08.09 | How Far We Have Come
Acts 28:11-31
‘For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!’
Acts 28:30-31
Look at how far we have come.
I was climbing Ben Nevis1 with our two older children, Estie and Jake, two years ago. Estie was ten, and Jake was eight—a big climb for short legs. We’d battled through the midges of the lower areas, and had hit the snaking and stony pathway of the higher climb. The cloud line was close. And their legs were tired.
At such moments, it really helps to say,
But look how far we’ve come.
We stopped. We looked back. We looked down. And seeing how much had been accomplished already, we found new strength for the upward climb.
We finish Acts today. We have come far. We have come from the commissioning and ascending Jesus, the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Church, and the extraordinary growth and radical ways of the first church. We have come through persecution and scattering, the Gospel travelling from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria. We saw the Pharisee become a disciple and become an apostle. We saw a mission base formed at Antioch, and have journeyed four mission trips through Europe—seeing the sick healed and the demons evicted and pagan scrolls burned and idols abandoned. We’ve seen the dead raised and the most godless individuals become participants in the rampaging work of God.
At such moments, we stop and we look back. For that which we have seen is there to give strength for the onwards journey. It is there to remind us that this story is a part of ours, and the God who is so beautifully active in these pages remains the exact same Father in who we live and move and have our being today.
And as Luke closes his second volume of the New Testament—that began with Zechariah in that temple all those pages ago—what does he want us to see?
We find Paul, still in chains, and still proclaiming the same message. We see him declaring the hope fulfilled of the Old Testament Scriptures—the story of the ages.
And we find Luke bookending his Gospel with the phrase that run through Jesus ministry.
In the first chapter, he put it like this:
Jesus appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
In the final chapter, we find Paul holding the same message:
Paul welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God.
The reign of God. The will of God. The beauty and peace and life and power of His place, His world, His eternity—breaking into and supplanting and transforming and revolutionising this broken world with foretastes of the magnificence to come.
And so, today, we look how far we have come. Because looking back strengthens us for the journey forwards. For the story we have read is for our strengthening and our boldness. It is there to urge us to continue as they did—filled with the same Spirit and practising the same patterns and, with endurance and courage, to follow the stony path before our feet. The way is beautiful and the way is battle. As they were contested, so will we be—to the measure of our courage. As God was with them, so He is with us—to the tune of our prayers. As they saw His kingdom supplanting the darkness in their day, so may we see such things and even moreso in our own.
The shining face of the Glorious One awaits us all at the summit.
And so we look backwards, and then set our feet again to the path beyond.
Reflect:
Look at how far we have come. What has stood out to you in Acts?
What is the Spirit inviting from you as you continue this same story in your life and community now?
Pray:
Father,
The tepid life is
Dull
And leads to atrophy
Of the soul.
And while such mediocrity, fear, and distraction
Can suck me in,
I seek more than this.
I seek the mountaintop—
On the craggy paths
Of Messiah pursuit.
And so,
Father of my life,
I give you my way again:
To walk closely;
To follow your lead;
To inhabit your freedom;
To journey deeper and deeper and deeper into your love—
That my life
May endure when opposed,
Be a ferocious adversary of darkness,
And may bring peace amidst turmoil,
In the cause of the Kingdom inbreaking,
And with my hope set in the summit
Of the shining face
Of my glorious King.
In His Name,
Lord Jesus,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:15 | Psalm 106:24-33
Ben Nevis is Britain’s highest peak, at 1,345metres.
Yes! Till Jesus comes!