Viola Solid Rock Assembly
Questions I Ask About Faith
All right, we are back in the book of Acts. I've told on Wednesday night and there's going to be several Sunday nights over the next month or so that I'll be out. I'm not skipping church, I'm not, I promise, but we have several churches in our section that are moving from district affiliated churches to sovereign churches, meaning they're going to have their own board and so in order for them to do that, I have to go and hold a business meeting and they have to vote to do all that. Since the section pastors thought that it would be cool to give me that job, I get to go do that. And all the presubers before me waited, these churches have been at this point for years and they all waited for someone else to do it. So we have a couple, that's where I was last Sunday and I'll be doing that again for, we have four churches, five churches that are moving to that status so I have to go do four more of those meetings. Some of them, it'll be done on a different night but some of them will be on Sunday nights. So I'm not skipping church, I promise, I'm in church. I would rather be here than doing that honestly. But anyways, we're in the book of Acts, Acts chapter five, we're going to try to finish out Acts chapter five tonight and you know, there's a lot of questions, there's a lot of questions answered or asked I would say, maybe prompted at the end of Acts chapter five. Questions about our faith and I want you to remember that the book of Acts is a historical narrative, it's a literary genre all within the Bible, not a gospel, not an instructive epistle, it's a historical account written by Luke and was the account of the miracles and the ministry and the lifestyle and devotions of the early church. And we've seen earlier in Acts that the commitments of the early Christians and the direct involvement of God's hand for the miraculous, for growth, for Christians establishing churches, caring for each other, sharing all things together, they've been accountable to each other and amazing things have happened already in Acts, right? But there are times that when I read parts of the Bible, particularly like the passage we're on tonight, it leads me to ask some questions, questions about my own faith journey, right? My commitment to the Lord, questions about how I'm living out my walk with God in relation to how they did in the early church. If we want to see the miracles that they did in the early church, how do we have to position ourselves? So it makes me ask those questions. I read about the early church leaders and I'm challenged to keep the level of passion and fire as strong for the Lord as they did. So I want us to walk through this text and really try to honestly ask some tough questions. I have a lot to ask, but we're going to focus it on for tonight, four questions. You've got to remember the back story, Jesus empowers and equips the church and the Holy Spirit, they preach the gospel, thousands of people are getting saved, healed and receiving miracles and the community is growing rapidly and they have some really particularly shared devotions. They're devoted to gathering together for meals, together for prayer, studying the scripture, giving and generosity. They love and fear God and they walk. They want to walk in purity and they're seeing miracles happen and people are giving their lives to Jesus and people's lives are radically being changed. They were arrested in Acts chapter four, not by the police nor the Roman officials, they arrested and beaten by the religious leaders. They were told never again, preach the gospel of Jesus. So they kept preaching the gospel of Jesus. So they, and seeing miracles and salvation and even people got healed by shadow, I mean just by walking by and people got healed, then they get arrested again and that brings us to the rest of Acts chapter five, we'll begin in verse 17. You know, after the, the miracles of people getting healed and the religious leaders got so upset again and, and, and as we read about what happens, I'm stuck asking this question, is there a cost for our faith? The high priest in his officials in verse 17 says, the high priest in his officials who were Sadducees were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in public jail. Here's the deal. They were living the good life in their ministry, miracles, salvation, generosity, people are doing great because of Jesus. It seems like everything is awesome. I mean, who wouldn't want to go everywhere they go? Miracles happen everywhere they walk, people are being healed. I want to see that in our church, not so not for any other reason than to say, look what God did. But then they begin to receive persecution, some serious persecution. They begin to get arrested publicly and beatings and threats made against their lives. And you would think that everyone would be excited about getting people getting healed and lives being changed. But the thing about it was the religious leaders, more specifically, the religious attitude or spirit tends to really like its power and doesn't like to have power taken away. And when people start getting healed and things start changing, the religious leaders begin to try to undermine it. And some of you are asking, isn't Christianity their religion? I would argue that the message of Jesus is to have a life-giving and personal relationship with God, not a list of religious habits and practices. It tends to be the corporate expression of people of faith and corporations hate to lose power or market share and God has called you to a personal relationship with Him. And that's what we want to help facilitate here. But the religious establishment did not like what was happening. They were losing people to this Jesus group to the way. The Sadducees were the sect of the Jewish establishment who did not believe in a resurrection. They didn't believe in angels or miracles. I don't know how they couldn't believe in these things. But they didn't believe in any of it. These guys would have studied the Old Testament scripture and they would have seen several times where angels or Jesus would visit men of faith. Their forefathers, so to speak. And yet they didn't believe in it. So bizarre to me. It's so bizarre that they just were like, nah, maybe. And Christians are preaching that Jesus resurrected from the dead and it's still in his steel doing miracles. And an angel shows up and lets them out of prison. It's amazing, right? They got so angry in chapter four that it says they were annoyed. Now they're super angry and had them arrested and thrown in jail again and ultimately beaten. The story is crazy enough, but it leaves me to this question that is serving Jesus really cost me anything. In today's culture and today's climate does serving Jesus cost me anything. Is how I live my life for God risky at all. Does serving God actually cost us anything? More than just a cost us some of our time or on a Sunday, but have we lived it out so boldly that we are at risk to the devil or at risk to a worldly system? Many of us don't want to offend people where we think that persecution is being picked on for standing for God, but I'm talking about actually costing us anything. There are people in the world right now who are risking their lives to say yes to Jesus. I heard about a Hindu man who visited a church recently and is praying about following Jesus because when he says yes to Jesus his family will flat out disown him. There is an evangelist who grew up in a Muslim family in Jordan who when he gave his life to Jesus his strict Muslim family literally put him put out a hit on him like hired a hit man for him to be assassinated because he is preaching the gospel. He had a missionary here just not too long ago who has a hit out on his life by a Muslim group because he is preaching the gospel. I want to mention his name. What does it cost us to serve the Lord? I'm not asking us to desire suffering necessarily, but do you live your life boldly for God in a way that it may be a risk for you. I tell you in my life I've told the Lord many times that he can have it all. And I serve him no matter what it cost me and it's cost me. I haven't been arrested though. I haven't been publicly beaten for serving God. I haven't suffered ridicule. I haven't, my family hasn't disown me at least most of them. God's plans have meant many times that my plans don't get to happen. There's living for God cost you anything. Verse 19 says, "But an angel of the Lord came at night and opened the gates of the jail and brought them out. Then he told them, 'Go into the temple and give the people this message of life.' So at daybreak, the apostles entered the temple as they were told and immediately began teaching. When the high priests and the officials arrived, they convened the High Council, the full assembly of the elders of Israel, and then they sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail. But when the temple guards went to the jail, the men were gone. So they returned to the council and reported the jail was securely locked with the guards standing outside. But when we opened the gate, no one was there, and when the captain of the temple guard and the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end. Verse 25 says, "And someone came and told them, 'Look, the men who you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.' And the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people." So they went and asked them politely, 'Come with us.' It's interesting that God provided for them and still used them after they suffered being wrongfully arrested, and it seems that the apostles and with their physical freedom weren't nearly as important as a spiritual freedom. They could still offer others. Think about this. If you had been thrown into prison for something that was unjust and an angel opened up the prison door, would you stay close enough by the jail that the prisoners could hear you preach to the other inmates? I'd probably get as far away as possible, right? But they weren't concerned about being imprisoned. They would pay the price again and again. It cost them their freedom so what they were on assignment to live out their faith in Jesus with serious passion, no matter the cost. Then they get interrogated by religious leaders, and it leads me to the next question, do we have the right motivation? Do we have the right motivation? Verse 27 says, "When they brought the apostles before the High Council, where the high priests confronted them, we gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man's name." He said, "Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death." Chapter 4, these religious leaders were told the Christians, the apostles, never again preach in Jesus' name or tell others about Jesus as the resurrected Lord. At that time, Peter basically said that it's more important to listen to God than to their threats or advice, and he said, "We can't help but tell others about Jesus in his resurrection." Now they've been arrested again and they're sticking to the same attitude. But verse 29 says, "But Peter said to the apostles replied, 'We must obey God rather than any human authority, we must obey God rather than men.'" You know this whole year, we've been talking about hearing from God and acting out what God is speaking to us, listening for his voice and moving on when he speaks. And the reason is because it's more important for us to be obedient to what God says than what man says. It's more important for us to be obedient to God than what our flesh says. It's more important. I would rather miss it by trying to be obedient to God than to tell God flat out, "No, I'm not doing it." It's more important for me to obey God over anyone else, over everyone else. My obedience to God comes first. With every decision that I make, does it line up with what he told me to do? Do you listen to God more than your flesh? Do you listen to and obey God more than the whims of our culture? Do you want to obey God more than your favorite sin? Do you want to obey God even when your boss is asking you to fudge the numbers or cross a boundary? I truly believe that our primary motivation in life should be centered on, "I will obey God over all others." Think about how simple this is. It will keep us out of a lot of trouble, right? It's hard to obey God and to engage in sin. It's hard to obey God and break the law currently in our country anyway. It's hard to obey God and still do whatever we want in the flesh. It's that our primary motivation for our lives to listen to and obey and follow God. Is that a standard for you? If not, what does it look like to correct that? Jesus said that we must be first, so we need to bring him back to the front. I'm telling you that we stand to have an attitude that says, "Even if I have to stand alone, I will stand with Jesus and follow him." Before we motivated to obey God most of all, the disciples weren't playing. They were not backing down. They then pushed harder. Verse 30 says, "Then 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. So is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him?" When they said this, the religious people are furious. They are mad. They don't want to want to hear it. They need help from a trusted leader. And in this helping, his helping them, he raises another question to them, "Do we trust God in the long haul?" Verse 33 says, "When they heard this, the High Council was furious and decided to kill them. But one member, a Pharisee named Gemma Mill, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while." This is an intro into this character, a brilliant scholar and teacher of the Bible in the Jewish law. He was highly esteemed for decades and actually would be named dropped later by Paul as his mentor and teacher. He said to his colleagues, "Men of Israel, take care that you are planning to do to these men. Some time ago there was a fellow Theteus who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed and all of his followers went in various ways. This whole movement came to nothing. After him at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed too and all of his followers were scattered." Verse 38, "So he presented the 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 God, just in case it is God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God." It's interesting that a Jewish leader and scholar is giving the advice to his own buddies, is so brilliant and can honestly be a helpful reminder for all of us when we're feeling urgency about the latest issue hitting our social media pages or the latest issue that the Fox News is talking about and just say sometimes it's best to let crazy lay. Let it fade away on its own, but it makes a great point. Can we trust that God knows what he's doing and be patient to see the timing of the Lord? His kingdom will stand forever and we can trust that completely. What's happening around us currently seems alarming but may also be temporary like all of our history, but the kingdom of God still stands it and will survive. Can we trust that God of heaven and his eternal work in our lives and make sure we are losing our peace or presence of God because of wrong focus? Do you trust that God knows where he has you and what he's doing in your life in this season? If it isn't, if it isn't, if it is God, then he will bless it. If it isn't God, then he can change the situation. Maybe what you're going through is an opportunity to trust God and to watch God be God and patience will teach that to you. He was giving great insight into helping the Sadducees chill out and let these Christians prove themselves or fade out, by the way, 2,000 years later we still haven't faded out or gone away and God is still doing miracles so he was right. He was right but can you learn to be patient and trust God? Maybe what's happening in your family is an opportunity to trust God and watch God. Maybe what's happening in your job is an opportunity to trust God and watch God move. Do you trust God for the long haul? Do you trust that God is proving himself as we love faithfully for him? And finally, after they were beaten on again and sent away, I'm left asking, do we count in honor to serve God? Verse 40 said, "So they took his advice when they had called the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in name of Jesus and let them go." And verse 41 says, "Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for his name." The apostles suffered a lot for the gospel. More than once in prison, most were ultimately martyred. They rejoiced that God would allow them to be world changers no matter what it cost them. Is serving God really an honor no matter what or is it a burden? Just saying yes to God and notice and excite us or bore us or frustrate us. In good times or in challenging times, is it always an honor to serve the Lord? Absolutely it is. When you have to suffer for his name, it's an honor. When God stretches you out of your comfort zone to give, to give, it's an honor. It's an honor to serve God. When God convicts you of sin and helps you avoid another pitfall, it's an honor to serve the Lord. When relationships have to change, when you stand up for righteousness, even when no one around you will, when you suffer or are ridiculed or shamed or made fun of or persecuted, it is an honor to serve the Lord. It is an honor to serve the Lord. Do we keep it in front? Is it a pleasure not a chore to serve the Lord? Do I thank God for this? Do I thank the Lord for getting to serve? Do I worship the Lord and thank Him for redirecting my plans so that I can walk in his plans? Even if we lose it all to follow Him, it is an absolute honor to serve God. Here's how they lived out loud in verse 42. It says, "And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus." Every day, every day after being told, "If you keep doing this, we're going to beat you in Tholian prison." I's all right. And every day they continued to spread the word because it was more important to be obedient to God than to follow the rules of man. It was more important to them to say at the end of the day, "We did what God told us to do." At the end of the day, I want to be able to stand up and say, "I did what He told me to do." I wasn't always successful, but that's not what He asked me to be. He asked me to be obedient. He asked me to be obedient. Every day that is the Christian experience. We share the good news. It's our honor. It may cost us something. It may cost us our time, our resources, our reputation. But if we obey God, we live for God and we count an incredible honor to follow God and to help others follow Him as well. Can we do that? Can we do that? Do we count as an honor to serve Him? Do we count an honor to serve Him? Do we trust God in the long haul? Do we have the right motivation? Are we doing it for the right reasons? What's our reasons? Is there a cost for our faith? That's everyone that would just stand up. Lord, I thank You, I thank You for Acts, Lord, for the book of Acts showing us the history of the early church, Lord. I thank You for showing us how the early church, they didn't step away, step back or shy away, but Lord, they stood boldly and preached the gospel. They stood boldly and said, "It doesn't matter what others say. It doesn't matter what they do. We're going to serve You." We're going to serve You. Lord, I pray that we help us to be more like the early church and that we model ourselves after them so that we can experience and see the same things they experienced and so with healings and deliverance and miracles. Lord, as we ask the questions, is there a cost to our faith? Is there a cost, Lord? Do we have the right motivations? Do we trust You for the long haul, God? Do we trust You? And do we count an honor to serve You, God? I pray that You help us to live those things out. Maybe you're here today and you say, "You know what, I've got some things going on and I haven't really trusted Him in these things the way that I need to. I'm looking at the temporary and not the long haul in this situation and I need help to trust Him for the long haul in this situation. I need to trust Him to see the whole picture. I want to invite you to come. I want to pray with You. I want to believe with You. This doesn't mean you're a bad person. There are times in all of our lives that we see the temporary and we say, "God, is this really You? Is this what You're doing?" Do we miss the blessings of the long haul? If you're in that place I want to invite you to come, I want to pray with You. Are you counting in an honor to serve God or do you look at it as a burden? When you're serving here at the church, whether it be in kids or worship or whatever it may be, are you looking at it as, "I give the opportunity," or, "Has it become a burden? I want to pray with You. I want to believe with You." Do we have the right motivations? Are we doing it for Him? Are we doing it for other reasons? What are our motivation to serving Him? What is our motivation to serving Him? Have we weighed the cost? Have we weighed the cost? What I just think you right now, I think you right now. If you feel led to come and pray around this altar for whatever the reason may be, if you need God to move in a situation or circumstance in your life, I want to encourage you to move because I want to pray with you. I want to believe with you that God will do it. If you feel led to come and pray for the ones that are here, feel free to do so. Let's gather around. Let's become the Church of Acts. Let's pray and believe with each other that God is going to do something in our lives. I encourage you to move. [BLANK_AUDIO]