Yielding to the Lord

Friends,

"But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy; and they laid hands on the apostles, and put them in a public jail. But an angel of the Lord during the night opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, 'Go your way, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.' And upon hearing {this,} they entered into the temple about daybreak, and {began} to teach. Now when the high priest and his associates had come, they called the Council together, even all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent {orders} to the prison house for them to be brought. But the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned, and reported back, saying, 'We found the prison house locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we had opened up, we found no one inside.' Now when the captain of the temple {guard} and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this. But someone came and reported to them, 'Behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!' Then the captain went along with the officers and {proceeded} to bring them {back} without violence (for they were afraid of the people, lest they should be stoned). And when they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, 'We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.' But Peter and the apostles answered and said, "We must obey God rather than men. 'The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.' He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 'And we are witnesses of these things; and {so is} the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.'But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and were intending to slay them. But a certain Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. And he said to them, 'Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody; and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. And he was slain; and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After this man Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away {some} people after him, he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered.' And so in the present case, I say to you, 'stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action should be of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.' And they took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them to speak no more in the name of Jesus, and {then} released them. So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for {His} name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus {as} the Christ." (Acts 5:17-42, NAS)

This is a passage that we just read in our quiet time as a family…and it is fascinating and wonderful at the same time. The point of this message and what precedes it in Acts 4 (concerning Peter and John’s situation) is that God is going to do His will. It is not a matter of if, as many of us humans are prone to believe, but a matter of when. God is not just transcendent – He is not kicking back in some easy chair watching things unfold in His creation, rather, He is the LORD – He is active; He is near! If there is a consistent message throughout the Old and New Testaments concerning God’s activity, it is that He is continually working out His will among His people. God’s Spirit worked mightily in the lives of those who sought His direction at this important stage of the early church. Should we understand this principle any differently today?(While recognizing that none of us today have the capability to perform miraculous deeds as the apostles did.) God’s will is that his church should be spiritually focused, spiritually motivated and spiritually mature so that He can more easily work out His plan among his people. He is going to use His people to accomplish what it is that needs to be done in His church and in the world. I believe that vv.38-39 are particularly poignant in relationship to God’s will – "…for if this plan or action should be of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God." I have thought about this principle in a number of situations and at a number of different times. All I can say (as I am sure that we all do) – is that I want to be on God’s side. No one wants to be one who would be considered to be in opposition to what is the working out of God’s will. If we are not careful to be honest in our evaluation of God’s message and in relationship to the working out of His will, we could indeed find ourselves in a place where we would rather not be. This is significant for us in terms of our spiritual health and in relationship to eternity. One of the key principles revealed in the Word in our relationship to God is yielding or submission. We have to be very careful that we do not force the Lord to conform to our presuppositions or thinking about life and godliness, because this is not an honest evaluation of our spirituality. We must routinely be willing to evaluate and reevaluate our thinking and actions by "looking in the spiritual mirror," so to speak, to see if we are indeed living according to the will of God and not our own will in God’s name (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Don