PIONEER CHRISTIANS

ACTS 4:23-37

NASB

23 When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O [a]Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, 25 who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said,

‘WHY DID THE [a]GENTILES RAGE,

AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS?

26 ‘THE KINGS OF THE EARTH [a]TOOK THEIR STAND,

AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER

AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS [b]CHRIST.’

27 For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy [a]servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the [b]Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. 29 And [a]now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and [a]signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy [b]servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

32 And the [a]congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them [b]claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. 34 For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the [a]proceeds of the sales 35 and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

36 Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of [a]Encouragement), 37 and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

4:24 [a]Or Master  4:25 [a]Or nations  4:26 [a]Or approached  [b]Or Anointed One; i.e. Messiah  4:27 [a]Or Son  [b]Or nations  4:29 [a]Or as for the present situation  4:30 [a]Or attesting miracles  [b]Or Son  4:32 [a]Or multitude  [b]Lit was saying  4:34 [a]Lit the prices of the things being sold  4:36 [a]Or Exhortation or Consolation 

NLT

23 As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. 24 When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them —25 you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying,

‘Why were the nations so angry?

Why did they waste their time with futile plans?

26 The kings of the earth prepared for battle;

the rulers gathered together

against the LORD

and against his Messiah.’[*]

27 “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. 28 But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will. 29 And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. 30 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31 After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

36 For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. 37 He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

[4:25-26] Or his anointed one; or his Christ. Ps 2:1-2.  

There’s something incomparable about a pioneer. Without having the course charted, without the benefit of a predecessor, a pioneer moves ahead and blazes a new trail, prepared for danger yet with little knowledge of what obstacles or challenges lie ahead. Undeterred by hardship, the pioneer forges ahead to reach the goal. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to meet an authentic pioneer, it’s like time stands still as the whole value system of your life goes through a realignment. You can’t help but reevaluate your lifestyle, your schedule, your goals, your spending, and your priorities.

My maternal grandfather was a pioneer in the literal sense of the term. L. O. Lundy traveled to the plains of Texas in a covered wagon. He settled there, met and married my grandmother, and the two of them reared a family of four in a small town in south Texas. Until the day of his death, Granddaddy Lundy was respected for his strength of character, his unerring integrity, his keen mind, and more than any other quality, his sensitive heart for God.

Pioneer missionaries are the same sort of people. They go where others haven’t or wouldn’t. They endure hardships that would send most people packing for home by the end of the first week. They accomplish tasks without the benefit of forerunners because they are the forerunners.

If I were to identify the distinctive qualities of a pioneer Christian, two come to mind. First, they are tough outside. They’re resilient, determined, disciplined, mentally rugged people who don’t know the word “quit.” They are unintimidated. They pursue and perform, regardless of the elements or obstacles pushing them back.

Second, they are tender inside. They hear when God speaks. They’re sensitive to His voice. They care very much that they are in the center of His plan.

If somehow we could step into a time machine and travel back twenty centuries, we would find ourselves surrounded by pioneers: the early Christians. They were tough yet tender people whose vision came directly from Jesus Christ, whose direction came from the Holy Spirit within, and who endured challenges, obstacles, and enemies we can barely imagine. Johannes Weiss describes the five simple characteristics of these pioneer Christians: They had “a tempestuous enthusiasm, an overwhelming intensity of feeling, an immediate awareness of the presence of God, an incomparable sense of power, and an irresistible control over the will and inner spirit and even the physical condition of other men —these are the ineradicable features of the historical picture of early Christianity.”[35]

This becomes prominent in the fourth chapter of Acts, where we learn about the first organized persecution of the church, when Peter and John were slammed into prison overnight and then brought before the court. That was when the first followers of Jesus Christ began to show their true colors.

— 4:23 —

The Sanhedrin had released Peter and John from custody with a strong warning: “Do not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (see 4:18). The apostles’ respect for the religious leaders didn’t blind them to their duty before the Lord, so they humbly promised to do exactly the opposite (4:19-20). The Sanhedrin feared public reprisal, so they had to let the men go —for now (4:21-22).

Immediately after their release, Peter and John “went to their own” (4:23, literally rendered). They came to their own people, their own kind, those with a kindred spirit who would listen and seek to understand. Peter and John were pioneers, but they weren’t lone rangers. They didn’t deny their need for their community. They recognized the reason God gave His people one another, and they made a beeline for their brothers and sisters in Christ.

— 4:24-28 —

When the community of believers heard the apostles’ report, they broke out in spontaneous prayer. No one announced, “Okay, let’s break up into small groups and spend the next twelve minutes praying for Peter and John. Then join us in the Family Life Center for refreshments.” They immediately and spontaneously engaged in prevailing prayer. Their prayer has two main sections:

Their celebration of God’s sovereignty begins by addressing Him as “Lord” (4:24). In this case, the Greek word is not kyrios [2962], but despotēs [1203]. We derive our word “despot” from this, but the proper translation is “owner” or “master,” one who owns a property either by inheritance or by purchase and therefore has the right to do whatever he desires with that land or anything on it. Peter and John used the language of servants. The prayer continues with a quotation from Psalm 146:6. Affirming God as Creator carries with it an acknowledgment of His supreme authority to rule His creation and His supreme power to control what He has made. Then they quote a well-known messianic text, Psalm 2:1-2. In this taunt, the composer chides the enemies of God for their vain attempts to defeat the Lord’s “Anointed” (4:26; mashiyach [H4899]), the Messiah.

The church found in these recent events a parallel to Psalm 2. The powers of the earth vainly thought they could destroy the Messiah, rebel against God, and retain sovereignty for themselves. Don’t forget —the Sanhedrin couldn’t deny the authenticity of the miracle; they simply had no way to suppress the news of it or disregard its relevance. Nevertheless, they could not overcome the predetermined plan of God, who moves the greatest powers on earth like pawns.

— 4:29-35 —

Having declared the Lord’s sovereign control over the challenges outside their community, they acknowledged their own fear. I love that they didn’t apologize for feeling afraid; they simply admitted their weakness and called on their Master for help: “Grant us confidence” (see 4:29). They could just as easily have prayed, “Get us out of here” or “Kill off the Sanhedrin.” Instead they said, in effect, “Keep it going. Don’t stop, Lord. And when this happens again, let us speak again plainly without reservation.”

Their prayer continued with a statement of faith: “while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus” (4:30). They took for granted that the Lord would accomplish what He said —no doubt about that. So their personal safety took second place to the fulfillment of His plan. They said, as it were, “While You’re getting the job done, Lord, we want to be a part of what You’re doing.”

Luke closes this episode in the history of the church with a description of God’s answer to their prayer. They experienced events similar to Pentecost, but with some significant differences. When these believers finished their prayer, “the place where they had gathered together was shaken” (4:31). At Pentecost, you’ll recall, the power of God came down manifested as light and flowed into each believer. But in this case, the building trembled with the power of God as it flowed outward from their prayers and into the world. They had asked for His power —healing, signs, and wonders —to create opportunities for them to witness. The answer to their petition rolled out of that place and into the world to prepare it for their confident proclamation of the gospel.

Luke also says that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (4:31). They already had received the gift of the Holy Spirit (2:1-4), His indwelling presence. He didn’t leave and then return. This is different. To be “filled” with something means to be overtaken and then controlled by it. You can be “filled” with emotion, meaning it exerts a strong, almost overwhelming, influence. You can be filled with knowledge, which guides your decisions. Paul warned believers not to be filled with alcohol, which takes control of the mind, robbing it of judgment. He called instead for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit —that is, controlled by the Holy Spirit in an especially profound way. We do that by submitting to His influence, yielding control to Him. How? These believers were filled as a result of their prayer.

Two results flowed from their spontaneous prayer and their subsequent filling. First, they “began to speak the word of God with boldness” (4:31), giving powerful “testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (4:33). Obviously, Luke meant they had boldness in the days and weeks that followed, not just there in the room together. It’s easy to speak boldly among kindred spirits; that doesn’t require courage. Acts 4:31 creates a transition from a discrete event to one of Luke’s many summary passages. The building rumbled with the surging power of God, and the people were changed within. The impact of that transforming change continued, causing the believers to be bold and unhesitating in their preaching.

Second, the church became extraordinarily generous. As we saw in 2:43-45, the individuals became selfless and shared their abundance with the church so none of their community would be without the necessities of life. None of the members claimed ownership of their possessions; these belonged to the Lord and, therefore, to one another (4:32). The church followed through with action; they made it their practice to sell off their abundance and then share it with the community (4:34-35).

All of this occurred over an extended period of time, perhaps months.

— 4:36-37 —

Luke transitions from the summary passage (4:31b-35) to introduce a pivotal man in church history. A man named Joseph was a Levite, a descendant of the patriarch Levi, whose family God had designated to serve in the temple (Num. 8:24-26). They fulfilled the routine duties of the temple as paid clergy, much like ministers are supported in modern times. Levites were not supposed to own property (Num. 18:20, 24), but this rule applied only to land in Israel. Joseph came from the island of Cyprus, where he owned property.

The apostles gave Joseph the nickname Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement” (4:36).[36] The reason for his renaming will become clearer as the story of Acts unfolds. For now, Luke gives us a glimpse into his character. He was one of those who sold off his property and brought the proceeds to the apostles to use in the ministry of the church.

Some today point to the church described in Acts as the ideal model of how a church should exist. I am one of them. This is the goal. Regardless of the organizational structure and what programs a church adopts, this is what we hope to see. Nevertheless, even the bold and generous members of the first church struggled with sin. Luke’s example of Barnabas’s generosity introduces a dark episode in the life of the church. While the Holy Spirit filled and transformed the great majority of believers, some in their midst refused to yield.

APPLICATION: ACTS 4:23-37

How to Be a Spiritual Pioneer

Not everyone can be a pioneer. Very few are called to be pioneer missionaries. But nothing keeps you from adopting a pioneer Christian mind-set. I find in Acts 4:23-37 three qualities worthy of every believer and available for the asking. As the first Christians asked for confidence in the face of persecution, you can ask the Lord for these pioneer qualities to be more effective in whatever circumstances you face.

First, ask for compassion. I don’t mean compassion for yourself. Ask the Lord to give you compassion for others. The Bible distinguishes between the emotions of compassion and pity. Pity feels sorry for someone less fortunate but remains passive. Given time and distance, pity fades away. Compassion, on the other hand, remains unsatisfied until you follow through with tangible help.

What have you done for someone else in the past week? What did you do for the sheer purpose of helping another person, prompted by nothing but compassion? What have you given? If you struggle to answer, pray for compassion. I will warn you, however. When you ask for compassion, you’re asking for an itch not easily scratched. But I can think of no better way to make your faith real. James writes searching, convicting words:

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (Jas. 2:15-17)

Second, ask for initiative. Pioneers don’t sit in one place waiting for opportunities to come to them; they go where the opportunities exist. If you desire to tell unbelievers about Christ, you must go where unbelievers live. That takes initiative, a willingness to leave your comfort zone and to insert yourself where you might not be expected. It’s not comfortable. It’s not convenient. The risks can feel overwhelming. But that’s the frontier of faith. Initiative is the “want to” that overcomes inertia and puts faith into action.

Third, ask for vulnerability. Ask for the courage to admit your own inadequacies and needs as you seek help from others. To get anything done in the kingdom of God, each person needs help from others within the community of Christ. Recognizing our need isn’t enough; we must make ourselves vulnerable enough to seek assistance and then to accept it.

When you put those three qualities together —when you integrate them and live them out —you’re a pioneer Christian. Regardless of your place of service or your circumstances, you will become like members of the first church: tough outside and tender inside.