Don’t stand in the way of God.

Introduction

Reminder to read through the Gospel of Mark as well, as that is where we will be going for our Easter Sermon Series.

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

20 Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Together they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.

21 On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them. 22 The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

24 But the word of God spread and multiplied. 25 After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who was called Mark.

Context

This week, we finish off chapter 12 of the book of Acts. In the last few weeks, we have seen God move in new and mighty ways. We saw Him bring salvation to the gentiles, which had never been done before. Even though this had been promised for thousands of years by God, the Jewish way of thinking and systems that they had, did not allow for this, and they saw the gentiles as lesser than themselves. But God doesn’t act and think like they did, and He turned their world upside down as He made salvation available to all that would accept it.

Last week in particular, we saw what was happening as persecution (or attacks and harm) came to the early church. In fact, we saw one key leader murdered and another arrested by on the “Powers that be” in this Jewish world, this would be from King Herod who through Roman appointment would be the “King of Jews” in the region. Keep in mind, that this King Herod, much like his Grandfather who murdered the infants in Bethlehem because he had heard of a prophecy that a “king of the Jews” was born in this town; was hungry for power and position and coveted his crown. Through his past actions, it’s clear that he would do whatever it took to keep his crown and throne, even murder.

In this week’s text, we see what would happen to him because of his wickedness. As the ruler of the Jews, he should have been the first to seek Jesus and learn from the apostles, instead he tried to eliminate them because they threatened his position. So, even though you can’t, he tried to stand in the way of God because of his own fleshly and sinful thoughts and desires. We have a lot we can learn from the text today, a key thing is that: Believers must know and understand that God is greater than any man made power or institution. I want to be clear here, you can’t. No one really can stand in the way of God, He is to powerful. Instead, you can choose to make your part of His will either what He wants (meaning you become His instrument willfully) or you choose to work against Him (meaning He has to teach why and teach you to trust Him before you can, that is if He doesn’t choose to work through someone else). Since this is true, that God is greater than all and His will will infact be accomplished, we need to do our best to not get out of God’s will in our lives, that is metaphorically not stand in His way and instead follow Him as He leads. So, let’s get at that from and From the text, I want you to see and know these truths to help you not stand in the way of God.

Message

The first truth to know is that: Sin schemes together (20)

20 Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Together they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.

Herod, who as you will remember was the King of the Jews, an appointed king/subruler under the Roman Empire. Herod, like his parents and grandparents had a family linage and history of being Jewish, but because of the corruption of given power and authority, found himself often as we might say “Getting in God’s way,” that is, He didn’t like what God was trying to do in and through the Jewish nation, so he (and his ruling father an grandfather) would try to snuff out God’s rule in this nation (which he viewed as his own, and not God’s, big mistake Herod). At this time, Herod had some kind of quarrel with the cities of Tyre and Sidon, which were north of Herod’s kingdom. The people of those cities relied heavily on the food from Herod’s Kingdom, so they wanted very badly to be on his good side again. Sooooo…. What did they do? They won over (some commentators even say that they Bribed) Blastus, who Herod’s Chamberlin, the keeper of his bedroom, so someone who was very very close Herod. This was so that Blastus could himself “win over” Herod for these places, that is, persuade Herod from being angry at them, so that they could have their desperately needed food. You see here quite clearly, scheming and back ally deals.

Not to long ago, there was this banking company, it was and remains a pretty large one today. Despite how much money it was making, it’s investors and senior leadership wanted more. So, what did they do? They devised a plan to make even more money, even more riches. They did this by requiring their workers, who were already doing a fantastic job, Afterall that’s how they became one of the largest and most influential banks in the nation (off the work and backs of lower level, customer facing workers) had an idea (what upper level workers thought was theasable and easy). This was to make those workers work harder, make them open more accounts and sell more unneeded products to customers. They did this with a carrot and stick method, of “If you do this you will get a healthy bonus, if you fail more than once or twice you lose your job.” It turns out, that this goal they had set was so unreasonable, that it became the normal set of operations for bankers to create false/fraudulent accounts under their customers name and falsify reports. This remained true for several years until enough customers caught on. From this single decision we see the sins of greed and love of money partner with fear and lies work together to create a very serious situation.

Know this brothers and sisters, where one sin is that remains unaddressed, more WILL follow. Sometimes many more, and as they compound and add others to their mix to hide themselves, the fall out on you and those that are affected will be harder and harder. You see, we all have a personal responsibility to address then sin in our lives with the helping and leading of the Holy Spirit, confessing it and repenting from it so that God would be glorified and loved more through our changed hearts. With Herod and Tyre and Sidon, some of these unaddressed sins include: not recognizing God, counting ourselves as equal to or greater than God, being jealous for power/influence/authority, being fearful in how you think and operate, bribery, and being deceitful. All of these, at the heart of them is that they didn’t trust God and didn’t understand who they were in relation to Him. God and the gospel wasn’t enough for them, they wanted more. Believer, your sin likely has something to do with that, not understanding who God is in relationship to yourself and Him and the Gospel not being good enough for you, wanting more. What you have to ask yourself, and ask yourself often, is where is Jesus not enough for me? Where am I wanting more than seeing God glorified? Ask yourself where, really look at everything, and I bet you will find that He is not enough in more areas than you care to admit. With that, do not be afraid believer, know that God is at hand and wants to help you overcome that doubt that fear and turn it in riches of glory and honor for Him. No matter the height or depth of it, no matter how much the sin has schemed together, don’t get in God’s way, but let Him in and let Him work on you to see you through it because God is greater than anything made by man or any man-made institution.

The next truth to know and do is to: You Give God Glory (21-23)

21 On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them. 22 The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

One very interesting thing, when we compare the accounts of what happened on this day to what Luke records here is all similarities and even some extra details. The Jewish historian Josephus, documented what happened here to great detail, describing this “appointed day” as one of the festival days to honor Ceaser, the Roman Emperor. On this day, Herod chose the occasion to deliver his sort of peace or friendship speech to the people of Tyre and Sidon. On this day, with Herod dressed very finely as a symbol of his earthly authority, he delivered his speech to the people, who cried out to him (as an act of appeasement to his ego) his voice isn’t like an ordinary man, it is like a god; Herod must be a god! Herod, being a Jew (though not a faithful Jew, as his family at this point had mingled for several generations with the Romans) should have known better. But, he indulged in this false adoration and glory, and look what happened to him. Clearly, God wasn’t pleased and struck him dead. The historian Josephus actually further states that he had to be carried away to his palace because of his sudden and severe pain in his stomach, many believing it to be and Luke seems to hint that it was intestinal worms that were eating him alive. Either way, no matter the manner in his death, we understand that in the bible when it mentions that someone was eaten by worms, it means that God’s judgement had fallen upon them. So Herod, one of the persecutors of the early church and denier of God perished.

Bad things always seem to happen when you put praise in the wrongful place. For example, how would you feel if you did a really kind act for someone, but they didn’t thank you, they thanked someone else. Worse yet, that someone else, who did nothing, took the praise and accepted it as their own! Most of us, if we could restrain ourselves, would find difficulty in that. In fact, a natural reaction would be to go to others and correct the situation.

In this situation, who was Herod? (wait a minute)….. Herod was the one taking the praise who took the honor and glory that came with it, when he knew it belonged elsewhere. Herod was selfish, and loved his position, when what he needed to do was recognize that he was there only because of God’s appointment and correct these people (especially as he was king of the Jews) that there is only one God, not many gods as they were saying, and he was not God. Period. But he didn’t. He made a mistake that not just people in power like to make, put all people of ranks and positions make, likening to think that we are more important than we are and taking the glory that is not rightfully ours. Let me be clear, God is the King of Glory and Rightness, the glory is His. But don’t take my word for it, take God’s word to the people of Isreal through the prophet Haggai in during a time of way, he said the Israelites, “6 For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies. 8 “The silver and gold belong to me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. 9 “The final glory of this house[a] will be greater than the first,” says the Lord of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. To take any of God’s glory believer, is a sin and a great wrong, to not recognize God for who He is, to point to self and your own words and deeds and actions is rebellion and putting yourself in the wrong place. To not openly praise God and be vulnerable enough to share your struggles and tell others how God saw you through it, is a position of wicked pride that needs to be corrected. Instead, Give God the glory, don’t stand in God’s way by taking what is His, if you do, you will get steamrolled, just watch and don’t fear what will come because you didn’t take that glory for yourself, because God is greater than any man made power or institution.

The next truth to know is that: God will prevail (24-25)

24 But the word of God spread and multiplied. 25 After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who was called Mark.

We see here, even despite the huge amount of persecution that happened in Jerusalem from the rulers or powers that be, what happened? Still, the Word of God spread and multiplied. It couldn’t be contained or stopped, because God was in the mix the whole time. As the old saying goes, “The Truth will out.” God and His will had prevailed in a huge public display here, everyone paying attention would have known exactly what happened and why Herod met such a gruesome end. God wasn’t done there though, no he was not. Notice how this chapter ends, the last verse, 25. It says, 25 After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who was called Mark.” Here we turn our attention back to Barnabas and Saul who all along were working, sending the relief from the church in Antioch, when they left from Jerusalem, they took the young John Mark along with them to return to the church in Antioch to resume the missional work they had been doing there.

When looking at this chapter as a whole, one of our days great pastors/theologians/writers John Piper summarizes this chapter of Acts well when he says: “If we stay with Jesus, we win, and if we oppose him, we lose” (“Execution, Escape”).[1]This phrase rings out loudly and boldly with truth. If you are on God’s side, you win. Any other, you lose. Herod, found himself on his own side and the side of Satan. The apostles of Jesus, found themselves on the side of God, with them and through them with guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, The Kingdom of God grew and grew in times and places where (with only the natural man and natural powers) we would expect failure. But, But. We don’t serve or worship a Natural God. We serve a super natural God, who in fact created that realm (nature) and all things within, knowing what would happen to who before anyone else could have even known who you were! He knew you, He knows you, even better than you know yourself or your best friend, or your spouse. And guess what, You can’t stop Him! He is going to win, no matter how hard you try who or how scared you are of following Him, He will prevail.

So, we should, instead of acting and thinking in a way that makes sense to us because of what we see and observe in our world, we can’t take that as the truth that WILL OR MUST happen in the kingdom of God. The rules for the Kingdom are different, so the play calling (metaphorically speaking) and the reactions, the battle plan per say, must be different. This often means that we must step out uncomfortably in faith and trust that God will move and that He will be glorified as we take a step back, let go of the control we are holding on to, and follow God, more than we could ever imagine! When you do that, you cannot fail. Because God cannot fail. And, a hard truth, if you step out in faith and what you wanted to succeed fails, that is not a loss. No, it isn’t. That is a win. If God is in control, and it fails, it means He wanted it to. It means He had something else even greater for His kingdom in mind than you had. We need to be all about God’s glory and honor, and not our own fears and doubts. God will prevail, so be careful not to stand in His way, because God is greater than any man made power or institution.

Conclusion

Beloved, do you know and understand that God is greater than any man made power or institution? What does this mean? It means that God is greater than any thing that produces fear or joy in you. He is greater than anything that produces apathy or interest. He is greater than anything that can make you rich or poor. He is greater than anything that can make you safe or in danger. He is greater than anything that can make you opened or closed. He is greater than anything that can make you hide or be found. He is greater than anything that can make you weak or strong. A truth in a hymn that you have probably heard many times called “In Christ alone” speaks this in one of it’s final lyrics declaring about our savior that, No power of Hell, no Scheme of Man can ever pluck me from His hand. So, until He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand…… Place your fear aside believer, He is for You. God is not your enemy, He is your friend. He is your father, redeemer, savior. Why do you hold onto the glory yourself, when it was His anyways, give it to Him instead of holding onto it yourself in fear, because He is greater than whatever it is that you fear.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

[1]Merida, Tony. Exalting Jesus in Acts. Holman Reference, 2017, p. 178.