Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts - 14

Acts 5:12-16

Introduction

In 1922 DeWitt Wallace was sitting at home recovering from shrapnel wounds he sustained during World War I.

He was also trying to figure out how to pay some of his medical bills.

So he got creative.

He wanted to start a general-interest magazine that could reach a broad audience, hoping it would generate $5,000 of income for him.

He, along with his wife, launched Reader’s Digest later that year.

His hopes were far exceeded.

It eventually became the largest magazine distributor in the world with a value of over $2 billion.

To begin, Wallace would read articles from other magazines and other sources, condense them, and retell them in his own magazine.

The concise articles became the trademark feature of it.

So much so that we still tell people to give us the “Reader’s Digest version” when we want someone to give us the condensed details of a story.

Acts 5 contains a “Reader’s Digest” condensed summary of what is happening in the life of the NT Church.

We have already seen two of those summaries in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37.

Now we have a third one that updates us on how things are going.

Acts 5 opened with a powerful account of how God deals with “sin in the camp” and eradicates both sin and sinners from the midst of His people.

In fact, we are told twice in that account (5:5; 5:11) that people responded to the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira with great fear.

How are things going now?

How is the surrounding community responding?

Acts 5:12-16 - 12 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.

13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 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.

16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

TS - we know from the account of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira that the sin of hypocrisy and internal corruption were not allowed to grow in the Church.

But it is apparent that there are other kinds of growth in this Church.

Let’s look at the factors of growth in a healthy Church:

REPUTATION (V.

13)

Word is obviously getting out about this new Church.

They are gathering daily in Solomon’s Portico, a large public area at the edge of the Temple in Jerusalem.

They aren’t hiding in an upper room anymore like they were in Acts 1.

The miracles on the Day of Pentecost were very public.

The healing of the lame man in Acts 3 is quite public.

In fact, that healing, and Peter’s subsequent sermon take place in this same area of the Temple grounds.

And word has spread about what has happened to these new Christians.

Lives have been changed.

People have been healed.

Larger and larger gatherings are taking place.

There is an uncommon nature about these Christians.

And then two of them are struck dead for the sin of hypocrisy.

You don’t need Twitter and Instagram to get word out about an event like that!

News of that will spread like wildfire.

Fear, according to earlier in chapter 5, is the dominant reaction to that news.

Notice v. 13 - None of the rest dared to join them…who is that?

That is referring to the rest of the crowds in the Temple area.

People are noticing this Church but many are keeping a safe distance from it.

You would too!

If you hear hypocrisy gets you killed, then you stay away!

But look at the rest of the verse…but the people held them in high esteem.

Though there may have been fear regarding what has happened, the people outside the Church view the people inside the Church with a favorable opinion.

How is that possible?

These Christians are faithful to the Lord.

Nothing and no one is going to get in their way of staying true to all the Lord has called them to.

These Christians are consistent.

That is what happens when hypocrites die at God’s hands…it makes everyone else shed their hypocrisy.

They are consistently gathering for corporate worship, with one another in homes and other environments.

They are consistently being generous with their resources and helping one another.

They are consistently counter-cultural.

They live nothing like the world around them, even distinct from their religious Jewish neighbors.

Their lives are distinctly Christian.

When a non-Christian world looks upon the Christian reality, there must be an acknowledgment of “differentness” about them.

There is a form of respect that is given for consistent, faithful living.

The word here for ‘high esteem’ (emegalynen) means exalted, magnified.

The root of the word is mega, big, high.

To them, these Christians are larger than life.

There is a high view of them.

We don’t live in a culture that necessarily views Christians this way, do we?

Why is that?

I would submit to you that one of the primary reasons for that is that, on the whole, Christians in America have sold out their convictions and, in an attempt to be liked by the world, have lived like the world.

That doesn’t garner respect.

They only see the hypocrisy in it.

No one respects hypocrites.

They will at least have a form of respect for those who are consistent in their faith.

We talked a couple weeks ago out of Acts 4 that the Church’s generosity was directly towards one another.

God has not called the Church to meet the world’s needs, but to ensure that God’s people are cared for well.

When that happens, when Christians love well, serve well, and give well, the world can’t help but to take notice.

Throughout Church history, it is when the Church has lived most counter-culturally that the world has respected them the most.

Not agreed.

But respected.

No one respects cowards.

No one respects hypocrites.

No one respects sell-outs.

Now, we don’t live for the world’s applause…that is how you become a sell-out in the first place.

We live for an audience of One.

But there at least ought to be a known reputation of Christians in the world that we live differently than they do.

CONVERSION (V.

12,14)

While v. 13 is clear that there are some people who are hesitant to hang out with the Church, that is not true for everyone.

V. 14 - And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women…this is the fourth note so far in Acts about numbers.

There are 120 believers in 1:15; 3,000 in 2:41; 5,000 men in 4:4; and now an indistinct ‘multitudes.’

That hints at exponential growth.

More than ever before, and it was already growing rapidly.

So there is this dual reaction from the crowds regarding the Church.

Some are put off, while others are attracted.

There are those who disregard the Church while others are drawn to it.

To some, what is happening in and among these Christians is alarming.

To others, it is appealing.

One scholar wrote of the crowd’s reactions by saying, “on the one hand an awestruck reserve, on the other great missionary successes.”

What makes the difference?

There are some appointed to salvation and there are some who are not.