Problems at Pentecost
1. And as they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the Temple, and the Sadducees came upon them.
2. They were grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus, the Resurrection from the dead.
3. And they laid their hands on them and put them in hold until the next day for it was now evening time.
4. However, many of them which heard the Word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
Acts 4:1-4
Pentecost Leads to Problems
Thus far we have explored the Power of Pentecost and learned from the Scripture how the mighty Power of God initiated the genesis of the Church. The believers in the Upper Room were all filled with the Holy Spirit and immediately began the work of bringing others into the fold. How did they accomplish that? They shared the wonderful works of God with others starting in Jerusalem. The Church was on the move. Through the Scriptures, we also have a picture of the People of Pentecost. The Lord God used a religious festival to introduce His saving Grace to multitudes from all over the known world. The Church was growing in number, growing spiritually, as well as growing in popularity. There was definitely “no stopping now” for the newly formed group of believers. Chapter 2 of Acts closes with the exciting news of the Church gaining in membership at a rapid pace and the joy that was shared among the fellowship of the Saints. They continued daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, where they enjoyed their meals with gladness and singleness of heart … Praising God and having favor with all the people … And the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47.
Then came the problems. The first noticeable problem was criticism. Some of the folks in the crowd did not appreciate this new move of God. Rather than acknowledging and welcoming the sound from the Upper Room, there were those who accused the Saints of being drunk. While criticism is often associated with the sticks and stones jingle, there are many in the Church that have problems with ridicule. Many even view all negative responses as a direct attack on their character. What we should bear in mind is the fact that anyone who does anything for God will face mockery and scorn. Yet, we are reminded of the Words of Jesus. Blessed are you when others shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My Sake… rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven … Matt. 5:11-12. The believer will learn that the same Holy Spirit that filled them with Power will also protect them from scorn. They will learn what it means to be happy when they are put down, put out, and even put to shame by those who don’t understand how God is working. Here is the point, the believers at Pentecost did not allow the negativity of some of the crowd to keep them from their mission of speaking up for God. Since we are also filled with the Holy Spirit, we should never slow down, suspend, nor stop our mission to exalt Christ.
There are reasons why God allows problems to surface in our lives. First, God allows us to see the brokenness of a sinful world. All problems can be ultimately traced back to the brokenness of humanity. Not just something but everything has gone wrong in a world where people attempt to live without God. This brings us to the second reason for God allowing problems to come to light even after we are filled with the Holy Spirit’s Power. We must learn to totally depend upon God for everything. Being Spirit-filled does not give us a license to run the show under our authority but rather gives us the power to live according to God’s authority. Jesus put it this way, “without Me, you can do nothing.” John 15:5. In contrast to doing nothing without the Lord, the problems help us to develop so that we can do all things through Christ. Philippians 4:13. Think about it, you would never learn very much without problems that move you deeper into the riches of God’s Wisdom and Power for your life. Life opportunities often come to us in the form of problems and difficulties that challenge our faith and ultimately move us forward in our walk with God. There is a fourth reason for facing problems and that is to give us a longing for Heaven. Yes, the problems serve as reminders that this world is not our final home. Things may go very good at times, but we can be certain that the storms of life will eventually find their way into our lives. With that we seek that complete Sabbath of God where we will rest from the labors and cares of life. Until then, we bravely move on under the direction of God’s Holy Spirit.
When Problems Don’s Go Away – You Stand
So, the believers faced struggles in the Church. They had to learn to fight faith battles and stand on the Promises of God under the direction of God’s Spirit. Jesus was no longer with them physically, but they learned that His Presence was now inside their hearts and guiding them on to victory.
The amazing thing is that whenever the problems developed, the Church responded in a way that honored God. First, the Church spoke the Truth in every situation they faced. When faced with the problem of change, the Church followed the Holy Spirit’s lead and grew as a result. What changes did they encounter? The first change was the number of people. In one day, the number of Christ followers grew from one hundred and twenty to over five thousand. That was massive and yet the problem was managed through the Holy Spirit’s Power leading the believers into fellowship and prayer. The following passage is not intended to be a footnote but a major statement of what God was doing with the Church. They continued daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house … Acts 2:46. The second thing the Church did was to continue. They never stopped preaching in the Temple as they were led by the Holy Spirit. They also continued by breaking bread from house to house which was the fellowship work of the Holy Spirit. That is how they handled the masses of people that were coming into the Faith on a daily basis. This should serve as a reminder that whenever we see change in what ever form, embrace it as an opportunity to follow God’s direction to change for the good.
The problems kept coming and the Holy Spirit would continue to build the momentum of the Church that could not be stopped by difficulties. It got to the point that the Church became a constant nuisance to the “religious authority.” The Sanhedrin, consisting of priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, clearly thought that getting rid of Jesus would have ended the Jesus Movement. O how wrong they were! Within days, the Gospel of Christ had filled the streets of Jerusalem in every known language, which meant the message would go out throughout the world. The religious authorities were not only upset, but they were also outraged. And as they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the Temple, and the Sadducees came upon them … They were grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus, the Resurrection from the dead … And they laid their hands on them and put them in hold until the next day for it was now evening time. Thus far, the Church had grown through change and had learned to move forward despite criticism, but now they faced the challenge to their faith. The same thing that happened to Jesus could eventually happen to them; they could be put to death for defying the directives of the Sanhedrin. What would the Church do? They stood because the Holy Spirit gave them the power to face the challenge.
Whenever there is resistance to authority it will often take the form of rebellion, protest, or compliance. How did God lead the infant Church to face the challenge of the authorities who wanted to “shut down” God’s Work. The answer in short is that they continued. There are three powerful testimonies of the Church that we can apply to our lives today amid all the criticisms, changes, and challenges that we face. Don’t ever think that the battle is over because it is not. The gates of Hell will attempt to constantly bombard the Church with its onslaught of threats. But as Jesus declared, “the gates of Hell shall not prevail.”
In conclusion, the Church continued to pray. They had prayed for the Power of God to saturate their lives. That is what we must do today. Dr. Jerry Falwell once said, “that nothing of great significance has ever happened with the Church apart from prayer.” The early Church prayed fervently and frequently. They met daily for that specific business of praying to know God’s Will and to do God’s Will. They prayed through their challenges. They prayed on good days and bad days. They prayed and their prayer was heard by God.
Not only did the Church continue to pray, but they also continued to preach and proclaim the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This meant that Jesus was still alive. This defied the teaching of the Sanhedrin and was the very Power that converted the sinner to God. If the Church ever changes the message to anything else other than the Raising of Jesus from the dead, we will instantly lose God’s Power. If the Church of that day had preached “self-improvement,” prosperity, or even living a better life, the religious leaders would have remained silent. But they preached Jesus and how Jesus could raise a person from sin into righteousness. They were grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus, the Resurrection from the dead. Why were the religious leaders upset? They were losing members from their movement. They were jealous, which was the reason for them wanting to kill Jesus in the first place. We preach Jesus because He is the answer to the sin problem, the world problem, and the get-right-with God problem. No one else, nothing else, and no where else can we ever find true forgiveness, true atonement, and true anointing except in the Name of Jesus Christ. For there is no other Name given among men, whereby we must be saved except the Name of Jesus. Acts 4:12.
The believers in Acts did something else that needs to be practiced in the Church today: they continued in praise. Praise is something we do on Sunday but find it difficult if not impossible to do on the other days of the week. But the Church of Acts praised God on a daily basis. Acts 4:47 states, they continued praising God, and having favor with all the people. Praise is not how loud your voice is when you give God thanks. Nor is praise how much you dance when you have been blessed. Praise is to speak of the wonderful works of God so others will know of His great love. Our task is two-fold: to know God and to make Him known. If the Church offered the praise constantly to God, then we too can join with them in celebrating God’s faithfulness. You may not be able to sing like Angels, and you may never preach like Paul, but you can tell of the Love of Jesus … you can say that He died for all. Tell your story. Tell it joyfully and tell it continually. Tell of God’s Love for you.