Speaking up for God

September 20, 2015 Background Scripture: Acts 5:12 – 42 Lesson Passage: Acts 5:27 – 29, 33 – 42 Our lesson’s topic hardly seems like a challenge in today’s environment in America. Even those who do not consider themselves religious by any stretch of the imagination wear Christian emblems on jewelry as a modest fashion statement. There is no threat to one’s well-being for openly embracing Christianity either through what we choose to wear or the conversations we have. There are many who claim to be Christians without any fear of repercussions except disparaging remarks by other Christians if they don’t appear to be Christian “enough” based on church attendance or the amount of their financial contributions. Other than that, Christianity in America is a fairly benign profession of religious faith. On the other hand, the Middle East has recently become a different world altogether for Christians. There are many persecutions of Christians reported in the media and no doubt many more persecutions and threats that go unreported in the Middle East. Those persecutions today in the Middle East and the persecutions of the first century church bear one striking similarity. The persecutions come from members of another religious faith. It is truly amazing what people are capable of in the name of religious faith. In our lesson today, the apostles were being arrested, beaten, and threatened for teaching and preaching in the name of Jesus. This mistreatment came at the hands of the Jewish leaders. The leaders of the Jewish establishment were defensive because the witness of the apostles pointed towards them as the instigators who led to the crucifixion of Jesus. The Jewish leaders were determined to not take the blame for Jesus’ death. They did not want Jesus’ blood on their hands. Meanwhile the Christians continued to gather in the Temple to be taught by the apostles. Perhaps this was adding insult to injury. The apostles were not out in the highways and byways but right there under the noses of the Jewish leaders. The last round of persecution came because of many acts of miraculous healing by the apostles and this drew a lot of attention to the apostles and their message. The Jewish leaders were finally rid of Jesus but now his followers had taken up where Jesus left off. Their message was more inflammatory because it included the testimony of the wrongful arrest, indictment, sentencing, and crucifixion of Jesus. And that testimony pointed right to the Jewish leadership as the perpetrators. The Jewish leaders did not seem particularly bothered by the working of miracles or the gathering in the Temple. The preaching of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection was altogether a different matter. The Jewish leaders did not want to be held accountable for Jesus’ death although they orchestrated it. But they were missing the good news of the gospel message because of their defensive stance concerning Jesus’ death. It seems that there are those today who would readily embrace Christianity if Jesus could be removed from it. The threat to the apostles was clear. Don’t speak in the name of Jesus anymore. They added to the threats by beating the apostles before they let them go. This backfired because the apostles celebrated being whipped for the sake of Jesus’ name. No amount of threats or beatings would stop the apostles because they were determined to speak up for God. Robert C. Hudson September 9, 2015

Sharing with Sincerity

September 13, 2015 Background Scripture: Acts 4:32 – 5:11 Lesson Passage: Acts 4:34 – 37; 5:1 – 10 There is much to love and fear about the original group of Christian believers in Jerusalem. Individuals freely shared all that they owned with fellow believers. There is no written record in the bible that this was required—or asked of them. This free flow of benevolence is admirable. On the other hand, today’s lesson shows that lying could be punishable by death when the individual purposely lied to deceive the church. These are certainly two extremes not to be found in a “normal” Christian congregation today. One hundred percent sharing of everything by members of a congregation today would be looked upon as a sure sign that the group is a cult. And if word gets around that members of a congregation are dying today as a result of lying, then that group will come under suspicion of being a radical sect operating outside of the law of the land. There are several governmental agencies that would not allow that group to continue to exist and the leaders would be prosecuted in a court of law. What is extreme to us today existed quite readily in the first century church for a reason that is quite logical. The first century Christian congregation believed that Jesus was going to return for the church in their lifetime. As a result of their thinking, it made no sense for a Christian to be burdened with the cares of this world any longer. So those who owned houses and land sold them and brought the proceeds to the leaders, the apostles, to be distributed for the benefit of the body while they waited for the rapture to occur on any day. Their thinking was short-term and therefore revolved totally around their faith. Each member of the congregation had expressed saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Apparently, they believed that they would all be leaving for heaven at the same time. Why not focus on the immediate needs of each other until that time came? There was no need to think about what would be going on five or even ten years into the future. The most precious thing to them was the testimony and preaching of the apostles. The hearing of the word of God engendered faith in them and all of their hope rested on this faith. It seems as though they expected their salvation to be for the express purpose of heavenly living and not for earthly service or work among the unsaved. They were saved and it appears as though they were ready to go to heaven to be united with Jesus eternally. As is typical with group psychology, it would have been the expectation of the group that each member conform to the same thinking and aspirations. If one shared all that they owned with sincerity of heart, then each of them would have been expected to do the same. After all, this was their demonstration of faith in the promises of God. To be insincere was to not be of the same faith. The congregation did not protect this uniformity of faith but rather the Holy Ghost did it. The Holy Ghost did not allow persons to live in the community of faith while only pretending to be of the same faith as the group. Being a hypocrite was a dangerous position within that congregation. It is frightening to think what would happen in our congregations today if that was still enforced the same. Although their thinking concerning God’s plans was not correct, nevertheless, their faith in God was rewarded because it led them to share everything they had with sincerity of heart. Robert C. Hudson August 31, 2015