Complications: The Need for A Meandering Church
(Acts 5:12-18)
1. Bernard Goldstein tells this story:
One of my pet peeves as a musician in a symphony orchestra is trying to follow the unpredictable beat of famous guest conductors. I didn’t realize how strongly the rest of the musicians felt until we were talking to someone from a university physics department at a reception. When I asked him what his field was, he answered, "I work with semiconductors." "So do we," I heard a colleague mutter. (Reader’s Digest)
2. Some people thrive on routine; others enjoy change and the unpredictable.
3. The Kingdom of God is both. On the one hand, some things stay the same; on the other hand, individual churches must meander as circumstances and cultures change.
4. The Church in Acts did a lot of meandering, and part of these changes were strategic.
5. God’s discipline of Ananias and Saphira changed the dynamic, and I will elaborate on this a little more later in the sermon.
6. In addition, Satan’s attacks vary, and the church must fight different fights. We do see a general two-fold strategy:
• First, he attacks the church from the inside.
• Second, he attacks the church from the outside.
He both musters forces against the church, and he joins the church.
7. Now the church could avoid lots of trouble if it compromised its commission, to go and make disciples of all nations; but then it would not be obedient to Jesus’ call to make disciples of all nations! But when the church is on the move, she creates waves. This changes the equation, meaning we must meander and re-strategize.
Main Idea: The church must hold true to the fundamentals of the faith, but she needs to constantly adapt, meander, and reinvent herself.
Let’s note the circumstances that caused the church to meander and adapt.
I. Great Effectiveness Resulted in ISOLATION (12-13)
A. Miracles ABOUNDED
Although Peter works the greater miracles, all the apostles are, vs. 12.
If you believe God created the universe out of nothing by just speaking the words, then miracles should be no problem for you. If you believe that God has all power, then miracles should be no problem for you.
Additionally, if miracles were common experiences and the norm, they would serve little function in calling attention to what God is actually doing.
B. Unbelievers Were INTIMIDATED
1. Christianity can be frightening to outsiders…for a number of reasons…
2. The Greek word, τολμα’ω, means "to dare"
3. In this case, it was frightening for all; hearing about Ananias and Sapphira, the people were probably afraid that if they rubbed Peter the wrong way, ZAP!
4. If the zapping of Ananias and Sapphira harmed the extent of their audience, then why did God do it? Because a pure church is more important than a big church!
5. The Sadducees were preaching against this sect, as were some Pharisees
6. Additionally, many Christians are not concerned about our image; we don’t intimidate, but we do turn off. If people reject the Gospel, let them reject the Gospel; but if they reject hearing the Gospel because of the legacy of Christians they met, that’s bad.
7. Illustration: … a Barna study asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, "wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious, humble." Then he asked them to use single words to describe Christians, they said, "critical, exclusive, self righteous, narrow and repressive." [Sermon Central]
C. Isolation is a prelude to PERSECUTION
1. Even though they met in a public place, they were isolated
2. The movie "Expelled" documented how Intelligent Design scientists are isolated
3. Political candidates and celebrities who take the Bible literally are mocked and become the brunt of sarcasm
4. Before Hitler persecuted the Jews, he socially isolated them
5. In India, the believers have been socially isolated…
The church must hold true to the fundamentals of the faith, but she needs to constantly adapt, meander, and reinvent herself.
II. OUTREACH Combated That Isolation (14-16)
A. LIFESTYLE evangelism outside of church meetings (14)
Lifestyle evangelism requires intermingling with people; if you only hang around Christians, you will have little opportunity to put a word in for the Lord. I don’t suggest you build friendships with lost people only to evangelize them. Enjoy people, participate in society’s decent activities. As you do, God will give you opportunities to share.
One benefit to intermingling is that it breaks the isolation and misconceptions people ave about Biblical Christianity.
B. PRACTICAL service exposed outsiders to the Gospel (15-16)
1. The PHYSICALLY sick
John 14:12, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father."
Of Peter, it seems in our text that people were even healed by his shadow; Jesus never worked those kind of miracles. Of Paul, we see later in acts that handkerchiefs and aprons that he touched healed others.
These great miracles worked by Peter, the apostles, and later Paul signified that these leaders were the prototype of true believers.
The concept of the shadow…an extension of the person (almost spiritually)
2. The SPIRITUALLY sick
Demon possession is a big-league spiritual problem, usually resulting from dabbling in the occult. But, in this era of time, God was so empowering the apostles that driving out demons took virtually no effort. When Jesus sent the apostles out earlier, before His death and resurrection, they had trouble driving out a demon in one instance. Jesus said that this type of demonic possession required lots of prayer in addition to confrontation.
But not here. The demons simply vacate.
• This is not the norm of the church, but the principle is clear: we have to be involved with people, whether as machers or schmoozers
Illustration: Back when I was about 12 years old, a new "snack shop" opened up in our neighborhood. It was a hamburger fast food business started by a local resident. The first day the shop was opened, food was on the house -- free. This was a way of getting attention and interesting the community in their product. This idea is not that different from what we see here in Acts.
C. DIFFERENT approaches reach different people
1. But no approach works if you give up trying or hoping to win someone
2. Frank Monaco tells this true story:
Illustration: Some of my co-workers and I decided to remove the small, wooden suggestion box from our office because it had received so few entries. We stuck the box on top of a seven-foot-high metal storage cabinet and then promptly forgot about it. Months later, when the box was moved during remodeling, we found a single slip of paper inside. The suggestion read, "Lower the box!" (Reader’s Digest)
The church must hold true to the fundamentals of the faith, but she needs to constantly adapt, meander, and reinvent herself.
III. Attention Provoked TROUBLE (17-18)
A. JEALOUSY
Not necessarily a petty jealousy; the Greek word is ζηλοσ from which we get our word "zeal," and that could be the meaning here…
Then again, these were Sadducees -- compromised, power-hungry Jews, unlike the Pharisees who were more theologically driven. When Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church, he thought he was serving God. Saul was unselfishly jealous/zealous.
Later, when Saul comes to Christ and uses his gentile name, Paul, he writes in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3,
"For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."
B. JAIL
They are not sure what to do, but they need to do something. But what?
It is one thing to profess faith in Christ in a society that accommodates Christianity, or where being a Christian does not make you a social outcast. But the test of our commitment is boldly professing faith in Christ, even if there are negative consequences!
The church must hold true to the fundamentals of the faith, but she needs to constantly adapt, meander, and reinvent herself.
CONCLUSION: PRACTICAL Lessons
A. Church Strategies Must MEANDER As Needed
Loretta Patzold tells the story of bringing a record player to school and playing an LP record. One child went home and said, "Mom, today I saw the biggest CD I’ve ever seen in my life!" The world is changing and we must constantly adapt to those changes.
More and more Americans are single or divorced; more and more Americans have less and less time; we have to tune, hone, remove, or add ministries as needed.
B. Utopia Doesn’t LAST
The "Honeymoon" period of the church did not and could not last long. Some eras of church history are better than others ---as, for example, the massive rise in missionaries after World War II. But such eras come to an end, and then sometimes the church excels in another area. We cannot enshrine Golden Eras.
This is true in your life as well; youth, newly wed years, kids, empty nest, old age…
C. INDIVIDUAL Christian testimony works where organizational ones cannot
Two approaches to outreach ministry have proven themselves over the centuries and in every culture: (1) personal evangelism by individual Christians and (2) a focus on spiritual growth through relentless Bible study.
D. Godliness provokes PERSECUTION
E. Biblical Christianity means CHANGE
1. God’s agenda for you, according to Romans 8, is to conform you to the image of Christ
2. God’s Kingdom is expanding as many come to Christ…change
3. The world is headed toward the Tribulation…change…
F. GOD Knows What He is Doing
