Extreme Devotion
Acts 4v1-31
Introduction
I have a friend who wanted help planting a church in a UK city. He spoke to a leader of a church and church planting network in London with a growing number of creative and growing congregations asking for advice and help. What he really wanted was the Londoner to see the need for churches in his city and plant there.
The response he got was 2 fold.
Firstly, he was given various pieces of useful advice. Secondly, he said to him; ‘The cavalry are not coming. You will have to do it.’
God does that. He did that with the first disciples – giving people who didn’t feel ready or prepared to lesd anything the reigns of a church that would eventually span the globe, and he expected them to start with only a few.
God says to us, 'the city that you are in (in our case Sunderland) is your task, your mission. The Cavalry are already here; you are the cavalry! You are my people in this city.' God hasn’t told us of any other plan.
So here is the first of a series of questions. What difference does this mission and task make to you and are you willing to do what it takes to fulfill the mission God has given you?
The problem is very often we look at ourselves, whether individually or as a church, and we think 'We can’t do it, just look at us.' 'I haven’t got what it takes, I am different from these first disciples in so many ways.'
So, what does it take?
Firstly, it takes a Biblical perspective on what church growth looks like.
The context of extreme church
I passed my driving test about 6 months after my 17th birthday. I learned to drive in my Mum and Dad’s Austin Maestro – one of those bizarre shaped cars which was great fun to drive because it didn’t do it all for you, you had to drive it properly or it would just stall. About 6 weeks after passing my test I took my brother to the cinema. The cinema was in a shopping precinct with a large carpark which, I had been told, was private property.
So I had a great idea. Tim, my brother, I felt sure would love a go at drivingthe car. He was 15.
We swapped seats in an empty part of the car park and I showed him the ropes. He drove the car in a straight line for 20m and that was that.. We stopped, went and watched our film and then went home with, so I thought, completely guilt free consciences.
When we arrived home, the first thing my brother did was to tell my Mum ‘Guess what? Pete let me drive the car!’
As you can imagine, the questions flew thick and fast. 'What were you thinking? It is not your car, what authority do you have to let anyone drive the car, let alone a 15 year old. Just you wait until your Father gets home.' (Thankfully he was in Russia at the time!) And she was right, I had no authority either as owner of the car the land or over British law. I had no leg to stand on.
In Acts 3-4, Peter and John are in trouble because God is at work, the church is growing. The real source of the trouble is that they are living under the authority of the God who is working, rather than the establishment who are not!
You can see the source of the trouble in Acts 3. The miraculous healing of a 40 year old man who had been unable to walk from birth, followed by a very challenging explanation by Peter as to how this happened. The authorities are not happy.
In Acts 4v1-22, we see a number of things about the context of seeing churches grow in our cities. In Jerusalem, God is at work in amazing ways, and the authorities don’t like it. This is not unusual. Throughout Acts, and indeed througout church history, when God is at work there is opposition. So, it should not surprise us that if we are to expect and want God to work in significant ways in our cities, building communities of people who are dedicated and devoted to him, living for him and loving those around them as they share the good news of Jesus, then we should expect to experience something of what these early Christians did. They are living for Christ in a context of opposition.
We see in v2 that the Religious leaders, and political leaders of the Jews are troubled and disturbed. Not because the Jesus followers are wierd, obnoxious or offensive people.
‘They were disturbed that Peter and John were claiming, on the authority of Jesus, that there is a resurrection of the dead. ’4v2
The followers of Jesus are disturbing the peace in Jerusalem, they are acting under an authority other than the authority of the establishment.
Lets not forget, this must have been terrifying for Peter and John. They were arrested, thrown in prison overnight, and then brought before the council of all the rulers, elders and teachers of religious law in Jerusalem. And this is not the first time they have come up against this bunch of officials. Only a few weeks previously they had watched as Jesus himself had stood in front of them, only to be condemned to death. On that occasion Peter was running scared, but not now.
The religious leaders, having made their case withdrew to consider their decision and came back with warnings and threats. Silence and suppression was the order of the day.
What is most important is what is going on under the surface, the clash of authorities. God is working through a group of men who are unauthorised by the establishment. They are untrained men but speaking with an authority that has real power, power to do the miraculous and a power that the establishment does not have. And worst of all, these Jesus followers claim their power comes from the one the religious leaders had only weeks previously crucified. Now they claim he was raised from the dead and this resurrection power is what transforms lives.
They also play the religious leaders at their own game, speaking with authority about the Old Testament, quoting from the Psalms. And they claim that salvation is found, not in the teachings of the religious elite of Jerusalem, but in the man Jesus Christ. This clash of worlds is at heart a clash of authority. Ultimately, all opposition to the Kingdom of God is a clash of authority.
So what has happened in Peter and John to transform them from terrified flee-ers into devoted followers, devoted to the extreme? What is the secret of living a life devoted for Christ? What are the ingredients of extreme devotion to Christ?
The ingredients of extreme devotion
1. They were filled with the Holy Spirit (v8)
No surprises here! Acts 2 shows us the power and effect the Holy Spirit had on the embryonic church. The Holy Spirit really did breath life into a valley of dry bones (see 'The Mandate for the Church' and Ezekiel's vision). Peter would no doubt have been nervous, even scared as he stood in front of the council. But in the power of the Holy Spirit, this fear does not control him. Being filled with the Holy Spirit leads to controlling this fear. Infact, the disciples control their fear and speak with authority because of the work of the Holy Spirit in them.
This is important. Fear is normal and natural. Fear of opposition, or of threat as Christians is normal. Fear of being pushed out of our comfort zones in order to grow the Kingdom of God is normal. But fear that is a threat to the work of the gospel is to be controlled not given in to. We need to hear this. If we are going to get out of the hot tub, and walk on hot coals, we need to control our fear.
Not that we don't need looking after, feeding and building up as Christians. Of course we do; this is crucial for any Christian and any growing church. But growth will inevitably mean putting into practice what God is saying. Being filled with the Spirit will mean being stretched to do new things for God that we aren’t always comfortable with. But we must, and can, control that fear.
What is God asking you to do as you grow to be more like him that you are fearful of? What is God asking you to do to make this church more effective at reaching this city with the gospel? Being filled with the Holy Spirit will mean overcoming that fear.
So the first ingredient of extreme devotion to Christ is being filled with the Spirit who conquers fear. We can see three further ingredients as we read on into 4v23-31.
As we mentioned earlier, at the heart of the growth of the church is the question of authority. At the heart of the life of any Christian or church is the question of authority. Whose authority do I stand and live under and is that authority worth standing under?
2. They were living for the ‘name’
The remarkable phrase (to our ears at least) 'in the name' occurs many times in these early chapters of Acts.
In v7 the disciples are asked - ‘By what power, or in whose name, have you done this? And their answer in v10 ‘he was healed in the name of Jesus Christ’ because ‘There is no other name in all of heaven’(v12)
They are then warned not to speak in the ‘name’ of...
So often we end our prayers by saying ‘in the name of Jesus’. Is it some mantra that makes our prayers more effective? Of course not. It is more than just words, it is a statement of our identity and status. And when Peter speaks of the ‘name’ of Jesus he means 'under the authority of'.
In 3v16 he says
‘The name of Jesus has healed this man – and you know how lame he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has caused this healing before your very eyes.’
It is all about status. Peter and John had no authority to heal anyone, but Jesus did. So they operated under his banner. It is like a policeman. When he shows his badge he has authority, but the authority is the authority of the police. Without the badge he is no different than you and me. The badge simply represents or points to the real authority – the policing and legal system which backs him up.
It is the name of Jesus that has authority and power, and Peter now represents Jesus and works in 'his name'
The healing, and indeed this whole chapter is about this authority. The healing itself, as in many other places in the Bible is called a 'sign'. Peter, in v30 prays for ‘healing power and signs and wonders.’
A sign points to something, taking the emphasis off itself, and onto the thing it points too. This healing is all about Jesus, about who he is and what he has done. Peter uses the conversation and controversy raised by the healing to point to the resurrection of Jesus, his authority over death itself.
Who do you live representing? Who does everything your life is about point to? Who are you seeking to live under the authority of? We can and should pray that God would work in mighty ways, but let us get the perspective right. It is about him, not us or a spectacular ministry.
3. They were living as servants.
If we look at Peter's prayer 2 things stand out. The first is how Peter views himself. If Jesus is the Lord, with authority to heal then Peter is simply a servant.
In v29 and 30 Peter doesn’t ask for the threats to be removed. He doesn’t ask to escape. He asks that despite the threats they would have boldness – because that is what being a servant of ‘the name’ is all about. It is not about us, it is about him.
As the great philosopher Bob Dylan and theologian once said
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls.
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Living a life devoted to Christ means a life oriented around him, serving him. The interesting thing is, the actual word Luke uses is more accurately translated ‘slave’ (doulos) rather than servant. It is translated servant because in our culture we associate slaves with the ‘slave trade’ abolished by Wilberforce, a very different beast to the majority of slaves in Jesus day. Many of them were more like a civil servant today. But we get the point - a devoted follower of Christ has given up their rights. They now serve him. In fact, as servant has no rights of their own. Their job is to do the masters business, to obey when asked to do something specific and to seek to make the master happy when their are no specific instructions. And notice too, it is not a demeaning task. Jesus himself became a servant.
Have you handed over the reigns to your life? That is what living as a servant means, and it is what it means for Jesus to be Lord!
4. Having a God who is big enough
Then lastly, lets notice that a devoted follower and servant of Christ has a right understanding of God’s rule. That is what makes ‘Jesus’ name’ so powerful. It is what leads to servants choosing to be servants.
‘O Sovereign Lord, Creator of Heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them...everything you did occurred according to your plan and will.’
God is sovereign. He is ultimately in charge, and will have his way. These first disciples have a big view of God. But their view of God’s sovereignty is never an excuse for lack of activity. In fact, the opposite.
· They pray, together, in unity, bold prayer.
· They meditate on, and believe the scriptures.
· They acknowledge God in all things.
· They commit themselves to preaching boldly.
Is your God big enough? If you spend time investing in the right things, he will be because he is!
So, the ingredients of a life of extreme devotion dedicated to Jesus Christ are clear. We see a group of people who are filled by the Spirit of God so they don’t give in to their legitimate fears. We see people who live for, and declare the ‘name’, the only place salvation can be found. We see people who regard themselves as servants and who serve a God who is big. Do we see them today?
We can and must. Remember, we are the cavalry. We have all we need to serve him. So lets be extreme in our devotion, service and worship - and pray hard that break through in building his church today!