Acts of the Apostles: The First Thirty Years
Essay based on Acts 4:5-22
Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Which brings me to the point of my story about the electrician I told in the beginning. (See Part 1)
Acts 4:13-14
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
The Sanhedrin didn’t want to lose their power, and neither did we, and our continued sin after salvation shows us just how strong our self-interests are. It is hard to give up dominion once we’ve sat on the throne as king. To accept Jesus as Messiah for them had meant risking a Roman invasion and surrendering their place as rulers. For us, to accept Jesus in salvation and then to grow in sanctification afterward means to give the rule of ourselves over to Christ and to continue to do so more and more. Our self-interests are no less dangerous than theirs. Our desire to be the decision maker for our own lives is no less dangerous to our souls than the Sanhedrin’s desire to remain the decision makers for the people of Israel was to their souls. To accept Christ is to accept His rule over you. He is the cornerstone and builder while you and I are just stones in the wall of His palatial Temple. But O, what a glorious Temple it is, which makes you and me, while not the cornerstone, glorious stones nonetheless by our place in it
1 Peter 2:4-5
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Which brings me to the point of my story about the electrician I told in the beginning. He recognized that I was a follower of Christ because I cared for him, in a very small and faltering way, like Jesus.
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
What a great privilege it is to be recognized for having been with Jesus. It is their good work and the good words that distinguish them. It is not like Caiaphas was walking down Main St. in Jerusalem and said, “Hey isn’t that the guys who were with Jesus?” That is not what happens at all. If we consider Peter’s first sermon in Acts 2, he draws attention to Jesus’ good works to introduce the Gospel to the people of Jerusalem. “Men of Israel,” he says, “Jesus of Nazareth,” was “a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst.” (Acts 2:22). You see Jesus was known for healing women with 12-year medical problems, old blind Bartimaeus, that guy with the withered hand, the disabled man at the Pool of Siloam, the epileptic man’s son at the foot of the mountain of transfiguration, and even raising the dead on more than one occasion. Peter has not done some sleight of hand. He has not pulled off an elaborate illusion to draw a crowd. He is following in Jesus’ footsteps by doing the same works that Jesus himself did while on the earth. Then, when the good work draws a crowd, he says the same things that Jesus said. For instance, did the rulers know that Jesus said He would resurrect? They certainly did. After His crucifixion they go to Pilate to have the tomb blocked and sealed. Why?
Matthew 27:62-64
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”
Peter’s actions and words in this passage follow the same pattern as Jesus’ life. This makes the members of the Sanhedrin lean in and look closely at these two peasant fishermen standing there bold as brass next to a formerly crippled man and recognize them for who they are, disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, the resurrected Christ.
Look for the final post in this series, Part 6, tomorrow for some application.
For Christ’s crown,
Jeremy Mack