ACTS 2:42-47 "THE MARKS OF A LIVING CHURCH"

 

If the church were forced to focus on the bare minimum- what would we do?

If  the church stripped away everything and just do the essentials, what would we do?

If the church had to make a choice between the good and the biblical, what would we keep on doing?

Our text in Acts 2:42-47 gives us an indication of what are essential and vital marks of a living church, loved by God, redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, indwelt by the Spirit of God. 

Following Pentecost and the outpouring of the Spirit, the Christian church comes into being. We immediately get an impression of the essential activities and responses which make a biblical church unique. As many were converted and baptised, these were added to the church (2:41),  the  immediate result was that the church began to organise itself in terms of  a commitment (i.e. they devoted themselves) to gather under the apostolic Word, a commitment to fellowship,  a commitment to  remember the Lord’s death in the Lord’s supper,  and a commitment to prayer. Here  then we see the essentials marks of a living church. 

(i)                 Regular apostolic teaching: The very first evidence of the Spirit’s presence in the church is that they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. He is the ultimate Communicator of the Word about Jesus. And the early apostles, chosen by Jesus were the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20). Thus, by the Spirit  and under the supervision of the early apostles, the teachings of Jesus were accurately recorded and passed on.  And so we find that this is still so today. The  primary activity  of the church remains  the proclamation of the  Word of God – both  in the Old Testament and the New Testament.  At the heart of the church’s  establishment is the Word of God!  And so they  devoted themselves to the apostles teaching.

(ii)  Regular fellowship: “They devoted themselves… to the fellowship” (Koinonia – ‘communion’, ‘sharing in common’).  Our fellowship  is expressed in  two ways:

a.      It expresses what we share in: We share in common God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 1 John 1:1-4  says that our fellowship (koinonia) is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.  The heart of what we share together is defined by the Bible. We have fellowship in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Our fellowship – our common experience is defined by the fact that we share Him! That is the key to genuine fellowship.

b.      It expresses what we share out together: The church is deeply involved in each other’s lives. One of the key expressions of this is that they would help those who were disadvantaged in their midst. There was great compassion! This follows the O.T. pattern where Israel was taught to have a strong level of concern of care for the poor (e.g. Micah 6:8). Christian fellowship is Christian caring, and Christian caring is Christian sharing. We must not try to evade the challenge of these verses.

(iii)     Regular participation in the Lord’s supper:  “They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and the prayers …”. They organised themselves to come together for the regular remembrance of the Lord’s death. The cross is where the church meets. The cross of Christ is our common experience - sinners saved by the grace of God. The cross of Jesus is our common ground.  The cross is that which brought us peace, with God and with one another.  Therefore the cross, the remembrance  of the  shed blood of Jesus is the symbol of our unity, and so every time we celebrate Communion, we are acknowledging our unity in Christ. We are one.

(iv)      Regular participation in the prayers.  The church had meetings for prayer all the time. We see this pattern in the book of Acts[1]. Illustratively then  we read in Acts 12:5-7: “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer  for him was made to God  by the church...and behold ,  an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the and woke him, saying’ Get up quickly’. And the chains fell off his hands.” The Puritan preacher, Thomas  Watson,   commented here astutely: The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer fetched the angel. By prayer the church reminds herself continually that her strength and help is from God. Prayer fetches God. Prayer says, “Look here Lord… help!”  … and we need so much help, don’t we,  in these  challenging days?    

 Now this organisation of the church   had a remarkable effect:

       (i)                 “awe came upon every soul” (2:43a)

 

       (ii)               “signs  and wonders were being done through the apostles” (2:43b) 

 

       (iii)              there was a culture of sharing (2:44,45)

 

       (iv)              there was a culture of worship and joy (2:46)  lit. exultation and sincerity of heart.” It is right in public worship to be dignified; it is unforgivable to be dull!  Our joy must be tempered by awe! When God was in their midst they knew it! And they bowed before Him in humility and wonder. The combination of joy and awe provides healthy balance in worship.  Also note  that the church  met both formally and informally  for fellowship and teaching i.e. in the temple  and in  each other’s homes (2:46),  which is an interesting combination, and I think that we need both today!

 

        (v)                there were regular conversions,  and  there was constant church growth (2:47)

 

a.       The Lord Himself did it: “the LORD added…. “ Yes, He did it through the preaching of the apostles, the witness of church members, through the witness of their common  life and common love for one another, but it is still by His power through them which He did it. “Salvation belongs to our God alone , This is such a much needed emphasis in a day when people speak of the work of salvation  as if it were all dependent upon human effort.

 

b.     The Lord added to their number!  The Lord saved them and then he added them to the church! Here is a solemn thought. God does not save us, without also placing us into a body. Salvation and church membership belong together. I would issue a simple challenge to you who say that you are Christians, but who have not committed themselves to the discipline of church membership.

 

c.  The Lord added daily!  The early church’s evangelism was not a sporadic or an occasional activity. They did not organise occasional evangelistic campaigns, and occasional mission trips! No! The life of the early church was evangelism and missions. Just as their worship was daily, so was their witness, and as their outreach was continuous, and  so converts were being added continuously.

 

d.       The Lord added those who were being saved!  The present participle emphasises that salvation is a progressive experience: we were saved … we are being saved … we shall be saved!

We note that this was winsome and contagious Christianity. “They were having favour with all the people”, notwithstanding the fact that very soon the enemy of the church would launch an all-out attack on them and scatter  them.

 
Today is a wonderful Sunday.

On this day we are experiencing much of what we read of here.

We are gathering around the Word and in prayer in the spirit of worship;  we are  gathering around the communion table; we are enjoying fellowship; we are  seeing people converted and baptised and received into the church; we are witnessing the sending out  of  our  missionaries.  And we are joyful!   

Thank God for Sundays and high days in which we have a taste  of what it was like for the  early church!

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[1] Acts 3:1;4:23-31; 12:5,12; 13:2,3; 14:23 ; 16:13,16

Acts 28:11-31 "The Last Word of the Book of Acts"

As we come to the final verses of the Acts of the Apostles we will find Paul finally in Rome. All this began in Acts 21:27ff when he was arrested in the temple in Jerusalem on charges of undermining the law and the temple and Caesar (25:8). He is saved from angry mob justice by a  Roman cohort in Jerusalem, and this begins a process  whereby  Paul is sent from Felix the Roman governor to  Festus another governor, under whom he makes this appeal to appear  before Caesar (25:11)  in Rome.

V. 11 Last time we saw him in Malta, the island where they ran aground in the shipwreck. Here   Paul and his entourage   stayed approximately from mid-November to about mid-February, whilst waiting out the storm season.  Eventually they had found a ship from Alexandria  that had  wintered in the island.  The ship had the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux, patron deities of sailors on her bow.  Luke probably records this intentionally. The pagan  sailors  would have attributed their rescue from the shipwreck  to these twin gods, but it is clear that these were not  the ones in whom Paul had put his trust. In 27:23-25 Paul has made it clear  who  his Protector and Deliverer is.

V. 12  After a  90 kilometre  journey north, the ship  lands in  Syracuse  the provincial capital city of Sicily,  at the tip of the boot of the Italian peninsula.  Here they stayed for three days. 

V. 13 From there they sailed on to Rhegium in southern Italy ,  another 110 kilometres further and from there,  with the south wind in their sails  they  arrived in Puteoli 2 days later,  and 325 km’s further. In Puteoli  they found some brothers and stayed with them for 7 days.  Isn’t this worldwide network of support and encouragement amazing?  This must have meant  that  the centurion  and guard must have given his consent.

v. 14 And now he is in Rome, through many dangers toils and snares ... ship wreck, snakebite  … This marks the  fulfilment of God's promise to Paul (23:11; 27:24).

v. 15   The way he got to  Rome from  Puteoli ( a 210 km  journey) there was on land. First  Paul made his way  about 30 kilometres  up the Via Compana to its intersection with the Via Appia, or the Appian Way.  The Forum of Appius  is about 70 km’s from Rome   and  some 16 km’s  further  was the place called the  three Taverns. At both these places Christian brothers from Rome, who had heard that Paul and the others were coming, came to meet him.  At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and took courage. Why?  This show of support was surely most encouraging  to Paul. He knows that he is in God’s hands, but it is also good to know that there are caring Christian  people, visible tokens  of the love of God. Furthermore Paul knew that the end of the long journey was now in  view. They  had met some significant obstacles.  So, when  with God's help, we achieve divinely appointed goals, the proper response is thankfulness to God.

v. 16  When Paul entered Rome  he  is  put under house arrest and  guarded by a soldier. At this stage he has considerable liberties.

28:17-22 Encounter with Jewish Leaders

v. 17 Three days after his  arrival, and  in accordance with his "to the Jew first" strategy, he called together the local  leaders of the Jews[1] .  It is estimated  that the Jewish community at Rome numbered  some fourty  to fifty thousand people, most  of them being Roman  slaves and freedmen. The names of ten to thirteen synagogues have been recovered from inscriptions in the catacombs[2]. As Paul began to speak he addressed his hearers as brothers. He saw each new audience of Jews as potentially containing some of the elect remnant who would hear and respond to the gospel.  This brief address to them contains four statements:

(i)               He is innocent before the Jews (28:17b, 19c). They can bring no sustainable charges against him, and he has none to bring against them. The Jews may have charged that Paul is working against the Jewish people and their customs, but the charges aren’t true because Paul was always working for his Jewish brothers (Rom 10:1). He always respected Jewish customs (21:23-24, 26).

(ii)              He is a prisoner of the Roman government and there are reasons for this (28:17c, 19b).  He was handed over[3] as a prisoner from Jerusalem to the Romans. He was forced to appeal to Caesar (v. 19; also see 25:11).

(iii)            Romans and Jews had  different opinions  toward Paul (28:18a, 19a). The Romans wanted  to release him. The Jews objected to Paul's release (25:3, 7). This situation is very similar to Jesus. 

(iv)             He was  not guilty of any crime deserving death (28:18). Paul is innocent before the Roman state (23:28-29; 25:25; 26:31-32).

V. 20  In this  verse Paul gets to the point.  He has been preparing the ground for the question, "so if you are innocent , then why are you here ?  And Paul answers, "Why am I here?  I am here because of the hope of Israel ...that is why  I am wearing this chain."  The Jewish leaders respond to Paul's statements by saying that they have heard nothing bad about Paul, whether by letter or by word of mouth.  What they do know however,  is that  this sect (Gr. haireseōs) which Paul represents  is spoken against everywhere (v.22). Clearly, Christianity was not viewed positively by them.  

28:23-28 Explaining the Gospel to the Jews 

v.23. The Jewish leaders  want to give Paul a fair hearing and so they agree upon a day. They arrive in force at his rented  lodgings (vv. 16, 30).  He expounded to them from morning till evening,  testifying  (Gk  diamartyromenos[4]-  23:11)  to  the kingdom of God and trying to convince them  about Jesus, both from  the law of Moses and the prophets. All this is just another way of saying that he was preaching the gospel to them with great intensity.

v. 24.The response to the message was mixed: some were convinced… but others disbelieved ( see this pattern also in 13:44-45; 14:1-2; 17:4-5).

vv. 25-27   Now to interpret this mixed response, Paul quotes from the Old Testament (Isa. 6:9-10). Paul takes the Jewish  Scriptures, given in a particular setting in Isaiah’s day, and he does not hesitate to apply this  to  these Romans  Jews. Isaiah in his day  spoke about  what happens when people hear  saving truth without appropriating it.  They  would  be  ever hearing but never understanding (compare the use of parables in  Lk. 8:10 with Isa. 6:9). Isaiah attributes this lack of understanding  to a hard heart, deaf ears , blind eyes. There is nothing defective or unclear in the message. The defect is  found in the audience's sinfulness. This sickness affects the heart (i.e. the willingness to be willing to hear and see) and the mind (whose  access is barred by faulty  hearing and seeing).     If they would but see with open  eyes, hear with open  ears,  and respond with  soft hearts, they would turn (repent)  and  God would heal them. The truth is  that  human sinfulness has made us so hard , so blind and so deaf that no –one would be saved. It takes a miracle, it take intervention from  God  to cure this condition.  

v. 28.  The gentiles will listen …. This is the third time Paul speaks of Jewish rejection and Gentile reception (13:46; 18:6).

28:30-31 The  Gospel is preached  for two years to all who wanted to hear  

For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him, proclaiming the kingdom of God  and teaching about the  Lord Jesus Christ… This final summary statement  brings to conclusion the thesis  of the  Book of  Acts, in Acts 1:8,  that  ‘ you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria  and to the ends of the earth.  This also corresponds with Luke’s closing statements by Jesus  in   Luke 24:47.  That "repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in [Jesus'] name to all nations" (Note in  Lk.24:45, Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures)  

And so we read that Paul was able to speak with boldness and "without hindrance" (akōlutōs).   This word points to the work of  a sovereign God whose saving plan, who  determined it that the gospel will be preached in Jesus' name to all nations, will not be hindered.

 SUMMARY

The Book of Acts traces the birth and phenomenal  growth of the church. At the beginning there were only a few hundred believers in Jesus Christ, and at the end, we can scarcely guess how many. Everywhere,  men, women and children  came  to believe in the Lord Jesus  Christ -   in Jerusalem, in Judea,  in Samaria, and also  among the gentile nations, which is where this book now abruptly ends.

The gospel advances despite much opposition. Persecution, beatings, death,  imprisonment, shipwrecks, snakebites all threatened the spread of the Gospel. So, too, did sinfulness and faithlessness within the church (e.g. Acts 5:1-11). However, in spite of all the opposition and difficulties this  account of  Luke indicates  that the Gospel will  spread  without hindrance. 

This is a principle of timeless application. The Gospel  spread  in an unhindered fashion in the early church (cf. 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20),  and  it does so now. The gospel did not cease to be proclaimed  when Paul was martyred. The future of the gospel  was not in Paul’s hands, but in God’s hands, and it is so   until this very day.  No-one can  stop the progress and ultimate victory of the gospel.

So, what does the Lord require of you, as you continue with  Acts 29, after the Gospel centered fashion  of the book of Acts, following in the footsteps of Paul ?

1.     Share the Gospel clearly and often.

2.     Do not worry too much about the outcome. You cannot save a soul. God alone can do that. You do not have to feel responsible for the salvation or damnation of anyone.

3.     Speak when it is given to you to do so, and do it  with all your heart and with a heart that loves the Lord Jesus  as well as the soul before you.

4.     Don't bully people into decisions. Let the Holy Spirit work.

5.     Be creative. Don’t  feel that you must share the Gospel in exactly the same way each time. Make sure that you know your Bible so that the Holy Spirit can bring the stored up  Word in you  to memory.  6.     Don't get into arguments. You don’t have to win an argument. You are already on the winning side. The Gospel is unhindered. So speak with confidence, urgency and love for this lost soul  before you. 

7.     Avoid developing an Elijah complex. You are not alone in  this gospel  work.

Regardless of how things may seem, the good news of the Gospel is, was, and always will be without hindrance. Jesus is building His church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

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[1]  See 13:5, 14; 14:1; 16:13; 17:2, 10, 17; 18:4; 19:8

[2] http://www.catacombsociety.org/jewish-congregations-in-late-ancient-rome/

[3] Gk paradidomi

[4] emphasizes witnessing done with a high level of self-involvement, i.e. with strong personal interest motivating it. https://biblehub.com/greek/1263.htm

Acts 28:1-10 "Should we expect Signs and Wonders today?"

Following the shipwreck in Acts 27, Paul and the passengers discover that they are now on the island of Malta. Malta isn’t a big island (316 sq.km).  It is located in the Mediterranean, not far from the island of Sicily, located ‘on the toe’ of the boot of Italy.  It is thought that Malta has been inhabited since approximately 5900 BC. Its location in the centre of the Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance with a succession of powers having contested and ruled the islands, including the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, French, and the  British.[1]

The fact that they came safely ashore (all 276  survived this – cf. 27:37—28:1) is a miracle. They were helped by the native people of Malta. The Greek word for native here is “barbaroi”, from which we get our word “barbarian”.  The Greeks used the word for anyone who didn’t speak Greek. Luke says that these native people ‘showed us unusual kindness for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and  is was cold’ (28:2).

Three miraculous things happen in this passage: 

1.     Paul  and the  passengers all escape certain death  after being  shipwrecked

2.     Paul  escapes a potentially fatal snakebite

3.     Paul  heals many

Because of these things, I wanted to ask a question. Should we expect signs and wonders in our own day? This is not an easy question, and there is no easy answer. Let’s try though, but before we do that,let us consider  the  story as it unfolds at face value.

Paul escapes the fatal consequence of a poisonous snake bite (28: 3-6)

In the process of lighting this fire, Paul also assists and as he takes a supposed stick, he   actually grabs a viper –evidently a poisonous  viper. I checked the internet. There are four species of snakes found in Malta today, but none of them are poisonous.  But this was 2000 years ago.  It is possible that this species could have become extinct.  There are islands in the Mediterranean that were once known to have been infested with such venomous snakes[2].  What is significant in our text is that the islanders knew this kind of snake. It’s so poisonous that they expected Paul to swell up and die.  And what is even more interesting is that they were assuming that this was happening to him because he had done something bad. This is the kind of thinking that many people engage in today. Why does this happen to him? He must be a murderer or something of the kind. The gods will not allow him to get away with this.  But they are equally capable of turning it around, so that when Paul doesn’t die from this snake bite, they ‘changed their minds and said that he was a god’ (28:6). This is not the first time this has happened to Paul. In 14:11, in Lystra, Barnabas and Paul were proclaimed gods after healing a crippled man, and very soon after this they stoned Paul. This is the fickleness of the human heart.  The Hallelujah’s of today very quickly become the ‘crucify him’ of tomorrow.  

Paul heals Publius’ father and many  people of  the island (28:7-10)

Publius[3] the prōtos, the “chief official” of the island is most likely the Governor of Malta. We are not told why he offers them hospitality.  Maybe he offers hospitality to Julius, the centurion in charge of Paul and his group, an officer of the elite Imperial Regiment (27:1), and so has to take care of his prisoners as well. Maybe Paul is known to be some kind of celebrity. Maybe his fame has preceded him.   Whatever the case may be, while Paul is staying with Publius his celebrity status will increase. He discovers that Publius’ father is ill with “fever and dysentery”.  Some commentators believe this to be the  “Malta Fever”. Apparently, this disease was common in Malta, Gibraltar and other Mediterranean islands. A micro-organism, which was finally traced in 1887 to the milk of Maltese goats, caused the problem. It causes a fever which can last for an average of four months, and can persist up to three years.[4]  Whatever the case may be, when Paul found out, he prayed and laid hands on the sick man, and he was healed immediately. News of this spread quickly and soon everyone else who was sick on Malta came to Paul and they were all healed (28:9).

All this leaves us with questions about such signs, miracles and wonders today. Should we expect signs, wonders and miracles today?  One thing is for certain. The book of Acts, at large, leaves us breathless and excited, and we often wished that church was as exciting in our day as it was then. The question is this. Can it be now, as it was then?  The evangelical world is divided on this issue. Some say that signs and wonders of this magnitude were limited to  the apostolic age  and others say  that signs and wonders ought to be the norm today.   The one  view  is called ‘cessationism’, whereas the other  view is known as ‘continuationism’.

Let me give you a very brief synopsis of  how  both positions would argue  their case  before we return to our text  in conclusion.

1.     Signs and Wonders Limited to the Apostolic Age (Cessationism)

This view does not say that miracles don't happen. It just means that they are not normative. The miraculous ministry of Jesus and the apostles was unique. Signs and wonders were not done by Christians in general, but they were the signs of the apostles, and of an apostolic age. When the apostles were gone, this ministry ended. It seems as if    signs and wonders were not the common domain among Christians in general. They were limited  to the special ministry of  Jesus  and the apostles.   Texts which are quoted in support are,  

….With respect to Jesus:  Acts 2:22, "Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him."

…With respect to the  apostles:  

·       Acts 2:43 "Fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles" [not through the Christians in general].

·       Acts 5:12  "Now many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles" [not by the hands of all the Christians].

·        Acts 14:3, "So they [Paul and Barnabas] remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands."

·        Acts 15:12, "And all the assembly kept silence; and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles" [and not by other  Christians].

All these texts would indicate that  signs and wonders were done  by Christ and  the apostles, and that in the beginning stages of  the church. These were needed  to authenticate the ministry of Christ, the apostles and the early church.

The proponents  of cessationism  would argue  furthermore that  a text  like 2 Corinthians 12:12 teaches this. Here  Paul is writing to defend his apostleship at Corinth against the claim that  others were the true or greater apostles. He says, "The signs of an apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works." So again it looks like signs and wonders have had a special role to play in authenticating  the work  of the apostles alone  (cf. Rom. 15:19).

The proponents of cessationism also point out that  in church history there  has never been anyone that we know of that regularly healed people the way Jesus and the apostles did—instantly, completely, and always.  This is quite a strong argument. The 20^th century Pentecostal and Charismatic movement which claimed to have revived the ancient apostolic   ministry and practise has failed to convince us that this ministry is indeed normative today. For reasons like these, one group of evangelicals says that signs and wonders ceased as a normative part of the ministry when the apostles finished their work.

2.     Signs and Wonders  continue today (Continuationism)  

This view says that we should see more signs and wonders today than we do.  Continuationists  maintain that sign, wonders and miracles are given both for the blessing of the church and for the spread of the gospel.  This view argues that there seems to be a continuity between Jesus' ministry and the Church's ministry. It was not just limited to the ministry of the apostles.   For instance, in Luke 9:2, when Jesus sent out the twelve, "He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal." And in Luke 10:9 when he sent out the 70, he commanded them, "Whenever you enter a town. . . heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near you.'" So it’s not just the apostles, but  also the  seventy!  Furthermore, the preaching of the kingdom seems to be very closely linked with the ministry of healing.  Jesus seems to teach a continuity between his ministry and the ministry of the church. He does not say, "Make healing part of the ministry while I am here, but not after I am gone."

Continuationists furthermore point out that signs and wonders are done  in  the Book of Acts by non-apostles.  Two of the deacons, Stephen and Philip (Acts 6:5) also do signs and wonders as part of their ministry. "Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people." (Acts 6:8). And in Acts 8:6 it says, "And the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did."

Continuationists also appeal  to texts like Galatians 3:5:  "Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?" The point is that God is supplying his Spirit to the Galatians now, in the absence of the apostles  and working miracles among them.  So the working of miracles does not seem to be limited to the ministry of the apostles in the early church.

Furthermore the  gifts  of healing and of miracles in 1 Corinthians 12  likewise  seem to indicate  that these were for the church and not just the domain of  the apostles. 

What Shall We Say to These Two Views?

1.     God is sovereign in these matters. The Holy Spirit, the Giver of all gifts is able to give whatever He deems best for the church at any given moment.   God is able to withhold gifts and give gifts when and as He pleases. The list of spiritual gifts in the New Testament is not determinative, but illustrative and always subject to the working of the Holy Spirit, who sovereignly gives gifts at various times  and divers manners and intensities. Pentecostals and charismatics have erred greatly in that they have made the ‘spectacular’ spiritual gifts something  subjective (i.e.  to be asked for subjectively), when in fact the text in 1 Corinthians 12-14  teaches  that the Holy Spirit always gives the gifts sovereignly, and unasked for. The question, "Should we expect signs and wonders  today?" ,   must therefore be linked to the doctrine of the Sovereignty of God. In our church God has done wonderful  miracles at our asking in prayer. But  we have not  seen miracles done at  will. They always have been wonderful surprises   and occasions for praise and thanksgiving.

2.     We need  to  recognise the  uniqueness of Jesus and the apostles and of that revelatory moment in history that gave us the foundational doctrines of faith and life in the New Testament. As such this time is unrepeatable. 

3.     We have to be careful to make the Bible  say what we want it to say. This rule  must apply  to both continuationists and cessationists. Cessationists will often ignore those texts that continuationists would stress and vice versa.  

4.     Let us never forget that the greatest miracle is not a healing per se, but a soul  redeemed from hell  and eternal death, now living for  the glory of God and the praise of Christ. The greater works in John 14:12 are  in fact not  signs, wonders and miracles per se, but  the wonder and miracle  of conversion.   

  

Finally, in coming back to  Acts 28  we need to recognise that the first two miracles (the miraculous escape from the shipwreck) and the escape of the poisonous viper  were all situational and  all necessary because God wanted  Paul to testify before Caesar in Rome. And so, in that sense we may say again, “We are immortal until our work is done” (George Whitfield, Diary, p.1).  Even the miracles of the healing of  Publius’ father and the many  on the island was ultimately   for the sake of Paul getting to Rome, so that he could complete his work of the gospel there (see  28:10).  All things serve God, and if a healing  or a miracle or a sign will help to that end, then so be it. And it will not be about us. It will be all about Jesus   and His glory.   

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta

[2] The island of Melita ( Mljed) was so heavily infested with the notorious horned viper Vipera ammodytes that a predatory mongoose was introduced on the island in 1910 to control the snake population. The symptoms of a bite by this viper coincide with those reported in the Acts; immediate ‘swelling’ due to hemorrhagic edema, ‘falling down’ due to faintness/dizziness, followed by circulatory shock, pulmonary congestion and internal bleeding, all of which would lead to death if not treated properly.

[3] A Roman name

[4]  John Stott: Acts ,IVP, p. 395