Sermon - Acts 5.17-32

Acts 5.17-32

Intro and Context

·         A question preachers sometimes ask is “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” If we are honest the answer is all too often “No”. Well in Acts 5, all of the apostles, Jesus’ closest followers, are arrested and there is plenty of evidence!

·         The disciples of Jesus we see in Acts 5 are completely different from the confused, demoralised, fearful little group we read about at the time Jesus was executed. Now in Acts they have suddenly become a powerful, confident, fearless force for change in society. They are completely different and yet the same group of people.

·         One reason for the change is the presence of the Holy Spirit within and amongst the disciples. That takes some explaining and we’ll come back to it in a few weeks on Pentecost Sunday.

·         The other big change for the disciples was the way they had been affected by the things they had witnessed, specifically the resurrection of Jesus. Two sentences in our reading sum up just how greatly changed the disciples were and what they did about it, as an absolute priority, for the rest of their lives.

“Go, stand in the temple courts, and tell the people the full message of this new life.” (v20)

·         It is all about the resurrection, about this new life.

·         The resurrection is not a trick or a myth but a demonstration of God’s victorious power and love.

·         The disciples are to trust this new life, to live it, show it and tell it to everybody – including all the people previously excluded by religion, even including the enemies who had plotted to have Jesus and the disciples killed.

·         The Temple is where the message is to be told to begin with – the scene of dispute/controversy between Jesus and the chief priests = The place where people had been shut out from God, or only allowed tightly controlled access  = The building Jesus was replacing as intermediary with God. A significant place to proclaim the message of new life.

·         Religion is so often about what we are not, what we hate, who we are against. Perhaps we need to get back to the refreshing, positive, life-giving message of new life; this New Life which Jesus won for us and for everybody else.

 “We must obey God rather than men.” (v29)

·         Whenever God is doing something new and good, influencing positive change, there will always be people who oppose it. Usually people with power and influence and a vested interest in keeping things the way they are.

·         For instance there have been movements in recent years, amongst christians and many others to deal with Environmental protection issues and debt cancellation/inequality issues. Perhaps God is at the root of these movements. There has certainly been resistance from governments and multi national corporations with interests in keeping things as they are.

·         Sadly, religious groups, which should be leading the way in recognising what God is doing in the world and joining in with it, are often the most reactionary, inflexible and resistant to where God is leading.

·         The Disciples’ rule was “We must obey God rather than men”. Which is probably what all of us would say we want to do, But what God wants is not always clear. We are right to be cautious when somebody claims “God told me to say or do this”, or “God says this …”

·         But I think it is also fair to say that people (especially religious groups) are sometimes too quick to criticise and try to discredit or stamp out ideas we don’t think are from God. Gamaliel’s advice to the Jewish court later in this chapter is very wise but not often followed – “let’s wait and see how thi new thing develops. If it is not from God it will die out. If it is … we don’t want to be opposing God!”

·         Generally we can be very clear from the life of Jesus and the Bible’s teaching what kind of world God is trying to build, what God’s priorities are etc. It is usually not too hard to see how God wants us to live.

·         Actually doing it is harder – and needs determination, resiliance and the help of spiritual resources only God can give us. We should not expect an easy ride, but the apostles’ example (and many others down the ages) show us it is possible to rejoice when we have the privilege of suffering pain or loss of reputation because of our relationship with Jesus.

Leadership criteria for church and world

How can we (and the new ABC, the new Pope, governments etc) relate the new life of the resurrection to the daily decisions and challenges we face and the needs of the world? Transformed by their witness to the resurrection (and the lliving presence of the Holy Spirit, they followed these 2 simple rules to great effect.

How about us? How about you? Can you think of situations where obeying God would put you in a difficult position ..?

And how do you deal with this? Especially if the values of the people you live or work with are different. Its not easy and this is where we need each other’s support. So if you are having struggles talk to me or Billie or someone else in the church. Living God’s way, living this new life which is his gift to us, is not easy. We need to love and support and pray with each other and together we can become what God brought us together to be.