Who’s Your Go-To for Help?

3rd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/27/19
Acts 4:23-31


Who’s Your Go-To for Help?
I. The Lord and his Anointed One
II. The God who send his Spirit


Before the invention of the telephone nearly 150 years ago, imagine what it was like to be alone and yet need help with something. There was no other way to communicate than doing so face-to-face. The other person literally had to be within earshot. Your efforts to call for help would only go as far as the sound of your voice. Whether you were in danger, trouble, pain, or simply needed instructions on how to do something, if there was no one close enough to hear you, you either had to face it alone, or start walking to find someone to help you.

How different is our world today! We literally carry a device with us at all times which we can use to call for help literally around the world. And we don’t even need to speak! We can text message. We can click the website button with the word “help” on it. In fact, it won’t surprise me if, in my lifetime, there will be available a device that will allow me simply to think of calling for help, and that very message will be sent to the person on my mind. A device that can read your mind for help? How amazing!

But actually, that “device” has been around for centuries already; millennia in fact. And it’s not the product of some engineering genius; it’s a very real, personal being who knows and thinks and acts all on his own. It’s your God.

In this morning’s text from the Book of Acts, the apostles of Jesus found themselves in a very tight spot. Tremendous pressure was being applied on them to stop their work as apostles of Jesus. And notice what they did. They didn’t stop their work. They didn’t cower in fear. They didn’t begin to crumble into a pile of apostolic dust.

No, they immediately went to the Lord, their God. They pleaded for his help and he immediately gave it.

When you face trouble, to whom do you turn? Who’s your go-to for help? Let’s keep that question before us as we wrap our minds around this account, and as we do so, may the Holy Spirit wrap us in the love and care of our God.

Part I.

How many times have you found yourself in this situation? “I’m not sure if this will help or not, but I’ll try it.” Almost every day, right? On a daily basis we’re faced with situations that need our attention, problems that need a solution, crises that need our attempts to bring them to an end. We literally go from one situation to the next every day, trying to make something better for us or someone else. And so often, we’re not sure what to do. We have no idea if what we’re doing is actually going to make any improvement at all. But at least we’re trying. That’s so much better than doing nothing at all.

As I mentioned a minute ago, the apostles had a huge problem on their hands. They had been going about the calling which the Lord Jesus himself had given them—they were preaching and teaching about Jesus as the world’s Savior from sin. Along with that preaching, they were performing miracles—usually miracles of healing. The previous chapter of Acts informs us that Peter had given a lame man the ability not only to walk, but to jump for joy. No one could deny this miraculous healing. Even the Jewish leaders who hated Jesus and all Christians, couldn’t deny this miracle. But they could apply their evil pressure on the apostles. So they “commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). These men were the most powerful people among the Jews. They were feared leaders of the people. They were the ones who had Jesus executed. They could do the same to the apostles if they didn’t comply.

Obviously, the apostles had a crisis on their hands. And that’s where our text picks up their story. Notice what they did. They needed help, desperately so. So they went to their go-to—their God. And take another look at what they said. Actually, take a look first at what they didn’t say. Did you catch it? These Jewish leaders should have been leading the Christian church. They should have been doing everything in their power to promote the saving name of Jesus. But they were trying to squelch the apostles’ preaching and wipe out the Christian church. And what don’t we hear from the apostles as they ask God for help? Not one word calling for God’s judgment on their enemies. Isn’t that amazing?! We don’t even hear them say, “God, we leave it to you to deal justly with these evil men.” Nothing!

Instead, they plead to the almighty God to help them. They address God as the One who “made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.” The implication is loud and clear. These evil men and their evil plans are no match for the almighty God. He can do anything he pleases. So the apostles were willing to let God deal with them however he deemed best. What faith!

And then they also pleaded to their God as the One who sent his Anointed One to accomplish their salvation. Do you understand what they were saying? These Jewish leaders had joined forces with Herod and Pilate to execute the very One whom God had planned to send as the world’s Savior from sin. Even though they had accomplished their wicked plans, God used those plans to bring about the greatest blessing in the history of the world—a Savior who suffered and died for the sins of the world. How foolish for them to think that they could oppose God then! How foolish to think that they could oppose God now!

When the going got tough for the apostles, they immediately went to their God.

Who’s your go-to for help? May your first choice always be to the Lord and his Anointed One!

As God’s people sitting in his house of worship on this winter Sunday morning, we know that. We know that our go-to for help is the Lord. But if we know that, why do we have so much trouble doing that? Again and again, we try digging down a little deeper first to see if we can find the strength to help ourselves. Or, we turn to someone else, hoping that they’ll lend us a hand. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with trying harder on your own or in seeking help from another. But what’s your reason for doing that before going to your go-to God? Is it because we really don’t think he can help us? Is it because we wonder if he knows or cares? Do we simply forget to go to our go-to God? Pitiful, isn’t it? Our God isn’t some unknown entity without any track record of helping his creatures. His ratings as a helper are off the charts. Take a look at what’s he done! He not only created us and all things, when we rebelled against him, he didn’t abandon us; he redeemed us. And it cost him nothing less than the cruel and bitter sacrifice of his Son. Where else will you find a Helper like that? The resurrection of Jesus assures us that God loves us and will use his power to help us as he knows is best.

So, who’s your go-to for help? Make it the Lord and his Anointed One!

Part II.

Have you ever needed help and felt all alone? I’m sure we all have. But how can that be? We live in a crowded world. There are people who can help, and agencies whose very purpose it is to offer help to those who need it. And yet we feel all alone.

It would have been easy for the apostles and the other Christians with them to feel that way—all alone. After all, the Christian Church was barely months old at this time. What the Jews had done to Jesus was still fresh on their minds. There were no laws to protect their practice of Christianity and no influential people to help their cause. They could have felt all alone.

But they were far from alone. Listen again to what happened the moment they uttered the “Amen” to their prayer. “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” One of the names that Jesus used for the Holy Spirit is “Comforter.” I imagine that’s exactly what the apostles felt when the ground shook and the Holy Spirit filled them. They weren’t fighting against Satan and evil men on their own. They had God the Holy Spirit on their side. They couldn’t lose!

What’s more, Jesus also promised them that the Holy Spirit would speak for them when they didn’t know what to pray for. The apostles knew that they could simply pour out their hearts to God in prayer and, even if they didn’t pray for what was best for them, the Holy Spirit would. Even if they didn’t know the best course to take, the Holy Spirit did. So they prayed boldly, knowing they weren’t alone. They had the Holy Spirit as a prayer partner.

And what’s true for the apostles regarding the Holy Spirit, is also true for you.

Who’s your go-to for help? Make it the God who sends you his Spirit.

We’ll say it in a minute. “The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.” He comes to us. In fact, he lives in us by faith in Jesus. But so many are the times that just doesn’t seem adequate. It’s not enough. We think we need something more, someone else. Or, we want to observe the results before our eyes when we go to God for help. But look what happened with the apostles. Yes, the ground shook. But look past that. Look at their lives after this. They weren’t trouble-free. In fact, it’s almost certain that all of them, with the exception of John, died as martyrs. They were executed for their relationship with Jesus. But that doesn’t mean that God was unfaithful to them or unable to help them. He simply used their deaths to help them in the greatest way possible—calling them home to heaven after giving them the honor of martyrdom. They were filled with the Holy Spirit right up to the end.

And that’s true of us as well. We have no idea what the future holds for us, other than this—God calls us home to heaven. And until then, he sends us his Holy Spirit through his word and sacrament. So, who’s your go-to for help? Make it your God every time! He won’t let you down! Amen.