CWC- Easter 2 - Lesson - Kieth Bernard Kuschel
Acts 5:12, 17-32
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”21 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. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 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.27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “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.”29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things
How did you spend Easter?
Locked room? Jesus spent forty days with His disciples after He rose. He answered their questions about His work. He wanted them to have the tools and courage to spread the message about Him without His physical presence. Did it work? On Pentecost they spoke boldly about Jesus, not cowering as fearful weaklings behind locked doors. Peter said, {2:23}“you with the help of wicked men, put Jesus to death by nailing him to the cross.” Peter courageously confronted them with their sin. After Peter and John healed a crippled beggar at the temple gate, Peter said,{3:16} “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to Him, as you can all see.” Because of that action, the religious high court put them in prison. When they were given a chance to explain themselves, they said, {4:10}“It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the death, that this man stands before you completely healed.” Peter again courageously confronted them with their sin Peter and John were released and told not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. They did anyway. The first verses of today’s lesson say, 12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead —whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. Peter a third time courageously confronted them with their sin {33} The Sanhedrin members were furious when they heard this and wanted to put them to death. Peter and John knew that was the reaction that they were going to get. Why did they do it anyway? They weren’t afraid of death anymore. Jesus’ resurrection had proven to them that death was not the end. If they were put to death proclaiming God’s law, they could face it with courage, knowing that resurrection to eternal life was waiting for them. God’s law says: “You are a sinner. You deserve to be punished because of the wrong that you have done.” How does that make you feel? Defensive. Angry. Combative. Just like the members of the Sanhedrin. But God the Holy Spirit has led you to respond to the law by saying, “I know I am a sinner. I know I deserve to be punished.” When you tell somebody, as Peter and John did, that they sinned, you can expect the same reaction. Try saying these to somebody: “You are sinning when you tell everybody else what someone failed to do, instead of talking to the person who produced the failure.” “You are sinning when you waste your money instead of using it the way God wants it used.” “You are sinning when you don’t use the Word with your congregational family.” Expect a defensive, angry, combative response. Why confront people with sin? They need to repent of it, otherwise it will separate them from Jesus. Where do we get the courage from? Well, what is the worst that could happen to us? Ridicule. Vicious words. Death. Death isn’t the end. Jesus resurrection proves that. Jesus’ resurrection gives us, as it gave Peter, the courage to speak the law to others. If I were a member of the crowds Peter addressed, I would have asked: How can you claim that Jesus of Nazareth is doing these miracles, and at the same time accuse us of putting Him to death?” Peter and John’s answer is:30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things. The miracles of the apostles were evidence that Jesus was alive and well. That is what really bothered the Jewish religious leaders. They hadn’t believed Jesus was the Messiah. They thought they had stopped the idea by killing Him. Now the idea was being promoted by others. These followers of Jesus were claiming Jesus was alive. They were pointing to their miracles as evidence of it. The apostles continued to proclaim Jesus and perform miracles in spite of their knowledge that this would lead to more confrontations with the religious leaders because they knew that what they were claiming was true. They had seen Jesus alive. They had interacted with Him for forty days. The resurrection of Jesus had given them the courage to proclaim the Good News that Jesus was who he claimed to be. In all the public presentations of the apostles up to this point in the book of Acts, the content is the same and it becomes a broken record. “You killed Jesus. God raised Him from the dead. That is proof that He was who He claimed to be. He is the Savior and Messiah long promised.” That is the way the first presentation to the Sanhedrin ended. That is the way the speech to the people in the temple after the healing of the beggar ended. That is the way the sermon at Pentecost ended. That is the way the speech before us today ended.
Where did the apostles get the courage to proclaim the good news that Jesus was the Messiah? Something that was very obviously a disputed teaching in their situation. From the resurrection of Jesus. That gave them the courage to know their message was true and should be proclaimed.
We have much less proof that Jesus rose from the dead than the apostles had. We have not personally, physically seen Him. We have not talked to Him after He rose. We have not eaten with Him or spent forty days with Him. Our evidence comes from those who did. It has been recorded for us in the Bible. It is on that basis that the Holy Spirit has convinced each of us that He did rise.
From where do we get the courage to proclaim the Gospel? From where does the courage come for us to say, “Jesus is true God, the Savior, the only way to eternal life”? Same place the apostles got it. The resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection proves everything about Him to be true. The empty tomb should be the symbol of Christianity.
Why does the resurrection of Jesus give us boldness to talk about Jesus the Savior being the only way to eternal life? Because although we can’t give actual proof of the truthfulness of the Gospel message today, on the last day when we rise with everybody else because of Jesus’ resurrection, everything Jesus taught will be proven to be true. That gives us courage now.
God gave the apostles some very tough orders in this section of the Bible. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.” Go back to the temple and do the same thing in the same place where you got arrested for doing that once before. That is just crazy.
Sometimes the first time doing a difficult task is the easiest. After you have gotten arrested once, doing it the second and third time is much harder. But the apostles did it. The LORD gave them the courage to do it.
Jesus had told the apostles they were to speak about Him in the presence of the leaders of the people. The apostles were aware that these people didn’t want to listen to them. Those leaders wanted to get rid of them. They would use everything they said against them. Why should they expose themselves to attack by these people?
But the apostles did it. The LORD gave them the courage to carry out His orders to speak to people who from a human standpoint didn’t deserve to hear the truth. Sometimes, the task isn’t as difficult as getting over the hurdle of our distaste for the people we are supposed to deal with.
The apostles in this situation made a wonderful statement about their purpose in life. {29}“We must obey God rather than human beings!” There were a whole lot of forces tugging at them. Their own safety. Their responsibility to the church in Jerusalem. Good PR in the community. What should be most important? They decided obeying God was most important. God gave them the courage to make that decision.
God has given us the same orders that He gave the apostles. We are to repeat His message to people over and over again. Tell the person over and over again that sexual activity outside of marriage is sin. Every time you say it, it gets harder. Tell the indifferent person over and over again that Jesus’ death wipes away his sin, Jesus’ life give him holiness, and Jesus’ resurrection insures eternal life. It even sounds like a broken record to you. Every time you say it, it gets harder. Where do we get the courage to be boldly repetitious? We know Jesus is working right along side us. How do we know? Jesus rose.
God has given us the same orders that He gave the apostles. We are to give His message to people who from our perspective don’t deserve the truth and are distasteful to us. To people who enjoy ridiculing us. To people who will use what we say against us. To people who don’t like us. To people who treat us condescendingly. To people who are doing disgusting things. Where do we get the courage to do this? We know Jesus is working right along side us. How do we know? Jesus rose.
God has given us the same orders that He gave the apostles. We are to obey Him rather than humans. Obeying Him is more important than our financial security, our job success, our reputation in the community, our enjoyment of life or anything else. Where do we get the courage to make priority decisions and obey God? We know Jesus is working right along side us. How do we know? Jesus rose.
Conc: Risen LORD JESUS, please continue to give me the courage to proclaim Law and Gospel and to obey You.