them in my classes. 2 Peter, chapter 3, drop down to verse 15. Now remember Peter is writing these epistles just shortly before he's martyred. So this takes us up to about 65, 66, maybe 67 A.D., and in 70 A.D. the temple is destroyed and Israel goes out into dispersion. So we're toward the end now of Peter's ministry. Paul's letters have already been written for the most part. They may not all have been circulated that much yet, but they've been written. And now look what Peter writes, and account, understand, take it to heart, that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. He's not willing that any should perish, remember? Even Peter says, as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you. Verse 16, as also in all his epistles, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians, Galatians, those are his epistles. Peter says, even in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, well, what things? Those that pertain to salvation, in which, reading on in verse 16, in which are some things hard to be understood. Now this is Peter writing, by inspiration. And bless his heart, at the end of his life he still can't quite put everything together that Paul has brought on the scene. So when some people come to me and they have questions, they say, well, I've never heard this before. I say, well, don't feel bad. Peter spent three years with the Lord Himself. Peter preached from Pentecost on, filled with the Holy Spirit. And yet when Paul came on the scene and had been on the scene, had written his letters, Peter still by inspiration had to admit there was so much of that that he couldn't comprehend. That's what the book says. I'm not saying that. The book says, Peter writes, in which are some things hard to be understood. That is, of course, as a well-founded, indoctrinated Jew. All right, read on. Which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, or twist. And that's what people have been doing with the Scriptures ever since Peter wrote it. They twist the Scriptures so that it fits what they think it should say. I'm always reminded of an evangelist I heard a few years ago, and I think it was so appropriate, and this is what's happening constantly. He was a young man of about 13, and he was in a group that did not believe in the literal, physical, Second Coming of Christ. And so he went to his pastor one day, and he said, now pastor, I know that you don't preach that Christ is going to return visibly and physically, but yet here this verse is in Zechariah that says, plain as day, that his feet will stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. He said, what do you do with that? And the pastor looked at him as a 13-year-old boy, and he said, well, young man, that doesn't mean what it says. So he said he turned around and left, and figured, well, he's the pastor. He should know. He said, when I reached the age of 20, again it began to bother me that why is this verse totally ignored by our people? So he said, by that time we had a different pastor. So he said, I went into that one, and I showed him the verse, and I said, now pastor, what do you do with a verse like this? And he said, oh, don't let it bother you. He said, that's apocalyptic. Well, he said, that was a great big word that went right over my head. But I thought again, well, he's the preacher. He must know what he's talking about. And he says, I dropped it for a while. But he said, by the time I was 25, he said, the Lord began to open my eyes, and he said, I saw that I had been misled. And he said, I saw that what I was really looking at at the age of 13 was more right than the people that I was asking. Well, you see, this is what we're plagued with. We are plagued with traditional views, and people hear it from the pulpit, and they say, well, that's it. You know, that's what the preacher says. Well, listen, you don't go by what the preacher says. You don't go by what I say. You have to learn to search the Scriptures, and that's where it's at. I don't claim to have all the answers. A lot of times, I'll put things out, even over television, that I don't expect people to just say, hey, that's the way it is. This guy knows his book. No. But what I do expect people to do is search the Scriptures and see if I'm right or wrong. And nothing thrills me more than if someone says, well, the first time in my life I'm studying my Bible. Well, that's where it's at. So Peter now then, at the end of his life, recognizes that Paul now has the answers to questions that he himself still cannot quite comprehend. So now if you'll come back to Acts chapter 2. So they're contending in this Apostle's Doctrine, which of course included none of the revelations given to Paul later. Now you know, this is why I'm always maintaining that Scripture is a progressive revelation. God doesn't unload everything back in Genesis. He doesn't put everything back there in the Old Testament. He doesn't even tell everything in His earthly ministry. But as He sees fit, He reveals these certain truths, and it's up to us to discern what and when they are. All right, so here we have nothing more, nothing less than the Apostle's Doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer. Now that's all very normal and common. They were now separated from the mainstream of Judaism, and so the only place they could really talk together was in their own little groups of fellowship. They would have their meals together. In fact I've often said, and Iris knows I have, that you can know someone for ever so long in casual relationships, and maybe see them once or twice a week, but you don't really get to know them, you don't really get to know their children and their grandchildren until they invite you into their home for a meal. Now I'm not out begging for a meal, don't get me wrong. But we've experienced it so often that when someone invites us in their home for a meal, then everything is just laid out. We get an idea of where their kids are, and who they're married to, and what children they've got, and you don't do that in just casual conversation, but over a meal you will. And I think that's exactly what they were doing here. They were coming together in a fellowship, you see, that they hadn't enjoyed, had not enjoyed in Judaism. And so it was fellowship, breaking of bread, they were eating together, and they prayed together. All right, verse 43, "...and fear came upon every soul, these Jews now were under the Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles." Appropriate? Yeah. They're just an extension of Christ's earthly ministry, that's what He said in Acts 1-8, that they would receive power, a kind of power that would continue to do what He had done while He was in their midst. All right, now verse 44, if you think this is a church chapter, does your church practice? Verse 44, now I've been teaching, I've got to change that announcement on television, I've now been teaching like this 24 years, it's been four years, almost five since we started on television, and in all my years of teaching, I have never yet ran across a group of believers who do this. Have you? Where they sell all their individual goods, cash in all their CDs, sell their real estate, sell their cars, sell everything they own, and put it into a common kitty. That's what they did, plain as day. Read it. And all that believed, these Jewish believers now, under the heavy arm of Judaism, the temple is still operating, and we're going to see that they meet in the temple. They had all things common, sold their possessions, see how plain that is? Sold their possessions, their goods, and parted them to all. Now the word men has been italicized, so it's been added by the translators. But they parted to all, not just the men, women and everything, because we're going to see in chapter 5 that they were sliding, the widows remember. But everyone was living out of that common kitty, which probably was rather large, starting out. Now here's where I, I know I shake people up once in a while, and make them think about things they never thought of before. Why do you suppose these people were so ready to get rid of all of their private holdings, their real estate? We're going to see in chapter 3 that even good old Barnabas was a landowner on the island of Cyprus. Even old Barnabas sold his land on Cyprus, turned it into cash, and brought it back to the kitty in Jerusalem. Now why were they so ready to do that? Oh, hey, the kingdom is just over the horizon. See? They have illusions of grandeur, I know, but they can see the nation of Israel responding to it like they did. And if the whole nation would respond, Christ would return, they'd have the kingdom. And who needs houses and lands and CDs once the kingdom is set up? Because the Old Testament promised that the kingdom would be the utopia. There would be no poor, there would be no need for food, there would be no corruption, it would be the perfect utopia that man had been looking for. Hey, and that's just over the horizon, so why worry about goods and lands? And so they did. They sold them gladly, thinking that this was in the immediate future. Now let's read on. Verse 46, "...and so they, continuing daily with one accord..." Where? In the Temple. The Temple hasn't locked its doors. God hasn't said a word about staying away from the Temple. There has not been one word uttered by anyone that you're not under law, you're under grace. You see what I'm driving at? But we've all been instructed through the years to assume that this is what's happened. Don't ever assume anything. You just search the Scriptures. And if you can find in the Scriptures that Peter and the Levites are now saying, you're not under law, and if they say, well now forget about Temple worship, we're free from that, well you show me, and I will change my teaching. But I'm not worried. I don't have to, because it's not in here. So they met in the Temple, and they went from house to house, breaking and eating their meat or their food with gladness and singleness of heart. Now again, I've been involved in church and church activities almost since I was a kid. All our married years. And we've had some good congregations, we've had some good fellowships, but you know what? It wasn't that good. Have you ever found a church where everyone, a hundred percent, is agreed on everything? Well when you find a church like that, let me know, because I'll drive a hundred miles to join it. But there isn't such a thing. There is no such thing. But here it was. Why? Because this is not the church as we understand it. This was a called out group of Jewish believers. The Spirit had been poured on them, and they were all of one mind, living out of one common kitty. And I know they didn't have fifteen, twenty percent interest. So that kitty either had to be growing by new believers coming in and adding to it, or what's going to happen? It's going to run out. What did happen? It ran out. And God in His grace and in His goodness, you know how He covered that? Because wherever Paul went, what did Paul take? Collections for the poor saints, where? In Jerusalem. See? Well why were they poor? Well the kitty had run empty. And new believers weren't filling it up fast enough. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.