A WORD FITLY SPOKEN
#842 A WORD FITLY SPOKEN
Scripture Acts 3:12-26 NIV Orig. 11/29/79
Rewr. 1/2/87
Passage: 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. 17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’[a] 24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’[b] 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
Purpose: Continuing study from the Book of Acts for Church Training, calling attention to the opportunity of the early church to speak the gospel creatively.
Keywords: Christ Lordship Crucifixion Resurrection
Timeline/Series: Acts
Introduction
Given a title, this study would have to be “A Word Fitly Spoken.” You probably recognize it, however, as taken from the Book of Proverbs (25:11). It is a beautiful statement from one of the most used, and least abused portions of scripture. The lines of holy scripture roll off the tongue as beautifully as a highland brook rolls out of the hills. It captivates us with its meter as well as its message.
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in vessels of silver.”
The ability to speak a needed and necessary word at the appropriate time is a rare and unique gift. It is like a table vessel of great beauty and filigree, containing fruit that is at its highest degree of loveliness as well as taste. One can almost find it unnecessary to bite into such fruit to be able to taste this delectable flavor. In times of great duress or decision, words can be like that. When the right word is spoken, all parties involved feel the constraint of propriety.
It was particularly important to the early church, not only that they had the right word for the times in which they lived, but that they might also deliver it in a timely manner.
“But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear.” 2 Timothy 4:17.
So, a man was healed, miraculously, spontaneously. A crowd gathered, opportunistically. Simon seizes the occasion to share. They are at the Temple, just inside the gate called “Beautiful,” upon a colonnade known as Solomon’s Porch. Simon spoke to the people about Jesus. Remember, Jesus had spoken from this very place, perhaps to some of these very people. He responded to their questions about His being the Messiah.
“The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe…”John 10:23.
Another stone is about to be added to the wall of disbelief that the Jews are building around themselves. They rejected Jesus, Himself. They are about to reject this opportunistic message about Jesus. The persecution and dispersion of the believers grows daily more intense. Now is the time for “a word fitly spoken,” for before many weeks have passed, opportunity will have come and gone. For now, let’s look at Simon’s message and examine it.
I. First of All, Let Him Define What has Happened. V12f “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look you so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . . . glorified His servant Jesus, whom you delivered up . . . the faith through Him . . . has given this perfect soundness.”
The men of Israel are made to face the stark reality of the crucifixion. They were the ones responsible for Jesus’ death. We must be careful not to hate the Jew for this (anti-Semitism). But it is historically inaccurate not to say so. The Jews are the ones who forced Pilate to withdraw his release order.
Read Luke 23:4: “I find no fault in this man.” Hearing that he was from Galilee, Pilate sent Him to Herod, v7. Herod sent Him back, v11. “Pilate, . . . wishing to release Jesus, . . . called out to them. But they shouted, saying ‘Crucify Him.’” V 20-21. “Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested.” V24.
They were the ones who disowned their own religion and demanded that a criminal be set free. Peter’s message does not remind them of the remote past. It shares what is intensely recent and similar to the Pentecost message. Acts 2:23 “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.”
The early church would not lose sight that crucifixion was history’s most heinous crime. Pilate and Herod both tried to avoid it, they had seen the injustice. People like us, you and me, overcome by emotions--anger, resentment, and misplaced zeal--voted for a criminal and crucified love.
How often in history it has happened: Hitler. Khomeini. Qaddafi. Returning some disbarred to the legislature.
The men of Israel are given cause to face up to the resurrection. Without the resurrection there would have been no church. All they had to do was show evidence of the body of Jesus. Read “The Passover Plot” and “Saved by His Life.” There is proof that Jesus is alive. There is incontrovertible evidence that His life empowers today in healing and reconciliation.
Central to this proclaimed word was the power of the risen Christ. Special power accompanied specific circumstance. It is reasonable to expect such power. If it is not present, our circumstances do not merit it, or faith is inept. The spokesperson must not ever let himself get between the Healer and the candidate. As to healing, the channel could be only a channel, and could demand no advantages. As to spoken word, the spokesperson was forthteller or foreteller, maybe.
William Barclay (A50p31) reveals the secret of the Christian life. “The Christian knows that so long as he thinks of what I can do and what I can be, there can be nothing but failure and frustration and fear; but when he thinks of ‘not I, but Christ in me,’ there can be nothing but peace and power.”
II. Peter Next Demands that They Consider the Meaning of this Miracle. V17f “Now brothers, what you did was done in ignorance, . . . [what] God foretold . . . He has thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and be converted.”
Note the care with which he speaks in love. Oh it is a warning. But its urgency is that of love and mercy and forgiveness. What they did was done in ignorance, but ignorance is no longer justifiable. They have witnessed more proof of integrity of the gospel. John 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”
With the same measured care, he implores them to repent. Metanoe’o means “to perceive afterward,” to change one’s mind. In the New Testament change is always for the better. It is a changing of the mind resulting in a whole change of life. Luke (9 times), Acts (5 times), Revelation (12 times)—eight of these are in messages to the churches, as in 2 Corinthians 12:21.
It is a changing of the mind resulting in a whole change of life. If they do not, they are in danger of losing the ability to repent.
John Greenleaf Whittier wrote:
“Forever round the mercy seat
The guiding lights of love shall burn;
But what if, habit-bound, thy feet
Shall lack the will to turn?
What if thine eyes refuse to see,
Thine ear of heaven’s free welcome fail?
And thou a willing captive be,
Thyself thy own dark jail?”
This redeemed understanding is that repentance eventuates in Positive Consequence. Sins of the past will be blotted out. V19 “that your sins may be blotted out.” Paul uses the same word in Colossians 2:14, exaleipho—“having wiped out the handwriting of requirements against us.” Ink used on papyrus had no acid, and didn’t “bite” the paper. It was simply wiped away.
Additionally, the presence of the “living” Lord will uniquely sustain them in life. This message is the sounding of alarm and hope. John 9:41 “Jesus said, ‘If you were blind you would have no sin; but now you say “we see;” your sin remains.’” John 15:22 “. . . they have no excuse for their sin.”
There comes on the scene an obligation to repentance which, remember, means more than to “change one’s mind.” It means, also, to follow the path of a different drummer. William Barclay (A50p33) wrote “he lays down the inescapable truth that . . . very special privilege brings . . . very special duty; . . . to do what they like, but . . . what God likes.”
Repentance, then, effects new circumstances. Past actions are put under a different set of controls. Future events take on a redeemed flavor. Repentance is the last thing people want to do, the first thing they are directed to do. The thing least in evidence, even in the lives of concerned believers, is the most necessary thing.
Peter now brings up the subject of the coming again of Jesus. He has spoken in love. He called upon them to face up to the crucifixion and resurrection. He implores them to repent. He does not conclude without reminding them that this Jesus is coming again. There is no gospel that does not proclaim these necessary things. Most of the world knows of no such destiny. They think not at all of a Saviour come among them, to live and die, and to live again in victory over death, and to appeal to them to repent of sin, and live in Him.
The Hebrew believers waited and expected all Israel to be saved. They ministered to that end. V20 “And that he might send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus.” Could the kingdom have come then with their repentance? Are we in a great holding pattern awaiting the redemption of Israel? They already rejected Jesus. They will reject Peter here today. Acts 4 will see the beginning of persecution, and the further hardening of Hebrew hearts.
Peter then concludes with three valid points. (1) He insists that everything that has happened was foretold by the prophets, referencing Deuteronomy 18:15-22. “How can we be sure of the prophet?” V22 “When what is foretold comes to pass.” (2) He reminds them of their heritage. They are children of the prophets. They are children of the covenant. They are children of promise. V26 “And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” That promise appears over and over in the Book of Genesis: 12:3, 18:18, 22:18, 26:4, 28:14. What has brought joy to so many is yet despised by Israel. (3) Finally, he lays down the parting declaration that special privilege brings special responsibility. Acts 18:26 “Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
Conclusion
And as they speak (Acts 4), One is speaking and He is speaking for all, and all are speaking in Him. Think what such a concept would do for us today.