Speaker 1: 0:07

Hello friends, and welcome to the Rooted and Grounded podcast. What's up, my brother?

Speaker 2: 0:11

Matt, how are you guys?

Speaker 1: 0:12

doing? How are y'all? What's going on with the tie?

Speaker 2: 0:15

I know we missed a memo yeah, oh, you didn't get it. Well, I was told there was going to be a couple of scholars show up today, but I guess they didn't make it.

Speaker 1: 0:24

So I was dressing up for them, still waiting, yeah, yeah, we're still waiting they'll be, here.

Speaker 3: 0:31

Okay, good, after the broadcast they'll be yeah later on, okay make sure

Speaker 2: 0:36

we wear a tie now. Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah. Then I'd feel like a thorn among two roses because I'm not wearing one.

Speaker 1: 0:43

Oh goodness.

Speaker 1: 0:48

So at the end of the last episode, we kind of teased the direction that we wanted to go with the podcast, and that was to begin talking about the church in more detail and spend a few episodes just thinking about what the church is and what the role it plays and the role we play as part of it. And so we are going to begin that discussion today by looking kind of tying back to the John 14 episode, when we talked about Jesus being the way. And so I think it's interesting that in the book of Acts, five different times the way is used as the descriptor of the church. Even before we have the term Christians, we have followers of Christ being called members of the way. And so I want to pull out just a couple of these as kind of setting the scene, and then, Matt, we'll go to you to get some more details on this.

Speaker 1: 1:41

So let me read. The first one is Acts, chapter 9, verses 1 and 2, and it says but Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found anyone belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Then in Acts 19, verse 9, it says but when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, Paul withdrew from them and took the disciples with him. And then in Acts 24, 14,. And so that's kind of pulling from the scripture there, those instances of the way. But, Matt, talk to us more about how this terminology came into being and thinking back to what Jesus said in John 14.

Speaker 3: 2:43

Yeah, we had kind of a little bit touched on it when we were talking about John 14, 6, but I think that, to begin just these thoughts, acts chapter 1, verse 8, jesus tells them he says you'll be my witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So it's this idea or this thought of these guys going and they're about to tell people about Jesus. They're going to be the witnesses to say we saw him alive, we saw him dead, we saw him resurrected, and not only did we see that, but there's good news in that, because you can be saved. But here's the deal and I think that you know, last time we talked about it it just kept coming up in my mind and it's still just on my mind now. And I'm excited about talking about this point because at the end of the conversation every time, no matter what it was and it's still true for us today we may not proclaim it this way and it may be shifting maybe a little bit of the way that I talk to people about it they were telling people that this is the only way to the Father, like they're telling Jews that they're going to end up telling. I mean, what does he say?

Speaker 3: 4:03

All Judea, samaria, and even to the end of the earth, they're about to proclaim a message to people that there's only one way. There's only one way. And they obviously are proclaiming it so much that that's the nickname that they get. You know, it's like they call them this sect or this group, but that group is called the way. And the question would be, if you'd never heard that, why are they called the way? And then the conversation even if somebody, even if somebody didn't believe what they were saying, they would have to say well, they believe that this guy named Jesus is the only way to heaven, or to the father, or whatever they, or to the Father or whatever, to the ultimate God, or however they would, whatever that religion would take them. They're going to say that these people believe that Jesus is the only way. That's encouraging to me, because they were willing to stand on something so bold that it became their nickname and we were talking about it in Acts 2.

Speaker 2: 5:10

Yeah, I mean it took hold. Yeah, I mean it wasn't just something that was passing by, you know, it was something that, because they saw it in their lives I believe Right and once they saw it it became real to them and they saw these obvious changes of life that was being produced, that they go hey, I want some of that, you know, I mean you've got something that I need, you've got something that I desire. So they would tell them about Jesus. And you know, when you come to Acts 2, of course you know many of us realize that's the first recorded what we would call today a, a gospel sermon by the Apostle Peter. Of all people, I mean, who would have ever picked him?

Speaker 2: 5:49

Yeah Right, I mean from the human standpoint. Who would have ever said you know the guy that delivered the first sermon on the day of Pentecost that's been prophesied for all these years?

Speaker 1: 6:00

How about Peter Right yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:06

Okay. So here's the apostle peter standing up and it says in acts, chapter 2, verse 14, and following here he is proclaiming and I want you to notice what he says. Uh, in verse 22, as he's preaching his sermon, he said men of israel, listen to these words. It's almost like he says okay, have I got your attention? If I don't, I need it. I want all ears and eyes to be right here. Here's what you guys need to hear Jesus, the Nazarene, a man. Now, he's been talked to you before by God. He had been attested to you by God and you know he's done so with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed. Notice through him. What did Jesus say back in John 14?

Speaker 1: 6:43

I'm him, I'm the way, I am the one.

Speaker 2: 6:45

I'm the truth, I am the one, just as you selves know. I think that's important. And he says you guys know this, you've got this, you understand this. And he said I know when this man verse 23, you're delivering him over by the preterm plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But because Jesus is the way, okay, but God didn't leave him there, because if he'd have left him there, what would happen? There'd have been no way, there'd be no path to follow. But God raised him up again and put in an end to the agony of that death, since it's impossible for him to be held by its power.

Speaker 2: 7:30

In other words, god said jesus is the way, he's the only way. He's proclaimed that to you. He's told his disciples that. And now, in the first recorded gospel sermon, what happened? We talked about him, we talked about the way and people heard that. Because when you go on in acts, chapter 2, man, you see what happens when people understand jesus is a way and they see that way being demonstrated in life. You want to be a part of that. You want to you say what have I got to do?

Speaker 2: 8:02

yeah you know what's the answer to the problem I have in life. And when you continue to look at the sermon, we see what happened yeah.

Speaker 3: 8:12

I think that you know, when you think about Jesus and what he said, as they're out being these witnesses saying we've heard this guy, we've seen this guy, we lived with this guy, we slept with this guy, we did all these things with this guy.

Speaker 3: 8:31

And here's what I'm trying to tell you. He talked about living and dying and resurrecting, and we saw all of that play out and he, again and again and again, is saying I am, and all of the ones that we talked about, he's not doing that on accident, he's doing it on purpose. And I think to me it's just an amazing thing. I'm still trying to grasp it. Really, of all the things that they could have said or all the nicknames that they could have received, the one that always got them was he's the way, that is the way to go, and it's only through Jesus and I think it just. It just preaches a very powerful sermon and you see it right here, um, on the day of Pentecost, because when they hear it, they're cut and therefore it causes what you were going to talk about in Acts 2.38 is obedience happens, yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:27

Well, and really I think, if you look at the resurrection, it is the fulcrum, or it is that middle point of the seesaw for really all of human history.

Speaker 2: 9:42

Scholar stuff. Did you hear that here that?

Speaker 3: 9:44

here he comes.

Speaker 1: 9:45

Oh, he did show up one.

Speaker 2: 9:45

One out two is not bad, I don't get to say fulcrum very I mean I'm like yes, yeah, that's probably the first time I've ever heard me too, and it wasn't planned either.

Speaker 3: 9:58

I love it Just one of those thoughts that came up.

Speaker 1: 10:01

But you think about it, and so if the resurrection is that kind of point of teeter then the very first really significant event to happen after the resurrection is the church. And so it kind of like as the seesaw tilts down, the very first thing that happens is the church, and so it kind of like as the seesaw tilts down, the very first thing that happens is the church, and then everything else is happening because of it and the structure of the way.

Speaker 1: 10:24

Yeah, and so with that, let's go to the end of that chapter two, and I want to pull out a couple of different points and I know it's a couple of verses, but I want to read them because I've got five things that I want to pull out. Read them, because I've got five things that I want to pull out. So, at 2, 37, um, peter is done speaking and it says the people were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? Important question Uh, verse 38, peter said repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the way, added that day, about 3,000 souls.

Speaker 1: 11:17

And so, as we think about what following Jesus means and putting that in context of the way, here is what that entails from these verses. Number one is conviction. So you look at verse 37, it says they were cut to the heart. If you want to follow Jesus, then you have to believe that he is. He's the son of God.

Speaker 1: 11:36

And you have to seek him and they say what shall we do?

Speaker 1: 11:39

And to seek him. You meet him in the waters of baptism. You put off the old self, you put on the new self and that is where a really a holy union takes place, there in the waters of baptism. Verse 42, it talks about devotion to teaching, to fellowship, to prayer. Verse 45. Sorry, I went down through the rest of the chapter there Verse 45, it talks about unity and giving to the poor. And then verse 46 and 47, it brings up daily fellowship and worship.

Speaker 1: 12:11

And I think this is an important aspect of the church in the way that I want to talk about, because we provide time for worship as a body of believers, and I think that is a biblical thing that we are instructed to do. But also, worship and the church extend beyond what we do on Sundays and Wednesdays, and so we need to be together with other believers during the week. We need to have connections with people who are part of the body, that we can be friends with, that we can talk to, that we can help, that we can just enjoy and share life with. Also, I think about the worship aspect, and I know Romans 12 talks about that our life should be a form of worship, but that everything we do should be because we're part of the way, we're part of the church.

Speaker 3: 12:57

We are part of.

Speaker 1: 12:58

Jesus. So all of that to say, when we think about what the way is and why the early followers were part of the way and why we are part of the way, it is because we want to be with Jesus. That's right and we want to live for Him. And so guys any comments?

Speaker 2: 13:16

on that. Oh yeah, I mean, I think when you say what is the what? The way is? It's simple, if you want to put it in just real simple terms, like you just have following jesus, sure, right, and you follow him here.

Speaker 2: 13:26

You be with him there in eternity and and that's really what the way is all about is leading us to the father yeah I mean, and that's exactly what we find in in acts, chapter two, and when they were continued to, to be added to the, to the kingdom, to the church, to the way uh, they were, they were. That conviction led them to follow him.

Speaker 3: 13:50

I think about when jesus is talking in uh matthew, about the narrow way and the wide way, and I think, think that the narrow way is, you know, he says it's difficult and it's hard to find, and you know, maybe another lesson for another time but the idea that the wide way is easy but this narrow way is difficult. Well, the reason why it's difficult is because people don't want to follow Jesus, because people don't want to, as soon as they're pressed with this point, to have to follow him now, all of a sudden. I mean, his very first comment is anybody wants to follow me? Deny self. Okay, well, I'm out. Young, rich ruler.

Speaker 3: 14:29

You know, what I'm saying. He did all the things, but what was he not willing to do? He wasn't willing to follow the way he says go sell all your stuff and then come and follow me. Well, wait a minute, you're not, I'm going to stay on the wide way.

Speaker 2: 14:42

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3: 14:43

Like wait a minute, you're going to provide for me what I have, I don't you know. And so I think that what was happening early on and the reason why this sect began to grow and we'll talk about it more as we continue in the next lessons on this establishment of the church and the beauty of it, really but the idea of this beginning group is all of them, they all are saying, and I think it is interchangeable these I am statements, but it is interesting to me that the way was the one that's elevated, and I keep coming back to this because I think if you follow the way, what you find is the truth.

Speaker 3: 15:24

And if you follow the way, you find that there's a resurrection and if you follow the way, you understand that there's that shepherd. And I listen to his voice and I follow it. And now, all of a sudden, everything that Jesus is saying to me now, all of a sudden, I hold very valuable to me. And now, all of a sudden, everything that Jesus is saying to me, now, all of a sudden, I hold very valuable to me. And now, all of a sudden, when I do face persecution, what I know is leap jump for joy. It's good, because you're actually doing the thing that's causing people to recognize that you're part of a different way.

Speaker 2: 15:55

Kind of what happened in verse 46, yep in acts 2, and they were together, that fellowship that you were talking about, matt, with gladness, and I think it says something what you were just saying, matt sincerity, yep of heart, yep, that he had cut them to the point. It's very simple, yep, and they were sincere about it, because they understood, yep, the way that that Jesus had said to the apostles.

Speaker 1: 16:21

So, wayne, I know you've got an interesting connection that you want to make a little later on in the book of Acts. Why don't you make that for us?

Speaker 2: 16:27

Yeah, well, you know we found in Acts 2, the church is established. It said the way, here's the way, because Jesus is the truth and the life. And now Saul understood something, guys. Saul was opposed to this tremendously. You remember yep acts, chapter 7. Stephen stoned to death and there was saul, yep uh, highly religious man, judaism, it seems to me like that. He saw what the way was doing. He saw the people following, he saw them being convicted. Then he saw them coming together, like we saw in Acts 2. So here's Saul. He understands something, guys. He knew without a shadow of doubt that those two cannot dwell together, that Christianity and Judaism cannot dwell together. So you know what We've got to put away the way. We've got to snuff this out, if you will. Okay, so what we find in Acts 8, then it's very interesting. In Acts 8, in verse 1, paul was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen to death. You know there's a lot to be said about that, but we'll move on.

Speaker 2: 17:32

On that day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout all the regions of Judea, samaria, except the apostles. Now let's see if we can get this picture here. They are the apostles in Jerusalem, the disciples, those who are becoming followers of the way. Guess what? They're not here anymore. They've been scattered abroad. Look at verse 4. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching about the way, preaching about the word.

Speaker 2: 18:09

And what's amazing to me is when you look at Acts 8, in verse 1, and they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea, samaria. You remember what you read a few moments ago, acts 1, verse 8,. What did Jesus say would happen? They're going to be my witnesses. They're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem. Okay, which they have been, because all of a sudden, people are following this way, following Jesus, part of the church, and he says you're not going to be only in Jerusalem, you're going to be in Jude, jerusalem, you're going to be in judea and samara and to the uttermost parts of the world.

Speaker 2: 18:45

It's interesting to me chapter 1, verse 8. You come to chapter 8, verse 1, and you see that occurring. You see that happening. What jesus said would occur is now taking place. But now look what? What Saul's doing in chapter 9. You read verse 2 earlier. Matt Paul's still breathing out threats, okay, murder against the disciples of the Lord. The two can't exist together in his mind. Okay, so he went to the Damascus, went to the synagogues at Damascus and said look, if anyone be found belonging to the way, I want to bound them, bind them and bring them to jerusalem now. Wait a minute. What was he standing against? Church, the church. What was it called? The way. So when you look at these two passages, acts 8 1 and acts 9 2, what we have an understanding? He just gives us a great insight of what the way is, exactly what you pointed out earlier that after resurrection it was the body of Christ, it was the church, it was the family of God.

Speaker 3: 19:51

The one thing you're saying, that Acts 8, 4,. Therefore, those who were scattered the church, the way they went, everywhere preaching the word, it did not affect them.

Speaker 2: 20:05

But here's the amazing thing You're right and it always has made me imagine meeting some of them along the way. Okay, they've just lost everything, they've been driven from their homes and likely they had very little, because maybe of what was on their back Right, and they went on their back Right. And they went on their way and you know what they're doing. Oh, you don't want to be a part of this thing about the way man, that's terrible. No, they were preaching about the way they're embracing it.

Speaker 3: 20:28

Oh, they're saying you see what's happening? I mean, I'm thinking about just that person on the road, just like you're saying, the road, just like you're saying. And here they are with their family. They don't have anything, hardly, except just the things that they grab, because scattered to me means a really quick exit, exactly right. So here they are, they've really quickly exited, and when people come up to them and they start talking to them, they say what's happened? How come this is going on? Because I got to tell you about this guy that's changed my life. Right, he's changed their life. Yeah, uh, I thought you're on the run, I thought you're trying to get away. I thought you're being harassed. I am, but here's the deal.

Speaker 2: 21:07

I got to tell you about this guy, what is happening to these people and the reason it looks like they were scattered is it was a great persecution yes, it wasn't a persecution. Yes, the word great's heavy the word great magnifies it, that's right Qualifies the depth of it and the seriousness of it.

Speaker 3: 21:23

I mean to me when it says Saul still breathing, threats and murder against the disciples, I mean there had to be—I've never had somebody try to murder me. I don't even know what that would feel like, but I've had people be mad at me or I've heard from them when I was younger hey, man, we're going to have a fight, we're going to fight after school. You know like even in those moments there is that a little bit of anxiety like man, he might beat me up and he did yeah, but when they told me that there was only one there and I'll let you guess- who it was.

Speaker 3: 22:00

But you know, like those emotions in the world cause a very different reaction. But these guys, they were okay to be bound and led to Jerusalem. They were okay to do that because what they knew, and I think that this may be an application for us to just really press down on, and I think that the church has to recognize something and maybe come back to this idea they were preaching the way man, and that that attitude and that mentality and that just fervor and desire for that way was worth dying for. Are we there? I mean what you know, it's like I may tell somebody about Jesus, I may talk about how good he is, but it's like and this is talking about the church, the body of Christ, to be a part of Well, and as you're talking, I think about just the disconnects between the early church and us.

Speaker 3: 22:55

Yes, we've got it easy.

Speaker 2: 22:57

Yes.

Speaker 1: 22:58

And I think, in a lot of ways, it's easy for this to be almost unrelatable. I mean, yes, we follow the same way and we want to do the same things, but we have no threats, we have no fears. I mean anything that we experience is going to be very minor compared to what they experience. So how do we kind of meld the faith of them and of us in the way and continue on with that same fervor and intensity, even when we don't have the same challenges that they did?

Speaker 3: 23:27

I would say for me, remembering the message. I think the power is in the message when I think about my life and I think about the things that I've been redeemed from and reconciled to and how I, as a sinful person who doesn't deserve anything, especially in a great God in the grand scheme of it, who not only loves me but wants me to be a part of his family and allows me to be it. You know this idea Wayne had talked about it really at the beginning of the year this idea of love, you know, and being revived in our love, and this idea of God loved us so much that he allowed us to be his children. I think that that's a driving motivation that you know.

Speaker 3: 24:15

I've talked to people and I've said you're worth it and they're like I'm not worth it. People and I've said you're worth it and they're like I'm not worth it. I'm like, no, you're worth it. And then, once they can realize and recognize their worth, now, all of the sudden, it's like a light bulb goes off in their mind. This is what was happening to people in this time who probably were slaves, people who didn't have hardly anything, and all of a sudden they see this great value in their life. Man, if you give somebody hope, it's a game changer.

Speaker 2: 24:44

They had the message. But the source of that message, you see, all the way through the book of Acts, is about the man. That's right, because you remember in John 14, the way, the truth, and then you have that life. And once they saw that truth, and then you have that life. Yeah, and once they saw that. So when I think about that conviction they had, um, it was because of the man himself.

Speaker 1: 25:06

And he said you remember, back in acts 2, you know, yeah, yeah, and so I think, trying to tie this all together, um, if we look in acts, chapter 8, at verse 5, it says phil Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed with them Christ. And so we've got Jerusalem, we've got Judea, now we've got Samaria into the midst. And then you look at verse 12, at the result of his preaching, preaching, and it says but when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Speaker 1: 25:43

And so one of the distinctions that I want to make sure to pull out is the fact that, whenever you read scripture, there are no examples of unbaptized believers. If someone believes in Christ, then they meet him in the water.

Speaker 2: 25:58

And.

Speaker 1: 25:58

I think that's an important part of this way and really that message that we keep going back to in Acts 1-8 of you're going to go and here's what you're going to do, and here's what you're going to teach them, and here's how the way is going to function. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:11

And if you're going to follow him, that's what you do.

Speaker 1: 26:14

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:14

You stay on the path and you know. It's amazing because in Acts 2 and then here in Acts 8, those that listened and heard and believed, they did the same thing. Acts 2, 38, they repented and be baptized. And Acts 8, 12, they believed Christ and about the church, the kingdom, and they were baptized. And guys, this is a I mean really, this is a gigantic step.

Speaker 3: 26:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:38

Okay, yeah, when you think about the Samaritans, because I mean you know, a lot of us realize the relationship that was not present with them. I mean they had a hatred for each other, right. So when we understand going to Samaria and taking the message of Jesus about the way, about the man, and this is huge.

Speaker 3: 27:00

Yeah, I think for me, you know, when I think about Acts 2, verse 47,. It says praising God and having favor with all the people in the Lord added to the church daily, those who were being saved. So, just like you just read, you ain't going to add yourself to any church. But guess what? The Lord will add you to his church, which is his body, which is the way when you follow him. He will add you to his family.

Speaker 2: 27:31

And that's an incredible thing. You follow the man and follow his message. It leads you right there. He said I came to give you life and I came to.

Speaker 3: 27:37

It leads you right there. Yeah, he said, I came to give you life and I came to give it to you more abundantly. I mean, how many times could these people teach this type of message? And it just is like incredible, you know, like I got to go this way. Show me how to go this way. You know, that's right.

Speaker 1: 27:55

All right guys, so we've covered a lot of ground and I feel like had really good discussion on what the way is. And we've got a couple more lessons planned on this topic, but for today, let's think about making it real, matt. What's our takeaway from you?

Speaker 3: 28:11

I just think that you know I'm kind of weighing on this idea that following the way is following the man and recognizing just how much Jesus loves us and cares about us and he's worth telling people about. He is worth telling people about him and the love that he has for us and for, you know, for humanity as a whole humanity as a whole.

Speaker 2: 28:46

Just um, if we could just have that ambitious desire that saul had against the church. If we could have that, because I can imagine he had to be very ambitious about this trip he was making he had the letter, he had the approval of the higher authority to bind them up, bring them back, okay, and it must have been pretty ambitious because I mean, he couldn't jump in his automobile like we do today 140-mile trip there about.

Speaker 2: 29:10

I mean, you're talking about a week's journey. And just to do what? Because I'm ambitious to snuff out the message in the way. But guess what? He couldn't Got him.

Speaker 3: 29:22

He got him, the man got him With the message.

Speaker 2: 29:29

Very literally.

Speaker 1: 29:32

And then I would say, for mine it's just the reminder that we get to be part of the Great Commission.

Speaker 3: 29:36

You think?

Speaker 1: 29:36

about how the Gospel of Matthew ends and Jesus says go into all the worlds and baptize and do the things We've talked about. The whole episode and the early church handled Jerusalem, they handled Judea, they handled Samaria and really, to a large extent, they handled the known world at the time. If you look at the apostles, I think they stretched from England to India by the time of their death and a lot of places in between.

Speaker 1: 30:02

But we get to continue sharing it to the ends of the earth and whether that's with the people we live, with the people we work with or ways we can go, digitally or physically, around the world. We can share the gospel easier than we ever have before. Let's not forget that command.

Speaker 3: 30:18

It's a great blessing yeah the way.

Speaker 1: 30:21

It is. All right Well thank you all for listening. We hope it's beneficial to you. May you walk in the light. Take care, thank you you.