This is an exciting chapter. It's an exciting time in the church. Growth from 120 believers to 5,000 in a short period. Wow! Every Christian knows this chapter well. But it is something we need to remind ourselves of often.
God is still in the same business. He's chasing after us, drawing us back to Him. He loves you more than you ever know, and He seeks the best for you daily. Today. He will prune away the crap in our lives and discipline us. We need discipline. In fact, the older I get, the more I'm convinced Christ-followers should not just endure discipline; we should love it. That's a pretty weird statement. But it's true.
God is our Heavenly Father, the giver of all good things. It's interesting. God puts interests, disciplines, and capabilities before us at various life stages. It may make no sense why God wants you to learn a skill or a language or to gain some empathy in a specific area. Or why he connected you with that person on a flight or at your kid's school. It will become crystal clear later. It's God. It's providential. It's Romans 8:28 at work. God will use those skills and those connections if you are obedient to Him and committed to serving Him. God wants us to be like Him, strong in character and righteousness. There is no more incredible blessing than turning back to God and turning away from sin. While the magnet of evil has a strong pull, God's force is stronger!
Like the characters in Acts 4, worldly leaders today are still opposed to the apostles' message. Some things never change. It's still a scandal today to say a person is healed by the mighty name of Jesus of Nazareth. God's plan for salvation was always this: Jesus' death on the cross, burial, and resurrection. It's His plan; a good, loving, and perfect plan to rectify the human condition. Jesus is God our Savior, and He's the only one that can rescue us from this evil world. The church would be healthier today if we reminded ourselves more often of the message in this chapter. The truth sets people free today, just as it did when Peter and John shared it.
This passage highlights the contentious issue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter will always be controversial. Here's Peter and John's scandalous claim: God raised Jesus from the dead. The religious leaders rejected Jesus and crucified Jesus. One of the themes of the Bible is that every man and woman has free will, choice, and responsibility. People reject God's advice at their peril. They reject Jesus to their eternal detriment. The Bible says there is bitter fruit in living our own way. We will choke on our own schemes with our complacency about the Gospel and our ambivalence toward God (see Proverbs 1:29-33). You see a similar message here in Acts 4 - there is a serious choice: obey the powers that be in this world and go our own way, or obey God. It's one of the classic lines of the Bible where the apostles say, "Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than God?" I love that. It's kind of cheeky, but that should be the mindset of everyone who knows God.
Jesus is the foundation, the cornerstone of everything. There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which men are saved. It is good to seek to get along with people but never be so unloving as to fail to tell the truth about who the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is and what he's done for people. I know I've missed those opportunities in the past, and I pray I'll boldly seize new opportunities to share the truth with people as God presents them.
We shouldn't be surprised when confronted by the rulers and powers of this world. We saw a lot of that with COVID-19. And we'll see more of it. The world still wants to censor the truth. The June 2022 Kennedy v. Bremerton School District case in the US Supreme Court was about that - a school district censoring a football coach and former Marine of his right to pray and talk about Jesus. The District almost succeeded in silencing the Coach. Thank God the Court got this one right. There is nothing new under the sun! Like this Coach, we must be bold like Peter and John.
The words in this chapter were spoken by men who saw and knew the risen Messiah. They needed no convincing. God is just – he is patiently waiting for men and women to accept His offer of a changed life – the offer of eternal life with him, an offer to have our sins wiped away. Lord Jesus, please show your glory and power in our lives today. Please do miracles through us, as you did through your bold servant leaders, Peter and John. Help us to convince people of the truth. Please speak through us.
We need to follow the example of Peter and John. Pray and preach the truth. We are excited to see God work: lives saved and believers added to God's people. We will be confronted by the so-called leaders. We will be challenged to disobey God. We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard. I know what God has done in my life. And you, what He's done in yours. God, please give us courage today. And boldness in preaching your Word.
Notice that Peter and John prayed for God's healing power, for miraculous signs and wonders in the name of God's holy servant Jesus. And notice the filling with the Holy Spirit. Let's pray like that today!
Please let us be humbly confident and bold with your Holy Spirit, Lord God. Let us proclaim the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. May we not be complacent; may we not be simpletons destroyed by rejecting God's advice. May we never be complacent or lazy. Thank you, Lord God, for this wonderful day you made for us. Amen.
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