A Militant Church

Acts 5:12–42 ESV

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

Scripture: Acts 5:12-42

Sermon Title: A Militant Church

           Back at the beginning of Acts chapter 4, you may remember the apostles Peter and John spent a night in jail because the Jewish religious leaders were “disturbed.” I want us to be clear about that—most of the “authorities” or “leaders” we read about the early church butting heads with were religious leaders, who at that time claimed certain legal power and authority. These were not government officials or soldiers as we think of law enforcement today. If we go back to when Jesus was on trial, remember the Sanhedrin, these same people, were the ones who captured and tried Jesus, but then to execute him, they brought him to Pontius Pilate, the political ruler. 

So in chapter 4, after listening to Peter, it doesn’t seem they gave any further punishment or sentence. But they did warn the apostles “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” Peter and John’s reply, Acts 4:19-20, was, “‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’”    

           Peter and John weren’t bluffing. It wasn’t just that they had adrenaline pumping through their veins from of a sense of injustice, but then went and hid quietly for the rest of their lives in fear. No, they continued to publicly preach and minister. This is what they were called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do.  But as they continued in their ministry, persecution against the early church would also continue in Jerusalem and beyond.

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, can a Christian fight? If I had all of us write down our answers, I think we’d have a variety of responses—yes, no, maybe, not sure. If I gave you a second question, what type of fighting comes to mind, we’d probably see some patterns emerge among those answers. As children, most of us were probably taught not to fight. Sometimes parks or roller-skating rinks have signs posted clearly stating, “No fighting.” In school, there was always a strict punishment for fighting. I can still hear my mom and my grandmas’ voices telling me and my brother not to fight, usually we ignored them. All this tends to be focused on physical violence. 

As kids, we’re told not to fight, but then there are people making thousands and millions of dollars fighting for sport. Whether it’s organized wrestling or wrestling that follows a script, judo, Muay Thai, boxing, MMA in the octogen—people are people who train for and make a living out of fighting each other, at times resulting in serious injury, even death.  Just like movies show a crowd gathering around and cheering for 2 kids fighting on the schoolyard, so young people and adults continue pay and get excited about watching official fights.

Can a Christian fight, though? I don’t think God desires for his children to fight each other or others with rage or anger, seeking to injure or inflict pain on another person, or take pleasure in watching others be violent. By no means have I been perfect in regard to these things, but we ought to be careful.  But maybe some of us didn’t think of that fighting, we thought of fighting in a country’s military, fighting with words, or fighting against injustice. 

Fighting can take many forms, some which seem more righteous than others.  In some ways, our passage is about a fight: the Sanhedrin, this group of the high priest, the Sadducees, and the full assembly of Israel’s elders, versus the apostles, these men who led and represented the church. The Sanhedrin’s goal, what they fought for, was to put an end to the church and to this Jesus gospel message. For the apostles, and we ought to follow their lead, they fought with the Holy Spirit to bring people to believe in Jesus and to be obedient to God.

So our first point this morning asks the question, whose side are you on? As we’ve been studying the book of Acts, we’ve witnessed the summary in verse 14, “More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” The church was already numbering into the thousands, and this led to “jealousy.” That was why the apostles were arrested this time. 

The high priest and all his associates were jealous. That’s not how things started, though. If we go back to Luke chapter 2, not only do we find the account of Jesus’ birth but also of his staying back at the temple when he was 12 years old. At the temple he was “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” It sounds like the Jewish religious leaders maybe thought this kid Jesus was going somewhere; their amazement doesn’t show any negativity, any anger. 

As Jesus grew up, he hadn’t followed the typical track to be a Jewish rabbi, but he began to minister anyways.  In Luke 5 verse 17 we read, “One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there.” We don’t know whether some of them had been at the temple almost 20 years before or heard about him; their initial thoughts were simply that he spoke blasphemy. They tested Jesus and his disciples, and just a chapter later, we find they “were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus…[and] were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.” The tension with the apostles in Acts 5 had started 3-4 years earlier. Just as these leaders had watched Jesus draw crowds, these men were continuing that. The Jewish leaders wanted their influence, their following back; they wanted the Jews on their side.

But the apostles were also jealous of having people come to the faith that they professed. The gospel is presented over and over again in Acts. Miracles were performed, people were healed, no one was turned away. We must see, though, that the righteous jealousy of the apostles is rooted in God’s jealousy for those he loves and who he has saved. Back in Exodus 20 verses 4 and 5, God declared, “You shall not make for yourself an idol,” a statue, an image of a false god or any type of deity, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...” When God called Israel out of Egypt and was leading them to the Promised Land, he made them his own. They were his. They were not to replace him with anything or put anything beside him. God wanted all of them. If they went away from him, he’d remind them, he’d call them back to repentance and worship. He would not let them go.

That wasn’t just true for the Old Testament Israelites, the ancestors of the apostles. God’s jealousy, through Jesus, continues for the church. If you are a believer, God wants you. He has claimed you; you belong to him. God doesn’t say, “I want you until the next best person comes along, and then, sorry, I’ll forget about you.” No, he’s continually jealous, deserving and wanting the love, obedience, and worship of his children. He wants us on his side.

Knowing and remembering that God is a jealous God, shouldn’t we be jealous for his other children? I mean that not just for those who claim to believe in him already, but also everyone else. Those who God may have claimed, though they may not yet know it. This is why evangelism did not stop when the apostles were told. “‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name.’” When they heard that, what did they say, “‘We must obey God rather than men!’” “God told us we had to do this.” Notice how in verses 30 through 32, the apostles are preaching to the Sanhedrin. Maybe more of them will come to know the truth, maybe the Holy Spirit has more work there. The apostles were persistent. The Sanhedrin ordered them again “not to speak in the name of Jesus,” but what did they do? “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” 

Brothers and sisters, God is jealous for his own, and we ought to be as well. It is to be our joy, our habit, our fight to make sure that others know the way to the only Savior. We must know and every person must know that there are the sides of those who are saved by believing in Jesus, solely because of his sacrifice and obedience, and those who are not saved. There is God’s side and there is eternal punishment’s side—whose side are you on?

We move on now to our second of just two points this morning, and this takes us from being among the crowd, from being spectators, to being in on the action—how are we to fight? Louis Berkhof, a well-known Dutch-American theologian who was active in the first half of the 20th century, wrote, “The Church…is a militant Church, that is, she is called unto, and is actually engaged in, a holy warfare…She is duty bound to carry on an incessant warfare against the hostile world in every form in which it reveals itself, whether in the Church or outside of it, and against all the spiritual forces of darkness. The Church may not spend all her time in prayer and meditation, however necessary and important these may be, nor may she rest on her oars in the peaceful enjoyment of her spiritual heritage. She must be engaged with all her might in the battles of her Lord, fighting in a war that is both offensive and defensive.”

When I talk about how we as believers fight, I’m not talking about fighting with fists or guns nor with biting words trying to shred our opponents. Our fight is proclaiming the good news, sharing the reality that we don’t long for anyone to suffer without the opportunity to hear and believe in Jesus. This is an act of obedience to God, and yet we also must understand that being obedient to the Lord may mean some suffering. Acts 5:19-20, “But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. ‘Go, stand in the temple courts…and tell the people the full message of this new life.’” This was the second time some of them had been in a jail cell for the same offense. Now, God was setting them free to go do it again. 

What are the chances that things would change? Sooner or later they would be thrown back in jail or worse. John Calvin comments, “This is the end of their deliverance, that they employ themselves stoutly in preaching the gospel, and provoke their enemies courageously, until they die valiantly. For they were put to death at length when the hand of God ceased, after that they had finished their course.” In a similar mind, Derek Thomas writes, “The state may properly pass laws that may cause us some pain and discomfort, but if it forbids us to carry out what God requires, or encourages what God has forbidden, some form of civil disobedience, with acceptance of its penal consequences (showing...we recognize the God-given authority of civil government), becomes inescapable… [The apostles] saw themselves as people of the cross, prepared to suffer for the sake of righteousness.” Most of them died for the ministry God called them to.   

How are we to fight for the gospel against those in or claiming authority? In the New Testament, we find several calls to submit to governing authorities.  Romans 13:1-7 as well as 1 Peter 2:13-17 are good places to look. Hear 1 Timothy 2 verses 1 through 4, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” On the one hand, pray for those who have authority. Pray that they would govern and put into place conditions that allow for gospel living and freedom from tyranny. 

The Belgic Confession Article 36 states, “We believe that because of the depravity of the human race, our good God has ordained kings, princes, and civil officers. God wants the world to be governed by laws and policies so that human lawlessness may be restrained and that everything may be conducted in good order among human beings…[The civil rulers] should [exercise authority] in order that the Word of God may have free course; the kingdom of Jesus Christ may make progress; and every anti-Christian power may be resisted. Moreover everyone…must…obey [the government’s representatives] in all things that are not in conflict with God’s Word, praying for them that the Lord may be willing to lead them in all their ways and that we may live a peaceful and quiet life in all piety and decency.” Christians are not called to fight just because we’re stubborn or anxious or we like to be argumentative or we’re bored. No, any fight we take up for Christ’s cause against what a ruler has declared or enacted must be if their words or actions are in conflict with and prohibiting us from living out God’s Word.

If authorities were to declare here as they have in other places around the world, get rid of your Bibles, they’re illegal;  or stop meeting for worship and preaching and study, that’s illegal; or don’t try anyone else about Jesus, it’s wrong and illegal to evangelize, then we must fight. Those laws and decrees are not of God, despite it being true that God has put them in place. We can see throughout the Bible people being allowed to stand against governments—the Hebrew midwives in Pharaoh’s day, the prophets all throughout the Old Testament, Daniel praying to God, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not bowing to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. Peter wouldn’t give up, Stephen wouldn’t back down, Paul would stand for the truth.

How Christians fight may look different. It may be that we seek to change policies or rulers’ minds. It may mean that we ignore and break the law when it comes to these types of proclamations—even if it were illegal, we would keep our Bibles and keep meeting for worship, and continue telling others. But all the while, we know that we may endure punishment for this.

In those trials, we take our encouragement from Jesus, our Savior, who willingly suffered at the hands of those who were wrong. We can be encouraged by these apostles. When they left the Sanhedrin, they left “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” If we are to fight for the name of Jesus, fight for the kingdom, for the message of salvation and truth, suffering may be the cost. Let us be convinced though that suffering is worthwhile. We’re not to be sad or to ask others to take pity on us. No, for Christians who are persecuted, we can pray for justice, we can pray for godly wisdom to change the hearts and infiltrate leaders who have worked against God. As hard as it may be to comprehend, we can also pray for the encouragement and the joy of believers who are persecuted.

David writes in Psalm 27, “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 46 begins, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...” In thinking about the fights that every Christian is engaged in, let us be aware of our enemies. At times, it seems to just be leaders, rulers, just as the apostles faced the Sanhedrin who wanted to put an end to them. Many Christians over the centuries have faced governments or militia forces or terrorist groups trying to turn them from professing Christ. At times it’s the spiritual warfare against that which we cannot see, but we know is there.  We fight against the lies of the devil, and his attempts to get us to doubt God and his goodness and love. 

In those times we’re reminded of the words of the psalms and words that continue to be sung today in contemporary songs like Chris Tomlin’s “Whom Shall I Fear”—“I know who goes before me. I know who stands behind. The God of angel armies is always by my side.” Yes, persecution may come. Yes, arrest or harm or even death may happen because of our faith. But may we as part of the Church never stop fighting with God by our side. Let us stand up for that which brings him honor and glory, so that we and others may know his love. Amen.