one way

Today I’d like us to consider the words of a passage from the book of Acts by working forward through the scene that takes place here, and then turning around and working our way back to the beginning again. Here’s the background. The scene in Acts 4 takes place shortly after the events of Pentecost. The apostles have received the Holy Spirit and are now in the regular habit of worshipping at the temple and sharing the gospel message of Jesus with others. On one particular day as Peter and John and coming into the temple, they pass by a crippled beggar who apparently is always placed at the same temple gate to beg for assistance. And on this day Peter stops, and in the name of Jesus tells the man to get up and walk. This miraculous healing attracts quite a bit of attention there in the temple courtyard. Peter then takes this opportunity to give testimony to the resurrection of Jesus.

The religious leaders who had presided over the trial and execution of Jesus are present there in the temple courtyard. They, of course, thought that they had successfully squashed this movement that Jesus had started which presented a threat to their power and control. And now they are alarmed to see that these ordinary followers of Jesus are continuing to spread the message of Jesus accompanied by the same miraculous signs that Jesus himself had used. These religious leaders rush over and have Peter and John arrested and locked up for the night. The next day, the ruling council of Jewish authorities have Peter and John called to come before them so they can be questioned. This is where we pick up the action in verse 12 of Acts 4.

Acts 4:8–12 NIV

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Pointing to Jesus

Let’s work forward through this scene. Peter and John are called to give an explanation of what they are doing. To be more precise, if we back up one verse and look at verse seven the Jewish leaders ask, “by what power or what name did you do this?” (referring to the miraculous healing of the crippled man). Later the passage in Acts 4 notes that the Jewish leaders recognized Peter and John as men who had been with Jesus. No matter how this story turns, it always lands back to Jesus. Everything here points to Jesus. Peter answers the question. Why do they do what they do? Why do they say what say? Everything in their message and actions point to Jesus.

everything in Peter’s message and actions point to Jesus

Peter is demonstrating his connection to Jesus

And the question is framed in language of authority and power. It is not just that Peter is sharing information. He is not just sharing somebody else’s post, he is not retweeting some unverified story. He is giving first-hand account that his life, his words, his actions all point to Jesus. Do you see this? It is an important feature of the story. Peter is not just talking about Jesus. Peter is not just passing along information pertaining to Jesus. Peter is demonstrating his connection to Jesus.

It is the connection that Peter has to Jesus that shapes the message of his words. The connection with Jesus shapes Peter’s actions. And it is the connection Peter has with Jesus which carries authority. If we go on ahead in chapter four to verse twenty, we read that Peter defies the order of the council to keep quiet about Jesus. Peter says,

Acts 4:20 NIV

20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

they are living and speaking and acting under the authority of Jesus

Peter and John and the other apostles are no longer living under their own authority. They are living and speaking and acting under the authority of Jesus.

Jesus the Cornerstone

In the next section, Peter gives a testimony to the resurrection of Jesus and makes connection with an Old Testament passage from Psalm 118 about the cornerstone. Let’s spend a minute or two pulling that reference from its Old Testament context in the Psalms and see how Peter places it here in Acts as a new reference to Jesus with a fulfilled meaning.

through Abraham, a nation of chosen people is intended to become the cornerstone of God’s blessing and flourishing throughout all nations and all people

If we were to go back and read all of Psalm 118, we would see the picture of a rescuing God who comes and saves his beloved and cherished people from the destructive plans of the powerful. In the context of Psalm 118, it is the nation of Israel itself who is the stone that is rejected by the builders. It is this weak and insignificant nation of people who is lifted up and rescued by God. And it is this nation of chosen people who then are intended to become the cornerstone of God’s blessing and flourishing throughout all nations and all people. God starts with an old and feeble man (Abraham) who has no family of his own. And from there—story after story—God takes and uses the insignificant and unlikely and overlooked castaways to advance his covenant blessing.

Peter shows this cornerstone has complete fulfilment in Jesus

Peter takes this poetic song of the Old Testament Psalms and shows the complete fulfilment of these words in Jesus. Those powerful and elite rulers in Israel rejected and threw out Jesus. Yet now Jesus has become that cornerstone which is the most important piece of the building holding the entire structure together. The story of God’s covenant promise has always been one that confronts and confounds those who are powerful and dominant. And this is necessarily so, because the gospel message of Jesus must always be received as an act of grace extended to those who have no power and no dominance on their own.

In fact, this is how peter concludes his answer and his comments to the ruling Sanhedrin council.

Acts 4:12 NIV

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Jesus the One Way

Do you see what Peter is throwing back at those powerful elite rulers? Jesus is not just a authority; Jesus is not just one among many authorities. Jesus is the only authority. Our salvation and our rescue come from Jesus and only from Jesus.

the claim of the gospel is exclusive

This is both the greatest triumph of the gospel, while also being the greatest offence of the gospel. It is the exclusive claim of the gospel message that Jesus is the only way which gives it its greatest power and also its greatest resistance. In a world of pluralistic beliefs which pointed to many powers and many authorities, the claim of Jesus as the only way is met with resistance, skepticism, and rejection. Who do Christians think they are to make the claim that our religion holds the one right answer and that all other religions are wrong? Those who reject Jesus find this gospel message insulting.

There have been attempts to migrate or soften the claim of the gospel into something which a pluralistic world will receive. Universalists would like to make the claim of the gospel just one message among many which all leads to the same place. They would say that other religions all just have their own language and own path which eventually all leads to the same place. They would say that it does not matter what you call it: God, Allah, Shiva, Buddha, enlightenment. They would say that these are all just different names for the same thing.

Jesus is the only path of faith in which salvation is a gift of grace which is offered completely apart from our own merit or worthiness

But I am afraid this just doesn’t work because every single one of those other religions, every one of those other paths of faith require you to do something or achieve something on your own in order to find salvation. Jesus is the only path of faith in which salvation is a complete gift of grace which is offered completely apart from our own merit or worthiness. There is, in fact, something exclusive about the gospel which is separate from all other claims of faith and authority. Jesus himself says as much when he says,

John 14:6 NIV

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The Christ-Centered Life

How do we understand this? What might our reroute moment of faith be here in this passage? It is a reminder that there is only one way to the new life offered by God, and that one way is only through Jesus. Could it be that we have a rerouting moment to steer the direction of our faith back onto that one and only way? Let’s consider that by working backwards now through this passage in order to see how this shows up in the words and actions of those who follow Jesus.

What Peter is modeling for us here in this passage is properly characterized as a Christ-centered life. In other words, Jesus is at the very center of everything Peter says and does. All of his thoughts and all of his actions are informed by, prompted by, flowing from a life which holds Jesus in the middle of everything. This has a couple of noticeable qualities from which we can learn and few things.

the Christ-centered life encompasses all of life

First, the Christ-centered life encompasses all of life. What Peter demonstrates in this passage is that there is no separate list of things in life that connect with Jesus, and things in life which stand apart from Jesus. There is no such thing as a Sunday only Christian. There are no corners of your life that detach from the faith we hold. There is no way to profess faith in Jesus and then turn around and ignore the authority of Jesus in any area of your life.

there is no area of your life, no corner of creation over which Christ does not reign above all

This means that our faith carries forward into the workplace. The authority of Jesus remains at the center of how we perform the tasks and duties of our job, how we treat coworkers and interact with others, how we respond to managers and supervisors, how we hold up encourage those who may work under us. The authority of Jesus remains at the center of how we engage being a student at school, the way we understand God’s divine fingerprint upon on that we discover and learn about this creation, the way we conduct ourselves with peers. The authority of Jesus remains at the center of our relationships with friends, neighbors, family. Jesus is at the center of our work. Jesus is at the center of our play. Jesus is at the center of our hobbies and free time. Do you see what I am after here? There is no area of your life, no corner of creation over which Christ does not reign above all. Or, as we often quote from the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper, every square inch of creation belongs to Christ.

the Christ-centered life holds nothing else at the center except Jesus

Second, the Christ-centered life holds nothing else at the center except Jesus. That may be a difficult reminder for us in our complicated and compartmentalized world. Perhaps without meaning to, we can easily drift into living in ways which don’t deny Jesus or reject Jesus, but sometimes we allow other authorities to share the center along with Jesus. But we are reminded in scripture today that there is no other authority in the center except for Jesus, and all other powers are subject to Jesus.

there are many other allegiances trying to compete for authority in our world

We seem to forget that so easily. There are many other allegiances trying to compete for authority in our world. And it may not be that we reject Jesus. We do not jettison the authority of Jesus to be replaced by something else. We simply find ourselves drifting in moments of trying to serve more than one master. And to that, Peter says there is no other name under heaven by which we are saved. When Jesus is at the center of our lives, then Jesus alone must be at the center.

the Christ-centered life produces a byproduct of shalom flourishing in others

Follow this with me back through this story in Acts 4. The Christ-centeredness of Peter produces some results. There is a byproduct of living with Jesus at the center. In this story, the byproduct, or result, of such Christ-centered living is that a crippled man is healed and is able to walk again. It is not something that Peter does in order to gain his way to a Christ-centered life. It is not something that Peter does in order to hold or maintain his status as someone with a Christ-centered life. No; it is the result that flows forth from a Christ-centered life.

Does this mean, then, that only those who through the power of the holy Spirit are able to perform miraculous healings are the only people who truly demonstrate a Christ-centered life? If I cannot perform signs like that, then I must not have a faith centered on Jesus? Not at all. What happens in this story is revealed in such a way that it becomes a biblical witness to us today. It is an act which carries special revelation from God as a part of scripture. It is not about the particular or specific act of miraculous healing; it is about what this healing represents.

This story of Acts comes in a time and place in which there was no consideration available for those with physical disabilities. There were not paved roads with smooth sidewalks or wheelchairs to get around. There was no such thing as barrier-free access. There was no way in that day and culture for this crippled man to make any other kind of life for himself except for this day-after-day begging by the temple. There was simply no other way for this man to break free of the limitations he had unless he could walk.

What Peter demonstrates here, then, is an act springing forth from a Christ-centered life which lifts up and promotes the shalom of God so that this man can move forward in a life that flourishes. That’s what shalom means after all. I know I have said this before. Often our Bibles interpret the Hebrew word shalom as peace, but the more accurate word for understanding shalom is flourish. When all the right conditions exist around us so that we can flourish and thrive in all the ways which God created and intended for us to live, that is shalom. And that is exactly what flows out as the result—as the byproduct—of a Christ-centered life. And it is not about Peter’s flourishing. It is about the shalom flourishing blessing of God working through the Christ-centered life of Peter for the shalom flourishing of others.

the shalom flourishing byproduct poured out into the lives of others leads them toward a Christ-centered life as well

And look where it goes. This shalom flourishing byproduct poured out into the lives of others leads them toward a Christ-centered life as well. The minute Jesus stops being the center is the moment we lose sight of God’s shalom flourishing. It does not have to be miraculous healings. In fact, I use a bit of a prophetic voice and say that perhaps the biggest issue staring us in the face right now is racial inequality. There is no way that we as a church can continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that there are people in our community who are being pushed away from and denied a life that flourishes as God has created simply because of race and ethnicity.

Some of you know I have had the opportunity over the past year to participate in a community Bible study with residents of a subsidized housing apartment complex right here in Grandville. I see it first-hand. I see the way that there are people right around us who are denied access to the opportunities to flourish simply because of who they are and where they live.

how am I rerouting my life of faith to keep Jesus at the center of my life?

But the takeaway from this passage is not to ask myself what I can be doing to help someone else flourish. That is getting one step ahead of myself. The first takeaway from this passage is more important. How am I rerouting my life of faith to keep Jesus at the center of my life? Start there. I do not start with a life that seeks to help others; I do not start with a life that seeks to be good and do good things; I do not start with a life that seeks social justice; I do not start with a life that embraces activism. Those things are all the result; they become the byproduct. I start with a life that centers on Jesus, and Jesus alone. Do that, and see how the shalom flourishing of God will burst through your life and into the lives of others so that they may be drawn to Jesus as well.