The Church Grows Through Persecution
Tim Beerman
Authentic Church • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 182 viewsGod uses persecution to help believers fulfill Acts 1:8
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
God’s plan for the worship service: a place for believers to gather for worship, prayer & fellowship
the goal: be strengthened and grow so that they will be salt and light in and to the world
example from 4:23-31: when threatened they went back to the church, shared, prayed, were filled, continued to speak with boldness
the gathering together of believers is for believers not unbelievers
unbelievers are welcome but we don’t order our gatherings to suit their tastes and desires
our prayer is that seeing our love they we know we are Christians and come under conviction and repent of their sins
Satan’s mission to weaken or destroy God’s people so that the world will remain in spiritual darkness
NT gives us insight as to how he works so that we can be prepared and not surprised
works as an angel of light
a master of disguise
a liar, a deceiver and a murderer
how Satan attacked the Jerusalem church
1. Persecution
the progression of persecution:
Acts 4:3, 21: threatened not to speak
believers prayed about the opposition (v.4:24-30) and all were filled and continued to speak with boldness (v.31)
Acts 5:33: Sanhedrin filled with a murderous rage
Peter and John beaten and charged not to speak (v.40)
Acts 7:58: they stoned Stephen in a frenzied rage
persecution spread against all followers of Christ
2. Sinning Believers
one of Satan’s tactics if he can’t win through persecution is to corrupt the church through sinning Christians or by planting false Christians
sinning Christians:
Ananias & Saphira concoct a plan to lie to the church and were put to death by the HS
if Satan cannot divert or distract the church from without he do it from within
other ways: bitterness, lack of forgiveness, gossip, failure to practice church discipline, false teaching (check out the problems in the 7 church of Rev 2-3)
planting false Christians (Mt 13:24-30)
must know the truth and exercise church discipline otherwise the operate undetected and win people over to them
3. Growing Pains
Apostles distracted from their primary ministry of preaching and prayer by an important but lesser program
given that the church was devoted to the Apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42) how did the 12 teach thousands on a regular basis with no church building?
they did not have to worry about benevolence because those with extra resources were divesting themselves in order to provide for needs as they arose
though Satan opposes and at times appears to be winning Jesus promised
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Jesus builds with willing and faithful servants
cannot build with spectators
knowing we have an enemy to oppose our building efforts we need to be prepared for adversity (Nehemiah)
A Great Persecution
A Great Persecution
Acts 8:1b
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem,
on that day = the same day that Stephen was killed
the frenzied mob went from stoning Stephen to attacking believers throughout the city of Jerusalem
the attacks were severe enough to make many believers flee the city of Jerusalem
first the apostles were targeted, then Stephen, then the church
general teachings about persecution:
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.
“there arose a great persecution”
great: we get our word “mega” from this greek word
it was a mega-persecution
it was huge
it spread throughout the whole city
it was widespread
those who once looked upon believers with favour (Acts 2:47) and held them in high esteem (Acts 5:13) quickly turned violently against them
They Were All Scattered
They Were All Scattered
Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
believers had been fulfilling Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8 but only in Jerusalem and only to Jews
they were not leaving Jerusalem and were not preaching the gospel to Gentiles
“scattered”
from this gk word we get our English word “disperse”
Jews who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover and came to a saving knowledge of Christ stayed until persecution arose
the persecution caused them to disperse
like a shotgun!
they were scattered
they returned to their homes and as they scattered they communicated the gospel
they were “all” scattered
not every single believer but a great number left Jerusalem
wherever they scattered they went to the synagogues and in them bore witness to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection
at the beginning of Paul’s ministry this was his preferred method of church planting
go where people know something and start there
when rejected by the Jews Paul went directly to individual gentiles, won them to Christ and built churches through them
fleeing persecution is not wrong
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
implication is that fleeing persecution was a means of spreading the gospel
“except the apostles”
in spite of the persecution the apostles remained in Jerusalem
they were unfazed by the persecution
Devout Men vs. Saul
Devout Men vs. Saul
Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.
who were these devout men?
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
“And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
these were most likely Jews who were very familiar with the scriptures and lived their lives in faithful obedience
were not like the murderous religious leaders whose religion served their selfish purpose of retaining power, prestige and wealth
though they may not have been believers they recognized the evil injustice committed against a righteous man
“made great lamentation over him” (v.2)
lamentation: basic sense “to beat”, secondary sense “to mourn”
mourning or lamentation for the dead accompanied at times with beating the breast
Jewish funerals:
mourning consisted of a formal kind of lamentation along with weeping or wailing
lamentation often accompanied with beating the breast or the head, scratching cheeks and/or breast
most serious lamentation occurred on the days before the body was buried and the stone rolled over the tomb
occurred in the home and at pauses along the way to the burial
conducted mainly by women though men were not excluded
fasts and laments occurred for 7 days following the burial
formal laments were often sung by trained singers
they were often paid
hiring professional mourners could be expensive
shows that Mary, Martha and Lazarus were probably wealthy
such mourners were not genuine
examples of such would be those who came after Lazarus’ death (Jn 11:37,46) and Jairus’ daughter in Luke 8:52-53
Stephen’s mourners were not these insincere paid ones!
theirs was a real, heartfelt pain at the loss of one so gifted and full of the Spirit and grief over the injustice done to him
it was offered by non-Christians because having been attacked the Christians had scattered
“great lamentation”
great = mega
the lamentation was a mega-lamentation
it was loud, it was demonstrative
it was astonishing given the rule that no public mourning was permitted in the case of execution
a serious “slap in the face” for the Jewish leaders
a public protest of the injustice of Stephen’s death
But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
“Saul”
a Jew from Tarsus
a brilliant student of one of the most famous teachers in Israel, Gamaliel
extremely zealous for Jewish traditions (Gal 1:14)
a persecutor of the church (Php 3:5-6)
those who stoned Stephen laid their garments at Sauls feet (7:58) indicating that he was a ringleader
“Saul was ravaging”
destroy, ruin, damage
in secular literature the word was used to describe a wild bull rampaging in a vineyard and a wild animal tearing its prey apart
Saul was like a rampaging beast, tearing the church to shreds
Paul himself sheds more light on this in
And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.
9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.
11 And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
“men and women”
he was so rabid in his zeal that he had no pity on women
though Saul poured all of his energy into destroy Christ’s church he actually fulfilled Jesus’ words
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.
Conclusion
Conclusion
on Sunday Jan 8, 1956, 5 young missionaries were murdered on the shore of a lonely river deep in the jungle of Ecuador
news of the massacre shocked the world
to many their deaths seemed like a frightful waste
those with spiritual insight saw things differently
Nate Saint, one of the five martyrs had written,
“As we weigh the future and seek the will of God, does it seem right that we should hazard our lives for just a few savages? … we feel that it is pleasing to Him that we should interest ourselves in making an opening into the Auca prison for Christ.” (Elizabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor, p176)
Elizabeth Elliot, widow of Jim Elliot, one of the martyrs wrote the following about the death of her husband and his 4 friends,
To the world at large this was a sad waste of five young lives. But God has His plan and purpose in all things. There were those whose lives were changed by what happened on Palm Beach. In Brazil, a group of Indians at a mission station deep in the Mato Grosso, upon hearing the news, dropped to their knees and cried out to God for forgiveness for their own lack of concern for fellow Indians who did not know of Jesus Christ. From Rome, an American official wrote to one of the widows, “I knew your husband. He was to me the ideal of what a Christian should be.” An Air Force Major stationed in England, with many hours of jet flying, immediately began making plans to join the Missionary Aviation Fellowship. A missionary in Africa wrote: “Our work will never be the same. We knew two of the men. Their lives have left their mark on ours.”
Off the coast of Italy, an American naval officer was involved in an accident at sea. As he floated alone on a raft, he recalled Jim Elliot’s words (which he had read in a news report): “When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.” He prayed that he might be saved, knowing that he had more to do than die. He was not ready. God answered his prayer, and he was rescued. In Des Moines, Iowa, an eighteen-year-old boy prayed for a week in his room, then announced to his parents: “I’m turning my life over completely to the Lord. I want to try to take the place of one of those five.” (p. 253)
at first glance it might seem as if Stephen’s death was a great waste
he was a powerful witness for Christ endowed with the miraculous ability to heal and cast out demons
he understood the scriptures and could preach with great conviction
even those who did not believe held him in high esteem
his ministry appeared to have ended in failure
killed as a heretic and the church he served ripped apart
to those who don’t understand how God works it indeed appeared to be a great waste!
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
Satan sought to destroy the church
religious leaders commanded Peter and John to be silent and beat them
Stephen put to death
Saul ravaged the Jerusalem church
God overruled
Saul was destroying the church, ripping it to shreds the good news was spreading like wildfire
in reality Stephen’s death was a key factor in the Holy Spirit’s work in spreading the good news about Jesus from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth!
it led to the first missionary outreach by the Jerusalem church
like the one who tries to stamp out a fire, the embers scattered starting new first all around
as so this chapter marks a turning point in the first church
up to this point Christianity had been contained within Jerusalem
now, through the death of Stephen, the gospel finally begins to move out into new territory
God’s desire for every believer: that they be his witnesses wherever they are
there is great reward for those who will obey
there is great grace as well