Handling Opposition Well | Acts 4:1-31
Luke shows us how the apostles stayed true to the mission, message, method, and means of Jesus while facing opposition. They called people to faith as they proclaimed Jesus in a spirit of humble submission relying upon prayer. This sermon is part 7 of “Building the Church,” Bryan Craddock’s verse-by-verse sermon series on Acts 1-7.
Most of the fairy tales we learn as children illustrate moral lessons. But one of them also teaches a smart engineering principle. In the story of the three little pigs, each pig chooses a different building material for its house: straw, sticks, or bricks. Straw and sticks suffice in good times, but only bricks can endure the huffing and puffing of the big bad wolf.
To build something that lasts, it must be able to endure the worst conditions. Jesus expressed that idea, when he told his disciples, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). The church is not so much an organization as it is people, and Jesus knew that his followers would encounter intense spiritual opposition. He designed his church to thrive in those circumstances. So, how do we do that?
Throughout history many Christians have assumed that the answer is to build political and cultural influence. They have allied themselves with powerful people, often at the cost of moral and theological compromise. This may seem smart from a worldly point of view, but it stands in stark contrast to Jesus’ ministry. The world’s idea of strength is often the opposite of God’s, so this approach is more like building with straw rather than bricks.
In Acts 4:1-31, Luke recounts the first formal opposition that the early church faced, and it reveals what they were made of. He shows how they stayed true to the mission, message, method, and means of Jesus. I’ll explain what I mean as we walk through the passage. As we do, I encourage you to evaluate your thinking about how Christians should handle opposition. Ask yourself what we are made of. Perhaps we need some renovation.
Our Mission: Faith
When you tackle a building project, it can be tempting to rush through it. You might not take the time to measure or to see if things are square and level. You just eyeball it and call it good enough. But if a structure is off kilter, it is unstable. It might tip over and come crashing down in a stiff breeze.
A lot of people approach life in that haphazard way. Some even refer to that follow-your-gut mindset as living by faith. So, it’s no surprise that some churches operate that way too. But biblical faith is not blind trust that things will work out. A church built with that outlook won’t be able to stand firm in the face of opposition.
Biblical faith is a choice to trust God and follow the direction that he sets in his word, including Jesus’ teaching about our mission as his church. He wants us to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8), proclaiming his gospel (Mark 16:15), so that we make disciples who obey him (Matt 28:19). In other words, we must call others to exercise biblical faith. That is our plumb line.
But in Acts 4:1-2, we find that when the church faithfully fulfills that mission, it can irritate those who refuse to believe. Luke tells us,
And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
The Sadducees were a priestly group. Their name probably comes from Zadok who served as high priest a thousand years earlier during David’s reign. In Hebrew, the name Zadok means “righteous,” but that was not this group’s reputation. When Judea became a Roman province, the Roman governors took control of appointing the Jewish high priest. They chose men who would help them keep the Jewish people under control. It became a political role as much as a spiritual one. So, the Sadducees were those who compromised and cooperated with the Romans to gain power.
Why are they annoyed with the apostles? According to Acts 23:8, the Sadducees held that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. They minimized the mystical side of religion to focus on the rituals of the Law. Their idea of religion was all about order and control. So, as the apostles heal the lame man and proclaim the resurrection of Jesus, they contradict the views of the Sadducees and thus undermine their control.
Luke says that the priests, the captain of the Temple, and the Sadducees “came upon” Peter and John. They sweep in as a group to put a stop to what the apostles are doing. But they are too late. The mission has already been fulfilled. In verses 3-4, Luke says,
And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
Opposition like this does not hinder the fulfillment of the church’s mission. Jesus did not say, “I might be able to build my church, if things go well.” He confidently stated, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” As we make our way through Acts, we will see that he sovereignly works through opposition like this to accomplish his purpose.
So, when we face opposition for calling people to faith, we must exhibit faith, and those who lead the church must set an example. We find this idea highlighted in Hebrews 13:7, which says,
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Paul also describes his mission with a focus on faith. In 1 Thessalonians 3:7-10, he expresses his heart for the Thessalonians by saying,
for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
From beginning to end, our mission is all about faith. It’s not simply to meet people’s physical needs. The church should do that (Titus 3:14), and the world may even applaud it. But if that is all we do, then we are ignoring people’s greatest need--salvation.
Our mission is not to preserve culture or uphold morality. When people try to be morally good apart from saving faith, it blinds them to their need for salvation. So, focusing on morality alone actually undermines our mission. It also leads us to see sinful people as enemies, rather than lost souls that we should be trying to reach with the gospel. This mindset may provoke unnecessary opposition.
Are we staying true to our mission? Are we calling people to biblical faith? It will provoke opposition from some, but we must trust that the Lord will use that for his purpose. Walk by faith! To fulfill this mission, we must also be clear about our message.
Our Message: Jesus
Constructing a building of stone requires great precision, particularly in selecting the first block, the cornerstone. If it is not square, it will skew everything else and make it unstable. The cornerstone of our faith is Jesus himself. So, our message must always point people to him.
Though they were an intimidatingly powerful group, Peter boldly proclaims Christ to the Jewish leaders. Luke identifies them in Acts 4:5-7 by saying,
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?"
Annas was the first high priest selected by a Roman governor in AD 6. He held the role for nine years and was then forced out. But within three years he managed to have his son-in-law, Caiaphas, installed as high priest. He held the role for eighteen years, but Annas was probably still calling the shots. John 18 tells us that when Jesus was arrested, they led him first to Annas and then to Caiaphas.
The question that they ask Peter and John is revealing. On the day before, they had just performed an undeniable miracle by healing a man who had been lame from birth. The council wanted to know by what power or authority it was done. If this was a standalone incident, you might give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they were concerned that the apostles might be violating God’s commands by using some kind of sorcery. But it had probably only been a few months since these same men orchestrated the execution of Jesus. Their point was that the apostles did not have their permission, and they wanted to squelch what was happening before it spiraled further out of control.
Peter could have given them an evasive answer. He could have simply talked about prayer and the power of God. He is not disrespectful to the council, but he speaks forthrightly. In verses 8-10, Luke tells us
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by him this man is standing before you well.
This miracle was a demonstration of Jesus’ resurrection power. Since he made this man physically well, and his power can also bring about spiritual transformation. Verses 11-12 tell us that Peter continues by saying,
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Peter draws the idea of the cornerstone from Psalm 118:22. The psalm is filled with a sense of hope. It speaks of trusting God in the face of opposition until he grants the final victory. The author imagines celebrating his ultimate salvation as he enters the gates of righteousness. But as he does so, he realizes that this city is built upon the cornerstone that the builders rejected.
Jesus himself quoted this verse at the temple a few days before his crucifixion. The Jewish leaders had questioned his authority, and he responded by telling the parable of the vineyard tenants who killed the vineyard owner’s son. Jesus did not explicitly identify himself as the cornerstone at that moment, but Peter does so here. He clearly asserts that there is salvation in no one else.
Most of the Jewish people at the time probably thought of salvation in national terms. They wanted a powerful Messianic leader to overthrow the Romans and to usher in a new golden era for Israel as the prophets foretold. Jesus will conquer the nations when he returns at some point, but he taught that in order to share in his kingdom, people must first be saved on a personal level.
We all need to be reconciled to God through the forgiveness of our sins, and no one but Jesus could bring that about. On the night before his crucifixion, he told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them in the Father’s house. After Thomas asked how they could know the way, John 14:6 tells us,
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is not just a religious leader. He is the Son of God who became human. He lived a perfectly righteous life and died on the cross as our substitute, bearing the punishment that we deserve for our sins. In 1 Peter 3:18, Peter explains,
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.
So, the essential Christian message is that salvation is only found in Jesus, and a lot of people find that offensive. They might be okay with seeing Jesus as a good teacher, a prophet, or an example to follow. But to say that he is the way, the truth, and the life means that every other belief and way of living is wrong and will lead people away from God and his salvation. To handle opposition well, we must stay true to that message, but we must also do it in the right way.
Our Method: Submission
Someone once said, “Give a boy a hammer and everything he meets has to be pounded.” You can build a lot with a hammer. But there’s also a sense of power in being able to smash things. Even if you rarely pick up a hammer, we all learn ways to apply force in life whether it be physical, verbal, emotional, intellectual, financial, or political. We use those tactics to take control of situations and get what we want. We tend to see all of life as a struggle for power.
Jesus was a carpenter (Mk 6:3). He knew how to swing a hammer, and when he returns, he will exert great force. Revelation 19:15 says that he will rule the nations with a rod of iron. But when he began his earthly ministry, he laid down his hammer and took the opposite approach. He was gentle and lowly in heart (Mt 11:29). He entered Jerusalem humbly riding on a donkey (Mt 21:1-11). He did not resist the Jewish leaders or the Roman governor but submitted to their unjust treatment in obedience to his Father’s will (Mt 26:39).
Many people construe Peter and John’s interaction with the Jewish leaders in Acts 4 as a powerful expression of defiance, a great hammer blow to the system. The passage is often cited as support for taking a belligerent tone toward government. But a careful reading of their words leads us in the opposite direction. They model Christ-like submission as the method for carrying out our mission.
Even when you don’t play the power game, those who do still view your actions through that lens. We see this in the Jewish leaders. Somehow Luke is able to give us insight about their deliberations. Perhaps Nicodemus was still a part of the group. John 3:1 identifies him as a ruler of the Jews. Paul might have also heard an inside account of this incident from the rabbi that he followed prior to his conversion. In Acts 4:13-14, Luke says,
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
The Jewish leaders did not expect much from Peter and John. They were fishermen from Galilee, not noblemen with great wealth or rabbis with impressive knowledge. But they spent time learning from Jesus, and this miraculous healing left the council speechless. So, in verses 15-18, Luke tells us,
But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, "What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name." So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
The council never even considers the possibility that the healing of the lame man confirms Peter’s claims. They just try to regain the upper hand. But in verses 19-20, Luke says,
But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."
The apostles speak of two expressions of submission. The first is obvious. They express their commitment to obey God. They must speak of what they have seen and heard because Jesus explicitly commanded them to do so. But they also acknowledge the authority of the Jewish leaders, when they say, “you must judge.” This statement suggests that they are willing to submit to the consequences if the council will not relent from their command.
Peter spells out that commitment more explicitly in a letter he wrote around three decades later. He calls believers to submit to every human authority. That includes governments and even unjust slave masters. In 1 Peter 2:18-19, he writes,
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
He goes on to say that Jesus suffered for us as an example that we might follow in his footsteps. His humble, submissive attitude should shape everything that we do. A church that is angry, defiant, and disrespectful in the face of opposition misrepresents Jesus. Plus, Acts 4:21-22 shows us that such submission can also be disarming. Luke tells us,
And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
This situation worked out well. Peter and John spent a night in jail and then went on their way. But we will see later in Acts that submission is not always so easy. How do we find the boldness to live this way?
Our Means: Prayer
I have never worked for a big company. But from what people tell me, conflicts often arise between departments. Managers have their own ideas about what should be done, and they don’t like anyone else encroaching upon their territory. Sometimes they forget that the business belongs to someone else. That’s when the owner needs to be called in.
As Christians we need to remember that the church belongs to someone else. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” In fact, the whole world belongs to someone else. Even your life belongs to someone else. So, when we face opposition, we should be quick to talk to the owner about it. We carry out our mission by means of prayer.
Luke records how the apostles and their friends prayed, and they start by acknowledging God’s great power. In Acts 4:23-26, Luke tells us,
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, "'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'--
Those words are quoted from Psalm 2:1-2. David’s point is that no matter how angry people get or what schemes they make, the Lord is not threatened. Psalm 2:4 says that he laughs at them. He is the Sovereign Lord. Nothing derails his plans.
So, as we pray, we need to remind ourselves of God’s character as the believers do here. But they do not stop there. They apply the truth about who he is to their circumstances. They continue their prayer in verses 27-28 by saying,
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
They came to see that the death of Jesus was not an accident or a failure. It perfectly fulfilled the plan of salvation that God revealed through the Old Testament prophets. The sinful choices that Herod, Pilate, the Romans, and the Jewish people made to oppose Jesus still served to accomplish God’s purpose. So, as the believers faced opposition from many of the same people, they could trust that God was still in control.
How did the believers pray then? Did they ask God to remove all opposition? If so, it is not recorded here. Acts 4:29-30 tells us that they prayed,
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
They understood that God is all-knowing. David makes that aspect of his character clear in Psalm 139. But they still ask him to pay attention to the threats that the Jewish council has made. Their prayer models what Peter says in 1 Peter 5:6-7. There he writes,
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Perhaps he would choose to remove the opposition, but if not, they knew that they would still need to carry out the mission and proclaim his word. So, they pray for boldness, and God responds in a unique way. Acts 4:31 says,
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
The filling of the Spirit is something beyond the initial baptism and ongoing indwelling of the Spirit. It happens when people choose to follow the Spirit’s lead. In Ephesians 5:18, Paul commands believers to be filled with the Spirit. So, as the early church prayed, they had to trust that God heard them. He gave them a sign by shaking the place. But they still had to step out in faith to speak the word in the face of opposition. Are we following their example?
__________
Our world is very different from that of the early church in Jerusalem, but we still face opposition. How are we handling it? What are we made of? Are we staying true to the mission? Do we call people to faith or do we have some other goal? Is our message that Jesus saves or are we just telling people to behave differently? Do we reflect the humble submission of Christ in our method? Are we relying upon prayer, trusting God’s sovereign plan, and walking by the Spirit?
Perhaps your experience of church life does not fit this pattern. People might have behaved more like the Sadducees than Jesus and the apostles. If so, you need to understand that that is a departure from his design. Don’t let that push you away from him. There is salvation in no other name. Place your faith in him. Make him the cornerstone of your life! If you want to learn more about how he wants his followers to live in relation to the world, 1 Peter 2 is a good chapter to read.
If you are following Christ, do you need to change how you handle opposition? Do you need to renovate or reinforce some of the areas that we have considered? Perhaps you know a fellow believer who needs some gentle correction too. Let’s keep looking to the Word, reminding ourselves of the gospel and the character of Christ, praying for boldness, and walking by faith.
May Jesus build us up as his church!
Reflect
How have you encountered opposition to your faith? How did you handle it?
How does your response to opposition need to change in the future?
Do you have a friend who is responding poorly? What truths could you share with that person to help correct his or her outlook?