Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon February 24, 2008
Thing were going really well for the new believers led by the apostles. On a single day of preaching done by Peter “about three thousand were added to their number” as noted in Acts 2:41. And, 2:47 notes how the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. And, in chapter 3, we see Peter doing the impossible in the name of Jesus Christ; a forty year old man, a bagger, with the lifetime congenital defect to his legs that made him a cripple man since birth experienced the impossible, spectacular healing that allowed him to experience for the first time in his life what it was to walk and to jump. People were blown away by this amazing healing done by Peter in Jesus’ name. 3:10 states, “they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” Certainly it is not too difficult to imagine the magnitude of the amazement felt by the people.
Truly these were the sunny and glorious days for the newly found Jerusalem church. The biblical preaching, the exponential church growth, and the stunning miraculous healing, things couldn’t have gone any better for the church.
But, what we see in chapter 4 is this unfettered sunny days being overshadowed by darkness of persecution. It is like the lunar eclipse of this past Wednesday, the brightly shining moon in its full glory being overshadowed by the earth; slowly the moon turned from its luminous color to eerie shade of red until the whole moon was overshadowed by the earth.
As we make our ways through the chapters of the Acts of the apostles, you will notice this theme of worsening darkness of persecution. Chapter 4 is just the beginning.
This morning, what I want you to pay attention is the way the apostles and the believers react to this drastic change in their circumstance. When things got hot, when things got dangerous, when their evangelistic zeal to proclaim Jesus as Christ and Lord was matched by the growing rejection, hatred, and physical threats, I want you to notice the way the believers reacted to this dark change. I want you to pay attention to this because the way one reacts to the changing circumstances reveals great deal about the person’s faith. Another word, the way you react in dark days reveal true nature of your faith in Christ.
- Expect the opposition and rejection to your testimony of Jesus Christ
The theme of this year is this: “You are my witnesses.” And, as you get serious about being Jesus’ witnesses, as you get more active in sharing your faith, you can be certain of this; you will face rejection; you will face opposition.
Jesus said in John 15:20-21, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also… They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” Luke 21:12-13, Jesus warned his disciples what would happened to him when they become his witnesses, “they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them.”
This is precisely what happened to Peter and John just the way Jesus said it would happen to them. The leaders over Jewish communities detained Peter and John over night in jail. Next day, they convened the Sanhedrin which was the highest governing authority, the senate and the highest ruling authority, the supreme court of the nation; there were seventy one people in this Sanhedrin council; the Sadducees and the Pharisees made up the seventy and plus the high priest. It was like Peter and John being brought in front of the Supreme Court and the Senate meeting to be judged. The Sanhedrin had the jurisdiction over all cases except the capital punishment cases. This was why earlier Jesus was handed over to Romans to be crucified instead of they themselves crucifying Jesus. They took offense to Peter and John’s teaching and proclamation about Jesus.
- Resurrection: Verse 2, it says that the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees “were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.”
- Responsibility for crucifying Christ: It was not too long ago, when these same religious leaders and other Jews along with the Romans that they crucified Jesus. Peter explicitly tells this fact in verse 10, “Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead…” They thought they took care of Jesus Christ. But, now the exponentially growing believers after Jesus were testifying to the fact that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead.
- Exclusive claim for salvation by Jesus alone: Verse 12, Peter claimed, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
If you were to make the same case to the secular minds about Jesus Christ, the likelihood of being taken seriously is unlikely. What is likely is you will offend the minds of people who embrace pluralism. Pluralism is the attempt to tolerate every religious claim and view as equally valid and true. It does this by attempting to find the common universal ground among the competing, exclusive truth claims while ignoring the nature of their exclusive claims. This is really the bedrock, the underpinning of our society we live in now. The exclusive claim by Jesus that he is “the way and the truth and the life” that “no one comes to the Father except through” him found in John 14:6 goes against the fabric of our time. In the minds of pluralist, the Christ’s exclusive claim for salvation in him alone is bigotry, offensive, primitive, uncivil, and intolerant. For us to claim that only in Jesus salvation is found is appalling and backward to many.
So, as you and I get on board and get serious about being Jesus’ witnesses this year, we need to get this; the message of the gospel is offensive because it is the exclusive claim of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation and this goes against the common value of pluralism.
When I became a Christian at the age of fifteen after immigrating shortly to America, I began writing letters to my good friend in Korea who was not a Christian. I wrote to him how I was changing because of my newly found relationship with Jesus. I shared about Jesus Christ, what he meant to me, and how I was feeling, thinking, behaving differently. I shared the changes that I was experiencing because of Jesus. My friend who I grew up with, who I shared tons of fun moments of laughter, being silly and playful, who was warm to me wrote letters back to me. In his each letters, my friend wrote how he thought I was going through a religious phase, how I was becoming weak, weird, deceived. He dismissed my conversion, my relationship with Jesus as silly thing. His tone felt demeaning and removed. This was coming from my childhood friend.
Apostle Peter said, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you,” in 1 Peter 4:12. If you get serious about being witnesses of Jesus, you will face opposition and rejection from many. People will dismiss you as a bigot and won’t take you seriously.
As you take Jesus’ call to be his witnesses seriously and know that you must expect opposition and rejection, there has to be something within you that will make you stand strong and courageous.
In verse 13, you see this courage in operation. It says Peter and John’s opponents saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men… they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
If we are going to expect opposition and rejection, you and I must be grounded in this courage.
- Courage is for those who spend time with Jesus
The courage that the members of the Sanhedrin saw operating in Peter and John was the byproduct of their intimacy with Jesus Christ.
They were not extraordinary people; they were not trained in the theological school as their opponents were; they were no experts in the laws. But what was true about Peter and John was this, they had been with Jesus.
Can this be said about you? Can it be said that you are men and women of courage because you spend time with Jesus.
More time spent at the feet of Jesus and learning from him his way of life, you will become more like him. Courage to be witnesses of Jesus Christ comes from spending time with him. If we lack in courage, it is because we lack in spending time with Jesus.
Their courage caused them to declare, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” in Acts 4:19-20 when they were commanded not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus in verse 18.
Spending time with Jesus make you bold like Peter and John.
- Courage is for those who have people to call their own.
It says in verse 23 that Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
Do you have the people to call your own? Do you have the people to go back to and to share what’s going on as you try to be Jesus’ witness? Peter and John did.
When they got back to their own people, they were energized, encouraged. Look at the way their own people responded to their report in verse 24. They raised their voices together in prayer to God. The people you can call your own are the people who would pray with you earnestly.
Do you have people like that? It has been highlighted to us by God that along with the theme of being Jesus’ witnesses this year, another theme will be building up the small groups.
Our small groups are still in infancy. But, God’s going to use the small groups to provide you the people you can call you own, the people who would pray for you earnestly.
Here is what I want you to remember. It is going to take time to form lasting relationship. To share the sense of belonging, to earnest and genuinely pray for each other doesn’t happen over night or months. It will take time. It will also require effort from each of us. Relationships don’t happen by chances. Relationships happen when you intentionally seek each other.
So, be patient and be intentional. You will gain courage from people you belong to, people who pray for you.
4. Courage is for those who know God as Sovereign Lord.
Verse 24, when they prayed they called out to God, “Sovereign Lord.” The word Sovereign Lord is only used few times in the New Testament. It comes from a Greek word despovth". According to Low and Nida, it means “one who holds complete power or authority over another.” It is the strongest term that speaks to God’s absolute control in his power. We get our English word ‘despot’ from this Greek word. You may come across English word ‘despot’ in articles that might describe someone like Fidel Castro who have had absolute control over Cuba for long time until just recently. Of course, when despot is used for someone like Castro, it speaks to the exercise of power tyrannically and temporally regardless of how long they may rule over their countries. Our Sovereign God doesn’t exercise his power tyrannically; his control is not temporary.
The people declared in verse 24, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” Our God is the master, the one who has the absolute control over whole universe, whole creation. The Sanhedrin gave Peter and John the official command not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus.
Yet, in the prayer of their people, what we see is this conviction that their God was Sovereign God, the Creator over all creation. This would include all those who oppose and reject the message of Christ.
This Sovereign God, the Creator God is God who has spoken. Through the mouth of David, he wrote in Psalm 2, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” All the assaults and the oppositions and rejections against Jesus Christ will be in vain. God declared this long ago. “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.” Yet, their effort, their conspiracy against Jesus will be in vain because God has spoken as such long ago. What God says goes. This is what it means for Sovereign God to have the absolute power and authority over all.
Verse 28 “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” Jesus wasn’t crucified by the will of the kings of the earth and the rulers. It was by the will of God, the Father. It was by the will of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who submitted to the Father’s will. Even at the cross, the darkest day of the history of mankind when God’s Son died, God was firmly in control. The darkest day was by Sovereign God’s will, by the Son of God’s will in submission.
As such in your darkest days, you will not stand alone for God is with you. Beyond the darkest days await the glorious days for God wills it.
5. Courage is for those who belong to God as his servants.
Verse 29, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” They identified themselves as Sovereign God’s servant. You cannot know God as Sovereign God apart from being his servants. To know God as Sovereign God means to assume the position of servant. And, to assume the position of servant is to know where you belong, you belong to God.
6. Courage is for those who ask for it from Sovereign God at where you are.
Do you see why Peter and John, their own people had such courage? They prayed unto Sovereign God. Verse 29, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” Verse 31, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” The words, courage in v. 13, boldness in v. 29 and boldly in v. 31 come from the same Greek word.
Notice that this confidence, boldness, courage is what they prayed for to Sovereign God; and they received their answer when the Holy Spirit came and filled them. It is the Holy Spirit who dispensed the courage, boldness to speak God’s word boldly. Another word, the courage that enables you and me to speak boldly the word of God is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Notice that they weren’t praying that somehow God would help them be safe and avoid any more confrontation. They pray for more of the stuff that got them into trouble in the first place. Another word, they are praying for boldness to be Jesus’ witness right where they were at. God grants courage for now, for here, for where you live, where you go, where you stay, where he sends you although it might be dark where you are. Courage is for those who ask for it from Sovereign God at where you are.
Conclusion
How do you receive this courage, the fruit of the Holy Spirit? It requires you to set your heart on being Jesus’ witness. Such determination comes by way of spending intimate time with Jesus. As you set your heart on being Jesus’ witness, you expect opposition and rejection. But, because you are not alone for you belong to your people, your small group, your church; you are encouraged for you surround yourself with a group of faithful prayer warriors.
How do you receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit? It requires the renewing of your mind, knowing clearly God as your Sovereign God. It requires you knowing who you belong to, to God as his servants.
How do you receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit? It requires you to ask for it from Sovereign God so that you can be effective witness here and now, wherever you are, wherever God sends you.
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