Who’s in Charge Here? – June 13, 2021

Proverbs 3:1-12, Acts 4:1-22
June 13, 2021

I understand that some years ago, a couple of the younger Sunday School kids had a debate over who’s in charge at this church.  Some said, “Pastor Skip” and others said, “Mr. Dave.”  I think at least one of them had it figured out that it was Mr. Dave!

Well, whoever it is, we humans need that, don’t we?  We need leadership.  At least we Presbyterians do!  That gives us a sense of stability.  Churches need a structure.  They need people making decisions.  And we Presbyterians are proud of our system.  We are a denomination ruled by elders.  And as Paul said to the Corinthians, we do things “Decently and in order!”

We as individuals need those things, too.  We need structure.  We need a sense of “who’s in charge.”  And we’d prefer it to be us, right?  It’s not easy to trust God to be “in charge” of our lives.  We like to say he is, but it’s not easy to live that!  Just like a church, there are many details to handle, and many decisions to be made.  It’s not possible to sit back, do nothing, and say, “Ok God, you handle this.”  “This is on you.”  “Oh, and did you pay the electric bill, O Lord?”

Of course not.  And I am being silly.  But the point I’m making, with this hyperbole – hyperbole, meaning exaggeration to make a point – the point I’m making is that it may not be possible to let God do everything for us, but it is possible to seek his guidance and direction in making those decisions.  And that is what the Christian life is all about.  And sometimes we have to remember that!  Because sometimes we forget that!  And sometimes we leave God out of the equation.

The proverb we read this morning says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  (Proverbs 3:5-6)  Maybe that passage is familiar to you.  “Acknowledge God in all your ways.”  That’s what we’re talking about.  Maybe you remember the old hymn we just sang. “Trust and Obey, there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.”

So, the disciples were caught up in this.  As Acts 4 opens, the priests and the captains of the Temple had found Peter and John teaching the people, right in the Temple itself.  And they had them arrested, and the next day they brought them before the council.  That’s the scene.  And there, before the council, Peter stated his case.  And it was a bold message!

He started out saying, “Make no mistake.  This lame man was healed by the power of Jesus Christ.”  And remember, “Christ” was not Jesus’ last name.  It is his title.  So, he was saying – and maybe for the first time to them, I’m not sure – that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.  That couldn’t have landed well on those priests.  And he said, “Jesus Christ, whom you crucified!”  He made that accusation, too!  And to top it off, he quoted Psalm 118, “This is the stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the head of the corner.”  And notice, he adapted it slightly to include them!  “This is the stone you builders rejected…”

As I said, this couldn’t have landed well on the council.  And they knew they needed to silence this.  So Peter and John were called on to decide who to listen to.  Should they obey these men?  Or should they follow how the Spirit of God was leading them?  They had to be asking the question, “Who do we trust?”  “Who do we look to to lead us?”  “Who’s in charge here?”

In that moment, they may even have had in mind Proverbs 3.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  In all your ways acknowledge him.”  I think it’s very likely they knew that passage!  And I’m sure the religious leaders knew it, too!  But they were so entrenched in “being in charge” that they couldn’t see any other way of dealing with this “Jesus’ thing.”

Later, one of the council named Gamaliel would counsel them to leave these men alone.  Do you remember his words?  “If what they are doing is of their own making, it will fail.  But if what they are doing is of God, you will not be able to stop them.  And you might even find yourselves fighting against God.”  I’ll never forget reading those words for the first time. I was stunned by that amazing wisdom!

We can make that mistake, can’t we?  In fact, I think we’re all guilty of that from time to time.  I know I am.  I like to know I am the one in charge, the one making my own decisions.  I also know that the more I do that, the more I forget to trust God, the greater the stress in my life.  And I’d be willing to bet it’s the same with you!

Even if you don’t realize that’s the case, you have to acknowledge that, as many medical people say, stress is one of the worst epidemics of our age.  And it is the source of many of our physical problems.  I have a plaque, I think I’ve told you about before, that says, “Pray more, stress less.”

We can only imagine the stress, the tension, the anxiety level in that council chamber!  And these leaders were in a quandary!  “What shall we do with these men?” they said.  “They’ve performed a miracle, that everybody knows about, and we cannot deny it!”  “But!  We’ve got to stop it!”  The irony is dripping from that statement.  If this was such an undeniable miracle, it must be God-involved!  But!  “We’ve got to stop it!”  We can’t imagine that.  But that’s how they felt.

So they did what they had the power to do.  They brought them back in and gave them a charge, a legal injunction, to “cease and desist.”  They had that power.  They were the legal system.  They were “the Law” of Israel.

That’s when Peter and John answered them with these famous words.  “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.  But we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”  “You must judge whether we should obey you or God!”  That’s also stunning wisdom!  They put the question back in the leaders’ hands.  “You tell us!”

When we’re deciding what to do in our lives, if it involves trusting God or trusting ourselves, it’s always an easy judgment, but it’s not always an easy decision to put into action.  We know we should trust God.  We may even be quick to say it.  But that’s not easy to do it, as I said at the beginning.  That’s why we need to be constantly reminding ourselves!

Maybe we need to have Proverbs 3 on our refrigerators, where we can see it and read it every day!  The disciples trusted in the Lord.  Even though things would have been much easier for them if they just went along with the powers that be, still they knew God was in charge and following him was the best thing to do.

And so it is with us.  We too can remember the words of the Proverb.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to keep you in the equation.  help us to put our trust in you.  Help us to seek your guidance and your direction in all that we do.  Help us to live in your joy and your peace and your strength.  For this we pray in the name of our Savior, Amen.