Creating a Powerful Church (Acts 4:18-31)
Big Idea: Churches must acknowledge their spiritual battle and rely on God through prayer because true effectiveness comes from encountering him.
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. Here's a clearer version:
A statement I read this week said that many churches act like they are stuck in reverse and are trying to stop their declining attendance by slamming on the brakes.
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 went to church expecting a perfect pastor, perfect people, and ideal worship without any disagreements, I would be very disappointed. But I'm not looking for those things. 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 strong 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 see issues. Some say the Holy Spirit is the main actor in Acts 1 and 2, but in Acts 3 to 6, it seems like Satan takes center stage. His involvement is clear throughout. The disciples are arrested and imprisoned. 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 admire their faithfulness, none of us would want to experience their persecution. 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 his thoughts 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. In Acts 4:18, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme court, instructed Peter and John: "They called them in and commanded them not to speak or teach 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?
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. Peter and John were freed.
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 two lessons from their response.
Two Lessons
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 their 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 confidence before the Sanhedrin came from being with Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost just days before. The Holy Spirit transformed them from petty men to confident, 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 referenced an Old Testament passage about earthly rulers attacking the Lord and Messiah, seeing this 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.
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 let’s 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. If believers don't receive the Holy Spirit's strength to stand up and share the gospel, lives are at risk for eternity.
Satan wants us to think that things like the World Series and businesses are more important, but we must remember that we are in a significant spiritual battle. 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 chosen comfort over victory. We are getting along quite well, thank you.
We should ask ourselves, what are we trying to do for God that I can only achieve with the Holy Spirit's help? Peter, John, and the early church attributed their boldness and achievements to their strong reliance on God, who supported them during difficult times.
We are involved in a spiritual battle of cosmic proportion. The second 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 is less likely to prioritize prayer before taking action. 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.
A minimal prayer may suggest that what we achieve is solely through our own efforts. 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.
By praying with complete dependence on God, as they did, we can also experience his presence and power in our lives today. Through prayer, we invite the risen Christ to impact our lives and the world around us. This work often starts with prayer. Jesus is real and present to those who seek him in prayer, but distant to those who neglect this important connection.
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 is always ready to fill us with his Spirit and empower us to boldly share 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 the 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.
