The Adventures of the Early Church . . .

THREE GREAT SECRETS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS

And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection. —Acts 4:33

And great grace was upon them all. — Acts 4:33

And great fear came upon the whole church. — Acts 5:11

Great power, great grace, great fear — these are the secrets of the marvelous story of primitive Christianity. I refer to them as “secrets” because they are characteristics of the primitive church that are often overlooked. They are also secrets in the biblical sense of being mysteries in that they reveal the true nature of the early church, traits if hidden obscure the real picture. In Eph. 3:3 Paul refers to “the mystery (or open secret) was made known to me by revelation,” a reference to God’s purpose for the church. While Paul was here referring to the “secret” that Jews and Gentiles would be one new body in Christ, these “great” passages refer to that church in action.

It was not just power that moved them but great power. This power was the result of being filled with the Spirit. Jesus had promised them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8), which was realized on Pentecost in Acts 2. Before Pentecost there was weakness, for the apostles all fled in cowardly fear and even denied knowing Christ, but after Pentecost they were as bold as a lion. It was this boldness that caused the Jewish leaders to realize where the apostles were coming from; “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they wondered; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

Sometimes fame, fortune, or station in life evokes boldness, but the apostles had none of these. They were of the rank and file, and yet they spoke with such power and conviction that their superiors marvelled. They thus recognized that they had been with Jesus. What an exciting adventure! Humble men proclaiming a message of redemption with such boldness as to astound their officials! Here we have a secret of their power — a boldness fired by the presence of the Holy Spirit within them.

There is also the dimension of prayer to this boldness. They were bold because they prayed for boldness. Note the reading of Acts 4:29; “And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness.”

Once they prayed like that the place where they were gathered shook and “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Fervent prayer and an infilling of the Holy Spirit resulted in the “great power” that the historian tells us about. Is this infilling of the Spirit repeatable and continual? Had they not already received the Spirit on the day of Pentecost? It appears that in the crisis of being arrested for preaching the gospel that the Holy Spirit endows them even more, especially as they prayed for such power. It is a theme that Luke stresses, as in Acts 4:7; “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them . . .” The authorities clearly had a problem that was too much for them: the power of the Holy Spirit in common fishermen.

Do we in the modern church really want such power? Do we not fear it? Do we not suffer from the malady of not wanting? Perhaps it is because we are not persecuted. But we should be bold in our faith because of what we believe. A religion of “great power” is contagious, as it was in ancient Jerusalem: “But many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand” (Acts 4:4). The word that they proclaimed was the one great fact of the gospel, the resurrection of Christ from the dead. This was the great truth behind the great power. They really believed something! It was a truth that changed their lives and changed their world. Once they had seen the risen Christ, life could never be the same, and they didn’t want it to be the same. The resurrection of Christ was for them the central fact of all history. It showed that God’s love was both overwhelming and redemptive. In the resurrection there was an answer to sin. And Paul was later to insist that it was reason enough for a man to repent, there no longer being any excuse for ignorance, and that in the resurrection there was proof that God would bring all men to judgment (Acts 17:30-31).

Great power! Their secret can be our secret if we will desire it and pray for it as they did. If as a Spirit-filled, praying church we will know only Jesus Christ and him crucified, we too will have great power. There is no power in our systems or in our gimmickry. Putting an “educated man” or “a smooth speaker” in the pulpit is not enough. Their great power was not in pulpits but out in the streets and in homes, where the people were. But even in our assemblies if we will lift up the risen Christ as the hope of the world rather than to lay on folk the trappings of our party we will be powerful for God.

The second secret, great grace, not only refers to the fact that they were the beneficiaries of the gospel of the grace of God and thus saved by grace, but that the graciousness of God had made them gracious. They were gracious in that they were liberal to the point of it being incredible. Acts 4:34 is an amazing statement: “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and laid it at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.”

When we realize that many of them were slaves and most of the rest were poor, it is amazing that there was not a needy person among them. It has always been true that it is the poor that takes care of the poor, just as it is true today that it is the old that takes care of the old. There was no coercion to their liberality, for it sprang from their generous hearts. It was grace, great grace, motivated by love. They sold their property and shared the wealth because they wanted to, not because they had to.

Their attitude toward each other is reflected in Acts 4:32: “Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.”

Here is unity realized in mutual love and concern. It does not mean that they saw everything eye to eye. It means that they were unselfish and gracious. They did not hold property in common in a legal sense but in that they were now family and as sisters and brothers in the Lord it was a “what’s mine is yours” attitude. This is the only real unity there is, for if such a spirit of love and generosity is lacking it doesn’t matter about doctrinal agreement. They agreed in what mattered: Jesus was the Lord of glory, the risen Christ, the fulfillment of all their hopes. And they were his; it was a covenant relationship. And so they had each other because together they had Jesus. So poverty, which must have been real and deep, disappeared overnight. They had enough loaves and fishes that no one had need. What an adventure this was for them! It was great grace.

This was a secret to their success in reaching out. The record assures us that the people held them in high esteem, and “more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women” (Acts 5:13-14). This is the grace that everyone can see and understand, not book grace or theological grace, but the graciousness that is evident when it is inspired by the indwelling Christ. They were now the Body of Christ and “members one of another,” which must be the most challenging description of the church. Ponder the majesty of the concept, members one of another, and you will see what Luke meant by great grace. Since poverty in one member hurt the other members as well as the afflicted member, they excised the poverty. They found a way.

This does not necessarily mean that we are to solve a similar problem in our day precisely as they did theirs, by selling our property. Such examples might be followed or they might not, depending on circumstances. But we too should have the spirit of “all things in common” in some way, and we too should see —to it that no one among us is in need. The great grace that was a secret of their influence can be upon us also.

Equally impressive was the “great fear” that pervaded the primitive church, and we see from Acts 2:43 that fear was a reaction as early as Pentecost: “And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” The same Greek word for fear is found in Acts 5:11, but the circumstance is different, and so fear becomes great fear. The word means everything from terror and dread to reverence and awe. Paul uses it as he sizes up the sinful human condition: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18), and when he describes the Christian life as “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” The angelic cry from heaven is to “Fear God and give him glory” (Rev. 14:7), and man’s ultimate duty has been defined as “Fear God and keep his commandments” (Ecc. 12:13).

Fear turned to great fear upon one of the most amazing incidents in primitive Christianity, the death of a man and his wife, Ananias and Sapphira, which occurs as an execution for lying to the Holy Spirit. It is the kind of story that one would expect in the Old Testament rather than in the New. Ananias and his wife joined others in selling a piece of property and giving the proceeds to the apostles for distribution to the poor, but with an important difference. They gave only part of the purchase price to the church while claiming they were giving it all. They sought to deceive. In lying to the church they lied to the Holy Spirit, and yet Peter described it in terms that would apply to all sins: “You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:4).

The apostle Peter also recognized that it was Satan that had tempted Ananias to lie and to deceive. Satan has been at it since the Garden of Eden, tempting man to mock God and assuring him that he will not have to reap what he sows while God tells him he will. “You will not die,” he told Eve. He says the same to the smoker: “Others may take lung cancer but you won’t,” or to the one who commits homosexual acts: “You won’t contract aids,” or to the one who wants to drink and drive: “You won’t have an accident.” And he would tempt us to believe that we can get by with sinning.

This explains the great fear that came upon the church (Acts 5:11). They saw with their own eyes that the penalty for sin can be swift and sure. The church had now grown into the thousands, and it was probably a large assembly that gathered in the portico of the temple before which Ananias presented his gift. It was really a sin of pride, for he wanted the esteem of the church for his generosity, such as Barnabas had, who had made a similar sacrifice.

There was no way for Peter or anyone else to know of Ananias’ deception, so he must have felt secure, even when Peter asked him if he were giving the full amount. It was revealed to Peter that Ananias was lying, and God must have seen this instance of gross deception as a threat to the young church. Ananias falls over dead, a clear case of divine execution, and he was immediately buried, which in itself was not unusual. Three hours later Sapphira comes into this same large assembly, and not having heard of her husband’s death she too lies and the same judgment is pronounced upon her.

Two very public sins and two very real executions! If the same rule were applied to the church today, we’d likely have a plethora of funerals. But in time we’d have less sinning!

The fear generated by this chilling incident poured over into the community. While the townspeople held the church in high esteem for its moral standards, the record tells us an amazing fact about their reaction: None of the rest dared join them (Acts 5:13). While the church had enjoyed rapid growth, it suddenly came to a screeching halt. For a time no one would join the church, lest the penalty of sin be too severe. Such a conclusion as “If you join the church you may get yourself killed!” was possible. But it was not for long, for as the church continued its powerful witness “more than ever believers were added to the Lord” (Acts 5:14). The judgment against Ananias and Sapphira demonstrates that God is indeed in control and that he takes sin seriously. And it reveals that there is a place in the hearts and minds of us all for the fear of God.

When we are shocked and disturbed by this story (Why did not Peter simply call for this couple’s repentance?), it may help to recognize that their execution does not necessarily mean that they were eternally lost. God’s grace surely reaches out to an errant believer whether he lives on to repent or not. If not, we all have cause for something more than great fear, for we have little hope if we have to be free of sin when we die. Ananias and Sapphira, who may have otherwise been exemplary members, served to jar the community of believers into the realization that God cannot be mocked and that Satan seeks to destroy the church by sin. Such “great fear” is always in order in whatever age of the church.

Paul warns us all: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he shall also reap” (Gal. 5:7). The world does not believe this, and so it continues to mock God to its own destruction. It is doubtful that even the church believes it. “There is no fear of God before their eyes” may apply as much to the church as to the world. Where is the church that is marked by great fear as well as’ by great power and great grace?

These three secrets — great power, great grace, great fear — may also be viewed as principles of unity. When we find our power in the story of the Cross and preach Jesus Christ as the risen Lord, we will have little interest in party squabbles. When great grace fills our hearts in service to suffering humanity, we will find that such service unites. Great fear will cause us to shun such a gross sin as division among Christians.

We might conclude as does 1 Jn. 4:18 that “perfect love casts out fear,” but who has perfect love. Jesus had perfect love, but even he feared God, according to Heb. 5:7. Love should be the motivating power in the life of the Christian, but we all are to stand in awe and fear of God, however much we love him.

Only the fear of God will rid our world of its tormenting moral plagues, whether terrorism, drugs, child abuse, crime in our streets. And only the fear of God will restore that sense of awe and worship that is lacking in both the church and the world. — the Editor