Acts of the Apostles (13)
Introduction
One of the more remarkable blessings that the presence of the Holy Spirit brings is the ability He gives to believers to suffer scorn gladly. This is a remarkable thing in the moment, whenever it happens, but it also serves as a portent of what it is to come. It is a statement in the present and a sign for the future.
The Text
“And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men . . . (Acts 5:27–42).
Summary of the Text
So the apostles were gathered up, set before the council, and the high priest spoke (v. 27). “Didn’t we command you not to do this (v. 28)? But you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine” (v. 28). That doctrine includes the bloodguilt of Jerusalem’s rulers (v. 28). They had apparently forgotten what the “crucify Him” mob had been shouting (Matt. 27:25). Peter and the other apostles replied with the great principle that obedience to God trumps obedience to man (v. 29). The God of our fathers vindicated Christ by raising Him from the grave, but the reason He was in the grave in the first place was because you murdered Him and hanged Him on a tree (v. 30). God nevertheless raised Him exalted to be a prince and savior, to grant repentance and forgiveness to Israel (v. 31). The apostles are witnesses, and the Holy Spirit is a witness (v. 32). He is given to those who obey (v. 32). Hearing this, they were cut to the heart, convicted, and answered the charge of murder by taking murderous counsel together (v. 33). Gamaliel, Paul’s former instructor, a famous rabbi, intervened and had them go into executive session (v. 34). Unlike the rest, Gamaliel kept his head and urged them all to keep theirs (v. 35). Remember Theudas, who thought he was really something (v. 36)? Remember Judas of Galilee, and what happened to him (v. 37)? Gamaliel urged them to leave these men alone—if their cause is of men, it will come to nothing (v. 38). But if it is of God, you really don’t want to be found fighting Him (v. 39). And so they consented to this counsel, and brought the apostles back in. They had them beaten and reissued their (plainly empty) command (v. 40). And so the apostles left the council, rejoicing in the honor of being dishonored, the grace of being disgraced (v. 41). They left the counsel having plainly won, despite the beating. And so the threats from the authorities didn’t even slow them down. They continued to teach and preach Jesus Christ, both in the Temple and in every house (v. 42).
Where the Shame Belongs
When we are treated shamefully for the sake of the gospel, we are instructed, and instructed very directly, not to be ashamed of the shame that is directed at us.
“Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1 Peter 4:16). “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26).()
The shame rightly belongs to the persecutors. William Gurnall put it well when he said, “Paul does not blush to tell, it is for the gospel he is in bonds. The shame belonged to them that put on the chain, not to him that wore it.”
When the proto-Reformer Jan Huss was given a safe conduct to the Council of Constance, he was double-crossed by the Emperor Sigismund and there executed. When Huss reproached the emperor, the ruler visibly blushed at his lack of good faith. When Luther was given a similar safe conduct at the Diet of Worms (1521), the Emperor Charles V was urged to do the same thing, he refused, saying, “I shall not blush as Sigismund did at Constance.”
We are to live in such a way as that our slanderers are forced to glorify God in the day of visitation (1 Pet. 2:12).
Grace in the Furnace
The Lord Jesus gave us explicit instructions in this regard.
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”Matthew 5:10–12 (KJV)
We are sometimes taunted by mockers, as though we think we are persecuted simply because someone differs with us. No, but Jesus here does include being reviled as an aspect of persecution, not to mention the fact that people say “all manner of evil” concerning us. This is a nightmare for PR consultants, but Jesus tells us to maintain a different attitude toward it all.
“But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified” (1 Peter 4:13–14).
Joy as Harbinger of Wrath
This glorious and gracious demeanor is a sign of three things. It is a sign that God is with us in the present, sustaining us. Second, it is a sign that the mojo has entirely shifted. The persecutors are always trying to hang onto a vanishing world, and the persecuted represent the future. And last, this grace is a sign that the God who is with us in this moment will also be with us in the day of wrath. And so what will become of those who are against us in this moment?