The book of Acts was written by the same author of the book of Luke. In the first verse the Luke refers to his former book and it is addressed to the same person, Theophilus.
Two of the major themes of this book, and particularly at the beginning where it is focussed upon the beginning of the church, is the disciples coming together and the disciples praying. Acts 1:14 tells us that as soon as Jesus returned to heaven they joined together and they pray. On the day of Pentecost, 2:1 tells us that they were all joined together in one place. Acts 3 tells us that Peter and John were on their way to the temple to pray when they came across the crippled man.
Now in the passage that we’re focussing on this morning, entitled The Believer’s Prayer, Peter and John have just been before the Sanhedrin, the religious authorities, who have commanded them not to speak or teach again in the name of Jesus. They have made threats against their lives, and remember this is not long after these same authorities dragged Jesus before Pilate and had him crucified. That memory was still fresh in everyone’s minds.
Peter and John, upon their release, we are told that they return to their own people. They go back to what they’ve become accustomed to doing in the short history of the Christian Church. They gather together with other Christians and pray.
There’s just something special about praying with someone else; in coming together with likeminded people, who share your faith, and sharing in one another’s journey, to talk about each other’s struggles and to bring them before God. That’s exactly what Peter and John and the rest of the Christians do on this occasion. That’s exactly what we as a church want to achieve in this place. That we will be a place where we come together regularly and pray so much so that it becomes the natural course of action and a source of comfort and strength to individuals who are facing trials and struggles.
The disciples come together—remembering that they have just come from the authorities who have ordered them to stop what they are doing—and pray. It’s interesting the type of prayer that they pray at that particular moment in time. They didn’t pray a prayer of desperation, or a prayer seeking deliverance, or even a prayer asking God to smite their enemies. No, they pray a prayer that affirmed God’s sovereignty and supremacy in their lives and in the entire world.
That type of prayer affirms God’s place in our lives. It confirms for the pray-er and those joining with them in prayer that God is in control. That he is supreme, he is the creator of heaven and earth, he does know the beginning from the end and, as Romans 8:28 says, he will always work for the good of those who love him. It’s a very faithful and trusting prayer.
The other thing they do is to draw upon the promises of Scripture. Now this is not something they just did on the spot. This was something that they had been doing for some time. Reading Scripture, drawing upon it, learning it, applying it to their lives so that when the time of trial came they were ready. They had it firmly set in their hearts ready to quote and remind them that God is in control.
The passage they quote is one that applies specifically to their situation now. It’s Psalm 2, and it’s a prayer about other nations and kings conspiring against the Lord (YHWH) and against his Anointed One. At the time that Psalm 2 was written that would have applied to the King, who was anointed with oil in taking that position. The word translated ‘Anointed One’ in the Hebrew and the Greek is one we associate with Jesus. In Hebrew it’s Messiah, in Greek it’s Christ. They both mean ‘Anointed One’. So literally the verse is reinterpreted by the disciples for their specific situation. Why do the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Messiah/Christ (Jesus)?
I challenge you to bring your Bibles along to Church. To open them up and actually read them. Why? So that when those times of trial come we are prepared, our hearts are ready and the words of the Bible that have been impressed upon our lives can come to the forefront of our minds to help us in our time of need. Open your Bible, read it, allow God to speak to you every day through it. He’s done it now for thousands of years, and he’s not about to stop now.
Their prayer also includes two requests. Not that God would intervene in their situation and change it; nor were they seeking revenge. They simply ask for strength to speak his word with great boldness, and that he would perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Jesus.
The first request is a recognition, again, that God is in control. They know that God is using them, that they are speaking the truth about Jesus, they simply ask for further boldness in the face of fierce opposition.
The second request is for God to show his power through miracles. It’s significant that both of these requests are evangelistic in nature. They both are about the disciples spreading the name of Jesus in their community; the exact thing that the religious authorities had just outlawed.
God’s response to their prayer is astounding. “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” verse 31.
This was not the first time in the Bible that God’s presence shook the place where people were standing. In Exodus 19 Mt Sinai shook at the presence of the Lord; this was just before God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses to deliver to the people. In Isaiah 6, when the prophet Isaiah has his vision of God on a throne, he speaks also of the place where he was shaking.
Acts also tells us that accompanying this mysterious earth tremor was an infilling of the Holy Spirit who enabled the disciples to speak the word of God boldly. I find this amazing, especially considering that they had only recently experienced Pentecost, whereby they had that amazing experience of the Holy Spirit coming like tongues of fire on each of their heads. Yet now it seems they needed another infilling. They needed another experience of the Spirit in their lives.
If we read on in Acts we might expect that everything from now on was rosy; that God sorted out the difficulties they had experienced with the religious authorities; that everyone got on and they had no further trouble. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Church experienced internal turmoil, when Ananias and Sapphira tested the Holy Spirit in their giving. The disciples experience further oppression from the religious leaders, including being put in jail. The church is forced to deal with administration difficulties because of its rapid growth. Then, Stephen is stoned to death, the first martyr of the Church. Finally in Acts 8 we read that a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:3 tells us that Saul began to destroy the Church, going from house to house, dragging out men and women and putting them in prison. From then on Acts focuses more upon Paul, his subsequent conversion, and his ministry.
Through all of this persecution and trial and testing, the disciples two requests were continually being answered. They continued to speak God’s word with great boldness and he continued to perform miracles through them.
How do we respond to persecution? How do we respond to times of trial?
In 1874 a French steamer collided with another ship and sank, with almost everyone on board being drowned. A Christian woman on the ship, Mrs Spafford from Chicago, was saved by a sailor who found her floating in the water, but her four children died in this accident. Her husband. Horatio Spafford, was not on the ship and received a telegram from Wales from his wife with the words, “Saved alone.” Two years later he wrote a hymn in commemoration of the death of his children. This hymn is in our Song Book, number 771.
1. When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll.
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well with my soul
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control.
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed his own blood for my soul.
What faithfulness! What utter belief in the Sovereignty of God! What amazing understanding that God is still in control, even in the midst of the toughest of life’s trials, to come through and say “it is well with my soul.”
How do we respond to persecution? How do we respond to times of trial? We get down on our knees and affirm that Jesus is Lord, that God is in control and he works, through his Holy Spirit for the good of those who love him.
This passage also teaches us to be prepared for times of trials. Firstly to be united. The church joined together when two of their members were facing adversity. My prayer for our church is that we would also experience that sought of unity. That in the good times we would come together and pray with one another so that when the tough times come it’s only natural that we would do the same.
Secondly, to know the Word. The disciples drew upon their knowledge of Scripture when they needed it the most. That was how they knew that God was in control because they had seen it time and time again in Scripture. My hope for our church is that we would be constantly delving into the riches of the Bible, as individuals, in small groups and as a whole.
Finally, to pray. This may seem obvious but the disciples first reaction was to pray when they faced adversity. My hope for our church is that we will be a spiritual fighting force. A Salvation Army, and that we will be a battalion that marches forward on its knees. Someone once said that the sweetest sound to the ears of God is the sound of cracking knees. The sound of someone kneeling before him, getting ready to pray.
