Acts 3:1-4:4 Moses and the Prophets April 29, 2007 How will you hear the word that is preached to you today? Jesus says that the word is like a seed that is scattered on different kinds of soil. Some hear the word, and like seed scattered on the path, it has no effect whatsoever. Their ears are closed and their hearts are hard. Others hear the word, and receive it with joy but they are like seed scattered on rocky soil and while the seed sprouts and begins to grow, it has no root, and so when the heat comes, it withers and dies. Others hear the word, and it even begins to take root in them but the cares of the world chokes the young plant, and it never bears fruit. But other seed falls on the good soil, and it bears fruit richly. The seed is being sown today. What kind of soil are you? Acts 3 is a demonstration of how the apostles continue the ministry of Jesus. Luke said in his introduction that his first book explained what Jesus began to teach and do. Acts will now set forth what Jesus continues to do and teach through his apostles. Introduction: The Healing of the Lame Man (3:1-10) Now Peter and John were going up to the temple... Hold on! Why are they going up to the temple? Isn't Jesus the true temple? Why are they still going to the temple? Even as Luke's gospel is oriented around the temple from its beginning with Zechariah praying in the temple, to its end with the apostles worshiping in the temple, so also Luke's second book still emphasizes the importance of the temple. Peter and John are going up to the temple to pray. We saw last time that the first believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. Now we see the evidence of this. Peter and John are going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. The temple will remain an important place of worship for the early church until AD 70 when it is destroyed. Jesus himself had called the temple, "a house of prayer for all nations." And the apostles are continuing the ministry of Jesus. Indeed, the language of verses 1-5 sounds exactly like Luke's gospel. Luke told us many stories of lame men who were healed by Jesus. Everything in the whole passage verses 1-10 sounds exactly like something Jesus would do. And that's the point. Everything, that is, except verse 6. Jesus always spoke from his own authority, but Peter speaks "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." And this merely highlights the fact that this is the ministry of the exalted Christ as he works through his apostles. They do what he did but only in his name. Predictably, this sort of healing attracted considerable notice. A man who is lame from birth does not normally just stand up and start walking and leaping! And so Peter proclaims the gospel the good news of the coming of the kingdom to those who assembled in Solomon's portico. And this sermon has two parts: in verses 11-16 Peter explains the healing in terms of the name and power of Jesus and in verses 17-26 Peter explains who Jesus was in terms of Moses and the Prophets. In chapter two we saw that Peter's sermon was structured by his forms of address. We see it here again: "Men of Israel," (v12) and "Brothers," (v17). 1. The Explanation of the Healing: the Name of Jesus (3:11-16) Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? (v12) Jesus had healed by his own authority, and now the apostles heal by the same authority. It is not their power that heals; It is not their piety that matters. It is the name of Jesus. And so Peter explains what has just happened in terms of the death and resurrection of Jesus: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, There is so much in these words! When God had appeared to Moses, he told Moses to say to Israel that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had appeared to him. Now Peter says that the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified Jesus. As God had rescued Israel from Egypt, so now God has rescued Jesus from death. But there is another connection that Peter makes: the God of our Fathers glorified his servant Jesus. Isaiah spoke of the Servant of the LORD. Since Isaiah spoke of Israel as the Servant of the LORD, the Jews assumed that God would bring Israel through suffering into glory. But Peter now says that Jesus is the servant (he uses the same word for servant as the Greek translation of the OT) But Peter says that the Servant Jesus has now been glorified by God. In other words, Jesus is Israel. All that God had promised to Israel has come true in Jesus. Peter then recounts what had happened to Jesus: whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. Peter has figured out, in its most basic form, the doctrine of the deity of Christ. "You killed the Author of life"-- as the hymn says, "Thou of life the Author, death didst undergo"... Jesus is the Author of life both as he was the one through whom the Father created the world, and also as he is the one through whom God has now recreated the world in the resurrection from the dead. And because of this, Peter says, it is the name of Jesus that has brought about this healing. And his name by faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. His name has made this man strong. The "name" of Jesus refers to his authority. You know how this works, if the secretary of state says, "In the name of George W. Bush, I declare that we will make a treaty with Iran," then everyone would take her seriously. But if she says, "In the name of Vladimir Putin..." no one would take her seriously, because she has no authority to speak in the name of Vladimir Putin. Peter, as a witness to the resurrection, as one of the twelve, has the authority to speak in the name of Jesus. And what Peter says in the name of Jesus carries the weight the authority of Jesus himself. But of course, these healings require both the word of the apostle and the response the inward disposition of faith on the part of the recipient. So the healing of the man lame from birth demonstrates the ongoing power of Jesus exhibited in his apostles, and also demonstrates the necessity of faith in order to receive the benefits of Christ. Some look at passages like this and say that God's purpose is to heal everyone, and then say that if you are not healed, then you must not have sufficient faith. But there is no indication that the apostles tried to heal everyone. Rather, this healing is performed in order to demonstrate the power of the resurrected Jesus. The point is not that every sick person will be healed (if they have enough faith), rather, the point is that Jesus is the exalted servant of the LORD, and he has commissioned his apostles to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. Therefore, you need to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that you, too, can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And as 4:1-4 demonstrates, this is where the passage is going! But before we get there, Peter wants to show who Jesus is, to show his hearers that what has happened is exactly what Moses and the Prophets had said. 2. Who Is Jesus according to Moses and the Prophets? (3:17-26) And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers. In other words, Peter is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. You didn't understand what Moses and the Prophets were saying, and so you crucified the Author of life. But God is merciful and he is always ready to forgive. But what God foretold by the mouth of the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Peter has already connected the idea of the "Messiah" with the idea of the "servant." This was new. Nobody until Jesus had ever connected the suffering servant with the Messiah. The idea before Jesus was that the servant (Israel) would suffer, and then the Messiah would lead Israel in restoring the Kingdom of God. But Peter says that Jesus is not only the Messiah (the Christ), he is also Israel (the servant). Once you realize that the Messiah is the Servant, then it is obvious that the Messiah must suffer. And if the Messiah is the Servant, and you crucified the Messiah, then once again, you've got a problem! You have killed the Author of life; you have crucified the Lord of glory; and now God is most profoundly not happy with you. Repent, therefore, Peter says, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. (v19-21) This is the basic call of the gospel from Pentecost until the present. Repent! If you are not in Christ, then you are on the wrong side! If your life is oriented around "me, myself, and I" then you are serving the wrong King! Repentance is not just about dealing with your private, personal sins. Repentance is about your basic orientation to life. What matters to you? What drives you? What gets you moving in the morning? In other words, repentance is about your heart. Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out... This is incredibly good news! You killed the Author of life and yet your sins can be blotted out! If God can forgive those who crucified his only Son, then God can forgive anyone. I don't care what you've done. Your sin is not bigger than God. Your sin is not bigger than the cross. If you repent and turn in faith to Jesus, then God blots out your sins. And notice that blotting out sin is not all. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (v20) What does this mean? Times of refreshing? This is talking about the renewal of the kingdom. The assumption behind this idea of "times of refreshing" is that you have been through times of difficulty. Israel had certainly been through troubled times. But now Peter says that if you repent, your sins will be blotted out, and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord. And this is true today as well. Luke writes this for Theophilus for us who love God reminding us that God will renew and refresh his people when they turn to him. Verses 22-24 then demonstrate that Jesus is indeed the one of whom Moses and the Prophets spoke. Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.' And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. Moses and the prophets were all talking about "these days." Remember those forty days in between the resurrection and the ascension, when Jesus was teaching his disciples the things about himself, that were written in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms? Peter was listening. And now he explains what this means. The whole Old Testament is preaching Christ. Moses and the prophets are pointing forward to Jesus. Moses even warned you that if you don't listen to Jesus, you will be destroyed from the people. That was true for the Jews in Peter's day. It is equally for the church today! If you don't listen to Jesus, you will be cut off. God said, "This is my beloved Son, hear him." Hebrews 1 says, "in various times and in various ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us in his Son." Rising above the many voices, the many visions of the OT prophets is the mighty voice of Jesus-- that Word that rings out across the ages, calling every tribe and nation to repent and be baptized in the name of Christ. But before that voice reached us, it started with the Jews: You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. (v 25-26) The good news of the kingdom is going to the ends of the earth but it starts in Jerusalem. God is faithful to his covenant. And as he had promised to Abraham so now he fulfills his word! Notice that in verse 26 Peter says that after God raised his servant (Jesus), he has sent him to you first. Remember what I said about how Acts is about what Jesus continues to do through his apostles? Peter says that Jesus the servant of God has come to Jerusalem to bless them by turning them from their wickedness. And Jesus has come to Jerusalem through the preaching of his apostles. As Peter and the eleven proclaim the good news of the kingdom, and perform the mighty works that Jesus had begun (in his name), Jesus comes to his people to turn them from their wickedness. And that is how Jesus now comes to you. Jesus now comes to you in the preaching of the kingdom, here at the ends of the earth (we are about as far from Jerusalem as you can get!) And Jesus calls you to repent and turn from your life of self-absorbed consumerism, to a life of devotion to him. Conclusion: Opposition and Faith (4:1-4) The chapter break is unfortunate. Because verses 1-4 happen immediately after the sermon. But verse 5 remarks on the events of the following day. Verses 1-4 of chapter 4 provide us with our first indication of opposition to the gospel. And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Remember, they are in the temple! And so the priests and other temple leaders arrest them and put them in custody for the night. The religious leadership will not always be happy about the proclamation of the truth! Because religious leaders can become more concerned about their own "kingdoms" than with the kingdom of Christ. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. Nearly 2,000 more converts we are still in the first few weeks of the life of the post-Pentecostal church, and already there are five thousand men (apparently not counting women and children). But these two responses provide us with a clear contrast: Some people are annoyed with the preaching of the kingdom. They want something that tells them what to do today! Do you want to know what to do today? REPENT!!! Stop playing games with God. Stop going halfway and thinking that's enough. To repent means to be reoriented entirely around the kingdom of Christ. To repent means to turn away from all other kingdoms, and seek first the kingdom of God. If your pursuit of something else is interfering with your pursuit of the kingdom, then repent! Get rid of it. This is what Jesus meant when he said, If your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off. For it is better to go through life maimed, then to be cast into the fire forever. But if you believe the message of the kingdom, then you share in the power of Pentecost you have a new identity in Christ, and a new community in the church.