The Full Message

DEVOTION

 THE BOOK OF ACTS

THE FULL MESSAGE

Acts 5:17-21

17 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 the full message of this new life." 21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

NIV

There is no doubt now that these Apostles have been called to preach the full message of this new life. There is also no doubt that the established religious leaders were going to do all they could to stop them from doing just that. The Apostles were not a part of the little club of established leaders. They had not paid their dues, so to speak. They had not attended the established school of Judaism, received their credentials and applied for a position in the temple. They only had the calling of the Lord upon their lives and the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through them, but that is all they needed. To be put in jail would seem to have some sort of negative impact on their calling, but God is greater than any man, or group of men. He sent one of his angels to open the door and confirm their calling to preach the full message, which they certainly did. Our life lesson today is exactly that, to follow through with our calling from God, no matter the consequence. If we are doing what God has called us to do, he will insure we are able to do it. The Apostles could have resisted the call of God on their lives, or at least felt they should go underground, hiding from the established religious leaders, but they did not, they went straight back to the temple courts and preached the full message as they had been told to do. We cannot resist his call either, of course we must know what we have been called to do first, as least that is what the established religious leaders of today tell us. Have you been called to wash the church windows? Have you been called to serve in the choir? Have you been called to be a greeter, or an usher, or Sunday school teacher, or in the sound or lighting booth? The fact is we have all already been called to teach the full message of this new life, and we have been called by God, rather than by a religious leader. The Sadducees were jealous of the Apostles because they had the power of God at work in their lives, and evidently the Sadducees did not. It is evident the Apostles were not interested in pleasing the high priest and all his associates, but rather wanted to please God. We should not be any different. Our life should not be one of trying to please the religious leaders of the church, but rather God. God has called us to a task of speaking to the people about the full message of this new life in Christ. We cannot be silenced by anyone, no matter their position in the church or in the government. If we are obedient to our calling we might find ourselves confined or constrained in some way, but God will set us free. We must tell the full message of this new life.