Thoughts on Acts 2

Today’s reading: Psalms 120-125; Acts 2

Reading Peter’s speech this morning, it stood out to me how much of the Word Peter knew by heart to be able to give the speech he did.

It’s easy to read past his speech, or just talk about the content of it, but the context of it is important too. Peter wasn’t planning on running outside to tell everyone that what they were hearing was the fulfillment of prophetic oracles. There is no indication that they had any idea what would happen when they received the Holy Spirit, Jesus simply told them to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from on high. This means that Peter wasn’t sitting in the corner of the room with the others, preparing his speech, trying to decide which scriptures would best make his points, and then committing those specific passages to memory, preparing for the moment they all started speaking in different languages.

Yes, Jesus had been studying with them and teaching them the Scriptures during the time between His resurrection and ascension, but this is a lot to have memorized from scratch in a relatively short time, especially if the passages he quotes aren’t the only passages Jesus studied with them.

This tells me that Peter had been paying attention in synagogue and learning the Scriptures throughout his life. Despite the fact that he was a simple fisherman and not any kind of minister or professional religious teacher, he was still faithful to listen and learn the Scriptures as he had opportunity, and that prepared him for the role God put him into here in Acts 2.

A lot of Christians treat learning the word like a professional's responsibility. There are biblical scholars out there to do the heavy lifting, and they distill things down for the pastors and teachers, and they, in turn, decide what's important and teach their people. The average Christian's job is to show up, listen to the sermon being taught on a given Sunday, hopefully feel a little encouraged or challenged by it, and go about their way. What's the need for those average Christians to actually learn the Word for themselves?

Anybody who is bothering to read this blog probably already recognizes the folly of that mentality, but it's pervasive nonetheless. But among those of us who do see the importance of reading the bible on our own, are we content just to read it, or are we committed to learning it? Peter knew these passages by heart; how much Scripture have you memorized? I'm honestly not a big advocate of what a lot of people today would call "bible study," but I am a huge advocate of memorizing books or passages of the bible. The process of memorization keeps you in the text enough to let the Holy Spirit focus and shape your thinking about it, and leaves it available to you to use day in and day out. I honestly see a lot less value in memorizing a bunch of individual verses, but memorizing chapters or books can be of tremendous spiritual value.

But however you approach learning the Word, the point is that Peter clearly didn't wait until he was put in a position that needed the Word to start learning it.

I have a friend who told me he feels like God might be calling him to full-time youth ministry. I asked him what he was doing now to prepare for it, and his answer was, "Nothing, I'll worry about that when God puts me in the role." If he truly feels God is wanting him to go that way, he should be trying to learn the Word, looking for opportunities to practice teaching the age group he wants to work with, seeking out advice and experience from others who have done the same work successfully, etc. Doing nothing now, because he's not in the role, means, on the one hand, he won't be at all prepared if God does open the door, but, on the other hand, it might also mean God chooses to never open the door as a result. Jesus Himself taught the principle that he who is faithful in a little will be faithful with much, and he who is faithless in a little will be faithless in much.

If we want to be useful in the Lord's hands, we don't wait for Him to thrust us into some role or position to begin to prepare to be useful, but we, like Peter evidently did, we make use of the opportunities we have available to us to learn and grow in our faith, becoming daily more prepared for anything and everything that God has for us next.