Lenses for Acts

I mentioned last night a few lenses that we might look through as we approach the Acts of the Apostles. Here they are again.

1) Kingdom Lens 1: Inauguration & Implementation:: Pay attention to the ways in which the church continues the mission of Jesus. How is the church to implement what Jesus started? How does the church do the "greater things than these" that Jesus talked about?

2) Kingdom Lens 2: the Church as Agents, Colonies, and Heralds:: Look for the ways in which the believers act as agents (doing the work of the kingdom), colonies (embodying the life of the kingdom), and heralds (announcing the kingdom).

3) Culture Lens: Israel mission, Gentile mission:: Pay attention to who is being addressed, and why it matters what is said, what stories are told, and how people respond.

4) Salvation Lens: Kingdom Coming & the Spirit as the Guarantee of God's Future:: Pay attention to what salvation looks like as the kingdom arrives in each situation. How did the prophets understand salvation, and why did the disciples see the events around them as the initial arrival of what the prophets hoped for?

5) Exodus Lens: Hearing the Echoes of the Exodus:: Pay attention to the language of exodus. If the believers then understood what was happening as a New Exodus, what do you hear in Acts that sounds similar to stories from the first Exodus? What is fresh and new? What is rooted in Israel's story?

6) Character Lens: Finding the Character of Obedience:: (I think this is Jon's lens. He'll correct me if I missed it.) Try reading Acts, not looking for a blueprint for organizing an institution, but to see people who were being surprised by God, directed by God, and stumbling forward in the power of God and in spite of themselves.