The Cost of Faithfulness
A Sermon on Acts 5:12-42
Good morning, church! If we haven’t met, my name is Joash Thomas and I’m a part of the Lakeside Church community and teaching team.
And if you’re new to Lakeside, we’re in this series on the book of Acts right now called “The Church Unleashed”. Because in Acts, we see the early church being unleashed upon the world, empowered by the Spirit as a force for good. Today is actually celebrated as Pentecost Sunday around the Global Church. Pentecost Sunday marks the end of the Easter season and the coming of the Holy Spirit as we marked at the beginning of our series. So Easter is over; now what?
Jesus has risen from the dead, he’s ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit has come down upon the Church. Now what?
What are we as the Church in the 21st century called to do with the Holy Spirit who still remains with us today? And how are we as the Church called to engage with the systems and empires of power on this earth today?
And if you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, how are we as the Church called to respond when our marginalized neighbours are oppressed and fearful for their communities?
The early church in Acts 5 provides some great insights on these questions.
Let’s start with some context in verses 12-16:
“Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. 16 A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.”
Pay attention to what’s happening here – some truly miraculous and supernatural things – people being healed of their sickness, people with demons being set free. There’s a theme here – liberation. Freedom! Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom.
You see, we’re not really reading the book of Acts correctly until we read it as a sequel to the Gospel of Luke. Because both Acts and Luke have the same author – Luke. And in Luke 4:18, which Pastor Robyn referenced last week and something we keep referencing at Lakeside, because this is Jesus’ definition of his mission, Jesus says this:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,”
And right after he says this, he goes about setting free the oppressed by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, casting out unclean spirits.
And then, the same Spirit that comes upon Jesus and leads him to liberate his oppressed neighbours also comes upon the early church at Pentecost. And the Holy Spirit empowers them to also join in Jesus’ mission of liberating their oppressed neighbours by healing the sick and casting out unclean spirits.
You see, the early church cared about both – the physical and the spiritual because Jesus cared about both – the physical and the spiritual.
But make no mistake – when we join Jesus in proclaiming the physical liberation and the wholeness of our marginalized neighbours, resistance will always come our way. Always.
So I’m often asked, “Joash, what was it like growing up as a Christian in India?” I was often the only Christian in my classroom. And some of my earliest memories are that of my mom telling me at home: “Joash, when you go to school, you represent Jesus there. And as someone representing Jesus, your life must look very different from everyone else’s. And not like in a weird, isolationist way but really, in a justice way. Because when you represent Jesus, you must stand up for what is right. And you must stand up to what is wrong. And you must be prepared to pay the cost for taking a stand for Jesus.”
We see the early church taking a stand for Jesus and paying the cost in verse 17 – “Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.”
Here’s the deal – the Holy Spirit renews all things. And when we join the Holy Spirit in the renewal of all things, we ARE going to end up upsetting the old order of things and we are going to end up upsetting people who benefit from the old order of things. Because to usher in God’s new creation, the old order of things – unjust power structures, spiritually abusive systems, inequitable ways of being, must pass away. Anything that hinders life must pass away; so that new creation and new life can be ushered in. And this is exactly what the early church faced in the Roman Empire when they went up against unjust systems and power structures - just like we do in the Church today.
The kingdom of God coming in is good news to the poor and the oppressed; but it can also be bad news for the oppressor and those who benefit from the oppression of others by their participation in unjust systems and power structures. Now, it doesn’t have to be bad news for them, but it can be bad news for them if they refuse to share the power and resources that they’ve been entrusted with.
And this is why, Lakeside Church, I am SO proud of us. Even though we’re a socioeconomically diverse community, I am SO proud of us as a community for generously giving up our resources with incredible generosity over Christmas and Lent to support TWO justice partners in providing rescue and relief to victims of trafficking. Because it’s in generously giving away our resources that we experience the good news of Jesus too. And generously giving away the resources that we’ve been entrusted with isn’t just good for our marginalized neighbours; it’s also good for us. Because it does something in us. And it makes us more like Jesus!
The Justice of Jesus has a deep cost to us. But if we choose to suffer with Christ and partner with him not just in the joy but also in the cost, we will experience transformation ourselves. But far too often, as in the case of these religious leaders in Acts 5 – many of us refuse this cost of standing with our marginalized neighbours especially when it requires something of us.
Let’s keep reading. Verses 19 on:
“But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, 20 “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.” 21 When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.”
I just want to pause and appreciate the courage of the early church here. You see, prisons back in the 1st Century Roman Empire weren’t like prisons today. They weren’t designed as long-term imprisonment facilities. Prisons were places you’d be sent short-term while you awaited public punishment – like a public flogging or most often, like in the case of Jesus – a public execution.
If you’re arrested for something with a criminal justice system like that, the last thing you want to do if an angel shows up and frees you is to go back and do the same thing that got you there! But the early church chooses faithfulness – faithfulness to God and to their oppressed neighbours – despite the personal cost.
Let’s keep reading from verse 21b:
“When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on. 25 Then someone arrived and announced, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” 26 Then the captain went with the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
27 When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,[b] yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”
“We must obey God rather than any human authority.”
What are Peter and the apostles saying here? They’re saying, “We recognize your authority. But as followers of Jesus, we’re answerable to a higher authority – an authority that you’re also answerable to by the way. And if there are poor and oppressed neighbours in our city who need to be liberated physically and spiritually, we’re going to have to obey God in that.”
What are the places in your life where you’re facing conflicting allegiances? What are the places in your life where you have to choose between Jesus and an earthly authority? Loving God by loving neighbour OR obeying an earthly authority stopping you from loving neighbour? And what would it look like for us to choose courage, with God’s help, just like the early church to be faithful to loving God by loving neighbour?
Many of us right now feel anxious about the political and economic environment we find ourselves in. We want to be generous; but we’re struggling. Because generosity right now could cost us something down the line. I see this as a fundraising leader - Canadians want to be generous but we’re anxious because of what may or may not happen with the economy. So instead of open handed with our resources, we’re being tight-fisted.
The early church faced these anxieties and uncertainties too. And they still chose courage and faithfulness. What does it look like for us to choose courage and faithfulness in bringing freedom to our oppressed neighbours – despite the possible costs to us? And how might we resist the scarcity mindsets of our Canadian society right now by trusting in the abundance of God’s mercies for this world? Mercies we’re called to be faithful stewards of.
Let’s keep reading in verse 30:
“The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” 33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.”
Well Peter being Peter, clearly isn’t helping himself here. But Peter makes an important argument – he says to these religious leaders obsessed with protecting their power at the cost of their oppressed neighbours, “You are rejecting God by rejecting your oppressed neighbours. And guess what? You’ve already rejected God by rejecting Jesus whom YOU killed by hanging him on a tree.”
Historians and Bible scholars would say that there’s a very good chance that Peter was standing at the VERY place where Jesus stood when Jesus was convicted by the religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, to death on a cross. And so there was a good chance that Peter was speaking to the VERY religious leaders who put Jesus to death. Think about that for a moment!
And Peter also confronts these abusers of power for their participation in the injustice of putting an innocent man, Jesus, also the son of God, to death – by hanging him on a tree.
Now, “hanging him on a tree” has some unique context in the Jewish setting because of Deuteronomy 21:22 which says: “for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse.” And here’s Peter saying to the religious leaders who put Jesus to death – you didn’t just unjustly execute an innocent man hand in hand with the Roman Empire, you also gave him the worst form of death for a Jewish man – by hanging him on a tree.
Imagine Peter’s pain from his own trauma of watching his Rabbi and Saviour be executed by his own religious leaders in that way. But instead of giving into violence and retribution, Peter chooses to lean into forgiveness and hope by saying in verse 32: But despite you doing this…“God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Peter chooses hope and forgiveness by offering his oppressors and Jesus’ oppressors the hope and forgiveness that he has received from Jesus.
Because the Justice of Jesus doesn’t respond to violence with violence or retribution. It responds to violence with love and forgiveness by offering the opportunity for repentance. This forgiveness in Christ has been offered to the oppressors too – and the oppressors now have a choice: take responsibility and repent for your oppression; or don’t. But the religious leaders unfortunately respond with outrage – by refusing to repent and by wanting to persecute the apostles more.
Unjustly hanging innocent people on trees isn’t just a thing of the ancient past; it’s also something that happened in the US not too long ago when Black men and women were often lynched and hung on trees. There are even documented cases of white southern American church groups in the early 1900’s who would attend these lynchings after church on a Sunday morning – sometimes even keeping body parts of these victims as souvenirs.
James Cone says this in his book, one of the best books I’ve ever read and recommend all the time, also a book that some Lakesiders have been recently reading together, The Cross And The Lynching Tree:
“The cross and the lynching tree interpret each other. Both were public spectacles, shameful events, instruments of punishment reserved for the most despised people in society. Any genuine theology and any genuine preaching of the Christian gospel must be measured against the test of the scandal of the cross and the lynching tree. 'Jesus did not die a gentle death like Socrates, with his cup of hemlock....Rather, he died like a [lynched black victim] or a common [black] criminal in torment, on the tree of shame.' The crowd's shout 'Crucify him!' (Mk 15:14) anticipated the white mob's shout 'Lynch him!' Jesus' agonizing final cry of abandonment from the cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' (Mk 15:34), was similar to the lynched victim Sam Hose's awful scream as he drew his last breath, 'Oh, my God! Oh, Jesus.' In each case it was a cruel, agonizing, and contemptible death.”
Now I know that this history can be deeply uncomfortable for us to sit through. And I don’t share this to shame anyone for the past. As I say often in my book, “We can’t change the past. But we can be faithful in the present.”
And being faithful in the present in the area of racial justice requires us to reckon with the past – so that we can learn from it and ask God for the strength to heal and move forward together.
All of us have blind spots in our faith. And just like white American Christians, my St. Thomas Indian Christian ancestors who have been Christians for 2000 years, also had blind spots by participating in the historical oppression of our lower caste neighbours. Again, we can’t change the past; but we can be faithful in the present. And this is also Peter’s call to the religious leaders who put Jesus to death.
The religious leaders however reject Peter’s call to repentance. And they likely want to give Peter the same fate that they gave Jesus.
But then you have this interesting character named Gamaliel weigh in starting in verse 34-39. Here’s the gist of it:
Gamaliel steps in here and says, “Look, leave them alone. If this Jesus movement is a human invention, it’ll fail – just like all the other movements. But if it’s from God, we won’t be able to overthrow it. Because we’ll actually be against God.”
And you and I know how the story unfolds because 2000 years later, here we are as the Church today in Jerusalem AND all across the world today as the Global Church – and we’re still going strong. Because God’s kingdom made known through the local church will always outlast the empires of our times – whether it’s the Roman Empire, the Nazi Germany Empire, the Southern Confederate Empire or even the American Empire to our south today.
But while we know how the story ultimately unfolds, we also know that there’s a price to be paid in the short term for loving God by loving neighbour and prioritizing justice for our marginalized neighbours. Because here’s what happens to the apostles towards the end of this chapter:
40 and when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. 41 As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. 42 And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.”
“They rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.”
Will we match the courage of the early church in our world today by standing for what’s right and just?
I’ll never forget my mom telling me at a young age in India, “You must be ready to pay the price when you stand up for what’s right in Jesus’ name.”
Lakeside Church – may we be found faithful in paying the cost of whatever it takes to stand up for our marginalized neighbours in a hurting world today.
I’d love for us to close this Sunday by praying this beautiful prayer attributed to St. Francis. Praying the same words in one voice might be new to many of us but I want to encourage us to lean into this way of prayer because there’s power in joining our voices as one and praying powerful words that have been prayed by Jesus followers for hundreds of years now.
So if you’re willing and able, let’s pray these words together:
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen”
Preached at Lakeside Church in Guelph, ON (Canada) on June 8, 2025.
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