No. You Move (Acts 4)
Psalm 13 song
Call to worship:
pastor bobby owens
Psalm 1
song:
Come behold the wondrous mystery
Historical reading:
pastor michael champoux
Apostles' Creed
song:
Christ or else I die
Confession & Pardon:
pastor brett eckel
Doxology
song:
Speak O Lord
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
No. You Move (Acts 4)
Introduction
Every Thursday I read a weekly newsletter from Dr. Russell Moore. Dr. Moore is the Editor in Chief of Christianity Today. When we lived in Louisville and I attended Southern Seminary Dr. Moore was the Dean of the School of Theology. I took several of his classes including Theology and Ethics. On an even more personal note Dr. Moore was pastoring at the church Bethany and I attended together before I started pastoring so we sat under his preaching every week.
Every week as part of his newsletter Dr. Moore includes a “quote of the moment.” The September 21st newsletter featured this quote by Mark Twain:
“It doesn’t matter what the press says. It doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. It doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. Republics are founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe in, no matter the odds or consequences…When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth and tell the whole world, ‘No. you move.”
That quote may sound somewhat familiar because it was paraphrased in the Captain America comics and films. In fact, I posted the Twain quote online and someone reached out to me and said Mark Twain never said it, that the quote originated from the Captain America comics. I’m not sure either way but in Captain America the quote goes like this:
“Compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, 'No, you move'."
This is exactly what happens in Acts 4 – the Jews are demanding that the apostles compromise. The Jewish leadership is telling Peter and John that something wrong is something right. How the apostles and the early church respond to the mobs and politicians is instructive for us because even though this scene happened 2,000 years ago we still feel pressure to compromise. The demands for the church to compromise have evolved over the millennia but the core principle has remained consistent: the world, the flesh, and the devil persuade and pressure us to compromise on Christian doctrine and ethics.
How does God want us to respond? That is what we see in Acts 4. We will divide our text into 2 sections. In 1993 when Dr. Al Mohler preached his inaugural convocation sermon at Southern Seminary he entitled his sermon, “Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There.” Twenty years later on the anniversary of his inauguration he preached a sermon entitled, “Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something.” We’re going to borrow from Dr. Mohler and those will be our 2 headings – verses 1-22: Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There; and verses 23-37: Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something.
Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There (Acts 4.1-22)
Acts 4 picks up right where we left off 2 weeks ago when Pastor Kevin preached Acts 3. Peter and John healed a crippled man and then preach the gospel, tracing a biblical theology from father Abraham to Christ. The narrative transitions seamlessly from Acts 3 to Acts 4 – as the apostles were still speaking the Jewish leadership arrive greatly annoyed. This scene is reminiscent of the gospels, isn’t it? In the gospels the Jewish leadership are unhinged by the preaching of Jesus and they assumed they handled that problem but now these uneducated common men who had been with Jesus are preaching about Jesus.
So in an effort to silence apostles the Jewish leaders arrest them. They’ve got to get these preachers off the street because Luke tells us that the number of Christians, which was 3,000 at Pentecost, has grown now to 5,000 men (that’s not including women and children). The next day the leadership question the apostles asking them by what power or by what name they healed the crippled man. Verse 8 says that Peter responded filled with the Holy Spirit; that’s our reminder that Peter is not responding out of his own power, wisdom, or courage. The ascended Lord Jesus, who sent his Holy Spirit from the right hand of God the Father, gives them the power to stand in the truth.
And by the power of the Holy Spirit Peter preaches the gospel from Psalm 118.22. The crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus was the stone rejected by the builders, Israel, the old covenant people of God, but in spite of their rejection, Jesus is the cornerstone. The New Testament quotes this passage more than almost any other Old Testament passage. The language of cornerstone and builders should make you think of the temple. The temple is where God dwelt with his people under the old covenant, but the temple was merely a signpost pointing us forward to Christ, who is the true and final dwelling place of God with man; Christ is the eschatological temple (John 2.19-22).
This is good news because God originally created us to dwell with him; in the garden Adam had unfettered access to the one true holy God. But Adam sinned against God and creation fell. Now we’re all born in sin with a sin nature and the result is that we sin. God told Adam the day you eat of the fruit of the tree you will surely die (Gen 2.17). Romans 5.12 says therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin is death.
Because of sin we need to be made right with our holy God. We need the forgiveness of sin; we need cleansing. We need the hope of eternal life because what we have earned is eternal conscious punishment in hell because of our sin. That’s the bad news but the gospel is the good news.
The gospel tells us that the eternal 2nd person of the Holy Trinity – the Son of God – became a man in his incarnation (John 1). Pastor Mike led us in reciting the creed, which tells us the Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary and his name is Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is truly God and truly man and Jesus lived 30+ years and never sinned (Heb 4.15; 1st Pet 2.22). Jesus obeyed God’s Law perfectly making him the only truly righteous person who ever lived.
2nd Corinthians 5.21 says, for our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God. On the cross Jesus died as the penal substitutionary atonement for the sins of God’s people. Jesus was our substitute, who paid our penalty, to atone for our sins. Jesus’ death paid our penalty, cleansed our guilt, and imputed to us his righteousness.
And after Jesus paid death’s penalty he was released from death because death had no right to hold him – he is sinless! On the 3rd day the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead and 40 days later he ascended to the right hand of God the Father almighty. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. This message is called the gospel and it demands a response. You must repent and believe.
To repent means to confess that you are a sinner and turn away from your sin. To believe means to place your faith in Jesus alone. Faith begins with knowledge – everything I just explained to you about God’s holiness, your sin, and the person and work of Jesus. You know everything you need to know to believe in Jesus. Faith also includes assent. You must assent to the validity of these truth claims about God’s holiness, your sin, and the person and work of Jesus. You must affirm and not deny this message.
But there are even some who have knowledge of the gospel and assent to the gospel that do not have faith. In fact James tells us the demons have knowledge and assent (Jas 2.19). What the demons don’t have and what you need is trust. You must transfer your trust to Jesus Christ alone. Trust is the final and key element of faith. Trust in Christ means to bet your life, death, and life after death on the promise that if you confess your sins Jesus is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1st John 1.9).
That’s the message Peter preaches and the Jewish leadership don’t like it so they demand of the apostles they no longer speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” The Jewish leadership mandated the apostles compromise; the Jews demanded that the apostles say something wrong is something right, but through the power of the Holy Spirit Peter and John respond, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” We too will feel pressure to compromise on the gospel. The unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil will entice us or even demand that we compromise on Christian doctrine and ethics. For 2,000 years Christians have been pressured at different times and in different ways to compromise – to say that which is wrong is right – and it is no different for us.
And it is our responsibility, in obedience to King Jesus to stand there. When we are enticed or demanded to compromise on the exclusivity of the gospel, or Jesus’ command to love our neighbor regardless of what our neighbor looks like or believes, or the sanctity of human life from the point of fertilization, or issues of sexuality, identity, and gender. When the world entices you to love your money too much or to equate American politics with the kingdom of God. Regardless of how you’re tempted to compromise obedience to Christ, the temptation will come, and as a follower of Christ you must plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth; the living water.
Pastor Bobby read from Psalm 1 in our call to worship. You’ll remember Pastor Zack preached the gospel from Psalm 1 back in August. Psalm 1 says of the blessed man that his
delight is in the law of the yhwh, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers (Ps 1.2-3).
When the world, the flesh, or the devil entice or even demand that you compromise your Christian convictions, it is your duty to stare them in the eye and say, “No. You Move.” Don’t just do something; stand there.
Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something (Acts 4.23-37)
But by the same token we must not just stand there; we must do something. Or maybe a better way to say it is we can only stand there by doing specific things and that’s what we see in verses 23-37. How are the apostles and the early church able to stand on their Christian convictions in the face of ostracism and persecution? What does the ascended Lord Jesus give us to help us stand on the gospel and orthodox doctrine? The answer we see in verses 23-37 is prayer (friendship with God) and the fellowship of the church (friendship with brothers and sisters).
Prayer
The first way to stand on the gospel is prayer. Prayer is how we talk to God. God speaks to us through his Word and prayer is how we speak to God. Prayer reveals our dependence on God. It is one half of our relationship with God and here the Scripture shows us that the early church were able to stand in the face of persecution because, first and foremost, they relied on God.
We should note that here the church is praying together. Individual prayer is important but it is imperative that we pray together as a church. You can’t pray with the church if you’re never at church. Don’t deprive yourself of this means of grace God has given to help you withstand the trials and tribulation of our broken world. You need the prayers of the saints and you need to pray with the saints.
And when it comes to your individual prayer life, if you want to grow substantially, study the prayers in Scripture. I want to point out 2 principles from this prayer in verses 24-30 that will benefit your prayer life. (1) Notice the early church prayed Scripture: a substantial portion of the prayer is quoting from Psalm 2.1-2. In August, you’ll remember Pastor Brett preached the gospel from Psalm 2; in Acts 4 the early church prayed Psalm 2.
So many of us have been trained in Low Church so we’re adverse to written or scripted prayers. We tend to feel like prayer is only genuine if we speak extemporaneously – if we speak from the heart, in the moment. And there’s nothing wrong with that but when that is exclusively how we pray, we barley scratch the surface of the depths of prayer. There are so many beautiful, thoughtful, orthodox prayers in Scripture and from church history in books like the Valley of Vision or the Book of Common Prayer that glorify God and are good for you.
There is nothing better than praying Scripture. When you pray extemporaneously, it may be genuine but it can also become stagnant or worse, you could say something sinful or heretical. When you pray Scripture, you know everything you’re saying is glorifying to God and good for you because it is the inspired Word of God. Pray the Lord’s Prayer; expound upon it with your own words or just offer it as a prayer to God word-for-word.
Pray the 10 Commandments, repenting of your sin. Pray through the Apostle’s Creed. Pray through the psalms, rephrasing each verse and rephrasing them in your own words. It is good for you to pray the Bible.
(2) Notice in the prayer the early church praised God before they petitioned God. They don’t petition God until verse 29; everything before is praising God for his sovereignty and the gospel. Then they petition God for boldness to speak the gospel. Jesus does the same thing as he taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer – he praises God in the 1st half of the prayer and petitions God in the 2nd half. When we pray we should begin with praising God and then move to our petitions.
The Fellowship of the Local Church
But it is not only prayer that helps us to stand in our orthodox convictions, Christ also gave us the fellowship of the church to help us stand in the gospel. Acts 4.32-37 is a bit of a recapitulation of Acts 2. You’ll remember a few weeks ago when we looked at Acts 2 and discussed the fellowship of the early church. Fellowship does not refer merely to coffee before a Bible study or a church meal. Fellowship is deeper and wider than that.
Even though the word fellowship isn’t used in this pericope the idea is the same as Acts 2. Fellowship is the Greek word κοινωνίᾳ, which means, “an association involving close mutual relations and involvement.” It is the picture of a group of rowers all rowing in the same direction. Fellowship means we’re all working together toward the same goal; all of our lives are headed in the same direction and we’re helping each other along the way. We are all sojourning to the eternal city and fellowship means we’re doing everything we can to get each other there.
This is one of the reasons Christ gave us the gift of the local church. This is why coming to church every Sunday should not be viewed as optional in your home. Going to church is a matter of life and death. The church, the community of the gospel, the saints, the body of Christ, the gathering of God’s people strengthen you to stand in the gospel. The world, the flesh, and the devil will entice you or even demand you cave on your Christian convictions but you have a family of people here who are in this with you. We encourage one another; we rebuke one another; we strengthen one another; we laugh with one another; we cry with one another; we help one another; we carry one another; we pursue one another.
Notice also in verse 23 Scripture says that the apostles went to their friends. The Greek literally says they went to their own. We often use family language here at church – church family, brother, sister, etc. – and that is good and true, but we are also friends. Listen to this C.S. Lewis quote about friendship:
“Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one."
We may have different backgrounds, opinions, interests, but what we share in common in the most intrinsically true reality in all existence – the gospel of Jesus. The gospel is the “you too?” that we all have in common and that is a gift from God.
In Acts 4 the early church is praying for each other and providing for each other. Throughout church history fellowship has looked different but the consistent reality is that the church is there for one another. We need each other. We are the family of God; we are the body of Christ; we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. You don’t stand a chance on your own but the good news is you don’t have to battle the world, the flesh, and the devil alone. Christ gave us the church.
Conclusion
And the harsh reality is that the world is going to continue to persuade us and pressure us to compromise on Christian doctrine and ethics. Whether it is to deny the divinity of Christ, to compromise on a biblical sexual ethic, or the persuasion to worship your money, until Christ returns, the world, the flesh, and the devil are perpetually working to convince us that something wrong is something right. When the world tries to entice us or even demands that we compromise it is our duty through prayer and the fellowship of the church, to the glory of God, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to plant ourselves like a tree, look them in the eye and say, “No. You move.”