Last month I posted from Acts 3. The message was about Peter and John’s encounter with a lame beggar. In the message, we learned what a mistake it can be when we look at people’s shortcomings and focus on the things that they can’t do instead of who they are. We also learned that we can make that same mistake with ourselves, like the beggar did. We can sell ourselves short and get into a mental rut when we form habits and live our lives going through the motions. We learned how important it is to really think and understand why we are doing what we do. The beggar went to temple in search of receiving change, instead of encountering God. He settled for something mundane when God had something miraculous in store. We learned that even though we make those mental mistakes all the time, God is quick to extend grace and mercy to those of us who are humbled and low. God healed the Lame Beggar by his Holy Spirit working through Peter. And it was through this healing that the whole temple could hear Peter’s speech explaining what happened that day with the beggar. To explain how the beggar was walking, Peter explained who Jesus was and why Jesus had to come and suffer and die. Jesus was the Messaiah, and because of his sacrifice, we could have our sins wiped away. From Peter’s speech, we learned that our greatest need is not working legs, or subsistence money, but it’s to know God and be known by Him. This means that our biggest need is to be reconciled to God. Being reconciled to God means being brought back together with Him. What separates us from God? Our sinful nature. Our sins- these thoughts and actions and ideas that show that we prefer our sins to a relationship with God. So what’s our greatest need? God’s Forgiveness. The salvation that God provides to us freely. Our need is to be given the grace from God to repent and be forgiven.

So let’s see what happens next. Acts 4:1-4

4 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

So who was expecting that everyone would be happy that the crippled man wasn’t bothering people outside the temple gates? Who thought that a miracle would result in people praising God? I like to ask these kind of questions to the kids, because they aren’t jaded. They always predict what should happen. I would ask “If someone is hurt and is healed, how many of you would be happy?” And the kids all raise their hands. I ask, “Do you think anybody’s mad to see this guy who’s been handicapped for a long time, now finally walk?” Unanimous “no’s”. Jesus knew that kids understand things that adults don’t. Why in the world would anybody be mad now? That’s CRAZY! Peter and John must be the most popular guys in the temple, right? Everyone must be excited to learn more about Jesus, right?
Well, Many people did believe in Jesus. It turns out that about 5000 people did. The kids answer would have been right … for the most part. But there were still some people that were mad about this whole scenario. Why?  The people who were mad were the priests, the Sadducees, and the temple guard. The priests and teachers didn’t like to see somebody else teaching. They didn’t like the idea of grace, instead of following the laws. They were worried that people could be forgiven directly by God, and they wouldn’t need to go to the priests anymore. This doctrine that Peter and John were preaching was something that they weren’t teaching, and they didn’t want to be wrong. They didn’t like the idea of having to be students again, and learning something new. They didn’t want to lose their positions. Some of the priests, including the High Priest family (Annas and his son in law, Caiaphas) were Sadducees, and that group didn’t believe in resurrection of the Dead. But that’s what Peter and John were preaching. So they decided to throw Peter and John in the Jail for the night, until they could sort everything out the next day.

5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

So Annas and Caiaphas and their family were all questioning Peter and John. They wanted to know “By what power or name did you do this?” Why were Peter and John thrown in a jail? The reason was because they were preaching and teaching in the temple. The problem wasn’t just that they were preaching. It was WHAT they were preaching. Peter and John were preaching something that wasn’t approved doctrine for Sadducees. They were preaching the resurrection. They were preaching eternal life in Jesus Christ. If Peter and John had just healed the lame man and left, they probably weren’t going to jail. But they had to go ahead and open their mouths. They started preaching, and what made it worse for the High Priest family is that people started listening and believing. 5000 believed. I have heard that sometimes when the Bible says 5000, they are just counting men, or adult family leaders. So the number MAY be significantly larger, but let’s just assume 5000 total for now. According to the estimates made by Flavius Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews (made in the year AD 93-94), the whole size of the city was 80,000. And the number of Pharisees was about 6000. When 5000 believe, and there are only 6000 Pharisees to start, the number of believers is noteworthy. They almost have the Pharisees outnumbered (and if some Pharisees converted to Christianity, it would even make the shift more profound. This was a significant problem for the Pharisees and Sadducees and for the high priests’ family. The problem for Annas wasn’t the healing, but the preaching and converting. The high priests wanted to know what authority or power or name they were using to preach. The issue here is authority. Who gave the apostles their authority? The same was raised when Jesus performed His miracles. Let’s look in Matthew 9:1-8. Jesus was in Capernaum / Galillee when He told the crippled man to pick up his mat.

Matthew 9: 1 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” 3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” 4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.

Jesus asked them, which is easier? The thing that’s illegal is to blaspheme. And any crazy person can say “your sins are forgiven.” The thing that they don’t want done is easy to do. It takes no authority to tell a sermon or to say that sins are forgiven. It takes no authority to blaspheme. Anybody can do it! But to ACTUALLY forgive sins, or to ACTUALLY preach the word of God in a temple is not as simple. Jesus could have been a blasphemer. Peter and John could have been speaking irreverently in the temple. And to the High Priest, that would have been much easier to deal with.. Jesus or Peter or John wouldn’t have had authority to do the things they were doing. But in Matthew 9:6-7, Jesus did the thing that wasn’t illegal, but was nearly impossible. He healed the paralyzed man. In Acts 3, Peter and John did something that wasn’t illegal, but was nearly impossible. They healed the lame man. When the high priests asked Peter and John, “By who’s authority did you do these things” they wanted to know who gave them the power to preach the word of God. That was their big problem- the Preaching. Peter responded by answering the even bigger question. How did Peter and John do the Impossible?

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.

Peter is ignoring their question about the authority to preach or to teach. Peter asks, are we being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame? Was that bad? Is that your problem? Of course doing acts of kindness is not the problem. A man who could never walk is walking, and they want to know why Peter and John are allowed to talk to the people in the temple? Jesus would have asked “Which is easier?” “Which thing takes more authority?” Peter says, “know this, you and all of Israel. It’s by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that the impossible happened.” Anyone can say whatever they want in your temple, and they might be right or they might be wrong. Not anyone can make a crippled man walk. That takes authority. And there’s power in the name of Jesus. It’s by his name only that a paralyzed man walked. Peter says You crucified him. And I know this part will make you really mad, because you’re a bunch of Sadducees. I know you don’t believe in this part, but God raised Jesus from the dead. That power is how a lame man walks. That’s how the man is healed. That’s how I get my authority to preach. Peter continues:

11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Verse 11 is the part that should be painful for the High Priest’s family to hear. Jesus is the stone you rejected. You rejected your king. You have no king but Caesar. Verse 12 is the verse that nobody today wants to hear. “Salvation is found in no one else. There’s no other name under heaven given to mankind which we must be saved.” This is the politically incorrect verse that makes us look intolerant. This is the verse that makes us look like a bunch of fundamentalist bigots. But this is the verse that makes Christianity something different than everything else out there. Every religion has some form of the golden rule. Every religion has a powerful God (or Gods). Every religion serves to make mankind get along better with each other in this lifetime. Every religion offers wisdom. But only Christianity has salvation. Do you need salvation? There’s no other name under heaven given to mankind. There’s no other way. Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus didn’t say he was a Way, and a truth, and a life.” He didn’t say, “some people find God through me.” If you sin, you need forgiveness. If you are in need of being saved, only Jesus Christ of Nazareth can save you. You can bring lamb sacrifices over and over again and never be clean. You can pray and pray and work at getting better, but you are never pure. Christianity is the only religion where God himself comes into flesh, lives a perfect life, and takes all your sin to the cross. And makes himself the sacrifice that you need. And to prove all that he said, He came back. He returned from the dead. If you want to spend an eternity with God the Father, you get there through God the Son. That’s what the Bible teaches. If you don’t believe this, you don’t believe Jesus’s words. You don’t believe Peter’s words. But what’s written here is that there are no other names given to any of us for salvation. It’s just Jesus. It may sound intolerant, but to be honest, it’s the most kind and loving and gracious and merciful thing that God has ever done for his enemies. And if you don’t want to be a part of that salvation, at least you know who and what it is that you’re rejecting.

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

No schooling is necessary to understand God’s mercy, no teaching or special wisdom. Just an honest self assessment and a little humility. The man who was lame was standing there with Peter and John. The chief priests had nothing left to say. A seemingly impossible miracle was done, and it was done by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Maybe the chief priests didn’t believe it. But they couldn’t argue with the results and the lame man who now stood before them. They still didn’t want the preaching to spread so they warned them to stop.

18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Obviously threats from the powerless high priests didn’t scare Peter or John. They knew the power of God. Peter and John weren’t living for approval of men, even if they were “high priests”. Peter and John even said, “You be the judges!” That’s a very generous allowance from two men who just spent the night in a jail cell for healing somebody and preaching. But the high priests knew they had lost. Even if they didn’t like the outcome or the thousands of people converting to Christianity, there was nothing they could do. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us how you can tell true prophets from false ones. Look at the fruit. It doesn’t take a genius. Finding fruit is simple enough to ask the kids. Who in the world would be mad when a handicapped person starts walking? Someone without love in their hearts. Peter and John had the truth on their side. The high priests didn’t even agree on how to punish Peter and John. All the people were praising God for the wonderful miracle. And Annas and Caiaphas are supposed to like when people turn to God. So they would become very unpopular if they started punishing something that resulted in the praise of God. They would be discovered as frauds. Verse 22 adds an interesting detail about that lame beggar that stood before the high priests. He was over 40 years old. Although that could mean anywhere between the age of 40-50 (assuming Luke would have said he was “over 50 years old” if any higher), it is still a very interesting fact. Most people date the events of Acts 1-4 in the same year of Jesus’ death. That means that this lame beggar was somewhere between 7 and 17 years older than Jesus would have been, were Jesus still alive. We know from Acts 3 that the Lame Beggar was crippled since birth. This man’s disease predates Jesus (in the form of the flesh) himself. His condition was around much longer than Jesus Christ. And not all of Jesus’ life was spent on Jesus’ ministry. The ministry of Jesus Christ only lasted about 3 years. Annas was a high priest from AD 6-AD15 (that’s 9-10 years). Caiaphas was the high priest from about AD 18-36 (a long term of 18 years). But this guy’s begging “ministry” and lame condition was probably far more established and known among the local and even visiting Jews of the time. Let’s assume he had started around the age of 18, that means he “started” at the temple when Annas became high priest. If he had been begging at the temple gate daily, people from the town and visitors to the temple from the region knew this guy, or at least recognized him. Every time people would come to the temple, either the locals for a sabbath, or Jews traveling from much further for festivals and Passovers, they would encounter this lame man. My family used to travel to a beach called St. Petersburg beach, near Tampa, Florida. There was an ice cream shop called “Larry’s” and the owner was this old Italian man. He was always at the ice cream shop. Every year we went down to that beach, we would get ice cream from Larry. My parents would talk to him, and they knew what parts of Italy he was from. He didn’t remember us, which makes sense since he saw thousands of customers all year. But we remembered him. And it wasn’t a trip to St Petersburg without getting some ice cream from Larry. We just associated that particular beach with that man and we knew where to find him. Now, according to Acts 3, this lame beggar was at the temple gates Daily! And he was old enough to be doing that for YEARS. Far longer than anyone held the position of high priest. All this is to say that this guy and his condition were well established. So Peter and John didn’t just heal some random guy. This guy had spent his whole life suffering but he had a purpose. Seeing this forty-something man actually walking around was of course miraculous. But on top of that, it was a very big deal for the community of Temple goers, and it spoke volumes that Annas and Caiaphas could never be able to silence.

God is amazing. If nothing else, I want everyone to know that. He works in ways that we are not able to understand. Even though we are all sinners, we can experience God’s presence and his glory. He gave us his own Son in order that we could spend an eternity with Him. There’s no other name under heaven for us to call on, besides Jesus. There’s no other way. There’s no other truth. There’s no other life. And when we are called to this salvation, we have promises. Romans 8:28-30

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Even in our suffering or our trials, God has a purpose for those of us that he has called. All of us are one body, united. This is so true. We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. God tends to reveal himself more in our weaknesses. He demonstrated his love and power in a lame man who was unable to walk for over 40 years. The lame beggar wasn’t expecting it to happen, but he just kept being himself, and God used the man’s story and life to build his church. That’s how He works. God will use our lives and our stories to continue to build up the church, and everything will fit together in a way we don’t know yet.