“Lessons From Acts 4”

Monday, May 23, 2016

In Acts 3 Peter and John miraculously healed a lame man.  They preached the Word of God to those who had witnessed it. At the beginning of Acts 4, the Jewish leaders were unhappy about these events, so they arrested Peter and John. However, that did not stop many of those who had heard the gospel from believing. The next day, Peter and John were put before a council of the Jewish rulers, scribes and priests.  They interrogated them about what they had been doing. When asked about where their authority came from, they answered that it was from Jesus whom they had killed. The men were taken aback by the boldness of the apostles.  They told them to stop preaching Jesus and that they could go. The apostles refused to stop teaching and preaching about Christ.  They left to meet with the saints and pray for more boldness in the face of adversity. At the end of the chapter, we see how such experiences bond a church and allow it to have “everything in common” (v. 32) and be gracious toward one another.

                There are three lessons I want to point out from this chapter, though I would encourage you to study this passage deeply on your own, as each of these lessons could be their own sermon.

                The first lesson here is the authority of Jesus. In Matt.28:18 Jesus stated His supreme authority over everything.  He did so because in Matt.28:17 He sensed that some still doubted Him even upon seeing Him.  In Acts 4:12, we see a statement of Jesus’ authority from His apostles, “… there is salvation in no one else….” I believe this statement with all my heart. Men have tried and failed for centuries to find happiness, salvation, and peace from somewhere or someone besides Jesus. But we know that Jesus alone has the power to save, teach, judge, and exalt. He is the only One who has defeated death.  He did that so we might not fear it and let it control us. Do we believe that Jesus has this power and that He alone has it?

                Peter and John were not afraid to die for Jesus.  They had boldness. In verse 13 we see that these officials were astonished by the boldness of these uneducated men, these commoners. This boldness allowed them to stand there and defend Jesus and His authority before these powerful men. It allowed them to heal strangers and preach to Jews about their need for salvation. Without boldness, Peter and John would not have been taken seriously.  They probably would have given up fairly quickly after running into a few difficulties that came as a result of spreading the gospel. The disciples prayed together for boldness in verses 28-30, so that they could continue to preach and teach because they knew it was going to become harder. Are we being bold in our efforts to spread the good news? Let us pray for boldness in teaching the Word of God!

                The attitude of these men was one of devotion, total commitment. In verse 18, when the Jewish leaders tell them to stop preaching about Jesus, they answered in verse 20, “for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (emphasis mine). Do we have that same attitude? For these men, they had no desire to stop teaching about our wonderful Savior. Sometimes I think it’s all we can do to work up the energy or courage to say anything about Jesus to someone else.  But for these men, it would’ve taken every ounce of energy within them to not talk about Him. Are we, as followers of Jesus, or even as someone interested in Jesus, giving Him priority? Are we willing to?

                There are many more lessons to be learned from this chapter.  I urge you to study this rich text more on your own. Let us all be praying for more boldness, devotion, and faith in Jesus and spread of Word of God. He is the one we are striving to please. He is the one who can save.

-Matt Arnold

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