Sermon Tone Analysis

“When [the Sanhedrin] had brought [all the Apostles], they set them before the council.

And the high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’

But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.

God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savoir, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’”[1]

The world does not welcome any message that declares personal accountability.

This is especially true when the message holds individuals accountable for sinful acts.

Though a person may be ever so good in the estimate of his or her peers, to charge that individual with responsibility for the death of the Son of God is seen as a heinous wrong.

Since the days of the Apostles, no individual wishes to be charged with deicide.

Nevertheless, that was the message delivered by the Apostles to the very men who had clamoured for the crucifixion of Jesus the Messiah.

Though it is difficult for modern individuals to accept, it is the message of Easter that is declared to this day.

Too often, we restrict Easter, and the message of Easter, to one day each year.

Though Easter is a special day, and though it is a joyous day for Christians, we err when we fail to declare the life of Christ the Lord day-by-day.

At the heart of apostolic preaching was the declaration that though the Son of God was crucified, He was raised to life in order to offer forgiveness of sin to all who will accept Him as Master of life.

Apostolic preaching was distinctive in comparison to what was commonly heard among the peoples of that ancient day.

I suspect that all else being equal, apostolic preaching would be considered distinctive today when contrasted to much of what is presented from modern pulpits.

Join me in exploring apostolic preaching by reviewing the message delivered to the Jewish Council when the Apostles were hailed before them on one occasion.

*Religion Outside the Apostolic Faith* — The model of religion that is demonstrated by the apostolic churches is distinctive from that of the religions that surrounded the people of God.

Apostolic faith is dependent upon communicating the message of life in the Risen Son of God.

Faith outside that model degenerates into mere form—rite and ritual, cant and creed.

The churches of the New Testament existed primarily to communicate the message of life in the Beloved Son and to build up those who came to faith.

It is true that the elements marking a New Testament church include fellowship and worship, but every action of a New Testament congregation is to fulfil the Great Commission given by the Risen Lord.

Christians are appointed to be evangelists!

The religions that surrounded the believers in the first century were distinguished primarily by their varied rituals.

Likewise, Israel had disintegrated with the passage of time into an ethical religion that was dependent upon precise forms of ritual.

One need but recall the manner in which Jesus excoriated the scribes and the Pharisees in order to verify this truth.

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do.

For they preach, but do not practice.

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

They do all their deeds to be seen by others.

For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honour at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others” [*Matthew 23:2-7*].

Of course, this was not the intent of God when He brought His people out of slavery and made them to be a people that He would call His own.

Through Moses, God had commanded His people, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” [*Deuteronomy 6:4, 5*].

Through the Prophet Hosea, God had taught,

 

“I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

[*Hosea 6:6*]

 

Through Micah, God had iterated this instruction when He said,

 

“He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?”

[*Micah 6:8*]

 

Therefore, the people substituted form for faith despite the judgements of God in the days of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

The religions of the nations surrounding Israel were essentially expressions of ethical principles, supplemented with rituals designed to coerce the gods into doing the will of man.

In this, the ancient religions were not so different from essentially all the great religions of the world in this day.

Most emphasise doing something in order to placate a god or to obtain a benefit for the worshipper.

The same comparison could be made today when contrasting churches that endeavour to adhere to apostolic faith and practise with those that are content to emphasise rites as worship.

Whenever a church begins to emphasise ritual above the message of life, it has begun to move into the realm of mere religion.

The transforming message of Christ is entrusted to the churches so that the lost can be brought into the light of life.

Whenever a church begins to emphasise form over faith, growing unbalanced in failing to call the lost to faith, that congregation has begun to depart from apostolic faith and practise.

The church that permits fellowship to become more important than evangelism has moved away from the faith once delivered.

Jesus commanded His churches to deliver the message of life.

In every instance of Christ’s commission to His churches, He speaks of the witness of the Word, of testifying to what is known, of communicating the truths believers have received as true.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” [*Matthew 28:19, 20*].

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” [*Mark 16:15, 16*].

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things” [*Luke 24:46-48*].

“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” [*Acts 1:8*].

Because our first responsibility is testifying to what we know to be true, the Apostle Paul speaks of our ministry in the Word.

“Since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.

For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, but we preach about a crucified Christ” [*1 Corinthians 1:21-23*] [2].

The Christian Faith is not primarily an ethical religion, though those who are born from above will be godly and righteous in their actions and in their relationships with all people.

The Christian Faith is not primarily a religion defined by its form, though we do have rites that portray the truths we hold as those who have been saved.

The Christian Faith is essentially the life of Christ proclaimed and lived out through the Body of Christ, which is a church gathered in various locations throughout the world.

! Opposition to the Apostolic Message — When the Apostles lived out their faith, lives were transformed and people were saved.

The unrighteous who endeavoured to associate with the people of God were judged by Holy God.

The sick and the hurting of society were shown compassion and obtained blessing from the prayers and the ministry of the people of God.

Above all else, the people with whom the Apostles came into contact heard the Good News of life in the Living Christ.

In the proclamation of the message of life, the Apostles were but emulating the model provided in the life and ministry of Jesus.

As Mark began his account of the Good News about Jesus, he said, “Jesus [came] preaching the good news of God” [*Mark 1:14*][3].

In His first act after His baptism and temptation in the wilderness, Jesus read from the Prophet Isaiah.

The passage He read announced,

 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

When He had finished reading the passage assigned for that day, Jesus “rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.

And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” [*Luke 4:18-21*].

The Master would “proclaim good news to the poor.”

He would “proclaim liberty to the captives,” and “recovering of sight to the blind.”

He would, through proclaiming the Good News, “set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

Because He taught that man must receive this Good News, no longer depending upon experts who would teach them how to precisely perform rites and rituals, He incurred the wrath of the religious elite.

Nothing much has changed in the ensuing two millennia.

So, the Apostles, in obedience to the ascended Son of God, called all who would hear them to repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, that message was so effective that the high priests and all who sat with him on the Council were “filled with jealousy” [*Acts 5:17*].

Thus, “they arrested the Apostles and put them in the public prison” [*Acts 5:18*].

One must believe that the intent was to punish them severely, perhaps even kill them.

However, “an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out,” commanding them to “speak to the people all the words of this life” [*Acts 5:19, 20*].

Sending for the Apostles the next morning, the high priest was informed that though the prison was securely locked, there was no one inside.

Moreover, the preachers were standing in the Temple, fulfilling the command they had received to proclaim the Good News about Jesus.

Those dispatched to arrest them were intimidated by the crowds listening to the Apostles, they asked them to accompany them instead of seizing them as they might otherwise have done [*Acts 5:21-26*].

Haled before the Council, the Apostles were challenged by the high priest.