Acts 4:1-22

There’s something about throwing stones into water that is fascinating. Whether we’re young or old, there’s just something about seeing the rock hit the water, maybe skip a few times, and then make a bloop as it sinks. And for kids, and maybe for adults, the bigger the bloop, the more the fun. You’ve seen kids throwing stones into a pond or lake or river, and they start with the small pebbles, but they don’t stop with the little rocks. They work their way up, and pretty soon they’re looking around for the biggest rock they can throw. And they get their fingers under it, and they lift it up to their shoulder and they heave it out as far as they can. And the rock hits the water and instead of a bloop it’s a kersplash. And the child turns around with a big smile on their face, and says, “That was cool.”

2000 years ago, God made a huge kersplash in this world. He entered this world as His own creation, the Creator in the body of the created. A human God. A divine human. And He walked on this earth and healed and taught. And He died. And then He undied. He stopped being dead. He arose. His life and His death and His resurrection created a splash that was felt around the globe and out into the universe, in both the physical and spiritual worlds. Nothing else, ever, no invention, no war, no economic stimulus package, no scientific discovery has ever affected the world more than Jesus death and resurrection.

But it doesn’t seem like it, now, does it? When we think about what will make things better, we think about the government aid going to bail out banks and car factories. We think about a rebound in the housing market. We wonder if maybe some new initiative will turn things around. We’re looking for hope, but not from the resurrection. We’re looking for answers, and the answer is staring us right in the face.

We are still in the season of Easter. We’re still looking back at April 12 of this year, and through April 12, we’re looking back at that day when a dead man breathed again. But the power and effect of the resurrection doesn’t seem as strong anymore. It may have made a huger kersplash back then, but the ripples seem to have died away. I mean, the apostles went around and cured people of leprosy, they healed people who were paralyzed. They even raised people from the dead. But that doesn’t happen anymore, right? That was back in Bible times. What good does the resurrection do us now? It seems to us that the resurrection of Jesus had an effect way back when. It seems to us that the resurrection will have an effect on us, when we die. We’ll be able to go to heaven. But right here, right now, the resurrection doesn’t seem to really make any difference at all.

And if we believe that, then our lives will show it. We will feel the same despair as those who don’t know Jesus as their Savior and Lord. We will try to find our answers from the same places as those who are not saved. And we will keep the power of the resurrection to ourselves, we will tell no one about what Jesus has done, because we’re not really sure that He actually did anything.

But as we enter Acts 4, as we see Peter and John tangling with the religious leaders, we are encouraged, and our expectations are adjusted to know and live and show evidence for the power of the resurrection. In Acts 3, Peter and John had healed a man who was paralyzed who had been sitting outside the temple gate. And when the people at the temple saw what happened, they were amazed. They had to know how this had happened. And Peter and John were thrilled to tell them. It was the power of the resurrection of Jesus that raised that man to back to his feet. The resurrection splashed in that man’s life with healing. And the resurrection splashed in the middle of the people who saw the healing.

And the resurrection splashed in the middle of the religious leaders. But the effect on them wasn’t so good. Verse 1:

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.

The resurrection brought healing to a paralyzed man. The resurrection brought anger to the religious leaders.

And the resurrection brought imprisonment to the disciples. Verse 3:

They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.

See all the ripples, the splash, the effect that the resurrection had on everyone it touched. Healing, anger, jail time, and belief. Verse 4:

Many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

No one who heard about Jesus rising from the dead was affected. No one just shrugged it off and moved on. No one was able to ignore the power of the resurrection.

So why is it that so many can ignore it now? Why can so many just walk past and act like Jesus never rose from the dead. And it’s not just people outside the church who act like this, either. It’s us. How often can we go through a day without thinking about Jesus rising again? How many days, even weeks, or months, or even years can go by without us seeing some evidence in our life of His rising again? The resurrection has affected us, the resurrection has changed our lives. If Jesus is our Savior and Lord, then the resurrection has raised us back from death to life. How can we forget this?

We forget and ignore the power of the resurrection for different reasons. Sometimes, we don’t see the effects, because we don’t know that the resurrection really does anything. We don’t see the changes, because we don’t expect the changes. We don’t know that the resurrection of Jesus has the power to heal the broken relationship between a brother and a sister, a parent and a child, a husband and a wife. So if we don’t expect that effect, then we won’t see the effect. We don’t know that the resurrection of Jesus can restore an economy, an economy of a small town, where business struggle to survive, an economy of a nation that is so far in debt, an economy of a developing nation where so many are starving. And if we don’t expect the resurrection to raise the economy, then we won’t see it happen.

But we also forget and ignore the power of the resurrection because there are people who don’t want us to remember. There are people all around us who just will not accept that Jesus died and rose again. So when we talk that kind of talk, they scorn us, they mock us, they distance themselves from us. And sometimes, they will do anything they can to shut us up. But they’re not the first, and they can’t make us stay quiet now anymore than they could in Acts 4. Verse 7:

They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

What a great question! It’s the question that we can ask ourselves on a daily basis. It’s the question that leads to the best answer. By what power or what name is this happening?

And Peter is more than willing to give the answer. Verse 10:

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.

It’s by the name of Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, that a paralyzed man is standing. It’s by the name of Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, that the impossible has happened. Peter knew, without a doubt, that the resurrection can make things happen, amazing things, impossible things. Peter knew, and Peter gave proof of the power of the resurrection.

And we know, and we give proof of the power of the resurrection. We know, right? For us, the power of the resurrection hasn’t weakened with the years, right? For us, the effects of the resurrection of Jesus are just as potent, just as powerful as they were in that temple square with Peter and John. And it’s our job…no, it’s not our job. It’s our privilege, it’s our joy to tell people, to point them to what the resurrection is doing.

I saw it this week. I saw people from three churches, three different denominations, sit down together and talk about how to provide fellowship through coffee time in this community. By the name of the risen Jesus, people with different understandings of church worked together. It’s happening right now. By the name of the risen Jesus, people from different church backgrounds are worshipping together. By the name of the risen Jesus, a person struggling with loneliness was cheered up, at least for a moment. By the name of the risen Jesus, a person was able to keep his job. By the name of the risen Jesus, a family was not evicted out of their house, but was able to stay. By the name of the risen Jesus, students learned about God and His creation at the Christian School. By the name of the risen Jesus, parents modeled a relationship with Jesus to their children.

By the name of the risen Jesus, well, you fill in the blank. What have you seen? What are you doing? What proof of the power of the resurrection are you showing? Every day, we are able, we should be able to give a similar answer, both to ourselves and to those around us. What is changing around us? What good is growing? What evil is retreating? What dead part of our community or our nation or our world is coming back to life, in the name of the risen Jesus? Maybe we need to be asking each other, in order to train ourselves to see the effects of the resurrection. How about if, when we run into each other in the store, or taking a walk, or after church, how about if we get in the habit of asking each other this question: “What have you seen happening in the name of the risen Jesus?” Expect an answer. Expect a response. Expect to see effects.

The effects might not always be great. People are still going to think we’re corny. I think even some of us might think it’s a little weird to talk this way. I’m pretty sure not all of us here this evening are going to start thinking this way or talking this way or working in the power of the risen Lord. That’s okay. It doesn’t change the fact that the effects of the resurrection are happening all around us, whether we acknowledge them or not. The religious leaders tried to get Peter and John from talking in this way. Verse 18:

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Talk about pressure. The church was telling them to stop. The church was telling them to keep their mouths shut about the resurrection of Jesus.

But, verse 19:

But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

And neither can we. We can’t help speak about what we have seen and heard. If you haven’t seen what the risen Jesus is doing, have someone point it out to you. It’s amazing. If we have seen it, we can’t help talk about it. We have seen hopes restored, we have seen strength renewed, we have seen good triumph over evil. We have to tell someone. Who can we tell? Who hasn’t heard? Who can we tell about what we’ve seen happen, in the name of the risen Lord?