Preparing for opposition

Welcome

Good morning my name’s Craig, thanks for joining us this morning, those who are joining us online, but especially to the Tuesday homegroup who are privileged to be able to join us this week!

Introduction

Going to look at Acts 5:12-42, and look through what happened, before considering our position as believers in light of how the apostles dealt with the situation, and how we can ready ourselves for opposition in the future.

Signs and Wonders (read Acts 5:12-16)

Signs and wonders were a part of the day to day life of the apostles - is this what we want? Let me ask us “why?”

Is it because it would be cool to see, exciting to be a part of? Don’t want to miss out on what God is doing?

Let’s think about the signs and wonders from the point of view of the apostles, they knew that they were a mark of God moving in power, testifying to Jesus. (Acts 5:32 Peter testifies to the Spirit being poured out upon the obedient, those walking in the way God was leading)

If our intent is to see people saved, to proclaim the word in and out of season, I believe that we too will see signs and wonders outworked, and people’s lives changed because of it, taken from a citizenship that leads to death, to a citizenship that leads to eternal life with God.

Signs and wonders aren’t for our enjoyment, but for the mission of God. Let’s get caught up in that mission.

People saw the signs and wonders, and many were too afraid to join them

Sometimes there will be people that we encounter who will respect us and our faith, but won’t join us. Perhaps at times there will be people like that around us, and maybe even in the church?

Let’s not give up if those people we’ve told about Jesus don’t respond, instead let’s keep looking for new people to tell, whilst still loving and telling those who have heard it all before.

People thought Peter’s shadow upon them could heal them

I have always loved this image, and it’s partly why I asked the previous question. I loved the idea of being in the Spirit to such an extent that even as I walked down the street people would be healed. (If it worked for Peter, then why not for me?!)

More likely that that was the view of the people who were hearing tell of what was happening with these Jesus disciples. They probably laid hands upon them and healed them, as Jesus had taught them. God could’ve worked this way of course, but let’s remember this isn’t about the holiness of Peter, but about the holiness of God, as Neil preached last week.

A mighty move of God will always stir some wonder in people, and they won’t understand. Our job is to be faithful to the teaching of the Word, to explain how God tends to work, and then to operate in the power of the Spirit, speaking even commanding healing over people, telling unclean spirits to leave them.

Let’s make sure we’re ready for God to move in power, and that we’re ready to be obedient as He leads.

Miraculous escape (Read 13-26)

As we know, the sadducees and the council were ‘greatly annoyed’ with the apostles, so again they had them arrested and put in prison overnight (they always seem to leave everything until it’s too late don’t they?!)

God sends and angel to release them. See what the angel says, get back to the work God has set you on.

Everything to do with the power of God being outworked thus far has been about witnessing to Jesus as the resurrected Messiah, the sovereignty of God the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Even the release of the disciples wasn’t just so that they were free, but almost entirely about the continued mission of God.

In an age of me and my relationship with God, and my self-improvement, and my life, it can seem uncomfortable that the call on believers is to do the work that God calls us to, testifying to Him.

Before the council (won’t read all of it this time due to time)

Last time they were before the high priest and his family, this time they’re before the whole council

Again Peter stands upon the truth and the testimony of all the witnesses of what God had been doing, this time with the support of the 11 rather than only John.

Again, they lay out the need to follow God rather than the religious leaders of the old covenant, these mere humans. (In a game of top trumps, when it comes to God vs Man on who you should follow, I can promise you that God trumps Man every time). The new covenant had come, so the apostles had to be obedient to the one through whom the new covenant came, rather than those who represented what Jesus had completed.

The apostles had persevered in the work, even following the warning they had been given previously. There was something more important than good standing amongst men, indeed obedience to God was the most important thing.

Unexpected support

An interesting part of this passage is a man called Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a pharisee on the council, rather than a member of the more politically dominant sadducees. He was a respected teacher of the law, a rabbi, in a prominent school, the school of Hillel. He was Paul’s teacher too, as we discover later in the book of Acts.

He tells the council to let the apostles be, because if God is moving, then you don’t want to be on the wrong side of God! He gives examples of how uprisings with so-called messiahs had died out in the past, either the Romans killed them off or they just came to nought.

It’s amazing how often there can be someone in a place of authority who will have our back. I think that God put Gamaliel on the council precisely for this reason, so that God’s plan would come to fruition, that the apostles and disciples would have continued freedom to preach the word, and to see people coming to know Jesus.

They did not cease to preach that the Christ, the Messiah, is Jesus. The same message that we as a church are going to keep preaching week after week, month after month, and year after year; because that is our example.

Lots to discover in this passage, but a beer changes everything...

It might seem a non-point to some, but this week I went for a beer with Dan. I always enjoy a beer, and I usually enjoy chatting theology with Dan, so it was a good evening, I did enjoy chatting theology with Dan (in case you were wondering!)

Dan raised something that I thought was truly excellent, and really helpful for us as a church, something that I think we all need to take to heart.

The disciples were prepared for this.

The disciples, especially the apostles, had spent three years following Jesus. They had witnessed His death on the cross, and His resurrection. They had known the filling of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus had promised. They had had the scriptures opened up to them by none other than God Himself (Jesus!)

So when it came to being obedient to God’s mission, God’s call upon their lives, they knew what was being asked of them.

How great would it have been to have been a witness to the first-hand teaching of Jesus?!

But also how scary can it be for us today to know what to do with our lives?

Obedience isn’t easy

The apostles gave up everything for the mission of God, even their livelihoods. They relied on God, and through the disciples, God provided.

They went to a place of perceived vulnerability, but even there God provided.

Today

What about us today though, how do we know what being obedient to God’s big mission, looks like in our individual lives.

The disciples throughout Acts prioritised the mission over everything else. They took Jesus’ teachings to heart. They picked up their cross and followed, they let the dead bury their dead, they left family, for the sake of the mission.

I believe the same is necessary upon us today. The mission is, or at least should be, the most important thing in each of our lives after our salvation and relationship with God.

How that is outworked will be different for each of us.

Importantly, scripture is the place to start when it comes to working this out. It is our best resource in understanding the mission as Jesus laid it out, so it should be the first place we go to understand God’s mission.

We need to know Jesus, to know His mission for us, we need to be in the Word. (Come back to this)

So if believers are called to fulfil God’s mission, how do we know where to start with this?

God called you, as you are, and has a plan for your life

You need to ask Him what His plan is for your life, what next step should you be taking, to further His mission in your life?

Perhaps you need to ask, God, how have you equipped me, where do you want me to be for the sake of the mission?

It’s good to consider:

What skills do you have?

Where are you living, or where are you supposed to be living?

What stage of life are you at? (Family, single, with kids, no kids, retired, working?)

All of these things will help you know how the massive mission of God is to be outworked in your life, most importantly though, we must ask God. And we do that in prayer.

Application

So , onto what is probably one of my weaker areas, application. How do we apply this?

In the church today are some of the Christians in our church who have been Christians for a long time. Perhaps some of you guys can tell us about the part that reading the Word, and seeking God in prayer has played in your lives?

Firstly we need to know about the mission, and the one who gave it. We need to know this stuff and the best place to find it is by reading the bible. It is God’s word to us. I want you to join me and Karen as we read and pray together day by day. It’s a short commitment, only 16 days, about 5-10mins a day. We want to discover more about the mission, so we’re going to be reading a chapter of Mark, every morning for the next 16 days. One of us will do a short video each day to share our thoughts on the chapter and put it on a youtube playlist so you can find it.

We need to be in the Word, understanding the mission of God as it’s recorded there. Come with me and Karen as we seek to discover it more clearly therein.

Secondly, we’re going to pray in response to reading each chapter, asking God to make His mission for us that day clear to us, so that we can be obedient moment by moment.

We need to be in the Word daily, and in prayer, daily. This is where we will each discover the mission of God for our own lives, and the lives of those in our family.

Let’s do this!

Pray