Growing Pains
Acts 5:12-25
Jeff Hughes – April 6, 2003
Calvary Chapel Aggieland
I. Introduction
a. The church at Jerusalem was going through many changes. Thousands of people had accepted Jesus as their Savior and become a part of the fellowship. These people were one big community of believers, loving one another, sharing with one another, and fellowshipping with one another.
b. We also see that they were being taught God’s Word by the apostles, and they were fervent in prayer. They were a vibrant and flourishing fellowship because of this. God’s grace was simply abounding in Jerusalem. But as we saw in our last study, all was not perfect in this fellowship, we saw that in the example of Ananias and Sapphira.
c. In the church today though, people tend to forget that Jesus promised us more than just blessings. In John 16:33 he also promised, "In the world you will have tribulation." Anyone who sees the Christian life as one unbroken victory is being naive. They will also end up being shallow.
d. According to William Barclay, the Arabs have a proverb that says, "All sunshine makes a desert."
e. Everyone enjoys the sun, but if the sun always shines everything will dry up and die. There are certain things which only the rains will produce, and there are certain experiences which only sorrow can bring about. These times will come into your life, and if you’re going to grow, they have to come.
f. I’ve entitled today’s study Growing pains, because we’re going look at some tribulation in the early church, as we continue our study today, but first, let’s have a word of prayer.
g.
II. PRAYER
III. Illustration
a. As I was studying these scriptures, I came across the following article that gives us some insight into the early church, with a modern example. It was written about the church in China.
b. There are three basic reasons why the Church is growing so rapidly in China. First, there is an ideological vacuum in China. People no longer claim loyalty to any kind of faith, not even to communism. Because of the more open policy of the Chinese government, there is more contact with the Western world, and people are fascinated by different ways of thinking, including other religions. Religious fervor has been high the past ten years, and Christianity has benefited most.
c. Second, Christianity provides people with an intimate social experience: love, caring, concern, and fellowship. After a long, repressive era in which you didn’t dare reveal what you really felt and thought, this is an exciting option.
d. Third, there are the miracles. Missionaries that travel to the interior of China report that the Christian communities all claim they’ve experienced miracles. Here is one typical example: A Christian woman decided, after her eightieth birthday, to start preaching the gospel. She went to her daughter’s village and began preaching. Some villagers with incurable diseases, like cancer, came to her. When she prayed for them, many were suddenly healed. Then two more people came and were healed. Then three more families. After the woman left, the villagers decided her God was very good. So they abandoned their idols and decided to believe in this Jesus.
e. They sent one person to nearby towns to look for a place where people worshiped Jesus. When they finally found such a church, they told the pastor, "We have 80 people in our village who want to believe in Jesus. But we don’t know how to believe in Jesus." After that, a new church was started. WOW! An evangelist’s dream!! Somebody pinch me!
f. As we will see, the church at Jerusalem was very much like this. The people were eager to hear the gospel, and miracles were happening. People were getting healed, and their faith built up.
g. Our study today comes from Acts, Chapter 5, verses 12 through 25. Acts is just past John and right before Romans in your Bible. We’ve provided an outline for you to take notes on, and if you need a Bible, just raise your hand, and we’ll get you one. Follow along with me starting at verse 12 -
IV. Study
a. Intro
i. 12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. 17 Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, 18 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. 19 But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 "Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life." 21 And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, 23 saying, "Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!" 24 Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. 25 So one came and told them, saying, "Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!" 26 Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!"
ii. In this passage we get a glimpse of the power that God was working through the apostles, also we see the continued growth and expansion of the church to areas outside Jerusalem. We also see the apostles faithfully teaching God’s Word, and the opposition that comes from their faithfulness.
iii. We see growth here and we see tribulation. Sometimes the tree has to be pruned in order for it to flourish. As we continue along through Acts, we will see this happen again and again, as the church grows, opposition, or growing pains will continue to happen as well.
iv. In our study today, we will look at five points. The Apostles’ Ministry, the Arrest, the Angelic Command, the Amazed Officials, and finally, the Accusation.
v. The first point we come to is the Apostle’s Ministry, we find this in verses 12 through 16.
b. The Apostles’ Ministry (Acts 5:12-16)
i. 12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
ii. These four verses tell us about the continuing ministry of the apostles in Jerusalem. Our narrator, the good Dr. Luke tells us that God did many signs and wonders through the apostles.
iii. God was answering their prayers. If we look back at verse 30, in Acts chapter 4, we see that the believers prayed that God would continue to work miracles through them and give them more opportunities to spread the gospel.
iv. We also see in verse 12 that the early church was still altogether, in one accord – meaning one heart, one mind, one purpose. We also see that a popular gathering place for them was an area of the temple called Solomon’s Porch.
v. If you remember back a few weeks, you’ll recall that Solomon’s Porch was located within the Court of the gentiles in the temple area. This is important because all people, Jews, gentiles, men, and women were able to access this area to hear the gospel.
vi. The important thing to take away from that is that the delivery of the gospel still hasn’t changed today. God wants all people to come to Him, and the door is open to all who would come.
vii. I think this is lost sometimes in the church today. Some people try to turn the church into some kind of country club, when it’s purpose is to be a life-saving station. That’s one of the things we strive for here at Calvary Chapel. We want anyone to be able to come and hear the Word being taught, and to hear the good news. It doesn’t matter if you come wearing jeans, or a suit. It doesn’t matter if you have long hair and a tattoo, or a crew cut and a polo shirt. The doors are always open.
viii. Look down at verse 13 though. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. This is talking about the unbelievers in Jerusalem. They feared the Christians. So, even though they held them in high esteem, they stayed away. Why was that?
ix. Well, one explanation that makes sense is that word about Ananias and Sapphira dropping dead would have spread fast. They might have been afraid of the consequences that Ananias and Sapphira faced in their casual commitment.
x. Really, when you look at it from this angle, the people staying away strengthened the church. Only people who were sold-out, committed believers were added to the church. We see that in verse 14.
xi. Even though many people feared the church, God still drew people unto Himself. God still moved on people’s hearts to the point that they decided, “You know what? I am a follower of Jesus , and this is the place I should be.”
xii. They joined. They stayed. It may have been painful, it was most likely uncomfortable, but these folks put a high value on their relationship with the Lord.
xiii. Many times God will lead us to do things that we are not comfortable doing. A lot of times, God asks us to do things that are a personal sacrifice to us. This turns some people off. They don’t want to get involved with a church because someone might ask them to do something. They may have to give up their time, or money for God, and some just don’t want to do that.
xiv. We are missing out on the blessings of God when we harden our hearts like that. God wants to bless you, He wants to grow you as a Christian, and many times we do it through sacrifice, and through service.
xv. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Philippians penned these words - Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. (2:17)
xvi. Paul had found a key to the Christian faith that I think many of us miss, especially here in America, where we are so blessed financially – that Joy and peace from the Lord is found in service and sacrifice to Him.
xvii. Maybe you don’t know where to serve, what to do. Pray about it. Ask God’s direction. If you still don’t get a clear answer, come talk to me. I’ll pray about it and find something for you to do around here, I am sure of it. You’ve got to start somewhere!
xviii. Let’s finish up this point here though. Verse fifteen is really a continuation of verse 12. It describes the apostle’s ministry in Jerusalem. Many people were getting healed.
xix. What’s so amazing here is that people were so convinced of the power of God working through the apostles, that they thought that even the shadow of Peter could heal people.
xx. Now, it doesn’t tell us here that people were healed by being in Peter’s shadow, but personally, I believe that it happened. I think about the lady that touched Jesus’ garment and was healed. Another example was the story in 2nd Kings when a man being buried was quickly put in Elisha’s tomb because a band of raiders was coming, and when we touched Elisha’s bones, he was raised to life.
xxi. It wasn’t the shadow that was special. Just like it wasn’t Jesus’ garment or Elisha’s bones that had healing power. Those objects were a point of contact and a place of release for people who were prepared for healing, and that God in His sovereign power wanted to heal.
xxii. One commentator writes - From what we know of physicians, even in those days, we cannot assume that Luke would gullibly accept stories of ’miraculous healing’ without investigating them, so we do know that these people were really healed.
xxiii. Two last things I want us to notice. The first is the totality of the healing. The scripture tells us here that all were healed. It speaks to God’s sovereignty. It was His choice to heal everyone there, not the apostle’s choice, and not the people’s choice.
xxiv. The second is that people were coming from the surrounding areas to the apostles. They heard about the miracles, and they wanted to get in on this move of God as well. Later, we will see this reverse itself, as the apostles and others called by God will move into the surrounding countryside to spread the gospel.
xxv. One thing for sure is that all of these events did not go unnoticed. If people came from miles around, people in Jerusalem would have heard about it to. We will see one group’s reaction to this in verses 17-18.
c. The Arrest (Acts 5:17-18)
i. 17 Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, 18 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.
ii. The high priest and his friends were unhappy that the apostles were teaching and healing the people. Remember back in the first part of chapter 4, that Peter and John had been locked up overnight and were put on trial by this same group of people.
iii. When they released Peter and John before, they warned them not to teach about Jesus any more. Peter flatly told them that they would obey God, whose clear wishes were for them to keep teaching, so that’s what they did.
iv. But these guys, the high priest and his cohorts weren’t too happy about this. The apostles didn’t keep quiet, they openly defied them.
v. How dare these Galilean fishermen oppose the Sanhedrin! So, they had them arrested again, and threw them into jail, again. One difference this time was that they put them in the common prison this time. They had simply detained them in custody before. This time, I guess they figured they’d scare them by putting them in with the thieves and murderers.
vi. The high priest was a Sadducee, and those that arrested the apostles were Sadducees. That is important. If you remember from our previous studies, the Sadducees were the group that didn’t believe in Supernatural things.
vii. Their main motive was jealousy. The church was growing in numbers and influence, and this was eroding their political power. They thought that they could put a stop to this before by throwing the apostles in jail and threatening them. That didn’t work. God had other plans, and He tells them this in verses 19 to the first part of verse 21.
d. The Angelic Command (5:19-21a)
i. 19 But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 "Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life." 21 And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught.
ii. God was pleased with the apostles and their service and devotion to Him. They were probably a little worried, being locked up again. But God sends them a message.
iii. An angel appears to them. Angels are God’s messengers on earth. The word angel itself means messenger in the original language.
iv. There’s a lot of confusion in the church today concerning angels. Some people collect, angel statues, and if you go to a bookstore, you’ll find books about angels. Angels have become en vogue these days, especially with shows on TV like “Touched by an Angel”.
v. This has led to a sort of cult following of angels, and this is wrong. We are clearly told in Scripture in Colossians chapter 2 verse 18, that we are not to worship angels.
vi. Angels are created beings that are similar to, but somewhat unlike us. Angels must resemble us somewhat, as they are described by Daniel, Job and Luke as resembling men. They always appear in human form when appearing on the earth in scripture. They do not die, and have superior physical and mental characteristics to us, while not being all-powerful and all-knowing, like God.
vii. It is especially ironic here that God used an angel to communicate to the apostles here, since the Saducees didn’t believe in angels at all.
viii. But, the angels come to bear God message, and His message to the apostles was to go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.
ix. The phrase all of the words of this life there is an interesting phrase. It describes that the apostles were to teach all of the gospel to the people, as they had been doing.
x. Paul tells the Ephesian elders later in Acts chapter twenty that he is innocent of the blood of all men, because he had not shunned to declare to them the whole counsel of the Word of God.
xi. I am amazed at how many people and groups take the Word, and use it a starting block, or a launching off point, and then proceed to add to or take away from it in their misguided attempts at refining the gospel.
xii. Peter later writes in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 3 that His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
xiii. The bottom line is that God has a plan for us. It is laid out in His Word. We don’t need to add to it, we don’t need to take away from it, we just need to teach all of it.
xiv. Let’s get back to the apostles. When they heard the command from the angel, they obeyed. They obeyed, and left the concequences to God. That is faith guys. They were putting their lives on the line.
xv. They went into the temple courts, and even though it was very early, they found an audience to hear their message, as a reward for their obedience.
xvi. We need that kind of faith and obedience and faith in our own lives. One of the biggest threats to our spiritual growth is procrastination. When God speaks to our hearts, whether it is through His Word, or through a song, or a message, we need to obey Him, and not procrastinate. Too many times I have seen people lose ground after they procrastinate with God, and that is not God’s will for us.
xvii. This whole event was certainly miraculous though. The angelic jailbreak and the faithful obedience caused quite a stir among the religious leaders, we see this in the end of verse 21 through verse 25.
e. The Amazed Officials (Acts 5:21b - 25)
i. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, 23 saying, "Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!" 24 Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. 25 So one came and told them, saying, "Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!"
ii. While the apostles were teaching and doing God’s will, the committee meets to shut them down. They were meeting to decide what to do with these guys that would not keep quiet about Jesus.
iii. So, I am sure, they assemble, talk it over, and when they get their plan together as to what to do, they send the temple police force to go get the apostles out of jail, so they could question them some more.
iv. Much to their surprise, though, God had other plans. Big shock. The doors were locked, the armed guards were outside. Everything was what it should have been on the outside, except for one important detail – the apostles were gone.
v. This was definitely out of the ordinary. If there was a conventional jailbreak, they should have found the bars cut, or a tunnel dug, or the guards tied up. This was a very unconventional jailbreak. They were all confused and perplexed. They had no idea as to what to do with these guys. They couldn’t stop them if they couldn’t even keep them in jail! They probably wondered where is this going to go? When is this going to stop?
vi. Then someone runs in and tells them that the apostles were teaching in the temple. Had the apostles run away and gone into hiding, that would have been a slap in their face. But they were teaching in the temple again, that was the ultimate affront to their political and religious power.
vii. Obviously, the high priest and his buddies weren’t too happy about this. Let’s see their reaction. We find it in verses 26 – 28.
f. The Accusation (Acts 5:26 - 28)
i. 26 Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!"
ii. The captain of the temple police led his officers into the temple to get the apostles. Even though the Sanhedrin probably would have liked to rough them up some, we see here that they don’t.
iii. We also get the reason for their restraint. It wasn’t because they feared God, as one would hope of their religious leaders. No, it was because these guys feared the people.
iv. We see the Sanhedrin’s heart here. The offices of high priest and elder had become a political one, and not a spiritual one. This can creep into many churches today.
v. Leadership of the church can become political rather than spiritual, and the church begins to be run like a business rather than a flock seeking God. Oftentimes, in many churches, people that are leaders in business or the community are appointed to a Deaconship or an Eldership because it is assumed that they will do a good job managing the church.
vi. Maybe this is true. Maybe it isn’t. But God appoints leaders, not men. Some people don’t agree with our form of church government at Calvary. We don’t have committees, we don’t take a vote of the congregation. We are led by a pastor, who has been called of God for that church. The pastors are held accountable by a board, but it frees the church up to pursue God’s direction and not get bogged down in politics.
vii. The Sanhedrin were bogged down in politics. They feared the people, because they thought that the people would stone them.
viii. You see, the people feared God, like the Sanhedrin should have. They knew the apostles were sent by God to teach His message. Why did they know this? Well, they had eyes, and they had ears.
ix. It was pretty obvious to most everyone that the apostles were sent by God. Their credibility was verified by the many miracles worked through them by God.
x. One thing to note here is that the apostles didn’t resist. They didn’t put up a fight. They simply followed the temple police to the chambers. Why was this?
xi. Well, they were completely dependent on God and His authority. They were content to follow God’s will wherever He would lead them. Right now He was leading them before the Sanhedrin again.
xii. Last time they stood before the Sanhedrin, they preached the gospel. God was setting the stage for them to do this again. That tells me that God is VERY gracious. He gives the Sanhedrin one more chance to respond to the gospel.
xiii. The high priest hits them with as soon as they walk in. He asks them rhetorically if they didn’t remember the order they gave them to stop teaching in Jesus’ name. We saw this back in Acts chapter 4 verse 18.
xiv. The warning had been addressed to just Peter and John, but obviously, it was meant for the whole church. They had defiantly ignored this command, and they told them that they would, if God wanted them to.
xv. God’s will was to spread the gospel. The Sanhedrin’s will was to silence it. God was winning at this point. That’s pretty obvious by the next statement made.
xvi. They accused the apostles of filling the city of Jerusalem with their teaching. What an indictment. They were guilty. That is a tremendous testimony about the effectiveness of the apostles’ ministry. They did a good job.
xvii. One thing to note here is that the Sanhedrin seem to ignore the miracle of the apostles being freed from prison. They also had to be aware of the miracles that had been done in the city.
xviii. They were losing power and influence to the apostles, and that was the only thing that mattered to these guys. They didn’t want to be bothered with the facts.
xix. The facts were, that Jesus was crucified after being condemned by them. He rose from the grave on the third day, and stayed for a period of time to encourage the church and to instruct them some more.
xx. He was then lifted up into heaven, to sit at the right hand of the Father. Then, the Holy Spirit came and filled the followers of Jesus, empowering them to work miracles by the grace of God. All the while, they were teaching that salvation is found through believing that Jesus was the Messiah, and surrendering your life to Him.
xxi. Those facts took money out of their pockets and eroded their influence in the city. So, they wanted to stop it. That was their first indictment.
xxii. Their second was worse. The Sanhedrin accused the apostles of trying to bring this man’s blood upon us. Obviously, this is a reference to Jesus. But, the high priest would not even mention His name. This charge was true as well. Peter, in his defense to them before had squarely accused them of this.
xxiii. When Jesus stood before Pilate, the officials called out, “Let this man’s blood be upon us and upon our children!” This was coming true. The blood of Jesus was upon them. They had murdered God’s Son. They were getting what they had asked Pilate for.
xxiv. We’re going to stop right there. Next week, we’re going to look at the apostles’ response to the charges brought against them.
xxv. Point Summary - There are three things I want us to take away from this message -
1. People notice when we wholeheartedly follow Jesus.
2. Following Jesus will sometimes take us out of our comfort zone.
3. We need to trust Him even when the circumstances don’t make any sense to us.
xxvi. I‘d like to close today with a verse.
g. Conclusion
i. 2 Corinthians 4:17 tells us
ii. For our light affliction which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
iii. If we could ask the apostle Paul what he saw as life’s greatest blessing, I would guess he would answer something like this: “Personal salvation with its provision of the present and the future.” For Paul, nothing else really mattered. He constantly looked beyond his trials and adversities, sensing the presence of Jesus Christ and rejoicing in the prospect of happiness in heaven with Him. Do you have this perspective this morning? Have you reflected today on the eternal glory that we will enjoy as Christians? The struggles you are facing today, the struggles I am facing today, all begin to fade when we ponder the amazing love and grace portioned us at the cross.
iv. Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand spent 14 years in prison for preaching the gospel. Although his captors smashed four of his vertebrae and either cut or burned 18 holes in his body, they could not defeat him. He testified, “Alone in my cell, cold, hungry, and in rags, I danced for joy every night.” During this time he turned to a fellow prisoner, a man he had led to the Lord before they were arrested, and asked, “Have you any resentment against me that I brought you to Christ?” The man’s response was: “I have no words to express my thankfulness that you brought me to the wonderful Savior. I would never have it another way.”
v. These two men exemplify the supernatural joy that can be experienced by believers who live on the edge of death as the result of being severely persecuted.
vi. Salvation, which brings strength for today and hope for tomorrow, lasts forever. Therefore, we don’t have to be defeated by troublesome circumstances. When we know we are saved, we have the assurance that God is at work in our lives, preparing us for the eternal realities of the better world. Salvation is life’s greatest blessing.
vii. Maybe you’re sitting her and you haven’t made that decision in your life yet. Maybe you haven’t trusted Jesus, and you feel God working on your heart this morning. Don’t procrastinate. Make that decision today. Maybe you’re a Christian, and you feel like you haven’t been living like you know God had called you to live. You need to make a decision today to get right before Him. He’s right there waiting for you.
viii. Right now, we’re going to pray, and give you a chance to make that decision in your life.
h. Let’s Pray.
V. Closing Prayer
