For
over a month now we have looked at the drama that unfolded as a result of Peter
and John performing the miracle of healing the lame beggar. We’ve looked at the miracle itself and the
reaction of the people who witnessed the man walking, as well as the reaction
of the lame man himself. We’ve looked at
the reaction of the Sanhedrin, those in power in Jerusalem, to the miracle and
the subsequent teachings and gospel proclamations made by John and Peter. We’ve seen the attempts of the Sanhedrin to
try and stifle the apostles in their mission to spread the gospel. Over the past few Sundays, we’ve talked about
how the persecution that John and Peter felt very much mirrors that which we
find ourselves dealing with today. We’ve
talked about how we are to face persecution when we encounter it today. We’ve said that we are to follow the words of
Jesus that we looked at a few weeks ago when he told his disciples, “For
they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues,
and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness
before them. And the gospel must first
be proclaimed to all nations.”
We looked at how Peter and John not only defended themselves, but
continued to proclaim the gospel no matter what. And we have ended the past few Sundays by
saying that we are to have the same type of fearlessness that John and Peter
had when facing persecution.
So,
we’ve really primarily looked at how we are to deal with persecution from an
individual standpoint. However, remember
that the book of Acts, especially the first (really) third of the book, is about
the establishment of the first church.
So if we know from the past few texts how to deal with persecution on an
individual level; the question becomes how are we to deal with it on a
church-wide level? And that is exactly
the question that is answered for us in our text for today. Our text tells us exactly what our response,
as a church, should be to persecutions faced by those in the Christian
faith. John Calvin says of this text,
“We are taught by this example what is our duty to do when our adversaries do
imperiously threaten us; for we must not carelessly laugh in time of danger,
but the fear of danger ought to drive us to crave help at the hands of God.” And as I see it, our response is two-fold in
our being driven to God for help. We are
to worship as one people, and work as one people; a people of God.
We
see that after Peter and John are released from their being held by the
Sanhedrin, they go to their friends, the fellow members of this church. I have to imagine that this scene very much
mirrored that of the steps of a courthouse prior to the days in which there was
such media coverage of a trial. You
know, when everyone gathered outside of the courthouse to wait for one person
or a small group of people to run out and shout what verdict had been
reached. I have to imagine that the
entire congregation of Christians (even though that name still hasn’t been used
yet) had to be sitting in great anticipation, waiting to see what was going to
happen to two of their leaders. Well,
nothing really happened. Yes, they were
threatened about the consequences that could await them, but as we will see
moving forward, that didn’t really have any bearing on whether or not they were
going to stop their proclamation of the gospel.
And the church responded in worship.
“And when they heard [the report of Peter and John], they lifted their
voices together to God.” Notice
that there’s no time set for a service.
There’s no gathering together of everyone. Their immediate response is to lift up their
voices and cry out to God in prayer.
They pray, they recite Scripture (in this case Psalm 2), and they
proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They worshiped God for the glorious news that
they had just received on behalf of Peter and John and the persecutions that
they had faced.
“And
when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was
shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak
the word of God with boldness.”
Now, have you ever had one of those types of moments? Or let me put it this way: I’m guessing that most of us have never had a
moment where we have felt the building or the ground shaking, but you might
have had one of those Holy Spirit filling moments. I imagine this to be even greater than those
experiences that we can all describe where we have felt a sense of closeness
and the presence of God. The presence of
God was so great and so evident that the walls of the place where they were
gathered began to shake. I want you to
notice that nowhere in our text does it say that anyone feared or was afraid,
which we might would expect to be the reaction of someone when the building
they’re in’s walls start shaking.
Instead, what we find is that the believers that are gathered around
there feel a sense of confidence and boldness for proclaiming the gospel, and
we know that it comes from this indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Now,
the later part of our text describes a scene that is unfamiliar to us
today. It’s different because our sense
of community is different. When we think
of community, we think of an area in which we live, but may have minimal
contact with those around us. In
Jerusalem during this time, community meant a similar group of people, but they
all knew each other. It was common
practice for people to open their doors after waking up in the morning and
leaving them open until just before they went to sleep. They lived by more of an “all for one and one
for all” mentality, instead of the “I’m going to worry about me alone”
mentality that we find today. We’re told
that as this community was drawing itself together and sharing everything that
the apostles were continuing to proclaim Christ and his resurrection. We’re told that the needs of all of those in
this community were being met by the rest of the community. We’re told that those who had plenty were
selling their excess and giving it to the apostles so that it could be
distributed to those in need. And then
we’re told about a specific man, Joseph, called Barnabas, who sold a field and
gave the proceeds to the apostles to do as they saw fit.
Now,
before someone starts calling this redistribution of wealth or socialism (I say
that tongue-in-cheek), let me remind you that this wasn’t something that was
forced upon the wealthy and the landowner.
No, this was something that they did because of the simple fact that
they were among God’s children. They
weren’t worried about the amount of land they were giving up or whether or not
holding onto it for a little while longer could attain for them a greater
profit. They were responding to the good
news of the gospel, the resurrection, and Peter and John’s release by doing the
work of the church. They were doing what
they could to provide care for those in need.
In fact, that’s what the entirety of the church was doing. We said already that they were
worshipping. Well, this is the church
working. As the apostles were
proclaiming to all of them the grace that they had found in Jesus Christ, the
church was responding as she ought to, caring for those in need. They weren’t sitting around devising schemes
for how to prevent persecutions. They
weren’t selling off pieces of land to building up a fund to be used for bail or
bribe money later on when someone else landed in prison (and they most
certainly did end up in prison). No, all
this church was concerned with was fulfilling the mission that Christ had given
them of taking care of the poor, the widowed, and the orphaned.
You
know, it makes me question the way in which we respond to persecutions
today. I think if we were to write out a
manual for handling persecution today, there would be some sort of 10-step
process. There would be some sort of
program designed for leading us through the murky waters that can sometimes
come in the face of hardships. It would
probably be very well articulated and very thought out. However, it would be a lot more lengthy and
much more complicated than it needed to be.
In actuality, any manual for Christians dealing with persecution could
be complete with only a few words:
Christian, keep your head down and keep on worshipping and working with
your eyes fixed solely upon the cross of Christ. You see friends, it’s that simple. No matter what we’re going through or no
matter what the world is throwing at us, we are to continue on with the
business of the church. And that
business isn’t in fund-raising (at least not solely), it isn’t in strategic
planning, and it isn’t in devising a plan to get back at those who persecute
us. NO, the business of the church is
the worship of and working for God. Let
me challenge you, the next time you’re faced with confrontation and
persecution, instead of thinking of a way to combat this persecution, handle it
by continuing to pray, look to God’s Word, listen and look for God to show you
what to do, and continue the mission that God has set before you. Remember the later part of the text that we
mentioned earlier about what Jesus tells us about our persecutions. “And when they bring you to trial and deliver
you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is
given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And
brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and
children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be
hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be
saved.” (Mark 13:11-13 ESV)
It is our both or responsibility and honor to defend the gospel. It’s our responsibility to continue to
worship God. Don’t allow the world to
divert our attention to follow worldly debates; that’s a matter for the Holy
Spirit. However, let our continued focus
be upon Christ, and the proclamation of the glorious news of his
resurrection. Glory be to God; in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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