Creating a Powerful Church

I’d ask you to open your Bibles to Acts 4 this evening

I don’t need to tell you that many churches are going through difficult times right now

somebody has estimated that only 20% of churches are functioning as living organisms and bearing substantial fruit

according to the same observers, between 35 and 50% of churches are dysfunctional, bearing no fruit at all

denominational leaders and pastors find themselves overwhelmed with problems

they find themselves spending much of their time putting out fires, rather than providing leadership and vision

a statement I read this week says this: "The average churches are operating as though their transmission were in reverse, and they have jammed on the brakes to halt any further slide in attendance"

no church is perfect

one author writes:

"We hear tales of glitzy, enthusiastic churches and wonder what in the world we are doing wrong that our people don’t turn out that way under our preaching. On close examination, though, it turns out that there are no wonderful congregations. Hang around long enough and sure enough there are gossips who won’t shut up, furnaces that malfunction, sermons that misfire, disciples who quit, choirs that go flat – and worse. Every congregation is a congregation of sinners. As if that weren’t bad enough, they all have sinners for pastors."

some people long for churches to be like the early church

which part of the early church would you like?

the false teaching? the drunkenness at the Lord’s Table? the persecution? the sexual immorality? the factions and divisions in the church?

we’re mistaken if we think the church has ever been perfect

it’s always had problems!

if I had to come to church looking for a perfect pastor and a perfect people, and worship I liked and people who never upset me; if I came to church expecting perfection, I would be sorely disappointed

I would never find it

but to tell the truth, I don’t come looking for those things

not really

it’s nice if they’re there, but there’s something far more important

I come to church to encounter the living God

I don’t come for the pastor or the people, or the music or even the sermon – I come because I plan to meet God

as we look at the early church in the book of Acts, we see a number of things that attract us

we see forgiven believers and powerful sermons

we notice the love, joy, and peace that characterized the lives of the early believers

we sense the excitement of the Kingdom of God advancing against the strongholds of Satan

but we also notice problems

somebody has said that the chief actor in the story of Acts 1 and 2 is the Holy Spirit, but it almost appears that the main character in Acts 3 to 6 seems to be Satan

his activity is obvious throughout

the disciples are arrested and jailed

two church members are caught lying to the church and are struck dead

persecution continues and one of their number, Stephen, is martyred

the early church was encountering Satan and all his forces

they withstood his onslaught

while we applaud their faithfulness, I don’t think any of us wish to trade places with them as they face such persecution

what we do long for, however, is the real and undeniable sense of the presence of God in the early church

there is no doubt that they encountered the living God

I believe the church today is hungry for such encounters

we long to come to church and sense the manifest presence of the living God

Garrison Keillor, host of the popular radio series, "A Prairie Home Companion," grew up in an evangelical church, and he had something interesting to say about why people go to church:

"We don’t go to church to hear lectures on ethical behavior, we go to look at the mysteries, and all the substitutes for communion with God are not worth anyone’s time…If you can’t go to church and, for at least a moment, be given transcendence; if you can’t go to church and pass briefly from this life to the next; then I can’t see why anyone should go. Just a brief moment of transcendence causes you to come out of church as a changed person."

we come to church seeking a supernatural encounter with God

please look with me at Acts 4

in verse 18 we read if the action of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court and administrative body of the Jews:

(Acts 4:18) Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

if the Supreme Court of Canada ordered us not to preach about Jesus any more, what would our response be?

Peter and John answered boldly:

(Acts 4:19) But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God.

(Acts 4:20) For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

verse 21 tells us that the Sanhedrin didn’t react very well to Peter and John’s boldness

they issued further threats, but really didn’t know what else to do

so Peter and John were released

we’ve read this passage so much we’re prone to overlook what happened next

what would you do if this happened to you?

what would your reaction be?

would you resign yourself and say, "I’ve done everything I could do"

would you shake your fists at the Sanhedrin and say, "In your face! I’m going to preach anyway!"

or would you do something else first?

let’s read what Peter and John did:

(Acts 4:23) On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

(Acts 4:24) When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.

let’s stop there and learn some lessons from their response

the first lesson we have to learn from their response is this:

WE ARE INVOLVED IN A SPIRITUAL BATTLE OF COSMIC PROPORTION

the early disciples had no hesitancy in realizing that they were involved in something way over their head

they were smart enough to realize that there battle really wasn’t against the Sanhedrin or even other human beings

to take a stand for Christ and the truth of the Gospel made them a target of the Evil One

they knew that they were no match for Satan and his schemes

they were unashamedly dependent on God at every turn

and they got down on their knees

friends, the disciples couldn’t have done anything if they hadn’t already been filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit

they started out as a bunch of misfits

but they ended up "turning the world upside down"

their boldness before the Sanhedrin was a direct result of fact that they had been with Jesus, and that they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit days earlier at Pentecost

when the promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled in their lives, it turned them from petty, competitive, small-minded men to strong-hearted, incredibly confident and powerful servants of God

and it was through the power of the Holy Spirit

their first response was to turn to their friends at church and pray to God who was in their midst

they turned to their commander-in-chief for direction and power

they realized that the attack was not on them personally

they quoted from an Old Testament passage that spoke of the attacks made by earthly rulers on the Lord and Messiah, and they saw this fulfilled in the unholy conspiracy of Herod and Pilate, of Jews and Romans against Jesus

they knew that when the Sanhedrin persecuted them, they were simply continuing that assault, and they prayed for boldness:

(Acts 4:29) Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

(Acts 4:30) Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

Ephesians 6:12 says:

(Ephesians 6:12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

we are involved in a spiritual warfare that requires spiritual weapons

the battle is real

the consequences are great

I don’t want to minimize what happens in other arenas of struggle, but lets put it in perspective

the World Cup may seem important, but it’s really only a game

if a business fails, it might seem the end of the world to some people, but all that’s lost is some money

but if believers lose the fight – if they’re not empowered by the Holy Spirit to do battle and stand boldly and proclaim the truth of the Gospel, lives are for stake, and for eternity

Satan wants us to believe that the World Series is more important or that businesses are more important, but listen:

we are involved in a spiritual battle of cosmic proportion

and that’s why we need to encounter God at church

because in the battle we face, God’s power is essential

many churches lose sight of the battle and therefore no longer need to be attentive to God’s presence

we see spiritual warfare as something to be debated, not as a present-day reality

we have settled for a comfortable life in the suburbs, risking little for the kingdom of God

we don’t sense God’s presence because our circumstances don’t require it

we’ve settled for comfort instead of victory

we are getting along quite well, thank you

someone has suggested that we ask ourselves, "What am I attempting for God that cannot be accomplished without the Holy Spirit?"

what is there about our lives as Christians that demands an explanation beyond the ordinary?

for Peter and John and the rest of the early church, the only explanation for their boldness and accomplishments was their radical dependence on God who was with them in the middle of the battle

another lesson I learn from these disciples is this:

THE BATTLE DROVE THEM TO THEIR KNEES

their response to the battle they faced was this: they prayed

we must learn to pray as if our lives and ministries depended on it, because they do

you notice that when they began to pray, they focused on praise rather than pity

their focus was not on themselves; it was on Christ

they worshiped God

but they did not hesitate to ask for God’s help

they requested that God enable them to speak his word with boldness

prayer was central to their task

Dr. Richard Lovelace, church historian at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, concludes that the twentieth-century church is not as apt to pray first and act later

he wrote, "The place of prayer has become limited and almost vestigial. The proportion of horizontal communication that goes on in the church (in planning, arguing, and expounding) is overwhelmingly greater than that which is vertical (in worship, thanksgiving, confession, and intercession)"

he added, "Deficiency in prayer both reflects and reinforces inattention toward God"

Dr. Lovelace is right

the minimal prayer, given almost as a token, may indicate that what is undertaken is simply what we humans can accomplish by ourselves

we are reluctant to pray, either as individuals or as a church body

might I say that the most important thing we can do as a church is to get on our knees

our church will be nothing unless it begins with, ends with, and is supported by prayer at every stage

we dare not move ahead on our own strength

we need to recover the biblical worldview that is displayed in the disciples’ prayer to God

if we live as they lived, and if we learn to pray as they prayed, fully dependent upon the living God, then we too will experience God’s presence and power in our own day

in a marvelous and mysterious way, the risen Christ is released to be at work in our lives and in the world when we pray, and often, not until we pray

the truth is that Jesus is real to those who pray and distant to those who do not

listen to what happened after they prayed:

(Acts 4:31) After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

the effect of the prayer was remarkable

the room in which the disciples were gathered shook

this was a sign to them that God was present and would answer their prayer

we might not expect such tangible evidence that God hears our prayers, but God is always ready to fill us with his Spirit and empower us to boldly proclaim his Gospel

as I said earlier, the thing that matters most about this church is that it is a church where we encounter God

you could say many things about our church – that it’s friendly, that they preaching is biblical and helpful

but the critical thing, really the only thing, is that God is here, working in us and empowering us

to remember that our enemy is Satan

and to remember that our victory is secure, as long as we proceed on our knees

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Creating a Powerful Church (Acts 4:18-31)