Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

Go, Stand, and Tell 10/26/08

Sermon Series: Acts: Enlarging our Vision

Sermon Title: ‘Go, Stand, Tell’    Sermon Text: Acts 5:12-42

Introduction

ILL: An Amish boy and his father were visiting a city and were in a new mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again. The boy asked, “What is this father?” The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, “Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don’t know what it is.” While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed, an old lady in a wheelchair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them and into a small room. A few moments later, the walls opened up again and a beautiful 24-year-old woman stepped out.  The father said to his son, “Go get your mother.” (Paul Decker)

Are you looking for a miracle? The early church saw the kind of change, that only God could do, in the lives of His people. Needless to say, the Book of Acts is in no way, a dull book. Something seems to be happening in every verse.

This early church, energized by the Holy Spirit, is empowered to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. Acts 1:8 is perhaps the key verse to all of the Book of Acts.

Read: Acts 1:8 ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

Holy Spirit power to be witnesses for Jesus Christ.

If there is a second key verse in the Book of Acts, I believe it is found in our text this morning.

Read: Acts 5:20 ‘Go, stand in the temple courts…and tell the people the full message of this new life.’

Go…Stand…Tell.

·       That’s why we have Holy Spirit power.

·       That’s what we’ve been commissioned by Jesus to do, in order to make disciples of all nations.

·       That’s why we have a very active Kingdom Builders Committee…to support those, like Becky, who Go globally and those like us who Go locally, to Stand and Tell others about the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Yes, I believe Acts 5:20 is key to understanding life, not only in the early church, but life in the church today.

Transition: Open your Bibles to Acts 5:12 (pg. 834 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) For it’s there we’ll discover that we enlarge our vision of God when we Go, Stand and Tell.

I. Acts 5:12-16   The Powerful Presence of God
Read: Acts 5:12-16

Miracles…Miracles were happening all over the place in the early church. And it didn’t matter if you were rich or poor, God was bringing healing to people’s lives.

The Apostles walked with the Holy Spirit and God worked many miracles through them.

Note: According to the text, the miracles were not done by all the Christians…only the Apostles. That’s why the Apostle Paul could write this in 2 Cor. 12:12.

Read: 2 Cor. 12:12 ‘The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles, were done among you with great perseverance.’

‘The things that mark an apostle’ that are specific to an apostle, in other words….are ‘signs, wonders and miracles.’ I don’t want to get into it now because I have already spoken in detail on this subject. But know that the signs and wonders done here in Acts had a specific purpose:

·       they were intended to confirm the ministry of the Apostles who founded the Church

·       and who later would give us the written Word of God, the Bible.

OK, back to the text.

Last week we explored the judgment of God on that early church when 2 members sinned by holding back from God. And that God’s judgment brought about great fear (reverence and awe) in the hearts of God’s people.

This judgment from God, seen in the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, was also the means to cleanse the church of sin…to purify it, if you will.

And what do we see as the result of God’s purification …. power! We should not miss the connection between the purity of the church preserved by God in verse 1-11 and the power of God displayed by the church in verses 12-16.

To that end, let’s, take seriously our Confession of Sin each week during our worship celebration, so we do not tie the hands of the Holy Spirit presence and power in our midst, by our unconfessed sin.

There’s something else I want to look at here, because when I looked below the surface of the text, I saw something that challenged me.

Read: Acts 5:15

There is nothing in the text that says people were being healed by Peter’s shadow. It just says they thought if they let his shadow pass over them they would be healed. So I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the people were looking for the power of God’s presence in Peter’s shadow.

I got to thinking about the faith of the people who did that. The faith was in Peter’s reputation as a godly man. So, in a way, his shadow represented his reputation. And our reputation is another way to speak of the influence we have on others.

ILL: Have ever seen a horror movie and a person is walking in a dark alley and they turn to see a giant shadow on the wall. They scream, only we find out it was a cat?

Well, often a person’s shadow is larger and more far reaching than the person themself. For example:

·       Joe Driscoll was a man whose shadow reached and influenced many lives here at CBC with his love for his Lord and his willingness to serve, even when it was physically painful.

·       Marguerite Leslie’s shadow was one of great grace and commitment to share JC with all who will hear…and with some who didn’t want to hear.

·       Lloyd Crawford’s shadow of love and commitment to Beth influences all husbands who will take the time to look.

·       How does the shadow of your life influence others who see it?

The shadow of our influence can be seen in many ways:

·       In our commitment to Jesus Christ

·       In the values we hold

·       In our attitudes towards each other.

·       In our faithfulness to serve God here at CBC

The text says ‘people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them

as he passed by.’ ‘…as he passed by.’

Peter passed by people, every day. Each of us here, pass by people every day. What kind of shadow are we leaving behind?

Transition: The powerful presence of God was displayed in these early Christians. And God’s powerful presence led to the acceptance of God’s powerful call on their lives.

II. Acts 5:17-24 The Powerful Call of God

Read: Acts 5:17-24

This passage is all about obedience. But the question isn’t to obey or not to obey. The question is whom to obey. Every day the demands of life force themselves upon us. And everyone obeys something or someone. The heart of the Christian’s obedience is the priority of obeying God over every other demand in your life. So the question is…

·       Do you regularly obey God rather than the pursuit of pleasure?

·       Do you regularly obey God rather than your need for acceptance.

·       Do you regularly obey God rather than your quest for success in your career?

·       Do you regularly obey God rather than man?

Obedience, the Apostles were obedient to God and were growing in popularity and in power, at least that’s how the Jewish religious leaders saw it. The Jewish leaders were jealous….and angry. After all, they thought they already handled this situation when they specifically told Peter and John not to publicly talk or teach about Jesus again. But they disobeyed? The nerve of these people…

·       Don’t they know we are?

·       Don’t they understand what we can do to them?

·       Didn’t they learn from what we did to Jesus, their leader?

So, the Sanhedrin put all the Apostles in jail…not just Peter and John. So, it’s night time, the Apostles are in a public jail with a guard from the High Priest’s brut squad just outside the door to their cell. Then…in the middle of the night, an angel comes, wakes them all up, lets them out and gives them this message.

Read: Acts 5:20 ‘Go, stand in the temple courts…and tell the people the full message of this new life.’

Say what? You want us to go back to the very place and do the same thing we were arrested for? Well, at least that’s what I would have said. Good thing I wasnb’t there because the Apostles obeyed the Word of God given to them by the Angel.

We need to understand that being in the jail…was never a problem. It was just another opportunity for God to show His great power. We see all thoughout the Book of Acts that restraint, jail, guards, and handcuffs are no obstacle for God. Do you believe that?

·       Do you believe that God has the power to bring you through the worst of life’s circumstances?

·       Do you believe that God has the financial resources to get you out from under that mountain of debt?

·       Do you believe God has the healing power to save your marriage? Your rebellious children?

·       Do you believe God has the power to make you whole again, after you have been scarred by abuse?

This passage tells us that God has the power to do that…and so much more. 

But….God doesn’t open the prison doors in our lives, just to let us out of our circumstances. He has a much larger purpose…. Proclaiming the full message of your new life in Christ.  In fact this is what the angel told the Apostles when he miraculously let them out of their jail cell. And it’s an odd phrase, only used here in the Bible. It literally means ‘tell the people all the words of life.’

The idea is don’t hold back (remember the holding back of Ananias and Sapphira from last week?) Don’t hold back. Tell them the whole message of the Gospel.

ILL: There was a large group of people. On one side of the group stood Jesus. On the other side of the group stood Satan. Separating them, running through the group, was a fence.  The scene set, both Jesus and Satan began calling to the people in the group and, one by one - each having made up his or her own mind - each went to either Jesus or Satan. This kept going. Soon enough, Jesus had gathered around him a group of people from the larger crowd, as did Satan. But one man joined neither group. He climbed the fence that was there and sat on it. Then Jesus and his people left and disappeared. So too did Satan and his people.

And the man on the fence sat alone.  As this man sat, Satan came back, looking for something which he appeared to have lost. The man said, "Have you lost something?" Satan looked straight at him and replied, "No, there you are. Come with me." "But", said the man, "I sat on the fence. I chose neither you nor him." "That’s okay," said Satan. "I own the fence." (Paul Decker)

There really is no sitting on the fence. You will either obey God or you won’t. There’s no comfortable middle ground.

ILL: The godly missionary Hudson Taylor once said ‘The Great Commission is not an option to be considered, it is a command to be obeyed.’ (James Chapman)

And the Apostles obeyed God. There was no indecision, no fence sitting on their part. The very next morning, in fact it was just a few hours later, they went back to the temple courts and began to teach the people all about life in Jesus Christ. Go, Stand, Tell.

I believe God has a sense of humor, I really do. This text supports that. The scene that comes next is truly comical. Here’s the picture.

·       The guards are standing at strict attention, but they’re guarding an empty cell.

·       The Sanhedrin, the most distinguished legal body in the land, gathers the next morning to make a ruling on the apostles. And one by one the Sanhedrin files in the court room in their formal robes.

·       The bailiff comes up, “The court will now come to order.”

·       A cry goes up, “Bring in the prisoners!”

·       And the bailiff says, “Yeah, about the prisoners. You see we kind of lost them.”

·       What!

This is more fun than watching Judge Judy!  But it gets better. There is a dramatic pause and then someone rushes into the courtroom, and he says,

·       ‘You know there’s a bunch of guys preaching at the Temple, and they bear a striking resemblance to the men you put in jail last night.’

Can you see the humor? More next week.

Conclusion

Let me close with this.

ILL: In Chili there is a tree that provides a cooling shade from the heat of the tropical sun. But, poison sap oozes from it’s bark. People who are unaware often sit under the tree for relief and end up with the severe pain of swollen faces, arms, legs or hands. (Travis Moore)

Is there healing or hurting in the shadow we cast? Let’s pray that our shadows reflect the presence of God as our lives are filled with His Holy Spirit.

Go…Stand…Tell. Is the call of Acts 5 and is the same call on all our lives.

Go: The Apostles had to leave the jail. They had to go where the people were…are so do we. We can’t get comfortable staying here, safe behind these 4 walls. We must go out there to share the Gospel with people who will not come here.

Stand: The angel not only told them to GO, but to STAND. The idea here is to take a stand at a particular place and fulfill your purpose. It’s likened to a commando unit that takes a hill from the enemy and then digs in to fortify their position.

Tell: We are not told to just go and stand…we are told to tell, to speak the whole message of life. Our job is not finished until we have spoken the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need to hear.

So…seek to be a positive influence as you Go, Stand and Tell other about Jesus Christ.

Prayer

Our Father, help us

·       to stop playing at this business of being a Christian,

·       to stop playing church,

·       to stop making it a religious episode once a week in our lives,

but to understand that here in these relationships I just spoke about, in our tie with the living God, is all that it takes to change the world around us.

Help us to understand, Lord, that we are the salt of the earth, we are the light of the world, and we must begin to act that way again. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.