What is the reason Luke follows Acts 4:3 with v.4? It’s to demonstrate that persecution from the world, whether religious or secular, is going to be concurrent with the gospel going forth AND the Lord saving and adding people to his church. This is in stark contrast to how our evangelical culture tries to make belief in Christ as easy and painless as possible.
But what does the Bible clearly teach? It teaches that repentance is not free from adversity; turning from sin to Christ is costly. It was for the Thessalonians. Listen to what took place in that church in 1 Thess. 1:6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
Receiving the word or coming to Christ was costly for the early Christians, but they became examples for others. And we would do well to consider what believing in Christ has cost even some here today. There are…
A) Relational costs—Some are the only believers in their families and so there are strained family ties; others have lost close friends and have become an outcast in their friendship circles. This is a normal Christian experience, for to receive no opposition from unbelieving family and friends would be cause to consider one’s faithfulness. It’s not about being brash or unloving with the truth, but the Bible asks: what fellowship has light with darkness? When God saves someone, he calls them out of the world, meaning they no longer adhere to the world’s value system. Their interpretive grid of all of life becomes vastly different than it used to be and those who still use that worldly grid don’t like it that you no longer do.
B) Occupational costs—Some get passed over for work promotions and other opportunities because they have been classified as not being a team player since they don’t engage in some of the activities and discussions of the rest of the group. And sometimes your commitment is questioned because you won’t work 14-hour days and you want to be off on Sundays. Yes, you do your job well and no one can bring a legitimate accusation against your character, but there’s just something about you that rubs your supervisor and others the wrong way.
C) Lastly, and this one is directly tied to the 1st two: Reputational costs—Because you refuse to accept another’s sinful behavior or lifestyle as something less than rebellion against God, you are labeled as judgmental, unloving, narrow-minded, self-righteous and legalistic. Moreover, you will never lose that label for as long as you hold to your convictions. And I’m sure we are all aware that, oftentimes, these accusations come from professing Christians.
For those who find themselves in those circumstances, they must know that these are the inevitable outcomes of upholding the preeminence of Christ. That’s why our message should not be to try to get people to come to Christ so that he will solve their temporal problems, since coming to Christ may greatly increase their temporal problems! Instead, our message should include: Here is what you must give up or here is what difficulty God may call you to faithfully endure once you associate yourself with Jesus Christ.
While these costs I just mentioned pale in comparison to what the 1st century Christians experienced and what many Christians around the world go through on a daily basis, there is still a great spiritual benefit to these kinds of pressure in our lives. If responded to humbly, they strengthen our faith and purify our hearts, while making us more dependent on the Lord. This in turn has an edifying and encouraging effect on the body. No one grows amidst ease and comfort and if it’s completely painless to come to Christ, then how will the church be built up in faith? It will be obvious, even in the next couple of sections in Acts, that it’s not only coming to Christ that is costly, but remaining tied to the church of Christ that is also costly.