The WINDOW
Bible Teaching Ministry of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, Nc
November 14, 2004
12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” 13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
21After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. 27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’”
31After 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. 32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Acts 4:12-37 (NIV)
In our family I was always the "designated hitter" when it came to anything crawling, flying or slithering. My girls were especially terrified of crawling things. Spiders were the worst! I have seen my wife and girls run from spiders, shriek and squeal when threatened by spiders (usually because our son, Jason was wielding one like a weapon); I have seen them walk three blocks out of the way to avoid the last place they saw a spider. My girls do not like spiders.
When we moved into one church parsonage the carpeting was well past its prime. The church folks graciously allowed us to pick out new floor coverings for the entire home. My wife likes white...all white. So she picked white carpeting for 2400 square feet! We lived in a snow palace!
Early one morning, shortly after moving into this winter wonderland I heard a piercing cry coming from the bedrooms. Carrie was pinned to the wall, cowering near her door; the expression on her face was as if Attila and the Huns were on the doorstep. I looked left and right for the bad guys and saw nothing.
Then, looking back to Carrie, I saw her pointing to the hallway floor near where I was standing. There, highlighted against the snow-white carpet, center-hallway was one of the biggest, blackest, hairiest spiders I’d ever seen. I felt like David the shepherd boy facing Goliath the spider. The creature was glaring at me with that, "I’m the new big cheese on the block -- come on, big fella, let’s see what’cha got" kind of defiant look.
For an instant I couldn’t decide if I should run or scream to Carrie to protect me! Then I remembered I was the protector! I would have to deal with this dragon. My "father-protects-his-kid-no-matter-the-cost" image was on the line. No Goliath arachnid was going to steal my little girl’s trust in me. So I called for Elizabeth. She brought a broom! I have never understood how (to women) brooms are better than an axe or baseball bat at such times...but a broom was now my weapon! I calculated the distance, allowed for the counter-attack the devilishly sneaky enemy was obviously planning, and swung a mighty swing, whacking the spider a mighty blow.
It turned out that Goliath, the mighty terrorist spider was actually Goli-ette, the mommy-to-be spider-ess! And it seems (I found out) that when you apply the mighty whack of a broom to a very pregnant spider, hundreds of little baby spiders get launched everywhere!
Our white carpet now had a hairy brown-black spot of spider innards, and two square yards of moving black dots. It seemed like they were storming the walls; they were all over my broom weapon, and Carrie was now jumping up and down, certain that at least two or three hundred of the little monsters were on her leg.
It took a long time to clean up both the hairy brown-black mush...and collect all the offspring, (not to mention calming-down my offspring), but eventually, with four cans of insect spray and much resolve, we restored order and some semblance of dignity to the Baptist parsonage.
THE CHURCH AND SPIDERS
The religious leaders saw Peter and John as “spider seed”, potentially releasing all sorts of problems for them among the common people. They had obviously met the ancestors of my hallway big, black hairy Goliath before, and were wise enough to not step on it too quickly. They didn’t realize that this pregnant spider, the early church, was going to birth babies at an unprecedented rate. It was God’s design!
Peter and John faced their own spiders. The religious leaders were certainly a formidable group…they called the political shots. Peter and John could have been severely beaten and turned over to the Romans for insurrection; their fate could have been the same as Jesus’. With courage and faith these Apostles faced whatever the future held and God gave them victory. It was also God’s design.
There was a third spider on the way – success! Faith, prayer and boldness had united this band of believers. By any standards of success, this church is certainly a high water mark! As we read the conditions that came about we see that the believers were spirit-filled, united in purpose and mind, generous with resources; in short, a pastor’s dream!
SPIDER LESSONS
In retrospect, I learned three valuable lessons about “spider encounters”. One lesson was personal; the second was political and the third spiritual.
• The first is that my girls are never going to get along with spiders and snakes. So, the next time I face one of these Godzillas I will eschew the broom in favor of a clear drinking glass...I’ll use the capture and release method (release into the toilet!).
• The second lesson was that the spider is a picture of terrorists. Just when you think you’ve smashed the big problem, many little problems spring into action. Iraq has been like that. It will take lots of time and a lot of bug spray to root out all the offspring of the recent war.
• A third application of this little picture of loose spiders everywhere is the case of evil. It may only be one habit, one impure thought, one insignificant sin – a lie or bit of juicy gossip – but so much trouble can spring from it!
SPIDER WARFARE
There are a couple of really good admonitions in all this for those of us who follow Jesus; these are some cautions we can take with us and put into practice in our daily lives. They are simple, but really important:
• LEARN TO RECOGNIZE A SPIDER FOR WHAT IT IS
Spiders are ugly creatures…I’ve never met one that is beautiful or one I’d like to name. Spiders are predators; even with their own kind there is a kill or be killed tension. Black widow spiders kill and eat their husbands immediately after mating!
As ugly and menacing as they are, spiders are also useful tools in the hands of an Omniscient God. They serve as reminders that the believer does not live in some utopia; we are soldiers in a war-torn world. The war against sin and darkness is worse than Iraq or Afghanistan. Satan is worse than Osama bin Laden.
How useful are the Goliath spiders of life? In the case of David you will recall that the 9-foot tall giant that the shepherd boy faced became the entry door for David to serve as the king of Israel, author of much of the Psalms, father to the wisest man ever to be born (Solomon), and a great ancestor of one Jesus, born in Bethlehem.
In each of our cases we face spiders – obstacles, threats and fears that are the challenges of everyday life in the war zone. We should each learn to recognize these spiders so that we may act with courage and faith like a shepherd boy, or an Apostle.
• DON’T BECOME A SPIDER
The church is a place for Christians…followers of Jesus Christ. None of us can afford to become predators. The religious rulers of Jesus’ and Peter’s day were supposed to be serving God; instead they became predators, seeking to put Jesus to death. When that didn’t settle matters, they sought to put His followers to death.
Jesus loved them in return; Peter and John prayed, but did not retaliate. They refused to be spiders. Rather they were lovers of men’s souls. Spiders embrace that they may devour – Christians embrace for the love of Jesus.
Let me be specific. In Christian living we must think about what our actions and words will accomplish. It is the difference between the actions of a saint and spider.
• If we gossip we spread little baby spiders of hate and ruin reputations and spoil the fellowship of the church.
James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
• If we hate or despise one another…or even settle for tolerating one another rather than embracing, we soil the name of Christ in the eyes of an unbelieving world.
Galatians 5: 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
• If we fail to cooperate because of petty differences we fail at the point of brotherhood, becoming more like spiders every day.
Philippians 2: 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
Two decades ago we met Luke Skywalker. The Star Wars central figure stood for good like Roy Rogers of the 50’s or John Wayne. Luke became a Jedi warrior, fighting against the evil empire in heroic ways. In the final episode of the trilogy Luke makes the horrifying discovery that Darth Vader the criminal right hand of the evil emperor is actually a former Jedi good-guy, and his own father. Vader attempts to “turn” Luke to “the dark side” offering power and the inevitability of a dark side success. In the movie Luke Skywalker rejects the dark “spider” side. He chooses to let go of momentary victory to trust the light side – the “force” of good.
Church, we need to do these two things always, recognize the real spiders; don’t become one. Rather, we must concentrate on being God’s “catch and release” warriors. We need to concentrate on catching ourselves before falling into the spider trap, becoming part of the dark side – and releasing each other towards the true light, Jesus. Let us be gracious, loving and embracing – just like our Master. Let the church say AMEN!
