I want to drive home something very simple to us tonight, but it may serve for many of us as a life-changing realization. It may be that many of us simply do not realize the truth that I am going to share tonight and therefore have been lax in our pursuit of it out of ignorance. It may be for many others that we know the truth, but we have yet to really embrace it and let our theology move us to action. And it may be for many others that we know the truth that I am going to point out tonight but we are just too content and lazy to care about relating that truth to our lives.
Therefore, I want to share this one truth tonight and exhort you in why and how to pursue it in your lives. And the one truth comes from the mouth of a man named Gamaliel as he addresses the believers’ rebellion against the charge of the priests that they no longer preach and teach in Jesus’ name.
Peter and the rest of the apostles had just answered the question as to why they were filling Jerusalem with their teaching, when they had received strict orders not to, by saying they must obey God and not man. And then they had told the council (again) that they were preaching the Jesus whom they had crucified and that God had raised from the dead (v. 28-32).
And you can imagine, then, that the men got pretty angry with these believers. Luke says that they were “cut to the quick and were intending to slay them.” They were ready to kill these disciples. However, a man named Gamaliel comes to the disciples’ rescue by stepping in and calling a meeting with the council. He has the disciples sent outside for a second, and then he speaks to the council, for they regarded him as a great teacher.
Gamaliel proceeds to remind them that in the past there had been two rebellious men had raised up and drawn a following. However, he also reminds them that these men had been killed and their followers had scattered. Therefore, he exhorts the council to let these men be, telling them that if this action is just the plans of men that it will be overthrown, but if it is of God then nobody can overthrow it, and they would be fighting against God if they tried.
Therefore, the council adheres to his advice. They beat the disciples, order them not to preach again, and send them away. And the disciples go—still rejoicing, teaching, and preaching.
And as you read this, you can really see why these men are getting under the skin of the council. They beat them and order them, and they go out rejoicing and teaching as if nothing had happened at all. And I think it should lead us to ask the question: what do they know that allows them to do this? I think they knew what Gamaliel had told the council and the truth I want to communicate to all of us tonight.
It is this: If God has a plan and sets it into action, nothing can overthrow it. It will happen. You cannot stop it.
And these men knew that what they were doing was in God’s divine plan and will. No matter what happened, I believe they left the situation thinking, “Go ahead, come against us because we are in the center of the will of God, and if you are going to challenge us then you will fail because you cannot beat God.”
And I would ask all of us tonight, don’t you want to walk in that same assurance that these disciples had? Don’t you want to know that you are living out God’s plans and that no matter what happens, nothing can overthrow it?
I do. And in the past few days, I have really been seeing some things that I need to be doing consistently in my life, and I think the church needs to be doing consistently in ours. I want to give you tonight a few simple exhortations that I think can serve as a faithful pattern for living throughout the rest of our lives. Let me list them in light of this passage.
The first is that
Remember, Gamaliel said, “If it is of God” it will not be overthrown. Therefore, we need to know God’s will. I must admit that even as I sat to write this I thought to myself, “Now, is it really right to pursue the will of God, or is that just something that we’ve come up with to make ourselves feel better about our decisions?” “Is it really God-centered or an idea developed from a man-centered theology?”
And then I remembered a verse that answers my question quite easily. Ephesians 5:15-17 says, “Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Not only is seeking God’s will right; it is commanded.
I believe that we, as the children of God, need to seek God’s will consistently until we know it in matters. I mean, if we are going to walk in the confidence and joy that these disciples walked in, then we must know God’s will.
God has made his will clear to us on several things. Our mission statement and vision for how God would use us has been assured by most everyone that I have spoken to. The idea of the church covenant has been something that I have prayed about for a while, and now I am speaking with many people who are telling me that it is something that God assured was his will years ago.
I think God wants us to know his will in matters. The problem is that in order to know God’s will, you must know God. And this is something that requires that he be your priority above all things. A.W. Tozer has written, “It is well that we accept the hard truth now: The man who would know God must give time to him. He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of his acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end” (The Divine Conquest, p. 7).
And I am sure that many of us want to know God’s will that we may walk in it. But how many of us want to know God and make him a priority over that extra hour of sleep or other pleasures? If I may paraphrase an idea from Lewis; it is not that our desire to know God’s will is selfish and man-centered and we need to crush that desire. Rather, our desire to know God’s will is not as intense as it needs to be, for it does not drive us to sit at his feet questioning and listening daily.
Let me give you a parable that a man recently shared with me that really drives this home.
There was a boy who walked up to his dad one Saturday as his dad was mowing the yard and told him, “Dad, I really want to mow the yard for you next week.” And his dad responded, “Great, Son, just be here next Saturday and you can do it.” However, when the next Saturday rolled around and his dad was pulling out the lawn mower, the boy was down the street playing with his friends. So the dad mowed the yard again. And as he was finishing, the boy saw him, ran up to him, and said, “Dad, I really want to mow the yard for you next week.” And his dad responded, “Great, son, just be here next Saturday and you can do it.” However, the next Saturday the same series of events occurred, and they kept occurring like that throughout the summer.
Now, as we are getting a little angry with the son in this story, let me ask you, how many of us are like that with God? Every time we meet with him, we are saying, “God, I am sorry that I haven’t really been seeking you like I should. I haven’t sat before you and listened to you daily, but I really want to.” And yet we have never carried through with making God a top priority in our life over everything, everyday?
I believe that probably many of us could say that we are like this. Therefore, let me conclude that it is not that knowing the will of the Lord is something that God wants to withhold from us, or is something that we cannot know, but rather it is something that he wants to reveal to those whom he knows find their utmost joy in him. He wants to reveal it to the children that he knows are going to be at his feet day after day after day. He wants to give to those who obey in persistent asking, seeking, and knocking.
I challenge us as a church to be a place where all of us are doing this. And from now on, let’s move with everyone knowing the will of the Lord. Let’s be a people who really love God more than anything else, and hear his voice, and know him as our Father and Lord. Let’s be a people who know that we are walking in the will of the Lord and, therefore, walk in confidence in whatever we do because we know it is of God and cannot be overthrown.
Next,
This is exactly what these apostles were doing that caused them to be arrested. They knew God had told them to proclaim the name of Jesus, and they simply obeyed him, trusting God to take care of everything that tried to come against it.
We need to act in that kind of faith as well. If we believe that it is God’s will for us to support some missionary, or bring on another staff person, or do whatever; let’s do it. It is not our problem as to how it will be taken care of. It is in God’s hands. We have simply sought God’s will and are now obeying it.
If tomorrow God assured us that his will was to do something that we thought was impossible, our job would not be to figure out how it might work out. Our job would be to simply obey what we believed God was telling us.
Now don’t you see how important the first thing (knowing God’s will) is in order that we may follow through on the second (acting in faith).
Henry Blackaby writes in Experiencing God,
“When God calls a person to join Him in a God-sized task, faith is always required. Obedience indicates faith in God. Disobedience often indicates a lack of faith. Without faith, a person cannot please God. Without faith, a church cannot please God ...
When God speaks, what He asks of us requires faith. Our major problem, however, is our self-centeredness. We think we have to accomplish the assignment on our own power and with our current resources. We think, ‘I can’t do that. That is not possible.’
We forget that when God speaks He always reveals what He is going to do—not what He wants us to do for Him. We join Him so He can do His work through us. We don’t have to be able to accomplish the task within our limited ability or resources. With faith, we can proceed confidently to obey Him; because we know that He is going to bring to pass what He purposes. Jesus indicated that what is impossible with man is possible with God (Mark 10:27). The Scriptures bear witness that this is true” (p. 114).
And I think that is exactly what Gamaliel was saying and exactly what these apostles were doing. And it is exactly what this pastor has had yearning in his heart to be involved in since I can remember. Therefore, let’s all know what God’s will is, and let’s act in faith as He directs and guides.
And if we are doing those things, then we can rejoice in whatever suffering we encounter along the way.
Acts 5:41 says, “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.” They left with their backs bleeding, probably torn to pieces, and yet rejoicing.
They were obeying the Lord’s command to rejoice in suffering when you are trying to obey God’s will (Matthew 5:11 and many other passages that exhort us in the same thing; 1 Peter 4:13; Romans 5:3; 1 Peter 1:6; James 1:2-4).
Do you remember when we were studying 1 Peter how much Peter spoke of such things? I’ll mention one to renew our minds. 1 Peter 4 says in verse 13, “To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.” But how is it that we find the strength to rejoice? What are we to do in those times? Peter answers in verse 19: “Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”
When you are pursuing the will of God and you encounter suffering, you can rejoice by entrusting yourself to God who is calling for your obedience and rest in the understanding that it is for his glory. In other words, if God calls you to do something and your obedience costs you suffering, then you can know that God knew that and it was a part of fulfilling his will in order to glorify himself in your life.
I have no doubt that as these men saw the apostles rejoicing, they were thinking, “What kind of secret power do they have that we don’t.” And the answer is God. Therefore, because the disciples didn’t assume following the will of God should eliminate suffering, they embraced it, rejoiced in it, and brought glory to God. Let’s do the same as we encounter suffering in following God’s will in faith.
Finally, as we understand God’s will, act in faith, and rejoice in suffering; it is quite important that we maintain fellowship with fellow believers.
I do not think that it is any coincidence that Luke ends the section reminding us that the disciples were in constant fellowship writing, “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”
I do believe that one purpose in him writing was to show that they were continuing the mission. But I also think that he wants us to see that there was fellowship as they were meeting from house to house with one another every day. We need one another if we are going to act in faith in trying to follow the will of God. There are going to be times that the suffering will overwhelm our knowledge that we are to rejoice, and we will need one another to help renew our minds. There will be times when we are overwhelmed at how much God is going to have to come through, and we will need to remind one another that God is able, and faithful, and that we are simply obeying what he has called us to do.
And it doesn’t just make good sense, it is a Scriptural command. Hebrews 3:13 says, “Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” We are commanded daily—every day—to encourage one another in order that we are not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and in order that we might persevere. We need to be continually renewing each others’ minds to the truth of the word of God because our faith is built in that and without faith it is impossible for us to please God.
Therefore, I urge us tonight to be moved by the truth that Gamaliel shares in this chapter. Realize that if God is working and you have moved yourself to be a part in his will, then you can walk confidently, knowing that it cannot be overthrown. God’s plans cannot be thwarted, and therefore you can walk in joy no matter what comes your way. Know God’s will, act in faith, rejoice in sufferings, and admonish one another in truth daily. Let’s strive to show the world what we truly believe about God in actively trusting him in our lives and drawing glory to him. Amen.