“We Can’t Help
But Speak about Jesus” (Acts 4:13-22) for LWML Sunday Oct. ‘11
1.
Please pray with
me. May the words of my mouth and the
meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word this LWML
Sunday is taken from Acts 4:13-22 and it’s entitled, “We Can’t Help But Speak about Jesus,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Joseph Scriven
watched in shock as the body of his fiancé was pulled from the lake. Their wedding had been planned for the
next day. Reeling from the tragedy, he
made up his mind to immigrate to America.
Packing up his belongins in Dublin, Ireland, he sailed for Canada,
leaving his mother behind. 10 years
later, in 1855, Joseph received word that his mother was facing a crisis. So he wrote a poem to give her comfort in a
time of great sorrow. Meanwhile, Joseph
fell in love again. But tragedy struck a
second time when his bride, Eliza, came down with tuberculosis and died before
their wedding could take place. After
this Joseph didn’t stop preaching and teaching about Jesus Christ as His Lord
and Savior. He poured himself into
his ministry, doing charity work for those who were less fortunate. He lived a simple life cutting firewood for
widows, giving away his clothes and money to those in need. On Oct. 10, 1896 Joseph became critically
ill. In his sickness, he arose from bed
and staggered outdoors where he fell into a creek and drowned at the age of
66. His grave was arranged so that his
feet were opposite those of his lost love, Eliza, so that at the resurrection
they might arise facing one another. Oh
and do you remember that poem that Joseph wrote to his mother in her grief, I
think you’ll know it, “What a friend
we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to carry,
everything to God in prayer, Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless
pain we bear. All because we do not
carry everything to God in prayer.”
3.
What could cause
Joseph Scriven to write the words of this hymn, “What a Friend we Have in Jesus” after being stricken by the grief
of his fiancé dying? Well, I think
part of it was his faith in Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior. Even though Joseph had seen so much tragedy
in his life, with both of his fiancés dying before he could marry them, that
didn’t stop Joseph from speaking about Jesus as his Lord and Savior and caring
for the poor and needy where God had sent him in Canada.
4.
Acts 4:13–22 says, “13Now 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. 14But
seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in
opposition. 15But when they had commanded them to leave the council,
they conferred with one another, 16saying, “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. 17But in
order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak
no more to anyone in this name.” 18So they called them and charged
them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But 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, 20for we cannot but speak
of what we have seen and heard.” 21And 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. 22For
the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years
old.”
5.
Grief and
personal tragedy wouldn’t stop Joseph Scriven from preaching and teaching about
Jesus and neither did opposition to the message of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified for the forgiveness of our sins stop Peter and John from speaking
about Jesus to all whom they came into contact with. Here in Acts 4 we see that Peter and
John were categorized by the religious elite as “unschooled, ordinary men.” But, Peter and John, ordinary though they
were, had a belief in Jesus as their Lord and Savior that gave them the
spiritual power to perform a miracle here in Acts 4 that the religious elite
couldn’t duplicate. They had healed a
man who had been paralyzed and unable to walk since his birth. Then Peter preached to the crowd who had seen
this at the temple in Jerusalem. Well,
you can imagine that this greatly enraged the Jewish authorities, so they
arrested Peter and John and put them on trial for healing this lame man in the
name of Jesus and preaching in Christ’s name.
6.
Don’t worry
about being ordinary by the world’s standards.
If
you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior from sin, death and the devil’s
power, your faith in Him lifts you far above the ordinary. Just like it did for Joseph Scriven as
well. Confident of your faith in Jesus
as your Savior, you too like Peter and John can obey God rather than men and
speak boldly about Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
7.
The Sanhedrin,
which were the Jewish authorities of that day, couldn’t deny the miracle that
Peter and John had performed. But they
wouldn’t draw the conclusion that Jesus had risen from the dead and was
empowering these men to do such a miracle.
The healing was undeniable, but still they denied the name in which it
had been done. They couldn’t disprove the resurrection
of Jesus from the dead or deny the healing, but they tried to use their
authority to stop the apostle’s preaching.
Did these Jewish authorities believe that their command to stop Peter
and John’s preaching could really be obeyed? No.
Instead Peter and John would continue to obey God who raised Jesus from
the dead.
8.
Peter and John,
along with the other apostles, had seen the deeds and heard the words of the
Messiah. They had seen him
alive from the dead to show his victory even over the power of death for
you. How could they be silent when their
Lord had called and equipped them to be his witnesses? How can we?
9.
Peter and John
had witnessed the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and it turned their world
upside down. Jesus our Savior
lives and that means you who live with Him can’t help but speak about all that
Jesus has done for you. I say that because you live in a land where the U.S.
Supreme Court begins every session with an invocation, which says, “God save the United States and this
Honorable Court!” But that same court who prays God’s blessings upon
their work, refused to hear the case of Marcus Borden, a New Jersey football
coach. Coach Borden had wanted to kneel in prayer with his team. Understand
he didn’t want to organize or lead the prayers; he just wanted to bow his head.
10.
Talk to almost
any student at any state-run institution of higher education; ask them what
will happen if they profess their faith in Christ. Take a look at the media. If you do, it
won’t take too long before you realize almost every pastor or priest shown in
movies or on TV is a platitude-spouting prude or a pathetic pervert; most
Christian parents are portrayed as stupid and church people are intolerant,
ignorant idiots. On the news the scandals of Christians are publicly paraded, repeatedly
rehashed, criticized, and condemned.
11.
Unnoticed are
the multitudes of faithful pastors of the Savior who have dedicated their lives
to a proper preaching of the Word. Unrecognized are the millions of
Christians who are good neighbors, good citizens, good parents, and good
witnesses to Jesus Christ who has saved them by His birth, sinless suffering,
death, and resurrection from the dead.
12.
It hasn’t been
so many years since a very skilled and talented lecturer came to a town. He had achieved some degree of fame with
his presentation which elevated humanity by demoting the God of Christianity. After his
lecture he gave his listeners a chance to respond. One night the lecturer
finished and an elderly lady stood up and said, “I paid good money to hear you tell me about something better than
Jesus. You didn’t do that. I’ve been a widow for 30 years. When my husband
died, he left me with six children. I trusted the Lord and He helped me. Each
day He gave me enough to raise them. When a daughter died, He comforted me with
the idea of a reunion in heaven.”
13.
The lady
continued,
“From what you’ve said tonight, you’re
thinking that’s nonsense, it’s the imaginings of an old woman. Some here might
believe that. I don’t. The Redeemer is real. Now, you can give me something better
than what God has given or you can give me back my money.” With derision
dripping from his voice, the lecturer responded: “Ma’am, you’re so content living in your delusion, I wouldn’t try to
convince you otherwise.” Hearing that, she stopped him cold. “No, no, no, that won’t do. Truth is truth
and your laughing at me doesn’t change things. Young man, your lecture shows me
this: you have too high of an estimation of yourself and too low an idea of
God. I will not let you take away my Savior who died to forgive me. Sir, I’ve
met Jesus, seen Him, talked to Him; I’ve been saved by Him. Let me ask, sir, in
place of Jesus, you would give me what?”
14.
That was a
Christian who was living in the Lord and couldn’t help but speak about what
Jesus had done for her. This church is filled with her sisters and
brothers. Many of you have met Jesus,
talked to Him, been forgiven, and saved by Him. He has comforted you in
life’s tragedies and given you a sure and certain knowledge of forgiveness.
15.
It’s this same
message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead that moves
the ladies of the LWML to do what they do in speaking about Jesus as their Lord
and Savior. Our own Ladies
Aid here at St. John believe in the message of the cross of Christ and His
empty tomb. They believe it so much that they are moved
to support our SIGHT ministry center here at Baldwin that puts together large
print materials for those who are visually impaired so that they can learn more
about Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Their
belief in Jesus has moved them to continue to support a seminarian at Concordia
Seminary in St. Louis so that the preaching of the cross of Christ may continue
to be heard. Our Ladies also make
health kits and quilts to send to women who are abused at our nearby violence
prevention center.
16.
Yes, the Lord
has blessed the LWML and we thank God for this organization of our church,
which promotes the preaching of Christ and Him crucified for the sins of the
world. May God continue to bless their efforts
and ours as well as we continue to speak about our Savior Jesus and his death
on the cross for our sins to a dark and fallen world. Amen.
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