A New Kind of Kingdom

Marc Minter

FBC Diana

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Acts 4:1–22

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Introduction

What do you expect to see in the world over the next 20 years?

What do you expect will happen to leading nations, to major populations, or to religious institutions?

What do you expect will become of this local church, or any other?

And how should everyday Christians aim to be faithful in their witness to Christ, regardless of what laws or societal expectations we might have?

Today, we are going to read about and consider the very first act of Christian civil disobedience. It’s timely for us today, since Christians in America (and in the west generally) seem to be losing some of the social and political capital they/we once had.

I don’t intend to speak about where America has been as a nation or where we are at the moment. Those of you who’ve known me for a while know that I am far more interested in Jesus and His kingdom than I am in American politics or culture. This is not by accident; it’s a conviction I hope you appreciate.

I believe it’s good for us to focus on eternal and transcendent matters here… to know and to be constantly reminded of what God has actually promised to do in the world… to be reminded of what He’s promised to do with and for His people… and where He’s promised to eventually take this whole thing.

In Acts 4, we see that not everyone was excited to hear Peter and John preach the gospel in Jerusalem. While many did respond with repentance and faith, many others were “annoyed” or “grieved” or even “angry” about what the Apostles were preaching with regard to Jesus and themselves (v2).

Very often, when worldly people hear a divine message, revealing the truth of God, they do not like it… they even hate it (Rom. 8:7-8; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2:14). Frequently, worldly people with worldly power oppose the message of the gospel, and they oppose the people who proclaim it.

Because this is true, Christians of every age have faced (to one degree or another) opposition in the world. Stories abound of Christian virtue and endurance, even in the face of horrific persecution. But, so too do stories abound of corruption and tribalism and self-preservation among those who claim the name of Christ… sometimes even opposing the very Christ and the very gospel they claim to love.

In the real world, the good guys and the bad guys aren’t always so easy to spot. In the old westerns, it was obvious… Is his hat light or dark? In today’s movies and shows, it seems less obvious. My youngest son, Malachi, will regularly ask me, “Daddy, is he a good guy or a bad guy?” And I tell him, “Well, bud… He sometimes does good stuff and sometimes does bad stuff… just like you.”

If we’re honest, that’s true of all of us.

But how, then, can we know if we are on God’s side?

How can we know when to fight and when to stand down?

How can we know when to submit and when to disobey?

And what are we actually hoping to accomplish at the end of all of this?

Let’s turn to Acts 4, and let’s consider how this passage might help us answer some of these questions today.

Let’s stand together, and I’ll read from v1 to v22.

Scripture reading

Acts 4:1–22 (ESV)

1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.

7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.

11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

Main point

God is building His kingdom, which is immortal and made up of those who are united with Jesus Christ.

Message

1. The State & Religious Opposition

I’ll explain this a bit further as we go along, but “the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees” who “came upon” Peter and John were an incredibly powerful bunch (v1).

This group represented the higher authorities (described in v5-6), which were both religious and civil leaders in Jerusalem. In our common vernacular today, we’d say these folks were the authorities for both the church and the state.

Throughout this passage, Luke is showing us (the reader) that the institutional leadership was staunchly committed to opposing Jesus Christ and anyone else who would be so foolish as to associate with Him.

Right from the very beginning of Acts 4, there is opposition against Christians coming directly from these authorities. v2 tells us that they were “annoyed” or “grieved” or “angry” because the Apostles were “teaching” the people about Jesus and “proclaiming” a promise of “resurrection from the dead” in Jesus.

In their anger, they “arrested” Peter and John, and then held them “in custody” for the night (v3).

It’s interesting to note that Luke still tells us about a huge response of repentance and faith on the part of “many of those who… heard the word” (v4). But let’s stay on track with this opposition for now.

There was no question among the leaders – this council that was formed by the next day – that a genuine miracle had been performed. Down in v14 we read that they “[saw] the man who was healed standing beside [the Apostles],” and the leaders even said, “we cannot deny” that “a notable sign has been performed” (v16).

The one question the council of opposition had is there in v7, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

And when Peter said that it was “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” that “this man [was made] well” (v10), the council decided to “charge [the Apostles] not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (v18).

The picture we get here is that the civil and religious authorities were willfully rejecting Jesus’s authority and His gospel. The Apostles had performed a genuine miracle, they were telling everyone that Jesus was doing this, and they were urging everyone to repent and believe in Jesus as the Christ.

But the “rulers and elders and scribes” and everyone among the priestly family in Jerusalem was opposed to the whole thing (v5-6)! And this was no different than the posture they had taken against Jesus during His earthly ministry.

In fact, Luke wrote of a very similar encounter between Jesus and this exact same group of authorities in his Gospel. Hold your finger in Acts 4, and flip back to the left a little with me to Luke 20.

Starting in v1, we read, “One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, ‘Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority’” (v1-2).

This is exactly the same sort of confrontation we saw in Acts 4!

In Luke 20, Jesus answered their question with a question of His own, and when they refused to answer it, He told a parable which exposed the very heart of their opposition… They hated God and they rejected His authority, thinking they could build their own kingdom and set up their own hierarchy.

When Jesus got to the punchline (in v16), He said that God would ultimately “destroy” those who opposed Him, but the “priests” and “scribes” and “elders” rejected that claim too. And that’s when Jesus cited the same Psalm that Peter did in Act 4 about the “stone that the builders rejected” becoming the “cornerstone” (Lk. 20:17; Acts 4:11; cf. Ps. 118:22).

And we read in Luke 20:19, “The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.”

My point in bringing this up here is that the opposition we’re seeing in Acts 4 was exactly the same kind of opposition that Jesus already faced. The motives of the leaders were the same: they wanted to preserve their own establishment. And their tactics were the same as well: they would stop at nothing, so long as they could keep the general population on their side.

And these authorities did accomplish their goal (or so they thought) when they finally arrested Jesus and had Him killed. But now (back to Acts 4), here they were facing down the same Jesus, even after His crucifixion… Only this time, it was a group of messengers who were claiming that Jesus was alive again and that He was working in and through them!

But, to Peter’s point (and Luke’s as well), the reason both Jesus and Peter cited Psalm 118 was to say that the psalmist’s prophecy was being fulfilled right then! Jesus was/is the “cornerstone” or “head of the corner” (v11)… Jesus was “rejected” by the very people who should have been “the builders” of God’s kingdom in the world (v11)… And Jesus had become the very foundation upon which God was building a new kind of kingdom!

No longer would the Mosaic covenantal priesthood and civil-structure (which we recently studied in Exodus) be the basis upon which sinners would serve and worship God! No, when Jesus came, He made it clear that He alone would forevermore be the basis or ground of right relationship with the Father!

Or as Peter said in v12, “salvation” was then and is today “in no one else” but Jesus Christ (v12)! “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (v12)!

God was and is offering salvation, which is citizenship in a new kind of kingdom, through faith or “belief” in “the word” about Jesus (v4).

2. The Bold & Faithful Witnesses

Remember that this encounter we’re focusing on today happened just after the public miracle and gospel presentation we read about last Sunday (in Acts 3). Before the Apostles were brought before the authorities, they were following Christ’s commission to be His witnesses, first in Jerusalem and then beyond.

The content and focus of the apostolic witness was the message about Jesus (i.e., the gospel) with a special emphasis on “resurrection from the dead” (v2). Let me take just a moment to emphasize this promise, which is the chief or main promise of the gospel.

Death was God’s curse upon humanity from the time of the very first sin. Death is not the way life is supposed to end, but it is our common experience now. The Bible never asks us to call death good or to pretend that death is “just natural.” It isn’t! It’s unnatural… it’s horrible… and it’s a painful reality.

And death is not the only result of sin in this world; there is brokenness, dysfunction, and wickedness of all sorts. But death is that undeniably obvious reminder that we live in a cursed world… a world under God’s curse.

But… the Bible teaches us that God has done something spectacular. God the Father sent His Son into the world, and God the Son willingly submitted Himself to live under the curse as a real human man (Phil. 2:6-8). More than that, after Jesus died – redeeming sinners from the curse by becoming accursed Himself (Gal. 3:13) – Jesus was resurrected from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20).

Now, this is wonderful news… Someone actually came back from the dead!

But it’s only good news for me or you if we can follow Jesus back from the grave ourselves… And that is exactly what Luke is telling us (in shorthand) that Peter was preaching and teaching about in Acts 4…

Peter was “proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (v2)… That is, “in” Jesus, others can experience “resurrection from the dead” as well!

Friends, this is the promise of the gospel! Those who turn from sin and trust in Christ will still suffer pain and sorrow and even death, but they shall one day live again!

This promise is always relevant, but it’s particularly gripping today. We’ve felt the loss of two of our church members in just the last few weeks. James Luby died on August 9th, and Kathy Ford died on this past Friday.

Many of us prayed for healing for both James and Kathy, and some of us might be tempted to think that somehow our prayers didn’t work or that somehow God fell short of keeping all His promises. But neither of these are true!

God is completely trustworthy, and our hope was never built on the idea that James or Kathy most certainly would not die. Our hope was and is always built on the idea that even in death, these two saints are “more than conquerors” through Christ… who loves them and who will resurrect their mortal bodies to immortality one day very soon (Rom. 8:31-39; cf. 1 Cor. 15:20-21).

God is building His kingdom, and it is an immortal one, where those who love and trust the Lord Jesus Christ will all share everlasting life. And we must humbly respond to this good news with simple “belief,” just like the ones mentioned in v4 of our passage today.

But, as we’ve noted already, not everyone was glad to hear Peter’s and John’s message about resurrection in Jesus. And yet, Peter’s witness amid the authorities was astoundingly bold. Let’s look at it together, back around v3.

When Peter and John were “arrested,” they waited “in custody until the next day” (v3). The evening and the morning gave time for word to spread and for a “council” of judges to form (v15). We read in v5-6 that the council included “rulers” and “elders” and “scribes” (v5), with “Annas” as “high priest” (v6).

Now, Annas wasn’t technically high priest at that time; his son-in-law “Caiaphas” was (Matt. 26:3, 57; cf. Jn. 18:13). Annas’s service as high priest had ended at least 20 years before the confrontation in Acts 4, but he still carried so much weight among the temple’s priestly leaders (including Caiaphas) that Luke simply says the quiet part out loud – for all intents and purposes, Annas was indeed high priest… Everyone did what he said.

Besides all these, two other guys (one named “John” and the other “Alexander”) were also present, and whoever they were, Luke made it clear that they “were of the high-priestly family” (v6). It was a gathering of leaders that we simply can’t imagine with our 21st century American minds.

Try to think about a group of people who control the police, the legal courts, and all the local churches. If they find you guilty of a crime, they have the power to kill you and to cut you off from God and His people as well.

We read in v7 that “they… set [Peter and John] in the midst” of this amazingly intimidating group. The language indicates something like a semi-circle of judges with Peter and John surrounded and under the interrogation light.

I have to tell you that it was hard for me to resist the urge to preach my whole sermon on this one feature of Acts 4… but think with me for a moment about how significant this moment must have been for Peter. What does this encounter in Acts 4 say about the truth-claims of Christianity and the power of the Holy Spirit… that Peter (of all people!) was “set… in the midst” of this council and giving witness to Jesus Christ with such boldness?!

It was only about 2 (maybe 3) months earlier that Jesus Himself was arrested and set in the midst of this exact same bunch (Lk. 22:54, 66-71; Jn. 18:12-14, 24; Matt. 26:57)! And while Jesus was being grilled by these guys, Peter was “following him at a distance” (Matt. 26:58), hoping that no one would recognize him. And when a little girl did recognize Peter, he “cursed” himself and denied Christ (Matt. 26:69-75).

Now, after Jesus was brutally crucified, the only way to explain Peter’s complete switch from horrified embarrassment to unrelenting boldness is that he had “seen and heard” that same Jesus, “whom God raised from the dead” (v20, v10). Again, comparing and contrasting this whole scene with the one described in Luke 22 and Matthew 26 would be well worth your time this afternoon… It’s amazing!

We’re told in Acts 4, though, that it wasn’t only Peter’s experience of having seen the risen Savior that motivated his bold and faithful witness that day… it was also some special help from “the Holy Spirit” (v8).

v8 tells us that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit,” and in this way God empowered him to speak with boldness and faithfulness. This “filling” of the Spirit of God was not the same as what happened at Pentecost. God’s Spirit came to dwell permanently with His people in Acts 2, and we shall see this reality unfold in more vibrant colors as the storyline of Acts continues.

When Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit” here, it was similar to what God had done with Bezalel, giving him supernatural craftsmanship to build the tabernacle (Ex. 31:3, 35:31), and with Joshua, giving him divine authority to lead Israel into the Promised Land (Num. 27:18; Deut. 34:9), and with several others who judged or prophesied according to special revelation from God (Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 14:6; 1 Sam. 10:6-10; 2 Chron. 24:20).

It’s instructive for us today that Peter’s “Spirit-filled” experience resulted in his bold proclamation of the gospel. The Spirit did come upon Peter in a special way, but not for his own benefit (i.e., some emotional high or divine experience) and not even for his ability to perform a miracle (he already did that in the name of Jesus, as His apostolic ambassador).

No, this “filling with the Holy Spirit” caused in Peter to respond to social, political, and even religious opposition with a courageous and true witness to Christ and His authority!

It’s also instructive for us to think about what exactly Peter and the Apostles were being “charged” to do or not do by their earthly authorities and also on what specific point and with what posture they courageously disobeyed.

The “council” of “rulers and elders and scribes” along with “all who were of the high-priestly family” had full authority over Peter and the other Apostles. This “council” could throw them into jail, they could publicly punish them (beating or flogging them), and they could even hand down the death sentence (as they had done with Jesus just a few months back).

The council “charged” Peter and the other Apostles “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (v18). The command was clear, comprehensive, and it struck the very heart of Christianity.

Jesus had commanded His disciples to be His “witnesses” (Acts 1:8), and to “make disciples” by “baptizing” new converts and by “teaching all that [Christ] commanded” (Matt. 28:18-20)… And this civil and religious body of leaders/officials demanded the opposite.

In v19-20, we read Peter’s and John’s answer. We know what they should’ve said, but their boldness and conviction in that moment was truly amazing. They said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Just as clear as the municipal command, so too was the response… The Apostles would not comply. They intended to obey God, and not their earthly authorities, when the authorities plainly opposed God.

Friends, this touches on something that Christians in America are having a tough time figuring out. Throughout Church history, Christians have had greater and lesser freedoms in whatever state or nation they’ve lived. Even now, Christians in the world face widely varying hostility or antagonism from others around them.

Brothers and sisters, it’s important for us to remember that opposition to Christianity is not new. Though some of us may feel like Christianity is losing ground in America, we need not fear anything that this nation or any other might do to oppose Christian teaching or Christian living. Christ’s Church does not need the help or even the permission of earthly kings or presidents.

Jesus is King over all kings and Lord over all lords… His word and His kingdom are forever!

But, there’s another aspect of this that I want to address this morning. Now, I don’t often get this detailed in my pastoral application, so bear with me for a moment… And, if this hits close to home, please don’t imagine that I’ve been reading your mail or watching your social media… I haven’t.

I’ve noticed a bad trend in one particular area that I think is a good example of what not to do in a whole bunch of other areas.

Since March of 2020, Christians have been trying to figure out how best to honor Christ, to love our fellow church members and neighbors, and to be good citizens amid the Covid pandemic.

Some Christians are convinced that the coronavirus must be avoided at nearly all costs, and they’ve argued that love for neighbor and Christian witness demands a certain course of action.

Some Christians are convinced that the coronavirus is horrible, but they are also pretty sure that there’s nothing anyone can do to stop most people from contracting Covid sooner or later, and they’ve argued that love for neighbor and Christian witness requires another course of action.

Now, I’m not intending to make either case this morning. Over the last 18 months, I (and the other pastors/elders) have aimed to lead this church well in taking what we have believed are appropriate precautions, and we have highly prioritized the gathering of the saints on the Lord’s Day.

At every step, I/we have urged humility and charity as we all take this pandemic one step at a time, and (so far as I have observed) most of our church members have expressed love and patience with one another.

But brothers and sisters, the heartburn comes, not when we might disagree, but when we start thinking and talking as though our particular perspective on this deal is THE Christian perspective…. when we demand that other Christians come to our side of the table, or else… we call them stupid or careless or unloving or gullible or sinners.

Some of my Christians friends were glad to get the vaccine as soon as it was available, and some of my Christian friends don’t ever want to get the vaccine.

Some of my Christian friends were masks almost everywhere, and some of my Christian friends don’t were them unless they absolutely must.

Some of my Christian friends stay home a lot these days, and some of my Christian friends commute and travel freely.

All of my Christian friends love Christ and love others, and none of them are aiming to dishonor Christ or hurt others with these actions.

Now, brothers and sisters, we should learn what we can about our options… we should consider biblical principles and try to apply them wisely… we should talk about all of this with fellow Christians (even with those who disagree with us) so that we will sharpen our understanding and improve our perspectives… but we must do all of this with humility and with charity.

Peter and John made a big and public deal out of Christian doctrine in Acts 4. They called out their fellow countrymen, and they even disobeyed the governing authorities, but they did it on a point of essential Christian truth – Salvation… resurrection from the dead… is found in Jesus Christ alone.

There are now and are sure to be many practical applications of biblical truth where Christians have differing convictions. We must never go against our own consciouses, but we must always have our consciouses shaped by Scripture… And anyone who’s studied Scripture knows that the Bible is clearer about some stuff than it is about others.

God help us to boldly and faithfully keep the plain things the main things.

3. In Christ, God is Building His kingdom

This whole passage is showing a move away from the Mosaic covenant leadership and structure to a new kind of kingdom. The priests of the Old Covenant temple were denying the Mediator which they were meant to represent, and the elders and rulers were so corrupt in their distribution of justice that they only cared about protecting their own position.

The New Covenant in Jesus Christ is better than the Old, because New Covenant has a perfectly faithful High Priest and a perfectly Righteous Ruler/King who never acts unjustly and always protects those under His care.

This passage also shows us (as Luke does throughout the book of Acts) that God’s new kind of kingdom simply cannot be hindered by worldly powers.

The same bunch who tried to stop Jesus from accomplishing His earthly mission in His first advent couldn’t stop Jesus from accomplishing His will through the disciples He commissioned to follow Him.

Jesus came to bring His eternal and righteous kingdom into this world, and He began to do exactly that all those years ago. His kingdom is not bound by any borders, and it has spread into every land on earth. Jesus’s kingdom does not die when one generation passes, but it carries on in the world in the lives of those who love this King and obey His commands.

Jesus’s kingdom is better than David’s or Solomon’s, because Jesus’s kingdom is made up of people and not bricks, and because it’s ruled by one in whom both heaven and earth have been united.

Finally, Jesus’s kingdom is the one God Himself is building, and this should produce in us, brothers and sisters, both humility and confidence.

We should be humble. God is building His kingdom; He doesn’t need our help, and He will decide best how and when to expand it.

We should be confident. God is building His kingdom; “The stone that the builders rejected has [indeed] become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing” (Ps. 118:22-23), and “nothing can thwart His plans” (Job 42:2).

Bibliography

Calvin, John, and Henry Beveridge. Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010. Print.

Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009. Print. The Pillar New Testament Commentary.

Polhill, John B. Acts. Vol. 26. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992. Print. The New American Commentary.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition). Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015. Print.

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