“THE SHARING CHURCH” Acts 4:8-31
INTRO – Football season is upon us. How many of you are ready for it? Looking forward to it? I know these guys seated down here in front are ready. Monday Night Football kicks off September 10!
Football is a game of strategy, hard hits, and determination. It involves offense or moving the ball down the field. It also involves defense or preventing the opposing team from moving the ball down the field.
This is a lot like the Christian life and the work of the church. Today, as we consider what it means to be a “sharing church” and what it means to live this thing called the Christian life, we’ll see how what we do and how we live is much like the game of football.
Background of Acts 4: Day of Pentecost had come where the Holy Spirit came down and empowered the new Church to be on mission for God. Church was exploding with growth. 3000 were added to the church right after Pentecost. Then as the church began to go to work being the church, God “added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
Then look at Acts 3:1-10. Lame man was miraculously healed. God gave the apostles the ability to heal people and even raise the dead in order to prove that the Gospel message was genuine and these guys were really men of God. These miracles would often draw a crowd which would give the apostles the opportunity to do what they were commissioned to do and preach the Gospel. The miracles would draw a crowd, but more importantly, they would draw people to Jesus!
Result of healing of lame man was that a crowd did gather, and Peter did preach the Gospel, which greatly upset the religious leaders. They grabbed Peter and John and threw them in jail. But look at what happened in 4:4. You might stop the messenger, but you cannot stop the message!
Here’s where we see some of the comparisons to the game of football:
THE OPPOSITION – 4:5-7
The same men who put Jesus’ on trial and sentenced Him to die were the men who were opposing Peter and John and the rest of the church. The rulers were wealthy, influential, powerful, and intellectual. They intimidated people. And they were ticked off that Man they thought they had killed had followers who were just as persistent and promised to be just as troublesome as He was.
What are you going to do when you encounter opposition? Are you going to stand up for Christ or cower down and cave in? Are you going to be like Peter and John and the other apostles who took a bold and courageous stand for the Lord Jesus? Or are you going to be like the religious leaders who looked like they had it all together, but were really living hypocritical lives and opposing the work of God in their own lives and in the lives of others?
“But Jon, I can’t be like the apostles. Those guys were like the superstars of the church, the MVP’s, the Heisman trophy winners of Christianity.” Really? Look at what the v. 13 says about them. Max Lucado said this about the apostles: “It all started with 10 stammering, stuttering men…And send them He did. Ports. Courtyards. Boats. Synagogues. Prisons. Palaces. They went everywhere. Their message of the Nazarene dominoed across the civilized world. They were an infectious fever. They were a moving organism. They refused to be stopped. Uneducated drifters who shook history like a housewife shakes a rug.” (No Wonder They Call Him the Savior, p. 163-164)
When we are living for, standing for, speaking about, growing in, and loving the Lord Jesus, it absolutely does not matter who opposes us. When we as a church are doing what God ahs called us to do – SHARE CHRIST WITH THE LOST OF OUR COMMUNITY & WORLD – we will be opposed. To be a sharing church guarantees that we will be opposed. Sometimes the opposition comes from the outside, sometimes from the inside. But Satan can throw anything and everything he wants to throw at us – and he will! – and we can and will keep on going.
THE DEFENSE – v. 9-11
If you play on defense, stand up. The guys on defense love stopping the ball. Love putting a good hit on somebody, don’t you? Defensive linemen are big brutes that love stopping the run. Love it when they break through the offensive line, catch that quarterback not looking their way, and put him on his back. Safeties, defensive ends, and linebackers love it when they get to stick a guy who is running the ball. The guys on offense depend on the strength of the defense to stop the other team from scoring, so they can get back out on the field and drive the ball down the field and score.
Our defense against opposition does not depend on our strength, but on the strength of the same Jesus of Nazareth that came out of the tomb after 3 days, defeating death and hell. Our defense depends on the strength of the same Jesus of Nazareth that healed the lame man in the presence of all the people. Our defense depends on the strength of the same Jesus of Nazareth that worked in incredible, mind-blowing ways in the early church and will work in our church in incredible, mind-blowing ways. Our defense depends on the strength of the same Jesus of Nazareth who gave these apostles the ability to stand up in front of these religious rulers and leaders without fear and w/out intimidation and say, “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” (v. 19-20).
Another apostle by the name of Paul said this about standing in the face of the enemy: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Eph. 6:10-18)
What awesome encouraging words for us! If you determine today that you are going to be a strong, courageous follower of Christ like Peter and John were, you are guaranteed that you will encounter opposition from Satan and those people who are used by him. But instead of being discouraged by that, you can be encouraged in knowing that God has given you everything you need to stand up against that opposition. Just like a football coach makes sure that all of his players have the necessary equipment to play the game, God, our heavenly Coach, has already made sure that we have the necessary equipment we need to stay in the game, and not just stay in the game, but be victorious! A sharing church depends on God for the strength to stand when the opposition comes.
THE OFFENSE –
Stand up if you play on offense. You guys have a huge responsibility to move the ball down the field and score. If you don’t do your job, you simply won’t win the ballgame. If you don’t score, you don’t win, right? It takes strategy, strength, and speed to accomplish your job when you are on the field. You’ve got to capitalize on the opportunities that you have to move the ball and score.
That’s the way it is in the Christian life, too. As Christ-followers, we all have opportunities every day to “move the ball” and share Christ in a lot of different ways. Just like Peter and John capitalized on the opportunity that was given to them when they healed the lame man. Acts 3:11-12 – “While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them…”
Church, we’ve got to move the ball! Just like in a football game, the clock is running, and pretty soon time is going to run out! We only have a limited time to share Christ with the lost of our community and world! If you are a true Christ-follower, you must be involved with God in His work to spread the Good News of the love of Christ in our world. We’ve got to pray for those who are lost. We’ve got to serve those who are lost. We’ve got to minister to those who are lost. We’ve got to love those who are lost. “Christians need to love people who don’t know Jesus, not be mad at them for not believing the right thing” (Jim Henderson, a.k.a. Lost, p. 20) We’ve got to get outside the box, outside our comfort zones, outside our traditions, outside our homes and church building, and move the ball down the field!!!
THE BALL
(Hold up football) This is it. This is what people go nuts about on the pee wee level, jr. high level, high school level, college level, and professional level. It’s all about this thing right here. Isn’t that crazy?
Verse 12 – There’s the ball for us. That’s what we are supposed to go nuts about!
