Praise the Lord for the first day
of August. My wife took our nephews and nieces, six of them to Washington, DC
last Sunday. They returned back home yesterday. They all had a very blessed
time with Gabe, Andy, and Sunita. Andy and Sunita love to spoil their cousins.
They spent time visiting the museums and parks, playing soccer on the Mall,
swimming, watching late night movies,taking the Metro to new places ... you get
the idea. Praise the Lord for our nation's capitol - "Wonder-filled
Washington". Alice said she walked a lot as she was visiting places like the
museum of fine art, the botanical gardens, the Native American Museum, and the
National Archives, the Washington Monument and the World War II
Memorial, walking over 8 miles a day on most of the days. It is really special
to be able to explore our nation's capitol on foot, taking time to delve into
some of the national treasures that have been set aside for our enjoyment.
I was "Home Alone 2". Last Sunday
evening I walked at the Vestal Rail Trail, and as I walked I came across two
young men sitting at the trail bench and singing praise and worship songs. I
found from them that they are Ukranian Christians and young professionals. They
spend every Sunday evening at the trail just singing praise and worship songs.
People stop by and join them singing and some ask questions. Ukraine has been
in radar of the International news in recent weeks. I was blessed to be
ministered by Ukraine Christians, bold and gracious in sharing the
Gospel.
Last Wednesday during our Wednesday
Evening Bible Study we looked at Acts 4. The Lord had used Peter and John to
perform their first miracle as it is recorded in Acts 3. Peter was preaching
his second sermon, with the contents the same as in the sermon that he had
preached on the Day of Pentecost. There was an interrogation by the
authorities, who
arrested Peter and John and threw them in jail, not really knowing what they
were going to do with them.
Acts3:5: "The next day, the rulers, the elders,
and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there,
and so were Caiphas, John, Alexander, and others of the high priest's family.
They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: 'By what
power or what name did you do this?' referring to the healing of the crippled
beggar."
Annas
and Caiphas were the same officials who had presided over the trial of Jesus not
more than 60 days earlier! We remember how that turned out, and you can be sure
Peter and John were keenly aware as well. In fact, what was happening to them
was the very thing they had feared would happen in the days following the
crucifixion. That had been the very reason that they had hid in the upper room
with the doors locked! Now, sure enough, the day they feared had come.
"By
what power or what name did you do this?" their captors asked. We know
something of Peter's rash and impulsive nature, and that the last time he was
questioned about his relationship with Jesus he said, "I don't even know the
man". In this instance we notice how Peter was radically changed. His answer
was completely different from that of the coward who had denied Christ. We read
in verse 10, "… 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 …. Salvation is found in no one
else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved."
Boldly, courageously, unashamedly, Peter and John proclaimed the name of Jesus
before their captors. Peter had become a very different man than he was a
couple of months previously.
The
Council convened privately, trying to decide what to do with the captives. They
could not deny the healing that had just occurred, and they found that they
could not really punish Peter and John after such a remarkable miracle. All
they can do was to silence them, so they commanded them not to speak or teach in
the name of Jesus anymore. Peter and John replied: "Judge for yourselves
whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot
help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
"We
can't keep quiet", was the heart of their message. "Not after what Christ has
done for us. And we can't stand still, either. Not after what Christ has done
for this needy man. We have to spread the news! We have to reach more
people!"
The Church of Jesus Christ was meant to be a mission-driven community that cannot keep quiet and cannot stand still. From the very beginning, the Church recognized that they were on a mission. They were called into being for the very purpose of bearing witness to Christ and making disciples of all nations, so they couldn't "stop speaking about what they had seen and heard." To do so would be to deny their very reason for existence.
Peter
and John arrested, facing prison and death. All they had to do to get the
authorities to back off was to agree not to speak or act in the name of Jesus
publicly. This is the one thing that they could not and would not do. "We
cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." They had to reach out, even at
the risk of their own comfort and safety. In the words of Erwin McManus, they
were "an unstoppable force."
May we all
be counted part of that " An Unstoppable Force:.
In Jesus
our Lord.
Brown
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