Acts 4:32-5:11
A Sermon by Christopher Patton
Sovereign Grace Church Middletown, DE
February 28, 2010

Whenever a genuine move of God’s Spirit takes place inevitably obstacles are encountered – obstacles that tend to threaten mission.

One example can be found in the First Great Awakening, a revival in the American colonies.  This revival began in 1734 and 1735, with God’s work in a church in Northampton, Connecticut led by the great pastor-theologian Jonathan Edwards.  As Edwards proclaimed the Gospel, many turned from their sins and trusted the Savior. The revival spread to other parts of New England and to colonies further south.

At the height of the awakening, tragedy struck Northampton, a small town of only about 1400 people.  Edward’s uncle, who was well-known and respected, yet psychologically weak, became aware of his utter sinfulness.  Failing to lay hold of Gospel-grace, and consumed with many dark thoughts, the man suffered a nervous breakdown and tragically committed suicide.   As you might imagine, his death cast a very dark cloud over the revival.  Edwards reflected: “Satan seems to be in a great rage, at this extraordinary breaking forth of the work of God.”

According to Edwards, during that same year, a “multitude” of other individuals were also severely tempted to take their own lives – though Edwards does not say how many actually did.

Explaining Edwards’ own understanding of this “suicide craze”, biographer Marsden explains:

“Along with every advance of the Gospel … the church must expect Satan to strike back in force.  When he [Edwards] remarked that during the summer of his Uncle Hawley’s suicide, “Satan seemed to be more let loose, and raged in a dreadful manner,” he was alluding to this painful struggle….”

So why do I share that story?  Well, here’s why:  The experience of the Northampton church in some respects parallels the experience of the early church in our story.  In the first section of our text Luke says (vs.14),

“And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.”

In the last section, he says similarly (6:1)

“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number” and vs.7 “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem…”

So, you get the idea.  A massive revival was taking place!  But soon, the Jerusalem church encountered obstacles to the mission’s advance.  Those obstacles carried the aroma of Satan’s opposition and influence, I might add like the death of Edward’s uncle.

Stott notes:

…we might say that, if the chief actor in the story of Acts 1 and 2 is the Holy Spirit, the chief actor in Acts 3-6 almost seems to be Satan.  True, he is identified only once by name, but his activity may be discerned throughout…

You may recall, that in the story of Ananias and Sapphira earlier in the chapter, Luke underscores Satan’s role in tempting Ananias to sin.

Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie…?” (Acts 5:3)

Similarly, in the events of our story, though his name is not explicitly mentioned, the Prince of Darkness’ activity is no less evident….

But here’s the good news:  In this narrative, the enemy and the obstacles did not defeat the church; they did not carry the day.  Instead, the early church responded with great courage and great wisdom.  This in turn produced great unity.  As a result, the unstoppable ministry of Jesus continued strong in the power of the Spirit through the witness of God’s people.

This should be an encouragement to us, because as Edwards noted, the struggle between forces of evil and God’s Spirit are characteristic of this age, before the Lord returns.  That struggle didn’t end in the book of Acts and it didn’t end at Northampton.  It continues today.    Speaking of Satan, Stott writes:

Now I claim no very close or intimate familiarity with the devil, but I am persuaded that he exists, and that he is utterly unscrupulous.  Something else I have learned about him is that he is peculiarly lacking in imagination.  Over the years he has changed neither his strategy, nor his tactics, nor his weapons; he is still the same old rut.  So a study of his campaign against the early church should alert us to his probable strategy today.

He goes on to say: “If we are taken by surprise, we shall have no excuse.” May we as a local church not be taken by surprise.  As God’s Spirit continues His work in and through us, we can count on the enemy’s counter-attack.  Therefore the lessons, from our text this morning are very important for us and for our mission together.

I’d like to observe two things from these wonderful early believers:  First, their amazing courage and second, their right priorities.  They overcame the evil one by their amazing courage and their right priorities.

Their Amazing Courage

In chapter Peter and John were arrested and warned to never again preach in the name of Jesus.  Amazingly, the apostles didn’t heed that warning.  They went to prayer (at the end of chapter 4) and they asked the Lord for great boldness to proclaim Christ.  God answered that petition, for here in chapter 5 they are again arrested and imprisoned for their preaching.

Then as we read, a miracle takes place.  The angel of the Lord opens the prison doors and frees the apostles.  In obedience to the angel’s words, the apostles then return to the temple and proclaim Christ yet again.  After they are found there, the apostles are once again dragged before the Sanhedrin, where they are interrogated.  They are beaten, charged not to ever preach again in the name of Jesus.  Then they are released.

How do the apostles respond?  After all that pain and opposition, were they dispirited?  Were they deterred?  Well, verse 41, says astonishingly “they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.”

Now I read that and I think rejoicing?  They’ve just been severely beaten!  It is likely that they received the standard 39 stripes prescribed by Jewish law.  Bock explains:

“The whipping would have been on the back and chest with a three-stranded strap of calf hide.  This could leave one close to death, if not dead, from loss of blood.  The hope is that by intensifying the punishment, a deterrent will be established.  They are wrong.”

They are wrong because (as vs.42 notes) the apostles were anything but deterred.  They continued to boldly preach and teach; they continued to proclaim Christ day after day.

They rejoice at being counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus.  They count it a great honor to please God by suffering well for the glory of Christ.  They keep preaching.  As a result, as we see in the following chapters, the mission of God through this local church was not stopped.  The “old rut” Satan failed.  The Gospel continued unstoppable.

And folks, we do well to model their attitude.  Are you willing to suffer for the name of Christ?

Paul says in 2 Tim 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…” In other words, no true believer will avoid the opposition of those hostile to the Savior.  Now of course, compared to our brothers and sisters in the many other nations whose governments oppose Christianity, we have it easy.  Today as we assemble for public worship, we don’t fear for our lives.  Tomorrow when we go to work, we don’t fear losing our jobs because of our faith.

Years ago, when Romania was under communist control, my father in-law lost his job as a school teacher because he refused to swear ultimate allegiance to the communist party above God and family.  We should thank God we aren’t in that position.  We should pray for our fellow Christians around the world who are similarly persecuted and we should lovingly pray even for their persecutors.

I am convicted about my own failure to pray for the Christian men, women and children who sacrifice so much for the Gospel.  This afternoon I will post a blog entry that will direct your attention to websites that will help you stay up-to-date and informed about how you can be praying for the persecuted church.

We don’t fear for our lives, but we too are persecuted.  Remember, Paul says all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  That “all” is “all encompassing” and it includes you and me.  Stott comments:

“The godly arouse the antagonism of the worldly.  It has always been so.” (Guard the Gospel, 96)

Piper writes:

“He [Paul] is convinced that there is such a tension between the message and way of life of Christians on the one hand and the mindset and way of life of the world on the other that conflict is inevitable.” (Sermon: “Blessed are the Persecuted”).

As you live righteously, as you share what Christ has done in your life, you will experience the antagonism of the world.   We are committed as a congregation to graciously engage others with the truth about Jesus.  And when we do that, we should expect some negative responses.  We shouldn’t expect all the unbelievers at work and in our families to always respond thankfully to what we have to say.   We should not expect everyone to understand or appreciate our way of life.  Unless we soft-pedal or water down the Gospel, as many attempt to do, we will at times offend.

If you doubt what I’m saying is true, just ask Fox News analyst Britt Hume.  In discussing the recent Tiger Woods scandal, Hume graciously mentioned that Woods needs what Christianity offers.   He publically urged Woods to consider Christianity.  As a result Hume endured quite a media backlash. He is to be commended for his courage, the same kind of courage we see in our text.

Brothers and sisters, if the church of Jesus Christ is not willing to follow in the apostles footsteps, if the church is not willing suffer rejection, to suffer backlash –the mission of God through the people of God will be hindered.  If the mere possibility of rejection prevents us from sharing with others what Christ means to us, be assured – Satan’s enticements to fear man rather than God, will have accomplished their purpose.

• Satan would like nothing better than for us to cower in fear of man.
• Satan would like nothing better that for the church to ignore God’s call to mission.
• Satan would like nothing better than for us to live the American dream and fail to obey God’s rugged call to proclaim Him even when it involves hardship.

So, we are inspired by the courage we observe in the Jerusalem church as they respond to opposition.

Secondly, we observe

Their Right Priorities

In Acts 6 verses 1-7, a problem arises.  The Hellenists complained that some Greek speaking widows in the church were not being well cared for.   The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews from outside of Palestine.  The Hebrew disciples, on the other hand, were (as the ESV Study Bible explains) “native Palestinian Jews who spoke Aramaic as their primary language.”

It seems that the Hebrew members of the Jerusalem church, who would not have been fluent in Greek, failed to distribute resources such as food, clothing and possibly some money to the poor Hellenist widows.  So what happens is the Hellenists bring this matter to the apostles’ attention.  And the apostles respond in verses 2 and 3.  They say:

“It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.”

In the verses that follow the church follows through with this recommendation.  What’s so important about this incident?

Churches, for the sake of church health and the advance of the Gospel, must diligently guard pastoral priorities.  By that I mean the priority of leaders who give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.  The ministry of the word includes preaching, counseling and the other ways the pastor brings God’s Word to bear on the lives of people.  Prayer also plays a vital role in pastoral leadership.

Now some might think – isn’t guarding these priorities the pastor’s responsibility?  To which I answer, yes, it most certainly is the pastor’s responsibility.  Pastors and pastoral teams must take care to not become distracted with administrative duties beyond the scope of their primary calling.  However as we see, it is also the church’s responsibility.   Imagine if the congregation had been unwilling to serve the leaders?  What if no one had come forward to embrace this work?

But they were more than willing.  Notice, the apostles’ suggestion pleased the congregation.  This wonderful church recognized, embraced, and encouraged these priorities.  Notice also that seven qualified men from the congregation employed their wisdom and their administrative skills to both serve the widows and to release the preachers to do what only they could do.

I am so thankful to God for the people in this church who have stepped into various roles to make it possible for me to serve you faithfully with God’s Word.

Folks, when the enemy entices a people away from upholding biblical priorities for the leaders, the health of the church and the advance of the Gospel suffer.  Where pastoral priorities are not informed by Scripture, by default they’re informed by culture.  When informed by culture, pastors become little more than good-works program directors.  God’s Word, in time, becomes almost entirely displaced.  The church isn’t equipped and built up.  Eventually, and we’ve seen this in some denominations, the church completely loses its grip on the gospel.  You can see why Satan is happy to encourage such misplaced priorities.

This passage clarifies the goal of the Christian congregation and equips us to resist Satan’s schemes.  Our aim must be the same as the early church: Pastors and church members fulfilling their complementary roles, serving sacrificially, side by side, for the advance of the Gospel and the glory of God.

Conclusion

To summarize, this morning we’ve observed both the amazing courage and right priorities of the early believers.  To the degree we follow their example we will thwart Satan’s activity, build the church and promote the Gospel.

Be assured – we can follow their example!  We can model their amazing courage.  We can uphold right priorities.  We can resist Satan’s schemes.  Why?  Because the same Gospel that transformed them — has transformed us.  And the same Spirit that filled them — fills us.

Brothers and sisters, though Satan relentlessly attacks the church; though he opposes the Gospel’s every advance in every community – we must realize that ultimately He will not win.

Though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

(Martin Luther – Hymn)

Let’s pray.