Acts 20:1

When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of the Lord and Jesus standing at the right hand of God... Then they cried with a loud voice, and they stopped their ears, and they ran upon him with one accord, and they cast him out of the city, and they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul... And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles... And as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and hailing men and women, committed them to prison.

Where the power of God is focused through His church, the opposition of the enemy is always near at hand.

The Power That Birthed the Church

Last week in our review of the book of Acts, we considered the effect of God's power in the birth of the church. In Acts 1:8 we saw the promise of power—Jesus told His disciples, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth." In Acts 2 we saw the provision of that power as the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost upon the 120 gathered in Jerusalem.

Then Peter—the same Peter who had denied the Lord three times—preached with power. At the end of chapter 2 we saw the byproduct of power as the church was birthed and began to have influence in Jerusalem. In Acts 6 we saw that power partitioned to further leaders, and the church's influence spread even further.

But one thing you can be certain of: where the power of God is present, the opposition of the enemy is imminent. The early history of the church is the story of God working by His mighty power through ordinary men and women to do extraordinary exploits for His kingdom. That is the aim of God in His church. Yet the book of Acts also brings to light the hostile resistance of the enemy, who is always seeking to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

Christ Builds and Defends His Church

I am grateful for the word of Christ in Matthew 16. Jesus, seated with His disciples at Caesarea Philippi where pagan worship was abundant, asked, "Who do men say that I am?" After the disciples reported the polls, He pressed, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

What a phenomenal statement. "Christ" means the anointed one, the fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy of the coming Messiah, promised all the way back in Genesis 3. And not only the Messiah—You are the very Son of God, with the very nature of God. If that weren't true and Jesus were merely a prophet, He would have stopped Peter. Instead He said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah... And upon this rock"—not upon Peter, but upon the confession Peter just made—"I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

We have here two wonderful promises. First, Jesus will build His church; He establishes it. Second, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The establishment and defense of the church is not our task—it is the Lord's. Any time we take it upon ourselves to build or defend God's church, we are working outside of our pay grade. In the same way, it is not our task to bring conviction of sin upon people; that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet we love to play Holy Spirit, don't we?

Look across the church in the West today and you see people who have decided they must build the church—thousands of books on church growth, making it bigger and more technologically savvy, telling us that preaching is out of date. Well, we're still doing it. Why? Because God told us to go and proclaim His word, and the church was birthed in Acts 2 at the proclaiming of God's word. And when man takes it upon himself to defend the church, he does a terrible job. Read church history and you'll see it.

Persecution Is Normal Christianity

Though it is God's work to build and defend His church, opposition against that work will always come. It's implied in this very passage: the gates of hell will not prevail against the church—but they will come against it. The "gates of hell" speak of the seat of power, organization, and strategy within the hellish ranks. The devices of the enemy will not prevail, but opposition will arise.

Consider Jesus' words in John 15:20: "A servant is not greater than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you." Persecution is the lot of the people of God. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:10, Jesus said, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake... Blessed are you when men shall revile and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets that were before you."

How many of us, in our natural selves, rejoice when we're slandered? We don't like it. But Jesus, John the Baptist, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Elijah, Elisha, Joseph, Noah—so many were persecuted for the sake of God. Paul told Timothy that anyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. These are not the promises we put on bumper stickers, but they would make a truer poster than much of what fills Christian bookstores.

Let me be very clear: persecution is normal to Christianity. What we have experienced in America in the form of religious liberty is abnormal to Christian history. It feels normal to us because we have known nothing else. So when we hear of believers persecuted elsewhere—when Voice of the Martyrs reports that more people are being killed for their faith today than a thousand or two thousand years ago—it's hard for us to comprehend, because we live in the seat of religious liberty. But what is normal to us is abnormal to history, and there may well come a day, perhaps in our lifetimes, when persecution comes to our shores.

Opposition Rises Against the Apostles

Where the power of God is in His church, the persecution of His church will be present. In Acts 3, Peter and John went up to the temple to pray and met a man lame from birth begging at the gate called Beautiful. Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I will give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise and walk." The man was healed and went into the temple—for the first time in his life—walking, leaping, and praising God. It caused such a stir that crowds gathered, and Peter declared the man stood whole by the name of Jesus Christ.

In Acts 4:1, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, grieved that they preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection, and they were furious that the apostles preached something they rejected. We live in a culture today that is furious because we preach things they don't believe—but does that make what we preach untrue?

They imprisoned Peter and John overnight. The next day Peter, equipped with boldness by the Spirit, preached the gospel: "Neither is there salvation in any other name, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." The religious leaders—the very ones who had condemned Jesus—couldn't have these unlearned Galileans preaching in Jerusalem. They conferred: "What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle has been done by them... we cannot deny it." So they straitly threatened them to speak no more in Jesus' name. Just stop mentioning Jesus. What is it about that name that so infuriates people?

In Acts 5, God moved again—people healed, set free from demonic oppression—and the high priest and the Sadducees were "filled with indignation." I love that word from the King James. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in prison, but God opened the prison doors and sent them back into the temple to preach Christ. When they were found teaching again, the high priest said, "Did we not straitly command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine."

I love that. Jesus said, "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem." And now they've filled Jerusalem with the teaching of Christ. Peter answered, "We ought to obey God rather than men." The council wanted to kill them, but Gamaliel, a wise Pharisee, gave a history lesson: such movements had risen before and died out. If this is not of God, it will fail; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—you'll find yourselves fighting against God. Keep that in mind for next week. They consented, beat the apostles, commanded them not to speak in Jesus' name, and let them go.

Stephen, the First Martyr

In Acts 6 the power of God was partitioned among wise, Spirit-filled men, the first of them being Stephen, who was full of faith and power and did great wonders and miracles among the people. Was it Stephen doing those works, or the risen Lord working through him? It was the Lord. And when the power of God works through His church, opposition will always present itself.

Stephen preached an epic sermon in Acts 7. When his audience heard it, they were cut to the heart, gnashed their teeth, cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears—you can picture them literally plugging their ears, refusing to hear. They rejected the convicting work of the Spirit, ran upon him as one group, cast him outside Jerusalem, and stoned him while he called upon the Lord, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit... lay not this sin to their charge." Then he fell asleep.

Stephen became the first martyr of the church. It's striking that when Jesus said in Acts 1:8, "You shall be witnesses unto me," the Greek word is martyros, from which we get the word martyr. Stephen stepped into eternity to a great reward. And the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul—a rising star in Judaism who stood by, lending his authority, consenting to Stephen's death without getting his own hands dirty.

Persecution Spreads—and the Gospel Spreads With It

At that time a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and the believers were all scattered abroad throughout Judea and Samaria. Why is that important? Because Acts 1:8 said they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts. Now, about six years later, that word is being fulfilled—and notice how God uses persecution to accomplish His work.

To this point the doctrine of Christ was seated in Jerusalem. Now it was time to go to Judea and Samaria, but the believers loved Jerusalem. Why leave? Persecution. Saul made havoc of the church, dragging men and women off to prison—and the believers were scattered everywhere preaching the word. It's like pouring water on an oil fire; it just goes everywhere. The enemy's opposition only advanced the mission of God.

In Acts 12, Herod the king stretched out his hands to vex the church. He killed James, the brother of John—one of the sons of thunder, one of the two fishermen Jesus called from their nets. Because it pleased the Jews, Herod proceeded to seize Peter, intending to bring him before the people after the Passover. But in the night an angel opened the prison and Peter walked free, while the church prayed and fasted. He knocked at the door, and the girl Rhoda was so amazed she left him standing outside while she announced it. They thought she was crazy—it must be his angel. Later Herod, exalting himself in Caesarea, was struck down by God and eaten with worms.

So we see the pattern: God's power produces witness, and witness draws persecution. Read Foxe's Book of Martyrs and follow Christian history—believers stoned, beheaded, crucified like Peter upside down, John cast into boiling oil and then banished to Patmos where he received the Revelation of Jesus Christ, others burned at the stake or thrown to wild beasts. Where the power of God is evident in His church, persecution will arise. This has been true for 2,000 years and is still true in many places. We simply live under the shelter of religious liberty in America.

The Verbal Assault Begins

Persecution always begins verbally before it moves to physical opposition, even as we see in the book of Acts. We are living in a time when the verbal assault against Christians in America is beginning—"you foolish science deniers." Bill Nye recently mocked the Christian teaching of creation as idiotic, claiming we hold back the world from progress because we believe in a God who created the earth. They believe there was nothing, then a boom of nothing, then something out of nothing from nowhere. And when you press Dawkins, he finally admits the earth may have been seeded by aliens. That's the best they can do—yet we're the ones holding back progress.

So how should the church respond to such opposition? Now, what I'm about to say is in no way meant to politicize a sermon; it's purely an illustration. This past week, on the eleventh anniversary of September 11th, we saw riots at U.S. embassies in Libya and Egypt, the apparent fuel being a YouTube video depicting Muhammad in a negative light. Pardon me if I seem condescending, but really? I think these people were violent before YouTube existed.

As things began to boil over, our embassy in Cairo released a statement essentially saying, "We're sorry; we didn't mean to upset you; you can't hold us accountable for those who say things they shouldn't." The play didn't work. By day's end four Americans were dead in Libya, the American flag was torn down, and a black flag was raised reading, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." A couple of days later the Secretary of State released a statement deploring any effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. The essence was: we're sorry our people say these things—even though they have free speech, they shouldn't—but your violence isn't justified either.

That may be one way to deal with opposition. But understand: the enemy is a bully. He has no ultimate power against God; he is not the equal opposite of God. He comes to intimidate, and he's pretty effective at it. When you say, "God, empower me with boldness to preach Your word, to simply be a Christian in my workplace," the moment God empowers you, the enemy comes against you. And what he wants is exactly what those foreign policy advisors did: "I'm sorry. I won't do it again. I'll be quiet." He wants you anonymous, mouth shut—because Jesus said, "Go and preach the gospel to every creature," "make disciples, teaching them to observe everything I commanded you," and "you shall be witnesses of me." And we say, "Yes—oh, wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend."

The Spirit-Filled Response: Boldness

Look at how the church actually responded to persecution. In Acts 4, Peter and John—two unlearned and ignorant men—stood before the intimidation board, all the men with letters behind their names. They did not say, "We're sorry, we'll shut up." They answered, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to listen to you more than God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard."

Released, they went to their own company and lifted their voices to God: "Lord, you are God... behold their threatenings, and grant unto us, your servants, that with all boldness we may speak your word, by stretching forth your hand to heal, that signs and wonders may be done in the name of Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness—with great power giving witness to the resurrection, and great grace upon them all.

In Acts 5, again warned and beaten, the apostles answered, "We ought to obey God rather than men." And they departed from the council "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name," and daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. In Acts 8, when persecution scattered them throughout Judea and Samaria, they did not hide or stay silent—"they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word."

As we set out to extend the glory of God to our community, we can be certain we will encounter opposition—perhaps verbal now, perhaps physical one day. But when the empowered church engages the mission it was commissioned to do, it will be met with persecution, and it can be certain that great is its reward in heaven, "for so persecuted they the prophets that were before them." Rejoice and be exceeding glad that you are counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. "Lord, behold their threatenings. Grant unto your servants that with boldness we may speak your word." And when they prayed, the place was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Closing Prayer

Father, we pray now as your church standing in this place that you would fill us with your Spirit—fill us afresh with your power and boldness to speak clearly your word in this North County and San Diego County and Southern California and our nation, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Enable us to speak boldly your truth, to not back down, to not be intimidated by the enemy who would seek to steal and kill and destroy, but to proclaim boldly and clearly you, the risen Lord.

Father, you see these hearts, you see our desire; we need your power. Empower us, your church. We cannot function apart from your grace and your power. Enable us to be witnesses of you here in this place where you have set us for such a time as this—in Escondido, San Marcos, Fallbrook, Bonsall, Rancho Bernardo, all throughout San Diego County. This community needs a clear witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though the enemy, working through pop culture and media, would love to intimidate us into silence by labeling us as something we are not, empower us to speak boldly your truth and to live lives of integrity, honesty, and the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control. You turned the world upside down through twelve ordinary men and 120 disciples filled with your Holy Spirit. So we pray, empower us. We need your power and your grace. Work in us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.