Acts 2:22-36. A Man Accredited by God
Chosen
The God had given Peter, the apostles and the whole church the gift of the Holy Spirit. This has resulted in a boldness to proclaim God’s message (prophecy), a passion to win people for Christ and a realisation that God wants every one of his people to be involved in gospel ministry. This was not a completely new idea. When the Children of Israel were wandering through the wilderness for forty years, after fleeing from Egypt. God promised to provide them with food but the people were, to say the least, sceptical. Moses told the seventy elders to come together around the tabernacle:
“Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirt on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, the prophesied, but they did not do so again.” Numbers 11:25
Two elders, Eldad and Medad, who had not joined the group also started to prophesy in the camp and one young man complained. Moses replied,
“Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”
Exactly what prophecy was is open to question but it always involved proclaiming what God’s word to people. When David was delegating tasks to people for when the temple was built, we read about the sons of Asaph. Prophecy was controlled and could be given through music:
“The sons of Asaph were under the supervision of Asaph, who prophesied under the king’s supervision.” 1 Chronicles 25:2
The next verse talks about the six sons of Jeduthun who were
“. . . under the supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied using the harp in thanking and praising the LORD.” 1 Chronicles 25:3
Substance of Peter’s message
We now come to the core of Peter’s first sermon after which he makes an evangelistic appeal. Today evangelistic preaching in big meetings has fallen on bad times. The focus is too often on what people feel and these feelings can be heightened using psychological tricks such as prolonged rhythmic music before the talk. The preaching can be highly emotional, with promises that have little basis in fact. Healing can be offered if ‘people come forward’. This is evangelism without the evangel, gospel preaching without the gospel!
In some ways Peter’s first sermon was unique as he was talking to people at a one off place and time. They had experienced the preaching and miraculous signs that Jesus had performed among them, his crucifixion and now the remarkable sign of seeing what was happening to the disciples and hearing God’s word in their own languages:
“Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonder and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. Acts 2:23
“ . . . and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” Acts 2:23
“ . . . and has poured out what you now see and hear.” Acts 2:33
Consequently this sermon was unique but there are important lessons we can learn from it.
Another difference to some modern groups today is that they were well versed in the Old Testament. Consequently when Peter quotes From Joel and then from the Psalms, his listeners know of their authority. It is significant that when Paul preached to the crowds in Athens he doesn’t base his argument on Scripture but quotes their poets and authors. In post-Christian Britain we need to consider what will most help people be convinced by what we are saying.
However there is much to learn from the pattern that Peter uses. We have already seen that he begins by building a bridge with his hearers. He does this by explaining what they had just experienced and shows that God had said this would happen by the prophet Joel. In this central part of the sermon:
1. He talked about the life of Jesus v. 22
2. He then talked about the death of Jesus v. 23
3. He then talked about the resurrection of Jesus v. 24-32 This is the emphasis of this talk
4. He next talked about the ascension of Jesus v. 33
5. His grand conclusion v. 36
The grand conclusion is what Peter, as God’s representative, wanted everybody to understand:
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:36
This is the gospel message, this is the Christian good news – Jesus is both the Lord God as well as his chosen king, his Messiah, his Christ.
What a tragedy it is that in some circles the gospel has been reinterpreted as the love God shows to others through the way Christians live. This may help attract people to Christ but it is certainly not the gospel – the Christian gospel is who Jesus is and what he did during his life, through his death and resurrection and his ascension and nothing more. This is the message of Pentecost.
Paul also summarised the Christian gospel in similar terms,
“ . . . they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. For we preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of the darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us a light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:4-6
Peter established by summarising the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus that he has irrefutable authority over all men on earth. Some may not like this but that is what the apostolic faith proclaims. Some criminals may not recognise that the judge they are standing before has authority over their future. Rejecting the judges authority will not protect the criminal from justice. All men will bow before Jesus when he returns to judge us all. The apostle Paul said the same:
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knew should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
People will either bend the knee before Jesus willingly in this life or forcefully after death, that is the apostolic message. Jesus is Lord and the Christ. He will judge us all because he is God. At the heart of the universe is Jesus Christ, its creator.
Peter’s listeners grasped who Jesus was and now they faced the problem that they had crucified this person. It is no surprise that so many realised the only reasonable course of action was to kneel before him and ask for his forgiveness.
Paul finished his sermon to the people of Athens with these words,
“In the past god overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31
Both Peter and Paul emphasise the resurrection. Elsewhere Paul wrote,
“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” 1 Corinthians 15:14
The realm of Jesus is the whole universe. Jesus will have the last word on my eternal destiny, that is the apostolic faith. Rosy and I were looking around the cemetery around Willian church. We found just two gravestones that had a Christian message. One had a large cross engraved on the long stone which had the following words from the Bible:
The testimony of the church and of Christians is so much bigger than how faith in Jesus has affected me. Too often you hear people say how they have found peace or happiness since they have become Christians. Our testimonies should not be restricted to how Jesus became my Lord and made me feel better.. It must be a proclamation of the universal truth that Jesus is Lord of all and therefore Lord over you, whether you like it or not. Our message is not that he can be your Lord and benefactor you if you accept him, instead it should be that Jesus is the world’s eternal king, whatever your opinion.
The world was changed, not through the militant dialectic of communism, but through the power of unarmed truth. It found revolution in the highest hopes of common men.
One of this revolution's symbolic moments was May Day 1990. Protesters followed the tanks, missiles, and troops rumbling across Red Square in Moscow. One man, a bearded Orthodox monk, darted under the reviewing stand where Gorbachev and other Soviet leaders stood. He thrust a huge crucifix into the air, shouting above the crowd, "Mikhail Sergeyevich! Christ is risen!"
Gorbachev turned and walked off the platform.
Emotions
Peter preached that the Jesus of history is the Saviour of the world and as a result three thousand came to experience his power in their lives. They would experience the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“Peter replied, ‘Repent, and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
Some think this experience was just for the apostolic generation, but Peter continued,
“The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:39
We must be careful when being critical of emotionalism because, of course, there are great emotional benefits when we surrender our independence and come under the authority of Jesus. All Christians have an experience of the Holy Spirit and know what it is to enjoy the indwelling Christ. He does give us great peace and joy.
However, the apostolic evangelist began not with Jesus entering into people’s lives but Jesus Christ entering his world. This takes the attention off us. Their message was not so much Christ in us as Christ for us. This is where so much evangelistic preaching is wanting today, it tends to be so man centred. Instead we should start speaking about Jesus, describing some aspect of what he did on earth and why he came. This leads us to the cross and the substitutionary death there to pay for our sin. This moves us to the resurrection and the fact that Jesus is alive today who is able to change us so we want to serve him and live our lives in obedience to him. It is true that then we can and will experience him, but it is only when we surrender to him that the real experience comes.
Why has the message changed?
a. Too little time.
It is said that people’s tolerance for sermons is getting more and more limited and therefore talks should become shorter and shorter. It could be that the speakers are becoming poorer and poorer and can no longer hold people for very long. However since it is the appeal this is essential, the temptation is to go lightly over the links the gospel has to the listeners experience and to be very brief abou the historic Jesus, emphasising instead what he can do for people. If the emphasis is on the experience then people will understandably say, ‘I can gain satisfying experiences in other ways that don’t cost me so much. So substitute gods that offer short term experiences take over. These may be sexual, drugs or alcohol, money, fame or careers. It is only when people understand who Jesus really is that real conversion can occur. Appealing to people’s needs is not the apostolic message. We cannot omit the historical Jesus. We cannot safely talk about Christ being alive today without talking about Christ’s life then.
b. The old, old story
Just telling an account about a figure who lived two thousand years ago can have little appeal to young people today so his life is glossed over. Instead we are told about some modern sportsman, television personality or film star who has found joy or peace through their faith. It is significant that when the apostles preached the gospel in other parts of the world, where people had no had first hand experience of Jesus, their message did not change. Jesus is God who entered this world, as prophesied in the Old Testament and as witnessed by many who knew him well. They saw his life, his death, his resurrection and his ascension and their subsequent sacrificial lives prove that they were not lying. We need to return to the same principles today both in our preaching and in our personal conversations with others. We have been deflected from the core of our message.
When Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones retired from medicine he went, as a young man, to be the minister of a chapel in Aberavon. He used to write all his sermons out and put them in a box. Years later his widow found this box when clearing out an attic after his death and they were reprinted. Every one of the twenty-one evangelistic sermons given on Sunday evenings in a working class area of South Wales was based on a text from the gospels. He clearly wanted people to come face to face with Jesus. If you read through Mark’s gospel there are two great truths being constantly emphasised, Jesus is the Christ and he died for our sins. What a great lesson, we preach the gospel by preaching the gospels.
When I was younger I thought the gospel was best portrayed in the apostles letters, but now I understand that they were based on the gospels. If we do not teach the gospels we are in danger of teaching a deviant message, a different Jesus. Paul gave some frightening warnings about this risk,
“For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirt from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” 2 Corinthians 11:4
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Galatians 1:6-9
It is all too easy to talk about Jesus and talk about his behaviour but miss the whole point about who he is and what he did to save us.
People will want to know how they can change for the better and experience this real power of the Spirit, changing them to becoming like Jesus. Telling people to be good will never bring about this change.
A headmaster wrote the following in his autobiography,
“I was happy in conversation with boys always to tell them what ideal behaviour was and where selfishness, cruelty and exploitation lay, but unwilling to talk of the very centre of Christianity, the meaning of the cross, because I found it at times repugnant and in part beyond belief.
With this semi religion I was able to live with some contentment, but I knew well that it was ‘non-infectious’. That if what I believed was all Christianity amounted to, it would attract few. I knew that our Lord did not walk about Palestine beginning a world revolution, by saying,
“Come along everyone, be nice to everybody, be truthful, be honest. No he spoke of repentance, of salvation from sin, of conversion.”
How right this headmaster is. The Christian message is that the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God, is at work. He enables individuals to recognise the rebellion against God that is in us all and draws us to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of any who turn to him. When we respond, his Spirit enters our life and begins the radical change in our characters. The Holy Spirit wants us to become like Jesus.
There are now some, brought up in liberal and high churches who have not been taught about the real Jesus. Archbishop William Temple astutely said,
“Why anyone should have troubled the Christ of liberal protestantism has always been a mystery.”
Why crucify someone who was a harmless social worker, full of good advice, who set high standards of integrity, unselfishness and love. Why execute a person like that. Reading through John’s gospel will reveal that Jesus was so much more than that – he claimed to be God!
Evangelism must be educational
A study in England by Professor Christie Davies found that crime was lowest a century ago when three out of four young Britons were enrolled in Sunday school. Since then, Sunday school attendance has declined, and crime has correspondingly increased.
I was fortunate to go to a prep school that had a very wise headmaster. He understood that much of evangelism is educational. It is not just appeal after appeal. People need to be sure about Jesus. He taught us to think and question. Didn’t Jesus say to Jews who had believed in him:
“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31
Freedom is a cherished value, but poorly understood. Freedom is never free, all people must be restrained by something or somebody. Lord Acton explained,
“Liberty is the highest political end of man . . . [But] no country can be free without religion. It creates and strengthens the notion of duty. If men are not kept straight by duty, they must be by fear. The more they are kept by fear, the less they are free. The greater the strength of duty, the greater the liberty.”
People need to know why they must put themselves under the authority of Jesus. How this need to be repeated to those who say they are Christians today. Evangelism must be educational. Peter focussed on this in his Pentecost sermon:
“Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders ans signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know . . . and you, with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead.” Acts 2:22-24
Peter then continues to teach people about the relevance of the Old Testament prophecies. He chooses to uses Psalm 16, reminding his hearers that this was written by King David, the hero of Jewish history and a direct forebear of Jesus. Peter explains that this prophecy is about Jesus. This Psalm talks about his resurrection from the dead, but more of this later.
BVP
