Problem Brings Praying for Power (Acts 4:23-31)

So far, in the Book of Acts, Luke has mentioned several benefits that come from the fact that Jesus is alive. The New Testament Church has begun and people in Jerusalem have been impressed to some extent by the behaviour of the followers of Jesus. In chapter 3, we have the first account of a miracle that Peter and John attributed to the action of the risen but invisible Saviour. But now in chapter four, another dimension takes place in the life of the new church. The civil authorities had intervened and tried to adjust what the apostles were teaching about Jesus.

Why did those Christians pray?

An obvious answer is that prayer had marked them already. They had prayed in chapter 1 as they waited for Jesus to send the Holy Spirit. Those in chapter 2 who had become followers of Jesus met in groups to pray from house to house. In chapter 3, Peter and John went to pray at the temple at the official hours of prayer. So we can see that participation in prayer was the regular practice of those believers.

Why did they pray regularly? The answer to that question is obvious. Jesus had taught his disciples that people ought to pray all the time. When the disciples had asked him to teach them to pray, he provided them with an outline prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer. He had encouraged the apostles to pray when he said to them in the Upper Room, ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you’ (John 15:16).

In John 16:22-24, Jesus had also said to them: ‘So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.’ So it is not surprising that the apostles valued prayer.

Since they prayed so regularly, we can see that they took seriously the instruction of Jesus to pray. But there is another obvious reason why they prayed and that was the great change in the circumstances that they faced through the opposition of the Jewish leaders. The apostles had no idea whether this opposition would increase or decrease. What they did know was that they should pray about the matter, which they did.

How did they pray?

First, they prayed communally. Luke says in verse 23 that Peter and John went to their friends and told them what had happened. Second, they prayed scripturally, making sure that what they asked God for was in line with his revealed will. Third, they prayed reverently, and fourth they prayed expectantly – they did not have the answers to the situation, but they knew that Jesus did. Fifth, their prayer was intercession, because it is not a prayer of the apostles but a prayer for the apostles.

Why did the apostles share information about their situation? I suppose the answer to that question is obvious – how could other believers pray for them if they did not know what to pray about? Peter and John could have said, ‘We were downtown in Jerusalem today and we would like you to pray about that.’ Such a description of their needs would make no sense to their friends. What the friends needed was information because prayer involves definite requests.

Why did they pray using a Bible passage? Because they knew that Jesus had told them that they had to pray according to God’s will if they wanted their prayers to be heard. Why did they pray expectantly? Because they knew the character of Jesus and what he had promised about prayer.

Why did they engage in intercession? Perhaps several answers can be suggested here. They would have interceded for the apostles because they loved them as brothers. They would have interceded because they truly wanted the kingdom to grow. They would have interceded because they wanted God’s name to be glorified.

What did they say in their prayer?

First, we can see that they prayed to the Father consciously. In this prayer, they did not call him Father, but they did mention that Jesus was his servant who had come to do the Father’s will.

Second, they prayed to the Father as the sovereign creator of the sky and the earth and the sea, which are the parts of God’s creation that are full of creatures totally dependent on his power. I suppose it is worth asking why they did this. Maybe they had just read Genesis 1 and said to themselves, ‘We need the help of the almighty God because he alone is able to deal with our opponents.’ Perhaps they had read the closing chapters of the Book of Job in which the Lord takes Job on a tour of the sky, the earth and the sea. Those chapters are almost saying to Job, ‘When you don’t know what to make of life, think of what God is doing in the sky, the earth and the sea.’ After all, it is not what we know that matters, but what God knows.  It could be a meaningless kind of mantra to mention God’s omnipotence and God’s omniscience if we do so unthinkingly, but if we use those divine attributes in a thoughtful manner, who knows what the answer will be.

Third, they affirmed that the Father spoke in the Old Testament, that he had spoken in the words of Psalm 2, words also spoken by David under the guidance of the Spirit (it looks as if David said them before they were written down). What were the particular words: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed.’ The extraordinary aspect is that the friends of the apostles already knew the Christological significance of Psalm 2, because they realised that the words of Psalm 2 had been a prophecy of the actions of the same rulers that were now persecuting their friends, the apostles. So they used Bible verses with full understanding of what they meant, which is very important when we are praying.

Fourth, they affirmed the total sovereignty of the heavenly Father over powerful rulers (Herod and Pilate) and everyone else involved in the process of crucifying Jesus. All that they had done had been laid out in the inscrutable plan of God. Nothing was outside of his control, not even the actions of those who were against him. What is point of praying to a God who is not in full control? They did not try to explain his sovereignty, but they accepted it and used it in their prayers.

Fifth, they spoke about Jesus in a certain way in their prayer at this time. They called him the Father’s holy servant (v. 27). The Father had anointed his servant Jesus, which is a reference to him receiving the Holy Spirit. Have we ever spoken to the heavenly Father about his holy servant, the One who perfectly completed the task that was given to him to accomplish? It is a wonder title, the Servant of the Lord. Those three years of public ministry, when Jesus showed to Israel that he had been anointed at his baptism with the Holy Spirit sent by the Father, were full of amazing incidents.

It is important to observe that they realised that Jesus remains the servant of the Father. They say in verse 30 that the answers to their prayer to the Father will be provided by Jesus as the mediator. Whatever comes their way as the result of their prayers will involve the activity of the risen Christ. It meant a great deal to those servants of the living God that the Servant of the Lord was at work for the benefit of his Kingdom.

Sixth, they asked the heavenly Father to have a look at what was going on. This request was not a suggestion that the Father was unaware of what those opponents were doing and saying. When they asked the Lord to look, they were asking that he would assess what degree of divine action was needed to continue the work of the kingdom.

Seventh, they did not pray for success, nor did they pray for deliverance. They did not pray for escape from his current providence, but for what was needed in his current providence – strength to continue witnessing with boldness. Rather they prayed for all boldness to be given to the apostles. We can recall that Paul urged the Ephesians to pray that God would enable him to speak the word boldly as they also performed signs that indicated that they were the chosen servants of the Messiah.

What happened?

Luke indicates that the answer to the prayer of the friends of the apostles had three features. First, the building shook, a sign of God’s power that he able to shake what seemed very established and strong. Even as the building had seemed unshakeable, so did the Jewish leaders who opposed the progress of the gospel. But God could shake them as easily as he had shaken the building.

Second, all of them – those making the prayer and the apostles – were filled with the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? It means that we have him with us enabling us to do the tasks that he has called us to do. Luke does not say that they were half-filled with the Spirit, nor does he say that part of the Holy Spirit filled them. All he says is that the Spirit was them in sufficient power for them at that moment.

Third, God answered their request for boldness. How would they know that they had received the answer? They would discover they had boldness when they spoke for Jesus; not before they spoke but as they spoke. That is always they way that spiritual power is known.

Applications

First, people often wonder what is meant by being filled with the Spirit. Does it mean that we will become supersonic believers? No, it simply means that the Holy Spirit will enable us to do what he wants us to do. He filled the men who sorted out the problem of the daily distribution of food, recorded in Acts 6, which was not high-profile as an action, but which was essential for the good of the church.

Second, soldiers like battle songs. What are our battle songs? We have an excellent selection of them in the Book of Psalms. We are not to be so spiritually squeamish that we are afraid to use them. The church here prayed the word of Psalm 2 to the heavenly Father, and he answered their prayer powerfully.

Third, no doubt the captain of the enemy was using some of his foot-soldiers when he led the Jewish leaders to persecute them. But he and they discovered that the risen Christ knows how to advance his cause no matter what is going on in the world. There is no situation that he does not know how to handle. Therefore, we should pray as these friends of the apostles did.