Introduction
Once upon a time, an atheist lived in a small town.
The atheist wasn’t a bad man, he just didn’t believe.
He wasn’t interested in church…
and there was only one in the area.
It was cold and dead.
More of a social club for the deceased.
One day the church building caught on fire.
The whole town ran towards it to help put out the flames… including the atheist!
Someone shouted: “Ha! This is the first time I’ve ever seen you running to church!”
And he shouted back, “Well this is the first time I’ve ever seen the church on fire!”
In the book of Acts we see a church that was on fire.
Passion, devotion, sacrifice, commitment, love, conversions, and boldness!
Why does God give us this picture?
Why is it in His book?
Is God showing us a picture of a church on fire so he can say to us, ‘It’ll never be like that again.’
Or is God saying, This is Church... This is what can be... This is what I want to do with you!
I know what I think God is saying!
So what do we learn from these Acts 4 Christians?
Main Body
Well, as we look at what happened, we find...
This is actually a story about opposition.
And this is a story about how they responded to opposition.
You see, Peter and John had healed a crippled man.
People were amazed and a crowd formed to see what was going on.
Peter and John preached to the crowd about the power of Jesus’ name.
The religious leaders saw it and were angry.
Because Jesus was a threat to their power and control.
So they threw Peter and John in prison and then made them appear in court.
The religious leaders demanded that they stop teaching about Jesus.
And after serious threats they let them go.
The threats would be something along the lines of:
If you don’t shut up about Jesus you’re dead.
In today’s newssheet you’ll see we’re asking for prayer for Christians who live in persecuted countries. You’ll see a list of the top 10 worst countries for persecuting Christians. _______is number ___on that list. Most of you know that ______ used to work in _________. And we had the privilege of seeing first hand what it’s like for the persecuted church as we lived and worked with them.
I’ve told you before about Clive, who was told by the secret police, Shut up about Jesus or we’ll burn your house down.
I’ve told you before about Lorraine who was thrown out of her family and harassed by local police. She faced a choice: Jesus or her family.
I’ve told you about Bill, a teacher, who was threatened at work every day for about 6 months, that he would lose his job and much, much more.
One theme emerges: ‘Shut up about Jesus’.
Maybe some of us here today come from a different country and know what such opposition is all about. But what do we know about opposition here in England?
More recently, several university Christian Unions were closed down.
Constantly Christians and Christianity is mocked on TV.
Richard Dawkins continues his crusade promoting militant atheism.
And you’ve seen the buses with the poster:
‘There’s probably no God’.
I believe we’re only decades away from a nastier outbreak of persecution in this country.
But what about now? And what about you?
With your non-Christian friends, or family, colleagues and neighbours?
Don’t you often find that there is a subtle pressure for you to shut up about Jesus?
That it so often seems a huge thing to mention Christ to others?
Why is that?
That’s because of a quiet resistance to the name of Jesus. An opposition to him.
Many Brits are today outraged that Christians claim the uniqueness of Jesus, that he is the only way, truth and life.
Yes, even in this country we are told to shut up about Jesus.
And the sad thing is, many Christians have shut up about Jesus.
Well, how did the first believers respond to the pressure? How did they cope with opposition, this first outbreak of persecution?
I want us to notice their decision, their impulse, their actions and the result.
First, notice their decision...
v19, When they were told to shut up about Jesus, they replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.”
This is Peter and John, arrested and standing accused.
When they were told to stop proclaiming Jesus, they said, No way! We do what God says not what you say!
But I want you to understand something.
This was not a decision they came to when they were standing there.
This was obviously a decision they had made at an earlier date.
See, when you are standing in front of a threatening law court there is no time for decisions.
Peter and John had already decided to obey God – to put God first in their lives.
Peter and John had come down off the fence.
They didn’t have one foot in their faith and one foot in the world.
They knew Jesus was alive.
And they had decided to obey God whatever, whenever, and however.
Is your mind already made up?
Does your heart and life belong to God.
This is the first and most crucial step in overcoming opposition.
Otherwise we’re mincemeat.
We’re like the seed sown on rocky places. Jesus says,
With no root we last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, we fall away quickly. (Mk. 4:17)
Secondly, notice their natural impulse...
When your mind’s made up, something happens to you.
v20, “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
They literally felt they couldn’t help it!
They couldn’t help speaking about Jesus!
He was so real to them.
They had given their hearts to him.
And now they just couldn’t shut up about him!
It’s true, they HAD physically seen Jesus risen from the dead.
But even as we grow closer to Jesus, as we see him at work in our lives, we begin to find we can’t help talking about him.
Their decision to put God first led to a natural impulse to speak about Christ.
Thirdly, notice their actions...
After being threatened they were released.
v23, after “their release [they] went back to their own people”.
Now, this phrase, “their own people” is interesting.
The word is only used one other time in the book of Acts.
In Acts 24:23 Felix commands that Paul’s own people be allowed to care for his needs.
The word means friends, family and close associates.
That’s who Peter and John came back to.
In other words to their Christian family – the local church. And they reported everything the authorities had said to them.
I want us to notice two things here about their actions:
One, in their time of need – after receiving nasty threats – they went straight back to their Christian family for support. That’s what we’re here for. And I pray that more and more you will feel HBC to be a supporting place. A place you run back to – to find the support you need. May God make us that kind of place.
Two, v24, “they raised their voices together in prayer to God.”
They prayed. That was their second ‘action’.
A detailed look at what they prayed is for another time.
But notice that they spent a lot of time telling God who he was!
Not that God needed to know who he was!
But they needed to tell God who he was, so they could remember who he was.
And who was God?
Creator, Ruler, the One who is able to use his opponents every move to his advantage. The One who used the scheming of sinful men and women to achieve salvation for the world through Jesus’ death on the cross. The cross, which was meant to put an end to Jesus, turns out to be God’s victory.
They prayed remembering who God was.
They prayed remembering that anti-God plans will backfire.
And that’s what they expected in this situation too.
They told God they’d been told to shut up about Jesus.
They didn’t pray,
Lord make it easy for us! Lord take away the trouble!
They said, This isn’t on Lord! Make us bolder!
Do miracles!
May the name of Jesus become MORE famous, not less! Show ‘em Lord!
What a great way to pray!
Passionate about God’s character, God’s power and God’s glory.
In the face of opposition they went to church for support. And they went to God in prayer.
And I ask myself, if a church full of eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus needed to pray like that, then how much more do WE?
Finally, I want us to notice the result...
v31, “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.”
Ordinary believers. Filled and bold.
In a very real sense, Pentecost was not a unique, one-off event.
At Pentecost they met to pray.
Here in Acts 4 they meet to pray.
At Pentecost the place where they prayed was shaken by a violent wind.
Here in Acts 4 the place where they prayed was shaken.
At Pentecost they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Here, in Acts 4, they are filled with the Holy Spirit.
At Pentecost they were enabled to speak the word of God boldly.
Here in Acts 4 they are enabled to speak the word of God boldly.
Much of what happened that first Pentecost CAN and MUST happen again, and again, and again.
And it HAS happened again and again in the history of the Church.
Conclusion
The message of Acts chapter 4 is that we may be opposed,
we will face many pressures to conform,
people will want us to shut up about Jesus,
But as we stand together, grow together, and pray together, passionate for God’s glory, he WILL make us bold, and he WILL fill us with his Holy Spirit.
