Month: September 2025

September 21, 2025 –  It’s Just Another Miracle— Acts #14

David Chupp Acts , , , , ,

September 21, 2025 –  It’s Just Another Miracle— Acts #14
Acts 5:12-16

As we continue our study of Acts, we last saw the early church get its first threat from the Temple leaders.  They were told to stop talking about Jesus or there would be consequences.  But this didn’t slow down most of them.  They went right back to the temple, preaching Jesus and healing people.   We pick up the story in Acts 5:12

Acts 5:12-16  Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Picture the scene: people are milling around the temple area when a few of the apostles walk in.  Someone cries out, “Hey, there they are!” and the crowd rushes over.  People want to see the miracle workers.  They have come from all around Jerusalem just to have a chance to see this.  They have brought their sick to be healed.  And this is not just a one-time thing.  Luke tells us, “signs and wonders were regularly done.  This is the natural rhythm of the early church, overflowing with the power of God.   So let me ask you, “Is this the world you live in?”

You may ask yourself, “Why don’t we see signs and wonders regularly done?”  If you are walking down Broad Street and see someone suddenly stand up from their wheelchair and start jumping up and down, what would you do?   Would you be skeptical?  What if you then saw this same person walk over to someone you recognize, a blind girl you have seen many times downtown?  And suddenly she drops her cane, exclaiming that she can see?  You know this girl.  She was blind, but now she can see.  Miracles of healing are happening around you.  What would you do next?  You would likely pull out your phone and call someone to tell them about it because signs and wonders are not “regularly done” in your world every day.   So, you may ask, why aren’t they done now as they were then?

At this particular time, the apostles and the early followers of Jesus experienced miracles that were commonplace.  However, there is a misconception that frequent miracles occurred throughout the Bible, but that is not the case.  There are many miracles, but they are concentrated in a few pockets of time.  We can see this in the words of Asaph the psalmist in Psalm 77:11

Psalm 77:11-12  I will remember the deeds of Yehovah; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.  I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.”

Asaph sounds like us, looking back at the good old days when all the miracles were done.  He would have asked the same question we ask, “Why were there so many miracles back in the days of Moses, or Elijah, and not today?   And miracles are indeed concentrated in specific periods of time.   Fast forward to the New Testament times, and numerous miracles are occurring.

Matthew 9:35   And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

Jesus certainly performed frequent and regular miracles.  However, it’s worth noting that all the miracles of Jesus occurred within a remarkably short period of his ministry, spanning just over a year. And the miracles in the rest of the New Testament took place over the lifetimes of the disciples and Paul.   This explosion of miracles was for a specific purpose and was predicted by the scripture.  We need to be careful to understand why all of these healing miracles happened at this time.

Think back to when Jesus had just started his ministry, and John the Baptist was sitting in prison.  John had proclaimed that Jesus was the coming Messiah.  He pointed out to his disciples that Jesus was the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.  But in Herod’s prison in Macherus, John keeps hearing how Jesus is hanging out with sinners and having parties with tax collectors, and he starts having second thoughts.  “That doesn’t sound like things I thought the Messiah would be doing.  Could I have misunderstood God about this guy?”   Remember what John had said about these days of the Messiah:

Matthew 3:7  You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Matthew 3:12  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
Matthew 3:10  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Wrath — Unquenchable fire — an ax to the tree — throwing in the fire.   John was expecting Jesus to show up in this sinful world with a chainsaw and a flamethrower.  John saw a Messiah who would clean house, like Jean-Claude Van Damme or Chuck Norris.  To kick butt and take names.  But that was not the report he was getting about Jesus.  So he sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the Messiah.

Matthew 11:2-3   Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?

John was having a real problem.  He told everyone that Jesus was the Messiah, but he doesn’t think Jesus looks very Messiah-like.  What do you do when the Messiah doesn’t look like what you’d thought he’d look like?  Or for us today, what do you do when God doesn’t do what you thought He would? How do you respond when you read all about God healing all these people in the Gospels and in Acts, and then God doesn’t heal you, or your loved one?   Ask John.  The Messiah is here to fix everything. Finally, the good guys should be winning.  And Jesus is out partying while John is chained to the wall of a prison. You do what John did.  You seek Him out.  So John sends his disciples to ask Jesus.

Matthew 11:4-6 “And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.’

Jesus is directing John back to the scriptures to understand what the Messiah was really all about.  In other words, Jesus says, “Here is how you know that the messiah has come: the blind are receiving their sight, the lame are walking, and people are being healed.

Now, there are some healings in the Old Testament, but did you realize that nowhere in the Old Testament was there someone born blind who was healed? Nor was there anyone born mute who was healed.   This type of healing Jesus was doing was different.   Now, you may not have known this, but everyone in Jesus’ day knew this, because they knew their Scripture.  And Isaiah was a favorite book among many people.

The book of Isaiah is a book of both bad news/good news.  Half of it is Isaiah telling the people that they are about to be judged for their sins.  God is going to let the nation be destroyed by Assyria, and later by Babylon.  Devastation is coming.  But then he gives them the good news.  There is hope.  Yes, your city will be destroyed, but God will give you a new city, a new Jerusalem, where everyone prospers, and there is no danger from enemies anymore.    And guess which sections of Isaiah were read the most?   The good news parts. 

It is harder to read about the harvests failing, the crops all dying, the vines withering, the cities laid waste and becoming deserted, the enemies at the door.  Let’s skip all that judgment, fury, wrath, and destruction and go right to the good part when God’s mercy breaks forth.  Let’s focus on the love, grace, and compassion, rather than the warnings of destruction.  (They are a lot like us today in what we want to read and talk about in the Bible.  Let’s sing about heaven, not about the judgment here on earth.  There aren’t too many hymns about God’s punishment on us.)    So, guess which parts of Isaiah they knew the best?    Let’s skip to the good stuff. Let’s re-read chapter 35.   

Isaiah 35:1-6  The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Yehovah, the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;  Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.”

And the people say, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.  Even the desert lands grow crops.  The days of living in fear are over.  And the blind see and the mute talk.”  This is what will happen when God brings his Messiah.

Well, if you were living in Jesus’ day, you would have had access to 39 scrolls of Scripture.  Thirty-nine books in our Old Testament, and not once do you have someone born blind regaining sight or someone born mute being able to talk.  It has never happened.  But God promises here in Isaiah 35 and elsewhere that these things will happen when his kingdom breaks forth on the earth and the Messiah arrives.   

That is why Jesus answered John that way.  Jesus says, “Tell John that the blind see, the lame walk, and the mute talk.” Tell John that Isaiah 35 is happening right now.    These healings are the sign of the Kingdom of God busting out. So John has to accept that his view of what precisely the messiah would do —the view that most of the people had then — was wrong.  

When we don’t understand what God is doing, we need to seek God out and ask Him about it.  We don’t just say, “Well, God didn’t do what I thought he would, so there must not be a God.  I have seen people have a major faith crisis and quit on God when a family member is not healed.  They, like John the Baptist, had a misconception about how things would be when Jesus came.  Some preacher (probably on TV) told them that God would heal everyone if they prayed hard enough, had enough faith, or sent them money.  Like John, they misunderstood the Bible, and when it didn’t work the way they understood it, they quit.

God didn’t heal my friend, so I am leaving the church.”  No, if God is not doing everything the way you think He should, then guess who is wrong?  Not God.  You don’t throw your beliefs out the window; you go back to the scriptures and see where you misunderstood.  John the Baptist had it wrong; it is okay if you are sometimes mistaken about what God is doing, also.

So these healings that Jesus was doing were not just compassionate deeds, but proof that the Kingdom of God was breaking forth just as John said.  And these healings that Jesus does and the disciples do here in Acts, and the healings we see today, are just a taste of what is coming.  They are like the first buds of spring.  When those daffodils bloom in early spring.  They are nice, but they get me excited because they are just the heralds of hundreds of flowers of all kinds that will soon bloom in my yard.  Jesus’ healings and sermons preached the same sermon: The Kingdom of God is among you.  Each of these healings here in Acts shouts out the same message.  The Kingdom of God is here, now.  Each healing we see today is another whisper to the hearts of those who have ears to hear.   See, God’s Kingdom is still breaking forth in this sinful world and is a promise of a future with no sickness and no death.

But throughout history, God has only done a few large-scale interventions.   Creation, the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery, and the conquering of the land, as well as the ministry of Elijah/Elisha.  The ministry of Jesus and the apostles.  Other than these few times, large groupings of miracles are rare. And even though 1 Corinthians talks about believers with gifts of healing, they weren’t doing miracles to the same degree as Jesus and the apostles.  

So while I think we overestimate the frequency of miracles in the Bible, I think we underestimate the number of miracles happening today.  I stand before you as a witness today that God is still in the miracle business..

I have told you before of some of the miracles I have seen — of medicine multiplied, appearing where it didn’t exist, of rain that started and stopped at the moment of prayer, of God placing a very rare but desperately needed item in a cigar box in a mud house in Mexico, or in a box of medical junk in Ghana.  I have seen children with rampant cancer be told there was nothing the doctors could do, only to see their following scan be clear of any disease.  I have seen lives turn around from the brink of disaster.  There is no way anyone could ever convince me that God is not doing miracles all around us.  I have seen them with my own eyes.

But some people would say they haven’t seen any miracles.    Perhaps they are from Nazareth.
Why do I say that?

Mark 6:1-6  “He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Most of the people in Jesus’ hometown didn’t see many miracles either.   Mark is clear that their lack of belief prevented Jesus from doing many mighty works there.  That fits well with the gospel emphasis on faith for healing.   You remember Jesus saying several times, “Your faith has made you well.”  What he is saying is that because you have faith in me, I am able to do miracles for you.  No faith, no miracles.

The Greek word for unbelief (apistia) is used in the Gospels for people who totally reject Jesus, like these people in Nazareth, who don’t believe who he is.  A similar Greek word, oligopistia, is usually translated as “little faith,” and it refers to people who accept Jesus, but their faith is so small that they do nothing with it.  They don’t act on their faith.  We see this in the story of the disciples in the boat in the storm.  They were scared because they had no faith that Jesus would protect them.  They accepted who Jesus was, but that didn’t make a difference when they thought their boat would sink.  They were ruled by fear, not by faith.  So Jesus says, “Oh, you of oligopistia.  You of little faith.” A faith that just sits there and doesn’t do anything, that makes no difference – that is “little faith.”

It says that Jesus marveled at their unbelief,  their rejection of him.  “Marveled” means astonished or surprised, taken aback.  You see that word 43 times in the New Testament.  Most of the time, it is about people who are shocked when Jesus does something.    Jesus calms the sea, and the disciples marvelled.  The mute man speaks, and they marvel.   The crippled man walks, the fig tree withers, and the disciples marvel.  Twice, it is Jesus who marvels.  Two times, Jesus is surprised by others.  What astonishes Jesus?

The first instance occurs when the centurion requests Jesus to heal his paralyzed servant, stating that he doesn’t need to be present for the healing.  

Matthew 8:10   When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

The second time is in the passage we just read, he is astonished by the unbelief of the people in Nazareth.

So what astonishes Jesus?  Jesus is shocked by one Gentile man’s unexpected deep faith and by the lack of faith of his Jewish hometown people.  Jesus couldn’t do many of the things he hoped to do in Nazareth because of the unbelief he encountered in that place.   This is our story.  Jesus hopes to do many incredible, miraculous things in our lives.  But he can not do them because we prevent him.  Oh, we say we believe.  But belief is not what you think in your head, but what you do.  Belief is how you act.  You can have all the Bible knowledge in the world, but what you know does not matter unless it changes how you act.   Again, it is like the disciples in the boat in the storm.  They believed who Jesus was, but that didn’t change their reaction to a storm.  If they had faith and trusted in Jesus to protect them, then there would be no fear.  Their fear revealed their lack of faith.  And if you surrender your life to Jesus and don’t give it all to him, if you keep parts of your life under your control instead of His, then you don’t believe.

I marvel at a lot of things.   I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the clouds at sunrise, by the immensity of the ocean.  I am at times surprised and taken aback by the majesty of nature, of glaciers calving, of waterfalls, and mountain views.  I am astonished at times by how mean some people can be, and how some devote their whole lives to taking advantage of others. I marvel at a lot of things.

But Jesus in Nazareth is only surprised by one thing: that God himself would come and give his life as a ransom for people who did not deserve any mercy. He would die to remove our sin burden and grant us forgiveness that we could not otherwise obtain. Despite this, many people would choose not to follow Him or do what He says.  That leaves Jesus astonished.

The God who spoke this entire universe into existence says, “Do you want to join my family and come live with me in this incredible place where no one ever gets sick or dies?”  And people say, “No, I don’t think so.”  That astonishes Jesus.  This God who says, “Hey, I can work all things so they turn out the very best for you if you follow my ways.”  And People say, “Nah, I think I know better than you, I’ll do it my way.”  That astonishes Jesus.  Jesus offers life instead of death, forgiveness instead of condemnation, and eternal joy instead of eternal misery.  And still some reject him.  That blows my mind, too, Jesus.

That is the situation in Nazareth in Jesus’ day, and that is the situation that we live in today. We may go further than the people in Nazareth and believe that Jesus is who he says he is.  That is good.  But that is not faith.  It is only faith when we step out in obedience, trusting Him to lead us and equip us for any task He calls us to.  It is faith when we are not afraid of any storms of life because we trust in him.  It is faith when we aren’t scared of disease or cancer or natural disasters because we have complete trust in him.

And when I look at the miracles I have witnessed in my life, Most have happened when I stepped out in faith, being obedient to whatever he calls me to do.  Most of the miracles I have seen happened when I was doing something out of my usual routine or schedule.  Many on mission trips.

Following his call one summer, I found myself again working in a hospital in Ghana, Africa.   I saw a man in the clinic who had a horrible infection in his hand.  It had been going on for weeks and was getting worse. He had been treated by some person in his tribe whose position was translated to me as a ‘witch doctor.’  And his hand was horribly swollen and red and hot and draining.  He could not move a finger.   When I saw him, he needed immediate surgery so he wouldn’t lose his hand.   He needed an orthopedic specialist, a hand surgeon.  

What he got was me.  Both of the Family physicians who performed all the surgeries in that mission hospital were involved in a lengthy case.  I was it.  I have never felt so underqualified in my life.

I remembered from anatomy class many years ago that there were 10 or 11 potential spaces in the hand that would all have to be drained. And if they weren’t all drained appropriately, then the infection would worsen.  The anatomy is very complex there.  That’s why hand surgery is a specialty and should never be attempted by any other surgeon, and certainly not by a pediatrician.  So I prayed and said, “God, you put me here, and you gave me this to do, so I am going to trust you to empower me to do it.   So I found the surgical anatomy book and had a nurse hold it and turn pages for me as I did the procedure.  And God guided my eyes and my hands. And the man recovered with full use of his hand.  God did that because I couldn’t have done it without Him.  

I am convinced that God is waiting to do many miracles if only we would let him.  But we have to be obedient enough to step out and follow him.  If we don’t display that kind of faith, then we will see no miracles.  He often leads us into situations where we lack the proper resources or feel we lack the right skills.  If we only attempt to do things that we can do without God, we never leave room for Him to show out.  

This should be our prayer:  God, please call us to do things that we can’t do.  Please call us to do things that are impossible.  Please lead us to the uncomfortable places.  Give us goals that we can’t possibly reach.  Put us in situations where we will fail without your help.  We must follow Him and attempt things that are impossible for us to do without Him.  Only then can He step in and do the impossible for us and with us.

September 16, 2025 –  A Tale of Two Thieves (or 3)— Acts #13

David Chupp Acts , , , , , ,

September 16, 2025 –  A Tale of Two Thieves (or 3)— Acts #13
Acts 5:1-31

I was only a boy back at the oasis at Kadesh, barely old enough to carry water.  We were at the border of the long-awaited promised land.  Moses had sent 12 men to spy out the land before we entered.  I was there when our fathers stood trembling and listened to the report of the spies, how the enemies were giants and the cities had massive walls.  I can still hear their cries of fear that night, even after all we had seen.  I watched as my parents and the other adults decided not to enter the land and refused to trust the Lord.  And so that day God turned us back to wander, and for forty years I grew up beneath desert skies.

Now I am fifty years old. Almost all those who were adults then—my own father among them—lie buried in the wilderness. Only we who were children then remain, and now we are the “elders”, once again standing on the edge of the promised land.

I have seen God’s power again and again. I gathered manna in the morning from the desert floor. I drank water that gushed from a rock. I saw the earth open and swallow Korah’s rebellion whole (Numbers 16:31–33). I saw people suffer from the sting of fiery serpents in the camp and then be healed because they looked on the bronze serpent. And when Moses died, we all wept bitterly on the plains of Moab until our tears dried in the hot wind.

Through all those years, Achan and Eli were my friends. As children, we played together, racing between tents, chasing goats, all while looking forward to the land God had promised. We watched our fathers die and buried them in the sand, and we swore to God to do better.  The three of us were brothers at heart, and we dreamed together of a house to live in with vineyards and olive groves.  Just a month ago, we stood together and saw the Jordan River halt its flow as the priests stepped into it.  We saw the waters rise up in a wall, and then we all crossed that river on dry land, just as we had crossed the sea back in Egypt when we were little kids.  And just a few days later, we celebrated Passover in our new land together.

That was just over a month ago.  Much has happened in the past week.   For 6 days, we marched with the priests around the great city of Jericho, carrying the ark of Yehovah.  They constantly blew their shofars as we circled the town, but we marched in silence, Eli and Achan alongside me, and then we returned to our camp.  But on the seventh day, we circled the city seven times.  Then the priests blew a long note on their shofars.  Joshua repeated the instructions he had given us all week.  It was time to shout and then rush in and take the city.  But first, he repeated the warning that everything in the town was cherem, it was devoted to God.  This was God’s battle, and all the spoils went to God. Only Rahab and her household were to be spared. 

Achan, Eli, and I stood shoulder to shoulder, shouting until our voices were raw, and watched as those massive walls of the city crumbled like dried mud.  It all happened just as God told Joshua it would happen.  When the dust settled, we stood for a second in awe of the power of God.  And the three of us looked at each other and smiled, rejoicing in the strength and power of Yehovah.  And as we rushed toward the city of Jericho, Joshua’s words rang again in our ears:

“Keep away from the devoted things… All silver, gold, bronze, and iron belong to the Lord’s treasury” (Joshua 6:18–19).

As we moved through the city, I saw Achan pause near a shimmering robe. He caught my eye, and for a heartbeat, something unspoken passed between us. I dismissed it—we had been through too much to doubt one another.  We gathered all of the gold, silver, and bronze for God’s treasury.   And then we burned everything else in the city.  

That night was quite the celebration.  Having seen God take down this huge city made us feel invincible.  Nothing could stop us now.  But Joshua was not one to rest.  The next day, he set his sights on the next city, Ai.  He sent some scouts, and they returned and let Joshua know it was not nearly the size of Jericho.  So they decided they only needed to take about 3000 troops.   The troops were chosen by lot, and the three of us all hoped we would be selected so that we could see the power of God on display again.  Eli was chosen, but Achan and I were not.   So we prayed Yehovah’s blessing on Eli and sent our friend out with the small army.

They returned two days later.  But they came back not in victory, but in shame.  What should have been an easy battle ended in defeat and the death of 36 of our brothers.  And one of the 36 who died was Eli, our friend since childhood.  The news of his death struck me harder than any sword ever could. Achan and I sat in silence that night, staring into the fire, the weight of loss heavy between us.

That evening, Joshua lay face down before the Ark, and he asked the elders to join him.  In mourning before God, we tore our clothes and put dust on our heads.  But then God’s voice thundered:

“Get up.  This is not the time to mourn a loss in battle, but a time to mourn the sin of Israel.  You have sinned.  You have taken what is mine.  I will be with you no longer until you destroy the items that you stole from me.”  (Joshua 7:11).

Someone had taken some of the treasure from Jericho.  Someone had broken the cherem.

At dawn, we all assembled and divided into our tribes, awaiting God’s revelation of the guilty party.  And the lot fell on my tribe, Judah.  I looked at my friend Achan in shock, that someone from our tribe would have disobeyed God and brought shame on us.  And then the lot fell on Zerah, our clan.  This was hard to believe.  So then our clan was divided again. I stood with my family, next to Achan with his family.  And then the lot fell on my friend, Achan. 

I was speechless.  Joshua approached my friend and gently said,  “My son, give glory to Yehovah and confess” (Joshua 7:19).

Achan’s voice trembled:
“It is true… I saw a beautiful robe, silver, and gold. I coveted them. I took them. They are buried beneath my tent” (Joshua 7:20–21).

Messengers returned with the treasures, the dirt still clinging to them. My heart broke. This was the boy who once shared my dried figs in the wilderness, who sang the songs of Moses beside me at the campfires, who mourned with me for Eli only yesterday.

In that valley, we stood together—Achan, his family, his possessions, and all Israel.   We were all flooded with tears as the stones rose over my friend; the sound echoed off the valley walls like thunder.  The pile of stones still stands in the valley that we call Achor, the valley of trouble. The stones stand as a monument to the God who sees all, even the secrets we bury deep.

That night, I could not sleep. I thought of the Red Sea’s walls of water, of manna’s sweetness, of serpents and mercy, of Jordan’s parted waters—all the times God had shown His power. And I thought of Achan buried beneath those stones and Eli, whose blood stained the ground at Ai. My friend’s hidden greed had cost us so much.

Now, as an elder of Israel, I tell you this: nothing—no robe, no silver, no secret sin—can be hidden from the Lord. As Adam and Eve could not hide in the garden, we cannot hide from His watchful eye.  I have seen over and over his mercy and grace towards us.  Growing up in Egypt, I would never have been anything but a slave.  But he delivered me from slavery.  He redeemed me.  And through the long desert journey, he gave us grace after grace.  A cloud covered us during the day to shield us from the scorching desert sun.  A pillar of fire warmed us on the cold nights.  He provided all our needs and delivered us from harm so many times.  But His holiness is not to be taken lightly.  His commandments are not to be broken.  He is merciful, but he is just.  He is full of grace, but a flagrant sin will not go unpunished.  May we all seek to be obedient servants of you, Yehovah, our God most high.

Acts 4:36-37  Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 5:1-6  But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

Acts 5:7-11  After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

The stories of Achan in Joshua 7 and Ananias with Sapphira in Acts 5 are separated by centuries, cultural contexts, and covenantal eras, yet they share striking similarities in their portrayal of sin, community holiness, and divine judgment. Today, I want to look at these two accounts side by side to illuminate how serious God is about obedience, how He treats hypocrisy, and to demonstrate how he consistently deals with people in both the Old and New Testament times.  

Achan’s sin occurred after Israel’s miraculous victory at Jericho. God had clearly commanded that all the devoted things—gold, silver, and valuables—belonged to Him alone (Joshua 6:17–19).   This is the law of cherem.  God would win the battle with Jericho, so everything that resulted from the battle belongs to Him.   Everything that could be burned would be burned, given to God, much like a whole burnt offering is given to God by being consumed by fire.  The precious metals would be given to the priests for use in the tabernacle and later the Temple.  

Achan secretly kept some of the spoils for himself, burying them under his tent. His theft was an act of disobedience against a direct divine command and a breach of Israel’s covenant with God.  They were God’s possessions.  He stole them from God.

Similarly, Ananias and Sapphira’s sin was rooted in deceit. In the early church, believers were selling possessions to share with those in need.  As we discussed last week, they understood the Biblical view of ownership.  Everything belongs to God, and He entrusts some of His property to us to manage as stewards.  Ananias and his wife sold a piece of property but secretly kept part of the proceeds while pretending to give the full amount.  When Ananias came to Peter, he told Peter he had devoted the sale of the land to God.  At that point, the proceeds from the sale belonged to God. Peter asks him:

Acts 5:4  While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?

It would have been perfectly okay if Ananias and his wife had sold the land and decided to give God 20% or even 5% of the proceeds.  They could have come and presented it to Peter, saying, “Here is a portion of the money from the sale of our land, use it for the poor.”  

Instead, they wanted to look as righteous as Barnabus, giving 100% of the sale, even though they were keeping some.  But the minute they said it all belonged to God, then it all belonged to God.  Words are important.  But they decided that no one would realize their deceit — they would appear righteous despite their deceit.

Like Achan, Ananias acted as though he could hide his actions from God and the faith community. In both cases, the sin was not merely the material act—stealing or withholding—but the spiritual betrayal: a failure to trust God’s provision and a deliberate choice to misrepresent the truth.

We see this same thing happening 1000 years after the defeat of Jericho and the sin of Achan, and 400 years before the events in Acts.  Listen to the prophet Malachi speaking in 430 BC.

Malachi 3:8-12   Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says Yehovah Sabbaoth, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says Yehovah Sabbaoth. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says Yehovah Sabbaoth.

Malachi said they were stealing from God.  The Torah required a tenth of their money, crops, or herds that they accumulated to be presented at the temple.  They were His.  But they were neglecting the temple offerings.  They were keeping for themselves what belonged to God.  This is precisely what happened with Achan and with Ananius and Saphira.  This is not an Old Testament concept, not a New Testament concept, but a forever concept.  

The sin of Achan caused God’s anger to “burn against Israel” (Joshua 7:1).  Achan’s private disobedience led to Israel’s humiliating defeat at Ai. It was a battle they should have easily won.  They thought the enemy was small.  They had just easily taken down the most fortified city in the land.  They did not count on God being against them instead of for them in the battle at Ai.  As a result, 36 Israelites died.  The entire community suffered because of one man’s hidden transgression.  

Sin affects the community, not just the individual.   There is a collective responsibility to keep the covenant.  If one member breaks the covenant, all are affected.  In the same way, Ananias and Sapphira’s sin threatened the whole community of believers in Acts 5.  Left unchecked, their hypocrisy could have seriously undermined the Spirit’s work.   Achan was stoned to death.  Ananias and Sapphira fell dead immediately.   Acts 5:11 notes that “great fear seized the whole church,” indicating that God’s swift judgment preserved the integrity of the Christian community. Both episodes emphasize that individual sin can have communal consequences.

In both accounts, God’s judgment was immediate and severe.   For those who seek to draw a clear distinction between God’s actions in the Old Testament and the New Testament, this should serve as a wake-up call.  God has not changed.  

These punishments may seem harsh by modern standards, but in their contexts, they served as dramatic warnings.  It was the grace of God displayed in His dealing quickly with these sins before they caused worse problems.  God’s holiness cannot be mocked, and covenant-breaking jeopardizes the mission of God’s people.  We see in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth a similar concern:

1 Corinthians 5:1-2  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Everyone in town knew this man was flagrantly committing a sexual sin in their midst.  Even the pagans disapproved of his actions.  Yet the group of believers in Corinth chose to ignore it.  Paul was very clear that he should be removed from the fellowship.  Paul continues:

1 Corinthians 5:5-6 … you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? …

Paul hopes that by removing him, he might come to his senses, repent, and find salvation.  Yet the congregation in Corinth is boasting instead of mourning this man’s sin.  We see this in too many congregations today.  They ignore flagrant sin in their fellowship when they should be mourning over those who refuse to repent.  Paul warned that just as it only takes a pinch of yeast to cause the entire loaf to rise, it only takes a little sin to affect the whole church.

1 Corinthians 5:9-10  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

They are not to associate with sexually immoral people in their Christian fellowship.  He clarifies that he does not mean the people outside the church.  There is no such rule for avoiding sinners who are not in your fellowship.  In fact, Jesus demonstrated that this is precisely who you should seek out.  We should go out of our way to show love to and befriend those outside our fellowship who are flagrant sinners, remembering that we, too, were once the same.  But for the grace of God, we would still be in that situation.  How can we not want to share that grace with everyone?  But for those in the church, there are different rules:

1 Corinthians 5:11  But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 

For those who have joined your fellowship and persist in flagrant sins, you are not even to eat with them.  By doing so, you are pretending that sin doesn’t matter and that God is not God.  By ignoring the problem, you are making light of Jesus’ death on the cross.  

1 Corinthians 5:12-13  For what do I have to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.

And let me tell you, the church has done this wrong for so many years, assuming the position of judge of the world, telling the world they are sinners.  It is not our job to judge the world. That is God’s job, and we are not God.  We need to stay in our lane.  However, for those who are part of our fellowship, it is not only our right but also our responsibility to judge them.  The hope is that correction will lead to repentance and restoration.  We have had this backwards.

Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthian church echoes the lessons of Achan and Ananias: sin, even when committed by one person, is never a private matter in God’s community.  That was true 3400 years ago in the Old Testament.  It was true 2000 years ago in the New Testament believers, and it is true today.  

Israel would never defeat Ai until Achan’s sin was dealt with.  The followers in Acts 5 could not continue to grow healthy if they tolerated hypocrisy.  The followers in Corinth could not preach the gospel while tolerating open scandal. 

Whether under the Old Covenant, at the birth of the church, or in the life of a New Testament congregation, God calls His people to holiness for the sake of His mission. Confronting sin—with grief, humility, and the hope of redemption—preserves the purity of the church and displays the character of a holy God.

When we answer God’s call to accept his gift of salvation, we enter into a covenant with God.  He promises to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  We promise to make Him our Lord, to turn over our lives to Him. We say, “Here, God, I give you 100% of my life.”

We lay our lives down at his feet, but are we really giving it all, or are we, like Ananias and Sapphira, holding something back?  Once you say, “I give my life to you, God,” then it is His. If you try to take some of it back, then you are stealing from God.

Following Jesus is serious business.  If we treat our obedience, or the obedience of others in our fellowship, lightly, the whole community suffers.  Let us pledge anew our commitment to follow Jesus with 100% of all we have, mind, body, and spirit. 

September 9, 2025 –  A Biblical View of Ownership — Acts #12

David Chupp Acts , , , , , , ,

September 9, 2025 –  A Biblical View of Ownership — Acts #12
Acts 4:32-37

Most of the teachings I do are verse-by-verse explanations of scripture, giving you the context for the passage, history, language, and culture.  But today’s is topical.  Something is going on in the community of these early believers that many people find unusual, and it makes some others really uncomfortable.  Today, I want to look at the big picture to explain what motivates these followers to behave this way.  

Acts 4:32-37  Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

The idea that Jesus’ followers shared their possessions bothers some people.  It is especially uncomfortable to many people in the US, where the concept of private ownership is a key element of society.  Our identities are often tied to what we have achieved in life and what we own, such as our house and automobiles.  Some people look at these first-century believers and say that this sharing of possessions would not work in our world today.  Why are they freely sharing everything? 1 

It is because their view of ownership, the Biblical view of ownership, is radically different than the prevailing view in our culture.  So we will do an overview of the scripture to make sure we understand their motives.

But first, let’s talk about babies.  It is so much fun when babies start to speak. Those first words are so precious.  (Especially if the first word is dada.)  But it seems it is just a few months when their primary word is “NO!”. And then, a few months later, their primary word when playing with a sibling or friend is “mine.” Children naturally latch onto the idea of personal ownership.  You don’t have to teach them about ownership.  Teaching a toddler about sharing, however, can be a trying experience. 

If you have ever seen the Disney Movie “Finding Nemo,” you know there is a group of characters that provide some comic relief, a flock of seagulls.  Every time they appear on screen, they have one focus.  They are all selfishly trying to obtain that one morsel of food that is available. Like a toddler, they cry out the same thing over and over: “Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!” They are funny characters—but it’s also a little uncomfortable. Because if we’re honest, those seagulls are a mirror of our own hearts.  Think about it:  We see something we like, and our first instinct is, “Oh, I would like to have one of those!”  Someone else gets a new car or a promotion at work, and we think, ” I wish that were mine.”  The latest phone or gadget comes out and we think we’ve got to have it—“Mine!”

This is why advertising is big business.  It is all about feeding the desire for possessions.  Almost $500 billion is spent on advertising yearly in the US.2  Amazon spent 26 million dollars to air one ad during the last Super Bowl.3  How we view our possessions, how we view ownership, makes a difference in how we live,

So let’s look at this from a Biblical perspective.  And the first question is: Do we own anything?

Psalm 24:1  The earth is Yehovah’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

The Bible says God created it.  It all belongs to him.  If you go back to the beginning, in the Garden of Eden…God placed man in the garden to work the land and to care for it.  Man was given dominion over the earth and the creatures in it.  He was to subdue it.   But it is dominion, not sovereignty.   Only God is sovereign.  Man is given dominion.  He is to take care of the land, but is he given ownership?

Who owned the Garden in Eden? Adam did not own the garden. It is God’s garden.  He makes the rules.  It is evident that when Adam and Eve decide they no longer want to live by God’s laws of the Garden, they are banished.  God does not leave; they leave.   Man was the tenant farmer, God was the owner.

But wait… doesn’t God promise Abraham that he will give his descendants land?

Genesis 17:7-8  And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

An everlasting possession.  That seems to imply Abraham’s descendants will have ownership.  So 400 years later, when they were redeemed from Egypt and had traveled back to the land, it was divided up by tribe, assigned by lots (Joshua 18).  So it would seem that God does endorse ownership of the land.  But let’s look at how God mandated the land be used.  There were a lot of rules.

Every seven years was the Schmita year.  They were not to farm the land.  They were not to till the ground nor plant any crops.  Any crops that grow naturally are available for anyone to take as needed.  Anyone could harvest on any land that year.  Additionally, in this Schmita year, all debts were forgiven.

Land could be bought or sold, but every 50 years, there was a reset. Every 50 years was a Jubilee (Yovel) year; any land that had been bought or sold went back to the original owner or their family.  Additionally, any slaves or indentured servants were freed in that year.  This ensured that the land stayed with the tribes as they were initially allotted, and that no family would be doomed to live forever in bondage.  

And there were rules on how you harvest the crops on your land: 

Leviticus 19:9-10  When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am Yehovah your God.

We see this in the book of Ruth, where the destitute widows can harvest wheat from the edges or corners of anyone’s field.  The land was theirs to manage, but the owner had expectations for how they would use the land.  That included using a portion of the harvest to help the poor.  

In those days, people’s righteousness was judged by how much unharvested crop they left in the corners of their fields.  A person who was not righteous might gather 100% of the harvest for himself and leave none.   If you were a generous person, you would leave large amounts of grain to harvest in the corners and edges of your fields.   Today, we can apply this principle to our budgets, and we must ask ourselves, “How big are my corners?”  How much of what I produce from the resources God has given me to manage is left for the poor?

Why were they given all these rules about how they were supposed to manage their land?

Leviticus 25:23-24  The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.

Because the land is not theirs, it is God’s.  God’s view of land ownership is that God owns all the land.  He has allotted portions of the land to people to use, but he has strict rules on how it is to be used. 

I have a friend who has a beautiful Porsche convertible.  Imagine for a moment that I borrow his car.  Now, when I am driving that car, I know very well that it is not mine (nor, thankfully, the car payment).  And I am not going to be reckless with it.  Before handing me the keys, my friend mentioned that he only uses premium gas and is careful not to exceed a certain RPM.   I would be very careful to follow his instructions.  After all, it is his car and he knows how to handle it.  I would carefully avoid potholes, drive very defensively, and I’d return it with a full tank of premium gas.  Why?  Because he was kind to loan it to me, and I want to be a good steward of what I have borrowed.  

The Biblical view of Ownership is this:  God owns everything.  He has entrusted a portion of his world to us.  It is not our land, but His.  They are not our possessions; they are His. We are temporary managers.  And we have a responsibility to manage God’s land and His possessions according to his rules.   After all, it is his world and he knows best how to handle it.  

The moment we start to think of this world as our property, whenever we forget that it all belongs to God, then we are tempted to misuse what we see as “ours”.   It can lead to selfishness, as we wonder why we should give away anything.  If other people need something, let them work like I did to get it.  Why should I give away what I worked so hard for?  It can also lead to pride.  Look at what I have.  I got this from hard work and smart business decisions.  Look at me.  Look what I have done.  

When Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, God knew this could become a problem.  They had been slaves, and for the past 40 years, were wanderers.  Now they are entering a rich, bountiful land.  So just before they go in, Moses warns them:

Deuteronomy 8:11-14,17–20  Take care lest you forget Yehovah your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery… Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember Yehovah your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget Yehovah your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that Yehovah makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of Yehovah your God.

Don’t forget God, who gave you everything you have.  Don’t forget Yehovah and go worship other gods like the god of materialism, or the god of pride, or the god of self.  If you do, you will perish.  This advice was good almost 3000 years ago, and it is good today.  God understands the temptation of ownership, wealth, and false self-sufficiency.  

And ownership can bring other problems. For example, if you are the owner of a business, you have the potential for greater income return, but you carry the full weight of the company.  You have to oversee every aspect, from payroll to market shifts.  You assume the financial and legal risks of the business and must juggle multiple roles. Ownership can lead to much worry and stress.   What if my company has a bad year?  What if the economy crashes?  What if my taxes increase?  What if someone takes what is mine?  What about tornadoes, what about floods?

 An employee can focus solely on their specific area of the business, largely exempt from the broader concerns.   If we view God as the owner and accept our position as a steward, we no longer need to worry about outcomes because God will take care of that.  

But there is an even more important aspect of ownership we need to look at.  This idea of ownership is about more than land and other possessions.  Look back at that verse in Psalm 24:

Psalm 24:1  The earth is Yehovah’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

“And those who dwell therein.”  It is not just our land and possessions that belong to God.   We belong to God.  He created us, he gave us life, and He sustains us.  He gives us every heartbeat and every breath.  And more than that, for those of us who have received the gift of salvation through Jesus, we are “doubly owned” by God.

Jesus said it this way…

Matthew 20:28 “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He gave his life as a ransom for many.  We understand a ransom as what you pay to release someone who is being held hostage.  The Old Testament view is that a ransom is to buy back people’s freedom who had become slaves.   In Rome, many of their slaves came from lands they had conquered.  But in Israel, the primary reason people ended up in slavery is that they had to sell themselves into slavery for debts they could not pay.   The act of paying the ransom is redemption.  God redeemed the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. 

Jesus had an interesting discussion with some of his followers about being set free:

John 8:31-34  So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

Jesus said, “The truth will set you free,” to which they responded, We don’t need to be set free; we were never slaves. And Jesus tells them that they were indeed slaves to sin.  Why were they slaves to sin?  The payment owed for sin is death (Romans 6:23).   Because of their sin, they owed a debt that they could not pay.  Jesus is telling them that because of this debt of sin that they could not pay, they had sold themselves into slavery.

So Jesus came to redeem us, to pay the ransom for our release from slavery to sin.  That is why Paul can say things like this:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.

You were bought with a price.  Jesus purchased our redemption with his death and resurrection.  He set us free.

Ephesians 1:7  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

We have been redeemed from slavery to sin, so we are free.  And what do we do with this freedom?  Paul says when we choose redemption, we choose Jesus to be our Lord.  So we are no longer slaves to sin, but we answer to a different master or lord, Jesus.  

Several times in the introduction of his letters, Paul says he is a slave of Christ Jesus (as do James, Peter, Jude, and John).  

Romans 1:1  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus….

Paul expands on this thought in Romans 6:

Romans 6:20-23  For when you were slaves of sin…. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you asked any servant in Jesus’ day, “What are you going to do today?” they would look at you like you were crazy.  A servant had no choice.  They did whatever their master told them to do.  There were no discussions or debates.  This slavery to God, becoming his servant, is our voluntary position.  We choose to be his servant instead of serving sin.  We decide to follow his decrees, his direction for what we are going to do today and tomorrow.

But Paul, who multiple times called himself a slave to Jesus, also said this:

Galatians 4:4-7  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

So are we slaves to Christ or are we sons?  The answer is yes.

Our attitude of obedience to God is like the attitude of a slave to our Lord—complete obedience without question.  We wake in the morning, awaiting God to assign us a task.  

God’s attitude of love and grace toward us, however, is not like a master to a slave but like a father to a child. I think Paul reconciles these two by following the Old Testament idea of children having complete obedience and devotion to their parents (as he restates in Ephesians 6:1-3).  We are the children of God, and our level of obedience as his children should be so complete, such a thorough obedience as if we were slaves to a master.

This concept of ownership is what the first-century followers understood.  This is why they freely shared their possessions with those in need.  Because they understood that the things they possessed did not belong to them anyway, it was not their land, but God’s land they were given to manage for a while.  It was not their donkey or their sheep, but they all belonged to God.  So it is only right they they manage God’s possessions as God would want them to.  

These were people whose fields had big corners.  They left much of what they had for others in need.  Their lives were built on the Biblical view of ownership.  Their lands, their homes, and their possessions were all His.  And they understood that they owed their very lives to Jesus, who had ransomed them from slavery.  So they were willing to freely give that up also if necessary for the Kingdom of God.  And many of them would be called on to be martyrs.

Finally, I can’t talk about slavery without making this point:

When I mention slavery, your thoughts probably go to earlier times in our country, which indeed has a horrific history of slavery, and, sadly, slavery was supported by many churches.  That is our history.  We can’t go back and change that.  But there is something we can change.  Today, there are about 50 million people enslaved in our world.  50 million.   And many of them are children.   Some have been kidnapped, but most, just like in Jesus’ day, ended up as slaves to pay family debts that could not be paid.  Poor people are taken in by predatory loan practices that result in the loss of their children if they can’t repay the loan.  50 million slaves.  In India (which has an estimated 18 million slaves today), the average loan amount taken by the families that may lose their child is $68.  Several mission organizations are working to redeem children from slavery.  My wife and I have been supporters of Freedom’s Promise4, which works in Southeast Asia, and Set Free, which works in India.5   $ 68, less than many families will spend on lunch today, can ransom a child from slavery.  Preventing child trafficking and redeeming children from slavery are both worthy ways to make our corners bigger.  What would God have you do with His possessions that He has entrusted to you?

  1. And some say that what these followers are doing is similar to Communism or Socialism.  That is certainly not the case.  The Biblical model is voluntary sharing motivated by love and unity, as opposed to involuntary redistribution mandated by the state.  God, who has limitless resources and motives of grace and love, directs the management of resources, instead of a government of men, which historically becomes corrupt and self-serving.
  2. From marketingcharts.com.
  3. From mediaplaynews.com.
  4. http://www.freedomspromise.org
  5. http://www.setfreealliance.org

September 2, 2025 –  The Followers of Jesus Respond to the Threat — Acts #11

David Chupp Acts , , , , ,

September 2, 2025 –  The Followers of Jesus Respond to the Threat — Acts #11
Acts 4:23-31

We have been discussing this one story about Peter, John, and the lame man for the past month. The story unfolds over 24 hours, but spans almost two chapters of Acts.  It began one afternoon at 3 pm when Peter and John were going to the Temple.  There, they encountered a man who was paralyzed from birth, and he was healed.  He followed them into the Temple, and everyone there recognized him as the lame beggar whom they had passed for years.  Peter and John preach for about 2.5 hours and then are placed in custody overnight by the Temple police.  The next day, they are questioned by the court of high priests, who threaten them not to continue to speak about Jesus.

We noted that this is just the beginning of the persecution that will intensify over the following four chapters of Acts, culminating in the first martyr for the faith.  But at this point, the priests don’t yet feel they can do more than threaten them.  So they warn Peter and John not to speak any more about Jesus.

This is Israel in the first century.  They have no First Amendment that guarantees free speech. This is a genuine threat that they must take seriously.  The last person Peter and John saw this group deal with ended up on a cross.  Today, we examine how these followers respond to these threats and consider how we should react when we face similar threats.

Perhaps you feel that this doesn’t apply to you.  In the US, we are not currently under any significant form of persecution. You may not have ever been physically threatened by a person who meant you harm.  But have you ever felt your life was threatened by an accident or illness?  Has your health been threatened?  We all know friends who have been threatened by cancer and other physical threats this past year.  We know people who physical disasters, flooding, fires, and storms have threatened. And while persecution is not a big problem for many of us now, in many countries it is a big problem. The Bible tells us that a time of persecution will come everywhere.  And just as the followers in Acts 4 are seeing the first hints of persecution, we are seeing the first hints of persecution here in the US.  None of us here may live to see more than these stirrings of persecution, but it will come, and we must be ready. We must discuss how we should respond when it does come.   So how do you respond when you are threatened? 

Acts 4:23-31  When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 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, 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?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
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, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 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

How do you respond when you are threatened or get bad news?  They have been warned by the highest court not to speak about Jesus anymore.  However, they feel compelled to share this great news about Jesus with everyone.  

When they got the bad news, here is what they did not do:  They did not panic, fret, wring their hands, cry, moan, or groan.  They did not get angry, sad, depressed, or anxious.  They did not do any of these things.  They prayed.   If your initial response to getting any bad news is not prayer, then you are doing it wrong. 

So these followers in Acts 4 responded to bad news with prayer. But let’s look a little deeper and see how they prayed and what they prayed for.

Acts 4:24  And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord…

They addressed God as “Sovereign Lord.”  What does this title mean?  “Sovereign Lord” is translated from a single Greek word, ‘despotes’, from which we get our word despot.  The modern definition of despot is: “a ruler or other person who holds absolute power, typically one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way.”1 Today, this word has a very negative connotation.  But the original Greek term was neutral, referring to the head of a household. (The female equivalent was despoina, or “lady of the house”.)  Later, in the Byzantine Empire, it was a term of high honor.  However, it now carries a very negative connotation, similar to the words ‘tyrant’ or ‘dictator’, which were initially neutral terms until the late 1700s. 

Why did these terms develop such a negative connotation?  Due to the rise of oppressive rulers, people began to realize over time the potential problems that occur when one person holds all the power.   Specifically, it was during the time of the French Revolution and the reign of Louis XIV that the term ‘despot’ became so negative. It was Lord Acton in 1887 who wrote: 

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence2 and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.“3

Power in the hands of men is a temptation few can stand. God alone is the supreme power that is incorruptible.  He is sovereign in that he is all-powerful.  He controls the sun, the moon, and the stars.  He controls the wind, the clouds, and the storms.  And He has the power to control every detail of our lives.  But God, in His wisdom, withholds His control over you unless you allow it.  He asks us to submit our wills to His voluntarily.  Now, there are times when God will override man’s free will.  We see this especially in how God deals with evil kings, such as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus, as seen in this verse in Proverbs:

Proverbs 21:1  The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of Yehovah; he turns it wherever he will.

God directs the will of kings in circumstances when He must protect or discipline his people.  But this is the exception, not the rule.  Except on these rare occasions, God will only be sovereign in our lives if we allow him to be.  His kingdom is one you choose to enter or exit.  By definition, you are only a part of the kingdom if you follow the rules of the king.  Adam and Eve chose not to follow the king’s law and left the garden.  If we want to be in God’s kingdom, we must follow him as king and obey his precepts.  That is what it means when we call Him ‘Lord.’  He directs, and we follow.  You can only call him ‘Sovereign Lord” if you follow him and obey his laws.

So they pray, addressing God as their ancestors addressed God in the scriptures:

Acts 4:24  Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…

You see this same manner of addressing God throughout the Bible, especially in the psalms and Isaiah, and here in Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 9:6  You are Yehovah, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

And then, in their prayer in Acts 4, they quote the first two verses of Psalms 2.  Again, the prayer begins:

Acts 4:24-26   Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 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?
 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed.”

Psalm 2 describes the rebellion of kings and nations against God and His Messiah (His Anointed).  In quoting this psalm, they recognized that the threat was not against them, but against God Himself.  It is God’s plans the high priests want to thwart.  And if you know Psalms 2 as these followers know Psalms 2, you know how this ends.  If you don’t know the psalm, then of course you should stop reading Acts and look it up.

How does the psalm say that God responds to the nations plotting against him?

Psalm 2:4   The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

He laughs at them.  He tells them he has installed His King in Zion, the one he calls his son.  And he will break the other nations with a “rod of iron”.  He will “dash them to pieces like pottery” (verse 9).  They should recognize his Son as the true king and “celebrate his rule with trembling (verse 11), for “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” (verse 12). The first-century disciples, quoting this psalm in their prayer, acknowledge:
1. That God is their personal sovereign.
2. That He is the all-powerful creator who is sovereign over the world.
3. That He has appointed a King to rule, that is His messiah.
4. That His Messiah will defeat all enemies and rule forever.

They continue their prayer, identifying this attack by these priests as the same response these priests had to Jesus.  

Acts 4:27-28  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, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place…

It was inevitable that the powers of religion and government would both rise up against Jesus.  And God would intervene and resurrect Jesus, thus claiming the victory over them, over sin, and over death.  

And now they come to the part of the prayer where they make a request to God regarding the situation in which they have been threatened.  What did they ask for?

If you were being threatened, what would you ask God for?   Obviously, you would ask him to remove the threat.  If someone wants to hurt you, what would you ask for? You would pray, “Please don’t let them hurt me.  Stop them.  Get in their way.”  If your health is threatened, what would you ask for?  “Please heal me.  Please take away this cancer, please heal my heart.”  If you are threatened by temptation, what would you pray for?  “Please remove this temptation.”  All of these sound like reasonable responses, but they are not the complete response that the Bible teaches. 

For example, regarding temptation: On the night Jesus was arrested, Jesus told Peter that the Satan would tempt him.  Jesus tells him that He is praying for him.  What does Jesus pray for Peter?    

Luke 22:31-32  Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

He does not pray to take away the temptation; he prays for Peter not to fall.  He prays that Peter might endure the temptation.  Trials and temptations are essential parts of our walk with God.  Through them, our faith is tested and grows. If we were to pray away all of our trials, then we could not grow.  This is how the book of James begins:

James 1:2-4  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We need trials of various kinds, so that our faith will grow.  These troubles produce a faith that endures.  Now it is okay to ask God to remove them if possible.  Remember, Jesus prayed in this manner in the Garden.  

Luke 22:42  Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.

God does not want us to suffer, but sometimes suffering is necessary to learn to depend on Him, to learn obedience, or to accomplish the mission He has for us.  Discipline can be painful.  What parent has not said, “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”  (Though I wonder if any children ever believed that.)  Some lessons are unfortunately learned the hard way.  

This is the same way we should pray if someone is trying to harm us or kill us.  That is precisely the situation Jesus was in when he prayed this prayer.  He was about to be handed over to men who would torture him to death. Yet Jesus prays, ‘If this is the best thing for the kingdom of God, then let’s do it the hard way.’   Be honest with God and tell him you really would like to avoid that bad situation, but then be a good servant of God and submit to his will if it is best for the kingdom.  God is our sovereign, our king, so we bow our will to the will of the king.  

When the highest court in the land threatened these first-century followers, they didn’t respond with worry, with anxiety, with defeat, or with dismay.  They turned to pray.  They prayed to God, who was sovereign in their lives, and they were willing to follow the path He directed.  They recognized the battle is not so much against them, but against God Himself.  And they knew from scripture that God would be victorious, just as he was victorious over these same priests when they threatened Jesus.   But remember that victory for Jesus was marked by a cross, a grave, and ultimately a resurrection.  So too, victory for most of these followers will end in violent deaths before their resurrection.

When they were threatened, they didn’t ask God to remove the threat. What did they ask? 

Acts 4:29-30  And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

Look upon these threats and give us the boldness to continue speaking your word, despite the threats from these priests.  They saw themselves in a battle.  And they have entered a battlefield where it looks like they are outnumbered and outgunned.  But they don’t call to be airlifted out to escape the battle; they call for back-up.  They call for reinforcement.  They call to the one who has all power and is sovereign.  

Is your burden heavy?   Don’t pray for lighter burdens, pray for stronger backs.
Is your path hard?  Don’t pray for an easier path, but ask God to walk with you and strengthen you on the path you’re on.
Do you feel trapped?  Don’t pray for an escape route, pray for wisdom and endurance. 
Pray for boldness in the face of trials, temptations, and persecutions.

Look how far these followers of Jesus have come in a few short months.   They have come a long way from the disciples they were when Jesus was arrested.  Then they were afraid to be associated with Jesus.  Peter denied that he knew him, and was scared not by a man with a sword, but by a servant girl standing around a fire.  After the crucifixion, they were hiding in a locked room, afraid that the Jewish leaders would take them next.  Then they were ruled by fear.  

But now they are ruled by faith.  Just a few months later, they are recognized for their boldness. They have passed from fear to courage.  They are speaking publicly, affirming their relationship with Jesus.  Then they find themselves face to face with this same group that condemned Jesus, and they threatened them to stop speaking Jesus’ name.  And how do they respond now?  Peter, who denied Jesus in that very man’s courtyard a few months ago, now tells them, “Well, you are the religious experts, so tell me, who is more important to obey, man or God?  I can’t stop speaking the truth about Jesus that I have seen with my own eyes.”  Peter is a totally different person.  

What changed in Peter?  He spent time with Jesus after his resurrection.   And Peter’s fear melted away in the light of his faith.  Why was he afraid before?   He was worried for his future, he was scared he would be shamed, and he was afraid he would die.  His fear is all about what might happen to himself.  His thoughts were centered on Peter.  It is all about me.  The most important person in Peter’s life was still Peter.

Then the resurrected Jesus meets him by the lake.  Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?”  Peter says yes, and then 3 times Jesus replies, ‘Feed and tend to my sheep.’ Stop prioritizing Peter and reach out to others.  Jesus knows that the secret to removing Peter’s fears is to liberate Peter from himself.  Quit worrying about what might happen to Peter! 

Jesus stands as a testimony that anything man may do to you is not permanent.  There is something about walking around with a formerly dead guy to help remove your own fear of death.  Jesus pushes Peter to true humility.  Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.  The cure to the fear of death is dying to self.  Boldness begins when self ends.  When you are certain in your faith that God loves you, that he wants only the best outcome for you, then you can trust God and not worry about anything that might come.  

When you have died to self, when you have given your life away to Jesus, then your life becomes less important to you. But your life has become even more important to Jesus, who will care for you and work everything out to the best, so much better than you could have ever done.  If we put our love for God and others ahead of the love of our own life, then we have little to fear.   John the Baptist said it this way in John 3:30, “He must increase, I must decrease.”  This happens as the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, just as He did with these disciples.  And that is the big difference in these followers now.  God’s Holy Spirit has come to them.  There is a close connection in the Book of Acts with the word ‘boldness’ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

In their prayer, they recognize this.  The attack is not against them; it is against God.  So we do not need to fear, for God can handle it.  We can then continue in the boldness of the gospel.  They responded to the priest’s threats with prayer to ask God to make them bolder in the face of the danger.  And God honored this request and showed His approval in a way only He can:

Acts 4:31 “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.

God rains down His Holy Spirit on them anew.  And the whole building shook with the power and glory of God.  Oh, that our buildings would shake with the power of God’s approval on us!

1.  Oxford Language Dictionary, 2024.
2.  Lord Acton’s comment on the corruption of those who exercise influence without authority rings loudly in our culture today, particularly in the context of social media influencers.  They have no legal authority over people, yet they maintain power over millions through various social media outlets, which is evident in their sometimes multimillion-dollar income.  We are just beginning to recognize the dangers of this influencer culture, which include misinformation, endorsement of hazardous products, unrealistic beauty standards, the promotion of a culture of comparison, deceptive marketing, and privacy risks.  We must be similarly wary of the rising trend of Christian Influencers.  Please check out the article in Christianity Today, which states, “Christian influence comes with a cross. Its purpose is far more about self-sacrifice than self-indulgence.” (Giboney, Justin.  “How to be a Christian Influencer Worthy of the Name.” Christianity Today, May 21, 2024.)
3.  Letters of John Emerich Edward Dahlberg, Lord Acton.  1887.