Antithetical Emotions – Acts 5:33-42

Despite Gamaliel’s counsel for restraint, this passage marks the beginning of the persecution against the Lord’s churches.

Of course the Lord Jesus had been hated and killed, but it was not so much an attack on Christianity as it was against the person of Christ.

The High Priest and his friends felt that once the shepherd was out of the way the sheep would scatter.

And humanly speaking the idea was logical.

The disciples nearly did disappear back into the woodwork in the days following the crucifixion.

But Christianity is not a human or political movement that demanded the presence of a charismatic leader.

This is of God, and as Gamaliel said, they could overthrow it.

Unfortunately for the Jews, they hadn’t figured that out yet.

In fact, after 2000 years, they still haven’t figured that out.

I don’t know how to explain verse 40.

Gamaliel said, “Let’s leave these people alone and see what happens.

“It might be that the Romans will clean up this little mess, and we won’t have to get our hands dirty.

And then again, if it’s of God, then we better not oppose it because that would be tantamount to fighting against the omnipotent God.

I urge patience and restraint.”

And apparently the Sanhedrin agreed with Gamaliel,

But then they immediately ordered the Apostles to stop preaching in the name of Jesus,

And to reinforce their orders, they had them beaten.

It is my guess that all twelve of the Apostles were taken out into some public place.

They were tied to posts or some other device.

They had their outer garments taken off or ripped off,

And then they were publically beaten for all the city to see.

They were probably beaten in the customary Jewish fashion: forty times save one.

But I have a couple of questions about this.

One was the Sanhedrin’s agreement with Gamaliel, and yet they still beat the Apostles.

Is this is whipping the way in which they “let them alone?”

Or did “leaving them alone” mean that they wouldn’t kill them or incarcerate them?

Or did the priests only pretend to agree with council and then behind their backs deliver the beating?

And what part, if any, did Gamaliel have in this bloody spectacle?

However it was done, the Apostles were beaten,

BUT “they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”

I wonder, while the scourge was falling on their backs, if they remembered the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 10:16-24?

Let’s briefly notice three things about this early persecution:

The enemy, the Apostles and the power to endure.

First, the CHARACTER of the enemy.

I suppose that I don’t need to say anything more about the High Priest and the threat against his authority which he saw in the church.

And we’ve looked at the liberal Sadducees and their totally unbiblical interpretation of the Bible.

And of course, the Pharisees had been battered and bruised by the Saviour for several years now.

Leaving the people and these persecuting groups, let’s think about some broader issues.

These are things which still stand against the Truth of God today to varying degrees.

For example, the problem of social status has always been used to beat the saints of God.

“Could these Apostles possibly be prophets of God, coming primarily from Galilee and fishing boats?”

One of the accusations against Jesus was that “no good thing could come out of Galilee.”

That’s like telling the people of Boston, New York or the District of Columbia that the best Americans – the smartest, the most noble, the nicest Americans all live in North Idaho.

To the people of the major cities of the Northeast, Idaho is backwater hinterland.

We know that despite the wicked who live among us, the Lord really does have a few of His people here.

Yes, the Lord Jesus was raised in Galilee.

Amos was a herdsman and gatherer of sycamore fruit from the back-water town of Tekoa.

David described himself as the least son of an insignificant family from the tiny town of Bethlehem.

And these disciples really could be the new prophets of God.

Not always, but very often the enemy of the Truth looks at people like us and says that we could not possibly be servants of God.

For example, we can’t compete in the scholarship department with the Gamaliels and High Priests of world.

When the priests perceived that the disciples were “unlearned that ignorant men” they laughed at them.

I am not putting down the importance of education and intelligence,

But schooling and genius don’t necessarily mean that people are smart,

And they certainly don’t guarantee spirituality.

Turn to I Corinthians 1:18 – 29:

Another argument of the enemy against the saint is in the area of numbers.

That the numbers of the church members in Jerusalem was growing there was no doubt.

And certainly the priests wanted to put a stop to it.

But since long before the days of Noah, the true saints of God have not only been in the minority in their society but actually a tiny minority.

Don’t let the numbers game be used to keep you from openly serving the Lord.

Generally speaking, when comes to the things of the Lord, the crowds are always missing.

There is a narrow road that leadeth unto life,

But there is a broad, paved road with a nice wide, inviting gate that leadeth to destruction.

Another argument that the enemy uses might denominated “history.”

When the Sanhedrin was looking at the Apostles, I’m sure that they were thinking of them as “upstarts.”

“We are the children of Abraham and the disciples of Moses.

And you come along as children of nobodies and disciples of . . . who? You’ve got to be kidding.

There is a funny thing about history and we need to always remember: it is written by historians.

It is very, very hard to write history without inserting the historian’s philosophy or perspective.

Sometimes this is done deliberately and sometime quite accidentally,

But unless it is just a list of dates and numbers, that history is going to reflect the historian just a bit.

We, as Baptists, know that we have an ancient history that goes back 2100 years and much farther.

Not only do we know that there have been churches like ours since the very days of Acts 5,

But there have been believers, in many ways like us, much, much longer than that.

We look at David and Abraham and see them as more our kin than the kin of the modern Jew.

But do the majority of modern histories tell the story of our faith?

I was thinking on Monday about Martin Luther King Day.

I think that there is actually more reason for a memorial day for OUR people than for the that man.

Our forefathers have given not only us, but people of every race, far more liberty than King ever provided his people.

But histories are written by biased historians, aren’t they.

And those histories are very often used to bash the other guy, like these disciples

Then lastly there was the legal and political power of the enemy.

The Sanhedrin had the muscle and authority to beat the Apostles and to try to bring them into subjection.

And some day that same sort of power might be brought against us.

The true children of God are probably never going to have national power until we enjoy the physical presence of the Lord Jesus.

These are some of the kinds of persecution that are laid upon the saints of God.

And so we need to look at how the APOSTLES handled it.

Can any of us imagine the pain of thirty-nine lashes?

I have experienced the pain of appendicitis, and a leg that has been run over by a car.

I know the pain of a head ache, but not of a migraine, and I have had the pain of certain infections.

I know the pain of back and neck problems

But to be whipped thirty or forty times, I imagine would be different from anything that I have felt.

I would imagine that it would be more widespread than anything that I know.

It would be a pain that spread across the entire back.

It would not be an easily-treatable pain, especially in the days before hydrocodone.

Whatever it was like, these men endured that beating and departed REJOICING.

They not only endured the pain, but also the ongoing danger.

“And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”

They slowly and painfully walked out of the council chamber and right back under Solomon’s porch to take up the torch once again.

Their bodies didn’t hurt enough to make them from fear the danger that they were in.

Apparently the Apostles believed that they were better protected by those who were them than they were endangered by those who were with the enemy.

They not only endure the pain, but they endured the shame as well.

What was the most painful part of the punishment that they received?

I have always pictured it as the excruciating pain of the whip.

But notice the language of the text: “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

I wish that I knew more of the details behind this verse.

The Apostles were politely invited to this meeting with their government,

Because the temple police were afraid that they would be stoned for arresting this miracle-working Galileans.

So was this beating public or private?

That sort of this was usually public, because the pain inflicted was not supposed to be physical only.

Just as the crucifixion was supposed to be shameful, so was this beating.

As the disciples hobbled away into the arms of their families and friends, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer SHAME, not making any reference to the pain.

I have given this message the title “Antithetical Emotions.”

The adjective “antithetical” refers to things which are completely opposite.

Verse 41 says that they rejoiced over their shame;

Those are contradictory emotions, but in Christ there are plenty of oxymorons.

We live, and move and have our being, on another plain than the rest of the world.

So what was it that gave them the ability to rejoice in shame?

First, they were witnesses of the things to which they were testifying.

And they were excited about those things.

They knew the truth about Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and ascension.

And they knew their eternal value.

They knew that they were suffering not only for truth, but the most important truth ever uttered.

This was a gospel which was worth dying for, let alone suffering a little ignominious beating.

Secondly, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Not only did this mean that they were being used to working signs and wonders before the lost,

But in the Spirit there is peace, contentment, spiritual strength and focus.

Thirdly they were inspired and empowered by the sufferings of their Saviour.

How can I do less than give Him my best and live for him completely, after all He’s done for me.

And fourthly, they looked beyond their sufferings.

They reckoned “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

And they knew that the “light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Did the beating hurt?

It was probably beyond anything that I have ever experienced.

But was it worth the blessing that is contained in eternal grace?

It was not worthy to compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.