Acts 12: King Jesus Reigns and His Word Is Unstoppable

Introduction

Joseph Tandy, of Église Connexion (Paris Centre), opens this back-to-school message with a confession: he is English. At every tournament he asks himself the same question. Is it worth supporting England this year, after sixty years without a trophy, so much disappointment and so much pain? Is it worth taking their side when the chances of winning are so slim?

September is when many things start up again. Whether you have been a Christian for a long time, a member of this church for years, a first-time visitor, or not yet sure what you think about Jesus, the question is the same: why is it worth taking Jesus' side this year, that is, following him and serving him?

For Connexion, this new season is special. A year ago, the church planted a small church, Oberkampf, which meets near Place de la République and will be officially sent out in a few weeks. In a year, the goal is another church in the east of Paris. The challenges will be many: a heavier workload, departures, the need for more people to serve, and plenty of unknowns.

The message fits in one sentence, one that rhymes with a southern accent: "King Jesus is in charge, and he makes his word triumph. Let's get on his side." The book of Acts is volume two of Luke's Gospel, written to give us certainty that we are not wasting our time following and serving Jesus (Luke 1:4).

Message Outline

1. We are weak and the opposition is strong

• If you sometimes feel fragile, even like you are on the losing team as a Christian, "welcome to the club."
• The context of Acts 12: a famine strikes Jerusalem, and the Christians of Antioch send Paul and Barnabas to bring help. At the end of the chapter, they return to Antioch, from where they will be sent out in chapter 13 on the very first missionary journey into non-Jewish territory. An ambitious, unprecedented project.
• Meanwhile, King Herod goes on the attack (Acts 12:1-5). He has James, John's brother, killed by the sword. Seeing that this pleases the Jews, he has Peter arrested and entrusts him to four squads of four soldiers, intending to bring him out for trial after the Passover. Peter is kept in prison while the church prays earnestly for him.
• This Herod is the grandson of the one who killed the boys at the time of Jesus' birth, and the nephew of the one who killed John the Baptist. He is carrying on the family tradition. He tells himself: "If I catch the boss, Peter, it will be a hit in the polls and it will calm these little Christians down."
• Sixteen soldiers, a high-security prison: he may have remembered that in chapter 5, Peter had already been freed by an angel. Faced with this apparent omnipotence, the helpless Christians can only, so to speak, pray.
• The equivalents today? Politicians, intellectuals or influencers who seek to discredit the Christian faith. Imagine that the Oberkampf church grows and looks for a bigger room, and rumors spread in the 11th arrondissement: beware of this intolerant, backward evangelical church, "watch out for this cult." Nobody wants to rent it a room anymore. That would not be unprecedented in French history.
• Even without persecution, we control very little: our health, what others think of us, the course of our career and relationships, politics, the economy, the length of our life. The preacher admits it for himself: "I am weak, fallible and a sinner."

2. The true king opens doors

• Often in totally unexpected ways and at unexpected times, King Jesus opens doors so that his word can move forward.
• Enjoy the comic side of the story. The Lord frees Peter the night before his trial, "just to spoil Herod's party." Peter is sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with guards at the door (Acts 12:6). The angel arrives: get up, put on your sandals, as if you were heading off to school. The door opens like the automatic doors of a supermarket.
• All the Christians in the passage find it too good to be true. Peter thinks he is seeing a vision (Acts 12:9). The servant girl Rhoda is so excited that she leaves him standing outside (Acts 12:13-15). And the prayer meeting answers her: "Rhoda, we're in the middle of praying, go make a herbal tea." "It's his angel."
• God does infinitely more than all we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). But that is not a guarantee: if Jason or Romuald, pastor of the Oberkampf church, ended up locked up, we could not expect the same miraculous release, even though Jesus promises that all things work together for their good and that no one can do them any real harm, eternally speaking.
• James did not escape Herod's sword. Tradition says Peter and Paul were executed. Many Christians today spend years behind bars, in Iran or North Korea. "You can harm the messengers, but you cannot lock up the message."
• Verse 24 is the refrain that structures the book of Acts, in chapter 6, here in chapter 12, and again in chapter 19: "The word of God grew and multiplied."
• In the 1950s, Chinese communists expelled all the missionaries in order to wipe out the little Chinese church. In the 21st century, after decades of persecution, there may be 100 million Chinese Christians.

3. His word advances first in us, then through us

• Jesus deploys his royal power "not to spare us all suffering, but so that his word advances first in us, then through us." That is his great project today.
• His number one priority: that his word changes us. A bereavement, an illness, a period of unemployment or stress are awful times, but in Jesus' hands they are open doors for his word to advance in us. Jesus teaches us lessons there that we could not have learned any other way.
• The preacher's family has been through a chronic illness. Jesus made it an open door to teach them that "as long as we have him, we have everything." He is far from wanting to minimize the suffering of those who feel fragile right now.
• A good way to live this out: join a community group where you listen to Jesus in the Bible week after week.
• Through us too, Jesus opens doors in unexpected ways. Five years ago, Joseph and his wife Sophie left the 9th arrondissement discouraged: years of trying to share their faith with neighbors and other parents, without anyone seeming interested. Today, God is opening doors in their current neighborhood in unexpected ways.
• "The measure of our ambition should not be the size of the obstacles, but the power of the king who opens doors for his word." Which doors would you like Jesus to open around you?
• A few years ago, Connexion tried to buy a building. God has kept that door closed so far, but he is opening others in the 11th arrondissement and now in the east of Paris.

4. The true king prevails

• Why are we sure we are on the winning team when we commit to Jesus' side? Because Jesus is the only true king and he always has the last word.
• After this failure, Herod wants to restore his reputation: "I will show everyone who is boss." He rules over a vast territory, over the Jews but also over non-Jewish regions. He is in conflict with the cities of Tyre and Sidon, which depend on him for their food (Acts 12:20). He convenes a great assembly so that they come and publicly beg him for peace. Everyone will see that he is king of all.
• He arrives with great pomp, dressed in his royal robes (Acts 12:21). The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who reports the same event, describes a garment made entirely of silver, so dazzling that it struck terror into those who looked at it. After his speech, the people shout: "The voice of a god, and not of a man!" (Acts 12:22). It almost sounds like North Korea.
• Herod's problem is not only that he was a bad ruler. "He wanted the place that belongs to Jesus alone, the place of ultimate ruler."
• What is uncomfortable is that we are a bit like him. Not because we want to kill Christians or pass ourselves off as gods, but because we like to have things under control: to decide, to know where we are going, to build our life the way we see fit. Maybe that is why you came to Paris: studies, work, friends, a relationship, a fresh start. Having plans is a good thing. But behind it lies a question: "Who is really in charge? Who has the last word, us or Jesus?"
• The answer is crystal clear in verse 23: an angel of the Lord strikes Herod because he did not give glory to God, and he dies, eaten by worms. Notice how easily Jesus settles his account. "The king who opens doors with ease is also the king who prevails with ease over everything that opposes him."
• That does not mean Jesus immediately eliminates everyone who attacks Christians. "All the other kings, however powerful they seem, are cardboard kings. They have only the power that Jesus allows them to have, for as long as he allows it."
• Each of us faces a choice: seek to be a Herod, build our own kingdom, control our life, make sure others recognize our importance; or acknowledge that we are not the kings, that we were never made to be, and submit to Jesus. If we choose the second option, we discover that Jesus is not only the only king, but the best king.

5. Why Paul and Barnabas are mentioned in verse 25

• All of this happens while Paul and Barnabas are in Jerusalem. They witness Peter's release, and they are about to leave on a mission, the first one outside Israel.
• The obstacles will be many, many doors will seem closed, they will be summoned before the authorities, and they will surely wonder whether it is worth continuing. Luke answers: yes, because Jesus reigns, he opens doors and he prevails. Verse 24 will therefore always be true.
• "Opposition to Jesus and his word is unavoidable. But the word of King Jesus is unstoppable." The team of Jesus' word is the winning team.
• So it is worth talking about Jesus around us, seeking to make him known where he is not known, and planting new churches even when there are obstacles.

6. Our convictions about who runs the world determine how we live

• If I believe the world is run by chance, I will live as if everything depended on my ability to anticipate and outwit chance. If I believe it is run by a God who is not really for me, I will live as if everything depended on my ability to win his favor.
• "A large part of our anxiety in life and in Christian service exists because we do not really believe that Jesus reigns." Is it a coincidence that a generation that seeks autonomy at all costs, that wants to be on the throne itself, is also very anxious?
• Naturally anxious, the preacher recently changed his daily time of Bible reading and prayer to begin each day by reminding himself that Jesus reigns. Nothing happens that he has not allowed. He is on the throne. He acts in everything for the glory of his name, the good of his people and the progress of his word.
• When you grasp this, there is peace, and also outlooks, priorities and plans that are infinitely better and more ambitious than anything the world can offer.
• If you have just arrived in Paris: do not only ask "what am I going to build in Paris?", but "how am I going to build my life on the word of King Jesus in Paris?" Your studies or your job are not a parenthesis before your real Christian life: they are precisely the place where Jesus reigns and where he wants his word to bear fruit.
• If you have been a Christian for a long time: when Jesus looks at your life, he is not asking himself how to give you the easiest and most pleasant circumstances possible. He says to himself: "I will do everything so that my word spreads more and more in him and around him."
• If you would not call yourself a Christian but you are thinking it over: you do not need to pretend to be convinced. But seriously consider this claim of the Bible: Jesus is the true king. If it is true, it is the most important thing you could discover this year.
• Jesus does not leave us uncertain about the final outcome of his word: it will unfailingly accomplish what it is sent to do (Isaiah 55:11). It is like the rising tide. When you watch it for two minutes, the waves advance and recede, there are rocks, obstacles, but the trend is unstoppable and irresistible. As a child, the preacher built sand barriers to stop the tide from coming in: "an English passion for lost causes."

Key Takeaways

• We are weak and the opposition is strong: feeling fragile and sometimes on the losing team is part of the Christian life.
• The true king opens doors, often in unexpected ways, so that his word advances first in us, then through us. You can harm the messengers, but you cannot lock up the message.
• Jesus is the only true king and he always has the last word. All the other kings are cardboard kings.
• Opposition to Jesus' word is unavoidable, but that word is unstoppable, like the rising tide.
• Much of our anxiety comes from not really believing that Jesus reigns. Reminding yourself of it each morning brings peace and more ambitious priorities.

Personal Application

1. Who is king in your life: Jesus, or someone else, yourself included?
2. Do you truly believe that Jesus is in charge and that the first thing he wants to do is make his word advance in you?
3. If Jesus reigns and makes his word triumph, what does it mean to make his priorities your priorities this year?
4. Which recent trial (bereavement, illness, unemployment, stress) could be a door opened by Jesus so that his word advances in you?
5. Is there a group of colleagues, friends or neighbors where you would like to see Jesus' word break through, even if it seems unlikely?

Verses Cited

• Acts 11:27-12:25
• Acts 12:1-5
• Acts 12:6-10
• Acts 12:13-15
• Acts 12:20-25
• Acts 5:17-20
• Acts 6:7
• Acts 19:20
• Luke 1:1-4
• Ephesians 3:20
• Romans 8:28
• Isaiah 55:11

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "the unstoppable gospel" mean in Acts 12?

Joseph Tandy builds on Acts 12:24, the refrain that structures the book of Acts: the word of God grew and multiplied. Herod kills James and imprisons Peter, but Peter is freed and Herod dies. You can harm the messengers, but you cannot lock up the message.

Why did Jesus free Peter and not James?

The preacher does not promise a miraculous deliverance to every persecuted Christian: James dies by the sword, Peter and Paul will be executed according to tradition, and many Christians today spend years in prison. What Luke shows is that Jesus deploys his royal power not to spare us all suffering, but so that his word advances in us and through us.

What does Herod's death teach us in Acts 12:23?

Herod wanted the place that belongs to Jesus alone, that of ultimate ruler. An angel of the Lord strikes him and he dies, eaten by worms. For Joseph Tandy, all the other kings are cardboard kings: they have only the power that Jesus allows them to have, for as long as he allows it. Jesus is the only true king and he always has the last word.