Study in the Acts of the Apostles

Study in the Acts of the Apostles Presentation 14

Recognising The Hand Of God Chapter 5:25-42 Presentation 14

Introduction Whenever I have watched the ‘Antiques Roadshow’ programme on TV, I’ve been fascinated by the way in which the experts confidently date and even name the craftsman who has produced a particular object. Few of us can make that kind of identification. Most housewives can tell whose dirty footprints have trailed across their clean kitchen floor! Most fathers can tell when their tools have been used by another family member. But surely the most important thing for us to learn to recognise is the activity of the hand of God in our lives and in that of our church fellowship! Presentation 14

Introduction God’s hand was at work. The early church was growing at a quite remarkable rate. The Jewish religious authorities had responded by intimidating and then imprisoning the apostles. God’s angel messenger then released them from prison. Now as far as the religious authorities were concerned the apostles added insult to injury, for instead of making good their escape, they returned to the temple and continued to speak about Jesus. What would the authorities do now? Presentation 14

Prejudiced Minds The religious leaders had the disciples rearrested but strangely didn’t question them about their remarkable escape! What is always the first question that the authorities always ask an escapee? ‘How was it done?’ ‘Who helped you escape? Such questions were not asked. Why? Did they know that the facts could embarrass their own prejudiced views. The Sadducees did not believe in an miraculous interventionist God. Their reluctance to examine the fingerprints of God reflects an attitude of heart that says; ‘I've made up my mind, don't confuse me with the facts’. Presentation 14

Prejudiced Minds The Sanhedrin’s refusal to face the facts is also seen in v28, “you are determined to make us guilty of this mans blood”. Had they forgotten their bold words to Pilate, when they cried for Jesus' crucifixion? "Let his blood be upon us and our children "Matt 27.25. If the religious leaders could not face the facts that they knew to be true; their responsibility for Jesus’ death, then there was little chance of them being open to something they were less sure of; the resurrection of Jesus. The prejudiced mind proves to be a great timesaver. It enables us to form opinions without bothering to get facts. Presentation 14

Prejudiced Minds Do you know people like that? Surely it is more rewarding to speak to an ignorant man than a prejudiced man. Why? For ignorance is less remote from the truth than prejudice. Roger Foster writes: “How then do we come to believe in a world of the spirit? Is it by blind faith? Not at all! The inner reality of the spiritual world is available to all who are willing to search for it. Often I have discovered that those who so freely debunk the spiritual world have never taken 10 minutes to discover whether such a world really exists… Presentation 14

Prejudiced Minds “Like any other scientific endeavour, we form a hypothesis and experiment with it to see if it is true or not. If our first experiment fails we do not despair or label the whole business fraudulent. We re-examine our procedure perhaps adjust our hypothesis and try again. We should at least have the honesty to persevere in this work to the same degree we would in any field of science. The fact that so many are unwilling to do so betrays not their intelligence but their prejudice.” Presentation 14

Prejudiced Minds A number of people say of those who are prejudiced to the gospel; ‘Its impossible we just can’t get through to them’. That shouldn’t surprise us, for prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument. Of course, God can break through prejudice and we find Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin, taking a quantum leap in his thinking in v38 “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”. Presentation 14

Prejudiced Minds Gamaliel’s words convince the council and save the apostle’s lives. Now the change in Gamaliel'sthinking, is a miracle no less spectacular than had been the opening of the apostles’ prison cell. His mind had been opened to recognise the operation of the hand of God. Oh make no mistake, Gamaliel is still far from faith, but having moved from a prejudiced position he is now in the position to carefully consider the facts. Presentation 14

Prejudiced Minds God can deal with prejudice. No one was more prejudiced than Paul before his conversion! But God transformed a prejudiced bigot into a mighty apostle. God’s work in the lives of both Gamalieland Paul should encourage us to pray for and speak to those who have shown themselves to be prejudiced against the gospel! Is there someone you thought about speaking to about Jesus, or perhaps of inviting to an informal meal with a few Christian friends but you then dismissed the idea because of their extreme prejudice against the gospel? Presentation 14

Prejudiced Minds God can change prejudice. Let me give a modern example. Missionary friends in Bangladesh found that someone had prejudiced the minds of the authorities against them. They were told that their work visas would not be renewed. Despite all of their entreaties nothing would change the authorities minds. Then they asked friends back home to join them in prayer that the prejudice against them would be lifted. Some weeks later the authorities had a remarkable change of heart. Our friends were told that they would be allowed to continue to work in the country. Do you see the fingerprints of God in this? Presentation 14

Persecuted Saints A frustrated Sanhedrin ordered the flogging of the apostles before their release. Did this experience embitter the apostles or slacken their urgency? No! Their astonishing response is found in v41-42… What enabled them to behave like that? Did the Holy Spirit bring to their remembrance Jesus’ words: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you”. Matt 5.10-12 God’s people are under obligation to obey him and if by obeying God they suffer for it, they will never lose out as a result. Presentation 14

Persecuted Saints Clearly, the apostles were not rejoicing in their suffering because they were masochists. They did not enjoy pain. But they were able to rejoice because they understood the reason for their suffering - they were sharing in Jesus’ sufferings. Not that they contributed to the unique suffering of Christ on the cross for the salvation of his people. Rather their suffering authenticated their conviction that they belonged to another kingdom. The true church will always be persecuted by the world. Presentation 14

Persecuted Saints Rejoicing in the midst of persecution has been a mark of the church through her history. The Council of Nicaea [325 A.D.] gathered bishops and delegates from the whole of the Roman Empire. It is best known for the creed it formulated. What is less well known is that the majority of this counsel were physically maimed in some way. Some had their tongues cut out, others their eyes gouged out, still others their ears or fingers cut off. Presentation 14

Persecuted Saints The delegates at Nicaea were able to rejoice for they considered themselves blessed for they had suffered persecution for Jesus’ sake. Paul writes, ‘For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then death is at work in us but life is at work in you’ 2Cor. 4v10-12. In ways that are not always immediately apparent, God uses the suffering of his people to promote the growth of his church. The pruned vine bears more fruit. Jn. 15v2 Presentation 14

Persecuted Saints The apostles and those who follow them in suffering, also rejoice for the honour of being identified with Jesus. Their thinking would seem to go something like this; “If Jesus suffered the depths of agony upon the cross to secure our salvation should we be ashamed to own him and to suffer as a consequence of being one of his followers?” Presentation 14

Persecuted Saints In Russia in the early days of Communism, Christians who bore the marks of the fetters or the lash wore these marks with honour, they were reminded by them that they had suffered for Jesus’ sake. John Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress echoes this idea. One of his characters, Mr. Valiant-for-Truth said that at his death he would bequeath his armour to any who could use it, then he goes on to say, “My marks and scars I carry with me.” These were the medals he intended to wear with honour throughout all of eternity. Presentation 14

Conclusion We need to ask ourselves how good are we at seeing the operation of the hand of God in the development of his work and in the suffering of his people? In doing so it is important to recognise that these two things are not unrelated? Do we bear scars literal or mental that have resulted form our suffering for Jesus’ sake? Then we can wear them with honour? If we follow Jesus but never experienced any degree of persecution then we have not travelled very far down the road of discipleship.A line from Amy Carmichael’s poem, “Has’t thou no scar?” reads; ‘He has not travelled far who has no scar.’ Presentation 14

Study in the Acts of the Apostles