Get Up. Get Dressed. Follow Me.

Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem. Luke is shifting the focus from the church in Jerusalem into the mission field expanding from Antioch… but he does a quick “meanwhile, back in Jerusalem” to catch us up.

Over these course of years as the church in Antioch is being established and growing, persecution in Judea is mounting.

Herod Agrippa I

Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great reigning 41-44 AD. Different “Herod” (Herod the Great) than the one who accosted the wise men at the birth of Jesus, and different again from the “Herod” who beheaded John the Baptist and conspired to have Jesus killed (Herod Antipas the Tetrarch of Galilee).

But Luke likely calls him “Herod” to purposefully evoke the other Herods who persecuted Jesus in his life and ministry.

Acts 12:1–3 ESV

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.

Another feast, aka Passover, another gathering in Jerusalem, but now the mood has shifted and persecuting Christians is cool again. Herod is going to ride that wave of populism.

Acts 12:4–5 ESV

And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Such an echo of Jesus being held and then brought out to the people at Passover. But the church was praying...

The epic rescue

Acts 12:6–7 ESV

Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.

I love this mental image. Peter lying there sleeping. And the angel appears. A light shining in the cell.

What does an angel usually say first thing? “Fear not”. Because the angel appears terrifying to behold. What does Peter say when the angel shows up?

Nothing. Shshshs, he’s sleeping. I like to think the angel is disappointed as he makes his glorious entrance… and no one beholds it. How many entrances does one angel ever get to make?

So he kicks Peter in the side “Hey, wake up!”

It doesn’t say hi kicks him. It does say he strikes him, and that’s pretty much the same thing.

Hey, Peter, get up.

Parents, you know this one? Don’t make me get a glass of water to dump on your face… I’ll do it!

Acts 12:8–9 ESV

And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

This is a weird dream, a nice dream, alright. He is barely awake, just stumbling after the angel, totally out of it.

Acts 12:10–11 ESV

When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

Peter “came to himself” or literally “became himself.” He woke up. Where am I? That was a crazy dream!

Wait… I’m not in IKEA at all! I’m outside on the streets of Jerusalem! That was no dream, that was an angel!

Acts 12:12–14 ESV

When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate.

I love that “Rhoda” gets called out by name. Like she was famous in the early church as the “girl who forgot to let Peter in”.

Acts 12:15 ESV

They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!”

“His angel”?

Angel means “messenger” so they could be thinking Peter had sent a human with a message. There are some lines of thought around “guardian angels” assigned to individual people, maybe they thought it was Peter’s guardian angel. There isn’t a lot of evidence that they thought Peter had turned into an angel. The church clearly doesn’t seem to be expecting Peter’s release, maybe they weren’t bold enough to be praying for that, maybe just that Peter would be faithful in the face of “certain” death.

And Peter just keeps knocking.

Acts 12:16–17 ESV

But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

Tell the whole story to James. This is James the brother of Jesus who has risen to leadership in the Jerusalem church. And Peter departs. It doesn’t exactly tell us where he goes. He continues to exercise some apostolic ministry in Jerusalem. We learn he visits Antioch (last week) and church tradition has him acting as a missionary, eventually becoming the “elder” or “bishop” in Rome (aka, the first Pope).

What is clear is that, from this moment, Peter becomes less influential in the Jerusalem church and the James mentioned here, James the brother of Jesus, rises to lead the church in Jerusalem.

So even though Peter is miraculously delivered from prison, he is in some ways lost to the church in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Herod is left without his prisoner:

Acts 12:18–19 ESV

Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

Acts 12:20 ESV

Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.

Acts 12:21–24 ESV

On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied.

Three Men, Three Deaths

Peter

We have Peter. Supernaturally delivered from prison.

Wouldn’t it be great if the lesson were that “God always delivers his people from captivity.”

It isn’t. God does deliver his people from captivity in the deepest sense, but only sometimes in the literal sense. Peter wasn’t always supernaturally delivered from prison. He’d been flogged and released before. And in 20 years, around AD 64, he will be crucified upside down.

Our God is great. Our God can deliver the captives from the greatest of dangers when that is His will and He acts for His glory.

Herod

Wouldn’t it be great if the lesson were, as Herod was punished for his evil and for his pride, so all men will be struck down in their arrogance!

It isn’t. One day every knee will bow before the Throne of God, be humbled before the seat of judgment… but justice does not often strike so swiftly as it did with Herod, does it?

James

What about James?

James of the inner circle. As in who was with Jesus all those intimate moments? Peter, James, and John.

This James. Why don’t we hear about that guy?

Peter went on to write letters 1 and (probably) 2 Peter. He was likely the source of Mark’s narrative, so he pretty much wrote a gospel. He was an influential leader in the early church. His story gets told.

John went on to live 60 more years. He writes a gospel, the gospel of John, he writes letters 1,2,3 John… and he writes to the churches in Asia the letter of Revelation. He declares himself to be “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

What about James? Why don’t we hear about James? This is why:

Acts 12:1–2 ESV

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword,

One verse. James dies, just a few years into the birth of the church. The second named Christian martyr. The first of the apostles to “drink from the cup Jesus drank.”

Peter is delivered. Herod is divinely executed. That sounds like miraculous justice. James is quickly and quietly martyred. That isn’t fair.

Why does Peter get saved and James doesn’t?

I imagine that the church was poorer and felt poorer for the loss of James. One of the “Sons of Thunder”. Think of the things he could have taught, the gospel he could have written, the churches he could have planted!

I bet his family, his friends, and the whole church was, even as they celebrated the victory of Peter’s freedom… how they must have mourned, grieved at the loss of James.

I wonder if that was part of Peter’s fugue there in the jail. He had just seen one of his closest friends die, the inner inner circle.

But we get two messages.

The first is the one the angel says to Peter:

Get Up. Get Dressed. Follow Me.

Put your cloak on, Peter. Put your shoes on. Kick in the side if it’ll help. Get up. Your work goes on. Life goes on. As hard as that is, as hard as what’s coming, in the midst of persecution, still carrying the pain of loss… Christ still has the gall to say “follow me.”

Follow me out of prison. Follow me back into the church. Follow me back into ministry. You’ve still got 20 years to serve, Peter.

Get up. Get dressed. Follow me.

The other is the promise.

Despite the death of James, despite Peter being miraculously freed but essentially fleeing Jerusalem, despite Herod’s persecution or Herod’s death… in the face of any and every adversity:

Acts 12:24 ESV

But the word of God increased and multiplied.

“But the word of God increased and multiplied.” Though we sometimes get miraculous deliverance and see miraculous justice, we are told to expect persecution and suffering in this life. To live is Christ, to die is gain.

I imagine that the church was poorer for the loss of James… but the word of God increased.

A Giant of a Man

This next week marks one year since Pastor Rod died. Our lives and our church are poorer for his loss. That’s just true. We haven’t, and we can’t, replace his wisdom, his leadership, his friendship, his love, and his presence. And that still hurts.

As he was fond of saying: to live is Christ, to die is gain.

We are in the “live is Christ” part. We celebrate the victories even while we mourn the losses and, in all things, the Word of God increases and multiplies in and through us.

That is an act of faith. With all the grieving, with all the questions. We walk forward whose actions we don’t always get to understand… trusting that He knows when we don’t, that he’s good even if we aren’t presently experiencing good.

Paul, himself writing from prison, under persecution, he writes “to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

He looks forward to dying himself. It is gain. It was gain for James - first of the apostles to be reunited with Jesus again, face to face. Good for him. I can only imagine it was hard for everyone he left behind.

It was gain for Pastor Rod. He looked forward to it eagerly, especially for the last months. Good for him. I know it is hard for all of us.

To live is Christ, to die is gain.

We are in the “live is Christ” part of that. To live as servants, slaves of Christ, faithful to the last measure, willing and even eager to give it all.

Knowing that “the word of God will increase and multiply” and heeding the leading of the Holy Spirit as He calls and empowers and moves us forward to do that.

Armed with that promise: that God will continue to increase and multiply His word: in that promise we “Get up. Get dressed. Follow Him.”

We do that today in our business meeting. Heaven forbid that that be a routine rubber stamping administrative exercise. Holy Spirit empower it to be an advancement of God’s army fighting for territory!

Song “To Live is Christ”

Together we “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Because He lives: to live is Christ.

Because He lives: to die is gain.

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