Acts 4:1-22

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.

Something heartbreaking has been happening to Christians in Iraq.  The militant Islamic group Isis has launched a deliberate campaign to eradicate Christianity in Iraq.  Christian communities that have been in this region for seventeen hundred years are being wiped out before our very eyes.  It is a scandal and a terrible tragedy.

In the last couple of weeks, something interesting has been happening in the city of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq.  Christians have been waking up to find the Arabic letter nun painted on their homes.  The letter stands for “Nazarene” which is a pejorative term for “Christian” in that region.  Isis is marking the homes of Christians as they persecute them.

This is chilling, but this is also telling.  It strikes me that even today, two thousand years after the birth of the Church, followers of Jesus are still being saved by and persecuted for the name,  Jesus of Nazareth.  The early Christians were similarly marked by the name, as is evident when we see the reaction of the Jewish authorities to Peter’s sermon after the miraculous healing of the lame man.

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.

A.T. Robertson defined the Greek words for “came upon them” as “burst upon them suddenly or stood by them in a hostile attitude.”[1]  This is a sudden seizure of Peter and John by men who are extremely displeased with what has happened.

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.

The attention Peter and John attracted with the healing and Peter’s sermon was not welcome attention in the eyes of the Jewish authorities.  Disturbances were not welcome for they tended to attract the attention of the Romans…and that was most certainly not welcome.  William Barclay wrote, “The Roman government was very tolerant; but on public disorder it was merciless.”[2]

When verse 5 mentions “rulers and elders and scribes” it is referring, Robertson tells us, to “the three classes composing the Sanhedrin (rulers=chief priests who were Sadducees, the scribes usually Pharisees, the elders not in either class:  24 priests, 24 elders, 22 scribes).”[3]  Interestingly, it has also been noted that two men we know who were involved in the trial of Jesus were involved in this situation:  Annas and Caiaphas.

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

And there it is:  “By what power or by what name did you do this?”  Then as now, the name we are under is the critical issue.  What name do we carry?  Whose name do we claim?

Peter’s response is phenomenal.  It is one of the most Jesus-focused sermons ever recorded.  They want to know what name they claim, so Peter unpacks it for them.  Here is what Peter says about this name.

Jesus: The Victory-Giving Victor

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.

Here is the name:  Jesus Christ of Nazareth!  Peter follows this revelation with a rebuke then with hope:  “whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by him this man is standing before you well.”

Christ is victor:  “God raised [him] from the dead.”  Christ is victory-giving:  “by him this man is standing before you well.”

Jesus is the victory-giving victor!

He rose and we rise with Him if we have trusted in Him.  Paul put it like this in 2 Timothy 2:

⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

¹¹ The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

John Chrysostom said, “So powerful was his resurrection that he is the cause of resurrection for others as well.”[4]  Yes!  Jesus, the victory-giving victor!

In 1963, speaking of the economy, John F. Kennedy said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”  That phrase has since come to be often used in a general sense to mean that some phenomena are so powerful that they affect everything within their sphere.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

A rising Savior lifts all believers.

Jesus is the victory-giving victor who lifts up all who come to Him!  Are you broken, lost, trapped in sin and rebellion?  Come to Christ and He will lift you up.  Come to Christ and He will save you.

Jesus: The Rejected Most Important Part

Peter continues.

¹¹ This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

In saying this, Peter is quoting Psalm 118.  Listen to the wider context of the verse he quotes, and keep in mind that Peter has just healed a lame man outside one of the gates of the temple.

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.

²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.

²¹ I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.

²² The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.

²³ This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Unbelievable!  The Psalm that Peter quotes speaks of a man entering the gate of the Lord joyfully to give thanks, just like the lame man who was healed.  Then the psalmist writes, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

You will notice that Peter makes a very small change in the way he quotes the Psalm.  Here is how David puts it:

²² The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.

Here is how Peter quotes it:

¹¹ This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

Did you catch that?  “The stone that the builders rejected,” David says.  “The stone that was rejected by you, the builders,” Peter says.

He says this because, speaking with the authority of the Spirit, he correctly identifies the builders who reject the cornerstone as the religious authorities who killed Jesus and who were now persecuting His Church.

Imagine a builder who was so foolish that he would reject the cornerstone!  What tragic irony!  Those who should have known better than anybody were so foolish that they rejected the most important part.

Jesus is the most important but rejected part.

He is the cornerstone, the only part that matters, and those who should have seen this more clearly than anybody else missed it and rejected Him.

Later, in his first letter, in 1 Peter 2, Peter further developed this idea by adding that we who follow Jesus are smaller stones who are being built up in the rejected cornerstone, Christ.

⁴ As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” ⁷ So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,” ⁸ and “A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”

Some will embrace Jesus the cornerstone.  Others will reject Him.  The Jewish authorities who arrested Peter and John rejected Him.  Why?

The Venerable Bede argued that the Jews rejected Christ because He was a stone “which was not one-sided but two-sided,” Who brought not only the Old Testament but the message of the New Testament.  He was, Bede said, “Christ, who would bring together in himself two peoples.”  The Jews, however, “preferred to remain in one wall, that is, to be saved alone.”  Thus, Bede said, they rejected Christ the cornerstone who God “placed…at the chief position in the corner, so that from two Testaments and two peoples there might rise up a building of one and the same faith.”[5]

I think that is a great way of unpacking Peter’s metaphor!

Dear friends, there are many reasons why people might reject Christ:  fear, hatred, distraction, rebellion.  Regardless, rejecting Christ puts you squarely in the camp of these blind religious authorities.  To reject Christ is to reject the most important part of life.

Jesus: The Only Way

Peter, ever more and more courageous, next goes even further.

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.”

He says that Jesus is the only way.  The only way.  Remove the cornerstone and the entire building collapses.

They want to know what name carries such authority to heal and to raise.  Peter tells them that it is the name above all other names.  Jesus said the exact same thing.  In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This startling statement of exclusivity did not sit well with the authorities of that time and it certainly does not sit well with our modern pluralistic society.

For instance, the following exchange happened in a 2002 Reader’s Digest interview with actress Susan Sarandon:

Reader’s Digest:  Do you and your family go to church?

Sarandon:  No.  I think we have a spiritual family and would have no objection if we could find a church that was connected to the real world and not exclusive.[6]

Whatever she might mean by that, it must be understood that there is an element of exclusivity at the very heart of the Christian faith.  Salvation is exclusively in Christ.  Life is exclusively in Christ.  Peace, hope, and joy is exclusively in Christ.  True love, the love that lays down its life for another, is exclusively in Christ.

Jesus, Peter says, is the only way.

Jesus: The Exalter of the Ordinary

And He is the exalter of the ordinary.  Jesus takes the ordinary and lifts it to staggering heights.  We see this in the amazement of the religious authorities at Peter’s sermon.

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.

Here is what made the very ordinary man Peter and the very ordinary man John so unbelievably extraordinary:  “they had been with Jesus.”

The 7^th/8^th century Bede wrote that “lettered men were not sent to preach, so that the faith of those who believed would not be thought to have come about by eloquence and teaching instead of by God’s power.”[7]  Paul said much the same in 1 Corinthians 1.

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Our God has a sense of humor.  He uses the despised, the lowly, the ignored, and the mundane to accomplish His great feats.  Do you remember how Mary began her beautiful song, the Magnificat, in Luke 1?

⁴⁶ And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

⁴⁸ for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

⁴⁹ for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.

Jesus, the exalter of the ordinary!

Jesus: The Unstoppable-Message Giver

Finally, Peter reveals that Jesus is the unstoppable-message giver.  He puts a message in the hearts of His followers that is simply unstoppable.  Watch:

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.

What courage!  What conviction!  What amazing boldness!  “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.”

It was once said of John Knox, “He feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man.”[8]  The same could be said of Peter, John, and the early believers.  Can it be said of us, of you?

We began this morning with the fact that the Christians of Iraq are being persecuted almost out of existence.  Would you like to know what Anglican Canon Andrew White, “the Bishop of Baghdad,” said this week.  Listen:

Things are so desperate, our people are disappearing.  We have had people massacred, their heads chopped off.  Are we seeing the end of Christianity? We are committed come what may, we will keep going to the end, but it looks as though the end could be very near.[9]

“We are committed come what may, we will keep going to the end.”

We will keep going to the end.

We will keep going to the end.

Why?

Because of the name.

Because of Jesus.

Jesus, the victory-giving victor.

Jesus, the rejected most important part.

Jesus, the only way.

Jesus, the exalter of the ordinary.

Jesus, the unstoppable-message giver.