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From Judgment to Jubilation
Last week we saw the first attack of Satan from within the church. After God’s swift judgment on Ananias & Sapphira we read that “great fear came upon all the church and all who heard these things.” When God does such things which seem dramatic to us, such as what He did with Ananias & Sapphira or when He performs miracles, it is always with a purpose. In fact these miracles are called a “sign.” A sign is always for a purpose and to point to something.
In the case of Ananias & Sapphira the purpose was to make it clear just how serious God is about the purity of His people. We will see that God had a purpose with miracles as well.
We can observe Three aspects of God’s work in this passage:
I. |
The many miracles – vv. 12-13 |
Acts 5:12
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico.
These miracles were done through the hands of the apostles, but the source for these miracles was God alone. And we notice that these “signs and wonders” were done “among the people.” So they were done in front of the people, and we will see that there was a reason for that. A sign, by its very nature needs to be in front of people.
We can also notice that these believers were once again in one accord. If this does not point out how much value God places on unity, I don’t know what does. God wasted no time in striking down Ananias & Sapphira so that the unity would not be broken in the church. We better not for a second think that God’s judgment—though it may be of a different nature—won’t come upon us. No one person is ever “bigger” than the church—and this includes the pastor.
Acts 5:13
None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.
Here we find a rather odd verse. The question is who are the “they” and the “them.” Some conclude that “them” refers to the apostles and therefore the “they” refers to the rest of the believers. The idea would be that the rest of the believers feared the apostles due to what had just happened with Ananias and Sapphira. But I don’t think that that is the correct way to understand this verse.
| “...the rest” | |
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Romans 11:7
Ephesians 2:3 1 Thessalonians 4:13 1 Thessalonians 5:6 |
Others, and myself included, see the “them” as referring to all of the believers, and the “they” referring to the unbelievers. The phrase “none of the rest” is best understood as referring to unbelievers based on the fact that the words “the rest” are used elsewhere in the NT to denote unbelievers (note the verses in the box to the right).
Now, why would unbelievers be afraid to join the believers? No doubt because they had witnessed or at least heard about Ananias & Sapphira. God’s judgment keeps the church pure. See, it is a grave mistake to not preach about God’s judgment. Too many churches only speak of God’s love and acceptance of people. That needs to be balanced with God’s judgment and lack of acceptance with sin. I truly believe that the reason sin is so rampant in churches today is because people are not preaching the whole counsel of God. If they did then their numbers might go down. Just as the unbelievers did not join these believers, many would not come into churches today. But we must remember that the church by its Biblical definition is to be comprised of “the called out ones.” Missions is to take place outside of the church. Believers are to be equipped inside the church to do the work outside of the church.
*We saw the Many miracles, now notice
II. |
The Many Conversions |
(and really these are miracles as well, for any time one is saved it is a miracle)
Acts 5:14
And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
The result of people witnessing these miracles was that the miracles “confirmed” and substantiated the truth of the gospel which was being preached to them. This was the purpose of God performing these miracles. Keep this in mind because we will come back to this in detail next week.
And it is also interesting to note that despite seeing God’s judgment, many are becoming saved. We just read in v. 13 that the unbelievers would not join the believers. But now many are becoming saved and then joining the believers.
Now allow me to point out something that I have said before, but this is important. These believers were a tight knit community, right? We saw in chapters 2 and 4 that they were being taught good doctrine. That is to say that they were being equipped. Now they are ministering publicly. God is confirming the message they are sharing by working miracles through the apostles. Again this is how the church is supposed to be built. The church was never intended to be the missions ground, but the training ground. The world is the mission ground.
Am I saying that no one gets saved during church services? Of course, not. But the point is that God’s word shows us that missions is to be outside of the church. (cf. 1 Cor. 14 where Paul says “if an unbeliever were to come in.” In other words, he did not expect many unbelievers to be in the church service.) The reason this is so important is because a lot of churches preach sermons every week which are the ABC’s of the gospel. This does not equip the people.
Now I fully realize that this goes contrary to what many of us have been directly taught or what we have learned from observation. But again, I implore you to search the Scriptures and see if this is true. A good starting point would be Acts 1:8. There we see that God told them to carry the gospel outside to the world and not make the church attractive so the world would come inside.
*We’ve seen the Many miracles and the Many conversions now notice:
III. |
The Many healings |
Acts 5:15-16
so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
This is an interesting passage. God’s power was poured out in an amazing way. Now some people thought that Peter was the source of this power. But as we see in v. 12, Peter is merely the conduit, for the power is coming from God. God had told the apostles that He would give them power to do these things (cf. 10:8).
The unclean spirits refer to those unbelievers who were possessed by demons. There are some who say that believers can be possessed by demons, but this is not biblical. Believers can be “oppressed” but never “possessed” by demons!
Also, notice that “they were all healed.” This wasn’t a modern day crusade where many are told that they are not healed because they lack faith.
Now next week please plan to be here. We will be covering the issue of whether or not we should expect these types of sign and wonders today. I really enjoyed studying the issue and I trust that it will be most interesting to you. Perhaps you could even invite people whom you think would be interested in this topic.
| Conclusion: |
| This morning as we speak about miracles it is only fitting that we observe the Lord’s Supper. For had Christ not died for us, there would be no resurrection. If you have trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior then you are invited to join us in our observance of the Lord’s Supper. |
