[0:00] The following sermon is from Grace and Peace Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Grace and Peace is a new church that exists for the glory of God and the good of the northeast suburbs of Hamilton Place, Collegedale, and Ottawa.
[0:16] You can find help more by visiting gracepeacechurch.org. All right, I'm going to take just a moment and lift up our hearts in prayer.
[0:27] So, would you pray with me? Our God, we thank you that there are other believers in our city, that we are not alone.
[0:39] We thank you for our sister churches that are both of our denomination, but also throughout this city of all stripes who proclaim the name of Christ. And I thank you, Lord, that there is a movement among us to have a united voice, a voice, Lord, of lament in our particular culture, in our country.
[1:02] This is such a time of difficulty. Not only do we have this crisis of health, but we've got a crisis of justice. We've got a crisis of truth, a crisis of unity.
[1:16] We lack harmony in our country. Harmony is different voices that come together in a unified whole. We don't have that.
[1:27] We've got disharmony. And so, Father, we pray that you would be with us as we gather with other churches, that you would help all of us to see in this season of lament and sorrow, that we would have a clear vision of the ways that your church has failed our neighbors.
[1:43] The way that we, as your people, have failed to honor you in the way that we have treated others. In the ways that we have gone forth with our witness in the world, that we have missed opportunities that we should have taken.
[1:58] Father, would you give us the empathy to join in sadness for those who are struggling to understand how to move forward in this world? Father, might the church embody what you have said, that we are to mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep, even if we don't fully understand, even if we don't fully agree.
[2:22] Father, would you help us to put our desires and our priorities in the background that we might meet the needs of the people of our, that we might meet the needs of our neighbors.
[2:34] And as we lament, might we preach grace and mercy. As we have sorrow, might we point to Christ and his redeeming power. As we have sadness, might we proclaim Jesus as meeting us in that place, for he has come to us.
[2:53] And so your church, would you empower your church to speak of Christ boldly in a way that our neighbors can understand and hear and would draw them closer to you?
[3:06] Would you help us to do that? Not just for our good, not just for grace and peace, not just for Chattanooga, not just for the United States, but for the world. Would you help us, Lord?
[3:18] We pray it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Okay. If you would, turn in your bulletin or in your Bibles to Acts chapter 4.
[3:31] And we're going to continue on in looking at the story of Acts. Remember that Acts is the story of the early Jesus movement.
[3:42] It's centered in Jerusalem. And so it's still kind of right there in the place where it has begun. It hasn't yet moved out.
[3:53] And so things are in a lot of flux where we're picking up the story. You know, the early Christians are trying to figure out. They're trying to, now that Jesus had come, they're trying to understand all of Jewish history, all of the Jewish scriptures, all of Jewish faith, and how that is reinterpreted in light of Jesus.
[4:18] They're not trying to tear everything down. They're trying to reinterpret it in a way that more matches the Messiah's presence. So it's exciting. And all these new things are happening.
[4:29] Last week we looked at a healing. Peter and John were walking in the temple. There was a lame man and they called out in the name of Jesus and healed this man. And it was a sign from God that in Jesus' presence, that he has started his kingdom rule and is renewing and healing the world.
[4:49] But unfortunately, what we're going to find out, and as we're moving through the book, we're going to find out that there's lots of opposition. So that's what we're going to see here in Acts chapter 4.
[5:00] So I'm going to read the passage that you have there. And as they were speaking to the people, that's Peter and John, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
[5:21] And they arrested them, put them into custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000.
[5:36] On the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high priestly family, and when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, By what power or what name do you do this?
[5:54] Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being condemned today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, then let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well.
[6:27] This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
[6:47] 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.
[6:58] But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition, but when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, What shall we do with these men?
[7:09] For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.
[7:28] So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, Whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
[7:45] And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For this man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old.
[8:01] Amen. Friends, this is God's word, and he gives it to you because he loves you and he wants you to know him. Well, I don't know if you are into disaster movies.
[8:19] I am. Action disaster movies are some of the best, and I can't turn my eyes away from a good disaster movie. And it's interesting, though, that a lot of them are set in New York.
[8:30] I mean, going back to King Kong, the classic, I think King Kong was filmed like in the 30s. He's up on, like, the Empire State Building, you know. But it goes all the way up into, you know, the greatness that is Ghostbusters in the 80s and in through, like, Armageddon and Independence Day in the 90s and to my favorite, which was Day After Tomorrow in 2004, a great disaster movie.
[8:56] And, but it made me wonder, why in the world are so many set in New York City? Isn't that interesting? I mean, it has the iconic monuments, these buildings that you recognize and things like that, but there's got to be more to it than that, than just that these are iconic landmarks.
[9:13] I think it's more than just pretty buildings. It's that New York represents something about the American identity, right? This is why September 11th was so meaningful for us as a people.
[9:26] The American story is one of self-made success, and New York represents that more than anywhere else, as, of course, Frank Sinatra knew so well. There are certain places that are worth defending, right?
[9:41] There are certain places that represent something that if we lost it, it would mean that we lost something that is part of us, that part of us would die. See, the problem with Peter and John healing the lame man is that they did it in the central place of Jewish identity, the temple.
[10:01] Remember last time they walked in and they healed this man who was sitting at the gates to the temple, and then they stood around in Solomon's portico and started teaching all the people. And so where the story picks up is they're teaching on into the evening, and the Sadducees and the captain of the guard show up.
[10:17] The captain of the guard was the one who was responsible for all the security at the temple. And they come in and they detain them and keep them overnight. See, this passage sets up for us a conflict, a conflict between two competing visions for how it is that God is at work in the world and in you and in me.
[10:41] The one vision is of the earthly temple, the temple, the physical temple right there, the ones where they're right there. The other vision we might call the true temple that is Jesus, that is in Jesus.
[10:55] And so what I want to do with you is look at both of these visions for how God is at work, the earthly temple and the temple in Jesus, and then draw it together and look at how John and Peter represent how we are to take that and move forward.
[11:10] Okay? So two visions that are in conflict. One writer calls it a tale of two temples. So, the earthly temple.
[11:21] So, in the morning, the authorities gathered together. This gathering was called the Sanhedrin. You might have heard of that before. This was the elders and the scribes and the chief priests and the representatives of the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
[11:36] This was the elders of the people. There were always 71 of them. They were the political and religious leaders, and they would sit around in a semicircle. And so it looks like Peter and John were brought into the middle of that semicircle, and they asked them a key question.
[11:52] By what name, by what power, are you doing all of this? That's what they want to know. What authority do you have? Because, look at us, we're the ones who are sitting in our semicircle.
[12:04] We're the ones who have authority, if you haven't noticed. Now, I want to give the Sanhedrin a little bit of credit here. One of the things that bothered them was, if you look in verse 2, is that they were greatly annoyed that Peter and John were teaching the people.
[12:20] Peter and John had taken on the authority of being teachers on the temple grounds where the Sanhedrin was in charge without getting permission.
[12:31] Now, I will tell you, if somebody came to Grace and Peace and started trying to teach you all something, and I didn't know about it, or I didn't know who that person was, I'd be suspicious too.
[12:43] In fact, one of the interesting things about this passage, if you go back and read it, one of the words that you will see repeated over and over and over is, the people. And it's not just generic people, it's a specific word given for the congregation of God's people.
[12:59] The focal point of this is that there are two competing visions for how God is at work among His people. people. And the Sanhedrin is saying, look, we're caring for our people.
[13:12] Don't, you know, don't come here and start teaching something that we haven't given you permission to teach to our people. So you give them a little bit of credit there. The problem is, is that in order to keep this vision that they have for the temple, for the people, as they understood it, they have to undermine the Jesus movement.
[13:34] They have to undermine who Jesus is. The identity of the true temple. They have to give them, they have to put themselves in opposition to the true temple in Jesus.
[13:47] Just think about the names. Did you notice the names? Annas, Caiaphas. Does that ring a bell to you at all? You remember, they were the ones that Jesus was brought before after He was betrayed.
[14:00] You know, it's as though the gang is all back together again. And now Peter and John are standing before them. It's almost like they're re-litigating, re-trying Jesus.
[14:12] The question of Jesus' legitimacy is being brought up again. You kind of wonder if Peter got a sense of satisfaction from this. Now he's able to defend Jesus. Jesus, the idea of Jesus is on trial again.
[14:30] You see, the question is, is if Jesus is really the king of this world, as He says that He is, if Jesus really is the Messiah, then what that means is that everything that the Sanhedrin stood for is going to be forever altered.
[14:46] Their power, their authority, the history of Israel that they taught, the way that they understood the scriptures, even the very physical temple itself would forever be altered or even destroyed.
[15:00] This is incredibly threatening for them. A part of their whole world would die. And so, in order to preserve their political and worldly power and influence, they have to undermine and oppose this whole Jesus movement.
[15:17] See, here's the thing. This is the very temptation that God's people face in every generation. The church even now faces this temptation.
[15:29] Do we hold on to the kinds of political power and influence that we have in our world or are we faithful to the true temple in Jesus?
[15:43] You see, the earthly temple in their day, the Sanhedrin, had taken on the values of the world and the flesh and the devil. They had the cover of the Jewish scriptures and the Jewish history, but underneath their values were the same as every other political organization there.
[16:02] They were about the flourishing of their political agenda. Here's how you know if the people of God have taken on the values of the world and the flesh and the devil in order to preserve their own place.
[16:18] Here's how you will know it. is that just like in the case of Jesus and Peter and John here, they were willing to use injustice and coercion to secure the permanence of their power.
[16:38] Whenever the church or the people of God are willing to take on the coercive and unjust tools of the world in order to preserve their place, you know that they have stopped being the prophetic minority that they have always been called to be.
[16:56] Proclaiming Christ and Christ alone that they've bought into the values of the kingdom of this world. Leslie Newbigin is a writer that I quote pretty frequently and here's what he says.
[17:07] He says, when the church tries to embody the rule of God in the forms of earthly power, it may achieve that earthly power but it no longer is a sign of the kingdom of God.
[17:25] I recommended a couple of weeks ago for the last couple of weeks I've been recommending this video, this online event called The Politics of Neighborly Love. It's a conversation with people like Bill Haslam and the pastor Scott Sauls and a writer named Justin Giboney among others and I put a link to this, there's a video recap that you can watch this and I put it in our sermon notes that there's a little QR code in your bulletin, you can just shoot that on your phone and find that, it's on our sermon notes page, there's a link there.
[17:55] I'd encourage you to watch that because that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to say in our politically fractured world, it is hot out there politically. It is hot.
[18:07] But how do we as Christians not buy into the values of the world and the flesh and the devil that are so wanting to use the church as a tool for political power and how do we hold forth Christ in an authentic way?
[18:24] These are non-partisans who are attempting to help Christians think through that. I think you'd enjoy it. So that's the earthly temple. What about the true temple in Jesus? Well, Peter was finally given the floor to answer the question by what power are you doing this?
[18:39] The truth was, Peter was arrested for this good and this glorious healing. They should have been happy that Peter had done this. He's being treated incredibly shamefully.
[18:53] But, instead of just, instead of responding against the insult, he uses it as an opportunity to proclaim the power of Jesus.
[19:03] Look at verses 9 and 10 again. Well, I'll start in 8. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people. You see that? The people? Rulers of the people and elders.
[19:14] If we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, then let it be known to all of you and to all the people, congregation, of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him, this man is standing before you well.
[19:41] It's interesting that the word that he uses for healing there is the same word that gets used throughout the Bible for messianic salvation. This man was not just healed physically, it was a sign of God's ultimate healing that he brings into the lives of people in this world.
[19:59] That's what Jesus has come to do, not just to bring physical stability, but to bring spiritual new life, to be fully healed. Peter was proclaiming that in Jesus is the new temple, the new place of God's presence, the place where we can approach God and find healing and life.
[20:21] The problem is, is that the earthly temple didn't want anything to do with it. Peter is direct, you killed him, you crucified him.
[20:32] Look at verse 11, keep going. By this Jesus, or this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders which has become the cornerstone. Peter is referring to Psalm 118 there and the Sanhedrin, they would have known exactly what Peter was saying.
[20:49] Peter is saying, Jesus, he's the Messiah and you're the ones who rejected him and you're going to, he's going to be the stone, the rock of offense and you're going to stumble over him.
[21:04] Peter had no fear. What he's doing is he's saying this whole message is completely about Jesus. But then he even goes further. Look at verse 12.
[21:14] Peter was claiming a complete exclusivity for salvation in Jesus.
[21:33] Now, to our modern ears, that may sound hopelessly regressive and backwards. I mean, we have lots of religions out there. They're all just good enough.
[21:43] Like, why, you know, can't we just recognize that if you are sincere in your belief, no matter what your belief is, that you can find salvation. Peter is contradicting that. But here's the thing.
[21:56] If it is true that Jesus is the salvation of this world, then he must be proclaimed as that, even if it sounds exclusive. You know, and it's not oppressive if it is actually true.
[22:12] If it's actually true, it's not oppressive at all. Think about it. If you are on some large ship and it starts to go down in the middle of the ocean, if you stand up on the deck of the ship and say, this ship is going down and if you want to be saved, you need to get into the life raft and the life raft is right here.
[22:29] Please get into the life raft and you will be saved. Is that an exclusive claim? Yes, of course it is. There is only one way. But it's also a loving claim.
[22:42] And it's also an inclusive claim because it's saying anyone can get in the boat. By Peter saying this, it is not simply, it is exclusive in saying there is only one way, but it is radically inclusive because what Peter is saying is anybody can get in on this.
[23:00] There is no person in this world who is excluded from the invitation of Christ Christ to you to get in on this salvation. So that's what the true temple looks like.
[23:13] You've got this earthly temple and then you've got the true temple in Jesus and they are in direct opposition. Here's what's interesting is that in this proclamation of the true temple, Peter is calling everyone to give their true and full allegiance to Jesus and to him alone.
[23:35] And when you do, something happens. There's a change that happens. And Peter and John are the evidence of what that change looks like.
[23:46] You know, the leaders of the Sanhedrin, they don't even know it yet, but they're on their way out. They're getting written out of the story. This train is moving on and it is going to go on without them.
[23:58] It's only going to be about 40 years from this moment when the temple is going to be destroyed by the Romans. Their whole temple and way of life, all of the things that they're fighting so hard to hold on to are on their way to the trash heap.
[24:14] But this new way in Jesus, giving your allegiance to Jesus and nothing else, will provide people with a totally different set of values, a totally different set of practices.
[24:26] Here's what I want to do. I want to show you three ways that Peter and John show what it looks like to embody this new temple reality.
[24:37] Okay? Three things. First thing is, they have incredible courage. I mean, this is amazing. Even though Peter and John have zero kind of worldly reputation, they have zero markers of success, they are not sophisticated, they are not educated, they would have no way for them to really impress the people that they're around.
[25:00] They have the courage to stand up to this intense scrutiny. I mean, number one, 71 people just looking at you, asking you questions. That's hard enough. But the fact that they're threatening even more.
[25:14] And you saw this famous passage in verse 19, how they answer. Peter and John answered, you know, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.
[25:28] For we cannot but speak of what we've seen and heard. Come what may. Do your worst. This is what we're doing. That's incredible courage.
[25:41] You know, I wonder if you sense a lack of courage in your own life. If you do, perhaps it would be wise for you to find a bigger vision for your life, to find a deeper love, to find a better sense of desire.
[26:01] Is it possible that your vision of how your life should look, you know, the good life that you are pursuing, a life of personal peace and prosperity, that it just simply isn't big enough to deal with the realities of the world that you live in?
[26:15] because if you don't have a big enough vision, you will not be fully committed to anything. You'll lack courage.
[26:32] You know, I wonder if some of you live with this kind of nagging sense of dissatisfaction. You know, I think there's a lot of people, especially in the Bible belt, you know, people who go to church, nice people, people that you'd, you know, love for your kids to hang out with.
[26:49] But the way that they view the world and church is that they want to have the blessings of what King Jesus brings. You know, they want the blessings of living in the kingdom, but the idea of actually giving their full allegiance to the king of the kingdom is a step too far.
[27:09] They want the peace and the security and the personal sense of direction and the hope. They just don't want Jesus to actually change who they think that they are. The blessings of the kingdom without the king.
[27:24] I think that's what America is searching for. The blessings of the kingdom without the king. You see it all over the place. Here's the question you should ask yourself. If you struggle with a sense of lack of, with a dissatisfaction, a lack of courage, ask yourself this question.
[27:39] When was the last time you either did something or chose not to do something simply because you felt constrained by Jesus not to do it? Something you really wanted to do or something you really didn't want to do.
[27:53] You did it simply because you felt constrained by Jesus. I think it's fewer times than you might think. Because so many of us have linked our lives to what we sense are the blessings of the kingdom but we ignore the king.
[28:10] Alright, that's the first thing. Courage. Second thing is that they are filled with the Holy Spirit. Did you catch that in verse 8? That Peter and John's power originates by the filling of the Holy Spirit.
[28:22] And this boldness in Peter is remarkable. I mean, even the Sanhedrin is like, what is with this guy? I mean, who is this guy? He's the one who denied Jesus in a very similar circumstance not a month or two before this.
[28:40] And yet here he is being the primary one preaching and leading. He's uneducated. He's common. He's not sophisticated. And yet there is this spiritual power that is flowing through him from the Holy Spirit.
[28:55] For most Christians, modern Christians, that kind of spiritual power is completely unrecognizable to them. They've never experienced God's Holy Spirit power in them.
[29:10] Natalie this week was talking to one of her doctor friends and this woman was saying that she has her days are almost filled with patients coming in and her prescribing, making new prescriptions for antidepressants.
[29:30] That just the levels of anxiety and depression are just astounding in our moment. And I think that's true. And let me say that medication really helps.
[29:42] If you are struggling, I would love to help you get some to find some help where you can get some help. It's nothing to be ashamed of. But underneath, underneath our chemical imbalances, there is a deep dis-ease in our moment right now.
[30:06] This is an incredibly anxious time and our discontent and our dis-ease is literally killing us physically. You see, maybe what we need as a people is not a return to normalcy.
[30:22] Maybe what we need is revival. Maybe what we need is not just a way to handle the uncertainty around our children's schooling and around the job situations and around the political situation.
[30:37] Maybe what we need is a filling of the Holy Spirit in a fresh way that we will be empowered to deal with circumstances that we cannot and will not be able to control. What we need is not to figure out how to control things.
[30:53] What we need is the Holy Spirit's work in us so that we are different people in the midst of it. They have power filled with the Holy Spirit.
[31:06] And let me just ask this question. When was the last time that you actually sought and prayed for revival in your own soul? When was the last time you changed your schedule so that you could spend time seeking after God and His Spirit in an active way?
[31:22] Maybe if you are unfamiliar with reading the Bible and praying, maybe you could just try ten minutes of being quiet with God. Not filling it with your own words and your own thoughts but seeking His Spirit.
[31:37] If you are familiar with praying and reading your Bible, what about expanding that time? What about spending thirty minutes or an hour? You'd have to get up earlier. You'd have to change your schedule with your kids.
[31:48] You'd have to maybe miss out on something. But maybe that's exactly what you need to deal with the disease that we feel. That's the second thing. First thing, courage filled with the Holy Spirit.
[32:00] Third thing, steadfast in the face of opposition. Peter and John, in the face of opposition, they did not wilt and crumble. They were strong.
[32:14] They persisted in their calling in the face of opposition. We need that kind of fortitude right now. We need men and women who are going to stand up in the face of opposition, the opposition of the world and the flesh and the devil that has come right to our doorstep and to stand firm in the face of opposition.
[32:34] That's what Luke 21 that Pete read for us earlier is all about. Jesus knew what was coming. Jesus wasn't surprised and he wanted his people to know that when opposition came, they would not be alone.
[32:49] That's the thing. He promised that in that day when you stand before people, I'll give you words to say. This passage is a fulfillment of what Jesus promised.
[32:59] And it's true for us. It's true for us. We can be steadfast because of what God has provided for us.
[33:10] That because of being in allegiance to him and his spirit empowering us, we can stand firm and steadfast in the midst of circumstances that we don't fully understand. And see, that's the key thing.
[33:24] I mean, look at Peter and John. I mean, they're great on the one hand, but in a deeper way, don't they look like Jesus? Isn't that exactly what the Sanhedrin said?
[33:35] They said, these men, where did this power come from? It's clear they've been with Jesus. These people have been with Jesus and they knew it because of their courage, because of their being filled with the Holy Spirit, because of their courageous steadfastness in the face of opposition, because that's exactly what Jesus did.
[33:56] Jesus had the courage to forego the power and the privilege of his place at the right hand of God in order to take on flesh, in order to become one of us and to live in our world.
[34:09] He had the filling of the Holy Spirit and he continued to cultivate intimacy with his Father. He was overwhelming. When you came into contact with Jesus, you knew that you were with the Father.
[34:22] When they see me, they see the Father, Jesus said. And Jesus' steadfastness in the face of opposition, like a lamb, he was led to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth.
[34:36] Jesus was not scared even in the face of death. That great passage in Romans, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, so that he might be the exalted one seated at the right hand of God.
[34:53] That it is in Jesus that we see what it looks like to live in that true temple, the temple that he has established in his body. He said, I will destroy this earthly temple and in three days I will raise up a new one in my body.
[35:12] The cross and the resurrection of Jesus is the only place where we will find life and the kind of resources that we need to live in this world as it is given to us.
[35:25] Here's the thing. If you give your full allegiance to Jesus, you will follow where he leads. You will follow him. There will be opposition.
[35:37] We should expect it. The fact that the church in America has not had significant opposition is the exception, not the rule. We've been blessed for many years.
[35:50] It probably won't last. And you have the opportunity to follow Jesus in the face of opposition with courage and with the filling of the Holy Spirit. For when opposition becomes greatest, the filling of the Holy Spirit becomes more powerful.
[36:07] This is the time for us to seek after revival. Not to fix our problems, but to be better equipped to deal with even greater problems that we don't even know are coming down the pike.
[36:19] that's the opportunity. The next decade of the church's life could be the time of our greatest strength in the power of the Holy Spirit.
[36:31] We should not fear. We should not turn aside. We should not give in to the values of the world and the flesh and the devil and seek our own standing and political power.
[36:44] We should seek the filling of the Holy Spirit. all right. This is where we should end.
[36:56] We should stop and we should pray. We can fill this place up with words, but it is God's Spirit that we need. Let me pray. Our God, we need you to fill us with yourself.
[37:09] Would you give us, Lord, your Spirit in fresh and new ways? Would you equip us in ways that we don't even yet know or understand? Would you help us to be not the earthly temple, but to be the true temple in Jesus?
[37:28] We pray it in his name and in his power. Amen.