Empowered Disciples 9

The Prayer Meeting

This morning we are finishing the story line that we started in chapter 3 that began with Peter and John heading to the temple for the evening time of prayer and sacrifice.

We will be looking at the last section of chapter 4 of Acts beginning in verse 23.

Last week we looked at Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, where the Jewish religious leaders could not charge them with any crime.

They sent Peter and John out and discussed what they could do, all they could come up with was to threaten them to stop preaching, and working in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John told the Sanhedrin they could decide what was right for them to do, obey man or God.

In this last section of chapter 4 of Acts we come after Peter’s witness before the crowd in the temple square and before the Sanhedrin, we are again given a glimpse into the life of the Christian community.

Just as chapter 2 spoke of their common prayer life, here again the prayer of the Christians is emphasized, with the major difference being that what was mentioned in summary fashion in the former passage is here related concretely with an example of their prayers.

God empowers His church when His people pray together, trust Him completely, and live generously.

The Prayer

Verse 23 provides the setting and links the story line with the rest of the chapter.

Acts 4:23–31 NASB95

23 When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples devise futile things? 26 ‘The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ 27 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. 29 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

After their release Peter and John returned to their own people.

The community gathered for prayer when the apostles were in difficulty.

The Christians gathered to pray for the deliverance of the two apostles from the Sanhedrin.

When Peter and John arrived on the scene, they informed them of the warning given by the chief priest and elders.

The fellowship responded with praise to God for delivering the apostles and a petition for courage to continue their bold witness in the face of such opposition.

A primary benefit of persecution is that it results in greater solidarity.

Persecuted believers naturally draw together for mutual support.

Perhaps one reason for the disunity in today’s church is the lack of external pressure.

Real unity marked the early believers.

In verses 24-28 we see the Christian community together as they lift up their voices in praise to God.

The whole community joined together in this prayer.

Now was this just church leadership or was it the whole 5,000 plus believers that we see in verse 4 of this chapter.

We are not told exactly who all this included, but it very well could have been the entire 5,000 plus, not meeting all in the same house or location, but the news could have been spread quickly.

We must see that the believers were in one accord, that is in unity.

Division in the church always hinders prayer and robs the church of spiritual power.

The believers begin by addressing God as Sovereign Lord, a common designation for God in the Old Testament and appropriate to this gathering of Jewish Christians.

God was further addressed as Creator, Maker of heaven, earth, the seas and all that dwell in them, again in language thoroughly steeped in Old Testament phraseology.

Colossians 1:15–18 NASB95

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

The prayer concluded with a petition.

It is in the petition that the major difference from the Christian’s prayer appears.

Hezekiah prayed for deliverance.

The early Christians here prayed for courage.

In the community’s prayer the reference to the threat of enemies is given in the form of a scriptural proof.

Psalm 2:1–2 NASB95

1 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,

These two verse are presented in the prayer as a prophecy, spoken by God through David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Your purpose predestined to occur: John MacArthur said, “It reminds us that God is the supreme historian who wrote all history before it ever began. Having done their worst, they merely succeeded in fulfilling God’s eternal plan.”

In verse 29, Praise gave away to prayer; petition.

Take note of their threat or register their guilt and protect the threatened preachers.

Now they request that God enable His servants .

To speak God’s Word with confidence; boldness; courage.

Note that the prayer was not against others but for them.

God, help us to face the enemy.

Verse 30 starts with, “While You extend Your hand to heal, and signs,” this points to the power of God behind the miracles.

They authenticate them as the messenger of God’s truth.

They point beyond themselves to the ultimate power of the gospel.

Verse 31 tells us that when they had prayed, the place, the building where they were gathered was shaken.

This shaking gave the believers a tangible sense of God’s presence and His response to their prayers.

The whole meeting place was shaken.

Sometimes God shakes our world, other times He simply speaks.

The people were filled with the Holy Spirit, this was a fresh filling, a renewed awareness of the Spirit’s power and presence in their life and witness.

It was a reminder of the need for continual filling of the Spirit.

Because of the fresh filling, the believers spoke the Word of God with boldness - there was a physical manifestation of the Spirit’s presence.

Illustration :

Notice what they did not pray.

They never asked,

"Lord, remove the opposition."

"Protect us from suffering."

"Stop the persecution."

Instead they prayed,

"Lord, give us boldness."

Application:

Many of our prayers focus on comfort.

The early church prayed for courage.

Sometimes God answers our problems by changing us rather than changing our circumstances.

The Answer

The place was shaken, they were filled with the Holy Spirit again, and they spoke God's Word boldly.

Acts 4:32–33 NASB95

32 And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

The early church had grown from the 120 that was gathered in the upper room praying from the time Jesus ascended to the day of Pentecost, to now we are told 5,000 in verse 4 of this chapter.

In the early church, each member sought to be an effective witness for Jesus Christ.

Evangelism was the daily delight and ministry of the whole congregation.

They felt everyone in their city needed their message.

Together they characterize the community life as marked by four things: their unity in mind and heart, their sharing of their possessions, the power and witness of the apostles, and the grace of God, which rested upon them.

The church prayed, they were filled with the Spirit of God, and as a result they were unified.

This is a God-given spiritual unity, not a man-made organizational uniformity.

The church is an organism that is held together by life, and that life comes through the Holy Spirit.

John 13:35 NASB95

35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

No one claimed that any of their possessions was his own.

The people were preoccupied with with ministering to each other.

The picture is one of unqualified sharing.

They shared everything they had.

When the Holy Spirit is at work, giving is a blessing and not a burden.

What the believers did was purely voluntary and was motivated by love.

The Greek literally reads everything was common with them.

Taken by itself, this could refer to shared ownership; but in conjunction with the first expression, it also refers to a practice of freely sharing one’s goods with another.

Much grace was upon them all, primarily in God’s blessings on their lives and witness.

They had all things in common - If the people had been filled with the Holy Spirit, then it must be recognized that they were responding to God’s promptings.

The Holy Spirit was responsible for the continuing surge of unprecedented generosity.

They were neither selfish or ambitious, neither greedy or critical, neither suspicious or regretful.

Each person considered his possessions as belonging to the Lord.

The believer seen it as they owned nothing, and all that they had was the Lord’s.

The apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, as the resurrection was the major emphasis of the first century preaching.

Acts 4:20 NASB95

20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Although they knew that such an emphasis greatly offended the Jewish authorities, the apostles never suppressed the truth to avoid that offense.

They were not willing to strip the message of anything deemed offensive.

Abundant grace was upon them all - this speaks of divine favor and human favor.

The world was impressed by the believers’ love and unity brought on by filling of God’s Spirit.

This church experienced God’s blessings.

God blessed both their lives and their witness.

Illustration:

God literally shook the building - not because He wanted to impress them, but because He wanted to assure them He had heard their prayers.

Some times God changes circumstances.

Sometimes He changes us.

The greatest miracle in Acts 4 was not the shaking building - it was the bold believers.

Application:

The evidence that God has answered prayer is not always visible miracles.

Often it is transformed people.

The Outcome

Their prayer meeting resulted in generosity, unity, and powerful witness.

Acts 4:34–37 NASB95

34 For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales 35 and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. 36 Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), 37 and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

There were no needy persons among them.

This is the ideal God established for Israel.

According to Deuteronomy 15:4, Israel was to keep God’s commands; and God would bless them; there would be no poor among them.

Deuteronomy 15:4 NASB95

4 “However, there will be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,

There is evidence in the New Testament times that the text of Deuteronomy 15:4 was seen as a reference to the ideal final times when Israel would be fully faithful to the law and there would be no poverty in the land.

The Christians saw themselves as the people of God of the final times, they were experiencing God’s blessing, and they were striving to realizing the ideal of a people of God with no poor among them.

The end of verse 34 and verse 35 depict the means by which they sought to realize this ideal.

Those who had lands or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds, and lay them at the apostles’ feet.

The proceeds were then distributed to the needy among them.

There was no transfer of ownership, no control of production or income, no requirement to surrender one’s property to the community.

James 2:15–16 NASB95

15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

The way they use to do it, was they would sell their property and bring it to the apostles as needs arose.

The practice of laying the proceeds at the apostles feet was a gesture of submission to another.

The twelve apostles were the representatives appointed by Jesus Christ.

The submission was not to the apostles, but to the one they represented.

To lay one’s gift at their feet was to offer it to Christ.

Luke concluded his treatment of the early Christians by mentioning Barnabas who sold a field and placed all the receipts at the apostles’ feet.

No person was commanded to sell anything.

God judges the greatness of a soul, not by the size of a gift, but by the devotion that sacrifices it.

Dr. Franklin Graham said, “If you have anything you cannot live without, give it away. Anything that is too valuable to give to the Lord reflects the poverty of its owner’s soul.”

The generous church in Acts was not forced into giving.’

Their generosity flowed from hearts transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Generosity is evidence of Spiritual health.

When hearts are full of Christ, hands open to others.

Illustration:

When your hand is balled up in a fist tightly nothing can enter and nothing can leave.

When your hand is open it can receive and it can give.

Barnabas lived with open hands.

Application:

God blesses believers so they can become blessings.

The question should not be how much can I keep.

The question should be how much can God trust me to steward.

Personal:

We should begin every difficult situation with prayer before seeking human solutions.

We need to ask God daily for boldness instead of comfort.

Closing:

The church in Acts 4 did not pray for an easier life - they prayed for greater boldness.

God answered by filling them with His Spirit, uniting their hearts, and producing extraordinary generosity.