Acts 4: 23 – 31
What do you do when you’re worried by something? When something has shaken your confidence? Perhaps you’re a ‘get straight back on the horse’ kind of a person, or maybe you prefer to build back up to something more slowly? Do you stop and reflect on whatever has shaken you? Do you talk it over with others? As Christians we probably know our first response should be to take it to the Lord in prayer. But if you’re like me, I often forget to do that until after I have come up with some apparently clever solution to fix them problem. But here in today’s passage we have a powerful example from the fledgling church of what to do with worry and set-backs – take it to the Lord in prayer.
In the preceding section of Acts chapter four, we see the empowered and confident Peter and John continuing the healing and preaching ministries done in the name of Jesus. The chief priests and leaders are annoyed, and follow the same violent and wicked path they took against Christ by threatening the disciples. Their famously defiant reply is ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ In this we see something of the transformation that has taken place in Peter and John, who ran and hid themselves at Jesus’ death only a few weeks earlier. The work of the Spirit has given them great boldness. But I don’t think that boldness is untempered by a little worry at the threats. The section we’re looking at today is, in my bible translation at least, sub-titled ‘the believers pray for boldness’. Those without at least a little worry might not be moved to ask for boldness.
So, what do they do with their worry – that is, how do they pray? And what might we learn for how we might bring our worries and set-backs to the Lord in prayer?
They begin by reminding themselves and proclaiming something of who God is. “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them”. The one to whom they, and we, pray is ruler and creator of the whole world; both that which we see upon the earth, and that which is unseen in heaven. He is Lord of all, including the situation we are in. How remarkable! Our prayers fall upon the ear of one who truly has the power and authority to aid us.
In our prayers, do we believe this? Do we pray to God knowing him as Lord of all, or do we view him as merely Lord of us? May knowing his power and authority give us confidence and hope.
They also proclaim that God is a God of promises which do come to pass. In recalling the words of David in Psalm two and connecting this to their own situation they remind themselves that the God who was acting in the heroes of faith in the past, is the same God in their present, and is in control now as then.
Do we believe this for ourselves? Do we see God as active in the world? I know I can be tempted to reduce him to some kind of spiritual guide active only in me. But we must remind ourselves that he is also Lord over the world and our situations, and is active now just as he has been throughout the stories of Scripture.
Having recalled to whom they pray, the believers now turn to ask for help. They pray for three things: to speak the gospel with boldness, to see God heal, and other signs and wonders to be done through the name of Jesus. In essence this is a continuation of the ministry of Jesus, and shows us that although he is no longer present in body, Christ’s redemptive mission continues through his church.
Their prayer is met with the awesome power of the Holy Spirit filling them and the place they are gathered, enabling the believers to continue speaking the word of God with boldness. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time they are filled with the Spirit, reminding us that this is something we must continually ask God for too – to empower us with his strength by the Holy Spirit day by day.
The believers’ prayer here sees them acknowledging that they are only a part of God’s eternal plans, but that they do have a part to play. They also see that they must trust in him to equip them, and equip them he does.
From this passage there are many questions we could ask ourselves in whatever worrying or challenging situations we might find ourselves in:
How much do we merely ask God to be helping us in our plans, rather than looking to see ourselves in his plan?
Do we believe God will equip us for what we need? It is all too easy to forget his faithfulness in the past. May we recall his steadfastness, and remember our need of returning to him for strength, for joy, for peace, for whatever we need in our present situation.
Perhaps we won’t face threats of violence from rulers for speaking truth, proclaiming the gospel’s hope, and seeking healing and restoration for the powerless and oppressed. Although perhaps that might seem uncomfortably familiar. However closely we feel our struggles and worries mirror those of these first believers, may our response be the same – taking our worries and needs to the ruling and creator God, who speaks and works now as he has in the past, and who equips us by the Holy Spirit to continue preaching the gospel and enacting the restorative ministry of Christ.
Let’s pray together:
Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, thank you that you have been working for good and against evil throughout history, and that you continue to do so today. In the face of whatever trials confront us, may we and the whole of your global church, be filled with your Holy Spirit to speak gospel truth and see you heal and restore. Through the name of your holy servant Jesus, we pray,
Amen.