SermonStudio

We continue in our text this morning with the events surrounding Peter's healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. Last Sunday we heard of the reaction of the Jews in Jerusalem to the healing, and we listened to Peter's address to the amazed populace. Now we are told of the reaction of the ruling Jewish authorities. They are "annoyed," says the text (v. 2). After all, here are two uneducated, common men named Peter and John (cf. v. 13), talking about the resurrection from the dead of someone called Jesus of Nazareth. Worse, they have healed a man, lame from birth (3:2), in the name of that Jesus, and as a result, thousands of the citizenry are turning to belief in Jesus. Yes, that is annoying, so much so that the leaders take Peter and John into custody overnight, and then bring them in the morning before the religious and ruling Jewish elders to be examined.

Luke, the author of Acts, is probably incorrect in stating that Annas was the high priest. Annas actually presided in A.D. 6--14, while Caiaphas held the office from A.D. 17 to 36, which marks him as the high priest after the crucifixion and resurrection. But that is of little import. The principal fact is that the apostles Peter and John have to answer to a very intimidating gathering of religious and civil big--shots.

Jesus had earlier told his disciples that such a test would come to pass. "And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities," the Lord had said, "do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you are to say" (Luke 12:11--12). So it is that Peter, "filled with the Holy Spirit" (v. 8), answers the intimidating gathering of leaders with "boldness" (cf. v. 13).

Once again, as he told the populace previously (ch. 3), Peter declares that the lame man has been healed by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The very power of that name has made a cripple whole. And who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth? He has to be identified for the rulers. He is the one whom the rulers turned over to be crucified on a Roman cross, but whom God raised from the dead. Moreover, he is the fulfillment of the Psalmist's words in the Old Testament (Psalm 118:22). He is the stone which was rejected by the builders or leaders of the nation, but which now has become the head of the corner, the foundation stone to which everything and everyone else must be aligned.

That is a startling statement on Peter's part - that everything must be measured and squared by Jesus Christ. But Peter makes the assertion even more forceful. "There is salvation in no one else," he declares, "for there is no other name under heaven given among human beings by which we must be saved" (v. 12). Through Jesus Christ alone is given salvation from Almighty God.

What does that mean? What is "salvation" according to Luke? If we refer to other passages in Luke's Gospel, he apparently means the power to heal and the ability to forgive sins (cf. Luke 4:18--19; 7:21--23). Jesus Christ alone has the power to make whole and to set us right once again with God by forgiving our sin against the Lord.

That is not a very popular claim in our pluralistic society, is it? It implies that there is only one pathway to the power and forgiveness of the Father, namely through faith in Jesus Christ. But there are multitudes, and indeed some among you, who believe that there are many paths to God. After all, in our country alone, we have those of many faiths, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, hundreds of sects in Los Angeles alone. And even the most primitive persons in the jungles of New Guinea or Brazil has an inkling of some divine power beyond them. Every people has known some approach to the divine and has set up rites and rituals in some form of religion. Can we say that there is no validity whatsoever to such religious beliefs and forms? To do so seems to be much too exclu--sivistic and offensive.

It is not for nothing that Jesus says in the Gospel according to Luke, "Blessed is the one who takes no offense in me" (Luke 7:23), because yes, the claim for Jesus Christ alone as the way to salvation is offensive. But it all has to do, you see, with who we think God is. If God is nothing more than the numinous powers in nature, or some great Om in Nirvana, nothing more than an ethical guide or a people's ancestor, nothing more than human ideals projected upon eternity or an infinite rationality and pure form, nothing more than an ultimate demand or a subjective experience of some absolute, then yes, many peoples have discovered a way to God. But of course, none of those views defines the heavenly Father that we have known in Jesus Christ, does it? Our scriptures strain through 2,000 years of history to testify to who the true God is, and in always incomplete and inadequate language finally have to exclaim, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father" (John 1:14). We have seen the glory of true God, shining in the face of Jesus Christ.

Of course the other reason why we think there are many pathways to God is because so many of us think that there is no such thing as sin. So many of the gods and goddesses that we invent for ourselves demand nothing of us, at least not in this world. Many religions just want us to abandon this world for the timelessness of Nirvana. And tell me, what does a numinous power of nature ask that you do? It's very easy to worship the nature deities, because they do not have that demand to love your God and your neighbor with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, person to person, with the depths of your personality responding to God's Person. And when we fail that, because we so often do, how are we cleansed of our shortcomings and failures to be what we were meant to be? And how, then, are we delivered from the eternal death that our sin deserves? Only through the forgiveness of the Father made manifest for us in Jesus Christ. I often think that if we want to judge the validity of any other deities, we should ask, "How have they dealt with death?" Can they do away with the eternal darkness of the grave as has our Lord Jesus Christ? Can they preserve the unique personality that you are for a life in the company of a loving God with all his saints?

No, good Christians. In Jesus Christ alone is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. And there is no other name under heaven given by which we may be saved.