Acts for Today’s

Christians
A Study Guide for
the Book of Acts

by Bishop Sally Dyck

Table
of Contents
Foreword: Why Acts? Why now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Acts 1: From disciples to apostles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Acts 2: Peter rethinks his faith for the community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Acts 3–4: Be bold! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Acts 5: A mark of discipleship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Acts 6–7: And the fun begins! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Acts 8: A spiritual biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Acts 9: Just about the only dramatic conversion in the book! . . . . . . . 10
Acts 10: For Pete’s sake! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Acts 13: The downfall of our way of life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Acts 14: Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die . . . 13
Acts 15: A model for conflict resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Acts 16–20: Paul’s road trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Acts 21–26: Glorifying God in the dock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Acts 27–28: Church of the open door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

The abbreviation MSG refers to The Message version of the Bible.

© 2010, Bishop Sally Dyck. All rights reserved. Minnesota United Methodist churches have permission to
reprint for church study purposes.

2
Foreword
Why Acts? Why now?
At the 2010 Minnesota Annual Conference session, I challenged all Minnesota United
Methodists to read the Acts of the Apostles. I also challenged the clergy to use Acts as a
sermon series or Bible study at some time during 2011.
I encourage people to read Acts because today’s church is struggling with its identity,
purpose and mission. Some say we need to go back to the first-century church.
The first-century church was pre-Christendom—Christendom being the predominance
of Christianity in the religious landscape of history—and the 21st-century church may
be post-Christendom. In neither the first nor 21st century should Christians assume that
people will flock to us or that we have sway in the culture.
But as a result, we are made even more mindful of what the church is and open to what
we might be in the 21st century. Paul wrote in the pre-Christendom years, “At the center
of this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the
world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and
acts, by which he fills everything with his presence” (Eph. 1:22-23, MSG).
Throughout Acts we see a first-century world that sees the church as peripheral. Today
our culture also often sees the church as peripheral. Eugene Peterson’s rendering of this
Ephesians passage suggests that Christ’s body is still the means by which the living Christ
speaks and acts. As they learned in the first century, the body of Christ is much bigger
and includes far more than we imagine—it goes beyond our doors and membership and
imagination—but the body of Christ is still the hands and feet and heart through which
God seeks to work in our world today.
I encourage each United Methodist to read Acts and reflect upon the differences and
similarities between the first and 21st centuries. This guide is a conversation starter and
not a commentary. There are many commentaries on Acts and I commend them to you.
I have found helpful Called to Be Church: The Book of Acts for a New Day, by Anthony B.
Robinson and Robert W. Wall (Eerdmans, 2006).
Bishop Sally Dyck
bishopsallydyck.blogspot.com

3
ActsFrom
1 disciples to apostles
Leadership succession occupies a central place in the first chapter of Acts. While we
scratch our heads at “drawing straws,” qualifications for the twelfth disciple must have
been fairly similar. Eugene Peterson has a note in the The Message that indicates that the
twelfth apostle was chosen as any apostle
“not (for) any particular work, or teaching,
or organization, or administration . . . (but)
to be witnesses to Christ’s resurrection;
that is, attesting to the fact from their own
experience that God is good, powerful, and
gracious. This was to be the cornerstone
of their existence and the existence of the
church” (p. 1682).
No longer disciples who sit at the feet of
Jesus, the apostles are catapulted into a
changing and hostile world to give witness
to the risen Christ. Being a disciple can be
very comfortable—learning and growing
and reveling in the power and presence of
Jesus—but Jesus’ disciples were called and
taught as disciples in order to give witness.
Going from disciple to apostle is a conver-
sion that came through the power of the
Holy Spirit, the harsh reality of persecution,
and a rapidly changing world. This con-
version is necessary in our lives, no matter how long we’ve been Christians, in order to
cultivate spiritual vitality and reach new people with the gospel.
When joining the United Methodist Church, we make witness our fifth vow. This is a
recent addition that reminds us of the importance of sharing the faith with others.

What will it take for us to go from being at the feet of Jesus

to being Jesus’ feet in the world?

4
ActsPeter
2 rethinks his faith
for the community
Suddenly it seems like for the first time Peter “gets it”! He rethinks salvation history as he
has known it, been taught it, and believed it. That takes a lot of courage. It’s not that he
threw out whatever he knew, but he looked at it differently and through the power of the
Holy Spirit, he was able to communicate
salvation history in such a way that people
understood who Jesus, the Christ, is and
was and will be.
But rethinking isn’t enough, evidently. As
soon as Peter rethinks and communicates a
new vision of salvation history, the people
ask the question, “What do we do?” Re-
thinking and revisioning require new ways
of acting.
Yet if we’ve ever tried to learn a new thing,
practice a new habit, be a better person,
we know that we can’t do it by ourselves.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower the
change from disciple to apostle, from a for-
mer vision of the Christ to a new one, from
an old way of being to a new way of being.
And it’s clear that we can’t be Christians
alone; it takes a faith community with
the joys and sacrifices that all human relationships require. Yet it was life together that
drew people to the power of the emerging church: “they committed themselves to the
teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers” (2:41–42,
MSG).

Are we offering a robust “life together” that provides food and faith?

5
ActsBe3–4
bold!
Who are these two—Peter and John—and what you have done with the disciples we
knew in the gospels? Filled with the Spirit, now propelled into the world, they suddenly
are bold and filled with the confidence that they can be witnesses to the power of God.
Peter and John were bold in telling the
lame man that while they had no money
to give him, they did have Jesus and they
boldly healed him. Once again, Peter ad-
dressed the crowd with a bold message of
how God has been working through history
and people to bring them to this moment
in Christ Jesus.
Boldness and confidence are the marks of
an apostle, a witness, someone who is liv-
ing out faith in the world, not huddled in
fear. And for their efforts, in the spirit of the
adage, “no good deed ever goes unpun-
ished,” they’re hauled in front of the “pow-
ers that be.” They didn’t know what to do
with the apostles so they gave them a slap
on the wrist and told them to keep silent.
But they couldn’t keep silent. Boldness kept
them telling the story of Jesus and doing
mercy even when it got them in trouble.
There are places in the world where people are persecuted for proclaiming Jesus and do-
ing good in his name; the U.S. is not one of them. Yet many of us are reluctant to be bold
in our Christian faith because of others’ ridicule, skepticism, and cynicism toward the
church. Recently I heard a radio commentator refer to an interfaith service as being “in-
nocuous enough,” surprised when it created some controversy. Innocuous is how many
people view Christian faith—safe, harmless, bland, mild, and inoffensive in the sense of
not going to create much attention or impact.
Justice, mercy, healing and forgiveness are all very bold actions and certainly not safe,
harmless, bland, mild and inoffensive!

How might I be more bold with the goodness and mercy of Jesus
in a culture that says it “loves Jesus but not the church”?

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ActsA 5mark of discipleship
No one was in need; they shared everything in the early church. Sharing one’s goods
with others was a mark of discipleship. There was a redistribution of wealth in the early
church that made sure that each had what they needed.
The story of Ananias and Sapphira doesn’t
make a very good stewardship sermon text
since encouraging people to share what
they have with others isn’t best motivated
through guilt or fear. However, these two
wanted to belong to this powerful and en-
ergizing movement of the Spirit but without
the responsibilities or the expectations of
what it meant to belong. They were hedg-
ing their bets—what if this movement
doesn’t amount to anything and we have
given it our all? As a result, they were rob-
bing God and themselves of the full abun-
dance and bounty that God has for our
lives.
Why did they die? Did they die of shame?
Or did they die due to a lack of real life
and living in Christ? Are we the walking
dead at times?
Are we hedging our bets, not fully giving of our faith, hope and love to others because
we’re not sure it will ultimately pay off? Are we more like Ananias and Sapphira than
we’d like to admit, robbing ourselves, God and others in the process?

Are we killing the Spirit in the church today because we are holding back,
unsure if the church will continue as it has or as we want it to be?

7
ActsAnd6–7
the fun begins!
Growth in a church does not curtail grumbling and conflict; quite the contrary! “Who are
these people and why are they coming?” was one of the most constant questions that I
was asked when the church I served was growing. Combined with a multicultural pres-
ence, new and sometimes transitory members, a wide range of theological perspectives,
and everybody from someone who shot her husband to some of the most influential peo-
ple in the city sat side by side on Sunday mornings. Growth didn’t come without conflict
that needed careful attention and management. Sermons, Bible studies, and discussion
about forgiveness and reconciliation were regular fare there.
Conflict is a major reason why people leave a church or don’t want to be a part of the
faith community. Churches comprise people, and people don’t always get along! Put
people together who aren’t of the same affinity group, and any differences in how people
are treated or served or cared for will quickly bubble to the surface.
The Greek-speaking group (newcomers/outsiders) had hard feelings toward the Hebrew-
speaking group (insiders). A language barrier didn’t help and may have aggravated the
cultural misunderstandings, giving a perceived inequality in the way in which the poor
Greek-speaking widows were being cared for; literally being discriminated against in the
daily food lines.
With the growth of the church came an increased demand for workers, reminiscent of
Jesus’ words that the harvest is ripe and the laborers are few. The disciples say that they
can’t both preach and care for the needs of the congregation; evangelists and servers are
needed. Does that mean that one form of service is better than another? No, it simply
means that there needs to be enough people with hearts and hands to care for the souls
and the stomachs of those in need of God’s grace.
Too often the conflict in Christianity—certainly in United Methodism—is that we pit
mercy ministry against justice, sharing Jesus against eliminating malaria, or a daily disci-
pline of worship against caring for the Earth. Instead what’s needed is all hands on deck.
All gifts engaged—in the community of faith as well as within each one of us.
But note that the server, the one called to care for the widows, to be Jesus’ hands, also
told the story of Jesus. He knew why he was serving and whom he was serving as he gave
his life to serve.

Do I know why I am serving and whom I am serving?

8
ActsA 8spiritual biography
I wish the author of the Acts of the Apostles would have told more of the stories of the
disciples, like this one of Philip, instead of just Peter and John and then embarking on
the story of Paul, which begins in the next chapter. Maybe he didn’t know them! I love
spiritual biographies. I love to read, reflect
and preach on the journeys that people
take—each one unique to an individual—
to find themselves in and out and along the
way of faith.
Philip comes out of left field in my estima-
tion; where has he been? One gets the
sense that he has really blossomed with
the Holy Spirit. He confronts some new
challenges—and perhaps that’s why his
story is almost as a transition to Paul’s story.
Persecution scatters the church and wher-
ever they were scattered, they preached
the gospel. Could it be that the decline of
Christianity’s acceptance in our culture will
“scatter” us outside the walls of our build-
ings?
Philip ended up in Samaria—not a favorite
place for Jews in that day—and proclaimed
Jesus to the Samaritans, including unsavory
characters like Simon the magician who tried to buy the Holy Spirit. Then Philip encoun-
tered the Ethiopian eunuch along the desolate road that goes down from Jerusalem to
Gaza. Strange and scary places! Yet Philip holds whatever fear or prejudice he undoubt-
edly harbored in his life and was willing to see that no one has a proprietary hold on God
and what God was doing through the Holy Spirit.
Philip seems to just appear wherever God needs him—here and there, preaching wher-
ever he finds himself. You get a sense of his Ezekiel-like nature of being taken up and
dropped down, but maybe it’s that wherever Philip went with whomever he met, he
shared the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Do I share the love and grace of Jesus wherever I go?

9
ActsJust
9 about the only dramatic
conversion in the book!
Paul was a super-religious person and he experiences conversion; a turning around from
where he was going to where God intended for him to go. He wasn’t a broken-down
person in any outward way, but a man gripped by judgment and even hatred for those
who claimed Christianity. So he justified his
hateful and murderous actions with reli-
gious convictions.
God literally had to knock Paul off his high
horse in order to get his attention. God had
to strike him blind with the light of Jesus in
order to help him see. God humbled him
to raise him up for a mission that forever
changed the direction of the church.
Maybe there’s another dramatic conversion
in this story: the conversion of the people
in the church. How were they suppose
to accept, forgive, and—gulp—love Paul,
who was on his way to persecute them and
other Christians? Who would want to be
Ananias, sent by God, to go get Paul and
bring him back to Damascus? They were
initially suspicious until Barnabas stood up
for him and paved the way for his accep-
tance into the faith community.
It was a turn-around church; turned around in terms of forgiveness, acceptance, and
love. Maybe that’s the key for most churches these days that are struggling to share the
gospel in new ways. It’s a dramatic conversion and witness to the world around us when
we show just how much Christians love each other in spite of all our differences.

Who are the Barnabases in our faith community that can help us
give witness to our own conversion from fear and infighting
to love and forgiveness?

10
ActsFor10
Pete’s sake!
It began with a vision that must have totally repelled Peter, challenging everything he had
ever been taught about faith and faithfulness and even food. He had to be converted,
not to love God, but to love his neighbor, a real life person, as different from Peter as an
alien: a Gentile . . . a Gentile who becomes filled with the Holy Spirit and is undeniably
one with Peter in Christ Jesus.
Loving your neighbor means being willing to eat together; fellowship in the early church
meant that anyone was welcome at the table. We say this in terms of the Eucharist, but
do we live this in terms of our hospitality toward others? Christian fellowship is more than
just having a good time together, it’s welcoming the stranger to our table. The stranger
may be someone who looks and acts and is in many ways different from ourselves. This is
a call to a multicultural faith and therefore a multicultural fellowship.
Does God really not play favorites? “The news traveled fast and in no time the leaders
and friends back in Jerusalem heard about it—heard that the non-Jewish ‘outsiders’ were
now ‘in’” (11:1, MSG). Back in Jerusalem the leaders and friends of Peter—who knew
him back when he was just a fisherman, who denied Jesus, who never “got it”—were un-
certain to say the least and outraged that this action was “ruining our good name” (v. 3).
So Peter tells the story to them and they quieted down. But the spread of Christianity to
the “outsiders” didn’t quiet down. Instead “quite a number of the Greeks believed and
turned to the Master” (v. 21).
God did wondrous things in the life of Peter, but these wondrous things weren’t easy.
Having one’s whole mind and heart changed about a whole race of people, for instance,
isn’t easy, but wondrous nevertheless.
Do we too often expect that our Christian faith will only grow under ideal, easy, com-
fortable conditions? Isn’t it when we’re stretched in our hearts and minds that we grow
closer to God, turned around in our love for neighbor and God?

When and how have I grown the most in my faith?

11
ActsThe13
downfall
of our way of life
The response to the gospel was mixed in the early church, just as it is today. Some were
wildly enthusiastic and others “wildly jealous . . . making an ugly scene” (v. 45, MSG).
The “outsiders” were wildly enthusiastic and grateful for their windfall of grace but there
were others who felt like “their precious
way of life was about to be destroyed”
(v. 52, MSG). Their “precious way of life”
that they were mourning was assumptions
and traditions about who was in and who
was out, what it meant to be among the
elect, and how to live. Preconceptions, as-
sumptions and prejudices no longer ruled,
so identity, purpose and mission all had to
undergo some rethinking and reorienting.
No longer is Christianity assumed to be the
only religious choice in many of our com-
munities, nor is the church the center of
social life, nor can we be assured that chil-
dren know the Lord’s Prayer or the stories
of Jesus or countless other references to
scripture. “Our precious way of life is being
destroyed!” we may wail.
Yet Paul and Barnabas joyfully kept sharing
the radical gospel of Jesus, seeing everyone
and everywhere as part of their mission field.

How am I feeling about the ways that our precious way of doing church has
come to an end and where do I eagerly and joyfully turn to share the gospel?

12
ActsEverybody
14 wants to go to heaven,
but nobody wants to die
One 21st-century problem is akin to the first-century problem in which Paul and Barna-
bas found themselves. People began to worship them instead of God, mesmerized by the
wonderful words and mighty acts that they were sharing.
“We don’t worship people,” you might argue. Oh, really? Increasingly churches are
oriented around the personality of the preacher, founder or leader. Mostly that’s not a
problem, but sometimes clergy take advantage of the power that a clergyperson has over
others and sometimes laity transfer a sense of God onto the clergyperson. Either way it’s
a power dynamic that’s unhealthy. It manifests itself in misconduct of all kinds, including
sexual.
Paul and Barnabas didn’t let the people worship them, even though it would have been
tempting. After all, that would have been easier than what followed!
For all their good efforts in sharing the gospel, there were detractors who beat Paul un-
conscious. Paul and Barnabas continued to share the good news as they went from com-
munity to community, emphasizing that it wouldn’t be easy: “Anyone signing up for the
kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times” (v. 22).
I’m afraid that we live in a time that equates faith with the expectation that we will be
rewarded with whatever we want. How will Christianity, the church, reading the Bible,
praying, forgiving, going on a mission trip, giving money to the church or anything else
asked of me make my life better, work for me, feed me, make me more comfortable,
give me more meaning in life, or generally meet my needs? As the old song goes, “every-
body wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die”: we all want the benefits without
the hardship.
Sometimes our needs are met and the joy, rewards, and good feelings abound. That can’t
be the only reason why we do this. “Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go
through plenty of hard times!”

What roles do the cross, sacrifice (when it hurts),

service (when it doesn’t seem to benefit me),
daily devotions (when I don’t always get something out of it),
or hard times (as in “no good deed ever goes unpunished”) play in my faith?

13
ActsA 15
model for conflict resolution
The pages in my Bible are worn around Acts 15. It’s a model for conflict resolution and
mediation for our divisive times. But as Bishop Reuben Job says in his book Three Simple
Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living (Abingdon, 2007), it takes spiritual maturity and self-
discipline to do what is required to truly
forgive and seek reconciliation in the midst
of conflict and differences. “(I)t demands
too much in the way of self-discipline and
a very deep faith that God will empower
and lead the faithful . . . for many of us to
agree with a theology and practice too rig-
orous for our timid and tame commitment”
(p. 24). And yet, he encourages us to do no
harm, to do good, and to stay in love with
God so that we can develop the faith that
demonstrates self-discipline and love for
others.
At the core of the conflict in the church
was its very identity and mission. Many
conflicts arise, but they’re not always root-
ed in our identity and mission. More likely
they’re rooted in personal preference and
expectations. Yet when our identity and
mission as a church is clearly understood
and articulated, even those personal prefer-
ences and expectations loosen up and become untangled.
But the part about this chapter that always breaks my heart is that at the end of it, Paul
gets into an argument with Barnabas (he’s the one who went out on a limb to get Paul
accepted by the Christians after his conversion) and they part company. Right there at
the end of this incredible chapter on how to holy conference and learn to live together! I
guess that all goes to say that none of us is spiritually immune to what causes brokenness
and the need for forgiveness and reconciliation.
So when—not if—we find ourselves in loggerheads in the church, arguing and fighting,
we need to return to the essential question: is this about our identity and the missional
direction as a church? If so, what is it saying to us? If not, why are we so hot and both-
ered?

What is the identity of our church? What is its direction in mission?

14
ActsPaul’s
16–20road trip
Paul thought he knew where he was going next. But a dream provided him a Spirit-in-
spired MapQuest sending him where he hadn’t expected to go: to Macedonia, to preach
the good news to the Europeans. Paul and Silas go down to the river to pray and form
a house church, upset a local economy in Philippi as well as Ephesus, get beat up and
jailed, have to sneak out of Thessalonica so they wouldn’t get jailed or beaten, only to
come to a full stop in Athens, where Paul couldn’t move the masses of “spiritual, but not
religious” people. It was a rough ending to a difficult missionary trip.
Paul found some traction in Corinth with Priscilla and Aquila, joined also by Silas and
Timothy. And then on to Ephesus (where again, Paul and the gospel undermine the local
economy—which doesn’t go over too well in most communities). In Corinth and Ephesus
it appears that there was plenty of time to preach and teach and model the way of Jesus.
The communities of faith grew in spirit and numbers.
Paul—the indomitable and indefatigable apostle of good news—travels to Macedonia
and Greece, then continues by land instead of setting sail to the next place (Assos). By
ship he went on from there as he made his way toward Jerusalem.
By land or sea, with whomever would be at his side, Paul traveled his known world to
share the good news, only to desire to go back to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost,
knowing that it wouldn’t go well for him there. Oh, the places that Paul went, the never-
ending horizons of opportunity as well as challenge to share the gospel!
A repairman at our house asked me, “Are you a missionary?” I was a little taken aback by
the question. My puzzled look spurred him on to say, “I see all the pictures on your walls
of people from all over the world. You must be a missionary!” I said, “Yes, I’m a mission-
ary (of sorts).”
Oh, the places I’ve gone—not just in the world but throughout Minnesota—and the
people I’ve met because I’m a missionary of sorts is an incredible blessing to me. Like
Paul, it’s not without its bruising at times, but what else could bring me in contact with so
many different people and opportunities to be an ambassador of Jesus?
You don’t have to be clergy to be an ambassador of Jesus, a missionary of sorts. Wherever
you go and whomever you meet, you have an opportunity as well as the challenge to
share Jesus in word and deed.

When was the last time someone saw that I was a missionary (of sorts)?

15
ActsGlorifying
21–26 God in the dock
Paul feels a divine necessity to go to Jerusalem, even though his friends begged him not
to go. No polls or surveys were taken; he simply knew that he must. Perhaps he knew
that his story of the church, spreading through the Greek-speaking world, needed to be
told to the leaders in Jerusalem. And likewise, the leaders in Jerusalem had a story to tell
of how the church was spreading there.
It was an internal dispute, accusing Paul of telling people in the Greek-speaking world
that they could be Moses-light. As a result, he was arrested and brought before the reli-
gious authorities and eventually the governmental authorities.
Paul is on trial and yet instead of being on the defense, he’s on the offense, preaching
Christ crucified and risen in his life, in the world, and for all people. He tells his conver-
sion story again, stylizing it for his audience. He seems to use every situation to glorify
God. What a concept!
Paul finds himself before Roman officials and it’s an uneasy relationship between Chris-
tianity and government or politics in the first century—just as it is today. The New Testa-
ment scriptures differ in their admonishment toward the government or politics. In Ro-
mans 13, Paul tells people to cooperate and pray so as to live as peaceably in the Roman
Empire as possible. In Revelation 13, the political and governmental powers are evil and
to be resisted. Here it seems that the role Paul plays is to hold the government and its
politics to accountability: do what you’re supposed to do and don’t do what you’re not
supposed to do!
That is, I’m afraid, the big debate in American politics and government today! Just what is
the role of government in our country?
Someone tried to force me into explaining why I am of one political persuasion or anoth-
er. I responded by saying that my identity isn’t in my political party or views. My identity
is in being a follower of Jesus. Sometimes that coincides with a political platform and
sometimes it is in direct opposition. Sometimes it aligns so it looks like I might be of one
party but I see myself as a follower of Jesus and not a Republican or a Democrat in terms
of identity (even as I may vote one way or another at any given time) and put myself
through my first year in college by working for a Republican candidate running for office.
Where do we find our worldview shaped? CNN, Fox News, NPR, or our Christian faith?

What does it mean to base my identity in being a follower of Jesus and not in
being a follower of a political party or another worldview?

16
ActsChurch
27–28of the open door
Paul finally gets to Rome but not without major difficulties. Once again his sheer innate
leadership comes out in the midst of the storm on the sea. He takes over, caring for peo-
ple’s physical and spiritual needs. He prevents the sailors from mutiny. He keeps people’s
spirits up. It’s the only time we read where Paul seems to celebrate the Eucharist, or at
least that’s what “breaking the bread, giving thanks to God, passing it around and eating
heartily” (27:35) seems to imply. He keeps himself alive when the soldiers decided to kill
all prisoners (after he fed them!) and because he had provided leadership throughout the
difficult trip, the centurion saved Paul.
In Rome he is under house arrest. This final chapter has some interesting twists. The first
is that when Paul told the Jewish leaders in Rome that he had come to make sure that he
was “on Israel’s side,” they said, “Nobody wrote warning us about you. And no one has
shown up saying anything bad about you. But we would like very much to hear more.
The only thing we know about this Christian sect is that nobody seems to have anything
good to say about it” (28:21-22, MSG).
If that isn’t 21st-century church, I don’t know what is! Too many people don’t have any-
thing good to say about the church and instead of despairing, we like Paul need to set to
work at sharing the good news, telling the story of Jesus and being his hands and feet and
heart and head wherever we are and with whomever we meet.
The other aspect of this last chapter is the last verse: Paul’s “door was always open”
(28:31). The 21st-century church is called to be an open door—not just our church
buildings, but our hearts, our kitchen tables, our circles of friends, and wherever we find
ourselves residing and relating.

Is my door always open to the next person I meet?

Is our church door always open to anyone who wants to come?
Is the door to my heart open to Jesus . . . and all Jesus’ friends?
Is the door to salvation and the door to justice open
for those held captive by this world’s sin and evil?

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