Acts 5:33-6:7

This morning we begin our study in Acts 5:33

Remember that last week we read about the trial of the apostles. In Acts 4 we saw how Peter and John had been arrested…now as the church continues to grow in number the religious authorities of that day arrest a certain number of the apostles again…but if u recall, God frees them from their imprisonment.

As we discussed last week…the apostles do not run away and hide, rejoicing in their supernatural liberation…far from it. Instead, they respond in obedience and begin to teach yet again. And so it is that these worthy men are brought before the authorities again and we read how these authorities scold them for teaching the doctrines of Christ.

Here, then, is where we hear that classical response which we all do well to emulate, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

And so it is that we come to the text for today.

Read Acts 5:33-42

The phrase in verse 33, of course, refers back to verses 30-32, in which Peter boldly puts Jesus forth as the Prince and Savior of Israel…the One whom they murdered. It is this declaration to which the men respond as they do in verse 33...they get so mad they decide these men must die.

Understand, my brothers and sisters, that this is one of the responses that the Truth brings out in people. We’ve heard over and over how Jesus and His message is offensive to people. Romans 9:33, in fact, describes our Lord as “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” The message of Jesus, no matter how much we may wish it were otherwise, will turn many away. Those who turn away from the message of Christ recognize what way too many who profess Christ do not: Being a Christian means living a life of obedience…it means more than merely giving lip service to an idea…It means altering our lives!

Note now the words of Gamaliel (who according to Acts 22:3 was the teacher of Paul), especially his summation in verse 39.

“…if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it-lest you even be found to fight against God.”

In one way, this statement is very true, for in the end…those things which are of God will stand while everything else falls apart. In another way, however, this is not necessarily a rule. If we judge things to be of God merely because we perceive them to be successful, then we would conclude that the religion of Mormonism, of Islam, and of Watchtower are of God for they appear to be amazingly successful. In fact, I personally believe that this is one reason why so many churches base success upon numbers…why they fall over themselves wanting to become the next mega church...why they become program driven rather than Word honoring.

But, dear brethren, God does not measure success by numbers. God will not overlook the sins of a pastor because his congregation was huge. He will overlook all sins only if the blood of Christ has atoned for them! Therefore, a successful minister, a successful church, a successful Christian, is that one which lives obediently…the one that takes seriously the command of God to be holy as He is holy!

Look now at verse 40 (read):

At this point the religious authority has no good reason for holding and condemning the apostles, so they let them go…after they have beaten them and forbid them from preaching the gospel of our God.

And note verses 41-42:

First, let us note that they continued to be obedient to God rather than to man. Their love of God, their desire to live victorious lives of obedience, far outweighed any fear of punishment they may have had! Likewise, brothers and sisters, in order for us to truly show the world what it means to believe in Christ we must love God so much that we live obediently even in the face of danger…because we fear besmirching the name of God far more than we fear any retribution that a mere human authority could ever wield against us.

But look carefully again at verse 41 (read):

You can rest assured that the beating the apostles received was severe. You can be confident that their blood was shed, that some may have had bones broken. They were beaten. Their flesh was chastised…and yet…they rejoiced!

To what does the Word attribute their rejoicing?

They rejoiced because of the honor they felt at having suffered for His name’s sake!
They rejoiced because to suffer for His name was assurance that they lived obediently! They were worthy of suffering! Their Master Himself had warned them that they would “be hated by all for…” His name’s sake (Matthew 10:22) The Master, in fact, had told them that this hatred would prove they were His!! “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

It is for this reason, then, that the apostles considered an affirmation of worthiness to suffer the beating they did…it is for this reason that they rejoiced in their suffering!

Brothers and sisters…how do we compare?

Does the world hate us? If not…how worthy are we? When we experience the tiniest bit of suffering for His sake, do we rejoice or blame Him? When we suffer great tribulations for our faith…do we ask God to remove us from the situation, or do we beg Him for the strength to endure and to count it all blessings?

Please do not get me wrong…I am not suggesting that in the midst of persecution we should be smiling and laughing and so on. What I say is that we should ask God NOW, for the ability, the grace, and the strength to respond as Job did in the midst of his suffering. (Paraphrase Job’s suffering)

Remember I have shared with you the story of how "It Is Well With My Soul" came to be written; remember that story as I read to you that wonderful hymn:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
Refrain
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Refrain
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Refrain

Are there are questions or comments?

Read Acts 6:1-7

We see in verse 1 that not all is well in the church. Because people make up the church there will always be problems in any church. So it was in the early church. Those Hellenised Jews complained about not getting equal share of the distribution going on. Widows were being neglected, etc....

Now note verse 2.

Something needed to be done…and it appears that any and all problems were brought to the attention of the apostles who were present. Yet they respond by saying that they could not nor that they should do all of the work. The apostles were the teachers of the church…the preachers, if you will. Their job was to study the Scriptures and to teach the Scriptures. I would remind us here, brethren, that we also need to take care of how much of a burden we place on our leaders. I would not dare to equate our local pastors with any of the apostles…except in that every church has a main teaching pastor whom we must take care of.

The church today expects a pastor to be everywhere and do everything…but that is not right. The Pastor needs time to prepare a sermon…he needs to meet with and counsel people…we should not expect him to also be the one setting up chairs and cooking breakfast for the men’s meetings, as so many churches seem to expect.

But returning to our text we see that the apostles come up with a plan. They are to elect servants in the church. Not spiritual overseers here but servant leaders.

Note in verse 3 that these men are to be godly men…men of good reputation. These, then, are the deacons of the church. In 1 Timothy 3:8-13 we see listed out again the qualifications of these men…who are now named as deacons. We see not only their qualifications, but we see that this position is also clearly marked off from that of elder or bishop/overseer as the Scriptures refers to them. While a deacon might be a proselyte (Acts 6:5) an elder cannot be such a one (1 Timothy 3:6).

What we are seeing here and in 1 Timothy, then, is the setting up of church government.

We have as well, incidentally, our introduction to Stephen, of whom we’ll read more later in this chapter.

Having been freed to focus on study of the Word and prayer, the apostles are used by God to continue to add to the flock…for we are told that the word spread and the disciples multiplied, and even Jewish priests were won over to Christ!

The stage is now set, then, for the story of Stephen…a story which we’ll study next week!

End in prayer.