Study in the Acts of the Apostles

Study in the Acts of the Apostles Presentation 11

Allegiance to God or Men? Chapter 4:1-22 Presentation 11

Introduction For the Christian, conflict is inevitable! Sooner or later, as the world is confronted by the life of Christ in the believer, it is bound to react. That reaction can take a variety of forms from ridicule to violence. Whatever the form, the Christian, and indeed the church, will be brought under tremendous pressure to conform. And when placed under the spotlight we are forced to ask ourselves, “Where does my allegiance lie?” Our passage highlights this conflict. Presentation 11

The Rise Of The Opposition Jerusalem was buzzing with excitement. Something quite spectacular had taken place at the temple . A beggar, previously lame, was dancing about in the temple. Peter seized a preaching opportunity. He made it clear that Jesus was still at work not only restoring broken bodies but more significantly restoring man’s broken relationship with God! Presentation 11

The Rise Of The Opposition Suddenly, the crowd parted making way for a visitation committee from the temple authorities. They had not come to offer to circulate copies of Peter’s sermon, or to invite him to their next preaching conference! Their aim was to take him out of circulation. Why? Because his preaching was having the effect of a thermal lance piercing through their cast iron propaganda about Jesus. The leaders had branded Jesus a common criminal who was deceased, case closed! Peter declared him the risen Lord, the fulfilment of all God’s promises. Case reopened! Presentation 11

The Rise Of The Opposition The temple authorities were mostly made up of Sadducees who were rationalists of that age and the power brokers in Israel’s religious and national life. They taught that there was no life after death and they ridiculed the idea of miracle. Peter’s teaching had discredited their views. They preferred a religion that breathed spiritual death into church life rather than one that offered transforming resurrection power. Presentation 11

The Rise Of The Opposition They were intoxicated by power and terrified they’d lose it as a result of this new ‘Jesus movement’. Sadducees are to be found in every age. People who are uncomfortable with a religion of vitality, life and power. They are enraged when their lifeless propaganda is discredited and will do all they can to silence the source of their embarrassment. Whenever the church is poised to make giant leaps forward, whenever she challenges comfortable religious belief then great pressure is brought to bear. Presentation 11

The Pressure Applied The kinds of pressures which are brought to bear upon the church have not changed much in 2000 years. First, the apostles were deprived of their liberty. A cold prison cell can be used to great effect to dampen zeal! John Bunyan, the C17th author of “Pilgrim’s Progress,” spent eight years in a Bedford jail for his religious convictions . When he thought he was about to die he wrote: “Let death come when it will, it can do the Christian no harm, for it will be but a passage out of a prison into a palace; … out of shame reproach and contempt into exceeding and eternal glory”. Presentation 11

The Pressure Applied Today, in some lands Christians are imprisoned for their faith. How would we respond if threatened with imprisonment? The temptation to self interest is extremely strong. Would we dilute our witness or conform? Would we become the puppets of human authorities rather than be cut off from family and friends? And before we say, “That kind of pressure could never apply in the West”, see how Christianity is being marginalised by government legislation. Christians are being positively discriminated against. Christian couples are being refused permission to adopt, while others who run bed and breakfasts can be charged for their failure to allow homosexual couples sleep under their roof. Presentation 11

The Pressure Applied The Sanhedrin, the religious Jewish court, not only imprisoned but sought to intimidate the apostles. Picture seventy influential judges sitting on their little thrones, exuding pomp and power and thinking how easy it would be to overawe a couple of ‘hill-billy’, Galilean fishermen? This court knew all about psychological interrogation. They knew how to demoralise men and reduce them to quivering wrecks. When Peter and John were brought to the very same spot on which Jesus had stood weeks previously did they see the shadow of the cross fall across their lives? Presentation 11

The Pressure Applied Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, lived in the C4that a time of intense theological debate concerning the divinity of Christ. He was an outspoken defender of the orthodox position. Tried before his peers, who were determined to intimidate him he was told, ‘Athanasius the whole world is against you’. To which he made his famous reply, "Then Athanasius is against the world". Through the years that reply has reminded Christians that the gospel can empower them to stand firm against the tyranny of social approval. Presentation 11

The Pressure Applied Recently a London Borough Councillor stated that if, in the course of an interview, an applicant for a teaching post revealed that they were a Christian, they would not be considered for the job. That is pressure! Intimidation is to be found at school, in university, in the workplace, in the community and even within the family. We can’t escape these pressures. And when they come from those who humanly speaking seem to have our future in their hands we need to be clear about how best to respond. Presentation 11

Reacting To Pressure When Peter and John are called to account Peter reveals uncharacteristic wisdom. He treats the authorities with respect and seizes the opportunity to speak well of Jesus. Peter’s defence is straightforward. He presents the facts of the gospel and points to the evidence of its power. The healed man is ‘exhibit A’. There is no answer to that! When people criticise the content of our gospel we need only point to the difference Jesus makes in people's lives. That evidence is incontestable! Presentation 11

Reacting To Pressure After a visit from John Wesley, an angry crowd dragged a number of converts before a local magistrate. They had forgotten to think up a charge. When the magistrate asked what they were accused of, there was silence until one man said, ‘they converted my wife’. The intrigued magistrate asked what that meant. The man replied, ‘Well she had a tongue as sharp as a razor and now she is as meek as a lamb’. The magistrate dismissed the case as said. ‘May God grant that they can convert the whole town’. There is no answer to a transformed life. Presentation 11

Reacting To Pressure Peter is really saying to these religious big wigs, ‘You need to be converted. You need to be saved from your sin’. What boldness! The religious leaders are clearly rocked back on their heels. The apostles, despite their lack of theological training and their low social standing, not only refused to be intimidated but they made such a spirited defence that the opposition was in disarray. Presentation 11

Reacting To Pressure But the thing that really impressed the religious leaders is found in v13 ‘they took note that these men had been with Jesus’. Something of Jesus had rubbed off on these men. Jesus, by his Spirit, had made his home in their lives. It was Jesus shining out of these ordinary men that was so unsettling! Embarrassed and in disarray the court called for a recess. They couldn’t deny the evidence before them but neither could they humble themselves to admit they’d been wrong about Jesus - that’s the classic dilemma of so many people. Presentation 11

Reacting To Pressure The Sanhedrin agreed to dismiss the apostles, warning them to say no more about Jesus. Surely the apostles would want out of that furnace as quickly as possible? But they could not be silent about the great passion of their lives and the solemn commission with which they’d been entrusted. And so Peter asks an innocent question in v19. ‘Do I obey God or men?’ When there is a conflict of allegiance, between human authority whichGod calls us to respect, and our own conscience and conviction shaped by the Word of God, what should we do? Put as starkly as that surely the answer is obvious. We put God first! Presentation 11

Conclusion Many of the choices we make in life are ‘crossroad’ choices. We choose either the route of comfortable conformity or of holy defiance. Of course we must be sure that the choice is a genuine one; between truth and error and not one of prejudice or preference. The pressure to conform can appear at times unbearable. But even more unbearable must be the shame that we will carry if we know we have conformed to this world’s expectations of us rather than God’s. God has given his people his Spirit to embolden and equip them when it is necessary for them to be holy defiant. May God so help us! Presentation 11

Study in the Acts of the Apostles