Enable Your Servants To Speak

Last week, Gareth concluded the series of sermons on New Testament prayers.

This week, we are going to add one more! We planned this together and then I put together the schedule with the topics. But part way through I realised that I had overlooked a crucial theme in some of these prayers. So, now I have to grovel and say, “Can we please do one more?”

What was the theme I forgot? Let’s set the scene here a little. In Acts 3, Peter and John, when entering the Temple, healed a lame man. You know the story: “Silver and gold I do not have but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!”

The man was healed. He went into the temple courts with them, walking and leaping and praising God. That drew a crowd; Peter started preaching. He pulled no punches. They had betrayed, disowned and killed Jesus, but God raised Him from the dead. It was by faith in the name of Jesus that this man had been healed. But they had acted in ignorance, and he called them to repent and turn to God and be forgiven. Many believed and the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000.

But (Acts 4) the priests, the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees were upset that Peter and John were saying that Jesus had been raised. They arrested them and threw them in prison. The next day the rulers, the elders, the teachers of the law and the High Priest and members of his family interrogated them. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter replied, “Are we being accused of doing something kind? But, if you want to know how he was healed, know this: he was healed by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but God raised. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

The leaders were stumped. They could not deny the miracle, but neither could they let this carry on. So, they commanded that Peter and John no longer speak to anyone in the name of Jesus. Peter replied, “Well, do you reckon we should obey you or obey God? We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

After further threats, they let them go. Let’s pick up the story in Acts 4:23-31.

Is that not an extraordinary prayer? Their leaders had been imprisoned, interrogated and threatened. The psalms predicted opposition; nations and kings would oppose God’s message; they had seen that play out with Pilate and Herod and the Jews and the Gentiles rising up against Jesus. Peter and John had just reported that they had been commanded not to speak in Jesus’ name. What was their response? “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

After they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. I think God liked their prayer!

The threats were designed to intimidate them. What would be their response? They didn’t say, “We’re tough! We’re brave!” The opposite. They recognised their own weakness and fear so they turned to God to enable them, to do for them what they could not do by themselves. They prayed; God answered.

Many of us possibly feel less-than-bold when it comes to evangelism. That is natural. They did too! On the one side this was something they absolutely wanted to do and that they knew they had been commissioned to do. On the other side was danger. So, what was the solution? Avoiding the danger was not an option so they had to deal with the fear. They prayed for God-given boldness.

“They want us to be silent. We cannot do that. Lord, we need your help. Enable Your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”

When Peter and John had been commanded to speak no longer in the name of Jesus, they replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. This is too important. This is truth. This is salvation. This is Gods’ mercy and grace. This is our job. We cannot not do it!”

There is a fascinating detail in the story. Peter and John were on trial before the rulers and elders and teachers of the law. Acts 4.13 says, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” They had peace and boldness; how come? Oh… this is a Jesus thing!

There are several other New Testament prayers about sharing the gospel.

Ephesians 6:19-20

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

We sometimes get the impression that Paul was a tough, uncompromising person. He endured all sorts of hardship for the gospel – imprisonments, beatings, shipwreck... Was he naturally just tough? No. In that passage, he asked the Ephesians twice to pray that he would be fearless as he made known the gospel. He was in chains. He knew that talking about Jesus could cause trouble. Did he decide it was time to retire? He could not abandon the task so he asked others to pray that he might be fearless.

He also asked that words might be given to him so that he might preach the gospel fearlessly. If God miraculously gave him the words, he could have the confidence to be bold, even if it incited opposition.

In Colossians 4:2-6, Paul, again in chains for preaching about Jesus, asked the Colossians to pray that God would open doors for the gospel and that he would be able to proclaim it clearly.

In 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, he asked for prayer that the message of the Lord might spread rapidly, and that he might be delivered from evil people.

Boldness, opportunities, the words to speak, clarity, protection. What if we prayed these prayers?

Most significantly, Jesus told us to pray about the spread of the gospel. READ Matt 9:35-38.

Jesus saw the crowds and He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. If you look at our society, do you ever feel that people are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd? Jesus looked on stressed, confused people and had compassion for them. We sometimes can look on our society and be cynical about the ways people think and the ways they live and their disregard of God. Jesus looked at lost people and had compassion.

When Jesus said the harvest is plentiful, did He mean that many people were open to the gospel? Maybe, but were many people open? There were only 120 following Him after the resurrection? I wonder if the passage is saying the harvest was plentiful because the need was great. There were many, many people harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Then Jesus commanded them (us?) to pray about that harvest: Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Do you have that compassion for lost people that causes you to pray regularly about evangelism? Where are the harvesters? Where are the people who will pray, “Lord, we are weak, but You are strong. Enable your servants to speak with boldness.”

Oh, just a minute, that was only half the Acts 4 prayer. They also prayed “Lord God, stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” They prayed for miracles. Should we as well?

In the West, the church isn’t seeing many miracles. We do see prayers answered. Every time that is a miracle. We have referred to three instances of healing this morning. But we do not see many public miracles like the healing in the temple, that might grab the attention of our society. God has not given me a spiritual gift of miracles so I have no idea what I am talking about. This is all theory, not my lived experience. Nevertheless, I have a feeling that when the good news of Jesus is shared, God’s “normal” is to accompany that by miracles. It is not normal for most of us but is that because we have stopped praying and stopped expecting miracles?

I might be wrong, but it seems to me that, in the Bible, the sharing of the gospel and miracles go hand in hand. God performs miracles to confirm the words being spoken. Why should people believe what we say? A healing or a miracle tends to give it credence.

In Jesus’ ministry preaching and miracles went alongside each other. The Matthew 9 passage started by saying Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and illness. Proclamation and demonstration.

When Jesus sent out the Twelve, and later the Seventy, on mission, they were to heal the sick, raise the dead and say that the Kingdom of God had come near. Proclamation and miracles went together in the early church in Acts as well.

The healing of the lame man at the Temple was irrefutable and confirmed the Apostles’ claim that Jesus was alive. Without the miracle they would have had no crowd and little credibility.

Romans 15:18-19

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done – 19 by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

Paul had led people to obey God by what he had said and done – by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. In this way he had fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. Are words only a partial proclamation? Does a full proclamation involve words and miracles?

Mark 16:20

Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Acts 14:3

So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there (Iconium), speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.

Hebrews 2:3b-4 

This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

I just think there is a pattern there. Would our words have more impact if they were confirmed by miracles? As I say, this is not my experience, but what is God calling us to?

Should we be praying that prayer: “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus”?

What might happen if we did pray that prayer regularly? What might God do?

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