Can I begin with asking your permission to go two minutes longer today? Thank you.
So there are Peter and John, standing in front of the Jewish supreme court called the Sanhedrin. They’ve been arrested for preaching to the people that Jesus rose from the dead. The deck is stacked against them, in part, because a big chunk of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees – an aristocratic group of priests who, unlike a lot of Jews, don’t believe in resurrection.
As the story is recorded by Luke in Acts three and four, Peter is speaks in the power of the Holy Spirit, and he says that that the Sanhedrin noticed two things: that they were courageous in how they spoke, and that they were “unschooled.” In other words, they weren’t going toe to toe with the court based on having PhDs. They were fishermen, not academics.
Whatever Peter and John may have been lacking in formal education, they made up for as connectors. In short, what they were preaching was that fifteen hundred years earlier the words of Moses himself pointed to a Messiah who would be the source of blessing for all people. He connected the dots between something his audience would have known and what had just happened, in relative terms, in their lives in Jerusalem.
Here’s the end of the sermon they preached to the people:
Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers and sisters. You must listen to everything he tells you. And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people.
In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring. God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.” Acts 3:17-26, CSB
So here’s what we know from this.
First, the main point is that the expected liberation wasn’t socio-political, it was spiritual. This obviously wasn’t what most Jews were thinking they’d get out of the promised Messiah given that He was supposed to be a king.
Second, the offer of Jesus’ blessing is for all people. That wouldn’t have sat well with some Jews, either, because they thought they were the chosen, special ones. And they were –at a particular time and place.
Third, not everyone’s going to listen. Who gets the blessing? Those who listen. And it’s useful to remember that “hearing,” contextually, didn’t just mean intellectual understanding and assent, it meant trust. Peter uses Moses’ own words saying “like me,” and what did Moses do? Led people out of slavery.
As connectors, this is useful to remember. You might not be preaching the gospel, but you likely do have a heart to help people, connecting them to the people, products, or ideas that will help them. But remember the story of Moses leading people out of Egypt., and many wanted to go back to Egypt. That seems stunningly weird to us. But it still happens. In today’s terms, not everyone does the thing that’s good for them – for example, they don’t implement a clearly superior solution, or they stay in an abusive relationship.
A second thing to remember is that in the same way, some people are going to reject Jesus. They might even fight against you because, whether they realize it or not, they’re fighting against Him. Like Peter and John preached, the blessing is offered to all, but not all will trust and experience the new life being offered.
Finally, remember that the true and only power isn’t your elegance of your speech, it’s the power of letting the Holy Spirit work through you. Sadly, it can be truly heartbreaking for someone you’re trying to connect with to refuse help. There isn’t a one of us who hasn’t heard stories of someone with a total support structure refuse help and continuing to feed their addiction. It’s hard to imagine someone choosing hell over what Jesus offers, but you can’t read the Bible – or look around you in today’s world – without seeing that some people do choose it.
Christmas is kind of like that. We anticipate Christmas during Advent, not only because of the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth, but because we anticipate His return to complete the delivery on His blessing. But the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. It will be as you connect with others, and ultimately it will be as we’re all faced with whether or not we will accept the ultimate Christmas gift.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in communications, an award-winning author and speaker, and a passionately bad guitarist. ForTheHope equips on-the-go professionals with biblical principles to engage marketplace relationships with competent humility. On Twitter can follow him @RogerCourville and/or his podcast @JoinForTheHope, or get all updates by email subscription at www.forthehope.org.