Acts Actually: 9 – Gospel Unstoppable

Part of the story in the book of Acts is the unstoppable spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Religious rulers tried to at first to shut up the disciples by warning them. This failed. They then imprisoned them. This failed too. Internal disputes and iniquities threatened the community. This failed as well. They killed a man that sparked a persecution in order to stop the spread of this gospel. You can guess how that fared.

When a man full of zeal for the Jewish religious status quo arose to attempt to crush the church, this gave the opportunity to show just how unstoppable the gospel is. So radical was the conversion of this great enemy of the church that understandably it met with some suspicion and caution both initially in Damascus and then in Jerusalem.

That’s why Ananias – and it’s refreshing to read of an Ananias that doesn’t lie and then die – is to be commended for allowing himself to be part of the unstoppable spread of the gospel. It is his obedience to the call of Jesus to go to brother Saul that triggers the ministry of the most important apostle in the spread of the gospel to non-Jews.

The irony is rich in how Saul had gone to persecute in Damascus, then became the target of persecution in Damascus and Jerusalem. This was due, however to that unstoppable urge of the Spirit in Saul to proclaim and explain how Jesus was the Messiah. In as much as his opponents sought to shut him up – as ever they failed.

What is remarkable about the chapter, is that the spread of the gospel is unstoppable under pressure and remains relentless in its spread when a time of peace comes after Saul leaves Jerusalem for Tarsus. Peter’s activities in Samaria in healing Aeneas and Dorcas reminds us that the gospel message impacts all of life to turn people to Jesus.

This relentless, unstoppable move of the gospel through obedient men and women has not waned since then. Wherever people think the gospel has been compromised, diluted, rendered ineffective there are always pockets of expressions of the unstoppable spread of the gospel around the world.

Encouraged by the example set for us, followers of Jesus, moved by the Spirit can today get involved with spreading the unstoppable good news of Jesus.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden