Go in Peace and Serve the Lord

(by Dave, 15 min)

Scripture

Acts 5: 27-39

The apostles were brought in and made to 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.”

Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Sanhedrin ire

The Sanhedrin are about 70 elders who comprise a Jewish court, and they are furious at the apostles. These uneducated upstarts ignored the court’s direct mandate not to teach in Jesus’s name and when called on the carpet for it, they make the court superfluous by saying they answer to God not humans. But it doesn’t stop there.

The apostles then state that the religious leaders hung a man on a cross who God chose to bring back to life. The implication is that the religious authorities are acting counter to God’s will because He quickly reversed their actions. The apostles go on to say that they witnessed everything that happened and so did the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Oh my, another fact with implications. The court is disobedient and not being led by the Holy Spirit. If they were obedient, they would hear the Spirit’s testimony on their hearts and believe the truth of the apostle’s words.

There is one other issue stoking the ire of the Sanhedrin. This is not their first go round with the apostles. Immediately preceding today’s Scripture verse, the apostles are in the street healing people and telling the story of Jesus. Sick people are lining the streets hoping for even the shadow of Peter to touch them so that they can be healed. People are starting to gather from towns around Jerusalem bringing their sick and possessed to the apostles and all of them are healed. The result is that many people are being added to the numbers of believers.

We are told that the high priests and members of the Sadducees are filled with jealousy. Not surprisingly, the apostles are tossed in jail, but to the consternation of the authorities, are miraculously released by an angel and back on the street again. They are before the court a second time in today’s Scripture verse.

No wonder the Sanhedrin are so frustrated by Peter’s group and want to have them put to death. Even though they are corrupt, I have empathy for the people on this court. Their very human anger is understandable. So understandable that lessons for us can be found from both interlocutors in today’s Scripture lesson.

Apostolic lessons

The actions of Peter and the apostles are a blueprint for how we should behave in the face of opposition. Even angry opposition. Despite the outrage from the Sanhedrin, the apostles tell the truth. Their answer promotes anger only because those listening to it are deeply invested in not believing the truth. The apostles are not irascible. They don’t personally attack the people on the Sanhedrin beyond stating the truth of their role in the death of Jesus. They don’t call them names nor are they vitriolic in how they convey the truth. They simply state the facts in clear language.

The apostles did not seek confrontation with the Sanhedrin. When they were miraculously released from jail, they didn’t go to their imprisoners and point out the divine action on their behalf. They headed back out into the streets turning their attention to what mattered most, serving the Lord.

The Spiritan

The standard for behavior that Peter and the apostles provide is wonderful counsel. I was fortunate enough in my working career to see it applied in the lives of several priests of the Spiritan order. One lovely afternoon I had a conversation with one of the Fathers who told me about his life with the order. He had been all over the world serving God. Stationed in one neglected or oppressed community after another, he worked with the people in those communities to satisfy their needs. That could be anything including building schools, hospitals, homes, clean water, or helping with management/organization. Once he learned what they needed, he and the order would set about trying to help that need.

I asked him if he talked about his faith on these journeys. He said he did but not immediately upon arriving. Instead, he waited until someone being served turned to him and asked why are you doing this? He would explain it often to a person who had never heard the Christian message. That person’s first exposure to our faith was from a priest devoted to serving and healing his/her community. I can remember being moved by his life’s story. The order is very successful at both helping and evangelizing.

This is exactly what the apostles were doing. They addressed the needs of the ill as they passed on the message of the gospel. But we don’t need to be a member of the Spiritan order or an apostle to serve God. Most people are not pastors or priests, but the apostolic lesson is still possible. We can be a Godly presence to anyone who crosses our path.

Serving and healing

Like the apostles and the Spiritans, we can seek out those in need. Look for hurt and pain and try to relieve it even if our job is not about that. A coworker who is sad should feel our hand on their shoulder. A person who calls off sick should expect a call from one of us. When someone loses a parent or a child we should be at the funeral home and sympathy cards should come from our pens.

When we perform these acts of kindness in response to Christ people will come to us for comfort in the same way they came out onto the streets for Peter and the apostles. And when they ask why, or even before that if it seems appropriate, we can pass on the good news. The first part of the apostolic lesson from today is to serve God first through healing and evangelism.

Truth

But as Jesus predicted we will be opposed as we start to spread the word, and the second lesson we can learn from Peter and the apostles is to respond dispassionately with the truth. All of it, but devoid of ancillary incendiary statements. The apostles were courageous enough to state to whom they were obedient when their service to God put them at odds with ungodly human mores. Then they returned to people to serve God anew. We can do likewise always keeping our fundamental mission first in mind.

As I consider this lesson it sounds so straightforward and doable until I remember how human I am. When someone pushes back either directly to me or in a societal way, especially if they are lying, anger is kindled within me. Anger that someone is successfully countering the truth of God, and I want to verbally correct those lies. Keeping the same level head as the apostles is sometimes quite hard, but the gospel for today addresses that as well.

The wisdom of Gamaliel  

The Sanhedrin indulge their anger and desire the death of the apostles when Gamaliel speaks up. Although they are in the wrong about Jesus and his followers, their anger reminds me of my own in our present world. Perhaps a contemporary illustration would help illuminate how you may share my inclination toward anger and why both of us should not ignore the wisdom of Gamaliel.

What news do you watch/read? Maybe none because you are sick of bickering. Even so, most of us are aware that a sharp divide exists in news coverage across most of Europe and the United States. Some news sources have a liberal perspective and the others a conservative perspective.

Now suppose you had to watch the news that was counter to your way of thinking. Would you be angry or at ease as you heard the stories? I think there’s a good chance you would be upset or angry, but why? Because most believe newscasts opposing their views are lying in some way about the stories they present. Now suppose the news that you believed was lying was completely winning over the public. Would your upset/anger increase or decrease as you observed this?

This is exactly what the Sanhedrin were experiencing. They know no one came back from the dead. They are certain of it. The apostles are spreading lies, and not just about that fantasy. They are spreading lies about the foundation of Jewish faith. Compliance with the law is what makes someone righteous, not the sacrifice and faked or imagined resurrection of some carpenter. So they want to turn the opposing news off by killing the apostles.

Gamaliel weighs into this powder keg and our own, and his counsel is good for us to hear. He tells the Sanhedrin we have been here before. Other liars have been in our midst and their movements collapsed. They collapsed because they were of human origin. Perhaps the same thing will happen to the current rabble, but then he tacks on one final statement: “But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Gamaliel’s wisdom rests on one very convincing premise for a believer. God is sovereign. Things of God will flourish and things not of God will ultimately fail. Even though the ultimate failure could come after the Sanhedrin have lost their jobs, the comfort of God being sovereign was enough. The apostles are released. When they are reminded of their ultimate belief, the Sanhedrin’s anger is sufficiently diffused to prevent an unwise action.

This is excellent advice for managing our current faith environment where both inside and outside of the church people are becoming more and more polarized and often increasingly angry at one another. Rather than seething anger, Gamaliel reminds all of us that God is in control and always will be. That doesn’t mean the outcomes will be easy to take, but it can greatly defuse the anger people feel when they are experiencing lies. This counsel is wise for preventing anger from large societal differences the news or social media may present and that which arises from more personal attacks you might hear about your faith.

go in peace and serve the Lord

A strategy emerges from the lessons packed into the Scripture verse for today. The very first thing we should do is to be about the work God has given us to do. Serving God as Jesus did is our purpose. Our instructions are clear: ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 18-20). This was the work that Peter and the apostles were doing exclusively. It is work that we can do even as we perform our many other roles.

The Spiritan priest I mentioned captures well the second lesson of the apostles which speaks to how we can fulfill the Lord’s commission. Serve the needs of people explaining as it seems appropriate or when asked why we are about the work we do. Moreover, if some opposition moves us away from this work, deal with it (more on this below) and return to it again. The apostles remind us to never lose focus on our mission for back to the street they went every time.

The third lesson comes from Gamaliel. When confronting opposition directly or prospering in society, resist the anger that may develop by remembering that God is ultimately in control. Movements based on lies will one day fail because they are counter to God and those based on truth will ultimately succeed. The Sanhedrin and priests believed Jesus’s time was done on the cross and that His movement had failed. They were wrong. Let that remind us to stand on the side of God’s truth and be confident the final outcome will be good whether we see it in our lifetime or not.

The fourth lesson is from Peter and the apostles. They were witnesses of the truth and used it when responding to opposition. We have the same advantage for the Scriptures are before us and the Spirit witnesses to our heart. Therefore, we have all we need to speak the truth and should do so devoid of equivocation, but without hostility. The truth is sufficient and requires no vitriol or insults added from us. God’s truth will prevail over lies always.

If we follow the advice laid out so comprehensively in Luke’s depiction, we will be able to fulfill the charge so many pastors give us on our way out of church: “go in peace and serve the Lord”. I hope you can find that peace today and every day in your faith journey and can approach your service to God content and confident that you are doing what Jesus asked no matter the maelstrom that exists around you. Blessings to you all,

Dave