Counted Worthy To Suffer
Acts 5:12-42
We come back again to our series through the book of Acts which I’ve entitled, “The Church on Mission.” By God’s grace that is what we are seeking to be. But in order to be a church on mission, we must know what the mission is. If we don’t understand and clearly communicate with certainty the nature, the goal, the focus of our mission we’ll be shooting at the wrong target.
Matt Emmons of New Jersey is a competitive marksman with a rifle. He qualified to represent the United States at the 2004 Olympic games. At the Olympics, he was going into his final shot in first place with a comfortable lead. He only needed a mediocre score to seal the Gold medal. As he positioned his rifle, he brought the sight to the top of the target that was 50 meters away. He slowly lowered it until the bull’s-eye was fixed in the middle of his sight, he exhaled and felt his heart beating, waiting to fire in between heartbeats as he has done thousands of times before. As he pulled the trigger and the bullet left the rifle, it hit right in the center of the target – a perfect shot! Unfortunately, he was aiming at the target in the next lane. All he needed was a 6.7 to win Gold – a mediocre shot at best. But his score on that shot – 0. That dropped him from 1st place to 4th which meant he didn’t even medal in the event.
In my estimation a perennial problem the church of Jesus Christ has today is aiming at the wrong target. Some churches focus on being a political force to help get candidates elected – wrong target. Some churches focus on being a kind of club where people can socialize with others who are like them – wrong target. Some people view church as the center for social justice for the down trodden in the world – wrong target. Others see the church as a place to make contacts and network for business or other benefits – wrong target.
Now here’s the deal – we can look at churches and ministries and say, “They are successful. They are hitting their target with great precision.” But are they aiming at the right target? Let’s turn the question inward – are we aiming at the right target? Jesus gave his followers and by extension he gave to us the target in Acts 1:8. We’ve identified this verse as the theme verse for the book of Acts, and the theme verse for our emphasis this year: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
That’s the target, that’s the goal, that’s the mission for Christ’s church – to be witnesses in those concentric circles from right here in our own community to the very end of the earth. And by the way, we have six of our members who on mission right now in Providence, RI worshiping with Travis Rymer. We’ve got an informational meeting immediately after our service today for our first trip to BA and I encourage you to join us.
The early church was that kind of church. They took the commission of the Lord seriously and were seeking to fulfill that mission in their lives. And they did that even in the face of severe opposition. But what we’ll discover today is that even in the face of that opposition and physical persecution, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy by the Lord to suffer for their testimony about him.
We have a lengthy passage before us today – 30 verses in total. Time doesn’t permit us to cover each verse in depth. However, as we peruse this passage we can see five elements or five characteristics that this early church had which propelled them forward to being a church on mission, a church that could rejoice in the face of persecution as they sought to fulfill that mission. The first element I want you to see is…
I. PURITY – Willingness To Deal With SIN
To fulfill the mission mandated by the Lord, a church must be willing to deal with sin. Remember, our text today follows the easy text I left for Wade to preach last week – the killing of Ananias and Sapphira by God. Because of their hypocrisy, because they presented themselves in a certain way that was not truthful – wanted to be seen as more spiritual or more sacrificial than what they really were – God took their life away. God dealt with their sin. God desires a pure church to carry out his work. Let’s begin reading in verse 12: 12Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. 13None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. Acts 5:12-14
Luke presents two paradoxical observations. He says in v. 13: None of the rest dared join them – contrasted with this – but the people held them in high esteem. So the church had the utmost respect from the people within their community but there was not a natural inclination to join them. The church was respected among the people because of their sincere devotion to their beliefs. And no doubt they were held in high esteem because of the power of God being displayed through them. But balanced with that is the fact that people were not looking to join them on their own accord.
Why not? Because word had gotten out – you join that group and you are hypocritical, sin is dealt with swiftly and dramatically. God dealt with it. Though God may still intervene supernaturally in the lives of Christians who are in open sin against God, the discipline of sinning believers is the responsibility of each congregation. We see this in several passages throughout the New Testament where local congregations are charged with the responsibility of carrying out church discipline on those who are in open, unrepentant sin. Notice just a few of them:
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Ephesians 5:11
As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. 1 Timothy 5:20
Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. Titus 1:13
Judgment must begin at the house of God. 1 Peter 4:17
I didn’t even go to Jesus’ instruction on church discipline in Luke 17 or Matthew 18, or Paul’s lengthy treatment of the subject in 1 Corinthians 5 – the classic church discipline passages.
Sadly, church discipline is practically an ignored duty today among many churches. It has fallen prey to the unbiblical notion that loving people means tolerating sin. Biblical love seeks the well-being of others. Since the goal of discipline is to deal with sin, which is harmful, love and discipline are not mutually exclusive. Rather, love and discipline are joined together.
It is an unbiblical notion to think that we will do a better job at reaching people if we don’t talk about or deal with sin. That’s not what we see here. Here's what's amazing though: even though people did not naturally have an inclination to join them, verse 14 then says surprisingly that multitudes of both men and women were added to the Lord. Why? Because a pure church undergirds and supports the transformative message of the gospel. (REPEAT)
Notice how Paul instructed Timothy on this: Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21
What is true of believers individually should also be true of the church collectively. The church that would reach the world with the gospel must be pure. An impure, compromising, worldly church is the inevitable result of the absence of confrontive holiness. We will not be an effective witness for Jesus Christ if we are not a pure church. I see three results of the purity they so highly regarded in the life of this church:
A. UNITY among the believers
And they were all together…
B. RESPECT in the world
…the people held them in high esteem.
C. IMPACT with the gospel
And more than ever believers were added to the Lord…
Who does the work of adding believers to the church? The Lord does that. Jesus said, “I will build MY church.” Jesus builds his church and he does it through the faithful witness of a pure church. He builds his church through the church.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne put it this way: “It is not great minds, it is not great plans, it is not great ideas God uses. It is great likeness to Jesus Christ. A holy instrument is an awesome weapon in the hand of God.” Robert Murray M’Cheyne
The early church was a growing church because they were a pure church, a clean channel through which God could flow supernaturally. And we see the supernatural nature of the early church in the next mark:
II. POWER –Their Influence SPREADS
Verse 15 resumes the thought already begun in v. 12. It says that many signs and wonders were being done through the hands of the apostles. That thought continues: 15so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Acts 5:15-16
Their influence was beginning to spread beyond Jerusalem as those in surrounding towns came there because of the power of the Spirit working through them. Perhaps now the disciples were starting to realize that the Lord’s promise in Acts 1:8 was coming to pass right in front of them.
These signs and wonders performed through the apostles were designed to point men to spiritual truth. It confirmed the claims of the apostles to be God’s messengers. Now you may say, “How does that apply to us today?” We don’t have apostles running around doing miracles. Now there are a lot of false apostles performing false miracles. So what’s the application for us? Remember what I just said – the powerful miracles confirmed the claims of the apostles. The supernatural healings confirmed the message they preached - namely, Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
What is the testimony we have of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? It is the New Testament, the Bible, the Word of God. That is our record of the message – and this record of the message is confirmed by the miraculous working through the apostles.
No other religious system in the world has such a supernatural, miraculous beginning and genesis as does Biblical Christianity. The record of our faith is established by purity and power. If you want a comparison, go back and look at the history of Islam and compare the record of Muhammed. He was a mass murderer and sexually deviated. Compare that with Jesus and the apostles who through the power of the Holy Spirit were morally pure and brought physical life and healing to people. And those miraculous works confirmed the apostles’ message and confirms for us their written down record – the New Testament.
Now, that doesn’t mean that God has ceased to do miracles in the lives of believers. We’ve got many here today that could testify of the miracle working power of God in your life through physical healing, through financial provision, through supernatural protection. But do you want me to tell you the greatest miracle you’ll ever experience? It’s the miracle of conversion; it’s the miracle of believing the gospel.
You see, people don’t naturally believe the Bible. I don’t expect a non-Christian to receive the biblical testimony of Jesus. In fact the Bible says the natural man won’t receive it or believe it: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
The natural man is spiritually dead. I don’t expect him to believe the Scripture. But unless you believe the Scripture you can’t be saved, right? Here’s the point – all the power displayed in the apostles in the early church, that same power becomes alive and active today in the heart and mind of the spiritually dead person who’s eyes are opened to see the truth; who’s mind is opened to believe the truth; who’s heart is open to receive the truth. That happens only through the supernatural, powerful witness of the Word of God.
So we still depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit to confirm the message of the apostles to the hearts of men. He does that through the Scriptures.
So we have purity, we have power. Here’s the third reality we see in this passage…
III. PERSECUTION – The Establishment Gets HOSTILE
A pure, powerful church will inevitably invoke a hostile reaction from the satanic world system. Successful Christians and churches will make waves, and the world and Satan will retaliate with persecution. Let’s pick up the reading at verse 17: 17But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. Acts 5:17-18
Notice what the underlying motivation was for the hostile reaction to the church’s influence: jealousy. What was it about this rag-tag group of uneducated disciples that caused such hostile jealousy in the erudite Sadducees? The rise of a new religious sect in Jerusalem, the very seat of their power and authority, would threaten to erode their hold on the people. Essentially, they feared a loss of control, a loss of power, a loss of position. And they weren’t about to go down without a fight.
So what do they do? They arrest the apostles and throw them in the public prison. This would have been a horrible place. And for the moment they think they’ve solved the problem. But how naïve to think that prison bars cold hold them after all the miracles that had been performed through the apostles. Well, let’s keep reading:
19But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors There’s some great irony here. If you’ll remember, the Sadducees didn’t believe in the supernatural, they didn’t believe in a resurrection from the dead, and they didn’t believe in angelic beings. How ironic that God uses an angel to deliver the apostles out of the prison the Sadducees had sent them to.
The angel opens the prison doors… and brought them out, and said, 20“Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. They are delivered and what are they told to do? Run for the hills and hide or you’re going to get thrown back in here. No, he told them to go and keep preaching in the name of Jesus. And here’s the deal – God calls us to boldness in the face of persecution; he calls us to risk for the gospel. They didn’t ask, “Is it safe? Will we be arrested again? Will the establishment accept us this time?” They simply went as the angel had instructed.
Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. They were going to decide what to do with the apostles that morning. 22But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23“We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.”
24Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, (you think) wondering what this would come to. 25And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Have you ever had those trick candles on your birthday cake before? You blow them out, and then they fire right back up. You blow them out again and they fire right back up. That’s what’s going on here. The Sanhedrin had shut them down once, they go right back to it. They throw them in jail, they fire right back up! There they were back preaching with more confidence than ever because now they were there by a miracle that no one could deny.
26Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. If this brute squad made up of the temple police were to bring the apostles back with violence, they knew there would be an uproar among the people; they’re liable to incite a riot and their own lives could be in jeopardy. So they’ve got to get them out of the temple.
27And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, - I wish somebody would show up here, someone with power and say, “Ok, you people called Lookout Valley Baptist Church – you’ve got to stop because you’re filling Chattanooga with this teaching about Jesus. What a compliment that would be. They said you’ve filled Jerusalem with this teaching (28) and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.” Acts 5:19-28
Conspicuously absent from the high priest’s charges is any mention of the apostles’ escape from prison. Since the Sanhedrin could not explain that miracle, they simply ignored it. Their minds made up, they had no wish to be confused by the facts. And so they were blinded by their own jealousy to see the incredible miracle of the apostles’ escape from prison as what is was. But even in the face of this persecution, we see the fourth element of this early church on mission:
IV. PERSISTENCE – Not Intimidated By THREATS
Did this arrest and all the harassment and threats against them shut them down? No. I love Proverbs 28:1 "The righteous are as bold as a lion." Apparently the Council had forgotten what these apostles had said the last time they were before them. “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20 Since it seems they had forgotten, Peter expressed their resolve to keep preaching with a similar statement in verse 29:
29But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men."
Now some will say, “Hold on a second, doesn’t this go against other teaching sin the Bible? Paul said in Romans 13:1: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. Romans 13:1
And even Peter said in 1 Peter: Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors.
Yes, that is completely true. We are to be subject to governing authorities. That is until they tell us to disobey what God has commanded us to do, or command us to do what God has said we must NOT do. In those instances we obey God, not man. And we have been commanded by God to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And that’s exactly what Peter does here. He doesn’t miss an opportunity to preach Jesus to the council: 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. Peter is telling them they are personally responsible for the death of Jesus. 31God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” Acts 5:29-32
It’s important to note that verse 32 gives us insight into a characteristic of one who is truly saved. Obedience! God gives the Spirit to those who obey him. Only those who walk in obedience to God’s commands have truly been born again by the Spirit of God. Persistence marked the early church; this amazing, obedient, bold persistence to the task of the mission. That leads to the fifth and final point from our text today…
V. PROVIDENCE – God Orders The RESULTS
This is a component that is beyond our control. What do I mean when I say providence? We can be a people that strive for purity in our walk and that purity commends the gospel; we can possess the power of the divine record and proclaim the Word of God; we can squarely face persecution with great persistence. But this final component is out of our control. Providence.
Ultimately, the impact and influence of our witness, of our faithfulness to the mission, is in the hands of God. And we must trust in his divine providence to accomplish his saving purposes. Let’s keep reading:
33When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
In first century Jerusalem, around the time of our Lord Jesus, Israel had a quick succession of a whole lot of rebel leaders who set themselves up as deliverers and Messiahs. The 1st century Jewish historian Josephus reports the following: “After the death of Herod, 4 B.C. there were 10,000 disorders in Judea. Whenever the several companies of the rebels could light upon anyone to lead them, he was created king immediately.” So Gamaliel is recounting for the Sanhedrin two examples of the many rebels who were proclaimed as messiah in that time period.
38So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, 40and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
God providentially had Gamaliel on that council to spare the lives of the apostles. Verse 33 says the council was “enraged and wanted to kill them.”
They had already told them once to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, but they kept on preaching. Then they have them arrested, thrown in jail – but an angel of the Lord delivers them from the jail. They go right on preaching. The council found them guilty of heresy, yet they kept on preaching the resurrection of Jesus, defying the warnings of the Sanhedrin again and again. Now the council is furious, enraged, and they want to kill them. And they had the authority and the power and the will to kill them. Why didn’t they do it right there and put an end to the whole thing?
God providentially had Gamaliel there - a Pharisee among a council made up mostly of Sadducees. Now Pharisees and Sadducees really didn’t like each other, but they had to tolerate each other. Pharisees had the good will of the people and Sadducees had the good will of Rome. So even though they were theological different as Jews, they tolerated each other because of mutual benefit provided by their association.
And this Pharisee – Gamaliel – who by the way is the same Gamaliel that trained Saul of Tarsus as a young Pharisee – this respected Pharisee makes a recommendation. His recommendation, when first considered, sounds very logical. His counsel seemed wise to the Sanhedrin, and may even seem wise to us. However, I would point out a flaw in his logic. The notion that whatever succeeds has God’s blessings is completely false. There are many cults and world religions that we would characterize as “successful” based on the world’s standards, but we cannot conclude that just because there is a form of success it indicates they are experiencing the approval or even blessings of God.
So instead of being killed by the council, they are beaten with 39 lashes. And just as we cannot judge God’s approval of a ministry or movement by worldly success, we also cannot judge God’s disapproval by worldly opposition. Imagine this – imagine if the apostles would have gone back to the church and said, “Ok church, for the third time the Sanhedrin has issued an injunction against us and told us not to preach. In fact this time, they actually threw us in jail and beat us with 39 lashes. This door for ministry is obviously closed to us, we’re gonna have to think of somewhere else to go. God's closing this door of ministry.
I’ve heard that so many times, I’ve even said that. "Well, it’s getting difficult – God must be closing this door. It’s getting hard here, a lot of problems with this ministry, troublesome situations. God must be closing this door."
Just because something is hard or difficult or opposed by the world doesn’t mean God disapproves of you doing it. Notice how the apostles actually responded to what some would interpret as a closed door of ministry: 41Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. They celebrated the opposition; they rejoiced in the fact that were beaten for proclaiming Jesus. Rejoiced! I looked up that word translated “rejoicing” in my Greek Lexicon. Do you know what it means? It means rejoicing! And did they say, “This door has closed?” No way: 42And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. Acts 5:33-42
Their faith was a battle-tested faith that would not wilt under the persecution they received. When we get in to chapter 6 we’ll see Stephen, one of the first deacons, is arrested for blasphemy. Then in chapter 7, he’s stoned to death. In chapter 8 brutal, wholesale persecution ravages the church so much that they all must flee Jerusalem and scatter to other parts of the world. All of the apostles are eventually martyred. How did they continue to move forward; how did the church continue to expand and multiply and fulfill the mission. They kept their aim on the right target. Oh they got off target from time to time as we’ll see through this study. But they readjusted and fixed on the target the Lord had established for them.
Illustration: I started this message off by telling you about the competitive marksman, Matt Emmons. He all but had the Gold wrapped up in the 3 position shooting event at the 2004 Olympics, but didn’t even medal because although he shot a perfect bull’s-eye with his final shot, he was aiming at the wrong target.
Now for the rest of the story: Emmons would compete in another shooting event at the 2004 Olympics and he blew away the competition, handily winning the Gold medal. He would also go on to win 5 world championships and Olympic medals in 2008 and 2012. Why? Because he readjusted his aim and shot at the right target.
If we’re going to be a church on mission we must be sure that we’re aiming at the right target – the target of the Great Commission.
Last Thought: We must adjust our AIM to the TARGET our Lord has set before us in order to fulfill the missions mandate.
