Please turn with me to the fourth chapter of the Book of Acts as we look at an event that took place in the early days of the Church. Peter and John are going up to the temple at the time of prayer when they are asked for money from a crippled man. Peter commands the beggar to look at him, and then tells him that he doesn't have any "silver or gold," but "what I have I give you." Taking the cripple by the hand, Peter helps the man to his feet. Instantly, the man's feet and ankles become strong, and while praising God, he walks and leaps and follows the apostles into the temple. Those gathered for prayer recognize the beggar, and Peter uses the occasion to preach to the crowd who are filled with "wonder and amazement" at what has happened to the crippled beggar. The gathered crowd attracts some other people, and that is where we begin reading.
The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.' Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:1-12).
And from the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John, we hear these words of Jesus: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). This is God's Word.
It was just over a year ago that I read the latest results of the Ligioner Ministries' 2022 The State of Theology survey. Every two years Ligioner Ministries and LifeWay Research - a leading evangelical research firm - these two groups partner to find out what Americans believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible. With this survey they "take the theological temperature of the United States to help Christians better understand today's culture and to equip the church with better insights for discipleship." Some of the statements posed in the survey with which the respondents could agree or disagree were: God learns and adapts to different circumstances;
Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God; and Every Christian has an obligation to join a local church. But it was the response to the statement "God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam" that really got my attention. In just two years, the number of evangelicals (who are defined in this survey as people who strongly agree that the Bible is the highest authority for what they believe, that it is important to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus as their Saviour, that Jesus' death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of their sin, and that only those who trust in Jesus alone as their Saviour receive God's free gift of eternal salvation) --- in just two years the number of evangelicals who believe that God accepts the worship of all religions rose from 42% to 56%! And if you ask all Americans, "Don't all religions lead to God?" fully two-thirds would say yes. Of course the correct answer does not depend on the polls, but on what God's Word says on the matter. And I dare say that the results among Canadians would be about the same.
The story we just read from the Book of Acts tells the account of the first of five persecutions against the Church in Jerusalem. It is the beginning of persecutions which will continue with the killing of Stephen and the murderous inventions of the Roman Emperors Nero and Domitian and will continue down to the present day. Sometimes people in the political realm initiate it. At other times people in the religious realm instigate it as we find in today's text. And over the centuries this persecution has taken different forms. Sometimes the persecution is blatant; at other times it can be quite subtle. While persecution against Christians today is physical in communist and Muslim countries, in the Western world it is mostly against our egos.
Peter is wrapping up his 3-hour sermon when the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees arrive in a rage. To say that they were "greatly disturbed" is an understatement. But why was this disparate group of people so "greatly disturbed"? Well, the priests were disturbed because when their two-week turn came to minister in the temple, for which they had waited a long time, it was a big deal. They wanted everything to go smoothly without any commotion. So we know why they were disturbed. Then there was the captain of the temple police. Now at this point in time the Roman government was very tolerant of different religious views, but against any public disorder they were ruthless. If a riot broke out under your watch, you could lose more than your job. You could lose your head! So we know why the police captain was disturbed. And then there were the Sadducees. They were both a religious and a political group. They were the high priestly family who ran the entire temple operations. They were also the opposition party to the Pharisees, like the Liberals and Conservatives, but with a religious flavour. They were also the collaborators, always scratching Rome's back hoping for a mutual scratch. They really only cared about maintaining the status quo while keeping their power, prestige, and comfort. But there was something more. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the body nor in future punishment or reward. And they believed that the existence of angels and spirits was only a myth. So when Peter proclaims the resurrection of Jesus "whom they had crucified," they become even more disturbed, filled with anger and scorn. Who are Peter and John that they teach in the temple? They've not been approved. What they are doing is completely out of line. They don't know the sacred writings and the Jewish law. They haven't been to the proper schools. How can they know anything? They are not rabbis, who are the professionals. They are just uneducated amateurs, ignorant Galileans. That they taught was disturbing enough. But what they taught was even more disturbing. Not only were they proclaiming Jesus whom the Sanhedrin had condemned to death, they are also proclaiming that He has risen from the dead. And that just irritated them to no end.
But Peter ignores the Sadducees' beliefs and their irritation, and he proclaims "in Jesus the resurrection of the dead." Peter preaches Jesus, and they hated that. So Peter and John are seized and because it was already past 6 p.m., they are thrown into prison to be dealt with the following day.
The new day arrives with a meeting of the Sanhedrin - the Supreme Court of the Jews which consisted of 71 men - to deal with their problem. They have Peter and John brought out from prison and made to stand before them. And then they ask a great straight-forward question that sets the stage for another sermon by Peter: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
In asking "by what power" they are probably wondering what kind of magic that Peter and John are using. They are wondering by what sleight-of-hand trick they conjured up for this healing.
And secondly, they ask "by what name." They want to know who has given them the authority to heal and teach the way they do.
And we are told that Peter, being filled with fear?? No, Peter, being filled with the Holy Spirit begins to speak. Instead of falling apart or clamming up, he begins by saying, "If we are being called to account for this act of kindness shown to the cripple..." Peter wants the Sanhedrin to clearly understand that what they are doing is unjust. Anyone would know that it is not an evil thing to heal a lame man. They have done a good deed. But just so everyone knows how it happened, Peter boldly declares that their own Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, whom they killed but God raised from the dead - it is by this very same Jesus that this man stands before them healed. This Jesus, says Peter quoting Psalm 118:22, is the very stone that you builders rejected. But God has brought him back to be the cornerstone.
And then Peter concludes his sermon to the Sanhedrin by making this startling statement: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved." Now this is a tough pill for them to swallow, because they are still not rid of Jesus. For the members of the Sanhedrin, Jesus is still the issue. And not only that, even today Jesus is still the issue.
History has revealed many self-appointed saviour figures and humanity has devised many ways of "salvation," but there is a divine necessity that must be communicated to everyone about calling upon the One whom God has provided. People in a relativistic, multi-faith society find such an exclusive claim very difficult to accept and provide other approaches to God.
One popular way to deal with this issue is to say that there are not one, but many ways to God. We are told to believe that the Five Pillars of Islam is the way to God for the Muslims just as the Eight-Fold Path is the way for the Buddhist while Jesus Christ is the way for the Christian. A Hindu praying to his favourite God, a Muslim praying to Allah, a Buddhist pinning his petition on a prayer wheel, a Christian praying to the Father through Jesus Christ - it's all the same. It's the height of arrogance and bigotry to say that one must believe in Jesus Christ to be saved from the wrath of God. We must enter into dialogue with these "brothers and sisters" and learn from one another's traditions we are told.
There is even a religion that has enshrined this belief into the very tenets of its faith. The Bahai faith believes in the essential unity of all religions and the unity of humanity. They believe that all the founders of the world's great religions have been manifestations of God and agents of a progressive divine plan for the education of the human race (from Encyclopedia Britannica). In Haifa, Israel, they have even built a Bahai temple which has "nine doors to God." Despite their apparent differences, say the Bahai's, the world's great religions teach an identical truth. Their services consist of recitations of the scriptures of all religions. But for all their openness, I bet they've never recited Acts 4:12 or John 14:6 in their services! But salvation is found in no one else. There is no other name... there is no second or third name by which we must be saved. It is in Jesus Christ, and in him alone, that our salvation is sure and trustworthy.
Others, who are feeling especially broadminded, tell us that it really doesn't matter what you believe so long as you are truly sincere about your beliefs. If you are true to yourself, and authentic, and participate in the truth as you see it, everything will be fine. But will the person who truly believes that they can fly and leaps off the top of the CN Tower survive? Of course not. Why? Because you can be very sincere and very wrong at the same time. Sincerity, while a good trait, is not the measure of what is true.
All truth is exclusive. If something is true, that which disagrees with it must be false. The various religions affirm contradictory truths. They might both be wrong, but they can't both be right. The nature of truth is that it is exclusive. Some would even say narrow-minded.
It is very tempting to water down the gospel because it is offensive to so many people with its "universal negatives" which allow for no exceptions - "no one else" and "no other name," and with Jesus' assertion in John 14:6 that "no one comes to the Father except through me."
The contemporary church seems to be working very hard to be "attractive" to the world. We want people to feel comfortable. We want folks to "enjoy" their experience. We want them to see the church as "the place to be." But we cannot be popular in the world without watering down the message of the gospel. To be popular we need to redefine sin, talk more about humanity's inherent goodness, and avoid words like repentance, judgment and hell. And of course if we want to be popular we need to forget about verse 12 and Jesus' claim in John 14.
Lee Strobel was an atheistic journalist whose wife came to faith in Christ. He decided that he was going to prove to her that Christianity was a fraud. So using his investigative journalistic talents, he began pouring over the evidence and finally became convinced that Jesus was who he said he was, and gave his life to Christ. Since then he has written numerous books such as "The Case for Faith", "The Case for a Creator", and "The Case for Christ."
Strobel readily admits that before his conversion, he disliked one verse of scripture more than any other - John 14:6 where Jesus said, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." "This was the statement I found most offensive. It's one thing to claim to be a way to God - but the way? That sounds pretty intolerant!" thought Strobel. He continues,"Many people consider it arrogant, narrow-minded, and bigoted for Christians to contend that the only path to God must go through Jesus of Nazareth. In a day of religious pluralism and tolerance, this exclusivity claim is politically incorrect, a verbal slap in the face of other belief systems ... When I was an atheist, I bristled at assertions by Christians that they held a monopoly on the only correct approach to Christianity. 'Who do they think they are?' I'd grouse" (in The Case for Faith).
I realize that what I am saying is offensive to some living in this culture. Most of us, myself included, would like the very best for everyone. That altruistic motivation, as good as it is, can lead us to the concept that all roads are leading in the same direction. But Jesus loves us enough to tell it like it really is. Jesus and his apostles articulate claims that are exclusive. It is impossible for anyone to have peace with God... it is impossible for anyone to have a right relationship with the Father, unless it is through Jesus Christ and his atoning work on the cross.
Being outspoken about the exclusivity of Jesus will garner the hatred of the world. Jesus himself said in John 15:18: "If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own."
Persecution will come, says Jesus. And in order to find ways to take away the offence of the gospel, we compromise. Even in our witnessing we fail to speak the truth because we don't want to be rejected. We don't want the scorn. We don't want to be an outcast.
As contemporary society moves further and further away from the truth found in Jesus Christ, we can expect to see push-back from society. It's coming, and it is already here.
Before Jesus left to return to heaven, he gathered his band of followers, telling them what they can expect. And then he tells them, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
That Jesus is the only way to the Father, and that He has overcome the world, we give all thanks and praise to God.
AMEN.
[NOTE: I am indebted to the following individuals on their insights into the issue of the exclusivity of Jesus - Justin Huffman, John Huffman, Stephen Nichols, John MacArthur, George van Popta, and Bruce Goettsche, as well as the 2022 Ligioner Ministry's "State of Theology" survey.]
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