Encountering God at Church (Acts 4:18-31)

Big Idea: The perfect church doesn't exist, but we can encounter God, who empowers us through prayer to face spiritual battles with boldness.

These past few weeks, we've been talking about the church we've always longed for. When I look at the church, there is a long list of qualities I would love to be hers. Who wouldn't want the church to be a caring place that welcomes everyone, empowers individuals, demonstrates integrity, and serves a broken world? There's a danger, though. The danger is in thinking that we can ever expect a perfect church this side of heaven. Sometimes we're so busy looking for these qualities in a church, we begin to expect perfection. But 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. (Eugene Peterson)

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 are mistaken if we think the church has ever been perfect. It has always had issues!

If I went to church expecting a perfect pastor, flawless people, and worship I enjoyed without ever feeling upset, I would be greatly 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 witness forgiven believers and impactful 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. However, we also observe certain problems. Some claim that the main character in Acts 1 and 2 is the Holy Spirit, while it seems that in Acts 3 to 6, the focus shifts to Satan. His involvement is clear 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.

We admire their faithfulness, but none of us would want to endure the persecution they faced. What we truly long for is the undeniable 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 "A Prairie Home Companion," grew up in an evangelical church and shared an interesting perspective on why people attend 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.

Two Realities

Please look with me at Acts 4. In verse 18 we read of the action of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court and administrative body of the Jews:

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

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:

But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20)

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:

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. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. (Acts 4:23-24)

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.

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 confidence before the Sanhedrin came from having been with Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit just days earlier at Pentecost. The fulfillment of the Holy Spirit transformed them from petty, competitive men into 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 cited an Old Testament passage about earthly rulers' attacks on the Lord and Messiah, seeing it fulfilled in the conspiracy of Herod, Pilate, Jews, and Romans against Jesus. They knew that when the Sanhedrin persecuted them, they were simply continuing that assault, and they prayed for boldness:

Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." (Acts 4:29-30)

Ephesians 6:12 says:

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. (Ephesians 6:12)

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. If the Indians don't beat the Marlins in the World Series, it seems pretty severe, but all that's been lost is 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. If believers don't rely on the Holy Spirit to stand strong and share the Gospel, lives are at risk for eternity. Satan wants us to prioritize the World Series or businesses, but we must remember we're engaged in a significant spiritual battle. 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. We should ask ourselves, "What am I trying to do for God that can only be done through the poewr of the Holy Spirit?" What is there about our lives as Christians that demands an explanation beyond the ordinary? Peter, John, and the early church attributed their boldness and achievements to their complete reliance on God, who supported them during their struggles.

We are involved in a spiritual battle of cosmic proportion. 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, a church historian at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, believes that the twentieth-century church tends to act first and pray 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. Minimal prayer may suggest that our efforts are based solely on what we can achieve without assistance. We are reluctant to pray, either as individuals or as a church body.

We stand at the threshold of implementing our Strategy for Ministry. For the past two to three years, we have been preparing to advance as a church in fellowship, discipleship, service, and evangelism. Teams are meeting right now to lay the groundwork for next year. But might I say that the most important thing we can do as a church is to get on our knees. Our strategy 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. By living and praying like they did, fully relying on God, we can also experience his presence and power today. The risen Christ actively works in our lives and the world when we pray, often only starting once we do. 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:

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. (Acts 4:31)

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. God may not always provide clear evidence that he hears our prayers, but he is always ready to fill us with his Spirit and empower us to share his Gospel boldly.

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. We can't transform lives. We can't convict people. We aren't very powerful. We lack the ability and courage to radically change the world with the truth of the Gospel. But that's all right. Because God delights in empowering his people. And God removes the obstacles and turns our small gifts into wonderful things that can be used to please him.

Would you pray with me that God would empower us?

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)