The rhythm of Acts: Gospel is preached, Christ increases His Word and multiplies His church.

Christ's mechanism for expanding his kingdom is found in the opening statements of chapter 1 and throughout the book of Acts. Luke is going to highlight this mechanism again and again and again and again:

• "In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach…" (Acts 1:1)
• "...He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:3)
• "...Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God…" (Acts 2:33)
• "...they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4:31)
• "...they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." (Acts 5:42)
• "...those who were scattered went about preaching the word." (Acts 8:4)
• "...they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ…" (Acts 8:12)
• "…they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord...preaching the gospel to many villages…" (Acts 8:25)
• "...Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus." (Acts 8:32)
• "…(Paul) proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” (Acts 9:20)
• "...to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead...he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead." (Acts 10:41-42)
• "...they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews (Acts 13:5)
• "...they continued to preach the gospel." (Acts 14:7)
• "...Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also." (Acts 15:35)

I have chosen merely a sampling… more than 60 times in the book of Acts reference is made to proclamation or preaching (an activity, btw, that is both grounded in the OT prophetic office and predominantly unidirectional in form, contra the "conversation" and "dialogue" claims being made by some today; OT prophets did not proclaim in dialogue) or teaching. Christ's chosen means of expanding his kingdom is through the proclamation of the Word by witnesses who have come face to face with the cross and resurrection. Christ commissioned the disciples as bearers of good news, bearers of his image that would spread from Jerusalem to the rest of the world.

It is through the proclamation of good news, the gospel, and the preaching of the Word then that Christ expands his kingdom. This proclamation fuels the kingdom expansion, a kingdom expansion of which Luke testifies… this proclamation becomes the vehicle carrying along the running theme coursing through the veins of the book of Luke: increase of the word, and the multiplication of the church, two themes found strategically placed throughout the book. These themes occur over and over and over again in the context of this preaching and teaching, as Luke shows us the expansion of Christ’s kingdom:

• "…those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:41)
• "...the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)
• "...many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand." (Acts 4:4)

As the word is proclaimed by faithful witnesses in Jerusalem, Christ from his throne in the heavens continues to increase His Word and multiply his church:

• "...more than ever believers were added to the Lord…" (Acts 5:14)
• "...the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem…" (Acts 6:7 – the end of Acts panel #1)
• "...the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up." (Acts 9:31 – the end of Acts panel #2)
• "…many believed in the Lord." (Acts 9:42)
• "...a great many people were added to the Lord." (Acts 11:24)
• "...the word of God increased and multiplied." (Acts 12:24 – the end of Acts panel #3)
• "...as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region…" (Acts 13:48-49)
• "…(Paul and Barnabas) entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed." (Acts 14:1)
• "…they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples…" (Acts 14:21)
• "…the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily." (Acts 16:5 – the end of Acts panel #4)

The increase of the word and the multiplication of the church is the recurring theme of the book of Acts. This theme manifests itself in the literary markers (which I have highlighted for you… these are the passages that have formed the context of our preaching @ Clearcreek Chapel this month) that tie everything together in the book of Acts. Not only do we have the literary markers, as you notice there are supporting statements occurring throughout the rest of the text. And it is all fueled by the proclamation of and the preaching of the gospel.

This, then, is the rhythm of Acts… the Word is preached and Christ increases His Word and multiplies His church. The good news is proclaimed and Christ increases His Word and multiplies His church. The gospel is preached and Christ increases His Word and multiplies His church. Over and over and over again in the book of Acts this is the rhythm. Kingdom expansion occurs as the gospel is faithfully proclaimed by Christ's witnesses and this expansion moves from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and Asia Minor… what we now know as Turkey (between Acts 2 and Acts 16:5). As the book of Acts unfolds so too Christ's work in redeeming for himself a people, and gathering to himself a church unfolds in history. -- crb, "The Authenticity of the Commissional Church", mp3