Expectant Dependence

Expectant Dependence  (Acts 12:1-18)

8-11-13

What do we depend on in our lives?  A car, house, people, computer, etc?

Review:

If you recall in Acts 11, due to the efforts of just average everyday people, the Church at Antioch was growing.  When Jerusalem heard about it, they sent Barnabus to take a look.  Seeing the growing body of believers there, he traveled to Tarsus to get Paul.  Then the two of them worked with the church there for some time.

King Herod

King Herod enters into the picture again, but for the last time.  King Herod we know from both the birth and death of Jesus.  If you recall, Jesus was sent to King Herod, and mocked by him, but King Herod really didn’t care about him, so Jesus was sent back to Pilate.King Herod was definitely a typical worldly politician.  He did what he could to be popular with the people in the big ways, but he really didn’t care, and in fact was brutal at times to them.

We see from historians of that time and scripture that King Herod had, at least on the outside, accepted Judaism, and supported the work of the priests. He most likely did it just to be in favor with the people that the Romans put him king over.  Thus, as the Jewish leaders saw the Christ followers as problematic, eventually they convinced Herod to use his power to do something about it.  It can be seen that the activity from the High priests in attacking the Christians directly really subsides around this time and Acts.

From here-on-out the struggle for the believers comes mostly from the government leaders.  We will see that Herod starts with inconsequential believers and then moves to the apostles himself.

Acts 12:1-18 NIV

1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. 8 Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."  12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" 15 "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." 16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place. 18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.  19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

Wow!  What a story.  I would love to see a movie made about Acts, and for them to have fun with this scene.  So let’s take a look…

Herod put James, the brother of John, to death.  He received such a positive response from the non-believing Jews, that he did not want to stop there.  Catering to popularity is similar to most sins—it’s downhill.  One leads to another.  Often with sin, we convince ourselves of “just this once.”  But then one evil deed is followed or covered with another, so that there is no passage through them. We cannot fix a problem using evil, hoping it will be the last time we will need it.  Those that allow one sin, gives Satan the advantage to tempt them to take another, and provoke God to leave them to them-selves, to go from bad to worse. It is therefore our wisdom to take heed of the beginnings of sin.

So Herod seized Peter as well, but the plan was different.  It seems that James was not killed in public, and executed without much ado.  But word still got around.  But this time the plan with Peter was to wait until after the Passover, and then kill him publically in front of the Jews.  All of this was to cater to the popular crowd.

Thus Peter was put in prison with four squads of soldiers (each squad was 4 guards).  Herod knew there were believers around who might try to break him out.  After all, this was the first of equals…apparent leader of the church.

How did the Church respond?

James, a very important leader in the church, was killed.  It was clear that God was not just going to automatically preserve the life of every believer.  Thus in their mind, it was quiet possible Peter would be the next martyr.  So the believers began “earnestly”, or passionately, to pray for his release.  While everyone was sleeping, they stayed up and prayed.  Why?  Well, they knew from the example of the apostles that prayer mattered—especially prayer “without ceasing.”

Our Christian culture as a whole does not spend much time in prayer.  We can blame it just on “busy-ness” but it is more than that.  We don’t spend time doing anything if we don’t think it will not do us any good.  Those who spend real time praying, are those that truly believe that God hears and answers the prayers of those who fervently and earnestly pray!  Did they believe their prayers would be answered?  Well…IDK

Peter’s Release

He was arrested on Friday and jailed.  The plan was to wait until Sunday to kill him, after the Passover celebration.  BTW, the Christians would have celebrated the Resurrection of Christ the following day (what we call today Easter).  This was the year A.D. 44;  Jesus died and resurrected A.D. 33.  So it was 11 years later.

Saturday night, while Peter was chained to guards, an Angel from God came to Peter.  He shown bright with light.  The angle struck him to wake him up.  The chains just fell off his wrists.  The angel told him to get dressed; as if to say, “get ready to move.”  He didn’t force Peter, but told Peter to follow him outside.  The whole time Peter thought this was just a dream, and in a dream you don’t question it, you just go with it.

Many pictures and commentators imagine all the guards to be asleep, but with 16 guards, it would have been highly unlikely.  Plus the passage says that sentries STOOD guard at the entrance.  It is hard to stand when you are sleeping (with the exception of new moms, I am told).

Everything that happened would have grabbed people’s attention.  The angel was shining brightly in the room, and then on the street.  Peter was abruptly woken up.  Chains clattered to the floor.  Heavy wood and metal doors opened and closed. 

But somehow no one saw it!  I see this like when Frodo had the ring on, and no one could see him. He just walked out!  The gates opened themselves.  This would be awesome to do the special effects of this

Then the angel just disappeared, and Peter was left in the middle of the night standing in the street…but he was free!  When Peter mentally woke up, and fully understood that he really was out, He praised God.

11 … he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."

God himself rescued him.  Peter then went to Mary's house—clearly this was a person and place he could trust.  He most likely came here because everyone, including the servants, would have been believers, and not told the authorities about his release.

Not surprisingly, that is where this group of believers were staying awake praying.   And while they are praying, God answers their prayers.  I think of Isaiah 65:24 in which the Lord says: "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”

Just as an angel was sent when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den.  The angel was sent with an answer of peace to Daniel’s prayer, while he was praying.  At a different time, Daniel refers to God answering his prayers in

Daniel 9:20-21 - 20 Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.

Whether we know it or not, God has answer to our prayer as we pray it; we just need to be patient to receive it. 

Homes at that time had yards that were surrounded by mud or rock walls.  Often they were higher than can be climbed, so you can’t see over them.  When Peter knocked at the gate, Rhoda, a servant girl, answered the door.  She heard his voice and realized it was Peter—the very person they were praying for!  She left Peter outside the gate and went to tell the group of believers gathered there.  But they didn’t even believe her!

Someone volunteered that it could be ‘Peter’s Angel.’  Some bible versions translate that as ‘Peter’s spirit’, suggesting that the person was guessing that Peter was already dead and this was his ghost.  More likely, other Commentators tell us that the word “angel” was often used as “messenger”, which of course makes sense—Angels were messengers from God.  The Greek word is used of John’s messengers in Lu. 7:24 & 27; and of Christ’s messengers in Luke 9:52.

Thus to say maybe it was Peter’s angel, was to say maybe it was a messenger from Peter, making use of Peter’s name at the gate.  They didn’t believe that God had actually answered their prayers?

What did they expect to happen because of their prayers?

Do we pray but doubt that God will answer us?  Maybe we pray for something, but then just expect that if anything is to be done, we have to do it ourselves.  Often God has told us what we need to do, and we need to act after we pray.  BUT we also need to realize that prayer needs to happen for everything; and more often than not, only God can truly answer it, and we need to rest on His strength—really as we always should.  The passage suggested that instead of getting up instantly to go to Peter, the group actually talked about it for a few moments—who knows how long.

FINALLY, the group came out and saw Peter for themselves!  And they saw it was true!  Peter motioned for them to stay quiet, as his freedom was not legal.  And he quietly explained what had happened with the angel.  Peter then left them, probably knowing that That location was the first place the soldiers would look in the morning.  He then went somewhere else to hide in the city.

The Next Morning

I love how the continuing of the story is worded:  In the morning there was 'no small disturbance' among the soldiers. They were 'freaking out' not only because they were baffled, but because it usually meant their life, but that was a big deal with that many soldiers.  King Herod put out a 'city-wide APB' on Peter.  I am sure they checked all the homes of known believers, but couldn’t find him.  Herod examined the sentries, and probably due to apparent incompetence, he had them put to death

Then apparently the search ended, Peter came out of hiding, and went to stay in Ceasarea.  Up until this point the apostles, other than Paul, have pretty much stayed in Jerusalem (perhaps expecting the end to come soon).  Perhaps this was God encouraging them to move on.  (2 Timothy 2:12 says 'if we suffer [and endure] with him, we will reign with Him’)

And what happened to King Herod?  Let’s take a quick look.

Read 12:20-25

Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. 20 He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king's country for their food supply. 21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread. 25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

Throughout history people tend to hero-ize political giants that bring about supposed peace.  Herod’s chamberlain helped him make a decision to gain favor with people, probably convincing Herod how popular with the people he would be.  Perhaps Herod was a good speaker, or maybe the people were just plain suck-ups.  When he finished his speech, they cheered loudly and said that [This was] “The voice of a god and not of a man!"

There have been times in many of our lives in which we are praised for what we do.  Often it is simply praise for our efforts, but sometimes it is actually because of a superior performance.  For most of us we have this feeling that we need to humbly downplay the complements, putting our own humanity into perspective

But there are times when public figures actually start to believe in their own superiority, even over God.  At that moment Herod made the choice in his head to say, 'yeah, I am pretty special…I am like God'

God righteously burned with anger.  Herod dropped dead instantly and became 'food for worms.’  Whether he just died, or actually rotted right there in front of everyone, which I would not give you a picture for, because it would be horrific!

Finally in verse 24, it is noted that once again, despite the opposition to the believers, the gospel continued to spread.

Lesson of Dependence

Clearly the message this account gives to the Church, is that we are not to take for granted events of our day, as if either we can do nothing about them, or that God won’t do something about them.  Rather we are to Depend on God in payer! 

Often we look at a situation like this and say, well, it was Peter—God planned all along to save him and would have done so even if they would not have prayed.  Afterall, the church ‘needs’ Peter around…right?  It is interesting to note that there is only one more time Peter is even referred to in the book of Acts, and that is when the still surviving elders get together to make a theological decision for the Church.  Perhaps on one plane of thinking, Peter was intended to die there.  But God responded graciously to the cries of his people.

We are wrong if we think that prayer matters little.  We see events in scripture so flatly.  Such as the healing of the man at the pool of Siloam.  Did it matter that they cry out to Jesus?  Note that Jesus heals that man, but what about all the others?  Did God not want them to be healed?  Did others ask to be healed, but then Jesus said, “no, I already healed one.”  There is no formula for why and when God answers prayer, but the fact that we pray DOES matter.

Most awkwardly perhaps is the instruction on prayer given to us by Jesus in Luke 11, that relates prayer to a man pounding on a door in the middle of the night, asking his neighbor for food to feed his guests; the neighbor does it because of the insistence of the man.  Jesus says this is similar to prayer at times.  Our fervent prayers are heard by our father, and he WANTS to answer them.

And yet true prayer also must have the understanding that “thy will be done.”  His will done—not ours.  Is there a balance to be had?

Let me ask this: Does prayer ONLY work when I pray in faith?  Some say I don’t pray, because I don’t really know if God will answer.  I don’t have enough faith, so God won’t answer.  God instructs us to have faith, but never are we to pray ONLY when we have faith.  Did the group at Mary’s house pray in faith?  I don’t think so!  They didn’t believe, or at least expect, that God would answer their prayers quite in the literal way.  But they were faithful in that they actually prayed.  We need to pray because God asks us to pray.  And leave the result up to Him.  It should be a comfort that God’s response to my prayer is not dependent on my faith.  But as we truly pray, and see Him answer it, our faith will grow!

Prayer is mighty testimony of relying on the strength of our God.  Prayer is the most natural response from a heart that knows it is dependent upon a Holy God.  If you are really counting upon God to do something, then you will pray about it. You will trust him; you will communicate with him.

If you are not counting on him, you will not pray.  “We don’t pray when we are really counting on something else, or on someone else.  Or if you think that by your own clever maneuvering you can get out of a situation, or if you are trusting other human beings to come through.  That is why we don’t pray.  Or if you do, your prayer is but a ritual, an empty form, a perfunctory utterance that means nothing.  The act of Prayer is to believe that he loves us, and listens to our cries!

Quite simply, our motive for prayer is our felt dependence on Him.  How much do you really depend on God daily?  All of us should daily feel the need to turn to Him. I encourage silent short prayers throughout the day. But I feel true reliance is shown when we take time out in our day to spend time with Him.  Keep in mind that God answers all of our prayers, but may not do so in the way we desire.  But as a father WANTS to answer the cries of his child, so our heavenly Father wants to answer ours when we earnestly seek Him out

Prayer can postpone events

James was killed, but Peter’s death was post-poned for a later date.  Often in the OT people prayed, and God spared their lives.  We tend to look at history, and just see it as stagnant, instead of seeing how many times things in history happened because of the prayers of His people!

Sometimes sense we know that things in this world will get worse, we just ‘content’ ourselves, and not fight it.  But we can call for daily revival in our group and in the community around us!

Prayer can bring people to Christ

It is true that God already knows and has pre-chosen those who will come to Him.  But from our perspective, our efforts here matter.  Time and time again I have heard people who seemed completely and forever opposed to God, turn to Him, very much because of the prayers of His people

Don’t give up praying for the most negative people around you! Pray for your family!  Pray for your Co-workers!

Prayer can Change our Hearts

If you realize how hard your heart is, a great place to start is prayer.  God can use that time and the Holy Spirit to change your heart on a matter. 

Fight the awkwardness

Satan wants prayer to feel awkward, and it is if our relationship with god is shotty at best.  Sometimes we don’t know what to say.  When you think of him as your only soul mate, and your supreme confidante, then it gets easier.

Small Group Time in Prayer

I don’t just want to talk about prayer and not do it.  Some avoid prayer in our churches because of the fear of scaring people away.  But if we are afraid to pray publically and corporately, then we can never expect to be a true spiritual change agent in our community. 

We started the Source, now, a year ago with time of prayer. This fall we will be making some decisions that will greatly affect our desired goals.  We need to pray fervently for it!  Please do so!