DAILY DEVOTIONAL – September 9, 2020
“Firm & Steadfast”
Prayer: Our God and Father, there is no one like You. Lord Jesus, You alone give us true hope and purpose and salvation. We desire only You. By the power of Your Holy Spirit, grant us an undivided heart of devotion and worship in thankfulness and praise for Your love and mercy toward us. Amen.
Scripture: Acts 4:1-12
While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees. 2 These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead. 3 They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning. 4 But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.
5 The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest.7 They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, 9 are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.’
12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Devotion – “Firm & Steadfast”
The disciples couldn’t have been a group of more ordinary men. They were not rich or famous or well educated. They spent each day as most of us do, working hard to make a living and taking care of their families. As you follow the story of these men being called to follow the Lord Jesus, it is at times painfully obvious that they in so many ways were ill-prepared and equipped for the calling they received. Yet as you continue to follow the story of the disciples as they follow Jesus, we see their faith slowly start to grow and flower in the skillful and ever patient hands of their Leader and Teacher Jesus.
Towards the end of the saga of Jesus’ ministry and the disciples’ time with Him here on earth, on the surface it seems that their faith and resolve came into full strength. Remember, for example, when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter swore he would rather die than abandon his Lord or let anything bad happen to His Lord, and hacked off a roman soldier’s ear to prove it. Yet, in a heart dropping twist, as Jesus is led away to be tried and crucified for our sins, we see Peter adamantly deny even knowing Jesus at all, the moment Peter’s own safety was put on the line.
The disciples who gave up everything to follow Jesus, and who did so faithfully for 3 years of Christ’s ministry, were now scattered and in hiding in fear for their own lives after watching their Lord tortured and crucified. In the midst of reading these accounts, I can’t help but feel discouraged a bit. Not so much because I see the disciples retreat, but because I know I am no different than they are. We all very much enjoy a freedom we take so much for granted. The freedom here in the United States, at least for now, to freely believe and exercise our beliefs without fear of torture or death. But if we are honest, if all of a sudden tomorrow we found ourselves in the same situation the disciples were in, if left to our own resolve and the strength and quality of our own convictions, we wouldn’t fare much better than the disciples did.
But, yet, as we keep reading through the pages of Scripture, our fears and disappointments are replaced with renewed strength and hope as we come to this passage in Acts 4. Jesus promised the disciples in John 14 that they would be given the Holy Spirit, which they did receive on Pentecost, and that the Holy Spirit would enliven them, strengthen them in their faith when the time came for them to stand firm for Jesus. Specifically, Jesus told them in Luke 21, “there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers. 13 But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. 14 So don’t worry in advance about how to answer the charges against you, 15 for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you!”
How incredibly gracious and merciful is our Lord Jesus! Not only did He willingly and faithfully submit to the horrors of the cross to serve as our substitute, bearing the wrath of God for the sins we committed, but He even comes to us through the Spirit to give us the faith to believe in Him and help us stand firm in the most scary and frightening situations when our faith is tested beyond our limits. And that is exactly what we see here in Acts 4. The same Peter who denied his Lord 3 times, and the same John who hid in fear with Peter earlier, both now stand boldly with their heads high before those who threaten to beat them and desire to kill them because of their faith and their preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Were they standing firm out of regret for past failings? Or because they got enough practice time in with their faith? Did they figure out something special or pull themselves up by the boot straps of their own convictions? No. They were still the same broken men we remember from before, just like you and I, but now, just as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit was given to them and worked faith in and through them by His power. As it says in verse 8, Peter stood up being filled with the Holy Spirit and said in response to the high ruling religious council’s demand for an answer, “10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. 12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Amen Peter! It’s true, there is salvation in no one else. Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. And the good news that is the Gospel, is that the salvation and forgiveness of God that we all long for in our hearts and know we so desperately need freely, is available to all that call upon the name of Jesus and put their trust and life in His hands.
You know friends, although that day may come much sooner than we would like, you and I don’t have to be standing on trial fighting for our life in order to be assured that the same Spirit of God that emboldened Peter, is also with us even now. He is with us to give us the faith and strength and resolve to boldly proclaim the true message of Jesus as the Savior of the world. Jesus is bigger and more powerful than our bosses, than any government or ruler or authority or friend or family member that threatens us if we dare to share our faith and stand firm with Jesus. Just as He promised and proved faithful with the disciples, so too Jesus is with us, and He promises to be our words and wisdom and stand with us, lifting us up with His strength when we are called to be firm and steadfast in our love and devotion to Him.
Jesus never promised that following Him would be safe, or that being obedient to His command to proclaim His name to all men would not have consequences in this wicked and fallen world. However, Jesus did promise that our joy would be full, that we would always find refuge and peace and purpose and fulfillment in Him, no matter what cost our Lord may ask us to pay for the sake of His name and for the sake of being used by Him to save souls. And as He proved on the cross and through His resurrection, Christ is faithful to His promises.
Be encouraged and strengthened in your faith. Trust that the Spirit of God is in fact with you in all of His glory and power as you boldly fight the good fight of faith and make the good confession that, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved, than the name of Jesus.”
Go in peace and serve the Lord, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
