What seems like forever ago, but we did sing
a song called, I'd love to tell the story, twill
be my theme in glory. Not 100 % sure what twill
means, but I just think it means, it will be
my theme in glory to tell the old, old story
of Jesus and his love. I don't know about you,
but I hear that and I think about my church in
Oak Lawn, Illinois growing up. We used to sing
that song all the time, both with the organ but
never with drums. So that was a first, or we
have it done in here. Sorry, that was the other
song, Mighty Fortress Our God. That when we stand
and we sing that song, we're actually declaring
something. That that is a song of proclamation.
I love to tell the story. In some ways that assumes
that you are. And that's where I had to start
the sermon today. That not only could it be nostalgic,
not only is that a song maybe like me, you remember
singing growing up all the time, but if we say
we are believers and we are singing that we love
to tell the story, the question really is, are
we doing that? And what story are we telling?
Because the simple truth of the text today is
that we all exist. to proclaim the truth of Jesus'
death and resurrection in every generation that
we are able until Christ comes back. And in Acts
5, the apostles find themselves imprisoned for
doing that same thing. Now I could ask for a
show of hands, how many of you have ended up
in prison because you told the story of your
faith? My guess, there would be two or less.
But maybe you go to somewhere in your life where,
because of your faith, you've lost people in
your life. Relationships, friendships, family
members may say, I don't want anything to do
with you. Or maybe now there's just that tension
at the Thanksgiving table that no one really
talks about because you have people telling the
story of Christ and you have people telling a
story that's very different. And how does that
all work together? But one of the things we're
going to see in Acts chapter 5 is no matter how
low the lows are, no matter how high the highs
are in our life, the story still needs to be
told. And my hope is we love to tell it. The
same religious leaders who condemned Jesus are
now trying to silence his followers. This is
the third week. Now of this tension going on
that as people are telling the story, as the
movement of the church or the way is moving,
there are people trying to silence this. We should
not be surprised by this. We see it even in the
Gospels, in the end in the Gospel of John. People
trying to silence the story of Christ, of the
risen, resurrected Christ. But God opens. doors.
We talk about that all the time. Today we're
going to see he opens prison doors. He fills
people with courage and sends them back to the
very temple that tried to silence them. Because
one of the things that's going to be called out
today is the worst kind of evangelism I think
we can do. What I call drive -by evangelism,
where you kind of run up to someone with no relationship,
vomit Jesus all over them, and then run away.
More like cowards than anything. God may call
you back. to not only plant the seeds, but maybe
even water some of the seeds. And some of you
are like, I'm just a planter. I don't know how
to water the seeds. Well, guess what? If it's
part of your story, God wants you to do it. So
let's jump into the text. Acts chapter 5. We're
going to be starting in verse 17. The jealousy
of the leaders. We're going to kind of set the
scene. So we're going to be in verse 17. Again,
we use the ESV here, translation of the Bible.
You use whatever you brought or is on your phone.
So Acts 5, starting with verse 17. But the high
priest rose up, and all who were with him, that
is the party of the Sadducees, and filled with
jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put
them in the public prison. Public. There is a
key part in that because they had in the temple,
right? Listen, this is the religious leaders
arresting people. They had that right. They had
that authority. They had a public prison and
they had a private prison. For a cup of coffee
and a conversation with Pastor Jim, why do you
think they had two different ones in their religious
system? Which doesn't really make sense. Like,
we don't have a prison here that I know of, right?
Sometimes it feels like my office. But it's not,
you know, that we don't do that. But they were
allowed to. Any understanding or reason why they
would have had both? Maybe I should have put
lunch on this. Don't overthink it. Why would
something be in public and why would something
be in private? Think about your sin. Huh? So
they could ridicule a person in public, okay?
So we're there, right? You've ordered, but they've
not brought it to you yet, the coffee, right?
Your iced vanilla capa mochaccino, whatever you
drink, Henry. Why do you think they have a private
one? Ooh, church matters for secret? Combine
those. Who was that? Oh, man, it's Henry. Sorry,
Colin stole the coffee from you. And so... When
they thought they could be wrong, when they were
falsely accusing someone, or when the truth of
the matter would make them look bad, they kept
it all in private. They put them in the public,
right? I'll still give you coffee because the
ridicule, Henry, was fine, but you're an elder,
so it doesn't count. So understand that they
put them in the public prison for a reason, the
jealousy of the leaders. The high priests and
the Sadducees are filled with jealousy. They
oppose miracles. They oppose the message behind
the miracles. In short, they oppose who? Don't
whisper. I hear a whisper. It's Jesus, right?
That's the right answer. They're opposing Jesus.
Jealousy is often the fruit of pride. When others
receive attention that we crave, we don't like
that. And what Jesus is doing, he's binding even
the Pharisees, the Sadducees, to the truth of
Christ. And he's going to blow it up in a really
big way. So they're in the public prison. What
they used, as Henry really got to us, they're
doing it to publicly ridicule them. They're doing
that because they think they got them. The gotcha
journalism, the gotcha church authority, they
got them. They're going to publicly do it. You
look at our church order, if there's church discipline,
everything is done confidentially until it shouldn't
be. More on that in another sermon that's going
to be super fun to preach on church discipline.
They think they got it in the bag. And what Jesus
is going to do, what the Spirit's going to do,
he's going to blow it up for them with what I
call the divine jailbreak. So the divine jailbreak,
we're going to be in verse 19. But during the
night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison
doors and brought them out and said, Go and stand
in the temple and speak to the people all the
words of this life. And when they heard this,
they entered the temple at daybreak and began
to teach. Now, when the high priest came and
those who were with him, they called together
the council, all the senate of the people of
Israel, and sent to the prison to... and sent
to the prison to have them brought. So what we
have is we have this jailbreak. The angel of
the Lord comes. He opens the prison doors and
commands, go and stand in the temple and speak
to the people all the words of life. These are
the apostles. What I think is hilarious is how
many of us would be in awe at this moment. You're
a bunch of liars. You are in prison. You are
locked, chained in a prison. An angel comes,
opens the door, and then directs you to go do
something. We all should be wowed. These are
the people that walk with Jesus. I wonder if
they were wowed or not. Or if they're just like,
well, this makes sense. We've seen this movie
before, a little different, but okay, we're going
to go. They don't even question it. This life
is shorthand for the gospel. The life in Christ
that death cannot destroy, that prison cannot
contain. They are literally walking this out.
That's why I call it the divine jailbreak. Now,
if... Normal people are in prison and they do
a jailbreak. What do they do? They probably go
and hide, right? Rarely do you see Andy Dufresne
in the Shawshank Redemption when he goes all
through the muck and the mire and he leaves and
he breaks free from the jail. He doesn't go right
back to the warden's office. Where does he go?
Mexico, right? Goes to Mexico. No, they're going
to go right back to the people that put him in
there. Belgian Confession, Article 27, reminds
us that God continually preserves his church.
Even though it sometimes appears very small,
the imprisoned apostles are proof of that preservation.
Just because man put them in prison, God didn't
go, man, I can't use them anymore. They're out
of the game. I got to go with somebody else.
And let me say a word about this. For us here
that have fallen, that have sinned and thought
word and deed of what we prayed for a couple
minutes ago, right? God doesn't look at that
and go, man, I can't use you anymore. If we repent,
there's the thing. If we just feel bad that we
did it, okay, I sinned, right? Got caught, whatever,
you know, fessed up. Eh, friend, that's not.
That's not repentance, right? If we mourn over
our sin, if we try to die and work towards a
faithful life of obedience, we will continue
to see the Lord at work. He will shape our eyes
to see all of that. But it's going to bring confusion
to people's lives, right? That's what we see
here, the leader's confusion in verse 22. So
now all of a sudden they wake up, they come there,
and the people they just put in jail are now
out, okay? And we're going to see in verse 22.
But when the officers came, they did not find
them in the prison. So they returned and reported,
we found the prison securely locked and the guards
standing at the doors. But when we opened them,
we found no one inside. Now when the captain
of the temple and the chief priest heard these
words, they were greatly perplexed about them,
wondering what this would come to. So the sting,
right, the covering up of all of this, it's now
unraveling. Their plan, their story that they
wanted to write is now unraveling. The guards
return to find the jail locked and empty. Proof
that no human system can contain the purposes
of God. The Sanhedrin is bewildered. God is at
work. And we see the obedience. This could have
been it. They could have fled. They could have
gone somewhere and we would have been done with
the story, but that's not what the angel tells
them to do. Even when we're called to do things
that don't make sense to us in the way we want
to write our story, we have to remember we submit
all of the words of our story to God. Let the
conviction set in there. The stories we want
to write in life are good, are bad, are uglies.
We have to submit that to the one who's writing
the actual story of our life, and that is God.
We see the obedience in verse 25. And someone
came and told them, look, the men whom you put
in prison are standing in the temple and teaching
the people. Then the captain with the officers
went and brought them, but not by force, for
they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
Interesting, the story's starting to change.
Authority and power have shifted. What they thought
they could publicly ridicule, they are now needing
to publicly submit to. They can't just go in
with force and knock them out. And I'm sure some
of them wanted to, because the best way to snuff
out a story is to snuff it out. And I'm sure
they wanted to do it. Instead of fleeing, they
go right back to the preaching in the temple,
the very place they were arrested. But how many
times have you had that awkward moment with a
family member or a friend about religion, right,
politics, things going on in life? How often
have you stood up for your faith in the midst
of ridicule from family members or friends, and
you go, Oop, and we're not going to have dinner
with them anymore. And we go, nope. Or you come
up with every other excuse, right? Like, nope,
can't go. You know, I got to give more blood
or my kid's sick again or whatever. And you come
up with all these excuses. God's going, no, no,
no, your job's not done yet. You got to go back
and preach to the people. The very place they
were arrested, they're going back to teach. True
obedience. True obedience isn't cautious, my
friends. True obedience is courageous. When you've
been freed by God, we don't hide. We don't hide
about it. We testify about it. And that means
more than just putting something on the internet,
hashtag blessed. Sometimes that's done in a ridiculous
way. But when we've been freed by God about something,
we want to give testimony to it. When we've been
struggling and we're now not struggling because
of the strength of the Lord, we want to tell
the story. Hopefully you see where I'm going
with this. The confrontation. Verse 27. There's
going to be conflict. And when they had brought
them, they set them before the council, and the
high priest questioned them, saying, We strictly
charged you not to teach in this name, yet here
you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching,
and you intend to bring this man's blood upon
us. Notice, what's an actual question you and
I would have asked? How did you get out? We had
you locked up. They're not worried about that.
They're going to kind of gloss over that, and
they're going to ask. We told you to stop doing
this, yet you're doing this. And they're feeling
the conviction. You intend to bring this man.
Who's this man? Jesus' blood upon us. There's
a little bind of conviction there, isn't there?
The Sadducees, the Pharisees, they're being bound
to this truth. The high priest accuses them.
We gave you strict orders not to teach in his
name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your
teaching. I wrote in here, what a beautiful accusation.
They filled the city with Jesus. Church, may
the same be said of us today as we leave this
place. May the city be filled with Jesus. And
may we have a part in that. And I love that Peter's
declaration comes in verse 29. But Peter and
the apostles answered, we must obey God rather
than man. The God of our fathers raised Jesus,
whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God
exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins. And we are witnesses to these truths.
So this is the Holy Spirit whom God has given
to us who obey him. who have given to those who
obey him. Peter's response captures the heart
of all of our obedience. We must obey God rather
than men. Now, don't dive into here about government
and submitting to the government. That's a whole
separate conversation. This echoes the reformers.
Luther, Zwigli, John Calvin, the Reformers' conviction
that Scripture alone governs our conscience,
not what the papacy, the Catholic Church, was
doing in that time. We must obey God rather than
man. This echoes Belgian Confession, Article
7. We believe that the Holy Scripture fully contains
the will of God and that all people are bound
to live according to it. Our story is bound,
friends. Part of that is helpful for when we're
out of bounds. We know where the bounds are.
We know what grace and forgiveness are going
to bring us to. Peter then preaches the gospel
again. Jesus was killed, but God exalted him
as a leader and a savior. He uses argios in the
Greek, the word leader, that he is the head.
Who is he talking to? People that thought they
were the head of the church or of the temple.
Talk about the story changing. The Spirit, Peter
says, is given to those who obey him. Obedience
isn't a condition for salvation. It is a fruit
of grace. I get to be obedient. Yet for a lot
of us, it's, I have to be obedient. Friends,
we get to be obedient. We know that there is
something better that we're living for. Because
that is part of our story. So the central parts
of our story, there are five. As I land the plane,
as the landing gears come out, right, as you
bring all of your trash to the center aisle,
the gospel cannot be silenced. When God opens
doors, no one can shut them. If that doesn't
punk you out, I don't know what will. The church
must trust his power more than it fears the world's
opposition. Obedience sometimes means defiance.
And friends, don't dance in this word defiance
because there is a reformed understanding of
this. Peter and the apostles don't rebel for
rebellion's sake. There it is. They obey a higher
authority. When human law contradicts divine
command, we need to stand with God. I understand
that that is a charged sentence right now in
2025. Almost 2026. Because we all are going to
look at this differently. But if you can center
on Christ, you will find we are more alike than
we are different. If you can center it on Christ.
Peter and the apostles don't rebel for rebellion's
sake. They obey a higher authority. Why? Because
third, the church's story is one of rescue and
courage. I remember the first day of seminary,
the provost of our seminary stood up and said,
if any of you feel at all called to go do something
else, go do it. And I always thought that was
weird. Like, wow, that's really like welcoming
for those running to get MDivs and become pastors
and live the life of the ordained. Over the four
years it took me for seminary, I understood why.
That the gospel story, the church's story, is
one of rescue and courage. The same God that
freed the apostles from prison still frees hearts
bound by sin. If you say that you are changed,
yet your heart is bound by sin, you are not.
Well, I'm struggling for the faith. Are you?
Because the struggle is handing it over, bringing
accountability around you. Four. Jealousy destroys,
but joy multiplies. The leaders were jealous.
The apostles rejoiced. Grace cures comparison
and fuels mission. It is by grace Katie has been
called to sit with those going through a dark
time in their lives of infertility or infant
loss or miscarriage. We've seen three different
missionaries this month have the grace to go
and be obedient into different areas of the world
where maybe missionaries aren't allowed, but
educators or doctors are. And for us, that really
should put in perspective whether or not we should
drive nicely in traffic or talk to that person
we can't stand in the cubicle next to us. And
fifth, obedience and witness go hand in hand.
And the plane's going to hit the skids here.
We must obey God rather than man isn't just about
defiance. It's about devotion. For all of us
that plan to come to the table next week, those
that have joined the body of Christ, we'll talk
about that next week. It means you've denied
yourself. You've said no to sin and yes to God.
That is your story. Yet for some of us, people
may see the sin more because that's all you're
still doing. What does that say about your story?
For some of us, that means our story is found
in the fiction section of that bookstore. And
if that hurts, If that offends, I'm sorry, I
don't mean it that way. But for some of you,
you may be faking your story, faking your Christianity.
Because the conclusion that we land to today
together is we should love to tell the story.
The apostles were jailed, threatened, warned.
Yet when God opens doors, they went right back
to telling the story. That's the power of the
gospel. It's not a story that we tell to impress
people, to puff our spiritual chest out, or to
stand more over people. It's a story of transformation.
When grace grips our heart, we cannot help but
speak of the grace giver. Munster Church, may
it be said of us as the apostles, you have filled
the city with his teachings. May our homes, our
schools, our workplaces have the story of Jesus'
life, death, resurrection, his love. And may
we be the ones telling that story. Because when
we love the storyteller, And we will love to
tell his story. Please stand if you are able.
And let's pray this closing prayer together.
Lord Jesus, you are the author of life and the
savior of our souls. Thank you for freeing us
from sin and fear. Give us courage to speak your
name boldly. Wisdom to share your love clearly.
and joy to tell your story faithfully. When opposition
comes, help us to obey you rather than men. Fill
Munster Church with your spirit until our community
is full of your grace and truth. Amen.