Risk and Reward...

This week, we are looking at a story in the book of Acts where Peter and John are in a room surrounded by the most powerful and prominent men in the Jewish nation as they begin to question and interrogate them regarding how they were able to heal a man who had been crippled and unable to walk his entire life. And it is in Peter and John's response to the questioning that we discovered the timeless principle that God’s co-mission requires courage to live in a way that reveals and reflects Christ.

Despite the risks that we may face, to fully engage in God's co:mission requires courage because it is in the times of great risk to our position or our popularity; it is in the times when our faith is questioned; it is in the times where we are challenged when it comes to our faith that provide us the greatest opportunity to live a life that reveals and reflects Christ. We see this reality revealed for us as the story continues in Acts 4:15:

But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, "What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

After ordering Peter and John to wait outside the council chambers of the Sanhedrin, the religious, political, and judicial leaders of the Jewish nation began to ponder how they were going to respond to what these uneducated and untrained fishermen had said and done. “What shall we do with these men?” These leaders recognized that something remarkable had occurred in their midst; something that only God’s intervention could have accomplished. And the whole city was aware that God had intervened and acted in a miraculous way. There was no denying it. The question was “what do we do about it?” Luke then reveals the decision that these leaders made in the very next verses:

"But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name." And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

To understand why these leaders came to this decision, we first need to understand the dilemma that they were faced with. While these leaders could not deny that evidence of God’s activity in the fact that Peter and John had miraculously healed someone, they could not have Peter and John coming into the temple on a regular basis talking about Jesus. They could not have Peter and John going around talking about Jesus because these were the very people who had arrested, tried, condemned and handed over Jesus to be killed.

You see, Peter and John now posed the same threat that Jesus posed to these leaders. Peter and John were now threatening the very religious system and power that these men possessed. And the threat that Peter and John posed was that through their continued sharing of the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, the new community called the church would continue to grow and the message of the gospel would continue to spread.

So these leaders decided that the easiest way to deal with this problem was to warn, which is a nice way to say threaten, Peter and John to no longer share the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. They could come to the temple; they could worship God; they just could no longer speak no longer to any man in this name. They just need to stop talking about Jesus.

Has anything changed? So often, people will tell me that we live in a time and culture that is dark and devoid of spirituality. But to say that our culture is devoid of spirituality is inaccurate. On the contrary, we are living in a very spiritual culture where people have no problem talking about religion or spirituality. Yet, while most people have no problem with anyone talking about religion and spirituality, whenever you bring up the name Jesus, there seems to be a change. People are much less willing to talk about Jesus. The name Jesus evokes strong opinions and strong responses. And many times, a discussion about religion and spirituality will come to a screeching halt as soon as Jesus is introduced. This is not a new phenomenon; this has been occurring for 2,000 years.

Now, imagine yourself as Peter and John. You have been questioned by the most powerful people in your country, the equivalent of the congress and the Supreme Court. And now, after they have deliberated about your fate, you are brought before them to hear their decision. And this is the decision that you hear: “You are free to leave on the condition that you no longer mention the name of Jesus or tell others about Jesus. However, if you continue to talk about Jesus; if you continue to tell others that we killed Jesus, then you will be rearrested and come before us again. And next time we will not be as nice”. What would you be thinking? How would you be feeling? How would you respond? We see how Peter and John responded in verse 19:

But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Peter and John respond to the most powerful people of the Jewish nation clearly and simply. If Peter and John would have responded in the language that we use in our culture today, their response would have sounded something like this: “You need to judge amongst yourselves and decide whether it is right to obey you rather than God. You need to do what you think you need to do, but we need to do what we need to do. And what we need to do is to continue to share all that we have seen Jesus do and all that we heard Jesus say”.

Now, as you might imagine, this was not what the political, religious, and judicial leaders of the Jewish people expected to hear. Their bluff had been called. And once again, they were face to face with the same question: “What shall we do with these men?” Luke reveals for us how they responded to their bluff being called as the story concludes:

When they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which to punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened; for the man was more than forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

As these leaders pondered their options, they could not escape two truths. First, they could not escape the truth that Peter and John had not done anything worth continued imprisonment. Second, they could not escape the truth that throughout Jerusalem, the people were attributing the healing of this crippled man to the hand of God through Peter and John. So, not wanting to make Peter and John martyrs, and fearing the people, the leaders further threatened Peter and John and then released them. And as a result of the courage that Peter and John displayed to live in a way that reveals and reflects Christ, God’s kingdom mission was advanced and God’s reputation was being enhanced in the sight of the people.

And in the same way today, God’s co-mission requires courage to live in a way that reveals and reflects Christ. So here is a question for us to consider: Are we courageously living a life that reveals and reflect Christ? Are we demonstrating the courage to live a life that reveals and reflects Christ by investing and inviting those around you who are far from God to explore faith? Are we demonstrating the courage to live a life that reveals and reflects Christ by doing the right thing, even when it is not the easy or popular thing to do? Are we demonstrating the courage to live a life that reveals and reflects Christ by standing firm in your faith when your faith is ridiculed or questioned? Are we demonstrating the courage to live a life that reveals and reflects Christ, even when it could result in the loss of friendships or relationships, of position or popularity at school or work?

Because, the timeless reality is that God’s co-mission requires courage to live in a way that reveals and reflects Christ.