Lifting up Christ

 

By:  Dale Weckbacher

 

Text:  Acts 5:17-26

 

Acts 5:17-20

But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy ¹⁸ they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. ¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

(ESV)

 

Matthew 6:21 teaches that our heart is where our treasure is.  We can discover much about what someone’s treasures by listening to what they talk about because we tend to lift-up and praise the things we treasure in our lives.  One of the challenges we face during the Covid19 crisis and violence in U.S. cities is the loss of treasured items.  Those treasuring the ability to attend a live sporting event or concert are now relegated to watching these events on TV.  Those treasuring the ability to go out for dinner or lunch at their favorite restaurant with friends and family are now relegated to take out, delivery, or hitting a drive-thru.  Those valuing a job or career that was very promising at the beginning of the year now face the reality that their treasured job or career may go away due to the shutting down of the economy.  Even those treasuring fellowship at their Church were relegated to attending services online and even when the Churches could open, they are limited on how many can attend.  The only treasure we cannot lose is our treasure of a relationship with Christ for it is not based on what we or someone does or our circumstances but on what Jesus has already done (Ephesians 2:8). 

 

The healing of the lame man at the temple led to the religious leaders issuing an order to Peter and John not to speak of Jesus any longer (Acts 4:18).  The choice faced by Peter and John was, do they avoid conflict by obeying the order not to speak of Jesus or listen to God who commanded the Church to spread the Gospel message and make disciples (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19-20).  Their choice was to continue speaking of Jesus even though it would cause trouble in obedience to God over their religious leaders.  In fact, after sharing their experience with the other apostles, they all prayed for boldness, with God filling them with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:29-31). 

 

This boldness and empowerment of the Holy Spirit led to the performing of many signs and wonders at Solomon’s Portico, leading to the addition of many believers (Acts 5:12-14).  This led to the high priest and a party of the Sadducees becoming jealous and the arrest of the apostles to a public prison (Acts 5:17-18).  The high priest and Sadducees believed that the spread of the message would stop because the apostles are in jail and unable to go to the temple, but God has other plans for the apostles.  During the night an angel visits the prison, freeing the apostles with instructions to stand in the temple and speak at daybreak (Acts 5:19-21). 

 

In the morning when the council sent officials to bring the apostles in for trial, the officials discovered they were not in the jail with the jail doors still shut and the guards standing at the doors (Acts 5:21-23).  To add to the perplexity of the high priest is the fact that the apostles are found at the temple continuing to speak about Jesus (Acts 5:24-25).  This once again led to the arrest of the apostles but this time without a show of force out of fear the crowds starting to follow the apostles would stone and kill them (Acts 5:26). 

 

The apostles had spent three and one-half years with Jesus hearing his teaching.  They had seen Jesus die by crucifixion on the cross but also saw Jesus after he had risen from the dead as proof, he was the Messiah.  They had also experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13) and received empowerment to speak with boldness in answer to their prayer for boldness (Acts 4:31).  These empowered apostles are not about to remain silent and would willingly face death for their faith except for John who was tortured and imprisoned allowing him to write the last book of the Bible. 

 

The Church in countries like the United States does not seem to have the same level of boldness to share the Gospel as the early church did when facing persecution.  Instead, Church focus is on programs designed to attract people through entertaining music and soft messages designed to encourage without any conviction through the mention of sin and the need for salvation in Christ.  The worship song of Petra asks the question of when will the world see that we need Jesus.  Please take a moment to listen to this link for the song. 

 

The answer to the question posed by the song is found in the example of the apostles who prayed for boldness and then continued to declare Christ even though they faced arrest, and eventually death.  In John 12:32 Jesus taught that if we lift Him up, He will draw men to him.  This is exactly what was occurring as the apostles ministered at the temple and what will occur as the church focuses on lifting up Christ.  My prayer is that Churches across the world during this global crisis would lift up Jesus and draw desperate people to Him.