OPEN: In Reader’s Digest, a young woman told of being employed as a dental receptionist.
She said: I was on duty when an extremely nervous patient came for root canal surgery. He was brought into the examining room and made comfortable in the reclining dental chair. The dentist then injected a numbing agent around the patient’s tooth, and left the room for a few minutes while the medication took hold.
When the dentist returned, the patient was standing next to a tray of dental equipment.
"What are you doing by the surgical instruments?" asked the surprised dentist.
Focused on his task, the patient replied, "I’m taking out the ones I don’t like."
APPLY: Apparently, some of those tools made the patient very uncomfortable. AND, his intention was to remove anything from the tray that was unpleasant to him.
I. The High Priest and the Sanhedrin are uncomfortable.
There’s something about the Apostles (and what they’re preaching) that is unpleasant for these leaders.
SO… their intention is to “remove” this irritation from their sight
- They begin with a warning in Acts Chapter 4
- Now, they jail them, flog them and warn them sternly not to do this again
- AND later, we find them openly persecuting (not just the Apostle) but the whole church
They threatened them
Beat them
Imprisoned them
And even stoned some of them to death
Now… why would they do this?
I mean Peter and John – and the rest of the church – were doing good things in the community
They are helping people…
healing the sick,
reaching out to the poor
standing against evil
These are good citizens
So, why are the High Priest and the Sanhedrin so angry with these Apostles? Why are they making life so difficult on them?
(pause…)
Well… it’s not because of what they DOING… but because of what they TEACHING
II. What is it about their teaching that made the Sanhedrin so upset?
Here in Acts 5, the Sanhedrin explains the underlying reason they’re so upset:
"We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name…yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood." Acts 5:28
Were they guilty of Jesus blood?
Oh yeah…
In the Gospels we find that : Jesus was arrested about Midnight. And the Sanhedrin began it’s trial at about 2 A.M. on the day before the Sabbath.
Now, there were several things about the arrest & trial of Jesus that were illegal
1st, it was against Jewish Law to arrest someone at night unless the accused was in the act of a crime AND, you weren’t supposed to arrest someone without a warrant - and no legal court had indicted Jesus.
2ndly the Sanhedrin was illegally assembled: according to their own rules, they weren’t allowed to convene on the day before a Sabbath, or on a day before such holy seasons such as Passover.
3rdly it was against Jewish law for a court to be held at night.
4thly the Sanhedrin wasn’t allowed to institute proceedings, but only to judge those who were brought before them by magistrates. And the preliminary trial, which was held before the High Priest Annas was illegal. The whole court was required to hear all the information.
5thly, the balloting was illegal. The younger were to vote 1st so that they would not be influenced by the elder and more powerful. Here the chairman pronounced Jesus guilty and worthy of death before anyone else had even voted.
And 6thly Jewish Law insisted that no capital case calling for a death penalty could be heard in single day. The sentence must not be pronounced on the same day as the trial. However, Jesus was tried, convicted, sentenced and executed on the same day.
In short… this was a Kangaroo Court. And the verdict was decided long before Jesus was bro’t before them.
So, were these leaders “guilty” of Jesus’ blood???
Oh yeah … and they knew it.
BUT the Bible teaches that they weren’t the only ones.
We’re all guilty of Jesus’ blood… we’re guilty because it was our sins that condemned Jesus to death.
Isaiah 53:5 tells us “… he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
We were the reason Jesus went to the cross
It was our sins
Our guilt
Our lust
Our bitterness
Our selfishness
OUR SINS that nailed Jesus
ILLUS: And that’s part of what Mel Gibson tried to communicate in the movie “The Passion.”
In the part of the movie where Jesus is being nailed to the cross – the hand (in the movie) that held the nail to be driven into Christ’s hand – that hand was Mel Gibson’s.
What Gibson was trying to say was: “I’m at fault… I nailed Him there… I’m guilty of this man’s blood”
III. I believe that’s part of the reason that there has been so much opposition to this movie
The anger and hostility that (those in the media) have shown towards the movie “The Passion” has been almost unprecedented.
· There have been accusations of anti-Semitism
· Complaints that the movie lacked any redemptive value
· That it was too gory and violent
SOME HAVE even made their criticisms personal – Andy Rooney went on record as calling Gibson a wacko and said he was as crazy as a bedbug.
There were even dark whisperings that Gibson would never work in Hollywood again. It was implied that the entertainment industry would blacklist him.
Now, you don’t make people mad like that unless you’ve pushed some of their buttons
AND this movie pushes one major button:
· Jesus died for our sins
· He paid a terrible price for our sins
· And His sacrifice demands a decision
In a culture that literally celebrates violence and gore and pornography. This movie communicates THAT idea (in a way that no other one could).
· Jesus died for your sins
· He paid a terrible price for your sins
· And His sacrifice demands a decision
The end result of Gibson’s movie was to set loose great anger and rejection.
IV. But, you don’t need to direct a $30 million movie to get that type of response
You don’t have to be a Hollywood movie star
You don’t need to act in a TV special
Or sing from the stage of a Broadway musical
You don’t have to be a person of prominence in society to recieve this kind of backlash for your faith.
Jesus said, all you have to do is belong to Him. Jesus told His disciples: “All men will hate you because of me...” Matthew 10:22
"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.” Luke 6:22
In fact, He said: "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:18-19
Why?
Well, because Jesus is NOT an “inclusive” God
You can’t belong to Jesus and just live your life anyway you want to
You can’t belong to Jesus and go to the parties and other forms of entertainment the rest of the world amuses itself with.
When you come to Jesus – you have to change.
You have to admit that you’ve been wrong, that you’ve sinned & that you want to be different.
You have to acknowledge that you don’t deserve God’s kindness – you need His mercy
ILLUS: The story is told of a politician who was furious after receiving the proofs of a portrait. He stormed back to the photographer, uttering angrily, "This picture does not do me justice!" The photographer replied, "Sir, with a face like yours, you don’t need justice, you need mercy!"
UNTIL a person come to grips with that reality…
The reality that they need forgiveness…
That they need God’s mercy
That they’re NOT GOOD enough for God as they are
Until a person come to grips with that reality, they are not going to be happy around Jesus
AND they’re not going to be happy around us.
Paul wrote: …we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life… 2 Corinthians 2:15-16
In other words… we smell of life to those who love Jesus
BUT… we smell like death to those who don’t
Our very existence is a billboard blaring out that they need to change their lives.
And because of that, sometimes the world gets nasty
Sometimes they insult us
Sometimes they exclude us
Sometimes they do worse than that…
Peter was flogged… imprisoned… and eventually killed because of his faith in Jesus
HOW DO YOU HANDLE TO THAT TYPE OF RESPONSE BY THE WORLD????
Well… it all depends.
It all depends on whether you love Jesus and how much you love Him.
ILLUS: I love my wife and children. I love them more than I do you. Sorry, but that’s the way it works. And I will defend them and stand beside them in ways I will not do for you. I love them in a deeper and a different way than I do you.
So also, our love for Jesus – if it is deeper and different than our love for others will reveal itself in how we respond tot hose who reject us.
Peter stood before the Sanhedrin and faced imprisonment and pain
He was told NEVER to speak about this Jesus of Nazareth - ever again
Acts 5:29 tells us: Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
ILLUS: In my ministry, I have watched Christians being faced with decisions like that
Decisions about whether they’re going to stand up for Jesus… or whether they’re going to sit and shut up.
And – how they responded – said a lot about how important Jesus was to them.
CLOSE: Back in the 1500’s a Catholic Priest was troubled by his past.
He observed all of the requirements of the Roman Church in attempting to relieve himself of his shame and guilt. He did penance, even going so far as to kiss the steps that ascended to the Pope’s throne in Rome. But no matter what he did, he failed to find relief.
Finally he turned to the scriptures to see if there could be an answer there he that couldn’t find elsewhere. It was there that he discovered forgiveness and hope and it was also there that he found himself led to question some of the Catholic Church’s activities - indulgences, the selling of church offices and even, eventually the authority of the Pope.
These discoveries prompted him to challenge the church to a debate on 95 different points of doctrine that he wrote on a piece of paper and nailed to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany. The following debates and pamphlets that passed out as a result, swiftly brought the German peasants to his side of the debate.
Rome responded by Papal bulls denouncing his teachings and excommunicating this priest - Luther from the church. Luther burned the Bulls.
Rome finally called this errant priest to a counsel held at Worms, Germany. There, faced by priest and bishops, knights and court officials, and especially by the hostile young emperor Charles V, Luther was confronted by his teachings, piled on a desk. He was asked if he formally acknowledged these writings, or if he would recant. No debate would be allowed.
Men had died for less. Heretics were burned at stakes or tortured for hours for punishment, and Luther knew that his very life hung in the balance. It was at that moment that he asked for time to consider his answer and to pray to God for guidance. He was granted 24 hours.
The next day, Luther attempted to make a defense of his works but was brusquely demanded to make a plain simple answer.
Pausing, Luther looked at his accusers and replied that he would only recant if convinced of his error by either Scripture or evident reason. Otherwise he could not go against his conscience which was bound by the Word of God. He raised himself to his full height and declared
"Here I stand, I can do no other."
Shortly afterwards, Luther was "kidnapped" by a friendly German prince who hid him in his castle for a period of time for Luther’s protection.
