Jesus Is Worth It

In Acts 5:40–42, we see a fascinating situation unfold. The religious leaders in Jerusalem beat the apostles for preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus and charge them to cease and desist. And what happens next? The apostles leave the council, rejoicing!

What leads to this kind of response to suffering and dishonor? Simply put: Jesus is worth it. The apostles treasure Jesus and his gospel promises.

 

Man’s Honor or God’s Honor
Luke notes that the apostles rejoice because they were deemed worthy on behalf of the name to be dishonored (Acts 5:41; My translation). Luke does something interesting here. A few verse before this, a Pharisee named Gamaliel counsels the religious leaders concerning the apostles. Luke makes this observation of Gamaliel: he was held in honor by all the people (Acts 5:34). While this is just an observation on Luke’s part and not necessarily an indictment on Gamaliel, Luke makes this observation to add a flourish of irony to this scene. Desiring honor among the people is the heart of the religious leaders’ problem.

The religious leaders resist the gospel and Jesus because he threatens their influence and authority over the people. Their desire of not wanting the gospel to spread among the people (Acts 4:17) motivated their original ban on gospel preaching by the apostles. The religious leaders covet their glory, authority, and honor among the people. Therefore, when the apostles grow in their influence and the followers of Jesus exponentially increase, the religious leaders are filled with jealousy (Acts 5:17). Jealousy, James notes, goes hand-in-hand with selfish ambition (James 3:16). The religious leaders’ are so bought into their own glory and honor among men that they would gladly trade the glory of God for it. But not the apostles. The apostles, God’s people, gladly choose dishonor among men for Jesus’ sake in order to gain honor from God. Therefore, they rejoice. And this honor from God is guaranteed because they gain it through their treasure Jesus and his gospel promises.

 

Jesus and His Promises
Jesus offered his apostles these words in Luke 6:22–23,

 

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

 

The apostles suffer dishonor among men to gain honor from God because they hold fast to Jesus’ gospel promises. Jesus promised his disciples that their suffering for his sake would lead to great reward in heaven. Here in Acts 5:40–42, with every strike of the rod or whip upon their back, the apostles hear these words ringing in their ears “Your reward is great in heaven! Honor from God!” They hold fast to Jesus’ gospel promises of reward and honor. What is the essence of that reward and honor? Eternity with their treasure, Jesus. How do they know it’s guaranteed? Because Jesus gain it for them.

The apostles suffer dishonor among men to gain honor from God because they hold fast to their treasure, Jesus, who is their life. The apostles are able to endure and hold fast to these promises because they are not the first ones to walk this road. In fact, the path to eternal life in heaven with God has already been paved for them by a forerunner, a pioneer, the Author of Life, their Savior, Jesus (Acts 3:15; 5:30–31). They hold fast to these promises because they hold fast to Jesus who suffered the dishonor and shame of the cross for the sake of the joy that was before him (Hebrews 12:1–2). And, he rose victorious, exalted to God’s right hand as the Author of Life (Acts 3:15; 5:30). Therefore, when the apostles suffer dishonor for Jesus’ sake, they do so because they cling to him as their savior, trusting in the life he won. Furthermore, when they suffer dishonor among men for reward set before them, they have never looked more like Jesus. This last observation—looking like Jesus in suffering—is worth a closer look.

 

Deemed Worthy of Dishonor
Luke notes that the apostles rejoiced not just because they suffered dishonored, but because they were deemed worthy to suffer dishonor. The apostles saw their suffering as an affirmation from God of their worth. This is remarkable. We often consider our suffering to be tied somehow to our being unworthy in the eyes of God, but here we see it is often just the opposite. While the apostles do suffer persecution, which is a unique kind of suffering, the purpose of suffering in general in Scripture points to this same remarkable reality. First Peter 1:7 notes that various trials grieve us in this life for the purpose of proving the genuineness of our faith.

Trials and suffering are not applied because of lack of faith. God applies trials and suffering to reveal for all to see the true, genuine, worthy faith that was there all along, like gold encased in raw ore that only appears once its passed through the crucible. When Christians suffer it is because God has deemed us worthy to suffer. And, we are only worthy because we are united to the great sufferer, Jesus. Because he was perfectly worthy we can rest assured that our suffering points to our worth in him. And so, in the eyes of the world and the heavenlies, when the Christian suffers and still clings to Jesus, God is glorified. And, when the Christian suffers and clings to Jesus, God adds another jewel into the unfading crown of glory that he deems you worthy to receive amidst much praise, glory, and yes, honor (1 Peter 1:4, 7; 5:4). This calls for rejoicing.

 

Rejoice
Whether we suffer persecution for the gospel or suffer the trials of life, let us rejoice. Rejoice because in God’s eyes, we have been deemed worthy of the highest honor: suffering like our king who endured for the joy set before him. Rejoice because of the life we have in and with Jesus our greatest treasure now, and because of the reward he won for us in that awaits in eternity. And as you rejoice, be like the apostles and continue to proclaim Jesus (Acts 5:42). Let the psalmist in Psalm 73:25–28 instruct us,

 

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord God my refuge,

that I may tell of all your works.

 

When suffering and dishonor come in this life, rejoice! Jesus is worth it.

Through Many Tribulations We Must Enter the Kingdom of God

(This sermon on Acts 14 was preached on March 1, 2009. The audio will be posted at this link.)

There is more suffering in the true Christian life than you ever thought you could handle.

There is more joy in the true Christian life than you ever thought possible.

Those are the two main points of Acts 14. We’ll come back to them. But now: Suppose you knew you were about to die. What would you say to those remaining behind?

When the Apostle Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he knew he was about to die by execution. Recall that Timothy grew up in Lystra (Acts 16); Paul met him there for the first time in the visit recorded in today’s passage (Acts 14). Near the end of his life, he wrote:

You . . . know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,  11 persecutions, sufferings– what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.  12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,  13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,  15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Paul says “Timothy: Follow me as I follow Christ – and following Christ means suffering. Everyone who lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And you know very well what happened to me in your hometown.”

As described in today’s text, Paul suffered horribly in Lystra – and he had the scars to prove it. Timothy too will suffer if he continues in the faith.

But Timothy is not to respond to this prediction of future suffering with fear! Instead, Timothy is to take encouragement from Paul’s own suffering. Paul says: ‘You will suffer – like I have suffered. So you must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus! – like I was strong in His grace. You must continue – because you know me and my faith (and the faith of your Mom and grandmother), and you know the Word – this Word that makes you wise to salvation, and thoroughly equips you to suffer and endure.”

As we saw last week:   We must continue in the WORD – we must learn it, lean on it, love it. THIS is God’s revelation to us – and we will never get through times of suffering without it

But 2 Timothy is a letter neither of sorrow in suffering, nor of simply endurance through suffering. Paul shows himself to be full of joy in suffering. He goes on to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.”

Suffering – yet joy.

Just so in Acts 14: Tremendous suffering. And tremendous joy. (more…)

Sovereignty, Responsibility, and Boldness

(This sermon on Acts 4:23-31was preached 11/9/08. The audio is available here.)

Imagine that you are engaged in a personal ministry. You are confident that you are following God, and it seems that you are having some success. Then, suddenly, there’s a huge obstacle in your path,

  • It might be a failure on your part,
  • It might be a rejection or betrayal by former colleagues,
  • It might be a financial barrier,
  • It might be opposition, or threats from others.

How do you respond?

In Acts 4, that’s the situation Peter and John and all the apostles find themselves in.

Jesus was killed just a few months ago. That itself had seemed to be the end of their hopes. But God raised Him from dead. Jesus opened their eyes to Scripture and to His own prophecies to see that the crucifixion had to happen, to see the role of Christ’s suffering in God’s plan. The apostles now know that Jesus is living, active, still at work.

He then sent the Holy Spirit on them with power at Pentecost, baptizing them and filling them for their special task. These apostles saw three thousand saved that day – and they themselves baptized every one. They’ve seen more come to faith day by day.

Then God worked through Peter and John to heal a man who was lame from birth. A crowd gathered, and Peter preached; once again, thousands more were saved.

It would be understandable if, at this point, the apostles thought, “Wow! Look at God work! What success! Everything is just going to get better and better!”

But things didn’t get better and better.

As we saw last week, the Jewish authorities arrest Peter and John. They threaten them, warning them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. Peter speaks boldly in their presence, saying there is no other name by which men must be saved, saying that they cannot but speak about what they have seen and heard, saying they must obey God rather than men. But the Jewish authorities just threaten all the more. They release Peter and John, but make their point absolutely clear: “If you continue to speak in the name of Jesus, watch out. We’re here. You know what happened to Jesus. If you love your families, if you want to see your children grow up, you had better keep quiet.”

This is the first serious challenge to the young church.

Put yourself in their shoes: These are not supermen. They have families, worries, and cares. If they are put to death, there are no food stamps, there is no welfare, there is no social security for their children. They must be facing a strong temptation to be quiet. Satan undoubtedly tempted them in these terms: “Think about how many are already saved! Let’s just teach them. Let’s just live together and enjoy each other, be family to each other. We can stop this proselytizing. For it’s this speaking in public that will get us in trouble. Indeed, maybe this is a sign from God –we’ve been spreading the Gospel, and we’ve had our success. Now maybe we’re supposed to stop and focus on deepening our joy in Christ.”

Imagine what would have happened if apostles had done that. That would have been the end of the church. Or, possibly, the church would have been a tiny enclave, a minor sect within Judaism. In other words, that would have been disastrous.

So how do the apostles fight this temptation? How can we, facing our own obstacles, fight the temptation to quit, to change, to adapt in ways that destroy our ministry?

Peter and John fight in four ways that are applicable to us:

  • Acknowledge your weakness
  • Know the truth
  • Trust the truth
  • Ask for God’s enabling (more…)