Sermon Tone Analysis
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Alive Again – Resurrec0on Obedience Acts 5:17-32
8 May 2022
Rev’d Brad Henley
Isn’t Jesus lovely?
A peaceful man who preached love?
How can people possibly hate what He has
to say? Surely if the way you follow Jesus makes people angry and deeply offended, you can’t be
doing it right.
Because God is love and Jesus is love personified.
Have you ever heard this kind of idea?
Have you ever been tempted to believe it?
It’s a perspecEve that is preach by people who aren’t very familiar with what the Bible actually
says.
And when we’re feeling unsure; stressed and embarrassed, we can be tempted to think it
sounds fairly logical.
But the truth is: Jesus said He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the Father
except through Him.
His gospel is completely life-changing, and deeply offensive to those who
don’t want to hear it.
It was so offensive that those He came to save flogged Him brutally and put
him to death.
In today’s passage we see how it deeply offends the leaders of the temple.
And in our world today
we can sense that it is deeply offending some people who don’t want to know about the exclusive,
wonderful way to find hope and life.
And someEmes when people are deeply offended by the
Gospel, they get preOy nasty towards those who are living and sharing it.
Which means it can be
really hard to stand up for Jesus in a society that finds His words offensive.
The is the world we live
in now.
For example.
Many in our society find Jesus’ teaching about marriage and human sexuality
deeply offensive.
The society the apostles were living in also found the gospel of Jesus deeply offensive.
So let’s look
deeper at what we can learn about how to live as God’s people in such Emes.
In the book of Acts we see the leaders of Jerusalem, the high priest, Sadducees, teachers of the
law, and Pharisees.
They had just killed Jesus and thought they had all the power.
They were big,
the followers of Jesus were small.
They were the grand-masters, the followers of Jesus like liOle
pawns.
They had worked with the mighty Roman Empire to put Jesus to death and it seemed to
them that it was check, mate!
Game over!
This Leunig comic captures it well.
A couple of Roman soldiers look at Jesus on the cross and say, “Look at that! Brilliant!
You kill the
leader and you nip the whole movement in the bud.”
LiOle did they know that they were not just facing a human opponent.
They were not just up
against the best the world had to offer, they were not fighEng a human movement, but were trying
to fight against God himself.
The book of Acts is someEmes called the Acts of the Apostles, but I think it should be called the
Con0nuing Acts of Jesus by His Spirit, through His followers (I know it’s a bit clunky, but it’s more
accurate).
Jesus is risen from the dead and ascended to the Father’s side.
And the same Jesus is
sEll sovereign and in charge.
His Spirit, the Holy Spirit is at work within and through his followers.
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And I think the church someEmes gets a liOle lost when it loses sight of the fact that the Holy Spirit
is united with Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is the same Spirit of Jesus.
God is sovereign, he rules over all things.
This passage helps us to see that no maOer what the circumstances, God is in control and
he is faithful.
God has the supremacy.
He has the ulEmate power and authority.
Leading into our passage we have chapter 4:29 when the apostles pray, “Lord, consider the threats
against us” - from the high priest, temple guards and rulers like Herod and PonEus Pilate - As his
followers today, in a Eme when it is unpopular to follow Him and share His gospel … what threats
come against us?
What threats would we bring before God now?
Lord, consider the threats against
us.
“Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
Stretch
out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Jesus.”
This prayer is
answered immediately and in an ongoing way.
Immediately, they speak God’s word boldly…
Then in chapter 5:12 God answers that prayer again by performing signs and wonders through the
apostles.
He heals the sick and those troubled by impure spirits.
God is sEll sovereignly ruling and
is sEll faithful.
Even with opposiEon, God added more and more men and women to the number of
believers.
Next, the jealous high priest and Sadducees imprison the apostles – So, how is God sEll sovereign
and faithful if He lets this happen?
In this situaEon the angel of the Lord sets them free and God, v20 recommissions them with the
task of preaching the whole message of the new life they were living.
God is sEll sovereign and faithful, as we see in verse 21, His message is going forth and people
are able to see this new life he gives lived out by the apostles and other believers.
But God doesn’t always miraculously deliver his persecuted followers from prison.
God’s
sovereignty is much greater than that.
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