Acts - Central Baptist Church, Okinawa

Sun, 22nd Jun 08 by Rich

Acts 7

Have you ever heard: “You catch more flies with honey than vineger?” The expression is supposed to be a maxim, or Truth, that argues that you will often be more successful in influencing people or getting what you want if you speak kindly or flatter a person and suggest they do something rather than condemning them or criticizing them for the things they are doing wrong. Generally speaking, it’s not a bad sentiment. We shouldn’t go out of our way to be prickly with others.

At the same time, however, I think we’ve bought into the idea today that the reason why men either do or do not accept the Gospel is related to whether or not someone presents God with a positive message. We like to compute size with success and that God’s Truth is always glorified by numbers. The more people, the better. By this reasoning, the largest Churches in America would always be teaching the right kind of Truth because they’ve got the most people in them. If Truth is expressed by numbers then the more people = the more Truth.

Yet, I would submit to you, that it is no mistake that the largest Churches in America, that call themselves Christians, are large especially because their message is only positive. Their message flatters men. They catch more flies with honey and , if the maxim is always true, then they must be doing something right.

What is so strange about the fact that many of us buy into this idea is that the idea is repeatedly rejected in the Word of God itself.

In the Book of Exodus, Moses returns from the mountain and finds the entire camp has broken out in a frenzy of worship for a golden calf. Aaron was just giving the people what they want. In John 6, Christ had thousands of followers and, in a single hour, preached Truth to them and lost nearly every disciple. As his disciples told Him that His words were very hard to bear, He asked them if they too would leave? Peter responded with the words of those who truly desire to follow after Christ: Lord to whom shall we go, for you alone have words of eternal life?

Indeed, Christ alone has the Words of eternal life but they are very hard words to those of us who want to constantly receive sweet words. The Word of God is a bitter pill sometimes. And so as Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin, let us be reminded that Truth demands true words. Truth demands that God’s Word be preached according to what the Gospel preaches.

Stephen was hauled before the Sanhredin at the close of Acts 6 under the false charge that he blasphemed God and spoke against the Temple and Moses. Acts 7 opens with him being asked about the charges and then a masterful teaching from the Scriptures that not only shows that Stephen is innocent of the charges but that the Sanhedrin themselves are under trial.

Acts 7:1-8

1And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2And Stephen said:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6And God spoke to this effect-that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7’But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

Stephen opens by calling the men brothers and fathers. He shows respect and demonstrates that they are in the seat of authority over the Jewish people.

He also shows his understanding of this common covenant they share and points out that Abraham met and worshipped God first outside of Jerusalem when he was brought from Ur of the Chaldees down to the Promised land. He never inherited that land or the full promise of becoming a mighty nation or blessing all the nations but looked forward, in hope, trusting the God who had given him one son of Promise. Stephen also notes that Abraham was told that his descendants would be held captive in Egypt for about 400 years. Here, Stephen is showing that God is not confined to the Temple or Jerusalem because God was with Abraham and with His people even when they were sojourners – even when they were outside of the Promised Land and well before they took Jerusalem during the reign of David.

Acts 7:9-16

9″And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

Notice what Stephen points out next. He’s building a case, not only to show how much He loves God and His Word, but to demonstrate that Israel and its rulers have been stiff-necked and rebellious throughout their history. Here, we recall that Joseph was one of God’s first prophets and his brothers, the fathers of the twelve tribes, persecuted him by selling him into slavery. Our minds are given toward thinking in terms of individuals. If we hear about our grandfather doing something when he was young we don’t associate that with the family. To the Jewish mind, however, these men represented tribes. The tribes are named after them. In one sense, it is a picture of the tribes of Israel persecuting the prophets.

Stephen then transitions to Moses. He’s already demonstrating that he’s not a blasphemer and he’s building his case that worship is not confined to the Temple and he turns his attention to defending against that charge that he speaks against Moses. Here, you have to realize that they’re not accusing him of calling Moses names but stating that he speaks against Moses is to say that He denies the importance of the Law. Stephen tells first of Moses birth and rescue from death by being brought out of the water by Pharaoh’s daughter. But Moses knew he was to deliver his people and loved his people more than the riches of Pharaoh’s court.

At one point he struck down a slavemaster who was brutalizing an Israelite and, the next day, came upon two Israelites quarreling. The two men didn’t accept his mediation. They rejected his work as it were. Again, these quarreling men are symbols of the nation at large that rejects Moses. He fled to Midian for 40 years and returned after God visited him in a bush and sent him to deliver His people.

Now, did the Fathers, the Israelites welcome Moses with open arms? Did they obey Moses? Did they do what he revealed from God? Remember, the Israelites in the desert represent Isreal:

Acts 7:35-43

35″This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’-this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,

during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43You took up the tent of Moloch

and the star of your god Rephan,

the images that you made to worship;

and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Once again, we see Israel pictured as rejecting Moses. They not only rejected the person of Moses but they rejected the God he served. For forty years they were rebellious. For forty years they were devout worshippers but they were devout worshippers of false Gods and refused to listen to Moses. They refused to listen to the Law.

At this point, you should be getting a sense of who is really on trial in this presentation. While Stephen is defending himself, he’s really building a case against the current nation – represented by the Sanhedrin – who sit in the seat of judgment according to the Law but are not obeying Moses at all. The irony in this trial is that Stephen is the wrong person to be put on trial for speaking against Moses. The whole trial, with false charges by false witnesses, is a mockery of the Law of Moses. The Sanhedrin, like their fathers in the desert, are those that speak against Moses, speak against the Law, and do not serve the living God even as they claim to know Him.

Stephen has definitively put away the charges that he blasphemes God or that he speaks against Moses. He finally wraps up his defense to show that he does not speak against the Temple:

Acts 7:44-50

44″Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[c] 47But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, 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 what is the place of my rest?

50Did not my hand make all these things?’

Stephen demonstrates the idolatry of these men’s hearts who place all the significance of worshipping the living God in a house built by hands. God doesn’t dwell in tents and God doesn’t dwell in beautiful temples. Christ revealed to the woman at the well that a time is coming, and has now come, when men will not have to go to a central location to worship Him because God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

But the Spirit was far from the Sanhedrin’s understanding. They were obsessed with physical location. They cared not for the Truth but only for their distortion of it.

Stephen has obliterated these false charges but knows the score. He knows that the Sanhedrin is not interested in honoring Moses. He know they are like their fathers throughout history. The defendant now becomes the Prosecuting attorney and reveals that the real people on trial for this mockery are the Sanhedrin themselves:

Acts 7:51-53

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Well, if you catch more flies with honey than vinegar then Stephen didn’t get the memo. The Truth, beloved, is that Truth has to be spoken plainly and the sin of men has to be made plain to them. They are guilty of the blood of the Son just like their fathers before them were guilty of the blood of the Prophets. These men can repent of their sins and turn to Christ but they want nothing of it.

Acts 7:54

54Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

They are beside themselves with hatred and fury. They have become wild beasts. The darkening of the mind shows them to be the fools and beasts that they are even though they have the respect of the people. Even though they ought to be the wise and the Godly, they are foolish servants of the devil. Stephen will get no justice, just the hatred of an angry mob that was supposed to be a court.

But Stephen, standing alone in the presence of his enemies, is not left alone that day. Stephen is not left to the despair of no hope. As darkness is about to fall upon him, as the world and all its power comes crashing down on him, the Lord is gracious to open his eyes to heavenly realities:

Acts 7:55-60

55But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together[d] at him. 58Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

You see, Jesus called the Holy Spirit another Paraclete because the first Paraclete is Christ Himself. The idea of Paraclete in the ancient world is someone who comes along side of you when you are under trial.

Stephen looks to heaven and what is Christ doing: He’s standing! In Hebrews, Christ is said to be sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high but here He is standing.

Why? Because the Judge of all the earth is seated when He renders Judgment but our Paraclete on high is also the Judge. Even as the world is condemning Stephen, Christ reveals to Stephen that He is His Paraclete – His attorney. Christ will plead His case. He will receive nothing but false judgment from this false court but Christ represents Him on high to acquit Him on the final judgment.

This is quite enough for the Sanhedrin. To those that hate Christ and hate the idea that He is God, their transformation to beasts is complete. Like little children they clap their hands over their ears, yelling, and drag him out of the court to stone Stephen to death.

Stephen, with confidence in the finished work of His Savior, commits his soul to His God. But not before he prays for the forgiveness of the men who stone him in ignorance. Thank God for your prayer, Stephen. Thank God for your faith under pain and trial. God heard that prayer as a young man named Saul was present at that stoning and received that forgiveness.

Beloved, if you are Christ’s and your trust in Him for your salvation then draw strength from this thought. A day is coming when the whole world will be brought before the bar of God’s Judgment on high and every deed will be laid bare. Christ Himself will judge. Here is the glorious part on that day for Christ’s own.

When the Judge gets to you, if you have faith in Christ, the Judge will ask for you to give a defense. He will then rise from that seat of Judgment and come to stand next to you as your Paraclete. The Judge of all the earth will be your Attorney.

And, in the blood of Christ, the verdict will be to enter the rest provided for His own!

Sun, 15th Jun 08 by Rich

Acts 6

Today’s episode in Acts follows the preaching of the Word to the Sanhedrin by the Apostles. You’ll recall, from last week, that the Sanhedrin openly rejected the call of the Gospel and scourged the Apostles for teaching it. This does not stop the preaching of the Word.

As you also recall from Matthew 28:18-20, Christ commanded the Apostles to make disciples of all the nations. They were commanded to baptize them in order to mark them out of the world as disciples. They were also commanded to teach Christ’s disciples everything He commanded them. This is the nature of the Great Commission: making disciples and then baptizing and teaching those disciples. This is how the Church grows.

But, in today’s episode, a problem has arisen within that work. Recall that the disciples had been generous within Jerusalem to provide for the needs of all of the members within. They ensured that there was no want.

Now, in our lives, we don’t think much about our physical needs. In the ancient world, a person spent about 90% of their labor on a daily basis just to ensure that they would be able to put food on the table that day. In fact, it’s still like that in much of the world and those here from the Philippines can attest to the poverty that many in the world experience and how little they make so that almost all their income goes in providing food just for the day. So it was in those times.

And, in the ancient world as today, widows and orphans were the least able to provide for themselves. If a woman became a widow, she not only faced the sorrow of losing her husband but also faced the real possibility of starvation. James calls real religion the caring of orphans and widows because the caring for the truly downtrodden is a reflection of our love for our Heavenly Father. Those that lose the knowledge of God in their minds and become darkened in their thinking stop caring about humanity, which is created in His divine image. They will do things for others that they can receive advantage from but widows and orphans can offer us nothing except their need for us to love them and to provide for them and only a true religion with hearts born from above will love God’s image in them enough to care.

Well, the Church was caring for widows but, unfortunately, they were overlooking the Greek-speaking widows in the congregation. The text does not indicate if this was done out of pride or to be exclusive. We all know how difficult language and cultural barriers are. It may be that those responsible for the distribution lacked the ability to communicate or the spiritual maturity for the task. The bottom line is that there was a problem. Widows were being neglected. The Church had a responsibility for this mercy ministry. The Apostles respond but it’s not quite what some of us would think is the case: “²So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.”

Now, if you only see with eyes of the flesh, that response seems uncaring or arrogant. It seems as if the Apostles are saying that they’re too important to be bothered with serving tables. If you’re thinking that then I would suggest you have much to learn about the way the Apostles showed tremendous humility and would have no problem at all serving others and denying themselves.

I would also suggest that the reason it seems foreign to many of us is that we actually don’t think that the ministry of the Word is central to what the work of an Elder in Christ’s Church is.

If I were to ask you, right now, what is the most important part of our worship of God every week, what would you answer? Is it the singing? Is it the prayer? What is the most important thing?

Don’t raise your hand but did any of you think it was the preaching of the Word?

I fear that Churches have drifted so far from the centrality of the preaching of the Gospel every week that they would think of many other qualities in a Pastor first before they would judge his qualifications to properly divide the Word of Truth and preach the Word toward the building up of the Church. After all, didn’t God give us Apostles and teachers so they could be administrators? Didn’t He give us Pastors so they could be in charge of every Church activity and give guidance on how it’s supposed to be organized?

Ephesians 4 teaches: “¹¹And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

Apostles, and Pastors, were given to the Church by God to build us up on the Word. There is a reason why Pastors are called ministers and it is because they are supposed to be ministering the Word of God to us. The Word is preached to build us up in the faith so that we go forward in joy and gratitude of the Gospel to love our neighbor. We are equipped for the work of service by the Word but the Pastor’s mission is to focus, first and foremost, on the ministry of the Word and not on other areas of service.

If we actually took stock of how critical being built up in the Word was; if we actually took stock of how important the building up toward the unity of faith was, then we would completely understand the Apostles when they said it’s not good that they would forsake preparing the spiritual food that the congregation gets during Worship and leave that to go serve tables. In other words, the priority for the minister of the Word is the spiritual food that is provided. The spiritual food is more fundamental and more important. That’s why Christ turned away thousands that were simply following Him for the physical food He could multiply but had no interest in the spiritual bread and drink He offered in the ministry of His teaching.

But many in the Church have become like the thousands that forsook Christ and will evaluate a Church or a Pastor on his ability to meet their physical needs: good advice, Church programs, etc but care little about whether the Pastor can rightly divide the Word of Truth. By way of admitting sin in my own past, I used to be a Worship Leader for a Church in California. I thought the most important aspect of worship every week was when we were singing and then I sort of viewed the Preaching as the price I had to pay for enjoying the rest of the service and I took no delight in listening to the Word. Part of that was because the minister didn’t preach the Gospel but part of that, to my shame, was because I thought as a man of the flesh does: feed me with things I can touch or feel good about but I’m not interested in the spiritual benefits that the Word would teach me.

So the Apostles understand that they would be neglecting the preparation of spiritual bread that they prepared for their congregation every week. They needed to spend time in study and prayer to prepare that spiritual bread but they also didn’t just neglect the problem altogether.

Their solution was to have the congregation choose seven men who were full of the Spirit and of wisdom to serve in the extremely important task of this service. These seven men were the first deacons in the Church even though they are not called this.

You can think of it this way: the seven deacons provided for the physical needs of the congregation in order to free the Pastors of the congregation to spend the time necessary to provide for the spiritual food for the congregation. The Church absolutely needed both.

Notice that the men had to be of good reputation, and full of the Spirit and wisdom. In other words, they had to be mature Christians. They had to have the fruit in their lives of men who have demonstrated Godliness and gifting from God. They didn’t simply ask for volunteers for the task and then lay hands on any warm body that had a pulse.

You see, this work of caring for the physical needs has very important spiritual aspects. It requires wisdom and discernment. It requires maturity. By noting that the feeding of the Word of God is important, you should not get the impression that caring for the physical needs of a congregation is somehow not honorable.

It is in the physical hands of service that men and women often experience what the love of God and the results of a heart transformed by the Gospel really looks like. It is the caring of details and the sweat of the brow that love is manifested. Love is not a fuzzy feeling or an emotion but is acted out in very real ways. It is acted out in often very physical ways.

A woman was recently honored in Scotland for her service to the Gospel and especially to the poor there. She received one of the highest honors that she could receive. When asked about this award, however, she said that, when it came to taking care of the poor, she was put to shame by her husband. Her husband had the ability to serve the poor without flinching. He could walk through the most disgusting human filth and not gag or turn his face away from a man or woman that reeked of excrement, urine, and vomit but needed his physical help.

He was asked how he could do this and responded simply: “Whenever I go to help a man or woman in need, I always think of my Savior who had to wade through the most disgusting filth of my sin in order to save me from the wrath of God and it makes any physical filth I experience seem easy by comparison.”

When I hear things like this, I’m put to shame. I’m being made wise to the Gospel and by the Spirit but I know that there is much sin left to kill within me. Service of others is not an easy thing and it requires dying to self as only a person who has walked with Christ for some time can do.

These men were chosen because they had the Spiritual maturity to see what Christ had done for them and the eyes and the hands and the wisdom to serve the needs of the congregation as difficult or disgusting as that might be at times. It is maturity that allows the unpleasant to be done without complaint. It is with maturity that a man put into service for God’s Kingdom is able to consider the humiliation of service a high privilege.

One of these men, Stephen, stood out from the seven. He not only performed his duties of mercy for the members of the congregation but performed miracles and even contended for the Gospel with a group of men called the Synagogue of the Freedman who were from parts of Asia.

As we’ve been reading through Acts, you’ve noticed with me how things are starting to get tense about the Gospel. Men were annoyed in Acts 4, men were beaten in Acts 5, and now things are getting even more intense.

Stephen would reason with these men from the Scriptures and teach them about the death and resurrection of Christ. What is interesting is that the text states that they could not cope with his wisdom and the Spirit he was teaching. In other words, they couldn’t argue with him about what the Word of God taught because he was absolutely correct.

Now, what would a reasonable response be if you had to accept what the Word of God taught? I don’t know about you but I would submit to the Word of God. At least I hope I would. That’s what someone with the fear of God would do.

But this is not the normal response for most men. Most people get angry when they are challenged with the Word of God – unless God graciously opens their eyes and they submit to it. Otherwise they’ll get angry and they’ll do everything they can to shut you up. The last thing a man wants to hear when he’s got a tradition he’s hanging on to is to be convinced by God that he needs to let go of a tradition.

Have you ever heard somebody say this: “The Jews have the Old Testament but the Christians have the New Testament”?

If you ever hear it again then tell the person that said it that it’s not true.

What Stephen and this Synagogue were arguing over was the proper interpretation of the Old Testament and whether it pointed to Christ. What Christ was put to death for was His understanding of the Old Testament because it clashed with the traditional understanding by the Scribes and Pharisees. Christianity “owns” both the Old and New Testaments because both testify of and to Christ and His work.

Well, this fraternity didn’t like that Stephen wouldn’t stop teaching of the death and resurrection of Christ so what better way to shut a man up than to make up false charges about him and haul him in front of the Sanhedrin. In effect, Stephen was charged with the same thing that Christ Himself was charged with: teaching blasphemy about the Word and about Moses. In fact, just like Christ, they even brought forward false witnesses against Stephen. Please keep a mental note of the fact that this court was completely unjust and allowed false witnesses as Stephen was forced to stand alone before the court and give an answer to the Sanhedrin. I want you to remember that next week as Stephen is tried for this false crime and has no attorney present to represent him.

I hope you’re starting to get a sense for the wickedness of man and why man needs the Gospel so very much and what the consequences to our thinking are when we deny this Gospel. This portion ends with a very simple statement that Stephen’s face literally shined like an angel in their midst. I mean, come on, how many different ways can a group of people actually be blind to facts! Shouldn’t that cause someone to pause and reconsider for just a moment when you see a fellow with a face like an angel? But this is the nature men that will see things and still be blind to them. Never accept the fantasy that someone who does not believe the Gospel would believe if God performed a miracle for them. If a man doesn’t believe God and His Word then we have seen evidence after evidence that evidence itself isn’t enough to convert a man.

Indeed, Beloved, let us never forget to be continually thankful to God that our eyes have been opened to the Gospel of Christ. This passage is a good reminder to us that we shouldn’t be surprised when men speak false things against us for Christ’s sake. But this passage ought to also remind us what a tremendous blessing that we can read the things of God and see them.

Or perhaps you still refuse to see. Perhaps you too have a tradition that you’re holding on to from the world or from the Church. Maybe the idea that the Word should be central in the Church offends you. Believe the Gospel that Christ died and rose again for an undeserved sinner such as you if you would believe in His righteousness and stop trusting in your own. Be ye transformed by His Word and continually pray to Him that you might learn to love the things of God that are found in His Word and consider all other things that get in the way of its power to build up as rubbish in comparison.

Sun, 8th Jun 08 by Rich

Acts 5

Acts 4:36

Acts 5

I want you all to stop and think for a moment. I want you to think of Almighty God for a moment and think about how you might describe to another person what you think about Him. Don’t say it out loud. I want you to simply think to yourself for about 30 seconds. Think about God and list those things you think about when you consider Who He is. I’ll pause while you consider this.

Please keep your list of ideas to yourself but I want to ask you each as you sit in your pew, did fear ever enter your mind when you thought of God? Did you give the fear of the Lord even a fleeting thought?

Fear?

Are any of you asking yourself that now? Fear, unfortunately seems like a very strange thing to use to describe our relationship to God today. In fact, when you interview young people today, the concept of fearing God is completely foreign to them. Youth activities are organized to make God cool. God needs to be fun. Experiences need to be exciting. Fear would just turn kids off, right?

Not simply youth activities though. Adults in most Churches today expect the same ideas. To the ideas of fun, cool, and exciting, maybe most adults would think of God as useful, as relevant, or maybe as a helper in a time of need.

What do most of the e-mails that you receive that tell you about God teach? God is this cosmic nice guy who writes you a love letter telling you how much He’s always loved you and maybe you could arrange some time in your schedule later to plan a date with Him. Or maybe God is pictured as walking with you in the sand and you look back and He’s only there for the hard times. It’s those times that He carries you but He’s a nice companion the rest of the time. Some have even said that He’s a dance partner during the good times.

Are these e-mails, though, the beginning of our understanding of God? Is this what the Scriptures teach us about God – that we need to understand how much He wants to be our best friend? Is this the beginning of understanding for a believer?

Here is what the Scriptures testify to concerning wisdom from the beginning of the Book of Proverbs:

5A wise man will hear and increase in learning,

And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

6To understand a proverb and a figure,

The words of the wise and their riddles.

7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

8Hear, my son, your father’s instruction

And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;

What is the beginning of knowledge? What is the beginning of Godly wisdom? The fear of the LORD.

Oh, but surely what this is talking about is respect and reverence and not fear? God isn’t supposed to frighten us in any way?

Don’t be so sure. I know this is a hard truth for many to embrace but, beloved, if you have any love for God on the basis of what He has done in redeeming you from sin and death, don’t you desire to really know Him? Don’t you desire to know what He says about Himself? Stop for a moment sometimes and think: Just because I read this in an e-mail about God and it made me feel really good, does that mean that what the e-mail said about God is true? Think about this for a moment too: Is everything I believe about God that I’ve thought in the past true?

If we’re not willing to measure what we believe about God with His Word then how does that make us any different than the Pharisees and Sadducees who we keep reading about that had their own ideas about God that made them feel good but were not according to God’s Word? Again, friends, let the Word transform you and do not ignore the Word simply because it’s not as fun as you would like it to be.

It’s not as if I get up here every week taking great delight in the idea that the Word of God will make men and women uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable too but I’m bound to teach what it teaches and it doesn’t flatter men. I realize there are Churches on this island today where you could be that will flatter you and always leave you feeling good about yourself and content that you need not change anything.

I’m not teaching you about this to be obnoxious or because I think you need it more than I do. I’m teaching you about this because it’s in the Word of God and we need this if we desire to grow in wisdom. The way of wisdom is hard. Humility requires humiliation sometimes and a hard look at our sin and a painful look at how we create idols in our minds so we can destroy those idols and grow in our devotion of God.

As this episode opens up we recall that a believer named Joseph, a levite, had sold his field – probably his life’s inheritance – and laid it at the feet of the Apostles to give to the Church as any had need. Joseph was such a loving and encouraging soul that everyone just started calling him by his spiritual qualities: Son of Encouragement – Barnabas.

As Acts 5 continues the story, we read of Ananias and Sapphira who desired the same kind of esteem among the brethren. They resolved to sell their land and give the money to the Church and tell the Church that they had given the Church everything from the sale of the land. The only problem is that they sold the land and gave only a part of the money from the sale but held the rest back. That would have been fine if they told the Church they were giving part of the money to the Church but they lied to the Church and told them they were giving everything.

You might get the impression from Acts 2 and Acts 4 that God had commanded the disciples to sell everything they had and hold everything in common. The text does not say that. It only points out that this is what many of the disciples were doing. Not all of them but the main point is that there was no need or want in the Church. Nobody was starving or without shelter because the disciples took care of one another.

I suppose it’s inevitable that someone is sitting right now thinking that this is a story that the Church would use to make people feel guilty so that they give everything they have to God. But listen to what Peter says to Ananias: “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control?” In other words, Ananias, nobody commanded you to do this. You could have given as much or as little as you desired. God desires a cheerful giver.

One might also get the false impression in this episode that the most terrible aspect is that Ananias lied to the men of the Church in promising this thing. But the terrible sin in this episode is revealed by Peter: “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4″While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Ananias has just stained the Church of Christ by this action. Christ calls His Church His Body. Ananias and Sapphira conceived a thing to lie to the entire Church in order to receive the approval of men and then hid the rest of the money, as it were, from sight.

But who saw this?

God. The Holy Spirit.

Did they really think that God didn’t know what they were doing? But isn’t this the nature of sin that we pretend as if God is not watching and God doesn’t know and that the thing we have done is not known by Him? We live our lives as if the things we hide from others are hidden from God.

And when we do such things, we lie to the Holy Spirit. We lie as if He does not exist. We lie as if God is not true, is not living, does not see.

We know it is wrong to gossip and we talk about other men or other women in this Church. We complain about them. We would stop in an instant if they walked into the room but, when we are talking in private, we destroy them with our tongues as if God cannot hear. We think that because the person we gossip about cannot hear that God does not hear and so we lie to the Holy Spirit when we smile to the person’s face and destroy them among others behind their back.

Don’t we fear God? Do we have any understanding or wisdom? Do we believe that God will judge every deed and every idle thought?

Ao as we continue in this story, some of us might be shocked that Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for this sin. After all, I wonder if you could imagine a footprints in the sand plaque that read: “And here’s the footprint when I lied to God and He put me to death for it.” I don’t think that would sell too well.

But, beloved, this was a gracious thing that the Lord did for the Church. For all we know it might have been a gracious thing for Ananias and Sapphira. Paul talks about believers who “fall asleep” because of their sin. Sometimes the Lord graciously takes a person’s life so they won’t be tempted to sin even more before His face. After all, if a man believes upon Christ then even the sins that we commit will be covered by His blood but God doesn’t desire a child to keep slapping Him in the face.

But this episode served a very gracious purpose to the Church at large as well. We continue in verse 11:

11And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things

12At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico.

13But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.

14And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number,

Great fear filled the Church. Fear filled the believers of the Church and, as the Proverbs testified, it opened their eyes to Wisdom. They began on the path to understanding the Holy One. They began to have greater understanding that God was powerful and almighty. They began to hold Him in the fear and reverence that He deserves. Perhaps some of them were given to thinking they ought to give into temptation. Perhaps some of them were deceived into thinking that they could stop attending worship. Perhaps some of them were getting bored with the long sermons or with how tedious it is to worship a God they couldn’t see.

We’re so accustomed to God giving us so many good things in life that we deceive ourselves into thinking we deserve good things even though we are wicked and even when we are purposefully disobeying His Word. Most of the time in the Scriptures, God doesn’t strike people dead when they do things that He would have every right to do so. And people become complacent. They become foolish because they do not fear God.

But occasionally God reminds His people that He’s not to be trifled with. He reminds them that He is God. He reminds them to stop lying to the Holy Spirit. He reminds them to stop lying about who He is and that He’s mighty and powerful and awesome and terrible. He reminds them that nobody can look upon Him and live. This reminder is a gracious thing. It is a loving thing. It wakes men up. It wakes the Church up. It restores the relationship so that the creature begins anew in worshipping the Creator as He really is.

You see, later in this passage, not everybody receives the same gracious sign, which causes the Church to fear the Lord. Not everybody in this chapter ends up growing in the knowledge of this gracious truth.

The Sanhedring throw the Apostles in prison again for preaching in Jesus’ name and an angel let them out and they go right back into the Temple and preach Jesus’ name again. They haul the Apostles before the Sanhedrin and the high priest is angry at them: “27When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, 28saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

Who does this guy think he’s kidding? He knows very well that he and the other members of the Sanhedrin demanded Christ’s blood. He’s lying with no fear of God. What’s worse is that He’s lying about putting the Son of God to death. What kind of fool would do that? One who has no fear of God.

But the Gospel has to continue to proclaim the Truth to men who are lying to the Holy Spirit. You see, if we had spiritual eyes to see we would think to ourselves that it would be better for the High Priest to believe in Christ and be struck dead at that moment for lying to the Holy Spirit but, at least if He believed in Christ, he would have been saved from further sin.

But Peter teaches the Gospel to the Sanhedren again boldly. He doesn’t let up and says: “29But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30″The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. 31″He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32″And we are witnesses [c]of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Does the Sanhedrin respond with the fear of God? Do they repent? They’re called to obey the Gospel. They’re called to fear the Lord and worship His Son and bow down.

But because there is no fear of the Lord in them, they are fools. Because they are fools they see the world in upside down terms. Here is their response to the Gospel: “33But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.”

You see, more clearly, how the Gospel ends up costing the Apostles. If a man has no fear of the Lord then they cannot stand to hear that Christ was put to death at the hands of lawless men and that they need to believe in Him. They will not only hate that message but will get so angry at that News that they’ll try to kill you if you keep proclaiming it.

Why? Because they do not fear the Lord. Because they lie to themselves and lie to the Holy Spirit about Who God really is.

Let us, then, never grow weary of the Truth. Let us not grow weary of the Gospel. Let us constantly be reminded, afresh, that God is greatly to be praised because He is greatly to be feared.

Sun, 1st Jun 08 by Rich

No Other Name (Acts 4)

Acts 4

Today’s passage continues the drama we witnessed last week in the healing of a lame man. Crowds of people came running over to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed. The event pointed to His power over death and that, even though these men deserved judgment for putting the Son of God to death, God had prepared Christ’s sacrifice for sin before the foundation of the world. “Turn and Repent!”, Peter had commanded and thousands of men believed in the work of Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and life everlasting. The Church was now over 5000 strong.

One of the profound things that I tend to think about often is how men’s responses to the News of Christ’s victory over the grave is different. You see, the Gospel is an announcement of a historical event and a historical person. The Cross of Christ is proclaimed – that a man named Jesus of Nazareth did, indeed, hang on a Cross and bore the Sins of all who would believe in His work to atone for Sin and He rose again from the dead, just as He foretold. Here in this passage, Peter and John are giving fresh evidence of Christ’s victory over sin and death by healing a man born lame and pointing to the power of Christ Who now reigns on high. Everything points to factual data. Everything points to factual evidence.

But some do not believe.

The Apostle Paul teaches us about this in Romans 10:14-15 where he testifies of the Gospel going forward with news of a great victory:

¹⁵How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” ¹⁶However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”

In the ancient world they did not have e-mail or telephones. They didn’t even have newspapers. News of events was often sent by young men who would run to the towns and announce the news of a great victory. You can imagine the scene as a town in Israel is waiting anxiously to hear how a battle turned out as David was out fighting the Philistines and vastly outnumbered. Men would be posted on towers and look hard in the horizon.

What’s that small dust cloud? It’s a runner.

“A runner approaches!”, says the man on the tower.

“How does he run?”, asks the crowd.

If the battle is lost, perhaps the man is running with his head down in a sad gait. Who wants to run to tell the News of a defeat?

But the feet of the man with Good News! Oh, he’s flying.

“Victory! Oh, how beautiful are the feet of him who brings Good News!”

“Victory!”

“Christ, has conquered Sin and Death! Death where is your sting?! Where is your victory?!”

The runner flies into the town with this wonderful News of Victory.

But who has believed the report?

What kind of people would greet the runners with Good News as if the report just isn’t true.

The famous French Rationalist, Didero, was famous for writing: “I should, without hesitation, believe any respectable individual who might bring me the intelligence of any army having obtained a victory over its opponent, etc.; but should the whole population of Paris assure me that a dead man rose from his grave, I would not believe a word of it.”

In fact, beloved, that is exactly what has happened in today’s story as the leaders of the Temple walk up to Peter and John and demand to know why Peter and John are teaching in the Temple and teaching about that obnoxious man, Jesus, that they just put to death not so long ago.

Notice that they are Sadducees. The Sadducees were the ruling party among the Sanhedrin. The High Priests came from this party and they wielded tremendous influence. Christ had warned the Apostles, during His teaching ministry to beware the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Matt 16:6).

Both had ideas that were poisonous to the Gospel but for different reasons. We think the Pharisees were the only troublemakers but unbelief comes from many different angles. In the case of the Pharisees, unbelief came not from a lack of belief or zeal about the supernatural or religion but that they believed the wrong things about these things.

The Sadducees, though, were like our modern day men today who don’t believe in such nonsense stories about men being raised from the dead. The Law has its place to give men and women moral stories about how to conduct their lives but it is this life that is most important. Things like the Resurrection are just not true if you’re a Sadducee.

They demand to know by whose authority that Peter and John were teaching. By this, they really wanted to know what School they went to. They wanted to know what Rabbi they followed. Like today, before you’re going to be heard by the intelligentsia, it’s less important to know that you’ve been married for 20 years and are giving advice to young men and women about marriage but much more important that you have a Master’s Degree in counseling from some God-hating institution that believes men are collections of genes.

Men back then, like today, didn’t teach on their own authority but would simply quote “the experts”, the Rabbis. Teaching of the Scriptures sounded something like: “Rabbi Gamaliel teaches this….”

But Peter and John don’t have academic credentials. They’re fishermen from Galilee, a backwater town of uneducated tradesman. These men would be scorned for their lack of sophistication and education and they have to give account for how it is they are teaching.

But these backwater men had sat at the foot of Jesus of Nazareth for 3 years. These men had been breathed on and anointed by Christ to preach His name with power. And so, filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter puts the Sanhedrin on trial.

Peter announces that this lame man standing before you was healed in the name of Jesus. The man that they put to death is exactly Who He said He was. They announce the fact of His victory over the grave. He is the Stone that the builders rejected that has become the Chief Cornerstone.

You see the builders had been these Jewish leaders and they rejected the Stone. They rejected the Rock of Salvation. They rejected the Rock that had sustained Israel in the desert for 40 years. Just like rebellious Israel, they raised their hands against almighty God in unbelief.

But Christ is the cornerstone. They rejected Him and cast him out but had rejected the cornerstone upon which the Church and the people of God would be built. This cornerstone would save all who trust in it but will crush all who reject it.

Peter announces boldly to them in verse 12: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

What Name did Peter heal in?

What Name did Peter preach in?

The Name that is above all Names. The King and King and Lord of Lords.

Christ announced in Matthew 28 that all authority in heaven and earth had been given Him and that Peter and John and the Apostles were to make disciples of all the nations.

There is no other option for men for salvation.

There was no other option for the Sanhedrin that day.

For the first time, though, in Acts we don’t read of men being converted to the Gospel by the News of Christ’s victory. The same News went out but the Sanhedrin didn’t believe the report. Instead they told Peter and John to stop teaching in this Name.

What is so strange to us all is that they are amazed at the boldness and power of Peter’s preaching. They even have to acknowledge that a man was healed who had been lame for 40 years.

But the evidence wasn’t going to convert them. You see, don’t ever think that the evidence of your heart or the objective evidence of Christ’s resurrection and victory over the grave is going to be enough to convert a man. You can only proclaim the News. You can only tell the Story. But some will simply not believe the report. They might even accept the evidence but they won’t believe. Pray for such men for great judgment awaits those that will be crushed by their rejection of the Son.

Peter and John were told by the Sanhedrin not to bear this News any longer. That they could not do.

Paul teaches us in Romans 13 how we are supposed to submit to our earthly authorities because God places such men in authority. But, here, the Sanhedrin had no authority to dictate to the Church what they may or may not do. A higher authority, Jesus Christ, had told them to preach this News.

In fact, as Peter asks the Sanhedrin this question: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge…” there is a certain edge to it. This is because the Sanhedrin should have been giving heed to God’s Apostles. The men with real spiritual authority from God were in their midst and they were disobeying the Gospel call.

Since the Sanhedrin could do nothing more, legally, with them they sent them out of the Temple. Peter and John returned to the Disciples who all rejoiced not only that men had been converted to the Gospel but, strangely enough, they rejoiced that men had rejected the Gospel. You see, it is not our business to convert men. It is our business to proclaim the Gospel to all men faithfully and God does the conversion. But when we are proclaiming boldly in Jesus’ name and men hate us for it then we are commanded to rejoice just as the disciples did here.

They even quote Psalm 2 that teaches about the Nations raging in opposition to God’s rule. Whenever we sing the Psalms at night with the kids, Anna always wants to sing “Why do heathen nations rage” which is the first line of Psalm 2 from one of our Psalters. Peter proclaims boldly that even though the Roman Government and the Sanhedrin had decided together to scheme against God they were no match for His power. Psalm 2 even records that God sits on high and laughs that the governments of this world think they can just come together and decide to throw off His rule.

On the human level, the Sanhedrin was convinced that Peter and John had been stopped but, from on high, God would get the last laugh.

Again, beloved, this message of the Gospel is really quite simple. It’s not a matter of whether or not we have facts or evidence. It’s a matter of whether or not somebody is going to believe our report. When we go forward today, I hope you do not lose heart and continue to share the simple News of the hope that you have within you. Jesus Christ died on a Cross for sinners and rose again in victory over the grave. All who trust in Him are saved from their Sins. That is the hope that you have within you. That is the News that men will either receive with joy as they ought or will simply dismiss as a fairy tale. Either way, the Gospel is borne forward by you and preached weekly in His Church. Christ will have the victory no matter what the nations decide to do with the News or with those who have hope in that News.

Acts 7

Acts 6

Acts 5

No Other Name (Acts 4)

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