As I am sitting with my small group of 1st grade students during our “intervention time,” of course the subject of the Packers comes up. “It’s so sad the Packers lost.” “I wish the Packers did not lose.” “Yeah, I don’t like those monsters” Wait . . . what?! “The monsters?” I asked. “Yeah!” responds the young girl. “I don’t like those monsters because they beat the Packers last night!!” Another student chimes in, “No, the Giants beat the Packers last night.” “Oh yes, that’s right, I don’t like the giants!” Well . . . monsters . . . Giants . . . I guess they are both big and usually scary creatures. We are making connections in first grade!
Last night the Packers were defeated and tragedy has fallen over the cheeseheads. Lucky for Matt and me, our lives do not revolve around football, although Matthew does love watching his Packers. Thank you God that we have a great HOPE and JOY in Jesus that can pull us away from our lives ‘coming to an end’ after a bad game.
I read Acts 5 today as our church and small group continues our study through Acts along with the book Act Normal by Scott Wilson. The Sanhedrin was upset with the apostles for preaching of Jesus in the temple courts after they had ordered them to stop. Again, the Sanhedrin ordered them to stop. In 5:29 “Peter and the other apostles replied: We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead – whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” A wise man name Gamaliel addressed the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:34 saying that many people have claimed to be somebody but all had failed to spread their ideas and eventually were killed. His advice is this in 5:38 “Therefore, in the present case I advice you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” The apostles obviously did not know what Gamaliel had said, since they had been taken from the room, but suddenly things take a turn. 5:40 “They [the Sanhedrin] called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.” Well . . . if that wouldn’t cause someone to feel defeated I’m not sure what would. But did the apostles leave with their tail between their legs and say, “Yes, of course. We would never disobey you?” Of course not! As Peter had told the leaders in Acts 5:29 “We must obey God rather than men!” They were going to go on preaching this message in light of persecution or even death. 5:41 “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name [of Jesus Christ]. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” So, what then is stopping us from sharing the Gospel as Jesus’s early followers?
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