As your turning to Acts 4:23-31, I want to read what John Piper wrote concerning prayer. Listen to the imagery that he uses as he describes the true purpose of prayer.
“Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of front-line forces, and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory. Thus prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need.” (John Piper, “Let the Nations Be Glad”)
Do we honestly look at our Christian life as a war? Do we see it as a battle between the forces of Satan and this world order against our spreading of the gospel of Christ? Do we see it as a battle that we can’t win apart from the power of the Holy Spirit? Until we do, we’ll never understand what it really means to pray.
The early church knew this kind of life. In our text today, we see that after Peter and John had been threatened and warned to compromise the mission Christ had given them, the only thing they knew to do was to pray.
And from this text we are going to see what our attitude and our prayer should be since as believers we have been enlisted in the wartime effort of sharing the message of Jesus Christ with our community, our country, and our world.
I. The Motivation With Which They Prayed
What was the motivating force that drove this church to pray? Look at verses 23 and 24,
“And when they had been released, they went to their own companions, and reported all that the chief priest sand the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God…”
There’s one small word in this verse that reveals to us the motivating factor and I want you to underscore. It’s the word “this.” Now what was the “this” referring to? Well, it simply refers back to the entire uprising of the Sadducees and the threats of the Sanhedrin that we looked at last week.
This whole account began back in Acts 3. Remember, Peter and John were going up to the temple to pray. At the gate they ran into a guy that had been lame from birth and whose friends dropped him off at the temple everyday so that he could beg money from people. The guy tried getting money off of them, but instead they gave him something unexpected. Something that money could not buy. They told him to get up and walk. Then, they pulled him up and he had the strength not only to walk, but as Acts 3:8 says, he was “walking and leaping and praising God.”
This drew a crowd, Peter preached the good news of Jesus, and called the people and the leaders to respond.
Now Acts 4:2 says the religious leaders were disturbed. They charged them and threw them in jail for the night. The next day they were called to defend themselves before the Jewish Supreme Court. Acts 4:17 says that the court’s ruling was this:
“But in order that it may not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any man in this name.”
With boldness, Peter and John made it crystal clear that they were going to obey God instead. Since the court had nothing to book them with they threatened some more and sent them out.
Now this is where our text picks up. They went back with the other believers and reported all that had happened. All that is wrapped up in the word “this.” But because this was the first time they had faced any sort of opposition they began feeling a sense of despair. So, the word “this” signifies desperation. That was the motivating factor. They were scared. It was the authority of God verses the authority of man and they were caught in the middle. And by choosing God they automatically put themselves at odds with the religious leaders of that day.
Now for them to be in this position meant that they could be excommunicated, meaning no one could talk to you, beaten, or even put to death. Choosing God had a huge price tag on it. But they were willing to pay.
I want to submit to you today that one of the main reasons we don’t pray continually is because we’re not desperate. We don’t have a feeling of despair. We are not burdened, or broken, or filled with concern. We have been given protection under the First Amendment, that we may worship freely and share the gospel freely. We have never been pressured like these early believers. And what has been the result? We have never had to truly be dependent upon God. And we have become lazy, complacent, and content with the way things are.
I want to challenge you to become people of despair. People that have a holy desperation. To be a people that’s desperation leads to being passionately driven. Even though we are not in danger for our lives (although we may be insulted, and considered crazy), we need to be in despair for those that don’t know Jesus. Those that have never been saved from the wrath of God. When we consider the condition of their soul and the eternal destruction that awaits them and that it is only by turning their life over to Jesus that they can be saved – when we consider that, we can’t help but be desperately burdened. We need to have the burden that these early Christians had. We need to have the burden the Apostle Paul had.
“Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk, according to the pattern you have given us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction…” (Philippians 3:17-19a)
Despair for their own lives and for the souls of others drove this early church to desperately turn to the Lord. We must become desperate like that or we will never see the power of God like they did.
II. The Unity With Which They Prayed
After hearing and becoming scared and desperate, they all joined together to support one another and to pray together. Look at verse 24.
“And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord…”
When the times were tough they didn’t back down, but rather they got together to pray. This was their habit. We see this in Acts 12. It says that James was put to death by the sword, and Peter was thrown in prison. The immediate response of the church was to gather together and pray.
Now if I had been ruthlessly killed, and Mel would have been thrown into prison, and you knew that on Tuesday they were coming after you because of your faith in Jesus, I would imagine you would pray too. There’s nothing like a good persecution to get us to come together to pray. But that’s the first thing they did. It’s all they knew to do. And it wasn’t just a small group. It was the church at large.
And they were so unified that it was as if one voice was going up to the Lord. They had unity. They were in one accord. They had what Paul was talking about in Philippians 2:2. They were “of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”
The gauge that measures the unity of any church is determined by how they pray together. Yes, we are to have personal prayer time each day. But we are also called to pray together. There’s something about a church that unites itself in prayer that God just seems to bless.
One of my favorite testimonies of this is recorded in Billy Graham’s book, "Hope for the Troubled Heart." A missionary and his family were forced to camp outside on a hill. They were carrying money and they were fearful that thieves might rob them. After spending time in prayer, the finally fell asleep. Several months later, a man that had been injured was taken to the mission hospital. He asked the missionary if on that special night they had soldiers guarding them. The man said to him, “We intended to rob you, but we were afraid of the twenty-seven soldiers.”
When the missionary returned to his homeland, he shared this story with his church. One of the members responded, “We had a prayer meeting that night, and I took roll. There were just twenty-seven of us present.”
God does supernatural and incredible things when His people unite together in prayer. This is why we have prayer meeting on Wednesday nights. It is an awful thing to see more people at a business meeting than at a prayer meeting. It’s on Wednesday nights that we take part in the true business of the church. When God’s people join together to pray – that’s when the church sees people saved, Christians strengthened in their walk and sharing the gospel with boldness, and doors of opportunity opened for effective service.
III. The Person To Whom They Prayed
You may be saying, “Well, that’s easy. They were praying to God.” Yeah, but what was their view of God?
In this time of wartime crises they reflected upon the sovereignty of God. God’s sovereignty, in a sentence, is Him being in all, in charge of all, and in control of all.
Notice how they address God in verse 24. “O, Lord…” The Greek word used for Lord here is not the usual word for lord, which is kurios. The word used here is the word from which we get our English word, despot, and it is only used five times in the New Testament. If you have an NIV you’ll notice that it is translated “Sovereign Lord.” That is what the word means. It is used of masters and those that possess absolute power. It describes one you don’t challenge. It describes one that is much greater than you. That is who God is.
As they focus on God’s sovereignty, they look at it in two different aspects. The first is His sovereignty in creation. Notice what they go on to pray. “O, Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heaven and the Earth and the sea, and all that is in them…”
By considering creation, they acknowledged that God was all-powerful. That He was the Power of the Universe. And that nothing was by accident. Just as everything He created, from the sun and the stars to the fish that swim at the bottom of the sea had a purpose, so did this time of crisis and all the surrounding events. It wasn’t by accident.
They go on to focus on not just on His sovereignty in creation, but also in history. Verse 25-26 says, “who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage and the people devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.’”
This part of their prayer they looked to Scripture and quoted from Psalm 2. David had penned this about 1000 years before Christ. He predicted that there would be a time, as there had always been, when the rulers and authorities of the earth would come together and devise plans to destroy the Christ. In Psalm 2:5 (which is not quoted here) says that the Lord laughs and scoffs at their plans. That’s why their considered futile.
They applied this Psalm to the trial of Jesus. Verse 27-28 says, For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom you didst anoint, both Herod and Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur.
What they were saying, in effect, was even though these groups of people yelled “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”, and even though it looked as if Jesus had been defeated when they nailed Him to the cross, their plans were futile because at this same time God was using their wickedness to carry out His greatest plan, namely to save us from sin.
They saw their crisis situation as the same thing. These rulers tried putting an end to the mission of sharing Jesus, that He had given them. They were scared and in despair, but they knew God would work this out for His greater plan. It’s like Paul said, “All things work together for the good of those that love God.”
In our lives when a time of crises comes, whether sickness, trials, opposition to the gospel, or someone you care about that just continues to reject to reject Christ, we have to trust in God’s sovereignty, that He will work it out. He has the power to take care of it, and it is under His control.
In the Nineteenth century there was a successful attorney in Chicago by the name of Horatio Spafford. He was intelligent, successful, and godly. Early on in his success, he came to the realization that he needed to have balance both in his home and church as well. He loved them and He loved his church. Also, he was a close friend of D.L. Moody, the great evangelist. This guy was trying to build a solid spiritual life.
In 1871, Spafford’s real estate investment was totally wiped out during the great Chicago Fire. Several months before that, his only son had died. Wanting to get things together, Spafford planned a trip to Europe with his family, and that trip was going to coincide with an Evangelistic crusade of D.L. Moody. At the last minute, a business development delayed him, so he sent his family as scheduled, and he was going to catch up with them later.
However, the ship that they were on got hit by an English vessel, and it sank in just twenty minutes. All four of his daughters drowned. His wife survived though and was taken to Whales. Form there she sent her husband a message with the words, “Saved alone.” Right away he boarded a ship to meet her. The captain knew his sorrow, so as they were traveling, he stopped the boat over the place Spafford’s daughters had drowned.
He didn’t understand why all this had to happen. But that day He trusted in the Sovereignty of God. And as that ship was stopped, it was there that “sorrows like sea billows roll” and it was there that he knew God “regarded his helpless estate” and all he could say was “It is well, It is well with my soul.” This experience led him to write probably the most inspirational song in hymn books today.
When we trust in the Sovereignty of God, even though it may not make sense, and it may call us to have patience, it will always bring a sense of peace and confidence.
IV. The Requests For Which They Prayed
After coming to God in desperation, with unity, and trusting in His sovereign plan, they asked for two things. First, they asked for confidence. “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant thy bond-servants may speak thy word with all confidence…” They wanted an unwavering confidence to continue despite the threats. They didn’t want their witnessing to miss a beat.
Secondly, they asked God to do supernatural miracles to show that their message was for real. “…while Thou dost extend thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus.”
V. The Result Of How They Prayed
"And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”
This is what I long to see both in my own life and in the life of our church. God heard and answered their prayer. He showed it by causing the place to shake. This was kind of like what happened at Pentecost when the Spirit first came. They needed this confirmation. We don’t we have God’s word that tells us that when we pray according to His will He hears us.
Notice also that they were filled with the Spirit. We talked about this before. God fills us with His Spirit in order that we may proclaim the gospel. We can’t do it on our own. We need the Power of the Holy Spirit. And notice it wasn’t just Peter or John or any of the other apostles. It was the whole church. The Holy Spirit wants to fill us and empower us all that we might share Christ and see souls radically saved.
How burdened are you about your witness? Do you persistently and passionately pray that the Lord would fill you and empower you? God has called each of us to be devoted to sharing Christ. We don’t, not because we don’t know what to share, but because we are fearful. We don’t completely devote ourselves to the Lord. When we become desperate and trust the Spirit to work through us to witness, that’s when we experience God’s power. And all this begins with prayer.
Many of us here need to make a fresh commitment to the Lord to be desperate for souls, a fresh commitment to praying in unity with other believers, a fresh commitment to trust in the sovereignty of God, and a fresh commitment to seeking the filling of the Spirit in your life. All these things are just a prayer away.
