But if it is from God

What cannot stop the advance of God’s Kingdom?

authority (v.29) - specifically any authority that might cause you to disobey God

prison

arrest

activity (v.36) - any movement without God

the religious elite

persecution - worthy to suffer

persecution

Closing: circle back to v.20, this message of LIFE (give them the Gospel) doesn’t fade, it doesn’t lose influence, it doesn’t bend with new thinking, it’s not a trend that pops up and gets played out, we cannot move on from it, we cannot get over it.

In 1966 the British rock band The Beatles said they were more popular than Jesus. But i know for a fact that there are people sitting in this room right now who couldn’t name one of the members of the Beatles...

Introduction

Something I’ve been learning recently is how fast, full, and busy my life is. I’ve been taking steps to take back the rhythms of my life, and find physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health in slowing down, being silent, being by myself. I think there’s power there. My word for 2020 is FORMATION - how am I being formed and who am I being formed into?

But we live in a world, and as high school students, you are immersed in a culture of fast, immediate, hustle, hurry, go-go-go, on to the next, don’t stop, don’t sleep, grind.

Everything moves so fast on the internet and social media that you’ve probably already forgotten about some of the things that became popular in 2019 because the world has already moved on from them.

Le me remind of some of the things that were big in 2019:

Old Town Road

Area 51

VSCO Girl

Egg with 54 million likes on instagram

Baby Yoda memes

The internet moved on so quickly that these things have already lost their power. Except for Baby Yoda, he will live forever.

I want to look at our text tonight, , and see something that doesn’t lose it’s power. Something that cannot be moved on from. Something that cannot and will not fade away.

Read the Text

Acts 5:17–42 CSB

Then the high priest rose up. He and all who were with him, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. So they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail during the night, brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple, and tell the people all about this life.” Hearing this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. When the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full council of the Israelites—and sent orders to the jail to have them brought. But when the servants got there, they did not find them in the jail, so they returned and reported, “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing in front of the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” As the captain of the temple police and the chief priests heard these things, they were baffled about them, wondering what would come of this. Someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Then the commander went with the servants and brought them in without force, because they were afraid the people might stone them. After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest asked, “Didn’t we strictly order you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging him on a tree. God exalted this man to his right hand as ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while. He said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful about what you’re about to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, and all his followers were dispersed and came to nothing. After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. He also perished, and all his followers were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him. After they called in the apostles and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them. Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name. Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Context

Since we’ve been in the Book of Acts all year long, you’re probably already familiar with what is going on. But just in case you aren’t let me catch you up to speed. Following the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, his disciples, now called the Apostles, started forming Jesus communities starting in Jerusalem.

A lot is happening in these Jesus communities, they’re eating together, they’re listening to the Apostles teach about the way of Jesus, they’re praying together, they’re preaching in the streets and in the temple, and as Jake preached on last week, MIRACLES are happening.

But everything that is happening in these Jesus communities has started to anger the religious elites. So they arrested Peter, James, John and the other apostles and through them into jail. They tried to stop what they were doing by any means necessary.

So tonight I want to look at three things in that cannot stop the advance of God’s Kingdom.

Authority

Peter and John were peaching about Jesus back in chapter 4 and got thrown in jail for it.

And now here in chapter 5 all of the Apostles get thrown in jail for preaching about Jesus. But I love Peter’s response.

“We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

Any authority that would have you disobey God must be rejected.

Did you know, that in 24 countries it is dangerous for you to own a bible.

and in 15 other countries, it is illegal to own a bible.

and in 13 more countries, the only way you can obtain a bible is through illegal covert smuggling operations.

In those 52 countries, the Gospel is exploding. The fastest growing Gospel movement in the world is in Iran, one of the 13 countries where the only way to get a bible is to smuggle it in.

There are believers all over the world willing to choose death for the Name of Jesus instead of disobedience to God. Would you? Would I?

No matter how hard the Sanhedrin, Israel’s religious counsel, tried to stop the message of Jesus getting out they couldn’t.

Authority cannot stop the advance of God’s Kingdom.

Activity

So they’ve tried throwing them in jail, they’ve tried using threats, and

It’s at this point where a rabbi, a teacher, named Gamaliel stands up to speak some wisdom over the counsel. It says Gamaliel was an EXPERT in religious law and RESPECTED by everybody there.

In Judaism, Gamaliel is one of the most respected scholars and teachers in HISTORY. Although you’ve probably never heard of Gamaliel you’ve probably heard of one of his students, a guy named Saul of Tarsus…the Apostle Paul.

Gamaliel stands up and reminds the counsel of two guys who had their 15 minutes of fame and then faded away, never to be heard of again.

The first was some guy named Theudas who claimed to BE SOMEBODY. He pretended that he was important and 400 people followed him. But he was killed and his followers scattered.

The other guy named Judas of Galilee also got people to follow him, but he was killed too and his movement stopped.

So Gamaliel’s advice to the council is spot on: “If they [The Apostles, the Jesus followers] are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be over. But if it is from GOD, you will not be able to stop this thing. You will find yourself on the wrong team fighting God.”

If it is from God it is unstoppable.

My bible, again I’m reading from the NLT, says this about Theudas in verse 36: “The whole movement came to nothing.”

Can I just tell you guys that:

movement, without the Master, means nothing.

followers, without the Father, mean nothing.

positions, without the power of the Spirit, mean nothing.

outreach on your own means nothing.

How scary is it that you can practice Christianity without Christ.

Literally I can do my job as a pastor, I can give counsel, i can preach from the Bible - I can do all of this without Jesus.

Can i just confess something to you guys?

says confess your sins to one another and be healed.

says whatever is not of faith is sin.

Activity for Jesus apart from Jesus in sin.

I gave into the sin of Christian activity because I believed the lie that God’s promise of significance (that I matter to him regardless of the “success” of what I do) wasn’t good enough. But the truth of the Gospel is that in Christ I have all the significance I need and I can live free from this sin of thinking I have to do more for God and BE SOMEBODY for God.

I don’t want to end up just like Theudas, just like Judas of Galilee. The Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom of God, will keep going without me. Not even my ACTIVITY apart from Jesus can stop this Gospel.

Authority cannot stop it, activity cannot stop it, I see one more thing in this text and that is PERSECUTION cannot stop the advance of God’s Kingdom.

Persecution

After Gamaliel’s advice, the Counsel says you’re right, so they bring the Apostles back into the room and flog them and let them go.

Flogging is no joke. It’s not a slap on the wrist. It’s torture.

They flogged Jesus before they crucified him.

You’ve probably heard this before, the first person to every explain this to me was Greg Steir. He talked about this whip made of multiple strips of leather. At the end of each strip was sharp pieces of bone, or broken pottery. As the whip would land on their back these pieces of bone and pottery would hook and rip open their flesh.

It was excruciatingly painful.

But the Apostle’s response even to this is amazing.

It says they left the counsel rejoicing! They were happy about being flogged WHY?

Because God considered them WORTHY to SUFFER for the name of Jesus.

Jesus said in that if this world hated Him, they’re gonna hate us too.

But not even persecution can stop the advance of God’s Kingdom.

Close

So to close, let’s circle back to the start of this passage.

After the apostles are miraculously released from prison my an angel, the angel tells them, and you’ll see this in verse 20, “Go to the Temple [go to where the people are] and give the people this message of LIFE”

So let me ask you, have you received this message of life?

It’s the message of the God who created this whole world, everything in it, including you and me.

But the people God created thought they could be god better than God could be god and through their rebellion the relationship between us and God was broken.

But God loved us wayyyy too much to allow that relationship to stay broken. So he chose a group of people through whom he would fix everything that has gone wrong. And into this group of people he would send his own son, Jesus. And Jesus lived the life you and I could never live. And he died the death you and I deserved to die because of our rebellion against God. And then he rose from the dead and in the process conquered sin, and shame, and death itself. He restored the broken relationship between humanity and God and by trusting him we too can enjoy life with the God who created us and loves us.

THIS, is the message of Life and it doesn’t fade, it doesn’t lose influence, it doesn’t bend with new thinking, it’s not a trend that pops up and gets played out, we cannot move on from it, we cannot get over it, authority cannot stop it, our own activity cannot prevent it, and even persecution can’t snuff it out.

SO if you’re in here thinking that you’ve never recieved this message of Life before, don’t leave tonight without talking to someone about it. Talk to your small group leader, talk to your friend, don’t leave here with questions unanswered.

Let’s pray.