Acts 4:23-31 A Proper Prayer
Good morning! We are back in our study of the book of Acts, Today we are going to look at chapter four, verses 23-31, and that’s on page 912 in the pew Bibles.
Our text for today contains the first recorded prayer of the church, not that it was the first time the church had prayed, just that it’s the first recorded prayer.
As we look at this prayer I would challenge you to think about your prayer and what sort of things you pray for.
There is a great deal for us to learn here in these few verses, not just about prayer, but about the faith of the early church. And I’ll remind you again that this wonderful book, the book of Acts, is not just a description of past events in the life of the early church but a prescription for the church through all the ages to follow. So I pray that we will together find this Word to be instructive.
Let’s pray.
Now, to set this passage in its proper context, since it’s been a few weeks, I would remind you of what had taken place just before this passage. Peter and John had gone up to the Temple to pray, and on their way them met a man who had been lame from birth, unable to walk, unable to work, and forced to beg at the gate of the Temple.
Peter and John famously said to him, “Silver and gold have I not, but what I have I give unto thee: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
The man regained the strength of his legs and entered the Temple walking and leaping and praising God. This caused quite a stir as you might imagine, and the powers that be were not too happy about it.
The same people that had Jesus arrested and charged, tried and crucified, were still in charge, and they were there in the Temple when this was happening.
Peter gave a great sermon in chapter three and at the beginning of chapter four the priests and the captain of the Temple guard and the Sadducees arrested them and threw them in jail for the night.
The next day they gathered together to decide what to do with these rabble-rousers. They questioned Peter and John as to what power or what name they healed the lame man.
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, testified that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they had crucified, but God raised from the dead, by Him the lame man had been made well. He went on to proclaim that there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
The rulers saw the boldness of Peter and John, and though they recognized that they were ordinary, unschooled, men, but had certainly been with Jesus, they charged them to stop preaching and teaching, or even speaking to anyone in the Name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
At this point the rulers couldn’t say anything, so they threatened them a little more and let them go. If they hadn’t, all the people that had seen the lame man healed might revolt.
This is where we pick up the story.
23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Here we get a little snapshot of life in the early church. Granted, this is super early in the life of the church, it’s not super organized, there wasn’t any committees formed yet, no regularly scheduled services, so you have to extend them a little bit of grace…
We can still find some great prescriptions for us from their example.
What’s the first thing you notice after Peter and John were released, where did they go? They went to their friends and reported what had happened.
Their friends. They didn’t wait for the prayer time during Sunday morning service to tell their story, they gathered with those closest to them and told them all about what they had been through.
We are supposed to be friends. That’s how this church thing is supposed to work. Not just services, not just events, not just programs and committees. The people were connected in relationship. I think we do pretty good with this here in this church family, let’s just make sure nobody gets left out.
When Peter and John reported to their friends all that the chief priests and elders had said to them, what did they do? They prayed.
They prayed, and in their prayer they did my favorite thing to do, they exposited Scripture!
Their prayer together that day shows exactly what their faith was supported by, the omnipotence of God, the truth of Scripture, the power of the Name of Jesus, and their love for their neighbors.
“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
Sovereign Lord, the Greek word is, Despota, One who has absolute power and authority. We most often use the word, despot, in a negative sense, because it usually refers to a human ruler, one who is not worthy of wielding absolute power. God, however, is worthy to hold all power over everything, He made it all anyway. He is omnipotent, all powerful, Maker of heaven and earth and the sea and everything in all of them. History itself proves His power, and His power supported the young church’s faith in Him.
Their faith was also supported by the truth of Scripture.
They had seen prophecy fulfilled with their own eyes in Jesus. In their prayer together they exposited Psalm 2:1-2.
If you look up Psalm 2:1-2 in your Bibles you may notice that the wording is a little different even within the particular version that you have in front of you. This is because the Disciples had a version of the Old Testament called the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament. Modern translators just translated what they said in Greek into English instead of from Hebrew.
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Here is their exposition, the explanation of the meaning of Psalm 2:1-2!
The Gentiles were the Romans, the peoples plotting were the people of Israel, the king was Herod, the ruler was Pilate, and they ll gathered together against the Lord God and His Anointed, also translated as, His Christ.
It was King David that wrote Psalm 2 and many other Psalms. David was what the theologians call, a “type of Christ,” not that he was Messiah but that he symbolized what Messiah would be like.
They were both servants, they were both anointed, they were both kings, they were both opposed, they were both protected, and they were both ultimately vindicated. Jesus, however, was absolutely sinless unlike David, and Jesus is infinitely exalted above David because He is God.
Unlike David, Jesus served the Father and His kingdom alone.
Their exposition of their text also pointed back to their understanding of the omnipotence and sovereignty of God. In verse 28 they declared that the Romans, and the people of Israel, and Herod, and Pilate, all gathered together to do whatever God’s hand and His plan had predestined to take place. This is a declaration of submission, what those guys meant for evil, God used for good, for our good, and for His glory.
As simple as this is not sounding so far, the people really only prayed for two things: first, they recognized the sovereignty of God, that He was in control of all things as their Creator, and second, they prayed for boldness to preach the gospel in the face of opposition out of love for their lost neighbors.
John Calvin wrote, “We are taught by this example what is our duty to do when our adversaries imperiously threaten us; for we must not carelessly laugh in time of danger, but the fear of danger ought to drive us to crave help at the hands of God, and this is a remedy to comfort and set us up on our feet, lest, being terrified with threatening, we cease from doing our duty.”
These believers prayed the kind of prayer that will be answered every time.
It may not feel like your prayers will ever be answered, and if you feel that way I would challenge you to consider what it is that you’re praying for.
Warren Wiersbe said, “True prayer is not telling God what to do, but asking God to do His will in us and through us. It means getting God’s will done on earth, not man’s will done in heaven.”
When we pray we have to remember that God is always willing and able to help, so long as it’s according to His will and His Word. “Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside of the will of God.”
Jesus said in John 15:7, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
The secret is in that “if.” If we abide in Him and His words in us, what we ask for will be according to His will.
When those early believers prayed, they asked for nothing except for what God had already promised, so the answer to their prayer was His will and His power combined.
29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Jesus had commanded them to go and preach the gospel to the whole world, all they asked for was boldness to do it even in the face of opposition and persecution and God answered that prayer.
As Augustine once said, “Pray as though everything depends on God, and work as though everything depended on you.”
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.
