Sermon on Acts 5:12,17-32, April 11 and 12, 2010, Easter 2
Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text:
Acts 5:12 The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
20 "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."
21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.
22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported,
23 "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside."
24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
25 Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people."
26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27 Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.
28 "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood."
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead - whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the full message of Easter? The celebration of Easter is a week ago already, and for many that means the message of Easter is gone. No more talking about Easter as a reminder of new life showing up in green grass, trees budding, flowers coming up. No more talking about Easter bonnets and clothes, or about Easter bunnies, or about Easter eggs. Those messages of Easter are gone, gone until we get closer again to Easter of 2011.
For us as Christians, however, the full message of Easter is not gone because the full message of Easter is not the things I have mentioned so far. For us its true meaning is daily present, for Easter’s message is
THE FULL MESSAGE OF TRUE LIFE
I A LIFE THAT HAS RESULTS (12)
1. There had been a tremendous result
a) first there seemed to be a disaster: Jesus arrested, killed
b) but then a tremendous result: Jesus arose, Jesus lives; He had
said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life" and "I am the way and the truth and the life"; and Easter proved the truth of what
He said, the truth of His victory for us
2. What was happening now was proof of what happened (12a)
The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people.
a) before His crucifixion Jesus said that after He was alive again
His disciples would be empowered to do miraculous wonders
b) they were now doing that, proof Jesus was alive and not dead 3. Their gathering together also was proof (12b)
And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
a) do you think they would have been gathering together like this
if they had gone to the tomb where Jesus had been buried and
had found His body, a dead body, was still there?
b) they gathered because they knew a dead body was not there,
and many, if not all of them, had seen and talked to Jesus after
He had arisen; Scripture even tells us that on one occasion a
crowd of over 500 saw Him alive after His resurrection
4. Let us also gather to celebrate the results (12)
The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
a) let us celebrate by gathering together in church, worshiping
together, joining at the Lord’s Table, appreciating the
fellowship of believers in our congregation
b) as to performing miracles, Jesus did give the early church that
authorization as visible support in its formative years
c) today, while God surely could still grant such miracles if He
wanted to, He seems to be telling us that now the message is to
go out by itself without such support; and that is the next point
II A LIFE TO BE PROCLAIMED (17-21a)
1. Jealousy was involved here (17)
Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
a) the church leaders had seen Jesus as a threat to their positions
b) jealousy now showed up when they saw people gathering
because of someone they thought they had gotten rid of
2. What really was involved was unbelief (17-18)
Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
a) do you notice the reference to the Sadducees?
b) they did not believe there was life after death, and thus they
did not believe Jesus had come back to life; it was because of
that unbelief that they were opposed to people who believed
that Jesus was alive, that He was the Resurrection and the Life
for them too; and so they jailed the preachers of that message
3. But the message of life was to be proclaimed (19-21a)
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life." At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told,
and began to teach the people.
a) God sent an angel with directions that they were to proclaim "the full message of this new life"
b) and that is what the apostles did, in the temple, in public
4. We too are to proclaim Easter’s real message (20b)
" --- tell the people the full message of this new life."
a) yes, do that personally, as God presents us with opportunities
b) do that also with offerings - and please don’t ever see offerings
as membership fees, or something to do to be in good standing,
or something to show off with; but see them as opportunities to do through others (congregation, synod) not what you have to
do but what you want to do to help proclaim the full message
of true life, of a risen Lord who wants us to live with Him
c) and as you do that be aware that as our own Old Adams can
give us trouble when it comes to giving, so also there can be
bad reactions from others when we proclaim Christ
III A LIFE THAT BRINGS REACTION (18,21b-29)
1. The reaction here had been imprisonment (18)
They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
a) this had happened before with two apostles, Peter and John
(Acts 4); now it happened with more apostles involved
b) such and other persecutions can and do still happen today
2. The prison escape brought consternation (21b-26)
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this. Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people." At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
a) guards had been at Jesus’ tomb - but they could not stop Jesus
from coming out alive
b) now guards could not stop this either! - what was going on?
3. Questioning showed who was not liked (27-28)
Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood."
a) do you notice that the church leaders did not use Jesus’ name
but instead said "this name" and "this man’s blood"?
b) how sad! unbelief didn’t even want to use the name of Jesus,
the name which we so love to hear - and it is just as sad when
Jesus’ name is used today, but in a wrong way for "cussing"
4. We too have to expect reaction (29)
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!"
a) proclaim the precious name of Jesus with our words and with
the way we live and there will be reaction from unbelief,
reaction from being ignored to persecution in various ways
b) then always remember that if God has said something, what
He says comes first, that what He wants and says is more
important than what people think or say about us or do to us
c) and don’t forget that whatever they do, the message of true
life also tells us what is to come because of Jesus’ resurrection
IV A LIFE THAT MEANS EXALTATION (29-32)
1. People can persecute and kill (29-30)
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead - whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree."
a) putting God first ("Your will be done") brought death to
Jesus
b) that happened with almost all of the apostles and many others
2. But God can exalt (31a)
"God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior ---."
a) (Phil. 2) "Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name."
b) Jesus lives! He is exalted! His mission for us accomplished!
3. And that exaltation includes us (31)
"God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel."
a) sinners we are - but God calls us to repentance, to
acknowledgment and sincere sorrow for our sins because of
which God had sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for us
b) now sinners in God’s sight we no longer are because of His
forgiveness of sins which means our exaltation and true life
4. Of this we are witnesses (32)
"We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom
God has given to those who obey him."
a) we are not yet eye witnesses, like these apostles
b) but we are witnesses who have been brought to faith by the
Holy Spirit using Word and sacraments, His means of grace
c) using that Word of the Spirit we are to be witnesses of what
we believe, witnesses who proclaim, as the angel said, "the full message of this new life" until we are eye witnesses in heaven
The full message of Easter. Is it new life showing up in green grass, trees budding, flowers coming up? Is it Easter bonnets and clothes, Easter bunnies, Easter eggs?
You know the answer. Easter is the proclamation of THE FULL MESSAGE OF TRUE LIFE, the proclamation of the truth about Jesus our Savior, risen from the dead to be our forgiveness now, our Way and Truth and Life, our Resurrection and our Life, as He has promised us: "Because I live, you also will live." That is "the full message of this new life."