We ought to obey God rather than men

Introduction

Chapter 4 introduces us to the first persecution. Last time we looked at the sermon Peter preached when questioned about where they got their authority to preach. This section is going to deal with the response of the lost to the preaching of the gospel. What is persecution anyways? Many in America would deny any claims that Christians aren’t being persecuted just because people’s heads aren’t being lopped off or people aren’t being burned at the stake. But this understanding of persecution is not consistent with the historical data or even the definition of the word.

According to a google search entry from the Oxford dictionary, persecution is “hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs”. Now under that definition have evangelicals faced persecution?

Have you ever been slandered or mocked because of your faith or moral values?

Have businesses been taken to court because they wouldn’t participate in LGBTQ+ weddings?

Why were churches targeted to be closed down during Covid all the while strip clubs and casinos were allowed to stay open?

Why were Christian business forced to provide coverage for abortive forms of contraception against their religious beliefs.

Now understand me, we don’t have it all that bad as other countries, but persecution does exist. It is especially important to differentiate between persecution over our faith and suffering because we did something wrong or hold varying political views. Politics do not equal our faith although there is an overlap at some points.

When facing persecution, slander, mistreatment, being passed up for positions, being ghosted by friends, being mocked because of our morality; there is a strong temptation to just go with the flow. To stay silent. to keep our heads down.

As we will see today, the gospel message itself demands that we cannot stay silent.

Thesis: If we are going to obey God, we must not be silent when persecution comes.

I. The Boldness of Peter and John vs 13

Peter and John have just been arrested by the rulers of the temple as we say in our last message from Acts 4. They were kept overnight since it was late until they could be further questioned in the morning. At this point this is all just standard operating procedure for handling these types of issues in this culture. But the motives of the sanhedrin were not neutral and unbiased. They wanted to shut these men down. Our narrative starts in

Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

They didn’t know what to make of these men, but atleast three things drew their attention about Peter and John:

their character- Now when they saw the boldness- When we talked about the filling of the Spirit at the beginning of the book, we pointed out that one of the fruits of walking in the spirit is boldness, but what is boldness? The term boldness means the trait of being willing to undertake activities that involve risk or danger, especially that of being honest or straightforward in attitude and speech. Peter and John were not afraid of being arrested. They did not allow the negative response of the rulers keep them from preaching the gospel.

I think of a story that Daniel recently told me when he and Pastor Karsies were out on visitation. They came to one house where the lady at the door said she was an atheist. Daniel I believe made the comment that it must take a lot of faith not to believe in God trying to make the point that atheism is just as much a position of faith as Christianity is. The lady turned to him and said “F” God.

If we allowed ourselves to be distraught over the negative responses to the gospel, we would never preach the gospel.

Romans 1:16 “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.”

Not only did they notice their boldness, but they noticed their lack of formal education. They text says that they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men. To preceive in this text means to gather information by the process of inquiry. They asked around and determined that the Apostles did not have a formal education. The word unlearned is literally illiterate; however, the context seems to place more of an emphasis on the fact that they had not received formal training in the Torah. The word for ignorant literally means a private man. They took determined that Peter and John and never had formal Torah training and they were not public rabbis or teachers. A similiar thing was said of Jesus in

Luke 4:32 “And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.”

And because of this resemblance, they knew that Peter and John had been with Jesus.

b. the miracle- they saw for themselves the lame man who had been healed.

c. They had heard their message- it was this message that offended them the most.

The world will persecute you because of who you are.

John 15:19 “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

The world will persecute you because of what you do.

Matt 5:10-11 “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.”

The world will persecute you because of the message you bring.

Matt 10:16-18 “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.”

But a Spirit filled Christian will not be deterred by the negative response of the world.

II. The Debate vs 14-17

The next scene shows the rulers deliberating about how they are going to handle this situation.

They could not deny it-

Acts 4:14 “And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.”

It is likely that the lame man was locked up with Peter and John because he stands here right before them during the questioning. The physical evidence of what God had done was right before them and yet they still could not repent. Notice vs 15 begins with the word but. Their concern was not to determine the truth, their concern was not to find out how this happened. Their only concern was to silence the voices of the Apostles.

The phrase they could say nothing against it means they couldn’t contradict the evidence. They couldn’t argue that this man was not really a cripple. They could not argue he was a different man. They could not argue medical means of healing and they couldn’t deny that he was truly healed.

Luke 21:15 “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.”

2. It was well known vs 16 a notable miracle- the word notable means that it was obvious or undeniable; miracle is literally a sign. This healing was a sign to confirm the validity of the message of Jesus Christ. But not only was it a sign of Jesus, it acted as a sign of their hard hearted rebellion against God’s message.

Hebrews 2:3-4 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”

3. Everyone was glorifying God because of it- vs 16 says it was manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem- manifest means widely known or shown. It was known by all the corners of Jerusalem. in vs 21 it says all men glorified God for that which was done.

We see the rulers of the temple feeling boxed in, struggling to come up with a solution and afraid of the people. so what do they do.

Acts 4:17 “But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.”

They decide since they can’t make it all go away, they can’t deny it; they will contain it. The damage is already done so now they are in damage control mode. They needed to keep it from spreading- that it spread no further among the people.

III. The Command vs 18

So how are they going to prevent the spread? They can’t punish them without risking the anger of the people; so they threaten them. You see how persecution is not just killing people and burning buildings. The Apostles faced what we call soft persecution at this point much like we face today in America. This is the same type of persecution that the believers Peter wrote to in 1 Peter were facing. Notice, they did not just warn them; they threatened them. They didn’t say please don’t do this again or we would prefer if you didn’t talk about Jesus anymore.

The difference between a warning and a threat is the implied consequences. If you do not stop doing this we will arrest you and maybe even put you to death.

The rulers gave them two commands:

Don’t talk about Jesus

Don’t teach about Jesus

We don’t want to hear about this Jesus at all. They were not allowed to speak to anyone about Jesus.

IV. The Response vs 19-22

Vs 19-20 show us Peter and John’s response.

Acts 4:19-20 “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

Peter asks wether they should obey God or the religious rulers? Shouldn’t be that hard of a question. We obey God. Implied in the question is the assumption that these religious rulers were not on God’s side. The bible is clear on its teaching about Christians and the government:

Luke 20:25 “And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.”

Romans 13:1-7 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”

1 Peter 2:13-17 “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.”

but here we see an exception: As Christians and citizens of a higher kingdom 1 Peter 2:9, we must obey our higher King. Our allegiance is owed primarily to God and what He says trumps all other government edicts.

Finally notice, Peter’s second response: For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. In Greek, their are four different ways to say “no”

Pastor Camp in our Greek class used to use dating as an illustration of the four “no’s” in Greek. The one word for no could be illustrated by a guy who asks a girl out and she says “no” but implied behind the “no’ is an ask me later and I might change my mind. Another word for “no” is like a guy who asks a girl out and she flat out say no and don’t bother asking. While a third type of “no” means no and don’t you ever even think of asking me again. In Greek, the more “no” you add together the stronger the “no” becomes while in English two “no’s” makes a “yes” right? Atleast in English grammar they cancel each other out.

The sense of the word “not” here means that we absolutely cannot stop speaking the things that we have heard and seen. Peter is absolutely refusing to be silent in spite of the persecution.

Conclusion

Now I am not saying that we go out of our way to cause problems in the work place or society. Peter said in his epistle

1 Peter 4:15-16 “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”

But how often do we keep our mouths shut when we have an opportunity to stand for the Lord or give a witness? How often do we allow fear to keep us from knocking on doors to give out the gospel? How often do we fear a negative response? The world does not like evangelistic evangelicals. They would tell us to be quiet and never speak about Jesus because it makes them uncomfortable. But Jesus is the only hope that they have and to keep our mouths shut would be unloving. It is like seeing someone about to walk off a cliff and not saying anything. While they tell us to be silent, we cannot be silent. We absolutely must tell people about the things we have seen and heard Jesus do in our lives.