Mission Opposition
Acts 4:1-22
As we continue our study this morning through the book of Acts we have seen the fledgling congregation in Jerusalem experience tremendous gains. The Holy Spirit descended upon them in power on Pentecost Sunday which resulted in the mighty wonders of God being declared to thousands of Jewish pilgrims who had traveled to Jerusalem for the festival. We saw the result of that outpouring as 3,000 souls were gloriously born again and regenerated by the power of God’s Spirit and were baptized into the membership of that church.
We saw their life together as a church focus on the essential elements and fundamental ideals of church life. They were continually devoted to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.
Last week we saw an example of God’s miraculous work through this church as a middle-aged lame beggar who suffered from a physical birth defect was gloriously healed. The result of that healing was first, he walked, jumped and praised God in the temple and second, it drew a crowd of thousands to witness this miracle. Peter took this crowd gathered as an opportunity to once again preach the good news of Jesus.
At this point the church of Jesus Christ is only a few weeks old and already it is having significant influence and impact in the city as they seek to fulfill the missions’ mandate. But as we get to chapter four we see the very first instance of opposition against the church. Though this is the first instance of persecution it’s certainly not the last. For the last 2,000 years Satan has – through human agents – brought tremendous persecution and opposition against the church of Jesus Christ.
During the first three centuries of church history it was the Roman Empire that brought the bulk of persecution against Christians. Disciples of Jesus were systematically thrown to wild animals, crucified, turned into human torches and brutally tortured in all the sadistic ways evil men could devise. Uncounted thousands of martyrs met their deaths with a calmness and serenity that absolutely unnerved their tormenters.
And though the intended result of the hostile persecution was to squelch this movement - to impede it's continued growth and expanse - the exact opposite happened. The persecution which came upon the church actually served to purify and strengthen Christ's church.
Now we today in our part of the world we have rarely faced this intense kind of persecution because we name Jesus as our Lord – but this kind of vicious opposition to Christ’s church has existed throughout the last 2,000 years and it will continue to exist. There are at least two reasons I can so confidently say that opposition will continue to perpetuate. First, Jesus promised it. He said in John 15: 18“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” John 15:18-20
Just as sure as Jesus was beaten and killed so will his followers be beaten and killed. In the next chapter of John we find this warning from Jesus: Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. John 16:2
That’s the first reason I can say with confidence that Christians will continue to experience brutal persecution against them – Jesus promised it. But the second reason I can say that is because Satan is the prince and power of the air; he’s the ruler of this present darkness. And as long as he has the ability to brutally oppose Jesus and kill His followers, he will do so with all the vim and vigor he can muster.
We should never be lulled into thinking that the governments of this world will be sympathetic to the cause of Christ. All human governments in this world are under the dominion of the prince of this world - they're under the influence of Satan. We as Christians are first and foremost citizens of heaven, our allegiance is to the Kingdom of God; the flag we salute first is not the stars and stripes, but we salute the banner of Jesus. And as such we are foreigners, aliens and strangers in any earthly kingdom. Thus it should not come as a surprise or shock to us that governments, political groups, factions and insurgents will oppose Christians – and even today in our world that opposition is brutal.
Case in point, the 21 Christians who were mercilessly executed by the Islamic State last week. They marched those 21 believers to the shoreline of the Mediterranean in Lybia and systematically beheaded each of them. This screen shot of the video released by their murderers Wednesday shows these brothers on their knees. The caption at the bottom reads, “The people of the cross, the followers of the hostile Egyptian Church.”
We are also the people of the cross. These are our brothers. And though this kind of brutal opposition has not yet reached our shores in the US, it’s obvious (unless you’ve been living under a rock) that the social and political opposition against Christians is growing at an ever-increasing rate. If you choose to live a godly, Christ-centered life you will inevitably come into conflict with the satanic world system. Some in this very room may experience physical persecution, imprisonment and perhaps even martyrdom as the world escalates its hatred of the true gospel.
In our text today we find the initial persecution that would be the precursor to 2000 years of persecution. Let’s read about it and then I want us to notice four aspects of this event that are not only encouraging to us, but can be emboldening to us as we seek to be faithful witnesses for Christ.
1And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, The priests are the religious leaders in the temple. They were responsible for the daily religious activities that take place. The captain of the temple is the temple police chief. No doubt he had some of his troops with him to take Peter and John into custody. And then there were the Sadducees. These are the Jewish political leaders.
Now obviously Jerusalem and all of Israel is under the authority of the Roman Empire. But one of the things that made the Roman Empire so successful was their practice of allowing local authorities in all the different territories they occupied to continue to carry out their political and religious duties. So the Sadducees are those in charge here in the temple complex. The priests and the temple guard work under their authority.
Here’s what we know about the Sadducees. First, they only accepted the first five books of the OT as being authoritative. They believed the rest of the OT to be commentary on the Pentateuch. Because of their incomplete view of OT Scripture they didn’t believe in a resurrection of the dead because that idea is not mentioned in the first 5 books of the Bible. They were the rationalists, the materialists of the day. They didn’t believe in angels or demons.
Look at verse 2: 2greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Those words “greatly annoyed” in the English is one very strong word in the Greek. Why were they so annoyed? First of all – because they were teaching the people in the temple. They didn’t have the credentials to be instructors; they weren't recognized rabbis' they hadn’t submitted to the Saduceean authority structure. So they were greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people, but mostly they were annoyed because they were proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. And this claim that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead flew in the face of their dogmatism against the supernatural.
So what did they do with them? Look at verse 3: 3And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.4But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. This is mind blowing when you think about this – so they grab Peter and John, handcuff them and drag them away to prison. Imagine if that happened to me today - some political leaders, religious leaders and a brute squad from the police force come in and arrest me. Then, as I’m being dragged off the stage by my accusers I give the invitation – “If you want to come to Christ come forward now while we sing this song…” And 5,000 people get saved. That’s what’s happening here!
These early converts so believed the gospel, they so believed the truth about the resurrection of Jesus that even with the threat of persecution, even with the arrest of the apostles happening right before their eyes, they’re coming forward in droves to give their lives to Christ. This was no “every head bowed, every eye closed, nobody looking around, slip your hand up if you want to pray a private prayer that no one will know about.” This was, “we’re being arrested for proclaiming Jesus, if you want your sins forgiven, surrender you whole life, publicly today!” And these new converts are being baptized publicly and pledging allegiance to Jesus. The text said 5,000 men. That’s not including the women which no doubt would have been that many or more – so you’re talking about a church now of some 10-12,000 people.
Look at verse 5: 5On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. These are all the Jewish big dogs; this is the exact same group of people, the council known as the Sanhedrin, who were present when they questioned Jesus. Peter and John know this, and they also know how it turned out for Jesus. Will they crumble under the pressure and threat of death or will they stand firm and boldly proclaim the truth about Jesus. As we continue through this passage today there are four aspects of the exchange between Peter, John and these Jewish rulers I want to take note of. First notice...
I. The Spiritual POSSESSION
Continue reading in verse 7: 7And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
What a great question. Peter responds to that question with clarity, with boldness, with courage and strength. Where did that come from? It came from the Spiritual possession. Look at verse 8: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit...
The reason Peter was able to answer the way he answered was because Peter was fully possessed by the Holy Spirit. This was the essential prerequisite to Peter’s powerful defense – he was FILLED with the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus promised this would happen; he promised the Spirit would give them the words to say when questioned. Look at Luke 12: 11And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11-12
All Christian ministry and all Christian witness is dependent upon the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Peter in that moment was yielded to the control of the Spirit of God in his life and as such the Spirit released His power in and through him. We start here because this principle is foundational to all the rest. Being yielded to the Holy Spirit in your life will be key to handling persecution; it is of paramount importance when facing opposition as a Christian. So that’s the first thing we notice, the Spiritual Possession. And this Spiritual possession led to this second thing...
II. The Bold PROFESSION
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10let 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. As Peter stands before what would be a very threatening group of rulers he boldly professes Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the source of this healing. And he further clarifies it by saying, “whom you crucified.” For the third time – first in Acts 2, then in Acts 3, and now in Acts 4 – for the third time Peter indicts his listeners as responsible and guilty of killing Jesus. Here, there can be no mistake about it. These were in fact the men that called for Jesus' death.
Peter boldly professes Jesus to them. He doesn’t hem and haw around the subject; he gets right to talking about Jesus. And there’s 2 aspects of his bold profession to note. First of all…
A. The EXALTING of the Savior
11This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. Peter is painting a picture here for the Jewish leaders. He’s again quoting from the OT and applying it to Jesus, here quoting Psalm 118:22. The picture he's painting is this: the Jewish leaders are supposed to be the builders who are building the eternal house of God. And there are all kinds of stones that are used in the building of this house. Some stones have significant placement in the building, some not as significant.
And the stone that came from Nazareth is examined by the builders, the Jewish leaders, and they determine it's not a good stone and they throw it on the refuse pile known as Golgotha and it gets buried in a tomb.
But the Architect comes forward from heaven and sees what they consider as insignificant, rejected and buried stone and the Architect picks him up, cleans him off, raises him from the dead and establishes this rejected stone as the cornerstone upon which the entire structure will be established.
So Peter paints this picture of God giving them Jesus the Christ as the cornerstone and you rejected him. In so doing Peter puts them in opposition to the will and plan of God. God provided his messiah, they opposed God's messiah. They executed the savior, God exalted the savior. That's exactly what Paul said in Philippians 2: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. Philippians 2:9 And Peter boldly makes this plain to them. But not only does he boldly profess the exalting of the Savior, he also points out...
B. The EXCLUSIVITY of the Savior
12And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
We preach the same gospel today. We preach an exclusive gospel in an inclusive age. Because of that we are accused of being narrow-minded, unloving and intolerant. Many paths, they say, lead to the top of the mountain of spiritual enlightenment. How dare we insist our way is the only way? And it is this claim of exclusivity by Bible-believing Christians that will bring upon you the greatest hostility in our 2015 American culture.
Now you may ask, "Is this really what Peter is saying?" Maybe he's just talking in a Jewish context here that for the Jews the only way to God is through the Jewish Messiah. But the Chinese have Buddha, the Muslims have Muhammed, the Hindus have their 200 million deities, the native Americans in 33 AD have their gods.
No, that is not what Peter is saying. He's very clear that this exclusivity of salvation in Jesus is for every culture, every race, every people group throughout all generations on the planet. Two words he uses to make it plain - first, heaven. The word for heaven here means the expanse of space in which the planets and stars reside. China is under that heaven; India is under that heaven; America is under that heaven; Russia is under that heaven.
The other word he uses is the word anthropos - from which we get our word "anthropology." Anthropos refers to mankind. (as opposed to ANER) Every member of the human race living under the expanse of space is included.
Paul corroborates this claim of exclusivity in Philippians 2 as we continue the line of thought he started in verse 9 we read moments ago: 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11
This stone that was rejected by the builders has been highly exalted by God as the cornerstone - the centerpiece of the entire structure of the kingdom of God. And at the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow - not just Jewish knees or Christian knees, but EVERY knee should bow; and EVERY tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD.
Again, claiming that Jesus is the exclusive and only way to heaven will not win many friends in our culture today. The type of persecution and opposition you and I will face today will more than likely be a result of our standing on this truth with absolute certainty. But listen - it is the absolute certainty of this truth that compels us to be a church on mission. Because Jesus is the only way of salvation; because Jesus is the exclusive way to God, we must take the gospel to Asia, and Africa, and South America and to the remotest part of the earth. Because the false deities they worship there are imaginary, they aren't real, and they offer no hope of salvation. And those who die there clinging to those false gods will die in their sins and spend an eternity in hell separated from God.
This is Peter's bold profession and it must also be our bold profession which is birthed out of our Spiritual Possession. But notice thirdly...
III. The Unmistakable PERCEPTION
The council to which Peter and John were speaking made two observations about them in verse 13. Notice that verse: 13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
First, they perceived that they were uneducated and common. They didn't have the educational pedigree that any of those religious leaders had. They didn't go to the prep school, they didn't attend the prestigious university. They didn't even have the discount knowledge from junior college. They recognized they were completely uneducated and untrained.
Additionally, they recognized they were "common." The Greek word that's translated common is idiotes - from which we get our word "idiot." Now it didn't have the same connotation or force as "idiot" does in our language, but you get the idea. Not only are these guys uneducated, they're a couple of hillbilly fisherman from Galilee. They're not from the metropolitan city of Jerusalem, they're from some backwoods, podunk town up in the hills.
Now their reaction to this fact that they were uneducated and common is they were astonished. The boldness and courage and authority with which they spoke astonished them - which led to this other unmistakable perception in verse 13: And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
For this erudite council of Jewish leaders, this must have been like a really bad dream. I mean just weeks earlier Jesus was standing before them, an uneducated common man from the hillbilly town of Nazareth. And he spoke with the same courage, same boldness, same authority. And now Peter and John - who are FILLED with the Spirit of Jesus - speak before them in the same way. This is like a recurring nightmare.
Look at what happens next in verse 14: 14But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. Their mouths were shut. They had nothing to say. The proof was standing right in front of them. 15But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.
Do you see what's going on here? The fact that a notable sign was performed is evident, and they cannot deny it. This lame guy that has been begging at the beautiful gate for 40-something years - he was a fixture at the temple. You knew when you went to the temple you would see this lame beggar. They can't deny the fact that he's been healed; they can't deny that this miracle actually happened. It's not that they CAN'T believe in the power of Jesus - the evidence is right in front of them - it's that they don't WANT to believe.
And can I say to you that this is pretty much the default position of skeptics and opponents to the gospel. Those who call themselves "agnostic" - what you will find is that if you delve deep enough into the reason for their skepticism or the root of their agnosticism, it's not because they CAN'T believe that Jesus is the exclusive savior, it's that they don't WANT to believe that. That's the default posture of their heart.
"I don't want to believe because I like being god; I don't want to believe because I want to do what I want to do. I don't want to believe because I know that if Christ is Lord of my life he's going to lead me some places I don't necessarily want to go; he's going to lead me to do some things that I don't want to do." And so the default posture is, "let me find reasons not to believe - not because I can't believe but I don't want to believe."
Isn't this exactly what these Jewish leaders are doing. The evidence to believe is right there in front of them. But instead of humbling their proud hearts and submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, their response to the truth is, "how do we marginalize this, how do we make it look silly and weak; how do we get rid of this; how do we make them look foolish." This is the posture of these Sadducees and priests.
And should it be any surprise - this was the same posture they took when they spoke with Jesus. Again and again these religious leaders would bring to Jesus their questions - not in an attempt to learn from him but in an attempt to trick him. So they asked him questions like, "Should we pay taxes to Caesar?" Jesus says, "Does anyone have a coin? Who's face is on the coin? Caesar's? Well, render to Caesar that which is Caesar's and render to God that which is God's." Boom, roasted! That's what happens when you're the sovereign of the universe, you don't lose many arguments.
But instead of humbling themselves and believing that Jesus was who he said he was, they just huddled in their corner to try to think up another question to trick him - which they never did by the way. My point is, it's not that they couldn't believe - the evidence was right in front of them - it's that they didn't want to believe. And we see the same attitude today among rejecters of God's salvation.
So look what happens next as the council conferred together: 17But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” 18So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
How are Peter and John going to respond to this warning? These are the same people that killed Jesus and now they're telling you, "You'd better not speak of Jesus again or teach about him again." Perhaps they'll say, "You know what, you're right. We didn't pull the right permit to do what we were doing; we didn't have the right credentials - our bad. We'll just go back to the hillbilly country where the simple people live and find some place we can teach there. Is that what they did? Nope, and that leads to my final point this morning...
IV. The Courageous POSITION
Look at the courageous position Peter and John took after receiving this stern warning about teaching in the name of Jesus: 19But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
They're saying, "We've got no other option but to speak about Jesus. We have to speak about him. You do what you've got to do, but we've got to listen to God rather than man - and let the chips fall where they may."
Think about it - what if you were in a court of law and were told to not speak anymore about Jesus and you responded, "Judge, you do what you think is right here, but I'm not going to stop speaking about Jesus." I mean, that's contempt of court right? And here's the scenario Peter and John find themselves in. Let's keep reading: 21And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
Think about the lunacy of this situation. They've got this massive evidence that points to the power of Jesus Christ. But yet because the crowd of people might cause some sort of uprising against them if they punish them, instead of punishing them they kick them out & further threatened them.
And this is the context the church has always existed in from it's infancy here in Acts 4. For the past 2,000 years there have been those who have sought to marginalize the church, mock, persecute and destroy the church.
So What?
So what does this mean for me where I live here in the buckle of the Bible belt 2000 years later? How can I apply this to my life?
All of us will feel the pull to abandon or discard the truth because of our innate desire to be "liked" by people. I've felt it, you've felt it tugging at your own heart. Why? Because this exclusive claim about the salvation that comes only through Jesus is at the root of all persecution, it's at the root of all opposition. And all of us want to be liked. Now wanting to be liked is not in itself sinful or bad, but it can lead to sinful or bad choices.
Now if you're here today and you say, "I don't care if people like me." Well guess what, that's probably not going to be a problem for you. Most people who don't care if they're liked talk and act in such a way that nobody likes them. But normal people like to be liked.
But here's the deal - if we are a people who are rooted in the gospel we are going to risk the way people treat us, the way people interact with us, we are going to risk whether or not people like us. Why is that a risk? Because the gospel is an offense. The gospel is offensive to our modern sensibilities. How so? I saw the offensiveness of the gospel communicated one time, in of all places, on a bumper sticker. Here's what the bumper sticker said - "I don't need to be BORN AGAIN, I got it right the first time!"
How is this communicating the offensiveness of the gospel? The gospel says, "You must be born again." That means you were born flawed, you were born broken, you were born with a spiritual birth defect that mars and cripples you. So Lady Gaga can sing "I was born this way" and a whole generation can embrace this anthem of self-love and self-acceptance. You come in speaking the gospel and say - "no, you're broken and only Jesus can fix you; no, you're flawed and only Jesus can correct you; no, you're a wretched sinner and only Jesus can forgive you." That's the gospel and that is highly offensive to this world we live in - just as it has always been offensive. And this highly offensive gospel will bring opposition - and you can mark it down, people will not like you if you speak it clearly.
But though many will seek to shut down and shut up those who proclaim the gospel - some will believe. And that's why we keep preaching it. When we proclaim the forgiveness that only comes through Jesus there will be those who receive the offer of pardon and rejoice in his salvation.
The gospel is not self-love and self improvement. The gospel is die to self, trust in the exclusivity of Jesus and be born again. And this is the message we take to our neighbors and to the nations. And do you know what the response will be to that message? The inevitable response will be opposition and persecution. But some will believe.
So how do we press forward with this knowledge and understanding? How can we be bold witnesses for Christ in the face of opposition. The same way Peter was in verse 8: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit... How did he do it? He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Hugh Latimer: The same way Hugh Latimer did it in the 1500's. He was the Bishop of Worcester when on one occasion, the king, Henry the 8th was in his congregation. He preached a forceful gospel message which called for repentance from sin and faith in the gospel of Jesus. Afterwards someone came to Latimer and told him that the king was highly offended by his message.
The next Sunday the king was present in the congregation again. Hugh Latimer rose, read a different passage than the one he had read the previous week, but preached the same message as the previous week just with much greater force. How did he do it? He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Peter Cartwright - He was a circuit riding preacher in the US in the early 1800's who personally baptized over 12,000 people. On one occasion he was told that president Andrew Jackson was in the crowd that day when he was preaching and that it might be wise to tone down his message. When Cartwright rose up to preach he began his message with these words: "I understand Andrew Jackson is with us today. I have been warned to be guarded in my words. Andrew Jackson will go to hell if he doesn't repent." How did he do it? He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
How will we do it? How will we stand firm, courageous and bold in our witness for Christ even in the face of opposition; even with the very real tug and pull at our hearts to be liked by people? How will we do it?
Last Thought: As we SURRENDER our will to the Spirit of God, He will EMBOLDEN us to faithful testimony for Christ, even in the face of opposition.
