Missions Paul

Judas the Galilean!
Acts 4:37
“After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.”

Gamaliel continues to show that if Jesus was a phoney then the disciples would all scatter and so he quotes the story of Judas the Galilean.
This Judas was actually living at the time of Jesus. He came as a Messiah. The Jews believed that when the Messiah came then the Jewish people would overthrow the Gentiles and especially the Roman rule. Judas gathered a band of brothers to rise up in rebellion. They bought into a cause, the cause of Judas the Messiah, but when he was killed the story ended.
Jesus the Messiah came to earth during a time of a revival of Messiahs, there were many. There still are.
The Messiah-complex people:
They are always meddling into something, fighting, objecting, wanting justice for this and that, revolting, arguing, wanting to change the world to be the world they want it to be. They can gather like-minded people. They can draw support. But when they lose then the story is over.
Jesus the Messiah fought a different way. He saw a different type of wrong. His focus was not flesh and blood but the spiritual powers. When he was put to death he defeated those powers. When he rose again he publicly triumphed over them. When he ascended into heaven he announced the story never ends! That’s the Messiah we follow. He is the only Messiah the world needs.

Theudas!
Acts 5:36
“Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.”

It is hardly surprising that there are debates as to who Theudas actually was. Josephus writes of a Theudas but his character isn’t the one that Gamaliel mentions here. I don’t think it matters as Theudas still exists today.

The Theudas people always claim to be somebody:
Through the social media revolution we see every day all kinds of claims to be the next best thing. Someone needs to create new superlatives for the next Theudas is running out of words to trump the previous claim. The fact is Theudas is not as good as he/she is made out to be.

The Theudas people can gather but it doesn’t prove anything:
People are fickle. One week they are praising with palm branches the next week they are cursing and calling for death. People are fickle. They gather in the city and town squares to watch somebody juggle only because the crowd are gathered. Crowd gathering is relatively easy. Attracting people is an art and many have mastered it. But it doesn’t prove it is genuine.

When Theudas dies that is the test:
What is being built these days? If everything is about here and if everything is about now then it will naturally fizzle out. Great leaders create movements and use momentum, they begin small and multiply. Great leaders invest in the next generation. Great leaders are always thinking, planning, strategising and building so that when they are not there, they still are.
Jesus was not Theudas!

Consider
Acts 5:35
Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.

Consider carefully. Do not be hasty nor rash. Be careful what you decide to do.

Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.
Aaron created a golden calf for worship to please people.
Koran, Dathan and Abiram slandered Moses and died.
Samson found Delilah and lost his eyesight.
Eli kept silent with his sinful sons and lost God’s presence.
Uzziah became proud of his achievements and became leprous.
Moses struck the rock twice and missed the Promised Land.

None of these people needed to have ended how they did. If only they had considered before they acted.
Gamaliel told the Sanhedrin to consider. He was their conscience. He was their accountability partner.
I find myself continually across the world listening to people saying how accountability is so important and yet I only find true accountability in a few areas.

Here are a few questions I have learnt that can be asked of yourself when considering actions with people:
1. Who really knows everything there is to know about me, not just my history but my present thoughts and desires?
2. Do I pretend when I am with certain people? Why?
3. Do I find apologising difficult? When did I last say sorry?
4. How important am I in a given situation?
5. Do I talk about people when I have a problem with them or do I talk to them?
6. What is my gain in making this decision?
7. How can I give some gain to the person that I am giving loss to by my decision?

Consider. Think again. Think better. Think wiser. Think slower.

But Gamaliel
Acts 5:34
“But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honoured by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.”

But Gamaliel.
This man was known as the greatest teacher within Judaism and highly respected. He was the teacher for the Apostle Paul in his younger days.
Even after his death (of which many thought that God’s presence lifted from the earth) further teachers would quote him for his views ranging from divorce to the practices of the Sabbath.
This man had risen within Pharisaism and become a major voice on the Sanhedrin. So much so that when he ordered for the apostles to be placed outside so that he could speak to the Sanhedrin they obeyed.
Gamaliel spent his entire life maybe even for this one moment. Perhaps God was promoting Gamaliel through his life so that at this moment it could be said … But Gamaliel.
What is certainly true is that all of your life experience, your knowledge, skills and character can be used by God for the ‘But’ moment.
Some situations call for someone to interject. To say the opposite or suggest a solution, to offer wisdom and think outside the box. Everyone may think the same and circumstance calls for you to be that different voice. Will you do it today?

Witness
Acts 5:33
“When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death.”

Do you really want to be known as one of Jesus’ witnesses?
Today our brothers and sisters in the family of God are facing threats of death more than ever before simply because Satan wants to silence the gospel. An Al-Qaeda group working in West Africa are targeting ‘the slaves of the cross’. But right across the world in every continent no Christian witness is safe. The cross is not just offensive, that would be mildly put. The cross and the bearer of it have become an abomination to many.
When Jesus said “you will be my witnesses … To the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) He was speaking of the level of sacrifice needed as a witness. Total. Your very life.
We have to face it that our faith calls for death. Death not for anyone else but that of the cross-bearer.
So maybe on a much lesser scale today you will face some scorn for being a Christian. If so, then you will be part of an army of witnesses who are experiencing exactly the same thing and more.

Partnership
Acts 5:32

“We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

We and the Holy Spirit.
The partnership that Peter and then later Paul would continue to talk about throughout the New Testament.
Can you imagine if this was not the case?
Peter was announcing that they themselves saw the death of Jesus, they were there to see his resurrection, they were even there for his ascension. They saw it all and they wee verifying that Jesus was indeed Prince and Saviour of the world.
All that would have been well and good. But what would happen after Peter and his generation died. As with all other religions we would have to rely solely on their story as being accurately passed down.
But this is not the case. For the Holy Spirit has not passed away. He is alive today in our lives, in our generation, right across the globe. The same Holy Spirit who Peter says is a witness is today in our lives witnessing to us in every doubt, situation and circumstance that Jesus is our Prince and Saviour. In turn we with confidence continue to witness to the world. How do we know what we know? How can we speak so confidently that it would seem like we were witnesses of the events of Christianity? It is the partnership of the Holy Spirit who continually speaks to us and through us.
So today, thank Him. Ask Him to go on witnessing as your partner in the gospel. We are indeed not alone!

Prince and Saviour
Acts 5: 31
“God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.”

Who is Jesus? Peter continues addressing the Sanhedrin.

He is the Prince.
They understood the title very well.
It was the title of the head of a tribe or the commander of an army or the leader of people. He is someone to follow. What he says is carried out. No questions asked.
He has authority.
He gives commanded work.
He leads forward.
The question is, is he your Prince?

He is the Saviour.
They understood this title as well.
What they had waited for has come. There is no other to come.
The Saviour would bring freedom from captivity, but much more powerfully than they were expecting.
He is Saviour because he saves and sets free.
He is the divine rescuer.
The question is, is he your Saviour?

God behind it all
Acts 5:30
“The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead-whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.”

Peter was saying this:
“The God of our fathers, the God who our ancestors worshipped. The previous generations who we value and who teach us continually, their God is our God. This same God has been so involved in the life of Jesus, that when he was dead He raised him to life. Your God and our God did this after you had ended his life. Your God stepped in and righted your wrong.”

Putting Jesus to death was the worst decision they had made. It was despicable that they would sentence the sinless Saviour to the cross.
What is the worst thing you have ever done?
If God can raise Jesus from the grave then He can right any wrong in your life also.
But of course there is one amazing thing about our Sovereign God!
The Sanhedrin thought and it looked like they were in control sentencing Jesus to death. The truth is that they were not in control. They were in the hands of God. Jesus came and laid his life down. He surrendered his spirit to the will of the Father for the salvation of the world. Jesus paid so that man does not need to pay for sin.
Even the work of the enemy sits in the Sovereign plan of God.
What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you?
You may not see this right away and there may be a considerable journey and not just 3 days, but there will come a resurrection of you and you will look back and see not the hand of the enemy but the finger of God.

Witness
Acts 5: 29
“Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!”

Speaking about Jesus to people is something that requires obedience. For our enemy will do all he can to silence our voice.
If we are silenced we are being disobedient.
If you are in that place of wondering whether you should step out, maybe even cross borders to tell people about Jesus and you wonder if God wants you to do it. Let me help you. He does.
When was the last time you told someone about Jesus?
Members of the Christian family across the world are obeying God in their testimony even though they live in nations where the law says it is illegal. They face this dilemma everyday. Should we obey the law or obey God. They choose obedience to God. One day in eternity they will ask us how we coped in obeying God not man. What will we say? We have no excuse. We live without such restrictions. So let’s join them and replicate Peter and the apostles and today be a witness to Jesus Christ.

Blood
Acts 5:28
“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

These are the very same people who sentenced Jesus to the cross. They accused him of blasphemy and condemned him in a mock trial. They were indeed guilty of his blood.
However isn’t it wonderful that these enemies of Jesus and the early church believed that Jerusalem was filled with their teaching on the blood of Jesus?!!
May our homes, towns and cities be filled in such a way.
May many know of the sacrificial death of Jesus for man’s salvation.
The enemy of our life does not want to hear of this.
Our enemy is afraid of the power of the blood of Jesus.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus Name.

Your life is built on the saving, cleansing, redeeming, justifying, reconciling, eternal, sanctifying, overcoming power of the blood of Jesus! Let’s fill our Jerusalem with that message today!