Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19970831.htm

ACTS: THE LOCAL CHURCH AS GOD'S AGENCY FOR DISCIPLING MEN
Part VIII: God's METHOD Of Using The Church To Be Salt To Godless Governments
(Acts 4:1-31)
  1. Introduction
    1. The fact that there is spiritual darkness in governmental circles is not a secret anymore. Whether one deals with local school boards, state legislators or national leaders, the issue of wrongs and spiritually anti-Christian ideologie s is commonly discussed by believers.
    2. However, how best to counter this cultural spiritual decay has become debatable among Evangelicals. Some have felt that infiltrating government by force of the ballot box, or by politicizing the Evangelical cause through movem ents like the Christian Coalition or Moral Majority groups is the way to go. Others feel that the Church should go about it individually at the ballot box.
    3. Acts 4:1-31 demonstrates how God used the organized body of believers in the Early Church to be spiritual salt to godless rulerships as follows:
  2. God's METHOD Of Using The Church To Be Salt To Godless Governments, Acts 4:1-31.
    1. While Peter and John were explaining to the crowds how the lame man had been healed by the risen Lord, the theologically anti-resurrection Sadducees who ruled the temple arrested them on the spot, Acts 4:1-3.
    2. When these Sadducees sought an explanation of how the lame man had been healed, Peter took advantage of the situation to explain that the risen Lord whom they had crucified had healed the man, 4:5-10. He also explained that there is no salvation available in any other Person but Christ, 4:11-12.
    3. The boldness by which Peter and John spoke moved these leaders, for they knew these fishermen were not formally trained in rabbinic schools, and thus had no human grounds to speak authoritatively on such spiritual issues. Thus, Peter and John were pegged as having been with Jesus, and Jesus' boldness had apparently "rubbed off" in some way, Acts 4:13.
    4. Thus officially classified as Jesus-folk, and yet the Sadducees finding nothing legally wrong that Peter and John had done in view of their good deed of having healed the lame man, th e temple rulers could only threaten them not to speak in Jesus' name and released Peter and John, Acts 4:14-18.
    5. Peter and John replied openly but respectfully to the godless leaders that their obligation to obey God rather than men indicated that in this case they would have to disobey that prohibition, Acts 4:19-20.
    6. The leaders again threatened them and let them go, having no just cause to punish them, Acts 4:21-22.
    7. Well, faced with the conflict between obeying these human authorities versus obeying God, Peter and John with the other disciples prayed for holy boldness to obey God over men, Acts 4:23-30.
    8. God answered the prayer by shaking the place where they were praying, encouraging the disciples, and filled them with the Holy Spirit to continue to speak boldly in holy opposition to the Sadducees, Acts 4:31!
Lesson: The Early Church, as an organized entity, was the effective spiritual SALT that offset the spiritual apostate leaders, BUT ONLY in the following WAY: (a) its ministers of the Word of God were filled with the Spirit and with the Word of God, Acts 2:4; 4:1; (b) when what they taught was OPPOSED by the godless leaders, so that these leaders took official ACTION against these men, that opposition only put them into a BETTER position to spread the Word, Acts 4:1-2 with 4:7, 8-13; (c) when the godl ess leaders pressed their authority to squelch these men (4:18), the Church leaders relied on their need to heed God over men and opted for civil disobedience, Acts 4:19-20; (d) in facing a painful showdown, the Church leaders gained support from ((a)) othe r brethren (4:23) who ((b)) in turn colectively took the concern to the Lord in prayer, 4:24-30. (e) God then equipped the Church leaders with more power to confront the godless governors, Acts 4:31.

Application: It is thus the responsibility of the Church's leaders to do their job IN the Church, and WHEN or IF it is time for the government to be confronted, GOD will allow events to turn so that, ASIDE FROM THE CHURCH'S INTENTIONAL EFFORTS, a s howdown will arise! Other efforts of manipulating the government as a Church are thus CARNAL and rather ineffective!