The Dude Abides
The Acts of Jesus Through the Holy Spirit • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 34:44
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Acts 4
Acts 4
Yesterday we had our men’s breakfast and we had a great conversation going about how we, as humans, tend to react to things in a self-focused way. As Lowell said, you will be driving down the road and someone will pull out in front of you or cut you off and you’ll say, “What is that guy doing!” Then a little later someone else will do something and you’ll react, “What is this guy doing!” I tend to think of Adam and Eve. God created us in His image to rule with Him, but as humans it is our nature to be in control and in charge. Adam and Eve wanted to rule THEIR way. On some level we all want the Burger King promise, “Have it your way. You rule!”
Can you still wear a cardboard crown at Burger King? I know that BK leans into their theme of royalty, but just listen to how strongly they appeal to this part of you in this advertisement. It says, “Have it your way. You have the right to have what you want, exactly when you want it. Because on the menu of life, you are “Today’s Special”. And tomorrow’s. And the day after that. And… well, you get the drift. Yes, that’s right. We may be the King, but you my friend are the almighty ruler.”
In my head I am just imagining Adam and Eve standing by the tree and looking up at the forbidden fruit as this guy leans around the trunk of the tree and whispers, “Have it your way!” “Tired of pickles, tired of lettuce? Have this fruit, it is the bestest!”
The point of yesterday’s conversation was about how easy it is to focus on ourselves and our authority to rule, but what we really must do is remember who the true king is and let Him rule. Let God be the almighty ruler in our lives. Interestingly, this is also one of the main concepts found in the next chapter of our study through Acts. Let’s pray before we turn to Acts chapter 4…
Pray
You may remember from chapter 3 that Peter and John were in the temple teaching the people about Jesus. Chapter 4 picks the story up here with the response of the religious leaders…
1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.
Luke goes on to tell us that they were questioned, threatened, and told not to speak in Jesus name any more. I want to camp here for just a minute, because there are some interesting observations for us to discover.
It’s worth noting that in verse 4 Luke says that the number of men who came to believe because of Peter and John at the temple were 5,000. Two things, first we need to remember that numbers convey meaning to the Jews. This number is meant to be understood as a representation of God’s people, the Jews. Essentially, 1,000 represents community and 5 represents the books of the Torah.
Second, this also reminds us of Jesus’ feeding the 5,000 in Matthew 14. Jesus provided for God’s people outside of Jerusalem, now the apostles have done it by the power of the Holy Spirit right inside God’s house, where the religious leaders are supposed to be providing for God’s people.
Now, let’s talk about the religious leaders. I’m sure you all remember the Pharisees and Sadducees that Jesus dealt with from time to time. Out of the two religious parties, the Sadducees were the ones that primarily caused Jesus’ death. He frequently confronted the Pharisees, but after His run-in with the Sadducees He was dead in a week.
With so much power, they must have been very important to the Jewish faith so who were they? This is a bit of a rabbit hole, but there are several theories about them. Historically, they show up about 200 years before Jesus’ ministry. They probably had so much power because they were favored by the wealthy and they were tremendously concerned with preserving their idea of order and accommodating the Romans by preserving the status quo. Some scholars even say their name is likely a derivative of a word for “members of the council,” meaning they were essentially lay persons rather than actual priests.
Don’t get too hung up on all of this, the point is that the authority of the Sadducees was likely illegitimate and clearly misused.
In this chapter we see the apostles continuing what Jesus began in His ministry. Not only that, but it is almost a word for word and thought for thought reflection and continuation of Jesus’ ministry. It’s almost as if Jesus is the one who is acting. Like maybe instead of being Acts of the apostles, it’s actually the Acts of Jesus through the Holy Spirit in the apostles.
Before we continue, let’s see ourselves in this story. What does this mean to me? Externally, this story has little to no impact on us. Maybe you deal with people who impose their idea of order on you, but we don’t have a religious council or governing religious body that comes to Cordell from Washington D.C. to make sure we aren’t mentioning the name of Jesus. Not yet, anyway.
However, you do have a king telling you that you are special. You have the right to have what you want, exactly when you want it. You are the almighty ruler! There is a king telling you these lies and it isn’t the Burger King. At least, not just him. It is “King Self.”
Internally, the Sadducee will use threats, fear, hopelessness, guilt, and any other illegitimate authority it can to derail our relationship with Jesus. The enemy is going to laugh and say, “No, no, no… Jesus doesn’t control you. YOU rule! You don’t need to listen to Him. You don’t need to read your bible and internalize it. You don’t need to have a healthy relationship with God. You’re in charge! Have fun! Responsibility isn’t fun, driving fast and taking chances is fun! You won’t hurt anyone. If you do, they will get over it.”
How do we respond to this? Think about the apostles. They were serving God. They were in the moment. God interrupted their day to day with people who needed Jesus. They began sharing the Good News with the people when suddenly these illegitimate rulers captured them, took them to jail, and threatened them. Can you relate to that? You are doing your best when everything hits the fan. You are feeling great about what God is doing in your life when out of seemingly nowhere you find yourself captured and imprisoned by that same old sin.
What do you do? What did the apostles do?
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! … 11 Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
It says Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and then he addresses his accusers by quoting scripture. If your inner-ruler has captured you and is keeping you from serving God as you are called to do, I believe God wants you to internalize Acts chapter 4. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and stand up to that selfishness, that sin, those desires, or that addiction. How do we do it? God pours out the Spirit on us, so if God does the filling what am I supposed to do? Reach over and tip the pitcher to get a little more? According to Peter’s example, you can’t quote scripture to your captor if you don’t read scripture. We must read, internalize, and invest time into meditating on God’s word. In other words, we have to be familiar with the Spirit.
Paul treats being filled with the Spirit as synonymous with being filled with the word of Christ…
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words, STOP! Stop doing the bad things. Instead, be filled with the spirit and pull out your bible. Sing praises to God. Open your heart and connect with God deep within your soul.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
To Paul, being filled with the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Word of God are interconnected and the results of both concepts are the same. How do we stand up to the old self, the inner-king, the Sadducee, or whatever name you want to give it? We have to get familiar with the Spirit. Jesus said, “Abide in me and I will abide in you.” So…
Abide in the Spirit:
Pray
Let God’s word shape you
Respond with God’s Truth
How did the Sadducees react to Peter and John? This is a powerful part of the story. They saw their courage, realized they were ordinary men, and they were AMAZED! They were amazed because they could tell these men had been with Jesus. They said, “This dude abides!” That’s actually a movie quote that has nothing to do with Jesus, but it would be super cool if, culturally, the meaning of “the dude abides” changed and was used to describe someone who prays, studies the bible, and speaks God’s Word.
Yesterday Mike remarked at how amazing it is that you can often tell or sense the Spirit in a total stranger. It was obvious to these religious leaders that that Peter and John had been with Jesus. As if it was stamped on their foreheads. Why? Because they were filled with the Spirit. They were quoting the same scripture Jesus quoted to them before. They were boldly proclaiming God’s Word.
That’s when they told the apostles, “Hey! No more. You can’t speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” Peter and John’s response is perfect! I love this next verse…
19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
That is so great! What a line! Wouldn’t it be amazing to have that kind of boldness for Christ? YOU CAN! I’m going to show you how. Are you ready? This is how to be bold for God…
Abide in the Spirit:
Pray
Let God’s word shape you
Respond with God’s Truth
“The dude abides.” Seriously though, where does this boldness come from? Jesus actually warned the apostles that this day was coming. In that warning He gave them a promise…
17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
It’s through God’s Spirit that we are given what to say. Have you ever experienced that? You were speaking to someone or praying and all of the sudden you had this rush of deep and moving words. Maybe it felt almost as if you were on autopilot and your first thought was, “There’s no way I said all of that!” It’s amazing! It’s always humbling too. I’ve never sat back after something like that and thought, “Oh yeah, that is what they needed to hear.” I would even say it’s kind of the opposite. I’m talking, but somehow the words are not my own yet they speak to me.
The inverse is also true, isn’t it? Do you remember the last time that you listened to the inner-king instead of God? You said something you wish you could take back. That’s much less fun. Contrasting those two really shows the importance of being a “Dude that abides,” huh?
After Peter and John were finally released they went back to their people and told them what had happened. When they heard the story they all prayed together. Their prayer is actually what put this whole “king” motif in my mind about this subject. How our sin nature wants to be the almighty ruler. In their prayer they quote Psalm 2. This is what they pray…
25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “ ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.’
That’s what our sin nature, or the inner-king wants to do. Our selfish desire is to be in charge. Do things our way. God’s rule and God’s ways get in the way of that. In fact, the desires of the flesh are at odds and enemies with God’s righteous desires. If I am serving my sinful desires, I am in effect acting as an enemy to the true throne. This prayer could have just as easily read, “Why does my sinful nature rage and plot in vain? My desire to rule fights within me to rise up and band against You!”
If this was your prayer to God today, what would be the next line? I think most people, myself included, would probably say, “God, help me! I need you to take it away! I don’t want to struggle with this. Please fix it.” Yeah? These crazy Christians that Peter and John were with… INSANE… You gotta see what they asked God for…
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
That’s it. No “please help us, please spare us, please protect us.” Just a bold, “Keep it coming, God! They are threatening us, so ENABLE US TO SPEAK YOUR WORD WITH GREAT BOLDNESS! Keep performing miracles!” What is wrong with these people! I know it’s ridiculous and I need to stop saying it, but THESE DUDES ABIDE! How amazing! The only things they ask for are things that are connected to the proclamation of God’s Word!
Now, this does make me think both internally and externally. Speak to me, God. Give me boldness, give me the words to speak your truth to the part of me that wants to rule. Give me boldness to speak your Word to a world that stands against You!
This is something that God has been putting on my mind a lot lately. We don’t have it bad here. Quite the opposite, in fact. We may not always like the taste of it, but we almost always have drinkable water within reach. The latest app update might have slowed it down, but we can order food on our phones in less than a minute without even having to speak to anyone. Though we may have complaints about our government, we enjoy more freedoms than any other country in the world.
Are bad things happening here? Of course, but believe it or not, not one thing is new. Evil is very good at making itself look new, fun, and exciting, but everything you can possibly imagine has happened and will happen again…
9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Bad things happen. Bad people become leaders all across this country and the world, then turn people further and further from God. Christians all over the world are being persecuted and imprisoned. Bad things happen so we pray, but what do our prayers look like? Take this person out of office? Make bad thing go away? Change this, change that.
What if we changed our prayers? What if we prayed like the early Church? I am NOT saying that we should be okay with bad things happening, nor am I saying that any person other than Jesus should be our model for how we should live. However, in this instance I think there are some clear differences in what we value today versus what Jesus taught the apostles to value.
In the 90’s up to 90% of American adults identified as Christian. By 2022 that number dropped down to about 60%. Did you know that “Gen Z” is turning to God in what is being called a “quiet revival?” That age group has seen a 12% increase in people who identify as Christian since 2021. In the UK, they have seen a 29% increase! A few years ago, while the whole world appeared to be on fire, many people turned to God. Some people have completely transformed their YouTube and other social media pages and are now extremely active and bold Christians!
That makes me ask myself, “what was I praying for during that time?” Was I praying for it to go away? Or was I praying for the harvest? “Look, God, the field is ripe! Give me boldness to speak Your Word!” This one stings deep because even as I read their prayer and say out loud that I should pray to be bold with God’s Word as they did instead of asking for change, in the back of my mind I am thinking, “Yeah, but we don’t want bad things to happen. God, instead of wasting time on me, why not just fix the problem?”
Well NOW the question becomes, “Who is defining the problem: Me or God? Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to ME or to Him?”
It’s really quite difficult to sit and ponder this subject and truthfully wrestle with it, but it all ties together. It’s like the famous saying, “I’m unhappy because I eat, and I eat because I’m unhappy.”
What I perceive is the only thing that has tangible meaning to me, and the only thing that has tangible meaning to me is what I perceive. To put it less cryptic, my flesh wants something different than what God wants for me. They are at odds. God’s way is clearly better, but to the flesh His way carries less weight because it takes faith and trust to let go of the pleasure within my grasp to instead hold on to a promise. Especially when the pleasure is exchanged for pain and persecution.
The flesh doesn’t like that. That’s not MY way. That doesn’t make me feel like the almighty ruler Burger King says I am. Here is what the flesh doesn’t realize. To quote another famous saying, “The cake is a lie.” The pleasure that the flesh seeks is a lie. It’s temporary. The same goes for suffering. It’s something quite temporal and fleeting to suffer in this life. Jesus suffered for us so that it would be the end of the suffering and we would be eternally united with the Father.
10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. 11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. 12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
It’s hard to change the way we think. It’s hard to look at life through the lens of eternity. We are incapable of even truly comprehending it. Jesus said, “John 16:33: … In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Praying for boldness instead of safety is a key concept that as Christ followers we should be intimately familiar with. Even though we live in the US, we are not guaranteed safety and comfort.
We should be ready. We should know how to pray for boldness to share God’s Word. We should pray for our persecutors to find Christ. We should pray for God’s purposes to be fulfilled. That’s what the early church did. They didn’t always get everything right, but they nailed this one on the head. If you read the rest of chapter 4 you will see that they’re lives were completely transformed. They were on a mission to reach the lost, and God was with them.
Not only did He answer their prayer, but His presence shook the place where they were and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, just like on Pentecost…
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Pray (Lord consider our circumstances and enable Your servants to speak Your Word with great boldness.)
