By Jason Schifo
Pastor at Community Evangelical Free Church of Mahomet
jschifo.cfcmahomet@gmail.com
This weekend is “Resurrection Sunday”!
Resurrection is a big deal because it is more than just an event that happened in history. It’s a power we live in and out of every day. The same resurrection power that brought Jesus from death to life is available to each and every follower of Jesus Christ to walk in confidence.
In Acts 3:2-6, at the Gate called Beautiful, “a man lame from birth was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple to ask alms (money) of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” –
Because of Resurrection Sunday, we are no longer beggars. In the power of the resurrection, we can now rise up and walk confidently just as this man did!
This healing in Acts 3 led the early church toward an inevitable step in its growth: persecution. Pressing out into the world with the message of the resurrection, the church now experienced opposition. As a pessimistic friend of mine likes to often say, “On the heels of every good day is a bad one.” I prefer to believe that in every instance where light is made manifest, darkness desires to creep in.
I am reminded of the words of Jesus in John 15:20, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” Jesus tells His disciples, that what is true of Himself will also be true of us. As an early Christian said, “One advantage of being thrown on your back is that you always face heaven.” Maybe our bad days should remind us of a better day – Resurrection Sunday.
There will be bad days, Fridays, days that feel like the one on which Jesus was crucified. But, we don’t stand in the strength of Friday, instead, we stand confidently on the ground that Resurrection Sunday has already come. It is not over the next hill, or in some unknown future. It has already happened. And when you stand on that ground it does not go unnoticed.
Acts 4 continues, and it says “the priests”, “the captain of the temple guard,” and “the Sadducees” came together to persecute not just the message of the resurrection, but also its demonstration.
“Andthey arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. (Acts 4:3) Why did they do that? Because verse 4 says that “many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.” (Acts4:4)
Listen, everyone has an opinion on Jesus. No one is silent, because if we are honest, even silence is an opinion.
At the time of the arrest, it was too late in the day to hold a legal hearing, the Jewish leaders put Peter and John into jail, and possibly the healed beggar because the Bible says, “But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them” (Acts 4:14).
So the next day they brought out Peter and John and began to question them, “By what power or what name did you do this?” What a question! But here is the kicker, it is not as if they did not know. They arrested Peter and John for proclaiming the power of the resurrection. The once lame beggar who now stood with them was not just a witness to the power of the resurrection. “By what power or what name did you do this?” This question was a subtle trap…
If Peter and John attributed the healing to any power other than God, they could be sentenced to death. Deuteronomy 13:1–3 says, “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.”
So what did Peter do? Remain silent? No. Retreat from his position? Make excuses or retract his statement? No. Peter did the only thing he knew to do, he exercised the power he had.
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit…”
This is important. Jesus told the disciples in the Upper Room that He would need to go for another to come; the Counselor, the Spirit of Truth – the Holy Spirit. And in Acts 2, Jesus kept that promise as He does with every promise God has made to us.
Peter 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,” Peter said “whom God raised from the dead (the resurrection truth) by him this man is standing before you well (the resurrection proof). 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.” (Acts 4:8-12)
So what could the response of the religious folks be?
“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.” (Acts 4:13)
The world may be antagonistic, unaccepting, and it may thumb its nose at your faith. But friends, never conduct yourselves in a way that lets the world say you haven’t been with Jesus. Even those who deny the message of the resurrection cannot deny the power of the messenger. The messenger comes bearing proof of His power: “But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.” (Acts 4:14)
Do you need more proof to call Jesus Christ, Savior? Do you need another fact-finding mission? Every one of your lives in Christ is living proof of the power of the resurrection because if you live in the power of the resurrection, like Peter and John, you will find yourself doing things beyond your natural abilities.
Remember, the religious folks said Peter and John were uneducated or untrained, common or less than common, but they carried something untrainable, uncommon – The power of the Resurrection!
“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18) Isn’t it interesting that in their denial they validate the power of that Name?
So how did Peter and John respond to their threat? They responded with victorious confidence and freedom found in the Resurrection.
“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.” (Acts 4:19-20) Essentially, they say, you know that we cannot be silent.
This reminded me of a powerful story…
“Peter Cartwright was a great circuit-riding Methodist preacher in Illinois.
A man who had come north from Tennessee. One Sunday morning when he was scheduled to preach, his deacons told him that President Andrew Jackson was in the congregation. Knowing Cartwright was used to saying whatever he felt God wanted him to say, they warned him not to say anything that would offend President Jackson. He stood up to preach and said, “I understand President Andrew Jackson is here, and I have been requested to be guarded in my remarks. To that I say, Andrew Jackson will go to Hell if he does not repent.” The audience was shocked. They wondered how the President would respond to this, but after the service, he told Cartwright, “Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could whip the world.”
This is how Peter and John lived.
This is how the early church lived.
This is how the church and its people today are supposed to live today.
How do I know this? Because it is how Acts chapter 4 ends.
“And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”(Acts 4:33)
So, this Sunday may you gather with family, friends, neighbors, and those that you don’t know all that well, to celebrate what has already been done. And may you open your door, and more importantly your heart, to the power of the resurrection and in doing so may you live like you indeed have indeed experienced Resurrection Sunday.
