Acts 5.17-­‐‑5.42 Obey the unbeatable God Theme: by turning to the risen Jesus, we have joined sides with the God who cannot be beaten Aim: take confidence that, on God’s side, neither shame nor death can defeat Christ and his people The key idea By now, we are used to Luke’s big emphasis that God backs Jesus. Even Jesus’ trial and death was according to God’s plan (2:23, 4:28); God raised Jesus from the dead (2:32); God glorified Jesus (3:13); God made Jesus both Christ and Lord (2:36); God gave Jesus the promised Holy Spirit (2:33). Wherever Jesus is, there God is. Whatever Jesus does, God is present in it. Most recently we saw this in the church of Jesus. The mistake of Ananias and Sapphira was to act as though God was not behind this whole Jesus project, including the church formed by the risen Jesus. This big emphasis of Luke is not theoretical. It has big implications. It means that in putting faith in the risen Jesus we put our faith and hope in God and that means our faith and hope will never be disappointed (see e.g. 1 Peter 1:21). This passage tells a story, the point of which is to reassure us that, in turning to the risen Jesus, we have joined sides with the unbeatable God. On his side, death leads to life. His purposes are so irresistible that, on his side, we are freed to see shame for his name as honour. We shall never be found to be on the wrong side for in trusting Jesus we join God’s side, and God cannot be beaten. Working through the text: vv.17-­‐‑26 This miraculous release from prison is supposed to introduce what God is concerned with (as opposed to men). It sets up the theme that what God wants is irresistible and what he wants is for people to have life through Jesus (v.20). Ask your groups to briefly re-­‐‑tell this episode and draw out where God is at work and what this shows about his will (that people have life through Jesus and that this is an irresistible purpose). Verses 27-­‐‑42 are going to develop this idea of God’s unbeatable purpose. vv.27-­‐‑32 1 The idea of obeying God (as opposed to man) is key here. It is mentioned twice (v.29, 32). The apostles obey God by continuing to teach that life comes in the name of Jesus. And every believer obeys God when he or she turns to Jesus in repentance for forgiveness (v.32). In case we need reminding, turning to this Jesus amounts to obeying God because, vv.30-­‐‑31, God has shown unmistakably that he is on the side of Jesus. Jesus is God’s chosen ruler and saviour – God has shown this by raising him from the grave to his right hand. vv.33-­‐‑42 So, by the end of v.32, we have been told that by turning to Jesus we have obeyed God. Armed with this knowledge, we now get to listen in on a conversation that happens in the Jewish council (vv.33ff). It is a very encouraging conversation for Christians– but it wasn’t originally meant to be encouraging! Gamaliel was trying to advise on the best way to deal with this Jesus movement. However, Luke reports his speech to us because Gamaliel says some things which, given what we already know about God and Jesus, actually tell us that we Christians have joined sides with the unbeatable God. The heart of Gamaliel’s speech is vv.36-­‐‑39. In vv.36-­‐‑37 he gives two examples of radical movements which flourished and then came to nothing. In vv.38-­‐‑39 he applies this to the Jesus movement. The examples are simple. In each, a figure arose (someone called Theudas and someone called Judas the Galilean) who gathered followers (i.e. just like Jesus). However in each case, they came to nothing after their leader died. Death meant defeat. The death that ended in defeat showed it was a human movement. Gamaliel then explains his logic in vv.38-­‐‑39 which goes something like this: ‘movements with human origins always fail because the death of the leader spells defeat. Jesus of Nazareth died (just like Theudas and Judas the Galilean) and so this Jesus movement will fizzle out without you needing to do anything unless somehow death didn’t end in defeat for him, unless it isn’t a human project but God is behind it. Of course God cannot be beaten so if God is behind this whole Jesus movement you won’t be able to stop it anyway.’ When we listen in to vv.36-­‐‑37 we are supposed to think – but Jesus didn’t stay dead! He rose to life! He is not like the human movements that fizzle out. When we listen to vv.38-­‐‑39 we are supposed to think – we know God is backs Jesus – it was God who raised Jesus from the dead! To commit to this Jesus movement 2 is to obey God, who cannot be beaten, for whom death can be reversed into life. To oppose this Jesus movement is to oppose God (who cannot be beaten). Verses 40-­‐‑42 show us what this reassurance looks like in practice. It enables the apostles to interpret ‘dishonour’ for Jesus’ name as honour – why? Because God’s verdict is the unbeatable one. His verdict on Jesus turned a shameful death into an honoured life. Likewise, to suffer for Jesus’ name amounts to honour for God vindicates Jesus and everyone who obeys him. The power of shame is that it makes us feel that we are on the wrong side. This passage reassures us that we will never be shown to be on the wrong side by committing to Jesus, for in doing so we join sides with the unbeatable God. On God’s side, death is not defeat for God reverses it into life, shame is not shame for God reverses it into honour. Pointers to application •
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This story is supposed to build our confidence that in turning to Jesus, we have obeyed God and this means we will never be shown to be on the wrong side. As Peter himself will later write in 1 Peter 1:21, God’s raising of Jesus shows that by trusting Jesus we have put our faith and hope in God and this hope will not be disappointed. This story has powerful application for how we deal with any kind of dishonour for Jesus’ name. The power of shame is that it makes us feel we are on the wrong side. This passage takes the sting out of ‘shame’ by showing that it is impossible to be shown to be on the wrong side, if we have turned to Jesus. This story builds confidence in the irresistible success of Jesus and his salvation project – Gamaliel was comparing the Jesus movement with equivalent movements of hundreds of people – the last 2000 years have only served to agree with what Luke’s original readers knew -­‐‑ this was not a human project that would fizzle out but a project of God that would flourish – look at how the movement of a carpenter from Nazareth has grown since then! One secondary application comes out of v.38-­‐‑39: if we commit ourselves to something or someone other than Jesus, we invest in a human project that is ultimately going to fail because, without God’s intervention, death spells the end of human hopes and projects. There is a challenge here for what kind of project we are investing in. Only hopes placed in Jesus will not end in death, failure and defeat. 3