Sunday, February 26, 2012, "Acts of Prayer: Snapshots from the Prayer Life of the Early Church." Snapshot 4, "A Dangerous Church" Acts 4: 23-31

- Do you ever imagine what it's like to live life dangerously? Do you ever think about what it's like to live on the edge, to take big risks & experience the extremes, or to take a radical stand for what is right?

- I like to imagine what it would be like to be dangerous for the sake of a higher purpose.

- Most people do. That is why stories about master spies, superheroes, & brilliant detectives are so popular. We crave excitement, adventure, & risk.

- We even enjoy when flawed characters can rise to the occasion because they are most like us.

- One such example is a film I saw recently in which young man, Ryan, was dumped by his girlfriend. She accused him of being self-centered, childish, & lazy.

- He immediately decided to prove her wrong, somewhat out of spite, but also because he wanted to win her back, so he volunteered to help out with a cause that interested her.

- But while he was running errands for her, he received an emergency phone call from a perfect stranger who was calling from a smashed telephone that she'd managed to cobble back together.

- She had been kidnapped because she & her husband had witnessed the gang style murder of some drug dealers & videotaped the police officers who committed the crimes.

- At first, Ryan did not believe his caller. He assumed it was a prank call, but as he heard the kidnappers' treatment of the woman on the other end of the line, while hiding her lifeline to Ryan, he came to believe her.

- Throughout the film, Ryan undergoes a transformation from a self-centered, childish coward into a man willing to do whatever it takes, becoming dangerous to save the lives of others with little thought for himself.

- As we turn to our Bible text for today, I believe that it is this kind selfless devotion to Christ's higher cause that we see in Peter & John & the church. We see the church become dangerous in the face of danger to save the lives of others.

- Peter & John had been dragged before the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish ruling Council, only for healing a man in the name of Jesus & preaching the good news about the death, burial, & bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead.

- After being questioned, threatened, & commanded not to teach or speak in the name of Jesus again, the Sanhedrin let Peter & John go & we pick up the story from there.

- Acts 4:23-31: 23 When they were released, they went to their friends & reported what the chief priests & the elders had said to them.
24 & when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God & said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven & the earth & the sea & everything in them,
25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage & the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves & the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord & against his Anointed’ —
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod & Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles & the peoples of Israel,
28  to do whatever your hand & your plan had predestined to take place.
29 & now, Lord, look upon their threats & grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, & signs & wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 & when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, & they were all filled with the Holy Spirit & continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:23-31 (ESV)

- Upon returning to their friends, Peter & John don't duck & cover. They don't turn tail & run. They don't find a place to hide till the heat blows over.

- The response of the church to the threats of the Sanhedrin is not to be cautious or keep their heads down.

- They respond to danger by turning toward God united in prayer.

- They call out to God, "Sovereign Lord" & the Greek word in the New Testament that's translated as sovereign refers to someone of unchallengeable power.

- In the face of danger the church calls out to her dangerous God.

- In prayer, the church remembered who their God is; One whose authority cannot be challenged; as maker of heaven & earth, One whose power is limitless; & One who keeps the promises spoken in his word.

- Although the nations plotted together & rejected God's anointed one, Jesus, it was all part of God's plan to fulfill his promises.

- From the point of view of the world, Jesus was killed because he was perceived as a threat. They thought he was a danger to their power & control. What they didn't realize is that Jesus would become even more dangerous to their authority following his resurrection.

- With his disciples carrying on the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, the powers-that-be continued to feel threatened by the good news about Jesus Christ.

- Once the church had refocused their minds upon God, his character & his word, then they were able to turn their minds to their requests as they prayed.

- They asked God for three things.

- First, they asked for God to consider the threats. They did not ask for God to crush their enemies, but they simply asked for God to keep it in mind that they're being threatened.

- This request was an appeal for justice & appeal that goes to the heart of God's character because he is a God of justice.

- Those that set themselves up as enemies of God's people make an enemy of God & are putting themselves in a very dangerous place.

- Second, they asked for God to continue enabling them to speak his word with all boldness.

- The word that the disciples of Jesus preach & teach the word they speak about is the good news about Jesus crucified, buried, & resurrected bodily.

- In the person of Jesus Christ, God came near, which made him available to all who turn to Jesus & away from their sin by faith.

- This is the dangerous message that God has called the church to bring to the world.

- It's dangerous because it's a threat to the world's authority.

- Since Jesus is risen, then Jesus is Lord. He is the final authority, & at his court justice will be done.

- It's dangerous because we tell others about it at great risk to our lives & our reputations. & it's dangerous because it's a message about changed lives & eternal life, which flies in the face of the constant lies of this world.

- There is a new religion that is King in Canada & it's the religion of secular humanism. Secular humanism teaches that all religions are the same and that human beings are basically good.

- Secular humanism (in other words, atheism) teaches that all religions are based on myth, but Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead not as a myth but as a historical fact.

- The second request is also an appeal to the character of God because it is an appeal for truth. Jesus said, "I am the truth." & when he was brought to Pontius Pilate before being crucified he told Pilate that he came to testify to the truth.

- If Jesus is risen, then Jesus is Lord. If Jesus is Lord, then not just any religion will do because Jesus himself is the truth. Because of the claims of Jesus, the secular humanists & atheists of the world have set out to discredit & destroy biblical Christianity.

- If you have received Jesus Christ as Lord, then in this century more than ever before you need to expect prejudice & persecution against Christians.

- Because of your connection to Jesus, you may be made fun of, you may not be taken seriously, you may be bullied, you may be passed over for promotion, you may lose your job, you may lose your scholarships, &, outside of the developed & industrialized Western world, you could even lose your life.

- We need to pray for boldness because we need God to make us dangerous.

- Third, they asked God to stretch out his hand to heal & to perform signs & wonders in the name of Jesus. This third request is also an appeal to the character of God because it appeals to his mercy & grace.

- God's mercy & grace are central to the good news about Jesus. As the Scriptures say, "For all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God, & are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" Romans 3:23-24 (ESV).  

- "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8 (ESV).

- "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 6:23 (ESV).

- "For by grace you have been saved through faith. & this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" Eph 2:8 (ESV)

- It's all about God's mercy & grace. Being agents of mercy & grace is not for wussies or wimps. It takes real courage to extend God's mercy & grace to people who don't deserve it.

- & we know that because we too didn't deserve mercy, but we have received it.

- We ask God to display his power in people's lives as a show of his mercy & grace & as evidence in support of our witness about Jesus.

- So often today we turn to God asking for him to protect us & make us safe when what we need to do is turn to our dangerous God & ask him to make us dangerous in the face of danger.

- & the reason we need to appeal to our dangerous God to make us dangerous is not to destroy our enemies, but rather so we will not surrender or give up, but boldly persevere growing in our relationships with God & one another & as witnesses for Jesus.

- We need to be dangerous if we are to join God on his mission because it takes a courageous, dangerous church to storm the gates of hell.

- Now for our last question.

- What happened to the church in Jerusalem after they prayed?

- Verse 31 gives us the answer: "& when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, & they were all filled with the Holy Spirit & continued to speak the word of God with boldness."

- Through their prayer, God freed the church to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and become dangerous by taking the Gospel to the streets.

- That brings me to today's take-home truth. A praying church knows no surrender or retreat, but takes the gospel to the street.

- Our verse for meditation and memory this week is Acts 4:31, "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."

- A praying church knows no surrender or retreat, but takes the gospel to the street.