Sermon – Acts 4:5-12 – By What Power?

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Acts 4:5-12 – By What Power?

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Fourth Sunday of Easter

April 29, 2012

In this season of Easter we have been looking at the formation of the church as told to us by Luke in the book of Acts. God used the miracle of the healing of a man lame from birth to draw people into the church. The church had preachers who proclaimed the resurrection of the Jesus Christ from the dead. This proclamation combined with the work of the Holy Spirit brought some 5000 people to faith. They professed their faith through baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which sealed upon them the gift of eternal life. This was an exciting time, but problems were just over the horizon because the church had come to the attention of the very people who tried to stamp out the whole movement by crucifying Jesus. We will look at this today, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

You would expect that with the healing of a man who had been lame from birth the whole city of Jerusalem would be rejoicing. This was a clear sign that God was near. People should have been overwhelmed with joy. But while Peter was speaking to the crowd drawn to the temple gate Luke tells us that the religious leaders of the temple along with the captain of the temple police were greatly disturbed by what was going on. They had been collaborating with the Roman occupying government. This allowed them to keep their wealth and power. Their job was to maintain the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome in Jerusalem. It worked for everyone involved expect the people who were suffering under tyrannical rule. The church of Jesus Christ was a threat to the peace of the city and the power of it religious leaders. Therefore it had to be stopped. Peter and John were arrested and spent the night in jail while the leaders figured out what to do. When the sun rose here is what happened.

Acts 4:5-7 5 The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"

The Sanhedrin, the ruling council in Jerusalem had convened in an emergency session. The High Priest has brought virtually his whole family. Something big is about to happen. They know that their power rests in the Roman Legions just outside the city gates. Their authority is in the name of Caesar. So they have asked Peter and John, a couple of illiterate Galilean fishermen, for the source of their power and their authority to disrupt the peace of the city as they have done with this miracle and their preaching about resurrection. Listen to how Peter answers their question.

Acts 4:8-11 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.' 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

The source of the church's power is the Holy Spirit. The church derives its authority from Jesus Christ, who God raised from the dead. Today, some two thousand years later we still act under this authority and with this power.

Just a few weeks before the apostle Peter, fearing the power and authority of Rome denied that he knew Jesus. But now, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter has repented, changing from fear to boldness. He is still subject to the power of the Roman legions, and the authority of the emperor, but now he no longer fears them because he knows of the greater power of the Holy Spirit and the ultimate authority of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have increasingly become concerned that people in America are becoming fearful of the government's power and authority. I have heard board members of Christian organizations who are primarily concerned with protecting themselves from financial liability and government enforcement action. Will the natural resource police arrest us for cutting down a tree? Will we be sued if a car carrying children to Bible study is in an accident? Will we lose are farms if something spills into a stream? Sometimes questions like these paralyze us and we are unable to advance the Kingdom of God as we are called to do a Christian leaders. Like Peter we face a government which, at times, is hostile to religion. Like Peter we fear what a powerful government can do to us. But like Peter we can experience the power of the Holy Spirit and repent, changing our allegiance from government to Jesus Christ.

Peter realized that the only thing the Roman empire could do to him was to put him to death. They could crucify him just as they had crucified Jesus. But if resurrection is true then death is no longer something to fear. And if people no longer fear death then the threat of death no longer intimidates them. The Jewish leaders thought that they could intimidate Peter and John with the threat of death. But this threat no longer worked.

What if we acted as if it didn't matter if we lived or died? What if we could no longer be intimidated with the threat of death? What could we boldly do if we no longer feared anything? What would happen if we insisted, right now, without fear, that the Kingdom of God would be established in Pocomoke, that God's law would be kept, and we would learn to love one another just as God loves us? Our community would be transformed. And this is exactly what happened to those five thousand people who joined the church in those weeks after the resurrection. They were of one mind, and shared what they had. They feared nothing and followed Jesus Christ as Lord.

Luke tells us that the religious leaders were astonished by what Peter told them. They remembered that these were the unschooled fishermen who had come to town with Jesus. But the leaders didn't know what to do. And they didn't know how to handle the lame man who had been healed. So they decided to say nothing and asked Peter and John to leave the room while they deliberated. They decided to tell Peter to stop proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and teaching that the Hebrew scripture had predicted all of this.

Peter's response was extraordinary. He told them that he had been called by God to make this proclamation. And he asked them a simple question. Should he obey God, with the power of the Holy Spirit under the authority of Jesus Christ, or should he obey them, who only have the power of a roman legions and operated under the authority of the Emperor? The question Peter posed to the religious authorities was whether we are all to follow God or something else. The religious leaders could not answer this. They knew that they had to follow Rome for their own protection. But they saw the miracle of a man who had been lame for forty years now walking. They saw the excitement that was building in the city. But, they didn't know what to do. So they made some empty threats and released the apostles.

Peter and John went back to the church and told the people what happened. They decided to gather together in prayer. Here is how they prayed.

Acts 4 24-30 ...“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant:

‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

With this prayer the whole church was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and began to boldly proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead with the promise of eternal life. My prayer this day is that Beaver Dam/Pitts Creek church will be filled with boldness, that our fears would be washed away and that we would boldly march in our community claiming this part of the Eastern Shore for Christ. Let us pray for the sick with confidence that Christ can and does heal. Let us proclaim a resurrection from the dead for all who believe. Let us invite others into the faith with the promise of eternal life. And let us proclaim our total allegiance to our risen savior filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let's pray. Father in Heaven we ask this day that you purge from us our fears of the principalities and powers that seek to intimidate us. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Inspire us to act in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and the promise of eternal life, and establish you kingdom here in Pocomoke. This we pray in your son's name. Amen.