Consider Acts 4 with more for a moment. 4:1-2 says, “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”
Now, the pronoun in v.2 matters. “They” were teaching and proclaiming.
Who is the “they”? It is Peter and John. So, this is important. Because what Luke has done in Acts 3, is just give a summary of the gospel labors of these brothers and a summation of Peter’s sermon.
Because from this text we see that both John and Peter were teaching and preaching. And since they entered the temple area at 3pm and now it’s “evening” (Acts 4:3), you have gospel ministry of maybe 3-5 hours. What are they doing?
Well, they aren’t just out there passing out water bottles on a hot day. They are preaching Christ and teaching the way of salvation.
Why does our church, Providence Baptist Church, periodically go out and preach Christ in the open air? It’s a simple answer. Because this is what the Apostles did.
Don’t Be Afraid of Preaching Outside
“Well,” some may say, “they did that where they were wanted, where people wanted to listen to them.” No, look at the text. Reread Acts 4:2. Some people were greatly annoyed at their gospel preaching.
I am afraid that some today, had they lived then, would have been annoyed to. They may have called them trouble makers. Don’t go out in public. Stop bothering people. You just need to go out and serve people. Stop preaching. As an aside, you never want to find yourself on the side of the Sadducees in the New Testament.
Not only did these brothers preach, they posted about it. God preserved their preaching in a place with much further reaching influence than social media: Here is what they did recorded forever for us in God’s holy word.
These brothers labored in preaching. Because preaching is the primary means of grace.
Our Baptist Catechism question 94 says: Q. How is the word made effectual to salvation? A. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation
Now, we understand preaching inside the church. Amen. This is good.
Biblical. But we must not be afraid to preach outside the church. This we see Peter and John doing. And, of course, this is NOT the only time we see this in the book of Acts. Maybe I’ll write another post later with another example.
Greatly Annoyed
Yeah, but if we do preach in the open air, some might get mad. Well, that’s true. The word for “greatly annoyed” in 4:2 has the connotation of being provoked. Or running out of patience. These people simply won’t shut up about Jesus and His resurrection and the resurrection to come when He returns.
Now, are there people out there who seem to be preaching just to agitate people? Yes, I think so. I think there are people who abuse preaching and use it for self.
But listen carefully here: The gospel we preach is the gospel of provocation. The gospel provokes people. You cannot rightly preach the gospel without it provoking unbelievers.
Have you ever heard someone say, “People will like you better if you just lived more like Jesus…” May I push back on that? You can’t live more like Jesus than Jesus. And they killed Him.
Luke 20:1-2 says this, “One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”
Here’s what you have: Jesus teaching and preaching the gospel, and people get mad. The Apostles teaching and preaching the gospel, and people get mad. So, what do we think will happen if your church preaches and teaches the gospel?
Now, this is not a license for being a jerk. This is the reality that the message of salvation provokes the unregenerate heart.
The Gospel
The gospel comes in and says this: You are not enough. You are not God. You are full of sin. The way you are living is not okay. But there is One who has paid it all. Jesus of Nazareth, truly God and truly Man, He alone has fulfilled all righteousness. God will only accept His perfect righteousness.
That’s a problem because you don’t have that. Your sins cry out for His wrath. But Jesus has taken care of that too. Jesus has shed His blood as a substitute for sinners. Your sin was so bad, Jesus had to die. But He didn’t stay dead. On the 3rd day He rose again from the dead.
So that, if you will receive Him by faith, if you will trust His perfect life, substitutionary death, and justifying resurrection, turning from sin and turning to Christ alone as your only hope, you will be saved.
God will declare you righteous, crediting to you the perfect righteousness of Jesus, by His grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone.
You can be as nice as you can be, but you keep beating that drum, some people are going to get greatly annoyed.
What Are You Going to Do About It?
I do not personally advocate that every church must do open air preaching or that every pastor must also be an open air preacher. But I do want all to consider the examples we have in the Scriptures and consider if maybe you or your church might pursue this?
Regardless, you don’t have an option for whether or not you will obey the Great Commission. You must be evangelistic. We have this great and glorious gospel and for the glory of Christ and the good of the nations, we must take it to the streets.
And by the way, what happened? Well, Peter and John were arrested. But the Word of God was not bound! Acts 4:4 says that despite the opposition, many believed in Christ. What a wonder. What hope. Labor in the gospel brothers! You may meet opposition, but God is working through the proclamation of His Son.
