“Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.” 21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.” Acts 5.17-21
I find it ironic that a messenger is sent to send other messengers. The angel of the Lord, no name given, showed up at the jail where the apostles had been put after preaching and teaching the gospel. The angel shows up, “opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.” He, the angel, told them to ”Go stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life.” A messenger sending out messengers.
Now the angel could have said, ”Go feed the poor,” or ”Stand up for the rights of the oppressed,” or ”Go abdicate for the role of women or minorities in your towns.” But he does none of these things. He says, ’Go tell the people all about this new life.” What new life? Salvation in Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins, life everlasting.
The message wasn’t what many would say is the key cultural topic of the day — it didn’t deal with immigration, abortion or gay rights. It didn’t deal with gender identity, human sexuality or human trafficking. The message was much deeper than any of these issues which cause churches to separate, people to hate one another, civil and political wars to break forth. The message was Christ crucified and risen.
Now some may still argue what message was being promoted – can it be any other than Christ died for the sins of the world? I mean, this had all just happened. Jesus just rose from the grave, returned for weeks to continue teaching, ascended into heaven, and poured out upon all believers. It was this message the apostolic messengers were told to proclaim. For when we begin with this Message (capitol “M”), all the other “messages” (lower case ”m”) get sorted out.
Have you proclaimed THE message lately? Have you taken time to consider what message matters most? Keeping the main thing the main thing is not just a good idea, it’s crucial to the survival of God’s church and the salvation of the people. And just in case you forgot, the message it’s this — “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. 11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’[a] 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4.11-12).
“O Lord God, we are in treacherous times! We see churches splitting, people fighting, the world in turmoil. We need your grace. We need your power. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to bring forth fire of revival upon our land. We need your Gospel message. Come now, and make your way into our lives. For you are good and your love endures forever.” Amen