In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)--Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God." So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"

(Act 6:1-7:1 NIV)

Mike has already done a wonderful job covering the first section, on church leadership, so I am just going to focus on the second part today.

Steven was chosen by the church to handle a division that had arisen internally. As we’ve been paying attention to the attacks on this early church, we might be inclined to see the dispute over food distribution as another assault mounted from the inside. Though we certainly have no grounds to be dogmatic about it, I believe that’s what’s going on. You’ll remember that the Hellenists were displaced Jews and that they were complaining that their widows weren’t getting the same treatment as the native born. 7 men were chosen to make sure everything was handled evenly. , and of them, Steven is introduced to us as being “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.”

Next we see that Steven did not limit himself to waiting tables and heading up the Jerusalem branch of the “Meals on Wheels” ministry:

Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. (Act 6:8 NIV)

Which, and it should be no surprise to us at this point, earned him his own personal enemies:

Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)--Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, (Act 6:9 NIV)

These men were Jews who had been sold into slavery and brought to Rome, where they had been freed. What precisely they were doing in Jerusalem at this time, I’m not sure of the time of year for these events. Regardless, these men took it upon themselves to defeat the arguments that Steven was presenting. That word “argue” there is a specific Greek word, and I’m not sure why they didn’t translate it like this, but it means a formal debate. When we hear argue now-a-days we think of 2 angry people screaming at each other, and I’m sure the whole thing probably got pretty heated, but it wasn’t a shouting match. They were debating the issues, most likely stuff like the Resurrection, the true nature of the Law, and the Old Testament basis for Jesus being the Messiah.

but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

(Act 6:10 NIV)

The Holy Spirit had so empowered Steven that he always had the right answer to all of their arguments. I’ve been in a lot of debates before, and a lot of dirty tricks get pulled, but the Holy Spirit was handling these men. They, being the godly, spiritual defenders of the one true faith that they were, reacted by spreading lies and rumors all around, observe:

Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God." So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. (Act 6:11-12a NIV)

This, of course, is a time honored debate technique which you can still see in operation today, especially around election time. Part 2 of this technique is getting your opponent arrested, which is the harder of the two to pull off, but these guys manage to do it:

They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." (Act 6:12-14 NIV)

Alright, so is everyone on the same page? These men were formally debating Steven in public and were losing. They then proceeded to smear his character, have him arrested and falsely tried before the Sanhedrin. We’ve certainly been seeing a lot of these guys, haven’t we? How did Steven react to this?

All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (Act 6:15 NIV)

Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?" (Act 7:1 NIV)

And Steven begins my favorite sermon in the whole Bible. So much of it just speaks for itself that I’m just going to read it and comment on a few sections.

Act 7:1-53

Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?" (2) To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. (3) 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.'^[1] (4) "So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. (5) He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. (6) God spoke to him in this way: 'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. (7) But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.'^[2] (8) Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

This is a story so familiar to these men that they may have had cause to ask why Steven even bothered to say so much about it. This would be the equivalent of telling the Christmas story to a bunch of angry Seminary professors. Especially since they asked him a pretty direct question and this, at least at this point, is not an answer. The answer they were looking for was “Yes”, what they got was 53 verses of preaching. What Steven is doing, and it will help us to keep it in mind, is setting up a pattern that will become obvious as he repeats it. God sends a man as His representative, and His own people reject them. Steven has just set up this story with the Patriarchs as the promised sons of God’s appointed servant. Now watch what Steven does from here.

(9) "Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt.

The great patriarchs, the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel, sold their brother into slavery and lied to their father Jacob, whom God had renamed Israel, telling him that Joseph was killed by wild beasts. Why did they do this? Well God had given Joseph a dream and in that dream the brothers were bowing down to him. They were jealous of God’s appointed servant.

But God was with him (10) and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. (11) "Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. (12) When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.

If you remember the story God had reveled to Joseph that there would be a famine and so he had enacted an emergency management program, that’s why the brothers went down there, to get the food their persecuted brother had stored.

(13) On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. (14) After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. (15) Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. (16) Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. (17) "As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.

OK, got that. Through the rejection of God’s appointed servant by God’s own people, the genetic and spiritual fathers of the men Steven is addressing, God accomplished His plan of getting Israel into Egypt.

(18) Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. (19) He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. (20) "At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father's house. (21) When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. (22) Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. (23) "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. (24) He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.

Bad call, but his heart was in the right place. Even at that stage in his life, Moses was trying to be a defender of his own people.

(25) Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. (26) The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?' (27) "But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us? (28) Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

Again, God’s chosen servant is rejected, by whom? God’s people, the Jews.

(29) When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. (30) "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. (31) When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: (32) 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. (33) "Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. (34) I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.'

Alright, now catch this…

(35) "This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. (36) He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.

Through the rejection of God’s appointed servant by His own people, God accomplished His purpose of getting His own out of Egypt.

(37) "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.'

This, by the way, was a prophecy that John the Baptists said was fulfilled in Christ Jesus. These guys would have known that.

(38) He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us. (39) "But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. (40) They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt--we don't know what has happened to him!'

You know, ‘cause he’d been gone for a month receiving God’s law.

(41) That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. (42) But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

" 'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings

forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? (43) You have lifted up the shrine of Molech

and the star of your god Rephan,

the idols you made to worship.

Therefore I will send you into exile' beyond Babylon.

This is what Mike has been going through on Wednesday nights. During periods of waiting on the Lord, the Israelites were constantly turning to idols. The first instance took all of 4 weeks, but it would continue on through their history until finally the last remnant of Israel is carried away in chains by Nebuchadnezzar over 600 years after that event.

(44) "Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. (45) Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, (46) who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. (47) But it was Solomon who built the house for him.

It’s important to note that Solomon’s Temple was eventually destroyed. Nehemiah started rebuilding it about 400 years before this story, but the temple that Steven was now in was completed by Herod the Great. It was the pride of Israel and some considered it to be one of the wonders of the world. It was covered in gold and set on a hill above the city. They say you could see it for miles while you were approaching Jerusalem. I think it’s also important to keep in mind, as we near the climax of Steven’s response, the one thing the Jews never did after returning from Babylon, was turn to idols. After their captivity they had learned that lesson, at least. These men were clinging desperately to their traditions, and though they were the traditions of men, they found their root in the Holy Scriptures given to the people of Israel, and they were not going to turn away from them for fear of worshiping idols. The Jews have been out of “The Captivity” for 2400 years now and that hasn’t changed. The traditions have been expanded upon, changed, revoked, jumbled up, but the difference between these Jews and the religious Jews of today are very little. That temple was central to life. They had lost all independent political power, but they still had that temple. With that in mind, we continue.

(48) "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: (49) " 'Heaven is my throne,

and “the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.

Or where will my resting place be? (50) Has not my hand made all these things?' (51) "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! (52) Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-- (53) you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

These men had accused Steven of wanting to change the traditions that were handed down by Moses, but Moses himself had promised that one day a prophet like him would come. The accusation behind the accusation was that if God’s chosen servant had come, these men would have been able to discern him, not some little upstart with a Greek name, certainly not some Galilean fishermen and especially not that tax collector, Matthew. Steven points out that their ancestral and spiritual fathers tossed God’s chosen in a pit and sold him to enemies.

Steven’s question has echoed down the corridors of time coming as a warning to all who think they are secure in their religion. That question is the same one I would ask you tonight. What makes you think you’re any different? The Old Testament is the history of a people who continually turned away from God. We sit here in this room and all of us make the claim that we are Christians, and I certainly hope that’s true. But these men trusted in their religions, too. What’s the most important thing to realize is that these men were following the right God, studying the right books and they had devoted their lives to it, sacrificed for it. These were sincere men of faith. But their faith was in a religious system, not in God. Oh, sure, they called the object of their devotion God, and attributed their affections and loyalties to acts of faithful worship, but Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. All pretty on the outside, all death and decay on the inside. Steven told them of worshiping falsehoods and resisting theHoly Spirit, even of murdering the Promised One. Their religious devotion had betrayed their rebellious hearts.

So where are you? Are you trusting in some ceremony in the past? Perhaps your attendance in a building every Sunday is your proof of faith. Can you provide us with a perfectly clean voting record? You may even point out to me and to everyone that you can check off 9 out of 10 points of compliance with some establishment or another, demonstrate a life spent working within that establishment for its betterment and provide to us a full portfolio of credentials that would make it obvious to anyone that you were a devoted member of “The Right Team”. Paul had that list, circumcised on the 8^th day, tribe of Benjamin, Pharisee of Pharisees, a devoted adherent of the Law. But all that he counted as dung and loss as compared to the incomparable riches of Christ.

Is the thing you put your trust in a “what” or a “who”? A “what” will only blind you to the truth. Jesus said:

Rev 3:17 NIV You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

A “who” requires you to surrender and admit that you are unworthy. A “who” will require that you stop trusting in yourself and rely on someone else. A “who” demands things of you and requires your obedience. A “what” is certainly easier. But a “what” is an idol, and is powerless to help you.

1Co 10:12 NIV So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!

The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.

Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life." At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin--the full assembly of the elders of Israel--and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this. Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people." At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them. Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them: "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. (Act 5:12-42 NIV)

[possible controversy]

This is all beginning to look very familiar. I was going to quote a few key verses from the Gospels showing where Jesus had drawn crowds and healed them, but it turns out that there are more than a dozen of them, and swamping you with Bible verses is just going to make all of our heads spin. The similarities are striking. The Apostles are doing miracles right at the doorstep of the Temple. Crowds are drawing, miracles are happening, people are being saved. And there they were, all in one accord on Solomon’s Porch preaching the word and performing signs and miracles.

What’s interesting is that word must have gotten around about Ananias and Saphira, either that or they weren’t a unique event. In 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 we find what amounts to instructions for observing the Lord’s Supper. We read it quite a bit here when we perform the sacrament. In the middle of warnings to examine our hearts before partaking, Paul says this:

A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. (1Co 11:28-30 NIV emphasis added)

This and a few other clues leaves us with the impression that in the early days of the church, the Holy Spirit was handling some of the church discipline by dropping people dead. We see from the last verse, 11, that great fear had come upon all the church.

Yet this fear did not translate into hatred. My version says the people esteemed them highly, I think yours says they were “highly regarded”. These were powerful and dangerous men. The God of the whole universe was their master and through His power they had authority over every disease and evil spirit. The people obviously recognized this for our bibles say:

As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed. (Act 5:15-16 NIV)

People lining the streets just to have some part of Peter touch them, crowds from the towns surrounding Jerusalem bringing their sick and tormented and through this all:

more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

(Act 5:14 NIV)

I think now we are starting to get a picture of what Jesus meant when He said:

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (Joh 14:12 NIV)

And really we’re just getting started. If you flip forward to Chapter 28, you’ll see that the Book of Acts ends with Paul preaching in a rented house in Rome and then cut… cue credits. The church moves on and here we are, 2000 years and 3000 miles removed from these events with our own commission and our own plan, the spiritual descendants of the people we’re reading about. It’s amazing really.

So these guys were bold. They were respectable. They were obedient. Paragons of the Christian life and because of this God richly blessed them and they never had any problems. The people esteemed them highly and they never made any enemies. The people were all being healed and ministered to and everyone was so grateful that never a bad word was spoken against them. The End. Or at least that would be the end if this was a story written by men, but this was not, so we have a little bit more to go.

We’ve been chronicling the attacks that have been mounted against this fledgling Church. They’ve come from the outside and from within. Now we’ve got another attack coming. This one, though, is no big surprise for the government is just being true to itself. Peter and John were ordered by the Sanhedrin to cease and desist all activities pertaining to the teachings of one Jesus of Nazareth. The last time a man was healed who had been lame from birth and this angered the Chief Priests enough to get them arrested. Here we can see the reason why:

(Act 5:17 NIV) Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

So Caiphas and Annas and all of their associates were Sadducees. We’ve already discovered how healings and miracles done by the power of a not nearly as dead as they would have liked man completely overrides their theology. They wanted these guys to stop. It was embarrassing them. The last time Peter and John were detained by the chief priest and a gathered contingent of Sadducees, this time the High Priest himself came after the lot of them.

(Act 5:18 NIV) They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

Not a special dungeon or anything like that, just some place to keep them until they could stand trial. Same deal as before. Apparently it takes a day to convene the Council, so they threw them in a hold and assumed everything went to plan. Why not? It had before. God had other plans though. Paul would later be rescued by the men and women of Antioch. So were Joshua and Caleb, Joseph and a few others. This time God sent an angel, and all they did was open the door. I do want to point out that the angels gave a specific reason as to why they were being freed:

(Act 5:20 NIV) "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."

Isn’t that interesting? They were delivered out of jail, not so they wouldn’t get whipped or have to deal with wet, smelly jail cell. They were brought out to continue the work which God had set before them. Calvin pictures the angles pointing either up or away or whatever, but pointing towards the place where Jesus dwells. Remember that Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life.” They were to return to the preaching of Jesus as the savoir.

I think that’s pretty incredible. These men were well known as powerful figures. It was even believed that their shadows could heal. But can a shadow have any power? Later we’ll see Peter at the home of Simon the tanner, when a Centurion by the name of Cornelius stops by. This man would fall on his face in worship of Peter and Peter tells him to get up for he is just a man like him. I would suggest to you that there was nothing particularly special about these men, as men. Their power was entirely derived from God. When they healed, they did so in Jesus’ name in the same way that you might write checks on someone else’s bank account. God had commissioned them to preach in His name, to heal in His name even to live in His name. This is a commission we’ve been given as well.

On the other side of this contest, we find man bringing his full power to bear. Its unfortunate that the early church’s first and most vehement enemies were those that were given the specific responsibility for keeping God’s law and shepherding God’s people with it. Such is the heart of man. We take even Holy Commissions and corrupt them to our glory. And so we find that in the morning at the Temple we see the Apostles preaching in God’s name, and the Sanhedrin convening to bring trial in man’s name.

Of course the immediate problem of finding the defendants presents itself to the council:

But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside. (Act 5:22-23 NIV)

I have to admit, this is all kind of comical. They go down to the jail with every expectation of finding the prisoners because that’s what prisoners do, they stay locked up. Except that these prisoners didn’t. In fact apparently they had locked up the doors behind them and were kind enough to not disturb the guards outside while they were on duty.

On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this. (Act 5:24 NIV)

I guess I would have, too. I certainly would not have wanted to be the guy who had to go tell Caiaphas and Annas that I didn’t have the prisoners that they had convened the whole Sanhedrin together to try. Especially when my reason was because they just weren’t there. Fortunately, some conscientious soul came and informed them that they had been found, and they were back in the temple of all places.

At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them. (Act 5:26 NIV)

This is probably the most ironic statement in this whole comedy of errors. Here they were arresting God’s appointed servants who had been given authority to command demons and they were afraid the PEOPLE were going to stone them. What’s really ironic about that is the fact that stoning is a judgment. There was more to it than just throwing rocks, you had to toss the guilty in a pit first, or at least corner them. These men were deathly afraid of being judged by these men, but I wonder if the thought of God’s judgment ever entered their head. Certainly the council wasn’t thinking much on the subject of God. Check this out:

"We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." (Act 5:28 NIV)

These men were just rescued by angels, but lets give these guys the benefit of the doubt and just assume that the captain and chief priests have omitted any complications that may have arisen in bringing these prisoners before the council. Still, the High Priest’s office building was the very temple where all these miracles were taking place. The Sanhedrin was filled with priests whose job it was to administer the sacrifices taking place in that building and Scribes whose job it was to copy and teach the law from that building. The last time Peter and John were before them they recognized that a “notable miracle” had been done by these men and now they know that all of Jerusalem was “filled” with their teachings. These men were not stupid. I know its popular to think that everyone who lived more than 300 years ago was an uncultured Neanderthal, but these men wrote great books on the subject of God’s law. They were educated men in a culture of educated men. The Jews were real big on teaching their kids, and so were the Greeks. We are not dealing with an unenlightened, barely conscious peasantry. They had to have known what was going on outside their doors, there is just no way they didn’t. Yet in the end, all they were concerned with was that the Apostles were intending to bring Jesus’ blood on them. So let’s flash back:

"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.

They all answered, "Crucify him!" "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!" All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" (Mat 27:22-26a NIV)

It’s amazing what we’ll say in the heat of the moment. And equally amazing at how quickly we forget it. [add some stuff here]

We should all have Peter’s response memorized by now, it’s the same thing he’s been saying for 4 chapters:

Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." (Act 5:29-32 NIV)

When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. (Act 5:33 NIV)

I remember when I was an atheist thinking that the bible was really vague. That thought wasn’t unique to me and I still hear it all the time on TV and on the radio. I think my dad even told me that once. It’s the assumption that lies behind the statement “Well, you can’t take the bible literally.” Well, these men obviously did, and they obviously understood in stark clarity exactly what the Apostles meant because they were murderous in their wrath.

But then a man stands up by the name of Gamaliel. In chapter 22 we’ll find out that this is Paul’s instructor. He was a Pharisee, which put him at odds, theologically, with the current leaders of the Sanhedrin, but from his writings we know that he was a fairly liberal one. But in this context that’s really neither here nor there. The point is that a man stood up and pointed out that they had seen this kind of fervor before, but always while the founder of the movement was still alive. He points out that Jesus was dead, and if this is a work of man, which surely he believed, than all of this will just sort of peter out after a while and there’s no point of making any martyrs. On the other hand, if this was a work of God, then they didn’t want any part of resisting it.

It’s on that point that I think the crux of these verses hangs. Man had tried to lie and usurp the power of the church and God had intervened with judgment. God had then shown Himself in the healing and saving of many. Man then tried to suppress that power because it flaunted theirs. Their power was arrests and trials, but what vain things they turned out to be. They couldn’t even hold them in a cell 24 hours. That means, as an aside, that the Apostles appeared before that trial willingly. All of that visible power of the Sanhedrin was an illusion. They didn’t even hold the seats they were occupying by their own strength, they were appointed by Rome. They were allowed power of judgment and sentencing because Caesar allowed them to. In less than 40 years, another Caesar will burn that city to the ground and loot their Temple brick by brick. Rome itself, which at its pinnacle controlled everything on earth that mattered at the time, is gone and has been for centuries.

What a fleeting thing man’s power is, and how quickly it is dispersed. Who’s power are we trusting in? The church was built on a message. It follows one man, Jesus. It was established by witnesses to 2 events, His crucifixion and His resurrection. It sustains itself on 1 promise of His return. Our love for one another doesn’t grow churches, doesn’t sustain churches, and doesn’t make churches persevere… at least not in the long run. We can of course make it do that for a little while, but what a vain thing that would be. Gamaliel was right, had this church been established by men it would have died out years ago. Unfortunately, the church at large today has gotten itself enough critical mass to sustain itself by its own power, but we are watching even that come to an end as all of the main-line denominations are bleeding members.

Niceness doesn’t cut it. Personalities are fleeting commodities. Churches that love each other are wonderful, but they will all amount to nothing in the end with out the power of God. God has established His power in the most simple of things, a message and a book. If we trust in anything else, we are doomed.

All the Believers were One

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"

"Yes," she said, "that is the price." Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

(Act 4:32-5:11 NIV)

We found the church praying a few verses ago in unison, and now we find that unison extended to more than just their prayer life under pressure. This church was of one heart and mind. They were all working towards one end. The change that the Gospel had effected in their lives was so great, that they didn’t even consider that any of their stuff was theirs anymore. Let’s stop for a minute and examine that.

This was a culture was radically different than ours. First, the poorest American makes you average citizen of the world seethe with jealousy. Our section 8 housing is your average upper-middle class in most other countries. Even the well-to-do in Europe don’t have what your standard American considers their right. We think that 1 bedroom per child is the minimum; most of the world would consider themselves fortunate to have a master bedroom to themselves. To give you an idea of how rich you and your friends are, they say that if you have spare change in a bowl or bucket somewhere in your house, you are in the top 8% income bracket of the world. How many people do you know that don’t have a penny jar lying around somewhere. Chances are that everyone you’ve ever met is sitting in the 92^nd percentile or above. We, in this country, do not know what poor is, we’ve never seen it.

Back then, there were no 80/20 loans, no sliding scale interest. Banks weren’t even invented yet, we can thank the Knights Templar in the middle-ages for that. There was also no reserve to issue notes. Money was worth what it was made of, and how much it weighed. Paper money would have been worthless. Land and houses were the only thing that people could hold onto. You could lose crops to the weather, the Romans could take your gold, food got eaten by vermin, family members were lost to disease. Land and houses could only be obtained by an outright purchase or by inheritance. They were your only points of stability.

In that context, when we look at what the early church considered its normal mode of operation, we see something so radical that it’s easy to miss it. These people didn’t tithe, they surrendered. The change in their lives was so complete that they didn’t consider their stability stability any more. Instead they put their trust in the Lord God and in Jesus Christ, having all things in common. Remember the Jews were commanded to make the outsides of their land available to their brethren already by the Law. These men and women were so filled with love for one another, that they didn’t even hold back the part of the land that was theirs. This wasn’t an early form of communism, either. The goods and possessions were not distributed evenly, though it was available to all. No, the Apostles gave it out on a needs basis.

So does that mean we are supposed to sell our houses and become itinerant monks? If we look carefully, we’ll see that’s not the case. First off, we see the Church at the end of chapter 5 preaching and teaching in the temple and in every house. They couldn’t all have sold their houses or it would have said at the Temple and on the street corners. Also, the context of selling the houses was so there would be none who had lack. They did consider everything they owned community property, but I don’t think they sold it unless there was a need, the same way you’d sell a car to pay for your kid’s kidney operation.

The ancient Greeks, in writing about the early church said time and again that the Church loved each other in a way that the Greek mindset couldn’t quite get their hands around. Greek culture was everyone for themselves, you only loved those who provided benefit to you. In fact the word that the Bible used to describe Christian love, agape, is only used in Christian writings. It seems that the Church had a concept that wasn’t expressed in the language, so they created a word for it. Since this agape is something distinctly Christian, we’d better take a look at it. When you start to look through the bible to find out about this concept, you might notice something distinctly missing. Nowhere will you see love being described by its emotions. You’ll not find any exhortations to “feel” for each other. In fact Jesus said:

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

(Joh 15:13 NIV)

Jesus said that the highest height of love is the action of self-sacrifice to the point of death. In 1^st John, the author would clarify a few things about this:

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

(1Jo 4:10 NIV)

John said that love is God acting in sending His Son, and notice it wasn’t conditioned on any response from us. We did not love God when God was loving us, for, as John explains:

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

(1Jo 5:3 NIV)

Yet all have fallen short of the Glory that is God. Every man has turned to his own way. There is none that is righteous, no not even one. So, therefore, no one loved God when God sent His son. God’s love was unconditional and action oriented. In 2^nd John, we see how the human component of love is defined:

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

(2Jo 1:6 NIV)

This is love, obedience. God’s love came to our stony hearts that did not love Him. In fact, the bible puts those who have not placed their faith in Christ as being enemies of God and haters of His word, regardless of what they “feel” about it. It was not until the saving love of our Savior came that our stony, unloving hearts were even capable of loving God.

This word, love, was an expression, you might even call it a state of being, that showed itself by its actions. The kind of love that they talked about in those days was agape love, which is entirely unconditional. That means it is not based on our feelings about it or one another, nor on our ability to accomplish it, because those would then be conditions and agape has none. Since this is so foreign to our sinful selves, one can quite quickly become frustrated trying to produce this ex-nihlio. Where do we even begin? I would suggest that we start here.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

(Act 4:32 NIV)

They didn’t claim their possessions as their own, because they knew they were God’s. When we say that God is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, of all that is seen and unseen, we are making a statement about property rights and ownership. Our stuff is not our stuff, its God’s stuff. He made the atoms that they are composed of, and they were always His. If we have surrendered our lives to Christ, we have only given back what we took.

This is where love for one another in the Church begins. We first recognize that we are not our own, we are somebody’s creation. How deep does that go? Consider this:

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

(Psa 139:13 NIV emphasis added)

That phrase “inmost being” is the Hebrew word for kidneys. The term itself means the seat of our emotions, where our entire emotional response comes from, kind of equivalent to “deep down in my soul.” When we surrender to Christ, we give Him back that part of us, as well. Notice the text even starts with the heart and soul, then moves on to our stuff.

How can we be of one heart and one mind with the group if we cannot even name three emotions of the person sitting across the room from us? Now there is a listening aspect to this that is our responsibility, but I want us all to notice something profound. Right now, we are on the other side of the room. The reason that the person opposite cannot name three of your emotions is because you never share them. Not in any meaningful way. Oh, sure they get the surface, but what about the inmost being? Do we dare to truly share our lives with one another? Not just a meal when someone is sick or out of work, but a purposeful involving of yourselves in the lives and families and drama of the fellow members of Southstrand Community Church. Does God’s word demand any less?

So, how do we do that? Well, here in the text we have 2 examples. Joses, I believe your version says Joseph, they are the same name, was a Levite from Cyprus. Joses was called Barnabus by all of his buddies, which means Son of Encouragement. That was his name, son of encouragement. We’ll see a lot more of him later, so remember his introduction to us. He had land, probably in Cyprus, and he sold it. He brought all the money to the Apostles and said, here, do with this as you will. The words are “having land, sold it” which implies that he sold everything. I think that the fact that Barnabus is mentioned here is further evidence that not everyone was selling everything they had, why else introduce him here in this context? I think that Luke is making the specific point that Barnabus gave everything he had and that it was a special show of surrender in order to contrast it with our next example, Annanais and Saphira.

This is one of those stories that everyone knows. Husband and wife, sold A possession (again the contrast with all) and kept back part of the money, laying the rest at the Apostles feet. So what really happened? At first glance, Peter’s reaction seems a bit harsh, certainly it’s not something we would associate with the death penalty. To see what happened we need to look at the whole story. First look at what Peter said about the money:

Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?" (Act 5:4a NIV)

It was his to do with as he pleased. In other words, holding back some of the money wasn’t a sin, it was his money. Later Peter asked his wife whether they had sold the land for so much indicating that it was the lie he was concerned with. What we’re dealing with here is, in a word, hypocrisy, spiritual hypocrisy. They wanted the acclaim of being like Baranabus, possibly hoping to be remembered by future generations. Well, if that was their goal, they did achieve it. We’re here talking about them now.

I think the key to understanding this whole story is a single line from Peter:

"Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart…”

The church had just suffered its first major attack in the form of arrests and threats from the Sanhedrin. The net effect was to cause the brothers and sisters to come closer together in prayer. Now we see Satan actively involved trying to destroy that unity from the inside. Why showcase this? Probably because Luke had heard Paul say in 2 Cor:

in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

(2Co 2:11 NIV)

Luke wanted Theophilus and others to learn of Satan’s schemes so that he might not outwit us.

Honestly guys, this shows up in this church, too. Not because we’re pawns of the devil, but because it’s endemic in our society and we don’t even realize that we’re doing it. I find that it usually shows itself most prominently in group prayers. Have you ever noticed that nobody ever has any problems? God is always blessing them and they just know that God is in control, but could you please pray for my aunt so-and-so, she’s having a bad week. Meanwhile, aunt so-and-so is over at her church telling everyone that she never has any problems, God is always blessing her and she knows that God is in control, but could you please pray for my niece or my nephew in Myrtle Beach, they’re just having an awful time down there.

The opposite of this attitude is equally hypocritical. These are the people who parade their sins around as some sort of Medal of Honor, hoping to gain accolades for being someone who is open and honest, when in reality they’re arrogant and prideful and hoping you won’t notice. This is characterized by someone who begins a prayer request with how sinful they are, and ends with nothing less than gossip, or worse, fishing for affirmation.

Pride disguises itself well. It can often masquerade as humility. It can show itself as shy. It is the root of needy, and it tears love apart at the seams. Worse is that our inner selves are actively trying to prevent honest examination of their reality:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

(Jer 17:9 NIV)

So if we can’t trust our hearts, and hypocrisy is a capital offense, then what do we do?

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

(1Co 6:19-20 NIV)

We start there. We are not our own. Jesus paid for us with His blood, we are His possessions. When you start from that position, the heart can lie to you all it wants, pride can don any mask it feels would be most effective. When we put our faith into thought, then we see that we have no rights, we have no ground for being self-possessed. We will then start to see things the Bible’s way and “esteem others more highly than ourselves.” But remember, we’re talking about hearts and minds here. The sharing of possessions was only a by-product of that first verse.

So let’s go back to the question. Can you name three emotions of the person sitting across from you? If not then there are two sins in this. First is their sin of letting their pride prevent them from being vulnerable. Second is our sin of not actively getting involved in their real life, the one they actually live, not the Christian Fantasy World™ they created for you.

This process takes time, and that is our number one excuse for not being obedient to God’s word. We don’t have the time. And in reality we don’t, but whose fault is that. We are constantly fighting the temptation to over-schedule. This is something that our culture just does, and no-one even thinks twice about it. Do any of us even have space left in our day planners to just be available to any of our fellow Southstranders outside of the context of scheduled fellowships? Do any of us have room for the flexibility required to take a younger brother or sister under our wing and teach him what walking as a Christian on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday looks like? Remember, that our time is not our own, it, too, was bought with a price.

On the other side of the coin, are any of us willing to lay aside our pride and admit that we’re drowning? There’s not shame in that, though the devil has lied and told us that there is. Christianity is hard. We are not a social club, we’re an army that’s at war. What’s worse, we fight not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, demons of Hell. It’s no shame to admit that we’re not doing well, because we’re not. Can you consider even your own struggles as not belonging to you, as having been bought with a price?

Tonight I want to end somewhat differently. I want to bring back prayer time, but this time, I want a few restrictions put in place. First off, I would suggest that this church needs prayer worse than any other entity in the world. People may be fighting cancer, political battles, or even fierce mother-in-laws, but this church is battling Satan and all of the arrayed forces of Hell. Because we are a bible believing and gospel preaching church, we are a target. When you look through the history of Southstrand, you can see we’ve been a fairly large target and haven’t really faired well. This church needs prayer, and I don’t know if it’s getting it. It certainly isn’t getting it in any group context. We are going to change that tonight.

Tonight’s prayers are about Southstrand, about us. Tonight I want us to pray for this church, for its preaching, and for the members to be equipped for the ministry. Since hypocrisy is something that is just taught to us as children, I’m going to help by pointing it out when I see it. You know your own hearts, not I and I don’t mean any offense… This is just something that we have got to get under control here, or we are never going to be effective.

The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is

" 'the stone you builders rejected,

which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name." Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

" 'Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand

and the rulers gather together

against the Lord

and against his Anointed One. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." 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.

(Act 4:5-31 NIV)

Last week we left off with Peter and John being arrested by the Priest, the Captain of the Temple and some Sadducees. It was late, so they threw them in jail overnight to deal with them the next day. We also learned that the church had grown to about 5000 members in the greater Judea area. I had said last week that I didn’t think that the events described in the healing of the lame man were unique except for the fact that this time they got arrested for it. The more I study this book, the more I see that it is really a masterpiece of historical work. It’s pretty obvious that the events outlined are not exhaustive, but were selected in order to present the greater story of what happened. What a treat this must have been to Theophilus when he received that first copy, and what a gift the Holy Spirit has given us. It seems that Luke had chosen this event to detail because it was a turning point for the early church. So let’s continue to follow the train of his thoughts and get right back into our story.

The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem [all those that were entrusted with the spiritual leadership of the Jews]. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. (Act 4:5-6 NIV)

This is quite an entourage. It’s interesting to note that Annas was not the high priest. Annas was the high priest, but Pilot’s predecessor had removed him from office. His son-in-law, Caiaphas now held the office and had for years. Yet this is not the only place we find Annas at work. When Jesus was arrested he was brought to Annas’ house to be tried. Of course that trial was non-binding, partially because it was illegal to try people in private like that, but mostly because Annas wasn’t recognized by the Roman government as having any official power. Most likely, that just a ploy to give the Sanhedrin time to convene, so they could they could make it official. In fact, when you look through the gospel accounts of Jesus’ last day, you see that He had three trials. 1 which was held illegally, 1 in which insufficient evidence was presented against Him for a conviction and in which He was forced to incriminate himself on another charge, which was also illegal by both Roman and Hebrew law, and 1 in which He was declared innocent. Throughout His last day, you see the same cast of characters appearing, namely, the rulers, elders, scribes, priests, captains of the temple, Annas and Caiaphas. Peter and John have been hauled in front of that same group. For their boldness in the Temple the day before, they have found themselves in front of, no less than the Sanhedrin itself, fully convened, with Annas still in charge. Then they were asked a really profound question,

"By what power or what name did you do this?" (Act 4:7b NIV)

Having seen Peter and John’s leader in a similar position not too long ago, you gotta wonder what was going through the Council’s mind. I’m sure they had thought they had seen the last of that man, and yet here was His disciples.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is

" 'the stone you builders rejected,

which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

(Act 4:8-12 NIV)

Does this give us an idea of how important God thinks preaching is? 4 Chapters, 4 sermons. It just seems like every time someone gets filled with the Holy Spirit, they proclaim the greatness of God and His Son Jesus. But that’s another lesson, right now we’re focusing on the actions of our spiritual ancestors.

        Peter has preached to a crowd of people who may or may not have been involved with Jesus’ death, then to a crowd that would, most likely, have been shouting “Crucify Him,” and now we see that he had an opportunity to preach to the people who arrested, tried and sentenced Jesus to death. I’m reminded of this line from the movie Luther. I can’t figure out if this was really said by him, but when the converted princes were to be brought before the emperor, they were scared and he had this to say. 

“The Emperor invites us to present our creeds, to present what we believe in. Satan invites us to preach in hell. Is that a trap? Or our greatest opportunity so far?”

Do you see a change in these two men? I honestly thought I did at first. It seemed like the tone was more respectful and laid back, but read that again… if we are to be judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, simply because of the means? They started with “Rulers and Elders of the People” so he wasn’t being completely irreverent, so let’s assume that his tone is pretty even and respectful, but in the end, he hasn’t changed his message one bit. It’s the same sermon he’s preached now 3 times. Men of Israel, the Jesus you crucified, God has raised from the dead, even to the men who killed Him and could do the same to them. To this crowd, they even make sure to state in no uncertain terms,

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Act 4:12 NIV)

This said to men who would have had enough training and education to understand the full impact of what that meant.

And as we can see, the Sanhedrin was impressed. They knew these guys were just fishermen from Galilee. They also knew they had been with Jesus. Let me say a little bit about that. There is this radio preacher that I love named Dr. J. Vernon McGee. He does a radio program called Thru the Bible in which he preaches on every verse in the bible, in order. The program takes 5 years to complete and it was the last work that Dr. McGee did while he was dying of cancer. The man sounds like a hill-billy. His speech is slow and drawling, full of country colloquialisms… but that man had been with Jesus. His radio show is now broadcasting in over 200 nations, and in over 100 different languages, and he went to be with our Lord 20 years ago. Now, he was PhD. These men had no education and no formal training, but they had been with Jesus, and so have we if we have trusted in Him. That makes all the difference in the world. When Moses told God that he was bad a public speaking, God replied:

…"Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? (Exo 4:11 NIV)

Also Jesus Himself had told them:

But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, (Mat 10:19 NIV)

If the creator of the apparatus of speech has truly come to live within us, we need not be afraid of speaking. We need not worry what we’re going to tell our persecutors, because the creator of words has promised to give us some.

Plus the Council saw that the lame man at the east gate, who they had passed by every day, was standing next to them. There’s a t-shirt “The power of Jesus healed me, and that got me thrown in jail and tried before the Supreme Court.” But still, he was standing there, completely healed, and it says that they couldn’t say anything against it.

I love this next scene. They send the three out so they can talk about them.

"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. (Act 4:16 NIV)

They cannot deny it. They recognized it was a real miracle and that it was, literally, a “remarkable sign.” These are the same people who were always asking Jesus for a sign, do you see now why Jesus said no? Such is the heart of man. They recognize that something amazing has been done, and their response is:

But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name." Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. (Act 4:17-18 NIV)

Carrie and I saw this movie called “China Cry.” It’s about a woman who became a convert after the Cultural Revolution. They had her in prison and her captor was saying that soon they would have all of the Christians in custody and they would remove them and their God from their country. Her response has stuck with me. She said “You may as well try to imprison the wind.” This council had come to the conclusion that if it got out that the power of Jesus could heal people lame from birth; people might believe that Jesus still had power. Since they had clearly killed Jesus, they had to prevent the spread of this information.

I just want to say, I’m sure that they meant well. They were trying to preserve their own political power, and all that, but I’m sure in their heads they were preserving Judaism as well. I’ve heard these guys on the radio. They know that Jesus fulfilled the Law and broke us free from its power, but they LOVE the Law. They love their tradition, and bless them for it… too many people have left their past too far behind them. But, these men loved the Law and their traditions, and their power, more than they loved God, no matter what else they said. In the end, they rejected all of Jesus’ miracles, and His disciples’ as well, and tried to control the spread of both.

When commanded not to speak the name of Jesus anymore, Peter and John give us a response that has stayed with the persecuted church now for nearly 2000 years.

But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

(Act 4:19-20 NIV)

Notice how respectful of their authority this is. These men had been appointed by various means, but ultimately by the hand of God to rule and judge the people of Judea. The Apostle’s response to them is to ask them to do their duty. They insist that they are from God and they are following His commands. They say that they are driven by that goal of speaking what they had seen and heard. They weren’t going to stop. In fact they insisted that they could not stop, and they left it up to the council to decide who it was that God felt they should listen to. Their actions at the Council really reveal their heart. They followed God, not men. This Council’s job was to judge people, and so they let them judge, but they put their trust in God and let Him decide what their fate was to be. And really, this left the Council without too many options, let them go knowing that they weren’t going to stop, or take more direct action. In the end, they knew they couldn’t punish them because the people were all glorifying God. A man lame for over 40 years had been healed, and everybody saw it and had attributed it to The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If they had imprisoned them, everyone would have known why and that would have made them look bad. So, in the end, they threatened them more and let them go.

So far in this book we have been looking almost exclusively at the actions of the Apostles. I suppose that’s OK, because the book is fully titled, “The Acts of the Apostles.” There are sections where we see what the Church is doing in and around these “acts”, and this section is one of them. We see from this next part that when the Apostles were released from jail, they went to their Church, their companions.

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. (Act 4:23 NIV)

Let’s remember that we’re dealing with men, not some mystical idol we have set up in Peter and John’s place. Even the best of men are, at best, men. When your blood is going and the adrenalin kicks in, courage, while not easy… is at least appropriate. When the blood cools off, and the reality of who’s in charge and what just transpired sets in, well that’s when real courage is needed. My wife says “I know I could die for Jesus, it’s living for Him that’s hard.” These men went back to their friends, their spiritual family. They told them everything that happened. I can speak from experience, that the response of those people you’ve entrusted your heart to makes all the difference in how you move forward. This is how God’s first church responded:

When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

" 'Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand

and the rulers gather together

against the Lord

and against his Anointed One.^[3]'^[4] Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people^[5] of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." (Act 4:24-30 NIV)

God, you have created everything. I get to make programs occasionally, Mike makes additions on houses. I’ve met people who’ve put together cars, even puzzle masters who put together insanely hard jigsaws. God made atoms, and then put them all together to form the Universe. You’re breathing the air that He made right now. God told His servant David, and a whole host of others, that the nations would stand against the Anointed One, the Messiah. Herod did. So did Pilot and the people under him. Ditto the Israelites. None of this was out of His control. All of this was planned out before time began. What was happening to the Apostles and the Church at that time, was also planned out. They prayed all of that back to God, and then they asked Him to take a part in their lives. That He would give them boldness to speak. That He would intercede with signs and miracles, and that it would all be done in the name of Jesus.

What a response from the people of God. Imagine having that support crew around you. People who trust that God is big enough to take care of His own problems, and that He’s loving enough to take care of ours. People willing to pray with you and for you that God’s work would be done in your life. And we see by this prayer that God was pleased, for the place shook and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Then, they spoke the word of God with boldness.

You know, there are actions that are required of us. Things that Jesus has commanded that we do, that the Bible teaches will be required of us, actions that will need to be accomplished if spiritual growth is going to happen in our lives. There are things that we are supposed to be doing as a church, together to support one another, for the work of the Gospel and of Christ. On a car, the wheels need to rotate properly or the car doesn’t move correctly. Brake pads need to grip, calipers need to squeeze in order for the car to stop. Light bulbs need to resist the flow of electricity in order to shine. The question is not whether or not there is anything required of the parts of car in order to function, the question is where does the power to accomplish those things come from? Well we all know that the answer is the engine, and that without an engine, a car is a hunk of steel that only has value when melted down or stripped of parts that work to be used in other cars with engines.

We have jobs to do, too. We are to pray, witness, serve. We have lessons to teach, lives to touch, disciples to be made. We are to encourage each other, meet together and to worship and praise the Lord. We are to grow in Christ and in holiness and to wait with patient hope for the Day of Lord. We have work and its hard work. It would be hard enough if we weren’t fighting against our own hearts and its selfish desires, but we find that, constantly we are our own worst enemies. But that’s not all. We fight against an external enemy who wants to stop it all, not just our part of it. He used political and spiritual forces then, he uses them now. The tactics are the same, because they’re good tactics, they work. Attack the pride, the greed, the idolatrous nature within us. Work along with our deceitful hearts to turn zeal for God away from God’s word and towards unbiblical ends or means. He doesn’t mind taking his time, and he has no problem being subtle. Its hard and dangerous work that is required of us. Where in all the earth are we going to find the kind of power needed to accomplish this. Nowhere, if we look to the earth or to ourselves. For it is out of heaven that God stretches out His hand. It is the unbeliever who trusts in his own strength, and it is a trap that those of us who believe would do well to avoid. To the unbeliever, we say what Peter and John have said, there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved, for there is no power on earth that can truly change a heart and turn it to God. Jesus has said that those who believe in Him would receive eternal life and that He would be with them to the end of the age.

Let us focus on Jesus and the message He entrusted to us. Let us look to the Father to accomplish His will and rule over our lives. Let us be filled with the Holy Spirit and let Him be the power that moves us.

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phi 1:6 NIV)

Let us pray: