Easter Before & After Acts 4 & 5

Well, good morning. Happy Easter, everybody. I wanna try that this time. Christ is risen. That's awesome. My name's René, I'm one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. You know, people ask me sometimes, don't pastors get tired of Easter? Never. I love it. We are doing six Easter services. I wish we were doing 18. I could just keep talking about this and talking about this. And I know I'm not alone. People love Easter.

Check this out. Just saw this study. Gallup tracked people's happiness every day for a year. In fact, they had to log in every hour. Are they happy or not happy? Check this out. The happiness peak of the first five months of the year was Easter Sunday. So you are happy today, probably. And that's why you are here. I saw that and I thought, that's totally true except for the half an hour that you try to get the kids crammed into the car before church, right?

I will never forget cramming our three kids into the car when Easter, while I'm trying to get to this church to preach and literally get at the point because they're like, we had three little ones and one of them has one shoe on. We've got to get back into the house to get the shoe. Another one we just realized is wearing her swimsuits. We got to take her back and change her. And it gets to the point where I am screaming to the kids, get into the car this instant so we can go worship the risen savior. And I look across the street and my atheist neighbor Bob is watering his lawn. Happy Easter, Bob.

Well, this morning I want to tell you a story. I call it Easter Before and After. And it's found in the Bible in the book of Acts, chapters four and five. I love before and after stories, specifically I love before and after pictures. I love it when people post these pictures on social media. For example, here's one, this is Bubbles. He's a Labrador. This is when he was brought to the SPCA when he had been an abused little puppy. And this is after he was happily adopted. Isn't that beautiful?

How about your house before and after children? How about your children before and after the first day of school? There they are. Some of these are intense. Look at Abraham Lincoln. This is a few months before his inauguration. And this is right after his first term as a president. I mean, he was bearing a heavy burden. And some of them are so inspiring. This is a post a woman shared of herself 10 years into a severe drug addiction and three and a half years after she was clean and sober. That is so beautiful. People's lives can't be transformed.

But probably to me the most inspiring before and after picture of all is the before and after of the disciples of Jesus if you look at this line as the resurrection. Because here is their before picture. It's filled with fear. I mean, the Bible says they were all locked together in one room in Jerusalem. They wouldn't even go outside the doors because they were so afraid that they were gonna get killed too by the same people who killed Jesus Christ. They were completely self-focused. I mean, so self-focused. They abandoned Jesus. After all he'd done for them, there was confusion. There was a sense of absolute hopelessness. And who could blame them?

I mean, after all, Jesus Christ was dead on Friday. Roman soldiers who were the world's experts in death made sure he was dead. And everybody grieved because they expected Jesus to do what all dead people do, stay dead. But on Sunday, he appears alive, first to Mary, and then to those disciples in that locked room. And those fearful 11 men rocket out of that room transformed. And a great place to see their transformation is this story in Acts chapters four and five.

Here's how it starts. It's just about a month and a half after Jesus has risen and then ascended to heaven. And now we find Peter and John, who were two of those 11 people locked in that room, just out walking around Jerusalem completely unafraid of anything. In fact, they decide they wanna go up to the Temple Mount to pray, which kinda seems like a bad idea because the Temple is where the guys who conspired against Jesus have their headquarters. This is the mice going to the cat.

And on their way, there's a man outside who is lame, who is begging, and they say, well, we don't have any money, but how about we heal you? And they pray for him, and he can walk again, and he follows, and the first time in his life, he's been able to go up to the Temple and he can't contain his joy. The Bible says he's literally jumping up and down, praising God, and of course, that attracts a crowd. And then Peter can't resist. He starts preaching, and the guards come over. What's going on over here?

And with that setup, watch what happens next. I just love this story. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the, what? The resurrection of the dead. Now, just keep that in mind. So they seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put 'em in jail until the next day. And then, and this is so great, they're brought before this group, and you might recognize some of the names. Annas, the high priest, was there, as were Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others of the high priest's family.

Do you recognize those names? Annas and Caiaphas and the high priest family were the exact people who had conspired about 55 days before this with the Romans to kill Jesus. And so now Peter and John, who had been terrified of these people, so terrified that they took off, they're dragged in front of those same exact people. And by the way, you know, you see priest, I wanna clarify something. Don't have this image in your head of, like, Friar Tuck. You know, this jovial priest who's benign and harmless. This wasn't Friar Tuck, this is more like Don Corleone and the Godfather.

These people were brutal. Jewish texts say that they had squads that would go out and beat people up and extort money. And they made sure that the high priesthood stayed in their family, right? Totally the Sopranos happening here. Plus, in order to even become the high priest, somebody had to appoint you. Who was that? The Roman governor. So at some point, these men were betrayers to their own people. They dripped power and corruption. Everyone in town was afraid of them.

And here's what happens next. They had Peter and John brought before them and they began to question them, by what power or what name did you do this? Did you heal this man? Basically what they're saying is, who do you think you are? What gives you the right? They're not actually asking because they're looking for answers. This is a question of just contempt. Who do you think you are? But what's funny is Peter goes, "Hey, glad you asked. Let me tell ya." And then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rollers, elders of the people, if we're being called to account today for an act of kindness, shown to a man who was lame, and you're asking us how this man was healed, I'm happy to tell you.

Then know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified." And by you, I don't mean like all of humanity or all of the Jewish people because I'm a Jewish man. I mean you, Caiaphas, and you, Annas. I mean this is guts, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. And then it's kinda funny because apparently the man who he had healed the day before had made it to the trial in Peter's season because I love this sentence. "That this man stands before you healed." He's kinda like, "Frank, Frank, come on up here. That this man stands before you healed." What are you gonna say to that? Talk about a mic drop moment.

And it says, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John, they were not used to this. They were used to people cowering before them. Nobody showed courage to them. They were the mob. And then they saw that they were unschooled ordinary men." And that observation just drips with elitism, doesn't it? These are fishermen. They should be begging us for mercy. They were astonished. They never saw anybody take that tone with them ever. And they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Jesus again? We thought we dealt with that guy.

And so they tell them, "You know what? Whatever you do, never mention that name again." And Peter and John say, "Well, you know, you guys can do whatever you want, but ask for us. We can't help it because we saw it. We heard it." And they don't know what to do. So it says, "After further threats, they let them go." Now, how do you think that's gonna work? Well, Luke tells us that. This is so funny. So before that day, he says there were 3,000 believers in Jerusalem on that day, as in when Peter and John come walking out of this trial, 2,000 more people sign up. They're like, "Right on! We love the way you stood up to those guys. We love your message."

And here's a description of what they were like. "All the believers were in one in heart and mind." Nobody claimed that any of their possessions was their own. They shared everything they had. That's pretty awesome. "With great power, the apostles continued to testify to one thing," what is he bringing up over and over again? "The resurrection of the Lord Jesus." And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them there were no needy persons among them. It's like these guys got some kind of a personality transplant. They're all full of cowering and fear, and now nothing intimidates them.

And they were so self-seeking, they're cursing out each other and running, betraying each other. And now they're all, "Man, we're all in this together, right? It's all about love." Well, the rulers see this happening, and they say, "Well, we gotta arrest these guys again." Because they're not listening to us. So they have them re-arrested at night. But in the middle of the night, the doors of the prison open. Luke says, an angel pokes his head in, "Guys, keep up the good work, get out." And so they kinda sneak out of the prison.

At daybreak, they entered, they don't go hiding. The temple courts, where they were arrested, where their enemies have their headquarters. And they begin to teach the people again. Meanwhile, the plot thickens, unaware that they are no longer in jail. Those evil high priests convene a bigger meeting with the whole Senate of the country. It's called the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin's big Senate chambers were, guess where? The temple courts. So everybody gets there and the judge says, "Send for the prisoners." And the guards go and come back and they say, "The prisoners are not there. We don't know where they are, but they're missing. Well, don't just stand there, go find them."

Okay, and I can envision the conversation. Where are we gonna find them? Clearly, they took off, they're hiding somewhere. Where's the first place we should look? While they're making their plans, the Bible says, somebody comes up and whispers to the chief guard, "The men you put in jail, they're standing in the temple courts, teaching the people, they're literally right outside." Well, they're attracting an even bigger crowd. And the Bible says that the guards now, they're intimidated by the crowds in the daylight. And so they kind of raise their hand, excuse me, excuse me, I see that hand. The corrupt priestly mafia is requesting your presence at your trial, could you walk with us? Sure, we'll go with you.

And Peter and John walk in, they say, "We thought we told you to stop talking about Jesus." They say, "Well, like we told you last time, we must obey God rather than men." Because here's the thing, maybe, the guts Peter has. Like maybe I didn't make this clear enough to you the last time I had a chance to address you yesterday, but here's what happened. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead. Whom you killed, have I mentioned this yet? You killed by hanging him on a cross. And I know you killed him because I was in the courtyard, remember Peter was in the courtyard of Annas' house. When Annas the high priest and Caiaphas his son-in-law are slapping Jesus around, spitting at Jesus, mocking Jesus, saying, "We're gonna drag you away to be killed unless you deny what you're saying." Peter's watching in the courtyard.

And so what he's saying by we are witnesses of this is, "I know you did this in the middle of the night, and you're trying to hide your culpability. I saw what you did. And that night I was so afraid of you that I denied I even knew Jesus with a curse, and I ran away to save my own skin. But I'm not afraid anymore." It says when they heard this, they were furious. And they wanted to put them to death, which kind of cracks me up because it's like, "Accuse us of murdering somebody, will you? Well, we'll kill you." But a wise old man calms them down and says, "We don't need any more martyrs." And so they called the apostles and had them flogged, and then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go, "Stop speaking the name of Jesus."

Well, how do you think that threat's gonna work? The Bible says the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering, disgrace for the name. And watch this, day after day, in the temple courts, like they're in the face of their enemies. You do not scare us. In the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

What I love about this is, you hear about Jesus rising from the dead, and you're like, "That's awesome, but I'm not Jesus." Like, good for Jesus. But what this shows is how the resurrection completely transforms the people who were followers of Jesus Christ. In fact, I see four characteristics of resurrection-fueled people. The before picture and the after picture. The disciples of Jesus go, first of all, from fear to courage. That's most obvious, right?

So I was reading an academic study about the spread of Christianity this week, and scholars say there's absolute historical evidence that the ministry range of the 11 original apostles was basically throughout the entire known world. Not even death threats can stop them. Why not? Because when you lose your fear of death, as the song says, all fear is gone. And think of what they accomplished. They had no army, no money, no political machine, no media support, no government support, yet they changed the entire Roman Empire. With what message? They never stopped saying, "It's all true." Every word Jesus said. God really does love the world so much, he sent his son not to condemn the world, but to save the world, and Jesus proved it, and we saw it.

So they had courage, and then second, they moved from self-focus to compassion. I mean, we read those verses, they're out there sharing, they're helping, they're giving. Why? How does the resurrection lead to compassion? Well, if the resurrection is true, people matter more than anything else because people are eternal. See, they didn't just see Jesus as a one-off, they saw Jesus as saying, "Guys, this is a preview of the kind of glorified bodies that you'll have in resurrection if you'll just trust in me, receive this free gift that God wants to give you."

I love the way C.S. Lewis puts this, this is a little heady, but dig into this quote, 'cause it's so powerful. He says, "The dullest and most uninteresting person that you talk to," and some of you are picturing that person right now. No, "The dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature, which if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, because the resurrected body will be that glorified. It is with the awe proper to them that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal." Now, nations, cultures, arts, civilization, these are mortal, but it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, exploit. Next to the blessed sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.

And I wanna say as a pastor, one of the things I love about this church is I feel like you really get this. For example, I love the dignity and honor displayed through our People's Pantry. I love how you feed literally hundreds of people every single week through our People's Pantry here at church that's the spirit of resurrection fueled people. Now, some of you know, we also hope to build the TLC Hope Center right here to give the food ministry a more permanent home. Next weekend we find out if we raised enough pledges to do this, but listen to this story.

As I told some of you, one nine-year-old boy said he's selling his family's chicken eggs and has figured out that over four years he's going to raise $1,000 that he himself is going to contribute to the Hope Center. That's a spirit of somebody who's nine years old. I was talking with some young teenagers in the lobby just this last weekend. Every summer, including this next summer, they give up vacation time to go serve special needs families at Camp Attitude up in Oregon with our church. That is seeing people with resurrection fueled eyes, seeing their glory.

Now sadly, we're living in a world where compassion is not exactly trending, right? What's trending is screaming and ranting and venting and hatred and that's why we start a series next weekend, The Lost Art of Love because everybody wants to fight this but to fight it we can't just sort of accidentally love. We need to become like trained in love, be intentional about love, become like love ninjas. And so this starts on our regular church services next weekend, I hope you can join us.

But compassion is a part of being resurrection fueled and then another thing I see is they go from confusion to clarity about their message. They stay on message. Listen to this, every single sermon, every single address in the entire book of Acts is about one subject, Jesus is alive and he's here with forgiveness and hope for you. How much do we need clarity in the Christian church? How much do we need to learn this? Stay on message. We're getting so divided by politics and so much else.

Look at this, the early followers of Jesus, there were Jewish zealots, there were Roman soldiers, Greek business women, African royalty, prostitutes, priests, politicians, poor, rich, beggars, thieves, aristocrats, and this is all like in the first few months. You think these people ever disagreed on politics? You think these people ever thought one another's customs were a little weird? Of course they did. But they found clarity and unity because they stayed focused on one message and that is this, Christ is risen. Christ is risen.

Exactly right. Listen, let me be honest with you. You know why I'm still a Christian? My Christianity has nothing to do with whether or not I understand exactly how all the laws of the Old Testament apply precisely to our lives today or whether or not I understand exactly the correct interpretation for all of the visions in the book of Revelation about the end times or overlooking the very real abuses of Christians in church history. My faith has nothing to do with that. My faith has to do with one thing, one person, Jesus.

I still am a believer in Jesus because of Jesus and that kind of clarity of message is unifying. And then the final thing I see in them is I see them moving from hopelessness to an absolutely confident hope that they're going to be raised from the dead too as will those they love. Remember the verse we started with, the apostles were proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They weren't just proclaiming Jesus rose, good for him. They were proclaiming that in Jesus, the dead will be raised. And they knew that means this, the worst thing is never the last thing. Not your failure, not your denial of Christ, not your grief, not even death.

Now maybe you're thinking, well, that all sounds great. I mean, I see the power of belief. I can see how this could happen. But the problem is I actually am not sure if I believe this. I wish I could, it would be thrilling to believe, but I'm kind of a skeptic. I get it. I have a friend who is the skeptical journalist type. In fact, he is a skeptical journalist. His name is Don Miller, and he's the opinion page editor for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. And Don has his own before and after story. Watch this.

So journalists are by nature skeptical. I use the word curious more because I'm very curious about things. I wanna know how things came to be or whether they're true or not true. For most journalists, their skepticism, I think stops them at the gate. And it stopped me for a while too. I was in my 30s without any known occupation, any way to support myself. I had really lost, I'd lost my home, I'd lost my car, everything. Over the years, I continued to ask God, as I understood him, to take me out of my circumstances. Didn't happen. Year after year, I just continued to kind of spiral either down or not make any progress until I was able to meet an advertising rep who introduced me to somebody at the Sentinel.

Within about six months, the then editor of the Sentinel, Bruce McPherson, asked me if I wanted to join the staff. And I said, "Sure, I'll do it." That's what I always wanted to do, was to be a writer and work my way up in news and got to cover a lot of different news topics, meeting some fascinating people. And I felt this was a miracle from God. God had answered my prayers. However, I also became a workaholic. I neglected my marriage, I neglected most things in my life. I really was not counting on God anymore. In fact, I was ready to leave Christianity in general. It was almost impossible, I thought, for a while for me to come back to the faith, 'cause I really had convinced myself the other way. And I just didn't see the answers there.

But at that time, we were able to go to recovery and I began to, once again, know that the way out of trouble, way out of circumstances for me, was to renew my relationship with the Lord. And today, we're fortunate to be at TLC. Yolanda and I both lead a small group and are able to work with other adults who are seeking the Lord. As I was working at the Sentinel, I began to write columns on a variety of faith topics, including other religions. I always have been fascinated by why people believe what they believe. Why do I believe what I believe? Because I did my research, I love the history and the archeology of Christianity, and I continue to read a lot on those topics.

And so I was convinced beyond any doubt that Jesus is who he says he is. God is real, God does care about us, God does love us, God does direct our steps on this earth. If I really believe that Jesus died on a cross to make me right with God, and if I really believe he was resurrected from the dead and is with me right now, how does that change my life? The early Christians could have scattered when their leader was tortured and executed by the Romans, but they were remarkably empowered when he rose from the dead. You see, everything changes.

Don mentioned archeology and research, and I wanna tell you that that is one reason for our Bible conference. All the information is on the back of your bulletins. Adrian mentioned it. But it's in just two weeks, all day on a Saturday, what we're gonna do is we're gonna bring in top, top scholars and professors from universities and grad schools all across North America, the USA and Canada, and this is for one day. It's really the Blue Ribbon Panel. Every single one of them are authors, professors, teaching on things like, can I trust the gospels? How did we get the Bible? What's archeology tell us about the historicity of scripture? And you can not only hear their seminars, but hang out. Have lunch with them. Bring your questions, because we believe our faith stands up to those kinds of rigorous questions.

But I wanna close with this. Where do you find yourself on this Easter? Are you still in some way in the before part of your story? Is there fear, confusion, hopelessness? I believe God brought you here, I really do, for a reason, to let you know that you matter to Him, and that you can step from before to after, not in your own willpower, but by the power of the living and loving Jesus Christ. Who is here with us right now. Let's pray to Him. Would you bow your heads with me?

Lord, thank you for dying and then rising from the dead so we can have hope. Thank you for proving that you're real, that you're God. Thank you for washing away our sins. Thank you for all you've done for us. And I pray that you would help us move from before to after by your grace. And God, I pray if there's anybody here right now who wants to take that step, I love how your word says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that He has risen from the dead, you'll be saved, transformed, changed. And so God, I just wanna pray with anybody who wants to make that commitment right now.

Lord, I don't understand it all. But as much as I understand, I choose to believe that you have risen, that you're alive, that Jesus, you told us that God is love and then you showed us how much God loves us. And so as much as I understand, I choose to believe that in my heart and I invite you God to begin moving me from the before to the after by your grace and to your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.