Once again, the disciples get dragged before the Sanhedrin (the ruling council). As Pastor Joe wrote about last week, it took a lot of guts for the apostles to preach fearlessly in this context. The presumption was that they would end up getting killed for their faith. I want to look at a couple things in this passage.
First, in verses 35-39, Gamaliel, a Pharisees gives this fascinating speech. What he says boils down to this: if what these guys are doing is of God, it will prosper and we will be fighting God. If is not from God, it is doomed to fail. So, let it be and let God sort it out. This is great advice for us. Often we see other churches doing things and get really worked up about it. Back when I was in Toledo in 2005, there was a big kerfuffle because Christmas Day was a Sunday. So, a couple of big non-denominational churches said we did 80 services on Saturday and we are resting on Sunday and not having worship. All the Lutherans and Catholics got really upset and I wondered, why? What does it matter to us what other churches are doing? If they are doing what god has called them to, it will prosper. If not, it will fail. Why should we worry? 2000 years later, this guy still gives good advice.
Of course, the disciples don’t get off scot-free. They still get flogged and beaten. But then they rejoice. I’m sure part of it is that was that they were happy they weren’t dead. But a bigger piece is that they knew they were doing what God had called them to do. There is a saying that the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will. That ain’t quite true. It is the best place to be, but it isn’t the safest.
One of the things that we want to do is set an example in our suffering. If we whine and complain about every little thing we have lost sight of the treasure that God has given us.
Let me share this example with you. One of the most amazing stories I have ever read is of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. Back in the year 320, there was group of forty Christian Roman Legionaries. Because of their faith, they had been put out on a frozen lake and told they could either stand there and freeze to death or renounce their faith and come join in the warmth and food of camp. Quickly, one of the forty broke ranks and renounced his faith. For a long time, they stood out on the ice, singing and praying. Then, seeing the faith of the other thirty nine, one of the guards professed Christ as his Lord and joined them on the frozen lake.
I think of those guys standing there and of all the dangers the early church faced. I think of the example set before us. They didn’t just suffer, they rejoiced. How can we do any less?
Discussion question
Why do you think the religious leaders were so upset?
How would you feel if you were sent to jail for what you believe?
In what way has God set you free to honor him more fully?
How do you explain why God sometimes delivers you out of hardships, but at other times he allows you to go through them?
Has there been a recent event where you have had to chose between serving God and people?
Sometimes our need for approval makes us do stupid things. As we pick the story in Acts 5, there is a married couple Ananias and Sapphira. They are believers and they sell some land and give the money to the early church. So far, so good, but the problem is they lie about how much they have. First, Peter asks the husband, Ananias if he gave the whole amount to the church. He says he has, and God strikes him dead right then and there.
Three hours later, his wife comes in and Peter repeats his question. When she lies too, the same thing happens. Verse 11 tells us that ‘a great fear came upon the whole church and upon all those who heard of these things.’ I’d be a little freaked out too.
What is going on is that God is very upset with their dishonesty. It isn’t that they didn’t give everything they had, it was that they lied about it. The keystone of any relationship has to be honesty. We have to know who we are.
I have had a series of conversations lately and for some reason, they keep coming back to same point: know who you are and who God calls you to be. Everything else is secondary. The real thread of the Book of Acts is people figure out who they are in God and then they roll with that. The world has to sort itself out in response.
God doesn’t want you to try and fake being a good person. He wants you. If these two had sold their land, given a chunk of money and been honest about keeping most of it, nobody would have batted an eye. The problem was they wanted to be thought of as ‘good’. Chasing that ‘good’ image turns you inside out. Mark 9 contains one of my favorite conversations with Jesus. Jesus asks somebody if he believes and the guy responds, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
When we are in a situation where we feel we can’t pray or get close to God, that cry for help is perfectly legitimate. Discussion Questions:
What religious practice have you done simply because everybody else did? Do you still do it? Does it mean anything to you now?
Have you tried to fool God? What happened?
How have you experienced the "Fear of the Lord”? How has that changed your life?
When was the last time you were hauled before a judge and jury for acting on your faith? Ever been in a situation in which someone in authority has taken you to task specifically for doing something in the name of Jesus? How long might your courage last if you found yourself having to defend your faith in the face of someone who had the power to threaten you, imprison you, and generally make your life miserable?
Yah…I haven’t really faced that situation either. But I wonder. I can’t help but speculate on how I would handle something like that. I suspect the possibility that I might fall a little lower on the courage meter than I would like. The fact is we have it pretty easy when it comes to dealing with the consequences of acting on our faith. What price do we pay for being public about our allegiance to Jesus? A few raised eyebrows? A pointed question or a comment dripping with sarcasm in the lunch room? The occasional frontal challenge from a friend or a family member to make a convincing case for what we believe? We may feel threatened sometimes for our faith, or like we are under attack by our wider culture, but hardly seems to compare to what some of our Christian brothers and sisters go through even today in parts of our world. And certainly our challenges all pale in comparison to what Peter and John go through in chapter 4 of Acts.
They had just healed a beggar and word got out, so Peter preaches a sermon about Jesus to the growing, curious crowd. Only problem is that it takes place in the temple, which is home base for the priests and Sadducees. It would be kind of, I suppose, a little like Billy Graham preaching uninvited at Islam’s holiest shrine. Muslim leaders would be none too excited about that. Neither were the priests and the Sadducees, who do what people in power always do when they feel threatened: they had them arrested and brought before their council so they could get some answers. Peter obliged them with another forceful sermon that can be summarized in vs. 12, a powerfully succinct statement of faith: "Salvation is found in no one else (but Jesus), for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Pretty clear, huh? Not much ambiguity or wishy-washy political correctness there. Just high-proof, straight out of the bottle faith: Jesus is it, there are no other options. No plan B. No all roads lead to God and all dogs go to heaven.
It seems pretty clear, though, that the priests and Sadducees were less interested in answers from Peter and John than they were in impressing on them the recklessness of continuing to speak about Jesus and heal in his name. This group of guys weren’t leaders because they were dumb; they could see the impact that Peter and John’s actions were having on the residents of Jerusalem, and it most certainly was not conducive to maintaining the status quo. It had to stop. Thus the threats, but also the very practical decision to let them go.
Peter, as he was in the habit of doing, went home and laid it all out for the other believers. And then he did something we would be well advised to emulate: He prayed. But note what he prays for, and what he does not pray for. He does not pray for protection or security, he does not pray that God would remove all the threats, he does not pray for comfort in the midst of a difficult and challenging time. He prays that God would help them to "speak your word with great boldness, and heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders.” In other words, "God help us to keep doing the very things that got us into trouble, but help us to do them even more boldly.” That is in-your-face faith. Maybe it’s something we could all pray for.
Questions to think about:
How sure are you of Peter’s statement that "Salvation is found in no one else (but Jesus), for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”? Would you be able to defend that statement to someone who disagreed?
How has knowing Jesus shaped your character so that other people might notice that you are a follower of Jesus?
How are your prayers in crisis - like or unlike Peter’s?
Acts
3 is where the story really starts to take off. Peter and John are walking
up to the Temple when they run into a crippled beggar. Now keep in mind the
events that have just transpired in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit has been poured out
on all believers. Now, I have to think that guys were still grappling with what
that meant. They’ve seen the miracle that was the day of Pentecost, but nothing
else has happened.
Now this beggar asks for money and instead of showing
generosity and giving the guy some money, Peter says, "Silver or gold I do not
have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
walk.” (Acts 3:6) And they guy is healed, he stands and then jumps for joy. I
really wonder what was going through John and Peter’s heads at this point. Were
they expecting this or was this a shock to them? I suspect that Peter was
expecting this. Peter is sometimes wrong, but never unsure. But Luke does tell
us that crowd was amazed that this one who had been begging by the gate now
walked. I wish we had more of that certainty to ask for miracles. The promise
is that the Holy Spirit is poured out for all.
Peter and John, together with the man just healed go into
the Temple. Peter has another great Peter moment (two in a row, he is on a
roll) and starts preaching. He gives a great convicting sermon, ‘you killed the
author of life!’
One of the key things to always remember is the difference
between condemnation and conviction. The Devil condemns us, ‘you are a bad
person.’ The Holy Spirit convicts us, ‘what you did was bad.’ When we are
confronted with our sin, how do you respond? There are a number of different
ways we can respond and we see the full spectrum in the Book of Acts.
We move on to chapter two of Acts today. Acts is an adventure ride that careens through miracles and conflicts, heroic sacrifices and dangerous missions, ship wrecks and imprisonments, bright moments when it looked like nothing could stop the spread of good news about Jesus and dark nights when it seemed all might be lost. And along the way we get to see how it all began, we get a glimpse of where we came from, and perhaps through that we can gain a sense of what, as a people, God would have us be,and where he would lead us, and what he has to say to us, and what it means to be the church in our day and age.
Chapter two begins by telling us of the descent of the Spirit on the gathered disciples, fifty days after Easter, ten days after Jesus returned to heaven. Peter then preaches a single sermon -- not a single pithy illustration, not a funny joke or a cuddly story anywhere --and three thousand people were added to their number that day. That's the kind of sermon every pastor dreams of preaching!
And then in verse 42 we get to see the main elements of the early Christians' life together. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching (Bible study), to fellowship together, to the breaking of bread and prayer (worship), and to sharing what they had with those in need. So there you have it: the disciples were about the business of study, fellowship, worship,and service in those first heady days.
Not a bad prescription for us, don.t you think? Wouldn't it be great if people knew us for the very same thing...as people committed to study, fellowship, worship and service?
Here we see some of the business of the disciples. One of
the interesting things about Luke is that he is writing as a historian and with
a historian’s eye for detail. He wants us to understand that these are real
people, not plaster saints. They are here doing business and that business is
finding someone to replace Judas.
I’ve always found Judas to be one of the most interesting
people in the Gospels. Judas is never portrayed positively in the Bible. When
he isn’t trying to betray Jesus, he is stealing money. But at the same time,
Jesus picked him to be one of the twelve. Jesus spent three years living and
travelling with him. And yet, he is the one who betrays him with a kiss. I
think there is more than a little of Judas in all of us. One of my favorite
songs expresses our own relationship with Judas so well with these words:
Where do you find the love to offer he who betrays you?
and offer to wash my feet as I offer to disobey you,
your beauty does bereave me, and how my words do fail,
so faithfully and dutifully I award you with betrayal,
Our own nature is to reject Jesus and turn inward into sin.
In some ways, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas is a microcosm of the story of
humanity. Our own sinful nature is only redeemed by what Jesus did for us on
the cross. To hear the full song and read the full lyrics, click here "Matthias Replaces Judas” by
Showbread .
Nevertheless, the disciples need to pick a replacement for
Judas. They draw lots, a common way to do things back then, and Matthias takes
the empty chair. Sometimes we step into a new place where something has
happened that casts a shadow over what we are called to do. I have stepped into
ministries following beloved pastors and not so beloved pastors. Neither
situation is especially comfortable, but the focus always has to be on the
future and what God is calling us to.
Discussion Questions
1)In light of Peter’s denial of Jesus, how might
the other disciples have felt about his leadership?
2)How do you think the events in John
21:15-19 changed their thinking?
3)Given verses 6-8
of this chapter, what would you have been praying for?
4)What have been your best experiences in group
prayer?
5)How is praying for others with a common mission
different private prayer about your individual concerns?
6)How does the pattern of decision making compare
with the way you, your family, or our congregation make important decisions?
7)What do you need to do more to be more like the
disciples?
Check back in next week when the early church is accused of
being drunk at 9:00 in the morning. You may insert your own North Dakota joke
here.
