Life Project Blog

Acts 4:1-22

The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. (4:1)

Already the Jewish religious leaders were becoming uncomfortable with the message they were hearing about that was going around, that the old disciples of Jesus were spreading… and here they were again addressing a big crowd right out there in the temple courts; they must do something. It’s interesting that the Sadducees are mentioned here, but there’s no mention of Pharisees, but then Peter and the others were talking about Jesus, saying that He had risen from the tomb, and that was clearly an affront to the Sadducees who taught that there was no resurrection from the dead.

They had the Apostles arrested and thrown into jail for the night.

The next morning the Sanhedrin was convened and the men were brought forth for questioning. Clearly, they had reason to be concerned because even though they had broken up the address Peter was making to the crowd, a rather large group there had come to follow Jesus (4:4).

Their interview with Peter and John was an interesting one for the man who had been healed was also present, making the job of the Jewish leaders quite awkward for he stood there as a testament to the fact that the Apostles were telling the truth… and to make matters even worse, Peter decided that this was a good time to preach the Gospel (4:5-12).

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. (4:13-15)

Had the members of the Sanhedrin had any interest in getting to the truth, this could have been a groundbreaking moment, but just as when Jesus stood before them, they had no qualms about truth; they were in a real political pickle. There was no way they were going to admit that they had been wrong about Jesus, and they needed this Jesus talk to stop right now to avoid being exposed. After discussing the matter, they decided to order Peter and John to stop preaching about Him, and had them brought back into the room (4:16-18)

But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old. (4:19-22)

It had been a tough day for the Jewish leaders.

Much could be written about this incident, and much has been, yet the really telling scene is what the response of the community of believers was, and we will see that when we get together next time…

Acts 3:11-16

After the man was healed (see Acts 3:1-10), he joined Peter and John and climbs the steps into the temple courts, and as they did this, many people were amazed at the sight of the familiar man walking along, for they all knew him as the cripple who begged near the entrance to the temple. As you might expect, a fairly large crowd of people began to gather there seeking understanding of what had happened.

Seeing the awesome opportunity, Peter began to speak to the crowd. It would seem that Peter’s first thought was to interpret these events for his fellow Jews who were in a state of wonder, so he plainly told them that it was the God of Israel, not Peter, not John, who had done this amazing thing to glorify His servant Jesus, for it is only in the name of Jesus that such a thing could take place (3:12-13a). Isn’t this an interesting, not to mention telling, distinction between the Apostles and a fair number of modern day “healers”?

As a part of making this point, Peter once again pointed out that this Jesus to whom he was referring is the very same man that many in the crowd had participated in having crucified, and that they knew perfectly well who he was talking about (3:13b-15). In this statement, Peter also slipped in the fact that even though the people had participated in Jesus’ demise, He also rose from the grave, and that both Peter and John were eyewitnesses of that fact.

Then, Peter closes this part of his remarks:

By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. (3:15)

With this verse, Peter does something we should take careful notice of, for he places this miracle squarely at the feet of faith in Christ. Again, the Apostles are taking no credit whatever for what has happened, and he is presenting this in a very persuasive way by making multiple references to the parts of the story that they all already knew, as though he is doing nothing more than filling in a few holes so they will understand not only what has just taken place, but what they all saw and heard several weeks earlier concerning Jesus. In the next part of his remarks, Peter will continue to elaborate on this theme.

For us today reading these verses, there is an attitude about the workings of God that we would do well to emulate, for while we may not have been part of anything quite as dramatic as this, we may well be involved in the working of the Holy Spirit both in our lives, and though us in the lives of other people. It is very easy, and I tell you this from personal experience, to see the Spirit working through us in some way, and then to get the feeling that we are pretty cool, that we have done some good and clever thing. Yet we must not succumb to such childish thinking, for it is the Spirit who changes lives, it is the Spirit who uplifts others, and not any of us. Yet such occurrences do give us the opportunity to let others come to recognize what has happened, so that they too may come to discern His glorious works.

Next time, we’ll pick up Peter’s comments at verse 17; see you then!

Acts 3:1-10

Om a certain day, Peter and John were headed into the temple area for afternoon prayer, which appears to have been the custom of the early church. There was a crippled man there; he was always there, begging for money because it was his only means of survival, having been unable to walk since birth. In a scene like so many that we find in the Gospel accounts of Jesus, they stopped and healed the man (3:6-7).

This story gives some substance to what we read in the previous passage (2:43) regarding the many wonders and signs being performed by the Apostles, of course this is the first one that Luke specifically relates to us.

As we read this, most of us will recall that when Jesus began His ministry, He, the embodiment of the Kingdom of heaven went from place to place proclaiming the Kingdom, teaching God’s truth, healing the sick, making the lame walk, restoring sight to the blind and driving out demons. We saw that this is quite a natural progression, for wherever the Kingdom goes there are truth, salvation, healing, wholeness and redemption from evil. In this account of one of those incidents, we see the new embodiments of the Kingdom, here represented by Peter and John doing the very same things that Jesus had done before. As we see events unfold in the rest of this chapter, we will also see that like Jesus, the Apostles will use miraculous signs and wonders not simply to benefit people like this poor man, but to to confirm their message of salvation as being genuine and truly from God.

It is also important for us to note that what the Kingdom brought was far more than physical healing and wholeness, that actually the physical miracles performed were but an illustration of the far greater spiritual healing that takes place within the kingdom, for the spiritual healing that takes place has eternal consequences… or maybe I should say eternal “benefits” or “rewards”.

As the passage concludes, the two Apostles, along with the very familiar and now restored man enter the temple courts, to the great wonder of the crowd gathered there, setting the scene for the next part of the story…

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47

Luke abruptly shifts the scene from Pentecost to a summation of the period that followed in which he tells us what they did and how they lived during this early time. What is there for me to add to this picture?

Not much. There is one thing: For me at least, there are two references here that are easy to miss: First, notice that during this period they are said to have enjoyed “the favor of all the people” and finally, the Lord “added to their number daily”. When the love of Christ shines through the Body of believers into the larger community, amazing and wonderful things happen.

With that, I’ll bid you farewell for now.