The Soil Beneath a Great Move of God

Michael Howard

Acts: The Mission of God • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented 2023 years ago

Acts 5:12–16

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INTRODUCTION

THE GREAT AWAKENING

In 1740, there was upheaval at Yale.

Harvard was started by Puritan colonists in the 1636 in order to train up ministers for field of harvest.

By 1701, the congregationalists in Connecticut felt that the place had become overrun with man-centered teaching, so they started a new school—Yale.

And yet, forty years afterward its beginning, Yale was no better off than Harvard.

The faculty were supposed to be raising up preachers for pulpits, but many of them didn’t live a Christian life themselves.

And yet, they had a problem on their hands.

The student body had come alive and was fired up about the Word of God.

What had began as a smattering of wildfires with Jonathan Edwards preaching in Northampton, Connecticut in 1733, with teenagers coming to Christ throughout the region had turned into a full inferno in 1740

George Whitefield had come through the colonies with his booming evangelical preaching and the colonists were undone

The churches were filled with the presence of God

And again, it was the teenagers

The youth were on fire for God

And many of them headed off to Yale

So before the new school year, the Board of Trustees met to decide if this great movement was of the Lord or not and they decided it wasn’t.

And they passed a new school rule that no student was allowed to say directly or indirectly that any teacher, faculty, or board member were hypocrites, carnal or unconverted.

If they did, they would have to make a public confession before the college

For the second, they would be expelled

And then, inexplicably, they asked Jonathan Edwards to come and start the school year by speaking to the students in order to calm them down

So Edwards comes and he addresses the whole student body and the faculty and the board of trustees

His sermon was called, “The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God.”

He gave five marks of a true great work of God.

And then he sided with the students

And he essentially told them to go forth and conquer and be patient with the older Christians in the colonies who were taking longer to get on board

As that movement of God, which we know as the Great Awakening, rolled on into the 1740’s, its impact was incredible.

The Methodist and Baptist denominations blew up

In the fifty years following the Great Awakening, Baptist churches increased by 375%

More colleges were established

The Baptists established Brown

More young men were being sent out to pulpits

It sparked social and moral reform.

Abolitionists emerged from the movement, proclaiming that the evils of slavery were not in line with the principles of Christianity

And an untold number of people came to Christ

Colonists and indigenous peoples alike

A NEW AWAKENING

I know that we hear of a movement of God like that and we desire it again

We hear about droves of young people so on fire for the Lord that there has to be an administrative meeting to figure out how to handle it and we think, “We want that.”

Our nation is in terrible need of an awakening. York County is in great need of a movement of God. Seaford needs the Lord.

And we as the people of the Lord want to see His glory spread far and wide.

And sometimes our hearts just burst and we think, “How can we see a movement like that HERE?”

I don’t think it is a bad question. It is a good question.

But it could have bad answers if we are not careful.

We might think we can come up with a silver bullet or some sort of magic ministry sauce to make a movement like this happen in our midst

But I want us to look at a great work of God in Acts 5:12-16 this morning

And at the same time, we will consider all we have seen in the first five and half chapters of this book

And in doing so, I hope we see that there is no silver bullet. There is no magic sauce.

But there is something in the soil of this great movement of God in Acts 5

And there was something in the soil of the Great Awakening as well

Let’s examine the text and see what that might be

Acts 5:12–16 ESV

Now 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. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so 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. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

EXPLAINING THE TEXT

Let’s take a closer look at what is going on in this passage. Nearly every word is wonderful news. A glad report.

SIGNS AND WONDERS

In verse 13, you see that many signs and wonders are being done among the people by the hands of the apostles.

Verses 15-16 tell us more about what those signs and wonders looked like.

People are carrying their sick into the streets on cots and mats with the hope that Peter’s shadow would fall on them (v. 15)

The people are gathering from the towns of Judea and they are bringing their sick as well

They are also bringing people are afflicted with demonic spirits

And Luke says they are all healed.

If this sounds familiar, that might because you read in the Bible about Jesus doing the same thing.

Matthew 4:23–25 ESV

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Luke is showing us the clear continuity between Christ at the apostles.

He is showing us an apostolic authority given to the Twelve that is unlike anything that would ever been seen again in church history.

APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY

Really we can say that apostolic authority is on display from Acts 4:32 all the way to Acts 5:16.

From the church coming and laying everything at the Apostles’ feet (Acts 4:35)

To the powerful testimony they are giving to the Lord Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 4:33)

The way Peter led the questioning of Ananias and Sapphira and spoke authoratatively about the judgment of God

And now what we are seeing in these verses

We have signs and wonders being done, but it is clear that they are being done by the “hands” of the apostles (v. 13)

People are wanting to just have Peter’s shadow fall on them (v. 15)

By the way—Luke doesn’t say that Peter’s shadow healed anyone

He is just emphasizing how people are so sure there is potency in the powerful ministry of the apostles that they thought his mere shadow would heal them

And people are flocking to the apostles like they flocked to Jesus before them

KINGDOM ADVANCE

And just as the Kingdom advanced when Christ was physically on the earth, the Kingdom continued to advance through His body, the Church, as He reigns from heaven.

Notice how we see impact of Kingdom advance in this passage.

In verse 12, they are in Solomon’s Portico.

Albert Mohler says the Portico is the ministry “ground zero” for the early church

In Acts 3 we saw Peter preaching the Gospel there and even though they have been told to stop preaching in Christ’s name, here they are, right back at it.

But since they are boldly doing this in the face of opposition, other temple worshippers will not join them.

You that in verse 13.

They respect them, but they won’t join them.

They hold the apostles and the rapidly growing community of believers in high esteem, but they aren’t going to gather on the Portico with them.

That was too risky. Surely the temple authorities will be making arrests any moment!

Verse 13 represents a place of neutrality that you don’t want to be in when it comes to a great movement of God.

You don’t want to be saying, I respect it, but I am not bold enough to actually be a part of it.

But the neutrality of the others in the temple did not stop the church from exploding like never before.

More than ever believers were added to the Lord—multitudes of men and women

It is more than Luke can count. The word multitudes means “a full amount.”

He has been tracking with numbers up until this point, but as we get to this text in verses 12-16, Luke just says, “It’s a lot. The net is full.”

And you see that those outside of the temple had no problem drawing near.

These were people who couldn’t worship inside if they wanted to.

They were sick and ceremonially unclean.

It was them and the people who loved them that came from the streets of Jerusalem and the nearby towns of Judea and tried to land in the mere shadow of Peter.

A GREAT MOVEMENT OF GOD

And so we would say, just as we have said of the Great Awakening, that this is a great movement of God, if not more so.

I mean, just to give it some modern-day context. Imagine we got a call from one of our sister churches, Fox Hill Road Baptist Church.

Will Cornett, who grew up in this church, is the associate pastor over there.

Imagine Will calls write us a letter and tells us:

Things are crazy over here in Hampton.

We have lost people beating down the doors.

We are baptizing people so quickly that we are having to send them to other churches.

We are seeing more people saved than ever

Pastor Nathan cast out a demon last week!

We would rejoice with them. And we would say, “Look at what God is doing over in the Fox Hill Road neighborhood of Hampton.”

We would say, “This is a great movement of God!”

And isn’t that what we all want?

Call it revival.

Call it a great awakening.

Call it a great movement of the Lord.

Whatever you want to call what we are seeing in Acts 5:12-16, we want it.

Not the apostolic authority, for we know that was unique to the men who laid the foundation of the church, that which we build on today...

But certainly we want to see God use our local church to bring droves of people to the Lord

We want to be bold proclaimers of Christ with busy baptism waters

He told us to be fishers of men, so we want to see people caught by the grace of God and brought into the body of Christ.

What sort of fisherman wouldn’t want to catch fish?

But how do we get it?

We have to be careful here.

Sometimes people will declare they want a great work of God to occur—they want revival—and they will set up the music, the lights, the aisle and the altar.

They will set the mood to encourage a bit of melodrama.

And they think—if we can drum up some excitement and we can create an atmosphere—then God will have choice but to show up!

Jonathan Edwards told the students and the faculty of Yale to be careful about this.

He told them not to judge whether or not something is from God because there are:

Tears and emotion

People learning facts about God with their heads

Lots of decisions for Christ to count

These are marks that could be signs of true conversion, but maybe not.

Plenty of people learn about God, cry about God, make a decision to follow Christ and then end up back in the world, abandoning faith all together

So Edwards says—don’t judge it by that.

And neither should we.

If we want to know whether something is a real movement of God, we cannot simply inspect its apparent fruitfulness. We must look for faithfulness.

A ministry’s faithfulness to the mission of God is itself a success, regardless of the results. Yet at the same time, a faithful ministry will be a fruitful ministry.

Jared C. Wilson

In other words, not every fruitful ministry is faithful.

But every faithful ministry is fruitful on some level.

Not every fruitful ministry is a great movement of God because it may not be faithful.

After all, False teachers have been building religious empires since the days of the Babel

But any truly great movement of God is fruitful because of faithfulness.

Let’s spend the rest of our time talking about this relationship between the faithfulness and great works of God like we are seeing in Acts 5:12-16...

IN THE SOIL

I have three teaching points for us and here is the first:

1. Faithfulness is in the soil, when there is a great move of God.

In God’s sovereign wisdom, He has built the faithfulness of His people into His plans.

When He chooses to work, He is so often choosing to respond to:

The prayers of His people

The Fasting of His people

The Preaching of His people

The serving of His people

The sacrifice of His people

It might just be one reluctant servant like Jonah or a weeping servant like Jeremiah

It might be a faithful remnant like the exiles returning home from Babylon

It might be the surrendered hearts of some teenagers catching the Gospel from the mouth of Whitefield in the colonies

But God loves to attach His great work to the faithfulness of His children

He loves the glory they give Him

He loves the glory that others give Him as they come to Him through whatever the great movement of God is

He loves to see how we are sanctified as we see Him work and trust Him more

Is there any doubt after reading the first five and half chapters of Acts, that this is the case?

Is there not faithfulness in the soil of that this church is growing out of in the first century?

Consider what we have seen in this church at this juncture:

Reliance on the Word of God:

As Peter is explaining the need for Judas to be replaced, where did he turn? The Scriptures

When Peter stands to preach in Acts 2, what is his source material? Joel and the Psalms. The Scriptures

What is the church devoting themselves to in Acts 2? The Apostles’ teaching. And we know they taught The Scriptures

Peter preaches in Acts 3 and he quotes Moses from? The Scriptures

When the believers pray for boldness after Peter and John are released they pray from? The Scriptures

Obedience to the Word of God:

Jesus gives them parting instructions in Acts 1:8 to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit to come and then they would be witnesses to the end of the earth

What did they do? They went to Jerusalem and waited.

They are told to stop preaching the name of Christ by the council in Acts 4 and why do they say?

Acts 4:19–20 ESV

But Peter and John answered 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.”

Unity

In Acts 2 and in Acts 4, this unity is described by Luke with beautiful words.

Luke describes them as having all things in common (2:44)

Attending temple together day by day and breaking bread in their homes (2:46)

He says the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul (4:32)

Generosity

They hold all things in common—they don’t consider what they own to be theirs

They sell their possessions and lay the proceeds at the feet of the apostles

The money is distributed as any have need and needs are being met

We saw Barnabas stand out as the shining example with his nickname, “Son of Encouragement”

Gospel Proclamation

Once the Spirit falls in Acts 2, the Gospel is being proclaimed by the church without ceasing.

Peter is preaching in Acts 2, Peter is preaching in Acts 3, Peter and John proclaim the Gospel before the counsel in Acts 4,

the church is praying for the boldness to keep proclaiming in chapter Acts 4:29...

And the Apostles are described as giving testimony to the resurrection with “great power” in 4:33

They are relentless—even in the face of persecution

They are shining the lamp of the lighthouse brightly to push back the darkness and call the prodigal ships home

And praise God that for 2,000 years, that light has never gone out.

Expectant Prayer

They pray in faith and they expect God to answer.

You really see this in the prayer in chapter 4 where they are saying to the Lord, "We know that the people of the world have always conspired against your holy servants. They did it to David. They did it to Jesus. They are doing it to us. Don’t let us stop preaching boldly.”

They are just as known for prayer as they are for their devotion to the breaking of bread and fellowship and learning from the Apostles.

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Leaders who Lead

We have seen how the Apostles governed the church with the Word

They are faithful with the finances of the church

And they are not afraid to confront sin—just ask Ananiah and Sapphira

Fear of God

This is a last, but not least situation. The great fear that we saw upon the church after the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira is important, for we know this is indeed where wisdom begins.

That is ALL in the soil of this church

What we see in Acts 5 does not happen in silo

It grows up out of the tilled soil of the first four and half chapters

As this church committed to work their plot of land, they poured the seed of faithfulness into the soil:

The Word

Preaching the Word

Praying from the Word

Godly leadership

Reverence for the Lord

Gospel proclamation

The Maintaining of the unity of the Spirit

The meeting of the physical needs of fellow church members

And then, when harvest time came, God filled the barns.

Who doesn’t love a full barn?

A full barn of hay or straw smells sweet and earthy

A full barn of grain smells warm and inviting

A full barn of flowers and herbs can even be therapeutic

Well a full barn of the Lord’s harvest smells of His redeeming glory

And this is what we want our spiritual household to smell like

Understand then, that we must follow the model of the mother church in Jerusalem and till soil.

We must faithfully work our plot.

We preach and teach the Word of God.

We pray expectantly.

We stay in community with one another.

We go on mission together near and far.

We worship together.

We disciple one another.

We share the Gospel with our neighbors.

We walk in the good works the Lord has prepared for us.

For if there is going to be great fruitfulness, there must be faithfulness.

YIELDING RESULTS

Now with that said, is this a hard and fast rule?

If you are faithful, there will be a great movement of God?

There will be a full barn?

Well, I would say, “No—I don’t think that is what Scripture teaches.”

Instead, I would say that Scripture teaches there will be results for sure—but there is no guarantee that it’s a multitude.

2. Faithfulness will yield results, even if there is not a “great” move of God.

Notice the ironic quotes of disdain.

I know that when we say “great move of God,” in this sermon today we are talking about the sort of thing we are seeing in Acts 5:14— “more than ever believers were added to the Lord.”

We are talking about a teenage revival in Northampton.

But I use the ironic quotes because the reality is that any time God adds to His number through any local church, a great move of God has occured.

Just one being plucked up from the mire is a great move of God.

Just one being redeemed from the curse of sin is a great move of God.

Just one being given citizenship in the Kingdom of the Beloved Son is a great move of God.

But for the sake of the conversation we are having today, what I mean is that just because a local church has faithfulness in the soil, it doesn’t mean there will be a multitude at harvest.

Let me show you teaching from Christ on this in the Parable of the Talents:

Matthew 25:14–23 ESV

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

If you read the rest of the parable, there is only one who is punished.

It is the man given a talent and he does nothing with it.

He doesn’t invest. He doesn’t garner any interest. He just buries it in the ground in an act of fearful complacency and laziness.

But notice that in the case of the faithful servants, they are rewarded.

They do not all produce the same amount, but they all hear the same words: Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.

One produces five. One produces two.

Five is more than two.

A church with five must be better than a church with two.

A church with five must matter more than the church with two.

Well, not according to Jesus.

Both are simply faithful and are rewarded as such.

It is almost like Jesus is teaching that God isn’t concerned with our church and our ministry being the biggest and best, but that we would be faithful to till our soil.

He has given us a plot of land and we must work it.

And if we do, whether or not the return is five or two, it is faithful.

EDWARDS’ FIVE MARKS

Going back to that day at Yale, which I am sure the faculty regretted with every word that he spoke, Jonathan Edwards told the crowd at the commencement that we should look for five marks that indicate whether a real work of God is at hand.

He based it off of 1 John 4:1-6

1 John 4:1–6 ESV

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

And Edwards essentially said:

Look—if there is:

A growing love and passion for Jesus Christ

If there is true repentance and people are changing

If it is built on the Word of God and those being impacted by it are devoted to the Word

If there is a renewed interest in theology and doctrine

If there is a heightened love for God and for neighbor

Well then—it’s the legitimate.

And he looked at the students who were on fire for Jesus Christ and he looked at the faculty and he said that the best he could tell, these young people are the real deal.

FRUITFULNESS FROM HEAVEN

If it is the “real deal...”

If it is legitimate and from God...

There will be fruit.

There will be return on the investment.

It might be five. It might be two.

Do you know who gets to decide that?

The One who sent His Spirit and commissioned the work to begin with

It is God’s mission

This plot that we work is God’s plot

We simply must till.

We must bleed and sweat our faithfulness into the soil, trusting that God loves to use the labor of His people to glorify Himself.

He loves to take the five and make another five.

He loves to take the two and make another two.

And He loves to take the lunch of a boy and turn it into breakfast for five thousand

You never know what He will do. We simply must be faithful.

OUR PLOT OF LAND

I want you to know that this is a hard work.

Our immediate mission field is not fertile, black soil like you find on Great Plains or on the steppes of the Ukraine.

It is hard.

Seaford doesn’t think it needs Jesus.

It has the right politics.

It has the right possessions.

It has the right plan for saving and investment.

If my politics mean I have the right morality.

If my possessions mean I have the right money.

If my plan means I have the right mind...

Well what do I really need God for?

In Acts 5, the Jerusalem Christians are working a land where everyone thinks that they good with God because of the blood in their veins and the works they do.

But for us, the Seaford Christians, we are trying to reach a community that doesn’t think they need God at all—there is spiritual indifference.

You don’t break that earth with one Upward season.

You don’t get through that hard crust with one spiritual conversation over dinner.

You probably won’t get a yes on the first invite to church or even just an offer to pray for someone.

But we will keep doing the work that He has laid before us, trusting that He will bring the harvest according to His good pleasure.

Faithfulness will yield fruitfulness on some level—we just have to keep working the ground beneath our feet.

OPPOSITION AND PERSECUTION

As we close up this morning, I want you to understand one more point...

If we are serious about working the ground, we can expect opposition.

As you read this passage in Acts 5:12-16, it is sandwiched in between opposition from within and opposition from without.

On one side you have the lies of Ananias and Sapphira and judgment in the church

On the other side, you have persecution from the authorities again

On one side, you have internal opposition

On the other, you have external persecution

What this shows us is this:

3. Faithfulness will be met with opposition and persecution.

Verse 16 ends with five beautiful English words:

and they were all healed.

Verse 17 begins with six terrible words:

but the high priest rose up

Whenever and wherever there is a great work of God, Satan will be eager to come and try to snuff it out.

It was this way in the great work of creation

God created and Satan came for His creation

It was this way in the coming of the Son of God

God sent His Son and Satan tried to deceive Him

And it is this way in the church

Satan is trying everything he can to stop what God is doing

For as Jonathan Edwards told the young people at Yale of the Devil:

It can no way serve his end, to make candle of the Lord shiner the brighter.

Jonathan Edwards

All the affection you feel for Jesus, Satan feels the opposite.

He hates Him. He always has. And until we hear the final gasps of the dying Dragon on his way into the flames of judgment, he will keep trying in futility to put a stop to the advance of God’s Kingdom.

So be prepared. Gird your loins. Put on the full armor of God.

If you are going to till, Satan will see to it that the ground fights back.

But Praise God that the One who owns the field is greater than the pest who sneaks in at night to try and destroy the crop.

CONCLUSION (Ask Band to Come)

As Jonathan Edwards wrapped up his sermon to the entirety of the academic community at Yale, he chose not to close with his own words, but the words of the Apostle Paul.

1 Corinthians 9:20–23 ESV

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Why? Why in the world would that be the Scripture he chose to close with?

Well, it was for the faculty.

Sure, he told the students they needed to be patient.

You can’t have everyone doing what David Brainerd did—he told his professor he had about as much of God’s grace as a chair!

But in closing with that text from Paul, he was telling the faculty they would need to be willing to change

Their idea about the way in which a work of God looks and how it comes about may not be the way God actually does it

They would need to be willing to adjust with the times

They would need to be willing to lay down traditions and maybe pick up new ones

He wasn’t telling them to change the message. Never.

He graduated from Yale himself. It would have been over his dead body that they would abandon the Gospel.

If you sat him in a gender studies class at Yale today, I believe he might burn the place to the ground.

He was telling them that they might need to change.

The way they preach

The way they disciple

The way they plant churches

The way they do mission work

He was calling on those men to surrender to God for the sake of the Gospel.

If we want to break through the dry ground of Seaford, we must be the same.

We hold the Gospel with the tightest of fists in one hand.

But in the other, we are open-handed to God in how we preach it.

Let’s commit to that together.

Faithfulness in the soil

Trusting God for whatever fruitfulness He desires to bring from our obedience

Guarded against the enemy

And surrendered to the Lord—ready to do what He wants for the Gospel’s sake.

Whether or not history will count it as a “great” work of God—we know King Jesus will when He says, “Well done, good and faithful.”

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