“Emboldened to Bear Witness”

Acts 5:12-32

“You are one of his disciples!” “Me? No you’ve got me mixed up with someone else.” “But you’re the one who attacked the high priest’s servant with a sword. You cut off his ear!” “No, that wasn’t me.” “I’m sure I saw you following Jesus; I can tell from your accent that you’re Galilean like him.” “Listen to me: I don’t know the man!” It wasn’t one of Peter’s proudest moments. He did just what Jesus said he would. He denied knowing Jesus three times. Why? What drove Peter to such a betrayal? Fear. Peter was afraid that his relationship with Jesus would result in his harm. If Jesus could be arrested by the authorities so simply and unjustly, then who would be next? If the Jewish Ruling Council wanted to stamp out this messiah movement, then the punishment of Jesus would only be the beginning.

On Easter evening, Peter was still afraid, and so were the rest of his apostolic friends. Jesus was dead, they thought. John tells us that they were together (except for Thomas); hold up in a room with the door locked for fear of the Jewish religious leaders.

So who were these apostles of which Luke speaks in Acts 5? Who were these wonder workers, these bold Christian preachers? Peter was among them. Peter? The same Peter who denied Jesus three times before sunrise Good Friday morning? The Peter who huddled in terror with his friends on Easter Eve? Yes, that Peter. Amazing.

Yes, we see a group of changed men at work in the Temple that day. Perhaps a few months or a year had passed since Jesus’ death and resurrection. The apostles had accepted Jesus’ commission to preach the gospel. Guided by the Holy Spirit, they did some of the very same things that Jesus had done to show Himself the Son of God: they healed sick people, and they freed people from the torment of unclean spirits. The preaching of the apostles drew many people in Jerusalem to believe that Jesus is the Christ. The church became a bigger and bigger group of people. The religious leaders who once thought that they had nipped things in the bud, when they had Jesus crucified, were recognizing that they had miscalculated. So they cracked down on the apostles’ ministry, using their authority and power to try to silence them. They had them arrested. They threatened them. They punished them and commanded the apostles to give up their preaching.

Here’s where we see the real change in those apostles. Instead of slinking back to their safe room to go into hiding again, they told their brothers and sisters of the church what had happened. They prayed together, asking God for strength to carry on doing His work. They kept on preaching. They weren’t afraid anymore, it seemed.

The same could not be said for the members of the Jewish Ruling Council, the Sanhedrin. They were jealous of the apostles’ popularity among the people of the city. They were irritated by the apostles’ disregard for their spiritual authority. They were afraid that if these fanatics carried on much farther they would undermine their position as the caretakers of Judaism. But they knew only one strategy for dealing with the apostles. They flexed the muscles of their religious authority a little harder, arresting and jailing them. Surely a night in prison would knock some sense back into the apostles.

God, however, had different plans for His servants. Before the night was out, an angel had visited the prisoners and led them out of the jail, leaving them with the divine command to carry on their preaching in the Temple at sunrise. The apostles were happy to obey.

Imagine the confusion of the officers of the Sanhedrin when they reported to the jail in the morning to escort the apostles to their trial only to find the holding cell empty and the guards unable to explain their disappearance. Imagine the surprise among the council members when the officers returned without the apostles or any idea of their whereabouts. Imagine their anger when they heard that the apostles were right back at their preaching in the Temple! Listen as they berate the apostles for their defiant disobedience. “We told you not to preach in the name of Jesus anymore! Yet on you go filling the city with your lies and blaming us for his death!”

This was serious trouble the apostles were in. If they were going to crumble under the pressure of the Sanhedrin, now was the time. Instead, Peter and the apostles said, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:29-32)

Where did the apostles gain such courage? From their Risen Lord and from the Holy Spirit He gave to them. On the night of their fearful despair Jesus stepped in among the apostles and revealed Himself, no longer dead, but very much alive. “Peace be with you!” He declared. Death had done its worst to Jesus. He was efficiently executed by His political enemies. He was crushed and condemned by heaven for the sins of all the people of earth. But none of that was enough to keep this good man down in the ground. God raised Jesus His Son to life!

The apostles witnessed Jesus’ resurrection, and they learned to trust in its significance for their lives. Christ had died for the sins of the whole world. Christ had risen victorious to reign over creation at His Father’s right hand. Nothing and no one could ever overturn this. Christ poured out His Spirit upon the apostles, and He helped them to turn from their fears of rejection, punishment and shame by believing that through Christ they were now at peace with God. Such freedom was wonderful, and the apostles understood that it was to be shared with the world. Jesus had commissioned them: “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” Jesus said, “Preach the gospel”, and they preached.

The Sanhedrin’s threats and prohibitions against their preaching did not frighten the apostles because they trusted in Jesus. The leaders of Judaism had power, but their power came from God. They could hurt the apostles, even kill them if they chose to, but in the end, they would have to answer to God. So would the apostles. The apostles rested secure in the midst of their conflict with the ruling council because they relied on their Risen Lord to keep them. They would obey Him and leave their safety in His care.

What about us? Why are we so quiet about Jesus today? Is it not because we are afraid of what people will think or say of us if we tell them about Jesus? We live in religious freedom in Canada, and so it is not likely that we will be threatened with legal punishment if we preach the gospel publically. Yet ours is a culture where the power is thought to be with each individual to decide whether he or she will believe one thing or another. Our gospel, which assumes that people are sinful and worthy of hell, is offensive to people who consider themselves good as long as they don’t hurt anybody. People who are comfortable with themselves will be slow to see the need for Jesus to suffer and die for them. No wonder we are tempted to give up on confessing our faith. Bear witness to Jesus and you run the risk of being rejected as intolerant, narrow-minded, and too exclusive in your religious convictions.

But what is the alternative? Fearfully obey men, keep your faith to yourself, and people may praise you, but what becomes of your relationship with God? Will God be impressed by the crowd serenading us with a round of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”? Can our popularity with people cover our sins before the Lord? The people we are tempted to fear are in the same boat as we are before God; we have all sinned, and we all fall short of His glory. Their praise and acceptance is a destructive idol that falsely promises us a security that we already have because of our baptism and faith in Jesus. Christ died to take away the guilt and shame of our failures to trust God and love people; He rose from the dead, giving to each of us a right and harmonious relationship with God. God is our Father and we are His own children! There is nothing for us to ever fear again because God has set things right for us with Him. Here, in Jesus, is where our security and peace lies. Because Jesus lives, so do we. Our neighbors around us have no idea how good God is or how much He loves us, but they may come to know it, they may come to believe with us, if we tell them about Jesus.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Believing this, we must obey God rather than men as His witnesses today as well. We have our Lord and His living promises of salvation to cherish and share. We are filled with the same Holy Spirit who made courageous, the once fearful apostles. Pray for your neighbors. Look for ways to help them. Listen to them with an ear for understanding them. Speak to them: be honest about your failings and earnest about your confidence in our Savior. Be patient, not pushy. Leave plenty of room for God to do His work, but don’t be afraid to speak about Jesus. He is your Savior, the Love that cannot fail you, and the only Hope for our dear, lost neighbors. Lord Jesus, help us to speak Your truth confidently with Your love in our hearts for all people. Amen