Just the other day I saw an advertisement which was marketed to women (and I think that women today have become very susceptible to this marketing ploy in particular) and this ad was declaring that yes, women, you can have it all. I’m not sure what they were selling, but I understood the message they were conveying very well. When I saw that ad I couldn’t help but think that Christians are especially vulnerable to this type of thinking as well. The idea that somehow being a Christian will bring about both spiritual and physical blessing in my life, and so I can have the best of both worlds. I can have the best of heaven, and the best of this world. Even as a pastor, I find myself falling victim to this type of expectation.

But I am here to tell you today that while there is definitely a physical as well as spiritual blessing that comes from being born again, at the same time there is a real cost to being a disciple of Christ.   Paul said in Phil.3:7, that “whatever things were gain to me, I have counted as loss for the sake of knowing Christ.”

He goes on to say in the next verse; “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Now of course Paul was the same as Saul who we looked last week as we studied his conversion on the road to Damascus. His conversion meant that he left all that he was as a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin, his position of authority in Judaism and his station in Jewish society. Once he realized who it was he was persecuting, none other than the Messiah, the Son of God, he gladly left it all to serve Christ.

The church that Saul had been persecuting had counted the cost of being disciples as well. The whole reason that they ended up in Damascus and Lydda and Joppa and such places was because Saul had hunted them like animals. Many of them had left their jobs, their homes, and their families and fled to these cities to escape the persecution which had started in Jerusalem, and then continued to follow them to other regions. It’s important to realize that the early church counted the cost of following Christ and many paid dearly for that decision.

But an unusual thing happened as a result of Saul being converted. Suddenly, the major enemy of the church had been converted to it’s greatest ally. Saul had been the authority of the Sanhedrin who had been hunting these early converts. So when he became a Christian, there suddenly was a peace that enveloped the church from a lack of organized persecution.

And there is another thing which is helpful to realize. The emperor of Rome at that time was a horrible ruler by the name of Caligula. Right about the same time that Saul was converted, Caligula decided that he would put his statue in the temple at Jerusalem. After all, the Romans believed that the emperor was to be worshipped as deity. And so he decided to set up his statue in the Jewish temple which would have effectively desecrated the temple. To make sure this happened, he sent an army to Jerusalem with orders to kill or enslave anyone that opposed his orders.

Ultimately, Caligula did not achieve his goal of erecting his statue in the temple. Josephus records that Herod was able to dissuade Caligula from going through with that plan. But not without throwing all of Judaism into an uproar. If his plan had gone through he whole system of Judaism would have been desecrated, and consequently the power base of the Sanhedrin and the priesthood would have been overthrown. And so there was quite some time there when the Jewish religious leaders were too busy with Rome to worry about the Christians. So there ensued a period of peace in which the church now found itself after much persecution.

Now that is the context which we come to in our text today. And we are going to be looking particularly at vs. 31 which describes what the church did during this time of peace. The remainder of the chapter which we read is really just illustrations of what is described in vs.31. But to start with, I want to spend some time looking at this very important text in vs. 31, and to help us understand it better, I am going to read it again, but this time using the NKJV which I think employs some better word choices.

“Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” This verse is really a key verse in all of Acts that we have studied thus far. It is like a vantage point on a mountain path where you are able to stop and rest for a while and survey the vista that falls away behind you. And as such, it sets forth some important doctrine in regards to the church that we need to look closely at if we are going to replicate the pattern of the first church of the apostles. It really gives us a simple outline for success in the church, not according to what society might deem success, but according to the Lord’s template for success as evidenced by the first church.

Someone was asking me the other day if I had other pastors that I could talk to and fellowship with. And I told him that though I really desired such fellowship, I rarely am able to enjoy it, because I do not share many of the accoutrements of what is considered to constitute church today. I don’t have a permanent building. I don’t have any paid staff. And there are several other things that seem to be lacking from what is considered “church” that seem to set me apart from other pastors which serve to inhibit developing that kind of fellowship.

But I find myself encouraged in our study of Acts as we look at the churches that are pictured there, because I feel that our church more closely resembles their pattern than what is commonly considered church today. These early churches met outside, or in homes. They had little external signs of organization, and yet according to scripture, they were successful, vital, living temples of God that operated in the power of the Spirit. And so I find comfort in that association.

So we’re going to see in this verse an outline of God’s plan for a successful church. First of all, notice that the verse starts out by saying that they enjoyed peace. I’ve already explained how that happened on a physical level, by the conversion of Saul and the aggression of Rome against the temple. When Saul is taken off the scene there is no one hunting the church anymore. They are able to meet openly in relative peace. And since the Jews are busy defending their own religion against the Romans, the church is able to continue to enjoy that peace for some time.

But there is another type of peace that needs to be understood that is more important than any sort of physical rest or the cessation of hostilities. And that is the peace that can be had with God. Without knowing Christ, you cannot have peace with God. Last week I talked about Saul being an enemy of the church, and by extension an enemy of God, and how we all as well are considered enemies of God in our natural condition. But conversion means that we are made friends of God. Just like Saul was an enemy of God until he met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and then he became a friend of the church and a son of God, so we that were once considered enemies now have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom. 5:1 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” What that is talking about is that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross. He took on Himself the penalty that was due us, and died in our place, that we might be made righteous through His blood. We are justified by faith in what Christ did for us on the cross. This is what conversion means. This is what it means to be born again. To call upon the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of your sins, and by faith in Him, as the Son of God, receiving the adoption as sons of God as a free gift.

When this happens in your life you automatically are born into the church. You don’t have to be baptized or circumcised or be voted in or anything but be born again and you become part of Christ’s body. Baptism does follow salvation, but each in it’s order. We are justified by faith alone and are made part of Christ’s church by birth.

So as a result of salvation there is a peace that passes all understanding. There is peace with God that is better than world peace. There is a peace with God that is better than the absence of wars. In fact, as a Christian, even in persecution, even in wartime, we can be at peace because we know that we belong to God, and God has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us, and has promised us resurrection from the dead into eternal life with Him.

But oftentimes physical peace can be a mixed blessing. Times of peace tend to be dangerous to the church. It is easy at those times to be lulled into a sense of complacency. We have to guard against abusing whatever peace God gives by idleness or serving ourselves, but use that time wisely to do the work of the kingdom. I’m afraid that the relative time of peace that the church has enjoyed in America has only served to make it indolent and lazy, so that we are glutted on the fatness of the church to our ruin, rather than using that time to be employed in service to it.

But not so in the first churches. They were industrious in this time of peace, so that it became a productive time for the church, rather than a time where they thought they might relax now that hostilities were ended. You know, I have nothing against vacations or taking time for a sabbatical. It can be very beneficial. However, I am dismayed to see Christians often only become zealous for the things of God when they are in a crisis. And then as soon as the heat lets up, they start to drift away. They use that time of peace to serve themselves and basically reward themselves, often at the expense of the church or the things of God. Consequently, a lot of Christians live in a see saw state, going from crisis to crisis, interspersed with periods of self indulgence and never grow into maturity and bear fruit.

So the first characteristic of these successful churches was that they used this time of peace for the good of the kingdom. They showed their love for God and their gratitude for His providence by responding in this time of peace with greater industriousness for the things of God.

The second characteristic is described in the next phrase; being edified. Edified is a Bible word. And some think that we should avoid Bible words. I don’t subscribe to that view, obviously. If God said it, I think we should learn what it means and use it. But simply put, edified means to build up. The church was built up. It was strengthened, it matured. It grew up, if you will. Man, if there was ever a day when the church needs to grow up, it is this day and age.

We’re going to look more fully at Ephesians 4 in a moment, but for now look at vs.14. “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.”

Edification then comes as a result of learning sound doctrine so that we are not deceived by every false doctrine, but grow up into maturity in Christ.   Now how is that maturity as a result of sound doctrine accomplished in a practical way? Back up in Eph. 4 to vs. 11 and we see how Christ has gifted his church with pastors/teachers who will teach the church, equipping them for service. Eph. 4:11-13 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up/edification of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

The gifts Christ has given to edify the church are first of all a firm foundation in the apostle’s doctrine. This is nothing less than the scriptures of the New Testament. The apostles were given the words of Christ and wrote them down through the agency of the Holy Spirit for our edification. You cannot be built up in your faith without a firm foundation of the Word of God. Our faith is not founded upon experiences or feelings, but on the promises written in Christ’s blood.

And then Christ gave to the church pastors/teachers, that’s really one office, not two, who teach the word to the church in order to equip them to do what? The work of service, for the edification of the body of Christ. Folks, one of the faults with the modern church today is the attitude of consumerism that pervades it’s congregations. The attitude that somehow there is this great divide between the clergy and the congregation. And so the congregation just shows up, gets a spoonful of something resembling baby food stuck in their upturned mouths and then off they go back to the world for another 6 ½ days. But that is not the way God designed the church. Peter says in 1Pet. 2:5 that God deigned the church to be constituted by members who are “living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” The work of ministry is to be performed by the saints in the church.

So edification then results in mature Christians who are equipped through sound doctrine and teaching so that they might be the instruments by which God builds the church, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. They are the church, not just going to church.

And how is this done, practically speaking? Well, as you are taught the word of God, you then walk the word of God. To walk means to live it out. And that is the next point of our text; “walking in the fear of the Lord.” I’ve mentioned the fear of the Lord in a lot of sermons lately. But what I want to make sure is not missed is the word “walking.” It means to live out in day to day life what you have been taught. I believe this is the greatest disconnect between the church and the watching world today. The church is far too often rightly accused by the world of being hypocrites. We claim the power of God to deliver, and yet we live as if we are still in captivity to sin. We claim that Jesus is able to save, and yet we seem powerless to be able to live godly lives. The fact is, I cannot believe that many people who profess to be Christians are indeed born again. They obviously have not died to the old man, to be raised to new life. That is how the scripture defines being born again. But some seem to have not died to anything. But like the example I made at the beginning, they think that Christianity is a means of great gain, that they can gain the world and gain heaven as well. But that is not the doctrine of Christ who said, “take up your cross and follow Me.” We must die to sin, if we are to live with Christ. We must repent of our sin and call upon God to remake us, to give us a new heart, and new desires. When that happens, old things will then pass away, and all things become new.

We must walk in the fear of the Lord. If I am a child of God and walk contrary to His commands, then I must expect that He will chasten me. Heb 12:6-8 “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” But we aren’t supposed to remain children, remember? We are to grow up into maturity, after the example of Christ. So then what do we do? We do like Christ, we do all things to please the Father. We do His will. We don’t do anything that He would be displeased with.   As mature Christians, our fear of the Lord is not of being punished, but of disappointing Him, or displeasing Him, or bringing shame upon His name. And that becomes our motivation.

When I was a child I feared the paddle of my dad when I did wrong. But when I became older I feared the shame that I might bring upon him. So it is with God, I love Him, and I know He loves me, and yet I reverence Him so much that I dare do nothing to displease Him or bring shame upon His name.

I’m afraid the church today in many circles cares nothing about pleasing the Lord. The consumer mentality is all about the Lord pleasing me, and pleasing myself. I’m not suggesting that we all go join a monastery and wear long robes and take vows of silence. On the contrary, I am suggesting that we all walk in this world circumspectly, reverently, living holy lives that will be a testimony to the watching world and not bring shame upon the cause of Christ.

And we do that by the power of the Holy Spirit. That brings us to the next phrase in our text, “and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.” Walking in or by the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Comfort may give the wrong idea, it is not speaking of cushions, but the prodding or encouragement of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit urges us on. Comfort is translated from the Greek word paraklēsis, which means to come alongside. As we are taught the word and apply the word in the fear of the Lord, then the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us to help us, to encourage us, convict us, prod us, as He sees fit.

We have comfort in the Holy Spirit because we know that we have the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to do whatever God tells us to do. That is the way we are able to walk in the fear of the Lord. We can walk according to God’s commands because He has given us the Helper, to strengthen us, to empower us, and equip us with the gifts of the Spirit. That is our comfort, our encouragement, that whatever God has called us to do, He will empower us to do if we but yield to Him to walk in the power of the Spirit.   It’s not talking about some mystical euphoric or ecstatic feeling that may come and go, but it’s talking about the steady help of the Holy Spirit as we yield to His urging, to do whatever it is that God desires us to do.

Now when we are at peace with God, employing ourselves in that peace to be about the things of God, when we are edified by the teaching of the word of God, when we are walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, then the church will be multiplied. The last point of our text; multiplied. This is the pattern for church growth. It is not necessarily in some program, or some church ministry, but it is one person at a time becoming built up, and living out what they believe through the power of the Holy Spirit, and that testimony multiplying to bring about the conversion of another person. I’ve said it many times before in various ways, but the testimony of a transformed life is the greatest witness of the gospel of all.

We are testaments to His grace. This is the answer to the rhetorical question I asked last week, which was why does God choose frail and failing men to be His ministers? Why not let angels write upon the sky in flaming letters the merits of His gospel? And the answer is that angels have never been redeemed. We have known the depths of depravity, having been enslaved to sin, and now we have been supernaturally exalted to become sons of God by the graciousness of God and the atonement of Jesus Christ. That transformation is what makes us much better witnesses of His grace than angels could ever be. If God can save a wretch like me and make me a minister of His kingdom, then there is hope for anyone.

Now then in closing I will just mention the two miracles that the author Luke includes in this passage by way of illustration of this power of a transformed life. In the first example, a man laid paralyzed for eight years in his bed. And the Apostle Peter comes by him and calls out to him, “’Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed.’ Immediately he got up.   And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.”

This miracle simply illustrates what we have been discussing. The power of God to make a man that could not walk, walk once again, became the testimony of a transformed life that turned everyone who lived in the towns of Lydda and Sharon to the Lord. Don’t get so enamored at the thought of a miracle that you miss the greater miracle represented here. God is able to make Christians to walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, so that He might cause many people to come to the Lord. That is the power of a transformed life. The miracle of my salvation and your salvation is to make us walk in newness of life, and those who see that transformation as old things pass away and all things become new are encouraged to come to Christ themselves.

And the second miracle illustrates pretty much the same thing. Peter is called to the house of a believing woman that had died. And Peter goes there, perhaps not knowing how God might use him, but being willing to be used, he was available. Such an important principle by the way. That we might just be available and show up when we are called. Don’t let the devil convince you that you have nothing to offer to the service of the church. If God can use 2 fishes to feed 5000 then He can use you in His service if you will just make yourself available.

So after Peter arrived, he put everyone out of the room, and prayed, and said, “Tabitha arise.” And she arose and Peter presented her alive. Once again a mighty miracle authenticating the doctrine of the apostles. But I think the point that Luke is making again is the power of God to transform a life. To take what is dead and make it alive. That is what happens in conversion, is it not? We who were dead in our trespasses and sins have been made alive unto Christ. And what is the result of this conversion? The testimony of this woman’s new life caused many to believe in the Lord.

You may say, well do we have the power to raise the dead or heal people? No, and neither did Peter. God has the power to heal and raise the dead. But we need to realize that Peter was not sent to every home in Israel where someone died. God used this miracle to illustrate the power of God to save. Which is the greater miracle? To raise a person to life again only to have them die once more in a few years time, or to raise a person to life again so that they may never die? I would say the greater miracle is the miracle of salvation. And that miracle is available for you today if you have never received it. Simply call out to God in repentance and faith in Christ that you might be born again. Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And then Christian, if you have experienced that miracle of salvation, you’ve been transformed from death to life, then you need to walk in the fear of the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit that you might multiply that salvation to others. You do that by submitting yourself to the preaching of the word by a Bible teaching pastor, and be edified, built up in maturity, doing the your work of service as a part of the local body, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the power of the Holy Spirit, and in so doing make disciples. Multiply yourself over and over again, by the testimony of the supernatural transformation of your life.