5:25,26
Then a report came that the apostles were in the temple court, teaching the people. The guards went to retrieve the apostles. They were now very wary of them, afraid to harm them in case something should happen. Interestingly the apostles go willingly with the guards. The apostles are there to bear witness to Jesus, both to the people at large, and to the powers-that-be. Remember Jesus had spoken to them about their being called before councils. We need to appreciate that we are part of God’s plan, and will only find the power of the Spirit at work in our lives when we walk in step with the Spirit, seeing His work in progress.
5:27,28
The Sanhedrin hauled the apostles in and demanded to know why they had not obeyed their orders not to preach. Interestingly they seem to have overlooked the fact of their miraculous escape from prison. There are two aspects to their charges against the apostles: they have filled the place with their teaching of the gospel, and they have made it clear that the religious leaders were responsible for Jesus’ death. The teaching of the gospel is dangerous. When we think of the gospel as “nice” then it is a fairly safe bet that we are not really teaching the gospel. The gospel is definitely not just about being nice to each other. The truly taught gospel will challenge society. Exactly where that challenge comes will vary from age to age, but it will almost always be about our sinfulness, our need to repent, and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. We see this today in various ways. On the uniqueness of Christ, the gospel quite clearly declares that Islam is not the way of salvation, Muslim’s need to believe in Jesus Christ as the One who died and rose again for their sins. On sin and repentance LGBT issues are the most clear crunch point, though it is by far the only one.
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