Firm up the Roots

I recently I read through the first few chapters in Acts and came across this text in chapter five. Peter and the apostles had been preaching the gospel message to large crowds, “But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. 18 They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.” (Acts 5:17-20)

I paused at verses19-20. God (through the angel) told Peter and the other apostles to go to the Temple environs and preach the message of Christ. And, that’s what they did. And in short order, they were arrested and brought before the religious authorities. The High Priest and his colleagues then warned them once more to cease what they were doing, whereupon Peter and the others responded – “Uhhh . . .  No. That’s not gonna happen.”  (I paraphrased, of course).

But the point I want to make comes later in verse 40: “And after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus.”

I paused at verse 20 because I knew what happens at the end of the chapter. I paused because although God who TOLD them to preach the message of life, God commanded them to preach the gospel, He DID NOT protect them from the painful flogging after they’d obeyed Him.

The history of the Church to this very moment is a history of martyrdom and persecution. It’s the history of pain, loss, and suffering of some who did as God told them to do, who told others the good news of Jesus and God's offer to forgive the penitent. In fact, now that I think of it, it was Peter who would later write under the full inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but 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.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)

For those who might have forgotten the rest of the story in Acts 5, after the flogging, Peter and the apostles “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.”

Christian – boldness for Christ in the face of severe opposition does not happen in a vacuum. It results, certainly, from the empowerment by the Holy Spirit – but it also results from an ongoing and daily walk with the Savior, seeking Him in prayer and through His Scriptures. And we ought not be so foolish to think the Lord’s warning in His Parable of the Sower can never apply to us:

“The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”  (Matthew 13:20-21)

Christian: Firm up your roots. Too much is at stake to do otherwise.