1 What to do at a roadblock Acts 4:23-31 Intro How do you respond to setbacks in life? What do you do when you ve made plans, you re working towards something and then you hit a road block. It becomes clear that whatever you re doing won t work? Are you one of those people who loves to quote Thomas Edison I have not failed. I ve just found 10,000 ways that won t work. You remain positive, you keep going. Or are you a bit more cynical? Do you prefer this quote: optimism: not always the best option. You hit a setback and you think, maybe I m on the wrong path, it s too hard, I should just give up. How do you respond to setbacks? It s an important question because as much as the Christian life is full of joy and blessing it s a beautiful thing being a Christian, knowing God, being part of his family as much as that s true, in our journey of faith will have all sorts of setbacks and difficulties. Paul says in Acts 14 we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. We ll find that people don t like the fact we re Christians. Some people will try and convince us to give up our faith. Or at least stop taking it so seriously. Or just stop talking about it. We might go through seasons of doubt, where God seems distant. Where we want to believe but it s a struggle. We might face long term, chronic illness as the apostle Paul did. We might lose our jobs or our homes as Christians in the middle east have recently. Our families might stop talking to each other. We can face all sorts of setbacks and opposition, but the question is, what will happen to your faith? How will you respond. We ve come to a bit of a turning point in the book of Acts. For the first 3 chapters things have been going from strength to strength. The church is growing it seems like every time one of the Apostles gets up and speaks, a couple of thousand people are added. They re confident, they re sharing all they had, people are being healed it seems like everything you could ever want for a church was there. Imagine if our church was like that imagine if after I spoke this morning, 5000 people joined St Stephens, and lines form in front of Guy and Francois because people are desperate to empty their bank accounts into the church s fund. We d be on a high, buzzing and that s what s happened to the church in Jerusalem. But in chapter 4 things go south and for the next few chapters we see significant setbacks. Christians are thrown into prison, there s lying, people are assaulted and one Christian the one who leant his name to our church is killed. And so this passage is really useful to us because it shows us what a church full of the HS does when things get tough. It shows us how authentic faith responds when life gets hard. So I ve called this talk what to do at a roadblock. And I want to draw out two things from what we see here in Acts 4. 1. Authentic faith means setbacks drive you towards God, rather than away from him 2. Authentic faith means your prayers become a conversation with a friend 1. Authentic Christianity means setbacks drive you towards God rather than away from him State: When you have an authentic faith in Jesus, setbacks and difficulties will move you towards God. It s like the first time you go swimming at the beach. Do you remember that? I remember I was a bit nervous, I d never experienced the ocean before but my Mum took me out and she said, don t worry about
the waves, just hold on tight. When a wave comes, just hold onto me you ll be fine. And I remember as we went further out and the waves got bigger I held on tighter and tighter. I moved closer to my Mum. Look at what the church does in verse 23 when they face their first wave. Look at verse 23. 2 23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. They ve just been threatened by a very powerful group of people with the law on their side. What do they do? I. Stay connected to one another Firstly, they stay connected to each other. Peter and John come back from prison and they share their experience with the church. They bring it to the community of believers. It s important for us to notice this because there s so much pressure in our society, especially on men, but it s on everyone to keep your problems to yourself. Put up and shut up. No one wants to hear about your issues. Stop crying, it s embarrassing. You ve gotta be a rugged individualist, model yourself on Clint Eastwood squinting out at the desert, burying the hurt deep under layers of rage. And I think Satan loves this message. There s nothing he d like more than to separate us from one another. To make us think that we re alone. I ve got a friend who grew up as a Christian, he and his family were part of a church in country NSW and when I met him he seemed really passionate about God. And when he was at home with his church he seemed to have this really strong faith. But when he got to university and he was surrounded by friends and professors who were indifferent or even hostile to his faith he started struggling. He started to have doubts, really serious doubts. And eventually he stopped calling himself a Christian and he s now a very outspoken atheist. I don t want to minimise his doubts I don t know the details but that was part of the problem. He didn t tell anyone he was struggling. I had no idea he wasn t coping until it was too late. He kept it all to himself. But what we see in the Church, authentic Christianity is not rugged individualism. We don t follow Clint Eastwood. It s not every man and woman for themselves. We follow Jesus and Jesus said weep with those who weep. That s our calling. Paul says when we bear one another s burdens we fulfil the law of Christ. It s part of being a genuine Christian, that s why Peter and John tell the church what s happened. God has brought us into a community, into a family because he knows we need connection. We need friendship. And by the way, my prayer for us as a church, and for our connect groups is that we would be a place of refuge for one another. That we would be a place where people feel they can be honest about their struggles, and their doubts. Let me encourage you, if you are having doubts to share them. Let s not be a place where people present this image of a perfect life with no rough edges or lose ends. That s not what church should be.
3 God has given us this community because he knows we need it. But more than that, he s promised that he ll be here. This is where he is, among his people. II. stay connected to God. Second thing to notice about this passage is that after Peter and John tell the church what has happened, the whole church responds by going to God in prayer. As the wave hits them, as they face opposition. They grab onto him. Sometimes we hear from people who ve gone through suffering saying where was God when I was in hospital? Where was God when I lost my job? Where was God when my daughter was being bullied at school? I thought he cared but he let me go through this horrible experience. It s a natural response to suffering. Where was God? And some well-meaning Christians seem to think, well, Christians aren t allowed to complain. We have to see suffering as good. we re to count it joy when we re opposed. Rejoice always, again I say rejoice. They ve got lots of verses. You can t complain. But look at the response of the Church to Peter and John s imprisonment. They say, God you are in control, you are sovereign, you allowed Jesus to be killed and we re being threatened by the same people who killed him, make us bold and perform signs again. Can you see the subtext? Can you hear the emotion? God, we re afraid, do something! Reassure us. Show us you re still with us cause right now it seems like things are out of control. They don t hold back their emotion. Like many other places in the Bible, their prayer is actually much closer to complaining than we sometimes feel uncomfortable with. Can you say that to God? Can you be that honest? Yes. You can. The Christian response to suffering is never asking questions. It s where are you God? What were you doing when you let this happen? Who are you God that this is part of your plan? It s Jesus words: my God my God, why have you forsaken me? It s a subtle difference but it makes all the difference. Instead of complaining about him, we bring our concern to him. Instead of bottling it up, we tell him. Because as we do it drives us to look for the answer. We start searching through what God has said, and what we know about God and what God has done in the past, and where he s taking the future. As the wave washes over us, we grab hold of him all the more tightly. We go and speak to him. And that brings us to my second point. 2. Authentic Christianity means your prayers become a conversation with a friend What do I mean by that. I don t mean it s about being overly casual. It s not like you can tell Bob s faith is the real deal because when he prays he says g day mate. I mean prayer is relational. Look at what the disciples don t pray. They don t pray a shopping list. Don t pray, dear God stop the Sanhedrin in their tracks Don t pray, dear God don t let any of us go to prison ever again
4 Don t pray, dear God just give us super human courage It d be fine if they did. Nothing wrong with that. Jesus encourages us to ask for what we need. But the way the disciples pray here shows that they have a deep relationship with God. They pray according to his will. When I was a kid I spent a month praying every day for a remote controlled car. I wanted it so badly and I was sure that if I just prayed hard enough, God had to give it to me. And then when I didn t get one I was upset, but a while later somewhere I heard someone explain, you have to ask according to God s will. And I thought, oh, I ve never done that! And so I prayed God please give me a remote-controlled car, according to your will. And still nothing. And a little while later someone at church said, we have to pray in Jesus name. And I thought there s the problem! So I prayed, God, please give me a remote-controlled car, according to your will, in Jesus name. I never got one. Silly example but look look at how the disciples pray: First, they start with what they know about God and not just any facts, it s facts that are relevant to their feelings. Things seem out of control, they feel weak, they re afraid but they know God is supposed to be sovereign he made everything and rules everything. And so they address him as the one who can help them when they feel powerless. Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth. Second, they reflect to God what God has already said and promised. It s almost like a lawyer God on this date at this time did you or did you not say this? They know his will. They know what he has said he will do. A lot of times people ask, how do you pray according to God s will? What s that all about? Are we supposed to guess what s in his head? Is he going to tell us somehow? I think it s this: the disciples pray according to the plan that God has laid out for us in scripture. The Bible is one coherent message, one big story about God s plan to bless the world through Jesus. And so they bring God s plan to him. Now I ve got a diagram of God s plan. The disciples knew that God has always had a plan to bless all nations through Abraham s children. And the disciples knew that God promised a king like David would be at the centre of that plan. They quote Psalm 2 which was about David - there in verse 25-26. What s that all about? Psalm 2 speaks about nations and powerful people opposing God, conspiring to kill his king. And the disciples reflect on this they say, isn t that what just happened? Didn t we see Herod and Pilate and our people nail Jesus to the cross. In other words, the disciples are saying we see that Psalm 2 has started to come true. We saw what happened to Jesus. We get it. He s the king you promised would bring blessing to the world. And we know what will happen next because Psalm 2 also says that your King is going to inherit all the nations. We know that you are going to give them all to him. That hasn t happened yet so we know what part of the story we re up to. And we know that Jesus has told us that we have a part to play in that story. And so they prayed God give us what we need to do that job. Help us play our part. 29 Consider their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And he does! The building shakes! They re filled with the HS and speak boldly. And at this point it s really tempting to say ok great, prayer answered that s how it s done!. But what s with the room shaking?
Why is that the sign that God gives? Of all the things he could do? Why not more tongues? Why don t they all levitate? Why this sign at this time? It s because it s a sign that the disciples would recognise because God promised this would happen too! You know that bit in Handel s Messiah, the great bass solo with all the shaking? Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, yet once a little while and I will shake..? It s quoting the prophet Haggai 2:6-9. Haggai comes between David and Jesus. Just look at what God promises in Haggai 2:6-9 6 Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former And in this place I will give Shalom, declares the Lord of hosts. What happens after the disciples pray? The house is shaken, God fills it with his glory his Spirit. And then in verse 32 we read that all the believers were one in heart and mind and they share everything they have. People come and dump their silver and gold at the apostles feet. Do you see what s happening? The apostles pray God keep the promise you made in Psalm 2, give all the nations to Jesus and help us play our part and God answers I ll do one better, I ll keep the promise I made in Haggai 2. Peter and John just came from the temple, I ve made you a temple and the glory of this temple, this house is greater than the old one. You re worried about the chaos out, I ll make you a place of unity and peace and wholeness of Shalom! You ll be of one heart and mind. You re shaking because you re afraid of what the nations are going to do to you, I ll shake the nations! John Chrysostom the great preacher of the early church said the more the house shook, the more unshakable the Christians became. Why did they become unshakeable? Was it just an experience of the raw power of God? No it s more than that. It was the clearest confirmation that everything they faced, people responding to their message, the healings, the sharing the money, and the opposition is all part of God s plan. The setbacks are part of the plan and if they re part of the plan, the disciples know nothing can stop them. We know nothing can stop us! Nothing can stop what God is doing in us and through us. When you go to God and pray like this praying in conversation with a friend, the God who has made these promises, and keeps his promises. When you know God like this and pray like this you become unshakable. Conclusion So what to do when we face setbacks? Does being a Christian mean you have to be an optimist? Well no because optimism is just assuming things will turn out ok without any evidence to back that up. It s just a positive attitude. Christians have something more solid. Christians have hope. We hope for what God has promised. We long for his kingdom to come. We anticipate Jesus returning to make all things new. Hope is so much more than just a positive attitude, because God guarantees our hope. He guarantees our future. And so if you re facing setbacks right now, if you re struggling let me encourage you take them to God! Take all the hurts and fears, your disappointments and bring them to God. Take what you know about him, what you know he s promised and lay out your case before him. God I m doubting but I know you re true, you tell me your word is truth, you promise to lead us into the truth, you say seek and you will find, so lead me to the truth. Help me! 5
And bring your setbacks here to church! Stay connected, we want to hear them, we want to share the load. Remember Haggai 2 says church is God s new temple: this is where God is among his people (yes he s everywhere but he s put his glory here). This is where his power is at work. This is where he is carrying out his plan. 6