Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Acts 5:40-42 They called the apostles in and let them go, after they had beaten them up and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus. The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
JOY IN JESUS
The Jewish leaders were so furious that they would have killed the apostles on the spot. But a respected teacher, Gamaliel, stood up. He persuaded them to "leave them alone," because if their message happened to be from God ... "you don’t want to wind up fighting against God, do you?"
So they called the apostles back in, beat them up, ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus -- and then they let them go.
Were their actions unjust? Do you think the apostles had grounds for a lawsuit? They walked on out of there rejoicing -- not rejoicing in the pain, but in the honor of being dishonored for the Name. They rejoiced to be servants sent to the vineyard, but beaten and turned away by the tenant farmers (Luke 20). They left that meeting rejoicing because at last they were privileged to stand by the side of their Lord, Who had stood alone for them to be blindfolded and mocked and beaten in the high priest's house.
And if we should suffer the loss of some worldly prestige because our teachers are not renowned PhDs like Gamaliel, if we should suffer the world's pity, reproach, mockery, or worse, because we proclaim the Name of Him who told us to "come out from among them, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing...," may we still rejoice to bear the Name that means forgiveness, perhaps suffering for a while, and joy triumphant forever. Amen!
