Being
a Christian isn’t an easy thing; at least it’s not supposed to be. Jesus, during his earthly ministry, said to
his disciples during what is commonly referred to as his Olivet Discourse, “Be on
your guard. For they will deliver you
over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand
before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to
all nations. And when they bring you to
trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say,
but say whatever is given to you in that hour for it is not you who speak, but
the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 13:9-11)
You see, Jesus promised persecution.
He promised that there would be hardships along the way for Christians. The book of Hebrews is filled with words of
encouragement for Christian converts who were being tempted to denounce Christ
as the Messiah because of the persecution that they were under from the members
of their former faith, the Jews. There’s
not one of us in here who hasn’t spoken a phrase that went something along the
lines of “if I wasn’t a Christian and called to such a standard, life would be
easier.” Maybe your statement hasn’t
been to that extreme, but we’ve all said something along those lines. We see all the time in our world today that
Christianity is under attack, that Christians are under attack. Now, I don’t want to turn this into some
political sermon or rallying cry, but it’s no secret that much of our popular
culture today has no regard for (and in some cases hatred of) the Christian
faith.
As
we look at the first few verses of our text, we’re told that as Peter and John
are speaking, they are not gaining fans amongst the leaders in Jerusalem. We’re told that the “priests, the captain of the
temple, and the Sadducees…were greatly annoyed.” In total, there are 11 different groups or
individuals who are in opposition to the teachings of the apostles that are
listed here. Now, some discussion about
what they were teaching needs to be had in order to gain a fuller picture of
what was happening. We’re told that the
apostles “were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from
the dead.” Now, there are two
reasons why this teaching upset the rulers in Jerusalem. First, they were teaching without the proper
education or credentials. This was the
initial complaint that they had with Jesus’ teaching as well. The rulers had already had to deal with the issues
caused by Jesus’ teaching the people, and now that he’s gone they’re thinking
that they can move on, but here come these apostles; equally as unqualified, at
least in their eyes. The second reason
why the apostles’ teachings upset the rulers in Jerusalem was that it was about
Jesus, in particular his resurrection.
The funny part is that if they had only been teaching about bodily
resurrection in-and-of-itself, there were certain groups that would have been
okay with that. However, the fact that
they were proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection, which verified his claims of
authority and being the Son of God, was the real issue as far as the religious leaders
in Jerusalem were concerned. Add all of
this to the fact that they have just grabbed the attention of many folks with
the healing of the lame beggar that we looked at a few weeks ago, and the
apostles are starting to develop a pretty big following.
So,
how did the rulers respond to Peter and John’s teachings? “And they arrested them and put them in
custody until the next day.” In
other words, they tried to intimidate them.
They tried to scare them. They
used their power, their influence, and every other tool at their disposal to
try and silence these apostles. They
tried to cause the apostles to silence themselves, but, as we will see in a
minute, it didn’t work. However, I want
to ask this question of Christians today, because many of the same tactics that
were used by the religious leaders of Jerusalem are still used today. They may look a little different, but they’re
very similar. Instead of being tried in
the courtyards, Christians are tried in the court of public appeal. Instead of being thrown into prison, we are
being labeled as outcasts in many areas of life (both physical and social). Instead of our freedom being threatened, our
livelihood is put in jeopardy simply by our proclaiming Christ as our Lord and
Savior. James Montgomery Boice says of
this sad fact that, “if Christianity is true, it is the greatest message in the
world. Yet we are afraid to proclaim it,
and the major reason is the world’s intimidation.” Now, I could go on for hours on this one
topic, but that’s not what this text is about.
If anyone cares to discuss this point further, then please feel free to
come and talk with me about it anytime you would like. However, our focus shouldn’t be on what the
world tries to do to Christians, but on how we, as Christians, are to combat
what the world tries to do to us.
As
we can plainly see in Luke’s account of events, people were hearing the
teachings of Peter and John and they were responding by coming to faith. This caused the rulers to gather together and
seek an answer to the question of who had given Peter and John the authority
with which they were teaching. We’re
then told that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit as he prepared to answer
them. Now, that in itself is enough. The Holy Spirit, God, came to proclaim by what
authority these men were teaching, His authority. This is very similar to Peter’s sermon at
Pentecost where the Holy Spirit filled him as well. However, I want to go a little farther and
look at exactly what Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, had to say to these
religious leaders. “Rulers of the people and elders,
if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man,
by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to
all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you
crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you
well.” Now Peter could have
stopped there if his goal was only to defend himself and John. By what authority are you saying these
things? By the authority of Jesus
Christ. Peter also points out that the
only crime that they could possibly convict him of is healing this lame man. After all, it wasn’t the Sabbath, so there was
nothing illegal about giving this man the use of his legs.
However,
Peter doesn’t just stop after defending himself and John. Remember back a few moments ago when I read
to you a quote from Jesus to his disciples about what they would face. Yes, it promised persecution, but he also
said that at the time of our defending ourselves from this persecution, that we
must proclaim the gospel. Well, Peter is
proclaiming the gospel. He’s saying in
essence, “While I’ve got you here, let me tell you about this Jesus whom we
have been teaching about.” He goes on to
say, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which
has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is
no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Now, there’s a lot there to unpack, but in
these few verses, there is a summation of how we are to respond by persecution
from the outside world. Peter
reminds/teaches these folks gathered around that they were guilty of rejecting
Jesus and having him crucified, that Jesus rose from the dead, that despite
their desire to reject him, Jesus fulfilled the will of God in becoming the
cornerstone, and that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Obviously there isn’t enough time to really
get into all these points, so let me make just some general observations and
comparisons for the sake of time.
Peter’s
teaching that God sent the Messiah to save them. However, when the Messiah came they rejected
him. They didn’t just reject him by
ignoring him; they sentenced him to death upon the cross. Then, after he rose from the dead, they
refused to believe that it had actually happened and sought punishment for all
who believed it. Jesus had become the
very foundation, the cornerstone, the only way by which they could come to God
and be saved. I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except
through me (John 14:6). Jesus
was and is the only way that we may receive salvation. However, notice that Peter is preaching that
despite all that the rulers, the people, and numerous groups have done to and
against Jesus, the offer of salvation is still available. He doesn’t tell them that because of what
they had done that they had once-and-for-all lost the chance at salvation. And that’s where we find the great blessing
in all of this for us today.
We’re
sinners. We’ve turned away from the will
of God. We’re just as guilty of driving
those nails through the wrists and feet of Jesus as the Roman soldiers. We’re just as guilty of his death as any of
the rulers, Pontius Pilate, the Pharisees, Sadducees, or any other group of
people. Our sin is the reason why Jesus
had to come and live the life he did and die the death he did in the first
place. However, because of that life and
death, we are the recipients of the salvation and redemption that Jesus
accomplished. The Holy Spirit is
applying those benefits to us at this very moment, and he will continue to do so
until such time as we enter into the glory that is the eavenly kingdom of
God. “But God shows his love for us in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been
justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of
God. For if while we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are
reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
(Romans 5:8-11 ESV). And this is the way
that we’re to deal with persecution.
We’re to face it with the assurance of Christ. We’re to face it with the mindset not of
disgust and defeat, but as an opportunity to proclaim Christ and Christ crucified. We’re to proclaim the resurrection; the good
news of the gospel, and not the bad news of this world, hatred of the one who
created it. In other words, we are to
cling to and cry aloud the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Glory be to God; in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment