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- Last week we saw and heard that, "a praying
church knows no surrender or retreat but takes the gospel to the street."
- This morning we are going to skip ahead several
chapters to the next significant prayer meeting in the life of the church.
- This snapshot likely happened before Peter's stay
in Joppa and his visit to Italian centurion Cornelius, where the Holy Spirit
came upon the entire household.
- Luke did not necessarily place the events in Acts
in chronological order.
- Ancient literature like Acts does not require
chronology. In fact, placing events in the actual order in which they occured
is a modern assumption.
- But that does not take away from Luke's testimony
that he was accurately reporting the facts.
- The ancients had a great deal more freedom in this
way and did not feel bound to record things in the exact order in which they
occurred. They often placed events in a specific order to emphasize certain
things.
- So, why did Luke put the story of Peter's
miraculous escape here, in chapter 12, after the story of Cornelious? I think he
put it here because it highlights the beginning of the persecution of the
church.
- In the previous chapters, Luke showed his readers
that God was preparing the church for the Gentile mission.
- And God used the persecution of the largely Jewish
church, a church that was limited geographically to Palestine, to push his
church into the mission field.
- Let's read Acts 12: 1-17
- As we get into our Scripture passage for this
morning, I want us to make note of a couple of things.
- King Herod Agrippa 1, the grandson of Herod the
Great, had seized James the brother of John and had him killed shortly before
he captured Peter and put him in prison.
- First, Let's notice * Peter's level of comfort.
What do we see Peter doing? He is asleep! Isn't that incredible?
- It was the very night before Herod intended to
bring him out, and put him on trial before the Jews & we find Peter
sleeping.
- Peter had such a high level of comfort in his Lord
and in himself that he was ready for whatever came next, whether it meant death
or deliverance.
- The powers-that-be wanted him dead, as verse 5
says, "So Peter was
kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church."
- Now, * let's notice how Luke was silent regarding the prayers of the church that were
probably offered for James.
- We cannot assume the church wasn't praying for
James. Obviously, if the church was praying for Peter, then they certainly
would've been praying for James.
- Did James get set free? No. Was it the church's
fault? No. Is it up to us to try to figure out why God allows some to suffer,
but others are delivered? No, but it is up to us to remember that much of what
God allows he allows because of free will.
- Many times the exercise of free will involves
sin, both individual and communal.
- It is also up to us to remember that God is
sovereign and we are not. What he allows, he allows for his purposes, his
glory, and his kingdom.
- * Let's look at verse five again. "So Peter
was kept in prison, but earnest prayer
for him was made to God by the church."
- The wording in the Greek of this verse shows us
that the earnest prayers being made on Peter's behalf by the church were
ongoing prayers. They kept on praying for Peter.
- Interestingly, the word Luke used to tell us that
the prayers of the church were earnest occurs only two other times in all of
Luke-Acts.
- The first time it is used in Luke 22:44 of Jesus'
prayers in Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion.
- The third time Luke used a variation of the word
in Acts 26:7 in his record of Paul's speech before King Agrippa describing the
earnest worship of the Jews that they might achieve the hope of eternal life.
- The use of this particular word reveals to us
that the church was praying first and foremost for the will of God to be done
in that situation.
- It also shows us they were hoping Peter would
receive some special divine protection, but as the rest of the passage reveals
the church was not expecting God to answer their prayers in the dramatic and
miraculous way that he did.
- In fact, the passage shows us that even Peter did
not expect divine rescue.
- * First, the angel has to hit Peter to wake him
up from his comfortable, contented slumber, which is something I still can't
figure because here was Peter chained to two guards, one on each arm, and the
very next day he was probably looking at being put on trial and executed.
- So Peter was so soundly asleep at the angel had
to hit him to wake him.
- * Second, the angel gave Peter step-by-step
instructions.
- "Get up, get dressed, put on your sandals,
wrap your cloak around you, and keep following me."
- Through all this, Peter still thinks he's asleep,
dreaming. He thought he was having a vision.
- * Third, he followed the angel past two sets of
guards and through the iron gate which apparently opened all by itself, and
it's not until the angel left him that Peter realizes he's not dreaming.
- So Peter now having come to his senses realizes
that he was rescued because God wanted to spoil the expectations of the corrupt
Jewish leaders and Herod Agrippa 1.
- Fourth, meanwhile, the church was still earnestly
praying, praying for God's will, praying with hope that God will do something
for Peter, and praying not realizing that God had already answered their
earnest prayers in a way that was beyond their expectations.
- Isn't that just like our God? He loves to show up
and show off in the most unexpected ways.
- The divine rescue of Peter was a wonderful
expression of God's love for the church.
- When you love someone, isn't it wonderful to both
give and receive unexpected surprises that show off that love? God takes great
joy in giving unexpected surprises that show off his love for us.
- Well, Peter arrived at the door of Mary, the
mother of John Mark, he starts knocking on the door.
- Scripture says that many were gathered there
praying, and there's Peter standing at the gate, knocking, knocking, knocking.
- The young servant girl Rhoda went to answer the
door and upon hearing Peter's voice is so overcome with joy that instead of
answering the door she runs back in to tell everybody that it's Peter.
- Now what's the church's response? * Disbelief!
First, they tell Rhoda she's crazy, but as she persists they tell her,
"It's his angel!"
- In the meantime, Peter's still standing outside
knocking at the gate.
- This scene is comic. It reminds me of some of the
scenes we watch in TV sitcoms.
- So Peter is still standing outside knocking at
the gate and while he's knocking the church figures out, "Hey, someone is
at the door. I wonder who it could be."
- Now, we may laugh at the church for dismissing
Rhoda's conviction that it's Peter at the door, but let's stop and think about
it for a moment.
- Let's go back in our minds to Easter: People who
are sane and rational do not normally expect such things as resurrections from
crucifixion. The women's testimony was dismissed as irrational nonsense by the
apostles in Luke's gospel the only exception was Peter.
- And people who are sane and rational do not
normally expect such things as escape once one has been arrested by the king.
Rhoda's testimony just didn't make any sense to the church.
- So realizing that someone must be at the door
because someone is still knocking and that, of course, it can't be Peter, as
Rhoda was suggesting, the church decides to go and see who's at the door.
- * When they open the door and see Peter standing
there, they are amazed.
- Peter motioned for them to be quiet. He recounted
to them his story of how the angel rescued him, then he left.
- As I think about the events of that night, one
question in particular is begging me for an answer.
- * What did Luke tell his readers the result of
the earnest prayer of the church was?
- * I believe this is the right question to ask
because of verses five and eleven, "So
Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the
church." * 'When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that
the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all
that the Jewish people were expecting.”'
- * Luke told his readers that the result of the
earnest prayer of the church was this: God
acted in a way that was beyond their expectations by setting the captive Peter
free.
- While there are many lessons for us in this
passage of Scripture, the message I want us to take home today is this:
- * God sets
captives free when his church prays earnestly.
- * John Stott reminds the church that,
"prayer is the only power which the powerless possess."
- When leaders of the church are persecuted because
of their faith, then the church must pray.
- When friends, relatives, associates, and
neighbors refused to listen to reason and reject our love, then the church must
pray.
- When people are held captive by demonic
principalities and powers, by addictions, by mental illness, when overwhelmed
by grief caused by personal tragedy, when their thinking is clouded and
distorted for whatever reason, then the church must pray.
- Luke's gospel tells us about the kind of good
news we are called to share with the world.
- * 'And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given
to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news
to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”' Luke 4:17-19 (ESV)
- God's will in the gospel is to set captives free.
- God sets captives free when his church prays
earnestly.
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