Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Acts 4:1-12

Thesis: If you will be saved, you must come through Jesus who alone can save us.

Introduction

Have you guys ever watched an episode of one of those undercover boss where a boss will set up cameras and then go undercover at his place of employment to find out what things are really like working for his company?

The first episode dealt with the coo of Waste Management, he worked alongside the workers picking up trash and then had a meeting with them afterward.

Many of them were surprised when he came in at the end of the week and revealed himself to them.

But I can imagine if he had just come in and said, “Hey, we are going to make these changes” but didn’t tell them who he was, there would have been a power struggle.

Sometimes leadership doesn’t like to be challenged.

Our text today shows us the beginning of persecution in the Church.

And it all began with a power struggle.

The scene begins with where we left off in the temple.

Peter and John have just healed the lame man, they enter the temple together and all the people crowd around Peter wondering at what was done.

Peter preaches that the man was healed not by their own power or authority but by the power of Jesus Christ.

He then seeks to show them from the scriptures who Jesus was.

While he stands there preaching, chapter 4 begins with a scene shift.

In walk the priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees.

Luke intentionally brings these characters into the scene here because they represent the leadership and rulers of the religious world in which the Apostles lived.

Acts 4:1 “And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,”

The priests were the teachers in the temple and the one’s performing all the functions of the temple.

The captain of the temple is most likely the man in charge of the priests and all the activities of the temple.

The Jewish name for this position is segan ha-kohanim.

He would have been the second in command only to the High Priest.

The Sadducees were related to the ruling class in Israel.

Key to understanding their role in this chapter is the fact that they did not believe in the resurrection.

But a primary motivating factor for the Sadducees is peace with Rome.

They would have responded with concern that the preaching of the Apostles could have a destabilizing effect in the region.

The second verse tells us exactly why they were upset.

We don’t see them stopping to ask questions at this point, they just storm in having made preconceived conclusions and arrest Peter and John.

The reasons given are:

Acts 4:2 “Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”

that the apostles taught in the temple- this introduces the main problem.

The priests were more concerned with authority to preach than the message because they needed to hold on to their power over the people.

that they preached the resurrection from the dead through Jesus- The Sadducees did not believe in the after life let alone a resurrection from the dead.

So to preach that in Jesus we can be raised from the dead.

Luke 20:27 “Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,”

Acts 4:3 “And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.”

Because they did not like what the Apostles were preaching, the priests had Peter and John arrested.

At this point the church is only facing what we call soft persecution.

It must be understood that arrest and being placed in jail in this culture was not viewed as punishment; rather it was just a temporary holding until a trial or judgment could be conducted.

According to the text, they could not take it to trial because it was already evening.

The evening prayer would have been around 3 PM; the sermon itself may have taken an hour or so, but then they were placed in hold because they day was closing before a trial could be convened.

Acts 4:4 “Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.”

Luke is intending to imply that even though they were shut up in a prison, God’s word still did that which it was intended to do.

I think of a court room scene, you know Pastor watches the old Perry Mason shows.

But often times a lawyer will make a statement that is intended to stir up the emotions of the jury to their side of the story and the opposition will call out “Objection.”

Then the statement is stricken from the record, but you can’t strike it from the minds of the jury.

The objection really has no effect.

Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: It shall not return unto me void, But it shall accomplish that which I please, And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

Luke is saying you can shut up the preachers, but the word is already out.

The cat is out of the bag and people are being saved.

Doing some basic math here the young church is at a minimum of 8120 people by this point.

I.

The Question vs 5-7

On the next morning we see how important this situation is to the Jewish rulers.

Acts 4:5-6 “And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.”

The leaders in Israel, the heads of the families or community leaders, the scribes who were often Pharisees came together.

To this trial come all the leaders of Judaism at the time.

Though the name Sanhedrin is not mentioned in this text, the council is mentioned in vs 15 and likely references the Sanhedrin.

Four other key figures are also named: Annas is mentioned as being the high priest even though his rule as high priest ended around AD 14.

There are two possibilities and both are probably true.

First, the title after one retired was something they held onto even though they did not occupy the position.

The second possibility behind calling him the high priest is that Annas held power through his son-in-law, Caiaphas.

Evidence that this was true is found in Luke 3:2 and John 18:13.

Most likely John and Alexander are only mentioned because Luke’s source names them for historical accuracy.

Verse 7 gives us Luke’s main point to this text.

Acts 4:7 “And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?”

To all these power hungry religious rulers, it didn’t matter that a man’s life had been changed.

It didn’t matter that a man who could not provide for himself on his own had been made a profitable citizen.

It didn’t matter that a miracle had been performed.

What mattered to them was the balance of power.

Would you have locked someone up in jail who had just saved a man from a life of misery?

And yet they lock these men up because they were a threat to their authority.

Their question asks?

By what power or ability?

where does your ability to do these miracles come from?

By what name or in whose authority did you do this?

The implication is: we didn’t give you authority to heal this man.

To these religious rulers, the only authority to preach and minister in the temple comes from this very counsel; thus revealing their true motives for this line of questioning.

The reader of the text already knows the answer to this question since Peter declared it in his message earlier in

Acts 3:12-13 “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.” and Acts 3:16 “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

This question “by whose authority was this man healed” should challenge us today.

Everything you know and believe boils down to a trust in some authority.

1.

If you believe in biological evolution as the explanation for the existence of mankind.

You have as your authority science and what scientists tell you.

Have you ever observed macroevolution or the changing of one species into another?

Even within the fossil record the evidence of homology that looks for similarities in bones structures to explain evolution is a jumping to conclusions that can be explained by other reasons.

The world asks today, “ How can you seriously believe that God created the world is six literal days?

The question is not unlike that of the Jews.

How dare you challenge the accepted authority of the day?

2. In more religious circles today, Catholicism operates on the same presupposition.

The pope is the only one who has a direct line to God.

His statements are infallible and he has access to the unwritten traditions passed down from the Apostles.

They ask, “How can we know what the bible actually means apart from the Church?”

I have even had family members say that if they had to chose between what the bible says and what the Pope says they would chose the Pope.

The question the Catholic church asked of the reformers was by what authority do you teach these things?

This is the same question the Jews asked of the disciples.

3.

In secular agnostic or atheist circles, Jesus was only a good man and the things the bible says that he did were embellished and made up later by the disciples.

To them, their own experience has become their authority.

They say, I have never experienced the supernatural so therefore it does not exist.