Introduction
We are going to be looking at quite a long passage of Scripture this morning, which takes about seven minutes to read, so I did wonder briefly if I should condense it down and only read parts of it.
But I decided that it’s far better for everyone to hear words that are 100% inspired by God than my thoughts.
So I’ll read it in full shortly, but I am going to begin by telling you what the opening and closing verses say.
Our passage starts by stating that the apostles performed many signs and wonders among the general population.
It says that all the believers were highly regarded by people outside the church and that ever-increasing numbers came to the Lord and were added to the community of believers.
It says that crowds began to come from Jerusalem’s neighbouring towns, bringing sick and demon possessed people and that not just some of them but all of them were healed.
So the gospel was now going beyond Jerusalem and penetrating into Judea, the surrounding region.
Pretty exciting, isn’t it? That’s how today’s section begins.
The end of the chapter strikes a similarly encouraging note with these upbeat words: “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
If you didn’t know the content of the 24 verses between that opening section and that closing verse, you’d never guess what it is.
If all we knew was the beginning and the end we would be forgiven for supposing that Acts 5 must be about unrelenting blessing and favour and joyful progress.
But it isn’t. It’s actually mostly about trouble. Big trouble.
There’s jealousy, false arrest, imprisonment, a prison-break, civil disobedience, fear of rioting, angry confrontation, death threats, grievous bodily harm and public humiliation.
This is a passage of Scripture that proves the rule that Christians are like tea bags. Did you know that?
If you’re a Christian you are like a tea bag in this respect: the test of your strength is when you find yourself in really hot water.
In Acts 5, that’s what happens. The apostles have been mocked and jeered in chapter 2, and harassed and threatened in chapter 4 already, but chapter 5 contains the first recorded occurrence of Jesus’ followers getting beaten up.
And we need to say right at the start that God allows - and even sends - difficulty in our lives at times to build up our spiritual muscle. Trouble refines the church but can never remove it.
So, as the momentum builds with the growth of the church, so does the resistance. It’s always been this way. Whenever the gospel advances, the enemy gets upset and starts kicking off.
Baptist pastor John Piper once said this – and I love this quote – listen to this: “If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.”
Nowhere in the Bible is that truth more eloquently illustrated than in the section we are looking at today, Acts 5.12-42.
So let’s read what it says.
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
[That’s the same part of the temple complex where there was all the commotion over the healing of the crippled beggar in chapter 3].
No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
[That seems contradictory, but it just means that generally speaking people didn’t risk hanging around the provocative open-air preaching but came in increasing numbers to meetings in homes].
As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
[And you can understand why. These professional clergy types are attracting a small fraction of the kind of crowds flocking to untrained fishermen who are preaching on their own patch in the temple courts!]
They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”
At
daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to
teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called
together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to
the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not
find them there
So they went back and reported, “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.
Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honoured by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
[And because the authorities had forbidden them to speak about Jesus, they resolved to be good citizens and meekly keep the peace. Except it doesn’t say that; it actually says:]
Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
1. Growth and Health
Well, Acts 5 is about a season when the Holy Spirit is being poured out in an extraordinary way.
Many sick people are getting miraculously healed, in the streets, sometimes in unprecedented ways. Demons are getting cast out from tormented souls.
And there is a rising tide of faith as people see evidence of God’s grace and power at work.
Consequently, the number of believers is growing. People are coming to faith in Christ and being added to church.
This is what we want isn’t it? I don’t know a Christian anywhere who doesn’t want to see the church grow.
Many studies have been commissioned on church growth. Thousands of books have been written about it
How do you achieve church growth? We all want to know.
What are the key ingredients? How do you track it and measure it? How do you maintain it?
But the New Testament never talks about the principles and strategies of church growth. Instead, it focuses, especially in the epistles, on church health.
If your plants are healthy; if they have the right amount of light and water, and if they are planted in good soil, they will grow.
If your child is healthy, or if your pet is healthy, if you feed them and care for them, they will grow.
I have a friend called Scott who is a vet. He once got a phone call once from a man who said he bought a Labrador puppy off a guy in the pub and he was worried because it didn’t seem to be getting any bigger. So Scott thought, this sounds interesting; maybe it’s an unusual growth hormone deficiency or something. He said, “Bring it in, I’ll examine him.” So the guy brings it in and Scott gives the poor animal a thorough investigation which concludes with these devastating words: “Sir, the good news is that your pet is quite normal. The bad news is that you have been sold a guinea pig!” True story…
When a church is healthy; when it has godly leadership, sound Bible teaching, relevant evangelism, eventful worship, expectant prayer, loving fellowship and faith-stretching vision, the presence of God fills it and it becomes an unstoppable force.
Pray for King’s to be healthy, then God will bless it with the best kind of growth.
I wish it were our experience that everyone for whom we prayed for healing got better, like in v16. But alas it isn’t the case.
I wish it were our experience that everyone we invited to follow Jesus did so there and then, so that conversions occurred daily like in Acts 2.47. But it isn’t the case either.
But what I do know is this: more sick people get healed when we step out in faith and pray for them than when we don’t.
And more people give their lives to Christ when we take the risk and invite them to become Christians than when we don’t.
I wish I were a better witness than I am. But sometimes the best evangelism is simply telling someone you’re a Christian and then not being a complete jerk. And anyone can do that. Well, most people…
It’s great to read this stuff in Acts. I love it. But are you tempted to compare it with your own experience and conclude that God did things differently back then and that everything’s changed now?
Someone I know, who now leads a church up here in the north east, was training to be a vicar a few years ago. He was in a boring lecture about tax arrangements for ministers, and he started to daydream when, out of the blue, he had an impression that someone was standing on a street corner outside his training college and that he should approach them and invite them to become a Christian.
This is how he tells the story: I put it to the back of my mind, but about ten minutes later the thought returned. 'There's a woman standing on the corner of Ridley Hall Road. She hasn't seen her son in ten years. Go and speak to her and invite her to become a Christian.' Should I walk out of the lecture or should I stay? I stayed. But a bit later a third thought entered my mind - with even more detail. 'There's a woman standing on the corner of Ridley Hall Road. She hasn't seen her son in ten years. She is meeting up with him tomorrow. Go and tell her it's going to be OK and then invite her to become a Christian.' I thought, 'Right, I'm going.' I left the lecture theatre, went out the college gates, walked up to the place I had seen in my mind's eye and... there she was, standing on the corner, all alone. I went up to her and introduced myself. I said “Hi, I’m Ben, I’m a vicar in training.” Then I told her that I think God just told me that she hadn't seen her son in 10 years. She burst into tears. I told her that she would see him tomorrow and that it would be OK. Amazingly, she confirmed that they had indeed agreed to meet up for the first time in a decade the very next day. I then invited her to become a Christian. Understandably, she wanted to know what that was about so I took her into the College common room, made her a cup of tea and explained the gospel. It turned out that she was a witch, into the occult. But she gave her heart to Christ that day and has been walking as a new-born Christian ever since.
This isn’t from a dusty book about 1st century Jerusalem. This is Jesus in 21st century England. This is what he does. This is what he’s like.
2. Detention and Defiance
You can imagine the euphoria of that moment. But have you ever noticed that our highest spiritual highs are usually followed by the lowest spiritual lows?
As sure as night follows day, whenever God does a beautiful thing, our enemy, the devil, reacts. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happens here in Acts 5.
In Acts 5.17-24 they put the apostles behind bars, under lock and key, in order to shut them up.
Remember, we are followers of one who was despised and rejected by the world, so we should hardly be surprised if we find that it dislikes us at times.
Jesus said as much in John 15:18. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”
But, back in Acts 5, before the authorities have finished their breakfast the next morning, these men are out preaching in the temple again, making a nuisance of themselves.
Brother Yun, in his book The Heavenly Man, talks about how the same thing happened to him in red China a few years ago.
Beaten to within an inch of his life and locked up in a maximum-security prison, he walked right out in broad daylight as God opened every door and closed the eyes of every guard. Amazing…
The Jewish leaders complain in v28 here that these believers are making them feel guilty. “You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Just a few weeks earlier, at Jesus’ trial in Matthew 27.25, they said, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
But that’s all forgotten now. They are desperate to save face, to win the argument, to preserve their position, to keep their cushy jobs.
They could have said, “God is obviously with you. Clearly, we sent an innocent man to his death. We can see now that we’ve made a terrible mistake.
They would have been forgiven, cleansed of a bad conscience, filled with the Holy Spirit and saved from being cast out from God’s presence forever.
But no, they just forbid them once again from speaking about Jesus.
This is when Peter says, “We can’t do that. We must obey God rather than human beings!”
John Stott in his commentary says, “Christians are called to be conscientious citizens and, generally speaking to submit to human authorities. But if the authority concerned misuses its God-given power to command what he forbids or to forbid what he commands, then a Christian’s duty is to disobey the human authority in order to obey God’s.”
Some years ago, a young man called Andrew Gibson worked as a clerk at the London department store, Selfridges. One day, the tycoon owner Mr. Selfridge himself was there. The telephone rang and Andrew answered it. The caller asked to speak to Mr. Selfridge. Andrew passed on the message and Selfridge waved him away and said, ‘Tell him I’m out.’ But Andrew Gibson held out the receiver to him with his hand over the mouthpiece and said, ‘You tell him you’re out!’ So Selfridge took the call, but he was furious with this junior nobody talking to him like that. Once the call was over, he let rip. “How dare you talk to me like that! Who do you think you are!” Andrew said to him, “With respect sir, If I can lie for you, I can lie to you.” From that day onwards, he became one of Selfridge’s most trusted employees.
“We must obey God rather than human beings!" Fortunately, most our lives, we can obey both in good conscience.
But what situations do you find yourself in where what people tell you to do goes against God? When do you have to say, “I’m sorry, I cannot do that; I am a Christian.”
It’s not comfortable, is it? But is today the day you resolve to say in a particular situation, “I’m just not going to do that anymore”?
Back
in Acts 5, it’s all getting pretty tense in the Sanhedrin. It’s a stand-off. No
one’s backing down.
So one of the Pharisees, Gamaliel, says in v34-39, “Look, in the unlikely event that this actually is from God you’ll not be able to stop it. More likely, this will probably all just fizzle out. Ignore it, it’ll just go away.”
Sometimes, when people are not sure if something is from God or not, they say, “Let’s apply the Gamaliel Test. How wise, how reasonable, how moderate…” But it’s bad leadership.
Gamaliel should have said, “Wait a minute. How did these men got out of jail without any locks being broken? This sounds like an incredible miracle. We should have a thorough investigation into it. And what about these signs and wonders everyone’s talking about? Let’s interview all these people who claim to have been miraculously healed."
If he’d done that, he would have found out that Jesus is alive, that he really is the Messiah, and that this unstoppable new movement is from God.
Everyone agrees to Gamaliel’s plan and they let the apostles go - but only after subjecting them to a good flogging. It’s a minor detail in the text, almost skated over.
But it almost certainly means the horrific 40 lashes minus one. Think of that; 39 blows of a whip on your bare back. Each one adding agony and injury to the last.
No doubt bleeding profusely and with stinging pain in their backs, they leave the Sanhedrin not complaining or cursing, or shouting back abuse, but with rejoicing, feeling honoured for being counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus.
Richard Wurmbrant was imprisoned for 14 years in Communist Romania over 2 different periods. He wrote about it in his book Tortured for Christ. Here’s an extract.
“It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught preaching received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching. So we accepted their terms. It was a deal. We preached, and they beat us. We were happy preaching and they were happy beating us. So everyone was happy. The following scene happened more times than I can remember. A brother was preaching to the other prisoners when the guards suddenly burst in, surprising him halfway through a phrase. They hauled him down the corridor to their beating room. After what seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and threw him—bloody and bruised—on the prison floor. Slowly, he picked up his battered body, painfully straightened his clothing and said, ‘Now, brethren, where did I leave off when I was interrupted?”
Ending
As I close, just a few takeaways as we respond to God.
Firstly, signs and wonders are not just a first century phenomenon. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
We believe God still mends broken lives and heals messed up people. Ask God for a miracle today.
Secondly, remember this: you cannot follow Jesus and be liked by everybody at the same time. That doesn’t mean you can be gratuitously obnoxious by the way!
But sometimes we need to count the cost of following Jesus and say, “Yes, Lord. Whatever it takes, I’m in.”
Thirdly, are you like Gamaliel, afraid to take sides?
Have you been looking at Christianity from the outside and saying, “I’m not against it, but I don’t know really, I’ll just wait and see.”
Come to Christ today and he will lighten every burden, lift every sorrow, calm every fear and settle your troubled soul.
Don’t sit on the fence another day. This is the most important choice of our lives with eternity is at stake. Make today the best day of your life so far!
Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 20 March 2022
