The Atmosphere of Conquest: A Healthy Church Text: Acts 9:31
Introduction: The Lull After the Storm
The book of Acts is a book of explosions. It begins with the sound of a rushing mighty wind at Pentecost, and the shockwaves just keep expanding. The gospel detonates in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria. But in between the major explosions, there are moments of quiet, constructive growth. Our text today describes one such period. It is a snapshot of the church in a time of health. It is a divine diagnostic, a checklist for what a thriving church looks like.
This verse comes on the heels of one of the most dramatic conversions in history. Saul of Tarsus, the chief persecutor, the bloodhound of the Sanhedrin, has been thrown from his horse, blinded by the glory of Christ, and brought into the kingdom kicking and screaming, as it were. This event was a seismic shock to the system for both the church and her enemies. The chief antagonist has been taken off the board, not by being killed, but by being converted. The dragon has not been slain, but rather transformed into a charger for the king. This is how our God works. He does not just defeat His enemies; He captures them, enlists them, and makes them champions for the very cause they once sought to destroy.
The result of this stunning reversal is a period of peace for the churches. But this is not the peace of a ceasefire, or the peace of a lazy afternoon. It is the peace of a construction site where the work is proceeding without hostile interruption. It is the peace of a healthy body that is growing strong. We live in a time when many Christians think peace means the absence of conflict with the world. But biblical peace is not the absence of warfare, but the presence of God's order, God's shalom. This verse shows us that true peace is not an end in itself; it is the atmosphere in which the church is built up and multiplies.
Luke gives us a concise summary of the state of the church in a wide geographical area: Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. This is the fulfillment of the commission in Acts 1:8. And in this summary, he gives us the essential ingredients for a healthy, growing, and conquering church. It is a church at peace, a church being built up, a church walking in the fear of the Lord, and a church encouraged by the Holy Spirit. And the result of these things is not stagnation, but multiplication. This is the pattern of kingdom advance. This is what we should desire for our own church, and for all churches that name the name of Christ.
The Text
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was having peace, being built up. And going on in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it continued to multiply.
(Acts 9:31 LSB)
A Church at Peace, Being Built Up
The first thing Luke notes is the external condition and the internal activity of the church.
"So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was having peace, being built up." (Acts 9:31a)
Notice first that Luke speaks of "the church" in the singular, even though it existed in multiple locations throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. This is a crucial point. While the church manifests itself in local congregations, it is fundamentally one body, one bride, one building. The church in Judea and the church in Galilee were not separate franchises; they were part of the same catholic, or universal, church under the headship of Jesus Christ. Our modern denominationalism often obscures this reality, but the New Testament is clear. We are one body.
This church "was having peace." This peace was a direct result of God's sovereign intervention in removing the chief persecutor, Saul. God is the one who gives His people seasons of rest. Persecution is a fire that purifies the church, but God also grants times of peace to allow for construction. We should not despise such times, nor should we grow lazy in them. This peace was not a time for the saints to put their feet up; it was a time to pick up their trowels. A time of peace is a time for building.
And that is exactly what they were doing: "being built up." The Greek word is oikodomouo, from which we get our word "edify." It means to build a house. The church is God's temple, God's house, and it is in a constant state of construction. This building up happens in two ways. First, it refers to the internal strengthening of the saints. They were being built up in their faith through the teaching of the apostles, through fellowship, through the breaking of bread, and through prayer (Acts 2:42). A church that is not being edified is a church that is being demolished. The primary means of this edification is the faithful preaching of the Word of God. God does not send messengers to confuse His people, but to build them up, to make them strong in the faith.
Second, this building up also refers to the numerical growth of the church, as the rest of the verse makes clear. The house was not only being strengthened, but its foundations were being expanded and new living stones were being added to it (1 Peter 2:5). This is a healthy, functioning church. It is growing deeper in the truth and wider in its reach simultaneously. These two things are not at odds; they are inextricably linked. A church that is doctrinally sound but not evangelistically active is a sterile museum. A church that is evangelistically active but doctrinally shallow is a mud puddle. The apostolic church was a deep river, flowing out to the nations.
The Internal Atmosphere: Fear and Comfort
Luke then describes the internal spiritual climate that enabled this growth. It is a paradoxical combination that the modern church desperately needs to recover.
"And going on in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit..." (Acts 9:31b)
The church was "going on," or walking, in two things: the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. These are not contradictory forces; they are the two rails on which the train of the church runs. Many modern Christians want the encouragement of the Spirit without the fear of the Lord. They want a God who is a cosmic teddy bear, a divine affirmation machine. This is a pathetic and unbiblical sentimentality. Others, particularly in some corners of rigid fundamentalism, have the fear of the Lord without the comfort of the Spirit. This produces a grim, joyless, and sterile form of religion.
But the Bible yokes these two together. To walk in the fear of the Lord is to live with a constant, awe-filled awareness of who God is. He is holy, holy, holy. He is a consuming fire. This is not a craven, cowering fear of punishment. Perfect love casts out that kind of fear (1 John 4:18). Rather, this is the filial fear of a son who loves his father and trembles at the thought of displeasing him. It is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). It is a clean fear (Psalm 19:9). This fear produces holiness, because when you are aware of God's awesome holiness, you want to be holy as He is holy. It is the antidote to worldliness. When you fear God properly, you cease to fear men.
And this fear of the Lord is the very soil in which the comfort of the Holy Spirit grows. The word for encouragement here is paraklesis, from the same root as the name for the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the one called alongside to help. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our encourager, our advocate. He applies the work of Christ to our hearts. He assures us of our adoption. He sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5). But this comfort is not a cheap grace. It is given to those who are walking in the fear of the Lord. The Spirit does not comfort us in our sin. He comforts us when we, in the fear of God, have repented of our sin. The fear of God makes us tremble, and the comfort of the Spirit gives us a profound and settled joy. It is fear and great joy, just as the women felt at the empty tomb (Matthew 28:8). A church that walks in this divine tension is a healthy church.
The Inevitable Result: Multiplication
When these conditions are met, the outcome is not in doubt. The verse concludes with the glorious and necessary result.
"...it continued to multiply." (Acts 9:31c)
The church multiplied. It did not just add a few members here and there. It multiplied. This is the logic of the kingdom. It is the logic of the mustard seed, which starts small and grows into a great tree (Matthew 13:31-32). It is the logic of leaven, which works its way through the whole lump of dough (Matthew 13:33). This is the natural, supernatural result of a healthy church body. Healthy things grow. Healthy things reproduce.
This multiplication is a vindication of a robust, optimistic, postmillennial eschatology. The Great Commission was not a suggestion, and it was not a command to fail honorably. Jesus did not tell us to go and make disciples of all nations with his fingers crossed behind his back. He told us to do it on the basis of the fact that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him (Matthew 28:18). The book of Acts is the historical record of the initial, unstoppable fulfillment of that commission. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and when it is preached in the power of the Spirit by a church that is walking in the fear of God, it cannot fail to advance.
The world, the flesh, and the devil will oppose it, of course. There will be seasons of intense persecution. But the kingdom of God proceeds from triumph to triumph, and many of those triumphs are cleverly disguised as disasters. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And when God grants seasons of peace, the church builds, and it multiplies. This is our confidence. We are not engaged in a holding action, waiting for the cavalry to rescue us from a losing battle. We are on the victorious side of history. The earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). Acts 9:31 is a small, early picture of that ultimate, global reality.
Conclusion: The Pattern for Today
So what does this mean for us? This verse is not just a historical report. It is a prescription for health. It is a pattern for our own church life. Do we desire peace? We must understand that true peace is found under the lordship of Jesus Christ. It is a peace that allows for diligent, hard work in building up the saints.
Are we being built up? Is the Word of God being preached faithfully? Are we growing in our knowledge of the truth? Are we being equipped for the work of ministry? Edification is not optional. It is the central task of the gathered church. We gather to be built up so that we can be sent out to build the kingdom.
Are we walking in the fear of the Lord? Do we have a sense of the majesty and holiness of God? Does this fear drive us to repentance and holiness? Or have we domesticated God, making Him into our own image? We must recover a biblical fear of God if we are to have any spiritual power.
Are we experiencing the comfort of the Holy Spirit? Is there a palpable sense of joy, grace, and encouragement in our midst? Do we know the assurance of our salvation? The Spirit is not a shy guest; He is a powerful person who desires to fill His people. But He fills those who have been emptied by a right fear of God.
If these things are true of us, then we can expect the final result. We will multiply. Not through gimmicks or programs, but through the simple, powerful, organic life of the Spirit working in a healthy body. God will add to our number. The kingdom will advance through us. May God grant us the grace to be such a church, for His glory and for the extension of His kingdom.