Rejoice and Carry On
Notes
Transcript
The life of the early church is an interesting study in paradox—this and then that, two pictures set side-by-side (unity and disunity); there’s good and bad, happy and sad in the life of the church.
Here we see some great acts, some sad events. There are some miracles and some persecution. And alongside all of that, the Church rejoices and carries on with the mission they’ve been given.
Our stated church mission is three simple words: Worship. Proclaim. Serve. This is what we do, no matter what else is going on.
No matter what happens, the Church rejoices and carries on.
12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
The Church Growing and Ministering
The Church Growing and Ministering
Luke highlights, once more, the public ministry of the apostles. They continue to perform signs and wonders in the temple courts. No doubt they’re teaching people about Jesus in the same place Jesus Himself taught and walked (John 10:23).
This is where Peter and John were standing after the healing of the lame man. The crowds came running to them at the same location—Solomon’s Colonnade/Solomon’s portico (a covered walkway); they return to the scene of the crime, where they were arrested once before, unafraid of what the authorities might do to them.
They’re bold. The Holy Spirit answered their prayer for enabling, to be sure.
The Church—all the believers—used to meet there in the temple courts, despite the threats and persecution of the religious establishment.
The Church continues. Nothing is going to stop them from sharing the good news about Jesus and continuing His ministry.
I intentionally entitled this sermon series through the book of Acts as: “The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus” so that we’d realize and remember this is a continuation of Jesus’ work:
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
What Jesus began to do and to teach, the church continues to do and to teach. The apostles’ ministry, the Church’s ministry, is a continuation of Jesus’ ministry.
Listen to and compare what we just read in Acts 5 to the ministry of Jesus:
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
It’s the same ministry—it’s the continuation of Jesus’ ministry.
Some people were reluctant to join the Church in public, in the place of their arrest, but did you notice what happens anyway?
14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
We shouldn’t expect a 100% acceptance rate to the message Jesus entrusted to us, the message we share. But we must act in the knowledge that some will respond in faith.
More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
The church continues to grow. As the church ministers in a variety of ways, the Holy Spirit will continue to give people faith to believe. More and more people will be added to their number.
As more and more people believe, the word spreads more and more. As the word spreads, as a result of the word spreading, more and more people sought physical healing from the apostles, and especially from Peter.
As a representative of Jesus, as an apostle of the Messiah, people sought from Peter what they sought from Jesus:
56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
The people believed they might even be healed by Peter’s shadow—an idea in the ancient world that shadows had magical powers. This has more to do with Peter’s reputation as having exception healing powers than it does anything else.
God is working through Peter and the other apostles to meet the needs of the people. That’s the principle, the significance of this verse.
The same God is at work through us today. I don’t believe the same healings occur through us, though miracles do take place. The point, the significance of this is that it should be evident in our ministering that it’s God working through us, using us to minister to those in need: the poor in spirit, the broken, the downcast, the cast-off, the disenfranchised, the weak, the lost.
The Lord is working through the Church, working in the Church in incredible ways—both here in Acts and right here in Rich Hill.
Your commitment, your faithfulness, your boldness is evidence of God at work.
The Lord works through His people. He’s growing the Church. His people are ministering in the power and grace He’s given them.
This infuriates (v. 33) the high priest and his buddies, the Sadducees. They’re jealous (v. 17) filled to the brim with envy.
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
The Church Opposed and Persecuted
The Church Opposed and Persecuted
The church is opposed by powerful people—then and there in the 1st century,here and now in the 21st century, and in every time and every moment in between.
The thing is: the church’s opponents are up against some stiff odds.
Here in Acts, the Church’s opponents jailed the apostles (again):
19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
There are people working hard to oppose the church. The church will face considerable opposition, but none of the opposition will begin to measure up to the power of the Church’s Founder, the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth; no force can contend with Jesus, the Foundation and Cornerstone on which the Church stands.
The apostles follow the leading of the Lord, the messenger He sent to them. They carry on.
20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”
21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.
25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
This has to be a pretty strange moment for the high priest and his associates, the whole Sanhedrin. The apostles of Jesus just aren’t in jail where they left them. “Where’d they go?!?!?”
Get the picture: 71 uptight, grumpy, religious old men in their fancy robes, completely bewildered. “Where’d those men preaching Jesus go?!?!”
They’re out, standing in the temple courts (again!) preaching (again!).
Some opponents of the church will be puzzled.
This is common occurence. There’s no logical way to explain the supernatural. What God does won’t fit into our nice, neat categories. It’s beyond explanation.
“The cancer is gone,” says the doctor in disbelief.
“That little church gives how much money?” asks the director of the mission.
“There are how many Muslims turning to faith in Jesus each and every day?” the anthropologist states, confounded.
You can’t explain the wonder-working power of God in natural terms.
27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Some opponents will issue orders.
But it is no matter. “Just keep preaching, just keep preaching, just keep preaching...”
The opponents of the apostles are powerful, important people. They’ve issued now two orders (as recorded for us) for the church to stop teaching in Jesus’ name.
But, as they’ve said before, “We must obey God rather than human beings.”
And then, what do Peter and the apostles do? They teach the Sanhedrin in Jesus’ name! The Sanhedrin gets another dose of the good news!
They hear, once more, that God raised Jesus from the dead, though He was crucified. They hear, once more, that this man, Jesus, is seated at God’s right hand. That Jesus is Savior. That Jesus is calling people to repent. That Jesus can forgive their sins.
33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
Some opponents will understand the nature of the Church and realize they’re up against an unstoppable force.
Gamaliel was the most prominent rabbi of the day. He was Paul’s teacher (Acts 22:3). He held considerable influence. When he spoke, people listened.
And he makes a really good point: if all of this is of human origin, it will come to nothing. If Jesus was just another in the long line of false leaders, give it a minute and it will crumble. Movements not backed by God always fail.
If the Church was merely a human institution, it could be stopped. And easily. But because the Church belongs to God, and is led by Jesus, there’s no stopping it.
The Sanhedrin sits in opposition to the Church, but they listen to Gamaliel. The Sanhedrin is convinced by Gamaliel, but they still decide they better punish the apostles a bit anyhow. For funsies.
40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
Take that! A good flogging ought to do the trick, right?
We don’t know if this was the maximum number of stripes allowed by Jewish law or less. Either way, to be called a flogging, each of the apostles were likely struck with a tripled strip of calf’s hide—two blows to the back and then one to the chest, over and over. All we know is the maximum number of blows was 39, one less than the 40 prescribed in Deuteronomy (25:3).
After the flogging, they order the apostles (and by extension, the whole church) not to speak at all in the name of Jesus. Again.
What’s true is this: amid opposition, the church continues. It continues.
“Sometimes we conquer, not in any brilliant fashion, but by continuing.” -George Matheson
From one of my favorite authors:
Christianity grows best under hardship. There are more Christians in China today, for instance, where free expression of faith is illegal, than the total population of the United States. Christianity is in decline in America, and Christendom is already in ruins in Europe, but in the East and in Africa, where it is new, a grassroots movement, and/or under persecution, it is spreading like wildfire. - Jared Wilson
If this opposition and persecution had stopped the church, we wouldn’t be meeting here today. If anything could quash the Church, this here in Acts 5 might have done the trick. The Church was in her infancy. There were relatively few Christians (somewhere in the range of 10,000). Now’s the time to end it.
But the Church will never cease. The gates of hell will not prevail against it, so says Jesus.
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
The Church Rejoicing and Proclaiming
The Church Rejoicing and Proclaiming
The church isn’t rejoicing because everything is going their way. They don’t rejoice because they’ve got everything they’ve wanted.
They rejoice because they’ve been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
They rejoice even though they’ve just been beaten half to death. This was no slap on the wrist. People were known to die from flogging.
But it didn’t deter the Christians. It filled them with joy.
They viewed their persecution, their torture, their physical pain as privilege. They rejoice in their suffering, because God regarded them worthy enough to suffer for Jesus’ sake.
And they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
The Sanhedrin couldn’t do much to the Christians for their preaching, sharing with one another in their homes. But the Christians’ preaching wasn’t private. It was just as public, if not more so, as it had ever been.
Day after day, in the temple courts…they never stopped preaching the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
No matter what, no matter who orders or commands us to stop, regardless of persecution, torture, imprisonment, Jesus’ people NEVER stop preaching the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
“Since Christians believe that the work of salvation is already accomplished by Jesus, and there is nothing left for them to do to contribute to this work, they are now free to unselfconsciously love and serve others without worrying about recognition or reward. They will be vindicated in heaven, even if they are violated here.” - Jared Wilson
Our reward is not here and now. Our reward is then and there. So we continue to minister. We continue to love. We continue to preach. We continue to call people to repentance. We continue, no matter what.
The Church—the people belonging to God by faith in Christ Jesus—the Church continues!
Whether we’re ministering or getting flogged, we rejoice and carry on.
In good times and bad, we rejoice and carry on.
When all of this is culturally acceptable, and especially when it’s not, we rejoice and carry on.
Until Jesus comes to set the world at rights, we rejoice and carry on.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Rejoice! And carry on!