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Acts 5:17-42 - "Convenient Christianity?

Phil Campbell MPC, 3^rd June 2001.

The experts are saying that before too long, POP STARS won’t have to exist in REALITY at all.

They’ve almost got the technology to SIMULATE THEM on computers. It's going one step further than POPSTARS on TV where they search around for a bunch of people with the right faces and the right voices and give them the RIGHT SONG to be a number 1 hit. That's one way to make a pop group. But in Japan, they’ve taken it one step further. They’ve used computers to generate an ARTIFICIAL POP STAR; she’s called KYOKO DATAY, and absolutely nothing about her is real. Just animated computer graphics. And simulated music. But they’ve designed her to be EXACTLY WHAT SURVEYS SAY PEOPLE WANT. Right look. Right sound. Right rhythm. And this SIMULATED POP STAR has already had a hit record.

Now here’s an interesting comment from the composer Brian Eno; he says, “It’s an interesting trend – you can just make artificial people who are created as the carefully monitored ANSWER TO OUR DESIRES. A bit like DEITIES were in the past.”

Just an off the cuff comment. But his point is this. And it’s one sociologists have been making for years. He says, it’s the same way people used to INVENT THEIR GODS. Sort of a COMMUNAL WISH LIST. That gets turned into myths. That get turned into GODS.

And so you want FERTILE CROPS. You invent a god of FERTILITY. And you worship it. You want RAIN. You invent a rain god. And you worship IT.

And in a very real way with the religions of the world, that’s exactly the way it worked. Gods of CONVENIENCE.

But is it the case that we CHRISTIANS have simply made up a God to suit ourselves? That we’ve invented a convenient deity. With no basis in reality? Is Jesus just the product of a WISH LIST of all the sort of things you’d want to have in some mythical figure that we end up worshipping for our own convenience? Or not?

If you look at our passage this morning, the answer has got to be NO. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite, isn’t it? Instead of being a convenient CRUTCH like some people say, instead of being some sort of made up convenience, JESUS is just the opposite. And to take on the challenge of following him, it's a matter of COUNTING THE COST. Instead of the convenience.

Here in Acts, we’re looking at the first days and weeks and months of Christianity. And the fact is, being a follower of Jesus isn’t CONVENIENT AT ALL. It’s something that comes at a huge COST.

Being a follower of Jesus lands you in JAIL. Being a follower of Jesus gets you WHIPPED. Being a follower of Jesus puts you OFF SIDE with the most powerful forces in the community. And yet the first Christians did it anyway. And they wouldn’t stop.

Those are the two headings on your outline. An UNPOPULAR MESSAGE. And an UNSTOPPABLE MESSAGE.

Let me remind you what happens. The apostles are SPREADING THE WORD. Preaching about Jesus.

And you can see very easily that it’s not a popular message at all. At least with anyone in authority. Ordinary people are responding. Thousands of them. But the High Priest and the members of the Jewish ruling council, the people of influence, they’re GREEN WITH ENVY. So for a second time, they arrest the apostles, and they throw them in jail.

If you want a CONVENIENT FAITH that’s going to make life easy, if you want to be popular and get on in life, if you want to be a success, try something else. Because it’s got these guys in jail.

Later on, they’re in court. They’re being grilled by the High Priest himself. In front of the whole Sanhedrin.

Verse 28, he says, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. The name of Jesus. Yet you’ve filled Jerusalem with this teaching, and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

Now he’s right. Peter and John have been arrested before. This is NOT THEIR FIRST OFFENSE. They’ve been in front of the Sanhedrin before. They’ve been WARNED BEFORE. It’s all back in chapter 4, and we looked at it a couple of weeks back.

They were told specifically NOT TO TEACH IN THE NAME OF JESUS. Or there was going to be trouble.

And now here they are again. Repeat offenders.

If this Christianity is just a matter of inventing a deity that’s the sum of all your desires, these guys have made a terrible mistake. Cause if they’ve just invented Jesus, it’s an invention that’s getting them into all kinds of trouble.

In fact, verse 33, the Sanhedrin’s so furious they want to put them to death straight away. Except that one of the members of the council talks them out of it. And they just give them a whipping instead. We’re not told how many lashes. Verse 40. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. And ordered them again not to speak in the name of Jesus.

Now I can remember on one occasion when I got the cane in High school. It was the science master. And it was only TWO. One on the hand. Particularly bad, you’d get FOUR. Even worse, you’d get six. They were the bad old days when they used to do that to you at school.

Well, just bear in mind, you can read here they were flogged and they let them go, and you go, ah yeah. But if I ask for volunteers to front up to a Roman soldier with a whip, I’m not sure there’d be too many takers. And chances are if it was the standard punishment, it wasn’t just four or six. It was usually 39 lashes.

All because they’re persisting in talking about JESUS.

It’s an unpopular message. And FAR FROM CONVENIENT.

But can I say to you, it’s also an UNSTOPPABLE MESSAGE.

You see, the apostles reckon they've got no choice. They can do nothing other than KEEP DOING WHAT THEY'RE DOING. Because they know it’s true. Because they know what they’ve seen and heard. And because they’re under orders from God.

Just back up a bit in the story and we’ll fill in some gaps.

They’re thrown into prison. But the fact is, they don’t stay there. There’s a midnight jail break, and it’s organised by an ANGEL OF GOD.

It’s funny, we’ve only got a very brief description here of something that if it happened to you, you’d be talking about it the rest of your life. Verse 19. In the middle of the night while they’re in jail, an ANGEL comes. And opens the doors of the jail, and brings them out.

And I want you to notice what God's messenger says to them. Instead of saying, listen, you’re in enough trouble already. Lie low til it cools down… instead of saying, keep your heads down, the angel says the opposite. The angel says to them in verse 20, GO, STAND IN THE TEMPLE COURTS; and tell the people the FULL MESSAGE OF THIS NEW LIFE.

In other words, you're wanted by the police, so GO TO KING GEORGE SQUARE. Stand in front of the town hall. And keep doing what you’re doing. That’s what’s got them in trouble in the first place. Keep on telling people the message of NEW LIFE. Keep on telling people that Jesus DIED FOR THEIR SINS. And has RISEN as King. Tell people they can have a whole new start to a whole new life. GO AND DO IT ALL AGAIN.

It’s an unstoppable message. And so at the crack of dawn, there they are. In the temple courts. Teaching about Jesus.

And of course they’re re-arrested as you’d expect. This is arrest number 3 if you’re counting. And when the High Priest is pressing him, when the High Priest says, WE GAVE YOU STRICT ORDERS NOT TO TEACH IN THE NAME OF JESUS, Peter tells him WHY it’s an unstoppable message. Verse 29. We must obey GOD rather than men. Simple as that. So we’ve got to keep spreading the word.

And then he keeps right on going. And tells them again. Verse 30. “The God of our Fathers RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD – whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour, that he might give REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS TO ISRAEL.

Now will you notice there, Peter’s actually just TOLD HIM THE GOSPEL. There it is in a nutshell. That’s the APOSTLE’S UNSTOPPABLE MESSAGE. It’s what they’ve been preaching over and over again. And what WE PREACH TOO.

Jesus who DIED. Jesus who has been RAISED. Jesus who rules with God. As PRINCE. Jesus who because he's taken the punishment for sin brings the great news that if you REPENT – you'll find FORGIVENESS. And not anger.

See, that's not automatic, is it. You back into someone's car in the car park, you can REPENT. You can be as sorry as you like. But you STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGE. The message here is, the DAMAGE HAS BEEN PAID FOR ALREADY.

That’s the GOSPEL. That’s what the apostles have seen with their own eyes. And they’re going to keep on saying it. Not because it’s convenient. Not because it’s going to win them friends in high places. Not because they’ve done a community survey and invented a new kind of popular religious leader.

But BECAUSE IT’S THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH.

Inconvenient. Especially if you’re NOT GOING TO REPENT. Because it’s telling you that you’re not right with God. And you need to CHANGE YOUR DIRECTION.

Which is why the Sanhedrin is furious. And wants to put them to death. Maybe you know people who have the same sort of response. Maybe you’ve been like it yourself. The idea that you need to repent; that you need to change direction; it’s at the heart of the apostles message.

Can you see, following Jesus is not a popular vote sort of thing at all, is it. It’s something that CONFRONTS EVERYBODY; and calls for CHANGE.

GAMALIEL'S ARGUMENT

Just quickly, I want you to take a look at what Gamaliel says from verse 34. He’s a member of the Sanhedrin, but he’s a Pharisee, which puts him on the opposite side of the floor to the Saduccees party that were there for the arrest.

It’s interesting when you follow what he says. Because in a lot of ways it’s very true. And maybe he’s got some insight into what’s happening. And why it’s an UNSTOPPABLE MESSAGE.

He gives them a history lesson. And reminds them about the way they’ve dealt with rebel movements in the past.

Israel was the sort of place that was in constant turmoil. Uprisings breaking out all over the place.

And Gamaliel says this. He reminds them of a few facts. Verse 36, he says, Remember THEUDAS? He claimed to be a somebody; had 400 followers. He was killed, and that was that. They dispersed.

He says, REMEMBER JUDAS THE GALILEAN? Same story. He led a band of people in a revolt back in the days of the census. Killed him; his followers were scattered.

So he says, we’ve KILLED JESUS ALREADY. So let’s just sit back and let nature take its course. He says, leave these guys alone, and it’s all just going to die out. Unless, of course, IT’S REALLY FROM GOD.

Pick it up in verse 38; it’s Gamaliel speaking to the Sanhedrin council, and he says “Let them go. For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it’s from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you’ll only find yourself fighting against God.”

See, he knows, doesn’t he. If it’s really from God, it’s UNSTOPPABLE. If it’s just a normal human thing, get rid of the leader and it dies away.

But if it’s from God, trying to stop it is like standing in front of a goods train.

And so after they’ve whipped them they let them go with that same warning not to speak in the name of Jesus; and you can see what happens in verse 41.

Instead of limping out moaning, instead of shaking their heads and saying NEVER AGAIN, they leave REJOICING. Because they’ve been counted worthy of suffering for Jesus.

Read the verse. It’s 41. And of all the verses in the bible that people say are hard to believe, I reckon this one ought to be right up there at the top of the list. They’ve been thrown in prison, they’ve been whipped; ; and it says “The apostles left the Sanhedrin REJOICING because they’d been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name.”

And what do they do? Day after day, it says, in the temple courts where they’d been arrested, and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

Now there are a couple of things that come out of a passage like this one aren’t there. Some points we can take on board.

And the first one is this.

And that is, maybe we need to realise again just how UNFASHIONABLE it can be to follow Jesus. And just how INCONVENIENT. We’re not serving a man-made messiah that’s just a collection of people’s pipe-dreams turned into a religious myth that makes us feel better. He’s not just a CHRIST OF CONVENIENCE. Or maybe for you HE IS?…

But if you’re a Christian, if you’ve REPENTED and come to Jesus as your saviour, you’ve also come to him as what Peter calls THE PRINCE. The RULER. The boss.

And that can be inconvenient, can’t it, if you’re a person who likes running things your own way. Following Jesus isn’t just a matter of convenience. He’s an INCONVENIENT CHRIST. Who'll call on you to put your own comfort aside. And think about the needs of others. Who sometimes calls us to FOLLOW HIM DOWN THE PATH OF SELF SACRIFICE. Who’s going to call on you to do THE RIGHT THING. And not just the EASY THING. And there’s a cost attached. For the apostles today we saw it was jail. And a whipping. For you maybe the cost is something else.

You know, people DO make up their own gods. It’s called IDOLATRY. It’s been going on for thousands of years. I guess even some Christians are half guilty of that. Washing out the bits of Jesus they don’t like. Only obeying the bits that are convenient.

If that’s YOU, then you need to repent. And get serious about serving the GOD WHO IS THERE. The God who sent his son to die for sin; who raised him to rule. Even rule over YOU.

Here’s the next thing we need to ponder on. And it’s brief. If you ARE serious about being a Christian, when it comes to talking to people about Jesus, how unstoppable are YOU? With these guys, getting arrested couldn’t stop them, getting thrown in jail didn’t stop ‘em, getting yelled at in court didn’t even slow them down. And when they got flogged, they thanked God for it. It was great on Friday night when we had Kim Hawtrey speaking in the city, to see the number of people who'd gone out on a limb and done the hard thing of inviting someone along. It was great that lots of people said yes and came.