Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

Transition:

CONTEXT:

Peter’ sermon

1. Scriptural Proof Concerning the Pentecost Experience (2:14–21).

Peter began his sermon by quoting Joel 2:28–32, a prophecy which spoke of God’s outpouring of the Spirit on all His people.

Joel depicted this as a sign of the last days, when God would visit His people in a special way.

2. Scriptural Proof Concerning Christ’s Messiahship (2:22–36).

Peter now needed to convince the Jewish crowd that Jesus was God’s promised Messiah.

This he sought to do by proving and that the Messiah must die and rise again, that the resurrection was a sign of the Messiah.

He began by introducing them to Jesus, with emphasis on His death and resurrection.

Then he quoted Psalm 16:8–11 to prove that the Messiah, a descendant of David, would conquer death, just as Jesus had done in His resurrection.

Finally, he quoted Psalm 110:1 as an Old Testament text that also points to the resurrection and exaltation of the Messiah.

3. Invitation and Response (2:37–41).

Having set forth Jesus as their Messiah, Peter now called on his Jewish audience to repent and be baptized, and they would receive the same Spirit that they had just witnessed so powerfully.

The response was also miraculous.

Three thousand were added to the Christian community that day

Since the time of Babel (Gen.

11:1–9), the nations of the earth were divided by language, unable to come together as a result of their rebellion against God.

In God’s Old Testament redemptive acts, he singled out the Jewish nation to mediate his blessing to the world, and therefore the good news of God’s grace was communicated only in the Hebrew language.

With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, however, the curse of Babel begins to unravel.

No longer is the gospel confined to Hebrew; it is available directly to all nations and all languages.

The restored order of God’s kingdom begins to break into the dark and confused world of sin.

This gives us hope today.

The gospel triumphs in a world still groaning under the curse of sin (Rom.

8:22).

One day Christ’s reign will be fully realized, and the effects of sin will fall away completely.

Peter explained 1.

What happened (Spirit had come) 2. How it happened (Jesus was raised) 3. Why it happened (to save sinners) WEIRSBE

READ

Peter instructs the people how to call on the Lord’s name (2:21): be baptized in Jesus’ name.

Because baptism was a sign of conversion to Judaism normally reserved for pagans, Peter’s demand would offend his Jewish hearers and cost them respectability.

He calls for a public, radical testimony of conversion, not a private, noncommittal request for salvation with no conditions.

“In the name of Jesus Christ” distinguishes this sort of baptism, requiring faith in Christ, from other ancient baptisms; this phrase simply means that the person being baptized confesses Christ.

(Acts always uses this phrase with “be baptized”—the passive, never the active; it does not denote a formula said over the person being baptized, but rather indicates the confession of faith of the person receiving baptism; see 2:21 and 22:16.)

Considering Josephus’s estimate of six thousand Pharisees in all Palestine, three thousand conversions to the new Jesus movement in Jerusalem is no small start!

The temple mount had many immersion pools that worshipers used to purify themselves ritually; mass baptisms could thus be conducted quickly.

2:37.

Verses 37–40 contain the application of Peter’s sermon.

The verb cut (katenygēsan) means “to strike or prick violently, to stun.”

The convicting work of the Spirit (cf.

John 16:8–11) in their hearts was great.

2:38–39.

Peter’s answer was forthright.

First they were to repent.

This verb (metanoēsate) means “change your outlook,” or “have a change of heart; reverse the direction of your life.”

This obviously results in a change of conduct, but the emphasis is on the mind or outlook.

The Jews had rejected Jesus; now they were to trust in Him.

Repentance was repeatedly part of the apostles’ message in Acts (v.

38; 3:19; 5:31; 8:22; 11:18; 13:24; 17:30; 19:4; 20:21; 26:20).

Adding 3,000 to the original 120 begins the church’s astonishing growth in these early days, which increases to 5,000 by 4:4 (cf.

2:47; 5:14; 6:1, 7; 9:31; 21:20).

SERIOUSNESS OF BAPTISM BELOW...

The Jews generally looked on baptism as a rite only for Gentile converts (i.e., proselytes), not for one born a Jew.

It symbolized the break with one’s Gentile past and the washing away of all defilement.

So when Jews accepted baptism in the name of Jesus on hearing Peter’s message, it was traumatic and significant for them in a way we in our mildly christianized culture have difficulty understanding.

But as a result of Peter’s preaching, “about” 3,000 took the revolutionary step of baptism.

And thus, Luke tells us, the congregation of believers in Jesus came into being at Jerusalem—a congregation made up of the original 120 (1:15) and progressively augmented (as the imperfect form of the verb prostithēmi [“added to”] seems to suggest) by about 3,000 others.

Vance Havner made that statement and he was right.

The early church had none of the things that we think are so essential for success today—buildings, money, political influence, social status—and yet the church won multitudes to Christ and saw many churches established throughout the Roman world.

Why?

Because the church had the power of the Holy Spirit energizing its ministry.

They were a people who “were ignited by the Spirit of God.”

Acts 2:42–6:7 describes the earliest days of the church at Jerusalem and covers the first three to five years of the new messianic movement (i.e., from A.D. 30 to the mid-thirties).

Luke deals with the events of this period by means of a thesis paragraph followed by a series of vignettes that illustrate that paragraph.

“devoted” (proskartereō) is a common one that connotes a steadfast and singleminded fidelity to a certain course of action.

Hunger for God’s Word

(1) The first feature is “the apostles’ teaching.”Considering

that Jesus spent so much time teaching the crowds and his inner band of followers, it is not surprising that teaching had an important place in the early church.

Jesus himself instructed his disciples to teach obedience to those who had been baptized (Matt.

28:20).

What was this?

Probably the entire OT and how it pointed to Jesus as Jesus showed in Luke to men on Emmaus road… As well as the material we now have in books Matthew Mark Luke and John stories, lessons sermons explaining events from life of Jesus ().

He can revive(THIS WOULD BE CIRCLED IF ON HAND WRITTEN PAPER) John 11

apostles’ teaching.

This likely included Jesus’ own teaching (Matt 28:20) and stories about him recalled by the apostles (see the qualification for an apostle in 1:21–22).

The apostles were the guardians of this material, which was originally passed down orally and eventually put into written form in our Gospels.

Teaching.

The first activity of follow-through care mentioned is “the apostles’ teaching” (v.

42).

Teaching was so important to the life of the church that when Paul gave Timothy a list of qualifications for elders, the only ability-related qualification mentioned was the ability to teach (1 Tim.

3:2).

All the other qualifications had to do with the behavior, character, and reputation of the person.

The “apostles’ teaching” would have been particularly important in the early church because of their special relationship to Christ and his promise to them that the Holy Spirit “will guide [them] into all truth … and … will tell [them] what is yet to come” (John 16:13).

With time the church developed a comprehensive body of teaching, so that Paul told the Ephesian elders that he had given them “the whole will and purpose of God” (20:27).

At the end of his life he urged Timothy, “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you” (2 Tim.

1:13–14).

Later the church came to recognize that certain books with connections to the apostles best represented that “good deposit,” and the canon of the New Testament came into being.

The New Testament along with the Old Testament has become the basis for our teaching today.

A key, then, for follow-through care today is to teach people the Bible.

But how do we know that the seed of eternal life is germinating in them?

If there is such a seed, it will hunger for the nourishment of the Word.

Peter states this principle by using a metaphor from human life: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

2. Fellowship

(2) The word koinonia, which Luke uses for “fellowship,” is a favorite word of Paul’s, though this is the only time it appears in Luke’s writings.

Its basic idea is sharing, but it is used also to denote intimacy and fellowship in general.

Part of our name

But the nineteen occurrences of koinonia in the New Testament suggest that the church used this word for the unique sharing that Christians have with God and with other Christians.

The important point is that the fellowship touched the pocketbook too!

Who are your friends that help you love Jesus more?

Question I ask my kids...

fellowship.

Lit.

“partnership,” or “sharing.”

Because Christians become partners with Jesus Christ and all other believers (1 John 1:3), it is their spiritual duty to stimulate one another to righteousness and obedience (cf.

Rom.

12:10; 13:8; 15:5; Gal.

5:13; Eph.