God is in control

Acts 5:33-41

Over the past few weeks I have been talking about the confrontation that took place between the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Jewish leaders, and the disciples of Jesus. This morning as we take a look at Acts 5 and this second encounter between the disciples and the Sanhedrin, it might be helpful to know who the players are in this scene.

We know the disciples but what was the Sanhedrin?

The Sanhedrin was the highest ruling body and court of justice among the Jewish people at the time of Jesus. It was made up of two political parties: the Sadducees and Pharisees.

The majority party were the Sadducees who consisted of the wealthy aristocratic families who controlled the office of high priest and the rituals of the Temple. They were staunch conservatives trying to preserve the status quo. They had a system that worked for them and did not want to change it. One of the ways in which they disagreed with the Pharisees is that they rejected belief in angels and the resurrection.

Given who they were you can see why the Sadducees were angry when Jesus challenged their authority by cleansing the temple and challenged their beliefs by his teaching about resurrection. It was the Sadducean chief priests who condemned Jesus at a night-time trial and handed him over to Pilate. The Sadducees were the ones who led the opposition to Peter and the other apostles who claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead.

The Pharisees focused on daily obedience to the Law with special emphasis on tithing and ritual purity. Many of them were common people who had studied in the Jewish religious schools. Although they kept themselves separate from other Jews (Pharisee means separated one), they were closer to the people than the elite Sadducees.

In the time of Jesus there was a lot of hostility between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Sadducees represented the privileged, conservative, traditional elite of Judaism. The Pharisees were the democratic, progressive new party of the common Israelite. The Sadducees controlled the temple and its rituals, but the Pharisees controlled the synagogues.

When the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the focus for the Sadducees was gone. There was no temple so there was no high priest and without the Temple there were no ritual offerings or sacrifices. So the Sadducees disappeared from history. The Pharisees continued and modern day Judaism is descended from them.

The teaching and actions of Jesus managed to alienate both the Sadducees and the Pharisees and for a brief time brought them together in an alliance against Jesus and his followers. For their own very separate reasons, both parties saw Jesus as a dangerous enemy and together they concluded that he must be brought to trial and condemned to death.

Jesus had been dealt with but now his disciples refused to go away. In fact, it seems that the popular support for the disciples was even greater than it had been for Jesus. The central teaching of these disciples of Jesus was that he had died and then been resurrected. This flew in the face of the beliefs of the Sadducees so they had to take action against them.

The Sadducees had the majority and could do what they wanted, but because the people were so taken with the disciples of Jesus and thronging to them because of the miracles taking place, the Sadducees needed the support of the Pharisees who were more in touch with the Jews of the synagogues.

The leader of the Pharisees was a man named Gamaliel. I have liked him, ever since I first read the book of Acts many years ago. He seems in this account in Acts to be a wise, gentle man, a voice of reason and, in fact, non-Biblical accounts of him bear this out.

Gamaliel was the grandson of Rabbi Hillel who founded the more liberal school of thought of the Pharisees. He believed the law of God was divinely inspired, but he looked at the law from the perspective of the men and women who sought to obey it. He recommended that sabbath observances be less rigorous and burdensome. He moderated current custom about divorce in order to protect women and urged kindness toward Gentiles. He was a scholar, and his reputation for tolerance fits well with his behavior in the second trial of the apostles.

Two thousand years later, even without this account in Acts, Gamaliel is remembered. When we have our Seder meal to remember the night Jesus was arrested, the teaching of Gamaliel is still recounted.

Gamaliel is one of the greatest teachers in the history of Judaism – and he was the teacher of Saul, who became the Paul of our New Testament.

This is the cast of characters in this story which brings us to the story itself.

The Sadducees had orchestrated the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus because he had threatened their order in the Temple. When the disciples did not dissolve away but gained strength and proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus and seemed to demonstrate the truth of this by healing people in his name, they had to move against them. So after Peter and John healed the man born lame who begged by the gate called Beautiful, they arrested Peter and John and warned them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.  20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

They continued to speak and teach in the name of Jesus and many people were healed and many who were possessed were set free. Support for the followers of Jesus grew and the Sadducees had to act again. They arrested the apostles, not just Peter and John as the last time but apparently, all of them. They put them in jail with the intent of bringing them in for a second trial the next day.

That night, in what Luke clearly thought to be a very amusing scene, they gathered to meet and called for the apostles to be brought to them. The jail was opened and the apostles were gone. Not believing in angels and the resurrection, the Sadducees sought some rational explanation for this and wondered how much public support did the apostles have. Had it extended even to the temple guard and the jailers?

While they were waiting, they received a report. Good news, bad news. Good news was they were found but bad news was that they were out in the Temple preaching and teaching the resurrection of Jesus.

The apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin and questioned by the high priest.
“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.”

The apostles, as when they appeared the first time before the Sanhedrin, were not intimidated by the highly educated, elite, ruling body of Judaism and gave a stirring proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus.
“We must obey God rather than men!  30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.  31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.  32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

They challenged the authority of the Sanhedrin by declaring that they served an authority higher than theirs and an authority not represented by the Sanhedrin. They challenged the beliefs of the Sadducees by proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. They challenged the religious system the Sadducees maintained by declaring that Jesus was now in the position of highest authority and judge of Israel.

Is it any wonder the Sadducees were furious and ready to have them killed?

Then Gamaliel stood up, ordered the apostles out of the room, and made his case for tolerance.
“Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.  36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.  37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.  38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.  39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

This is not the best argument but it worked. Since the book of Acts, there have been world religions created and they appear to be quite successful. The apparent success of a religious movement is not proof of its truthfulness. There are forces of good and evil at work in the world and both have the ability to influence men and women for their purposes.

Ultimately Gamaliel’s argument will be shown to be true, but there can be centuries of waiting to see what is of God and what is not.

The apostles were flogged, released and went right back doing what they had been told not to do by the Sanhedrin.

In the last few sermons I have talked about the possibility of our facing persecution in a world in which religious world views are clashing. Some of us may face persecution on a large scale, others of us on a minor scale. If persecution comes, on a large or small scale, we can all benefit from learning how the apostles responded when they were persecuted.

First, the apostles obeyed God when the angel told them where to go and what to do.

I mentioned this last week but want to come back to it again. There are rules for rescue and the rules are that you take someone from a place of danger to a place of safety. A fireman who rescues someone from a burning building and places him in another building that is burning will not be a fireman for long. The prince who rescues a princess from a cruel ogre and takes her to another cruel ogre is not much of a prince. A lifeguard who saves someone from drowning and then throws her into a deep pool will not be doing much of a favor.

So what kind of rescue did the angel perform when the apostles were rescued from prison and told to go right back to where they had been so they could be arrested all over again?

The apostles had other options. They could have gone out to the cities and towns around Jerusalem where there would not be so much pressure on them. The apostles could have gone back to fishing and tax collecting, lived quiet, peaceful lives and surrounded by their children and grandchildren, told stories about Jesus in their old age.

In The Hobbit, which precedes J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Gandalf, the wizard, comes to invite Bilbo, a hobbit,  to come on an adventure. Bilbo is sitting outside his very comfortable home, smoking his pipe and blowing beautiful smoke rings when Gandalf appears.

“Very pretty!” said Gandalf. “But I have no time to blow smoke rings this morning. I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.”

“I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them,” said our Mr. Baggins, and stuck one thumb behind his braces, and blew out another even bigger smoke-ring.

Like Bilbo, many Christians prefer the comfortable, the familiar to the unknown adventure. God calls them to do something or go somewhere and they choose what is more comfortable rather than set out on something that might be disturbing.

But like Bilbo, the Christians who respond to God’s call to step out into adventure live the brightest Christian lives.

When God calls us from our comfortable existence and sends us out on adventure, he does not necessarily call us to where it will be easy but he will always call us to where we will be safe. This does not mean that we will not suffer and does not mean we may not lose our lives, but safety, from God’s perspective is not based on our earthly existence. God looks at safety from an eternal perspective and so whether we are comfortable or in pain, live or die, the safest place for us to be is always in obedience to God’s call.

When he calls we need to respond, out of our own self-interest. We may not see the benefit in this life, but James who was the first of the disciples to be killed, just ten years after this incident in Acts, sees the benefit now from his eternal perspective. While we struggle and have difficulty going obediently where God is calling us, the saints of heaven who see now so clearly the benefit of obedience, are longing for us to step out into obedience and safety in God’s hands.

I have often talked about my experience when I led a group who met to pray before church when we lived in New Jersey. For three or four years we met in the morning before church to pray for world-wide revival and over those years a picture came to me. When revival came it was going to be like a parade and I told God that when revival came, I wanted to be on Main Street watching the parade. I did not want to be two blocks away on Elm Street, sipping my lemonade while I relaxed in my porch swing hearing the distant strains of the music.

It was about six months after we moved here that I was praying one day and the thought came to me that God brought me here so I could be on Main Street and see the parade.

I could have had a more comfortable, easier life if I had lived in the US, but I have been more fulfilled and stimulated living here in Rabat than ever before in my life.

When God calls you to do something or go somewhere, be obedient to his call. Your obedience will always be the safest and best choice you can make.

A second lesson learned from the apostles is that when they were arrested, they cooperated rather than resist arrest.

With the public support for the apostles, they could have rallied the crowd and made it too difficult for the temple guard to take them to the Sanhedrin. They could have inspired the crowd to resist and created trouble for the Sanhedrin. They could have started a riot, but they did not. They came quietly, without protest.

We live in this world and are subject to the laws of the countries in which we live. Each country has its rules and they are empowered to make people obey their rules. This is their right.

The apostles recognized the authority of the Sanhedrin and came willingly to be put on trial. It was only when, what the Sanhedrin told them not to do conflicted with what Jesus had told them to do, that they resisted. Civil disobedience, choosing not to do what the civil government says we are to do, is an option for Christians. But we need to be wise in how we resist the government and we need to be sure that it is a clear conflict between what God tells us to do and what the government tells us to do before we take up the path of civil disobedience and then we need to be willing to face the penalties for our civil disobedience.

As Christians we need to cooperate with the government and respect their authority over us.

A third lesson learned from the apostles is that when they were persecuted, they rejoiced that they were worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ.

When Gamaliel made his speech to encourage tolerance, the Sadducees were not able to get over their furious anger at the words of the apostles and they had them flogged before they were released. They saw the wisdom of what Gamaliel said or perhaps they saw that they would not get the support of the Pharisees that they needed to carry out a death sentence. At any rate, they had them flogged.

This was the forty lashes minus one. Because there was a penalty in Jewish law for flogging someone more than forty times, they held back one just in case they had miscounted.

This was the flogging Jesus endured that along with his other beatings left him unable to carry his cross up the hill to his crucifixion. This was the flogging Paul received five times and left his back a mass of scar tissue.

It seems that the flogging could be given with more or less enthusiasm. In this case, it seems that it was a mild flogging because the apostles were able to walk away and did not have to be carried. Even so, it was a painful punishment.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

This is a very hard concept for us to grasp. How do we rejoice that we have been beaten? When I get a headache, the world ceases to exist and I have to focus just on myself in order to deal with the pain and get rid of it. When I have a bad cold or flu, I think only of myself – just ask my wife.

So how would I handle being beaten or flogged? It seems so strange to me that I would react by rejoicing that I had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for Jesus.

Last week we read in the bulletin a section from Hebrews 10 that was written to people who had experienced persecution. This is the part that sounded most strange to me.
You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

I am very attached to my possessions. I know that when I die I will leave them all behind, but while I am here I like looking at them. I like the memories they bring to me. Would I be able to joyfully accept the confiscation of my property?

I have read accounts of people who have suffered intense persecution who say they experienced a special sense of presence with God that sustained them through that time. Helen Roseveare who was beaten and raped in the uprising in the Congo in 1964 wrote about her experience:
Suddenly Christ had been there. No vision, no voice, but His very real presence… He spoke into my heart: ‘They’re not fighting you: these blows, all this wickedness, is against Me. All I ask of you is the loan of your body. Will you share with Me one hour in My sufferings for these who need my love through you?’ … the horror of the night continued. I screamed in pain, humiliation, fear – above all, fear mingled with pain. Yet, at the same moment, an intense sensation of peace, a strange, deep joy, as He, God, took over from me. Such a mixture of emotions, perhaps it can make no sense to others, yet He was real – vital, vibrant, real.

If you know someone who has experienced severe persecution, you might ask them about their experience. Not having experienced significant persecution myself, I really don’t know how I would do. I know that church history says that the majority of Christians deny their faith when persecution comes.

I suspect that when the time comes, if we are faithful and cling to Jesus, he will aid us and sustain us. But we will have to make a choice at that time to give up our possessions, our earthly delights and choose our future eternal life. We will have to choose what will come for what we have now.

As I mentioned last week, the Holy Spirit is promised to us and he will give us words to say when we face persecution. With our own strength we may not be able to be faithful. If we cling to Christ we will receive his promised strength. We will not be alone.

The fourth lesson we learn from the apostles is that they responded to the persecution by preaching Christ.

They did not go out after they were flogged and tell everyone how terrible the Sanhedrin was. They did not begin a campaign to take over the Sanhedrin. They did not strategize to find ways to get back at the Sanhedrin.
Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

What do you do when someone attacks your church or your ministry or your project? The human instinct is to strike back, to make miserable the ones who have attacked you and what you are doing. But if God has called you to your church or ministry or project, then he will use what you do to build his kingdom.

What you have to know is that the Kingdom of God is greater than your part in it. Your ministry or church or project is not the same as the Kingdom of God. If your project, church or ministry fails, the Kingdom of God has not failed. The Kingdom of God goes from success to success. It is constantly growing. God calls us to work with him in some church, project or ministry and we do so knowing he has a purpose in our working with him. But it is always his church, his ministry, his project and when it is attacked it is his job to defend what he has called us to.

It may be that God’s purpose for your church, project or ministry has a limited life or it may have a longer term purpose. We need to be obedient to what God has called us to do without holding on to what we do. We hold on to Christ, not our work.

Our job is not to attack those who attack us. Our job is to continue preaching the Gospel, lifting up the name of Jesus, caring for people the way Jesus cared for people.

God is in control. No matter how chaotic it seems around you, God is in control. His kingdom will advance. His kingdom is advancing and if you are living in obedience to him, you are part of his advancing kingdom.

He has promised that he will be with you no matter what you experience in this life and he has promised that when you die your physical death, he will take you to be with him.

God knows your future and if you trust him and obey him, he will take you safely through this adventure of life until you stand with him and with all the saints of history in his kingdom.