Sermon Tone Analysis

“When [the guards] had brought [Peter and John before the council], they set them before the council.

And the high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’

But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.

God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savoir, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’”

[1]

Christians increasingly face opposition from those belonging to this dying world.

The presence of a godly person condemns the unrighteous.

The child of God’s inability to condone the sinful proclivities that identify the wicked infuriates the sinner.

Sinners not only want to enjoy the fruits of sin, but they also want the approval of all about them as they engage in sinful behaviour.

Because they know in their heart that they are sinning against Holy God, they do not want to be reminded of their rebellion.

Had Peter and John but shown proper deference when they were haled before the religious leaders, they would have avoided the problem they were facing in our text.

Proper deference would have meant that they kept “religion” in its place, which was not in the forefront of life.

Nothing much has changed in the past two millennia.

In our modern society, religion must not be permitted to intrude into social interactions.

The mere thought that one takes his or her faith seriously is a grave violation of social convention.

Even the suspicion that one’s faith may dictate choices and actions is sufficient to create grave concern among colleagues and critics, invalidating opinions and negating any good that the righteous person may accomplish.

Notice how often the press spoke in alarm at the thought that George Bush actually prayed for wisdom.

Notice in our own nation how the press is gravely concerned that Stephen Harper frequently concludes an address with the words, “God bless Canada.”

Faith must not be permitted to have a place in the life of public officials, and within society, the Christian must keep his or her faith concealed.

The doctrine under consideration is commonly known as “religious liberty.”

This truth will be a constant desire in the lives of believers who are fully aware of the Lord’s will for their lives.

The basis for our study is the interaction of Peter and John with the learned scholars that populated the Sanhedrin.

The Apostles had been haled before the august council.

They had been arrested and incarcerated, in the apparent hope that they would be cowed into silence concerning their faith.

However, God had other plans for His servants.

His angel freed them and instructed them to declare the message of life to the residents of the city.

They were obedient to this divine injunction, but it quickly came to the attention of the temple guards, who again took them into custody.

Now, standing before the council, they are questioned about their disobedience to the council, and here we take up the account.

THE ONGOING EFFORTS TO OPPRESS THE SAINTS — “The high priest questioned [the disciples], saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’”

The high priest anticipated that threats would silence the disciples.

If social censure does not silence the faithful, then surely threats will succeed.

If threats fail to intimidate believers into silence, then outright persecution will stifle their witness.

I watch with dismay the increasingly intensive efforts to coerce compliance with the new social orthodoxy.

Under this “new” orthodoxy (which is anything but new), Christians must not notice that certain religions are not merely opposed to the Christian Faith, but that these religious practitioners produce a plethora of preachers of violence, vilification and vituperation who are intent on persecuting those who dare practise the Faith of Christ the Lord.

Our world is increasingly scarred by violent assaults; and many—if not most—of these violent incidents are religiously motivated.

However, we are not to notice this, and we are assuredly not to comment on the obvious facts.

In Australia, two preachers were convicted of “hate speech” by a quasi-judicial tribunal.

During a public service of Christian worship they read from the Koran in order to demonstrate the difficulties of reconciling Muslim assertions that Islam is a “religion of peace” with the authoritative basis for Muslim faith and practise.

Such an audacious display of common sense is proscribed under the tenets of the new orthodoxy.

An American hero, a four-star general, is prohibited from speaking at a prayer breakfast at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

He is an outspoken Christian, and because he is unapologetic about his faith he is opposed by a strange alliance of atheists and Muslim activists.

The military backs down, apparently cowed by rampant opposition to even the appearance that they are tolerant of the Christian Faith.

General Boykin was quoted as saying, “I came under attack because there are liberal groups, Islamic groups and atheist groups that want to shut me down because I have been very open about my concerns about the encroachment of Sharia – or Islamic law.”

We live in a world in which self-proclaimed “gender” identity assures protected status for the claimant, while all other views must pay homage to this new orthodoxy.

The Bible is rather clear that God created man “male and female”; but the new orthodoxy includes other “genders” of our own creation.

Within society as a whole and within Christendom in particular, the preaching of the Word must be made subservient to the new sensitivity.

It is painfully obvious that homosexuals and “transgendered” persons have very sensitive feelings and their feelings can be easily hurt.

Consequently, tribunals (contemporary star chambers) must be set up to assuage their hurt feelings.

In British Columbia, a public school teacher is censured by his union for writing a private letter in which he dissents from exalting homosexuality as an “alternative” life-style.

A youth pastor in Alberta and the Catholic Bishop of Calgary are threatened with being haled before a “human rights” tribunal for stating their conviction that same-sex unions are proscribed in the Word of God.

A printer in Saskatchewan is fined for refusal to print literature promoting moral views that the printer cannot condone.

A preacher in Sweden is compelled to defend himself in legal proceedings for daring in the course of a sermon to condemn homosexuality as immoral in biblical teaching.

Increasingly, the message being forced on people of conscience is that what you believe is your business, but you may not openly state those convictions.

Though some religions are protected from ridicule in the entertainment world, the Christian Faith is deemed fair game for caricature.

The Faith of Christ the Lord is reduced to a form of entertainment for the unthinking.

Shows that would not dream of making fun of Muslims or Hindus or Sikhs feel free to try garnering laughs about a menstruating statue of the Mother of Jesus and ridiculing Christian leaders as dolts.

Above all else, the new orthodoxy demands “tolerance,” but tolerance is apparently a one-way street in this new religion since intolerance of the Christian Faith is de rigueur.

However, every aberrant point of view that has been held in check by centuries of accumulated wisdom must be tolerated—even promoted—within society.

What is truly at issue is whether sanity will prevail and time-tested freedoms will be honoured.

Will the unalienable right of worship according to the dictates of the heart be allowed to continue untrammelled, or will the new orthodoxy supplant reason?

Peter and John were leaders of a religion that was socially unacceptable.

The founder of their faith had been executed as a common criminal.

Society in general disapproved of the testimony by followers of “the Way” asserting that the impoverished Galilean leader so ignominiously executed had been raised from the dead.

Religious leaders in particular were appalled at the declaration that He was alive, especially since they were unable to produce a body—the grave in which He had been buried was empty!

Paul would say of these early Christians, “not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”

Instead, he would assert that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not” [1 CORINTHIANS 1:26-28].

They were social outcasts.

They were destitute, afflicted and mistreated.

They were condemned as unworthy of polite society, and courageous souls who endeavoured to walk according to the teachings of the Word were considered to be “the scum of the world” [1 CORINTHIANS 4:13].

Since social censure was ineffectual in silencing their message of life in the Son of God while condemning unrighteousness, it became necessary to ratchet up the pressure.

The intensified pressure at first was restricted to threats.

The Book of Acts identifies the threats intended to intimidate the preachers of righteousness into silence.

The response of those following the Living Christ was to pray.

And what a prayer it was!

“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers were gathered together,

against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus” [ACTS 4:24-30].

Let me rephrase that prayer in contemporary language.

“God, we are in a tight spot.

Listen to their threats and give us courage to speak boldly.

Give us power to do good!”

How that prayer shames contemporary Christians who whimper and whine because those opposing the faith say, “Boo!”

This is the sort of prayer that needs to be heard again —not whining and begging God to keep us from unpleasantness, but asking for courage and grace to do what is right and good to the praise of His glory!

When threats failed, outright persecution was employed.

Followers of the way were jailed.

When that effort failed to silence them, they were beaten.

Ultimately, some were even killed; and to this day, the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Faith.

The unknown author of the Letter to the Hebrew Christians reminds them of events that were not far removed from their memories when he encouraged them to “Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” [HEBREWS 10:32-34].

I fear that we have become addicted to comfort and enamoured of “things.”

It is increasingly difficult for me to imagine contemporary Christians with the courage of convictions.

In the modern estimate, though outraged by threats, we are unwilling to surrender what we have for the freedom to speak the truth, or to worship in spirit and in truth.

These early saints endured hard struggles with sufferings.

They were exposed to reproach and affliction, an action that is almost certain to cause the hardiest saint in this day to flee.