Sermon Tone Analysis

What sort of book is the Acts of the Apostles?

We have occasionally referred to it as a history of the early church, but of course it is not a comprehensive history: there are so many things it does not include that it is clearly not the full story of early Christianity.

Instead, it is a selective story, drawing attention to those people and movements which Luke believed to be especially significant.

In writing his gospel, Luke had adopted exactly the same procedure, selecting those aspects of the life and teaching of Jesus which would be most relevant to the concerns of his readers, and in Acts he covers those incidents which for him typified the trend of events among the first generation of Christians.

He wanted to show how Christianity spread from Jerusalem to Rome, and everything that he included was intended to illuminate that transition.

In the process, he omitted many things that today’s readers might have wished to know about.

What happened to Peter?

How did James get on in the church at Jerusalem?

What became of Jesus’ other disciples?

Luke simply ignores these questions because they were not relevant to his purpose.

This means that his story is also an interpretation of the progress of the early church.

All history, of course, is an interpretation of past events

Text:

Subject: All Tied Up

Introduction:

“What sort of book is the Acts of the Apostles?

We have occasionally referred to it as a history of the early church, but of course it is not a comprehensive history: there are so many things it does not include that it is clearly not the full story of early Christianity.

Instead, it is a selective story, drawing attention to those people and movements which Luke believed to be especially significant.

In writing his gospel, Luke had adopted exactly the same procedure, selecting those aspects of the life and teaching of Jesus which would be most relevant to the concerns of his readers, and in Acts he covers those incidents which for him typified the trend of events among the first generation of Christians.

He wanted to show how Christianity spread from Jerusalem to Rome, and everything that he included was intended to illuminate that transition.”

This means that his story is also an interpretation of the progress of the early church.

All history, of course, is an interpretation of past events...

Drane, John William.

Introducing the New Testament.

Completely rev.

and updated.

Oxford: Lion Publishing plc, 2000.

Print.

A crisis situation most, if not all, of the time comes by surprise.

There are times that you don’t expect a crisis to arise.

And yet, there are other moments that you expect it.

In either case, in the meantime, what does one do.

Even though you have not ignored the situation, in the meantime, what do you do?

Although you have placed in the hands of the Master, in the meantime, what do you do?

The purpose of this sermon is to give the saints directions what to do when we are ALL TIED UP, when we are in a crisis situation.

The New King James Version says, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

(v.25)

I. Keep Praying

· Paul and Silas were praying…They prayed together, prayed to God to support them and comfort them in their afflictions, to visit them, as he did Joseph in the prison, and to be with them,--prayed that their consolations in Christ might abound, as their afflictions for him did,--prayed that even their bonds and stripes might turn to the furtherance of the gospel,--prayed for their persecutors, that God would forgive them and turn their hearts.

This was not at an hour of prayer, but at midnight; it was not in a house of prayer, but in a dungeon; yet it was seasonable to pray, and the prayer was acceptable.

As in the dark, so out of the depths, we may cry unto God.

No place, no time, amiss for prayer, if the heart be lifted up to God.

Those that are companions in suffering should join in prayer.

Is any afflicted?

Let him pray.

No trouble, how grievous soever, should indispose us for prayer.

(Matthew Henry)

“If God is the sovereign Lord of the universe from whom we should seek and receive the provision of spiritual and physical necessities, then we are reminded of our utter creaturely dependence on God.

The divine-human relationship is understood to have its origin and the determination of its character entirely from the divine side, so that prayer is but a trusting response in a relationship that has been initiated by God.

Prayer’s form, content, and efficacy belong to the divine economy of human salvation.

Christian prayer has traditionally also expressed the human’s freedom to play its essential role in prayer.

Prayer in the Old Testament often pictures the pray-er as an active cooperator.

Such prayer is a dynamic dialogue that expresses the history Immanuel wills to have with humans.

Prayer thus becomes one of the ways in which the creature cooperates with God in order to bring about God’s plan.

Okholm, Dennis L. “Prayer.”

Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

electronic ed.

Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996.

623.

Print.

Baker Reference Library.

· “But, though they were but two, the Lord was in the midst of them, according to his promise, and manifested his gracious presence in the striking deliverance which follows.” (Barclay)

II.

Keep Praising

· At about midnight they were singing and PRAYING.

· They could sing hymns even at midnight.

The one thing you can never take from a Christian is God and the presence of Jesus Christ.

(Barclay)

· (cp.

22) beaten with rods (flogging), their clothes were literally torn off “so their flesh would be exposed”, but they kept on singing praises.

“Expressions of Worship.

The main ingredient of worship in the Bible is sacrifice.

David put it well: “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing” ().

In the New Testament, there are three main expressions connected with the worship of the early church, each of which is based on sacrifice: the sacrifice of one’s body to God (; cf. ; ; ; ); the sacrifice of one’s possession for God (; ; ; ; etc.); and the sacrifice of one’s praise to God (; ; ; ; ; ; etc.).

Pate, C. Marvin.

“Church, The.” Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

electronic ed.

Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996.

98. Print.

Baker Reference Library.

III.

Keep Ministering

· • At midnight they could have went to sleep, but the used it as an opportunity to lift Jesus.

· what a setting, what a captivated audience…every Sunday morning, every chance we get to minister…take it!

· “prisoners were listening to them” – “the word translated listening here means ‘to listen with pleasure,’ as if listening to beautiful music.

It is in times of darkness that the light of a Christian witness shines brightest.”

Conclusion

“A godly testimony will often result in ridicule, scorn, deprivation, physical harm, and even death.

Jesus and his disciples were, are, and will be, subject to ridicule/insult: Jesus, “despised and rejected of men” (; ; ) and finally crucified (); his disciples, insulted (), jeered (), mistreated (v.

25), deprived (clothed in sheepskins and goatskins), destitute, persecuted, wandering in deserts and mountains, “in caves and holes in the ground” (vv.

37–38), tortured (v.

35), sawed in two (v.

37), jailed (; ), flogged (), chained (v.

36), “shut the mouths of lions” (v.

33), “put to death by the sword” (v.

37), “quenched the fury of the flames” (v.

34), and stone (v.

37; ).

The underlying biblical reasons given for persecution consist of an antipathy of evil toward the good (); of wicked men opposing God and rejecting his divine precepts ().

Jesus indicated that since the world hated him, it will hate his disciples (), and declared that if they persecuted him, they will also persecute his disciples (v.

20).

The Bible’s climactic teaching about the believer and persecution: “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” ().

Mare, W. Harold.