“Fence Riding is For Cowboys” Acts 5:33-39
Gamaliel was a man who helped give the disciples a break and what he said in verse 39 was probably the smartest thing he had ever said, which always caused me to think highly of this man.
But then after some careful examination and reading a sermon, my eyes were opened to the fact that Gamaliel was a fence rider.
It’s true that he was trying to be a peacemaker, but I realized that he has some very real issues!
Gamaliel, according to Acts 22:3, was Saul’s mentor, before Saul became the Apostle Paul or before he was saved!
Gamaliel shared enough truth to be applauded, but also enough error to be very dangerous, and there is a great deal that you and can learn from this.
1. He made a faulty comparison. Look at verses 36-37
Who were Theudas and Judas?
Both of these men came along during the time of Christ, and each tried to start his own religion or movement. These men also tried to overthrow the powers of Rome and deliver Israel from the empire…but each of them failed.
Everyone was looking for the Messiah in those days, and the hills of Palestine were filled with men who decided they would crown themselves as the Messiah!
These men, Theudas and Judas, were just two of the many “Messiah-wannabe’s”.
These men were like our modern day, David Koresh. Do you remember the guy that some called the wacko from Waco? If you remember, he crowned himself as Jesus and actually got a good sized group to follow him! But just like Theudas and Judas; his reign came to an abrupt end.
But you know, this same scenario has happened hundreds of times since Christ!
What Gamaliel is doing here is comparing Christ to these 2 men, which is a faulty comparison!
He said, let’s just ignore these disciples. Let’s just sit back, watch and see what happens. He is saying there is a good chance that this movement will come to its end JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHERS!
Well, 2k years later it’s clear that Jesus IS the Messiah! He cannot be compared to any other man or categorized by some manmade list.
He’s in a category all to Himself!
HE IS GOD ALMIGHTY!
He’s not just another man who walked across the pages of history, He’s THE Man who walked on water and is capable of controlling the very course of history!
Col. 1:16 tells us that…all things were created by him, and for him:
1 Tim. 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…
Jesus was born uniquely, in the He was the only baby ever born that was older than His mother and just as old as His Father!
Gamaliel makes a huge mistake when He compares Jesus to a couple of wannabe’s.
You can always find a comparison to any great person in history.
Writers, like Shakespeare. A pretty fair comparison would be Longfellow.
Generals-Patton’s comparison might be MacArthur.
Alexander the Great could be compared to Napoleon
Preachers like Spurgeon/Moody/Billy Sunday/Edwards/Jimmy Lee…well, maybe not the last guy!
You can always find someone who’s comparable, but when you’re talking about Jesus Christ, there’s nobody that compares!
He’s Alpha and Omega. He’s the Bright and Morning Star, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, His Name is above every name, and at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Gamaliel’s comparison was a faulty comparison, because Jesus DID NOT come to die at the end of a Roman sword but on a Roman Cross.
He DID NOT come to deliver mankind from the iron grip of the Roman Empire, but from the iron grip of sin, death, hell, and the grave!
Gamaliel’s comparison was a faulty comparison… but also:
2. He used faulty reasoning.
His reasoning for defining whether something is of God or not is way off.
Look at verse 38. Gamaliel says the determining factor of whether something is of God or not is in the visible success. In other words if it’s a big success and lots of people follow it, it’s of God. If it’s popular God must be in it but if not, it’s not of God.
That’s using faulty reasoning! We don’t follow something simply because it appears successful or popular. We don’t follow something because it’s popular but rather because it is right, because it’s true. We follow it because it’s in agreement with the Word of God!
Gamaliel uses what so many of us use; he used “human wisdom.” The best answer he could come up with was what logically looks right to him. What made logical human sense or what fit within the realm of logical human reasoning.
Now I am guessing that you don’t see it that way because if you did you wouldn’t be here! You’d be with the Mormons, the 2nd fastest growing church in America, or you’d be one of the 67 million Catholics that make up the largest church membership in our nation!
Gamaliel didn’t ask if it was true or right…he said, let’s just hop up here on the fence and watch, and see how it comes out before we make any rash decisions!
Sadly, many churches fall into that same trap, including the 2nd largest group in America…a convention that has Baptist as its middle name, with many wonderful people in it, and yet for the most part our leadership worships results and numbers, sometimes to the point of rejecting what is true and right!
Obviously we want to grow and reach people, with the gospel message. My desire and I hope your desire is to fill this place up. We must not focus on filling the room at any cost, but in a genuine way! This is why we’re doing this Acts study on the early church. I want us to learn God’s way of doing it!
In other words, success cannot be measured by the size of the crowd, but rather by what you do with the crowd once they are sitting there!
There are several levels of attendees in every church on any given Sunday morning:
The crowd… the congregation… the committed… the core (This would make a good sermon outline)
My goal as pastor here is to grow you up through each of these levels. We’ll do this by each moving you up ONE level at a time. But when we start taking a stand on the sin issue or stepping on toes or challenging people’s faulty belief with Bible truth, with accountability; some will slither off to other places where they can easily hide in the crowd.
We’ve had some members who left because of my preaching. The problem is that I took a stand against sin in the church and some don’t like it! They are looking for a pastor who has sense enough not to deal with the controversial issues! They want someone to give them the green light to continue living sin-filled lives and I refuse to do it. They want grace and mercy without the consequences of poor decision making and pre-meditated sin.
If that’s what they want I’m sure there are plenty of places where you can get “Sermons Served Your Way.”
Let me be brutally honest with you: we will never make disciples and move them on in maturity to the next level with a wishy-washy, watered-down, stand for nothing, fall for anything, draw a crowd philosophy!
I’m proud to say we may have a small crowd, and some may be ok with being nothing more than a part of the congregation, but we have a few that are committed and on their way to becoming the core! And God’s gonna do great things in you!
By the way, which level are you be at? Is it time to step up to the next level?
Well we’re not gonna grow by riding the fence on social drinking, evolution, homosexuality, abortion, pornography and others! By God’s grace we will go, stand, and speak…we will preach the truth…in love, and let God give the results as He sees fit!
Gamaliel made a faulty comparison, used faulty reasoning…
3. He came to a faulty conclusion.
We too are in danger of the very same thing. Gamaliel came to the wrong conclusion because of his faulty comparison & faulty reasoning.
There is no record anywhere of Gamaliel getting saved, or Paul would have mentioned that in the end of this book when he calls him by name. Paul wasn’t afraid to name names or call it like he saw it.
Here’s why I say he didn’t get saved. Gamaliel tried to be neutral about Jesus Christ but Jesus made it very clear that you cannot be neutral about Him.
[Mat 12:30a NKJV] “He who is not with Me is against Me…”
In Revelation he told the church:
[Rev 3:15-16 NKJV] “15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
God has always warned us not to be fence riders:
[Jos 24:14-15 NKJV] “14 "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! 15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.’”
[1Ki 18:21 NKJV] “And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD [is] God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word.”
Thank God that Paul, back when he was Saul, didn’t follow his mentor’s advice when confronted by God on the road to Damascus…he didn’t say, well, let me wait and see how your movement goes, maybe I’ll join up!
Before he was saved, he was 100% for the devil and after being born again, he was 100% for God!
There was no fence riding for the Apostle Paul!
I read the other day that years ago in England there was an art gallery filled with masterpieces which had stood the test of time. There was a man in the group who considered himself an expert and would find something to criticize in every piece. It may have been the shade, the color, or the dimensions. Finally, a worker approached him and said, please sir, these are masterpieces, they are no longer on trial, you are!
Ladies and gentlemen let me remind you that Jesus Christ is no longer on trial, you are!
For 2k years He’s been saving souls and changing lives. The question today is “what will you do with Jesus?”
Don’t forget that fence riding is for cowboys!
Choose you this day whom you will serve.
