Sunday, February 12, 2023 AM

Prayer for Unity, Healing, and the Glory of Christ

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. I thank you for gathering us together to rejoice in your truth, to encourage one another, to love one another in the way that you have called us to.

As Christ has loved us, that we would love each other. Lord, we intercede for those who are unable to be here today because of sickness or travel and distance. Lord, we miss them and we love them and we ask that you would specially bless them and heal them and restore them and bring them back to our fellowship.

Fathers, we have been singing these truths to glorify your son. I pray that you would help us to continue. To consider the glory and the majesties of your son. To strengthen our faith in him. Strengthen our faith as we walk in the light of who he is and all that he has done.

Grant us wisdom and knowledge and understanding and protection in life to help us to fear you in Christ. To fear you, to think of you first, to think of you most. So that all of our affections, all of the directions of our lives would be well ordered before your gaze to the glory of your son.

I ask that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. That there would be a true amen in our lives. Resounding in agreement with the truth of your word. It's for these mercies that we pray for the sake of your son.

Amen. I want to invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 5. And I will be reading Acts chapter 5 verses 12 through 16. Acts chapter 5 verses 12 through 16. Here in a moment. The Lord is good to pick a fight.

There was a moment in time when all of humanity was in league with the devil. And there was a unified front of humanity and a one world government all in opposition to the Creator. And God ended that in Genesis chapter 3.

He said, I place enmity between the woman and the serpent, between her seed and the serpent's seed. God put that enmity there. God made a contrast. God set things at odds. When all of humanity once again gathered in the plains of Shinar to make for themselves a name and build a tower to the heavens and see themselves as self-sufficient, God picked another fight and set the peoples against one another, confusing their language and thus they called the name of that place Babel.

God is good to pick a fight, to demonstrate a contrast, to show by way of contrast the truth. To highlight His promises of salvation by way of contrast. God is good to do that. It's something that we've been seeing here in Acts chapter 5.

A clear difference between shadow and substance, between promise and fulfillment, between slavery and sonship. There's a difference between the stone temple up the hill centered on the old covenant and a temple being made by the Holy Spirit with living stones upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.

There's a real difference, there's a contrast between the ways in which the worship of God is trying to be expressed up the hill versus the worship being expressed amongst the people of Christ. And we're seeing that here in Acts chapters 1 -5.

And it is a good thing. It is a good thing that there's a contrast. So that we would not embrace shadows. That we would not become infatuated with the shadows of the old covenant, but see them all in the light of their glory who is Christ.

That we would not go back to the ways of slavery as Paul warned the Galatians, but that we would truly embrace walking and living in the Spirit as sons and daughters of God in Christ. So God is good to set this contrast before us and we will continue looking at it today as what goes on in the house of the Lord.

What goes on in the Lord's house? For that, we can't look at what goes on in the stone building covered over with silver and gold where the Sanhedrin holds sway. That's not the house of the Lord anymore.

Jesus has come. He has lived and died and has been raised. He is the cornerstone. He builds His new covenant temple on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Himself being the cornerstone. So if we want to know what goes on in the house of the Lord, that the Son of David builds, we must put our attention upon the church, which this passage certainly does.

The Church as Christ's New Covenant Temple

Well, I invite you to stand with me as I read Acts 5, verses 12 -16. And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch, yet none of the rest dared join them.

But the people esteemed them highly, and believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.

Also, a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God.

You may be seated. The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation, by water and the word. From heaven He came and sought her, to be His holy bride. With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died, says the hymn.

Church is one foundation. The glory, the true significance, the weightiness of the church is her Lord Jesus Christ. By His light, He makes her meaning and mission clear. By His weight, He constrains her and holds her together.

By His direction, He conducts her operations and her direction. Christ is the glory of the new covenant temple. Christ is the glory of the church. As the Shekinah glory of God came down upon the tabernacle, so that none could stay there for fear of the holiness of God.

As the Shekinah glory cloud of God came down upon the temple built by Solomon, and drove everybody out. So also the Shekinah glory cloud of God came down upon Jesus Christ Himself on the mount of transfiguration.

Jesus was correct when He said of the temple, destroy it in three days and I will raise it up. Speaking of Himself in His own person as the incarnate one. And in Him we are living stones. In Him we are the temple of God filled with the Holy Spirit.

The glory of the new covenant temple indeed is Christ. The house that the son of David builds, the house that Christ builds and sanctifies is the church. And we've seen the themes of what goes on in the house of the Lord here at the end of Acts 4.

Love, love is the theme in the house of the Lord. A love that is patterned by Christ and established as the way in which His temple is to be built and the way that His new covenant community should be operating.

We saw a danger to the house of the Lord, a danger to the new covenant temple at the beginning of Acts 5. Lies, the lies of Ananias and Sapphira as they colluded with Satan to deceive not just Peter and John, the apostles and the brethren, but they sought to deceive the Holy Spirit and God judged Ananias and Sapphira and the result of this was fear.

Fear that we read about in verse 11. Now in verses 12 -16 we read about some amazing things happening in the life of the new covenant church, the new covenant temple, the early church. We see things that are very impressive, amazing even.

Miracles and signs and wonders being done in the name of Jesus Christ. We see glory, glory in the house of the Lord. The words in the Bible for glory, both Old Testament and New Testament, the Hebrew word kabod or the Greek word doxos, they speak of weight and they speak of light.

They speak of heaviness and they speak of brilliance and these are the word pictures that get at what glory is all about. Weightiness and brilliance. And in contexts where we see glory on display, we also see things are in motion as some are compelled and drawn in and others are driven away.

And if we ever see glory on the move, well, that's when man becomes very still and they fall down like dead men. We are considering glory in the house of the Lord. Last time we looked at the beginning of verse 12 and verse 15 and we saw some signs and wonders done among the people.

Even so much that they were bringing out the sick and lying them down on the sides of the street so that as Peter passed by, his shadow would fall upon them and they would be healed. But we saw that that was simply the answer to the prayers of the saints.

In Acts 4, they were threatened by the Sanhedrin. They were under the danger of fearing man. So rather than fearing man, they feared the Lord and they prayed and asked God to do mighty signs and wonders to empower their preaching of the kingdom.

And here, God is answering their prayers. There are mighty signs and wonders being done in the name of the Lord so that the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom would go forth in power despite the threats of the Sanhedrin who wants to silence them.

So, verse 12 speaks of the hands of the apostles. Many signs and wonders being done, but we ought not be impressed with the apostles or their hands. And we read in verse 15 about Peter and his shadow, but we shouldn't be very impressed with Peter or his shadow.

These are the acts of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. These are the acts of his power to save. He is proving who he is, even as his message of the kingdom is being proclaimed. We took from this the lesson that in the church, since Christ is the glory of the church, he is the light of the church, we ought not praise man or means or method, but praise our Lord and depend upon him and follow him as he builds his church.

Now we are to consider the weight of Christ as the glory in the house of the Lord, the weightiness of Christ in the house of the Lord. One may wonder at the use of the terms glory that signify light and weight and what kind of relationship these terms might have, but have you ever thought about the way that God made the stars?

Have you ever thought about the way that God made the stars? That they have a glory about them? Proclaiming him as creator, teaching us that God is an all-powerful, sovereign creator. Isn't that their purpose, according to the Bible?

To declare the wonders and the praises of God. Have you ever considered that the reason why our sun is on fire is because all of the components that make up our star, our sun, are being compressed in by gravity, by weight.

And as they are compressed together, they combust. We have the nuclear fusion going on and we have the burning brilliance of our star. Light and weight together. Why are we in orbit around this star? God has set us on a particular axis, finessed it just right, set us a spinning, sends us around the star over and over and over again without fail.

What a wonderful, beautiful creation our God has made. But why are we in orbit around this burning ball of light? Because of its weightiness. Why is it on fire? Because of its weightiness. What is the meaning of glory?

Weightiness and light. Who are we in orbit around? The fear of the Lord, the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of understanding. And in the church, Christ has all the glory.

It's his light in which we live, it's his weight that constrains us and holds us. In verse 11, we hear about a separation occurring because of the judgment on Ananias and Sapphira. Every judgment has a sifting.

Every judgment of God sifts and shows who's who. So in verse 11, great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. Two groups, there's the church and then there are those who heard these things.

The judgment of God made that division clear. This is the first time we have the word church in the book of Acts. And now is our opportunity in verses 12 through 16 to consider a little bit more about this group.

So after Luke begins by describing the answer to the prayers of the church in verse 12, he takes a little pause at the second half of verse 12 and explains more about this separation, this distinction of the church from everybody else.

This is important because these people all grew up together in the same area, with the same language, with the same practices. They sat at the feet of the same rabbis, heard the same scriptures read. They did everything together, did the same thing year after year after year.

But now there's a difference. Christ has come. And now these people that eat the same food, walk the same streets, wear the same clothes, and have the same national ethnic history, all of a sudden are distinctly different groups.

What has made the difference? Christ has made the difference. And so verse 12, Luke's eager to talk about these answers to prayer. And then he inserts in the second half of verse 12 through verse 14 more clarity about who the church is.

To hear this for yourself, we did this last time, but read with me verse 12, the first section of it, and then flow right into verse 15. And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.

See, that flows completely naturally. All the pronouns fit. There's no confusion at all. But Luke interrupts himself to clarify, hey, there's this group, and then there's this group. And he does that at the second half of verse 12, and that's what we're going to look at right now.

And they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Who? The church. From verse 11, the ecclesia, the called out ones. Where were they? I mean, signs and wonders are being done among the people, but where is the church?

Where are they at? Well, they are all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Well, how did the people feel about that? Yet none of the rest, you know, the rest who heard these things, about Ananias and Sapphira, none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.

Meaning, we don't necessarily want to be with you guys, we really can't bring ourselves to join you, but, you know, we're pretty impressed with you, but we're not going to join you. And believers, verse 14, were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

Let's consider this for a moment. Here in verse 11 of Acts 5, we have the very first use of the word church. Set over against the rest who heard these things. Fear falls upon them both, but that fear manifests in different ways.

We have the fear that comes upon the church that unifies them. Notice they are all of one accord. In verse 32 of chapter 4, we read that they were of one heart and one soul. The multitude of who? Those who believed, the church.

They were of one heart and one soul. Here, the church, they were with one accord in Solomon's porch. One accord, this is a word that shows up 12 times in the New Testament, 10 times in the book of Acts, simply explaining the kind of unity and the cohesiveness of the church.

It is a word that doesn't refer to uniformity as if everybody was exactly the same. We're going to find throughout the book of Acts that there were a lot of different types of people in the church. But there was a one mind among them.

The word itself could be described by analogy with an orchestra. Many different musicians with their different instruments, and yet being perfectly harmonized to make beautiful music. What do you need for that?

A director, a conductor. And Christ is that conductor. He is the director. He is the one who is organizing these thousands of people into one accord, where they are harmonious in their love for one another, harmonious in their declaration of the gospel of his kingdom.

And notice where they are locating themselves. They are meeting in Solomon's porch. Now, Solomon's porch was a row of columns along the eastern border of the temple campus, the temple area, the temple grounds.

It wasn't the temple itself proper, but as you approach the temple, you would have to go through a set of gates and a wall, and along the eastern wall there was rows of columns heading either way from the eastern gate, and that was called Solomon's porch.

You would then walk across a very large courtyard, very large open area, enough room to have, oh, I don't know, lots of tables for money changers and livestock and turtle doves and all those things that Jesus ran out of the temple courts.

And then you would eventually get to the temple itself proper, where there was that gate, beautiful, outside of which the man who was born lame had laid for decades. But Solomon's porch, you see, was not inside the temple proper.

It was an area, a courtyard, where all kinds of people could come, even if you were lame, even if you were struggling with some kind of sickness. Both men and women could meet there, where there would be some sort of restrictions inside the temple proper.

Also, Gentiles could come into this area. So it made sense for the church to meet here for two reasons. One, it was big enough to house the thousands of their members, but also because the members of the new covenant, the living stones that would be gathered together to be building the Lord's temple, would be of this group, men and women and Gentiles and people who had infirmities and so on.

So here they are meeting in the place that made the most sense. But further, further, why was it called Solomon's porch? Now, you've seen historical markers from time to time. And perhaps you have visited buildings named after old dead people from time to time.

The reason why they have those names and the reason why they have those historical markers is because how the people that were involved with it or the structure that once used to be there are all gone.

Solomon's temple was no more. They named Solomon's porch as a reminder, an historical marker. Ah, Solomon once built the temple. It was glorious, it was wonderful, but it's gone. This ain't it. Now, when you think about the story of how Solomon built the temple, and you read 1 Kings 5, 6, and 7, and he marshaled tens of thousands of Israelites to labor in the building of the temple, and marshaled the resources of all the twelve tribes to supply the food and the valuables and the supplies necessary to build that temple, to do the most significant work in all of the history of Israel in those seven years, it's quite a thing of beauty.

It's almost like Solomon, with the wisdom that God gave him, was the conductor of a giant orchestra. And all Israel was working together to build this temple. It's pretty impressive. The wisdom of Solomon, and the grandeur of that temple.

1 Kings 5, 6, and 7. Very impressive. What did Jesus say about Solomon? What did Jesus say about the temple? He said, someone greater than Solomon is here. He said something greater than the temple is here.

What we're watching happen here in Acts, is the son of David building the new covenant temple, a construction which is far grander, far more glorious, than anything that Solomon ever did. The Lord is the one who unifies and organizes.

And notice how, in the work that Christ does in his people, this sets them apart from everybody else. Verse 13 says,. None of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. They could not bring themselves to join, but they just made a big deal about them.

A little bit of a sad note here, they miss Christ in two ways. They don't dare join the church. They heard what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. That's not safe. Of course he's not safe. But he is good.

And they miss Christ by making a big deal of the church. Oh yes, they're fine, upstanding people. Very impressive, yes. That's not the point. You know, Peter and John, they were very impressed with them.

When they brought the man who was born lame into the temple courts, healed, they wanted to make a big deal about Peter and John. And they said, no, no, it's about our risen Lord Christ, not about us. A sad note here, but it distinguishes.

There are those who are in Christ, those who are in one accord in Solomon's porch, being built up into the new covenant temple. Yet there are the rest of them who didn't dare to join, but esteemed them highly.

But these two groups are not static. It's not as if the numbers of the church and the numbers of the people are just not going to ever change. Because, verse 14 says, believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

Interesting that the Lord knows what a woman is, right? There's two kinds, male and female. He created them, and He knows what a woman is. And He welcomes them to Himself, and they are living stones in His temple.

They are multiplied. Who are being added to the Lord? Believers. Believers are increasingly added to the Lord. And not simply those who were born of Abraham. Not simply those who were somehow familiarly associated with the current members.

Believers were added to the Lord. The Lord is multiplying His church and building His church through the grace of faith. When we look back at Acts chapter 2, we have the very same pattern. In verse 40 of Acts 2 we read,.

And with many other words Peter testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation that Christ has condemned time and time and time again. Come out of this perverse generation.

Judgment is coming, but be saved in Christ. Then those who gladly received His word were baptized, and that day about 3 ,000 souls were added to them. So those who rejoice in the preaching of the word are added to the church through baptism.

Christ is building His new creation by watering the word. But notice it's believers who are being added to the church, correct? Believers. We read in verse 46,. Continuing daily with one accord. There it is again.

One accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. This is exactly what Acts 5 is saying.

And notice the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. So how does He build His church? Does Christ build His church with cinder blocks? Does He build His church with timber? He builds His church with those who are being saved.

He builds His church with those who believe upon His name. That's how He builds His church. That's how the son of David builds the new covenant temple. As we think about Christ as the glory of the church, the glory in the house of the Lord being Christ Himself, Him being the weightiness, we need to observe that our union is in Christ and in Christ alone.

Our union is in Christ and in Christ alone. There is no other gravitational pull that will sustain us. It will only tear us apart. The reason why we are joined together in unity is not that we were added to one another, not that we were baptized in the name of Sunnyside, but that we were baptized in the name of Christ, and that we were added to the Lord.

We are not added to some confession. We are not added to some point of doctrine. We are not added to some cultural value. We are added to the Lord. He is the one who unifies us and directs us so that we may be of one accord, one mind, one heart, one soul.

He is our unity. We are not to be in orbit around any other person or power. If there is no one else who is worthy to open the scroll, if there is no one else who is worthy to be at the right hand of the Father, there is nothing else and no one else around which we ought to be unified.

Additionally, we see that this unity separates. We are saved from because we are saved unto. Our identity is in Christ. We are identified and set apart by Christ. We are defined by Christ and Christ alone.

We are set aside distinct for a purpose. We are salt. We are light. We are a city on a hill, not for ourselves, but in the name of Jesus. Consider this kind of unity and this kind of separation in the way that Jesus expresses it when he was in Solomon's porch and talking about how these things worked.

In John chapter 10, verse 23, Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. The Jews surrounded him and said to him, How long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe.

The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, even as they are bearing witness of him in our text. But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.

Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. And that was such wonderful good news that they immediately tried to kill him.

Why the separation here on Solomon's porch? Why are so many being gathered to the Lord but some are saying I don't want to have anything to do with him? Well, Jesus explains it. He is the unity of the church.

He is the one who identifies the church and he's the one who multiplies the church. The Lord is the one who adds. The Lord is the one who saves. We are multiplied by Christ and Christ alone. Not by a program.

Not by a method. Not by some measure of attraction. We are multiplied by the Lord of the harvest and we are instructed to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Now what are the three things that are most likely to destroy a church?

What are the three things that are most likely to destroy a church? Some of you have been in church for decades. You might have an inkling. My dad pastored for four decades. I've been a pastor for 15 years.

What are the things that are most likely to tear apart a church? How about disunity? How about what happens when there is more than one center around which the people within one church are trying to be in orbit?

We're going to be in orbit around this thing and then these people are in orbit around this thing and then they start running into each other and crashing. Something else that could destroy a church is when there's no separation between the church and the world.

And no distinction between what it means to be a church member and just one of the others out there. No difference at all. I mean, there's no real salt. No real light. No real difference. That'll destroy a church, won't it?

What else might destroy a church? Maybe a church that never ever grows. The people get older and nobody ever comes in. Nobody ever gets saved. And the people die and it just all wastes away. Those are the dangers to a church, are they not?

But who is it who unifies us? Who is it who keeps us separate and identifies us? And who is it who multiplies us? Isn't it our Savior? The answer to the church, the way that we will prosper and succeed and rejoice in God's truth is all based upon Jesus Christ.

He is the glory of the church. Everything is dependent upon Him. Not only is He the weight and the light, but He determines the direction, the motion. A glory will compel or repel, and glory will sometimes move.

What is going on in this text? Look at verse 16. Also, a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

So they heard about the many signs and wonders done among the people there in Jerusalem. They were just bringing the sick of Jerusalem out into the streets, and they were being healed as Peter walked by and his shadow fell over them.

Word got out to the surrounding area, the surrounding villages and towns and cities. Can you imagine it? It's not Passover. It's not the Feast of Tabernacles. It's not the Day of Atonement. It's not the New Year.

It's not Rosh Hashanah. It's not any special particular day. This great big blank space on the Jewish religious calendar. The doldrums, the off-season. But all of a sudden, here comes a parade of pilgrims coming up the mountain.

And they're coming, and they're not leading with them lambs and rams and oxen, tucking turtle doves in blankets. They're not coming with sacrifices. And they're not going to go to the temple. They're not going to consult with the Levites and seek approval of their cleanliness.

They're not gathering to Jerusalem to partake in the Old Covenant. They're coming because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They're coming because they have heard that there's something new going on. They're not bringing sacrifices.

What are they bringing? They're bringing sick people. They're carrying them on litters. The lame that cannot walk. The sick who cannot make it on their journey. The blind who cannot see for themselves.

They're leading them and carrying them into the city. And look, there's a man foaming at the mouth, restrained by two other men, as they drag him into the city, trying to get him to the apostles, so that the demon can be cast out of him.

Do you see the parade? Do you see the pilgrim of the people coming in? They're not coming up to the Old Covenant Jerusalem. They're coming to the New Covenant Jerusalem. They're coming to the Jerusalem that God creates out of joy.

Here they come towards a new creation. They're coming because of the power of the resurrected Jesus Christ. This is exactly the scene that was proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 35, in a chapter that speaks of the future glory of Zion, we read that the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The excellence of Carmel and Sharon they shall see. Notice, they shall see the glory of the Lord.

They're going to see it. The light and the weight. They're going to see the excellency of our God. Now notice verse 3. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Why? We've got a journey.

We've got a trip. We're going somewhere. How are you going to make it unless you strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees? Which is exactly what Hebrews 12 says. Hebrews 12 verse 12. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees.

Why? We're going on a journey. We're heading somewhere. The light and the weight of Christ compels us forward. We're on the move. We can't stay away. We're on the way. We're going somewhere. Verse 4 of Isaiah 35.

Say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong. Do not fear. Hebrews 12 also says that. Speaking about those who were afraid of the mountain which if they touched they would die. Isaiah 35. Behold your God will come with vengeance.