The Lutheran Hour
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"Bullies"
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Text: Acts 5:27-34
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And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The risen Redeemer has defeated the ultimate bullies of humankind: sin, the devil, and death. By His power and in His presence He will help us with our lesser, more personal bullies too. May God grant faith in such a Savior to us all. Amen.
It was a Superman comic book which first told me how to deal with bullies. Interestingly enough, that lesson wasn’t taught by the Man of Steel. My education was provided by the ads in the center of the comic book. You know, the place where it promised the 3-D glasses which let you look through walls; where you could buy hot-pepper bubble gum to give to your friends; where Charles Atlas taught a whole generation of 98-lb weaklings how they could deal with the bullies who liked to kick sand in their faces. Maybe you remember the ad which began with a fellow by the seashore with his girlfriend. They were minding their own business when this big, burly, bully kicked sand on them. When the weakling objected, the bully threatened and teased the man forcing him to back down. The guy’s girl added insult to injury by saying, ‘don’t let it bother you, little boy.’
Well, that was the last straw. The 98-lb weakling invested a stamp and sent away for Charles Atlas’ free booklet. The next panel of the cartoon showed the ex-98-lb-weakling standing before a mirror and admiring himself. He thanked Charles Atlas for the speed of his amazing transformation. No longer a wimp, he is big, he is ripped; he is muscle-bound and he is ready for action. The next panel showed the ex-weakling on the beach where he slugs the bully and knocked him down. At the time I didn’t realize, it never occurred to me that all Charles Atlas had done was replace one bully with another. No, as a ten-year-old, all I saw was the last panel where the transformed weakling received the admiration of his girl who cooed, “Oh, Mac, you are a real man after all.”
Bullies. The news is filled with stories about bullies. Sometimes bullies become the theme of a reality talk show where the host of the show brings on someone who tells a heart-rending story about how she was bullied by class mates, who spread rumors about her or called her ugly, or stupid, or a loser, or all of the above. In detail she shares those poignant moments when she was heartbroken and felt insignificant and worthless. Next she tells how those nasty name-callers provided the incentive she needed to transform herself through study, or diet, or plastic surgery. The highlight of the show comes when this changed individual is allowed to confront her bullies and show them just how wrong they were. That confrontation ought to be a great moment, but, all too often those ex-bullies don’t seem to be able to recall the individual or anything they might have done which might have been considered to be cruel.
Bullies. Understand, I am not just speaking about your grade school years or those recess times on the playground. Bullies do not automatically sprout a halo and grow wings when they graduate from high school. A vicious tongue does not routinely start flowing with milk and honey just because its owner has reached the age of puberty. On the contrary, passing years can often make a bully more vicious, more cruel, more brutal and sadistic.
How many of you have a boss whose prime purpose at the office seems to be making your life as miserable as possible? Is there a nasty job which nobody wants to do, you can be sure that it is going to be assigned to you. If there is credit to be given for a project which has been successfully completed, your name is going to be omitted from the list of those to be praised. If there is a promotion which is going to be filled from a list of in-house candidates, your name will be the first to be rejected as being unsuitable.
But a bad boss is hardly the worst bully you can meet. How about when the person bullying you is the one individual in life who is supposed to be your greatest source of strength, security, and support? There are many, both men and women, whose spouses bully them physically and psychologically. On the day they were married they looked at each other with eyes filled with trust and hope. Their hearts said, “This is the one person who will never let me down; the one individual in whom I can entrust all of my tomorrows.” That’s the way the marriage began, but that is not the way it continued. Maybe the change came slowly; possibly it happened in the blink of an eye. The timetable is of little importance. All you know is that you stopped talking and began arguing. When compliments were given, they were for another person. Trust was pushed aside by fear, doubt, and insecurity. Rather than being built up you find yourself being torn down by a mistreating, maltreating, abusive bully.
Quite frankly, I would be less than honest if I didn’t confess that the Christian Church has its own set of bullies. You may have met and been hurt by the kind of Christian who says “you cannot be a believer in the Christ unless you become my spiritual clone.” They insist on enforcing a list of rules and regulations of “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots” which were neither stated nor supported by the Triune God. Like the Pharisee in Jesus’ day they make faith a matter of outward observances and external rituals. Their bullying is based on a powerful proclamation of God’s laws, but it is weak in the sharing of the Savior’s blood-bought salvation.
If you have judged the Savior by the actions of such bullies, I encourage you to reconsider and take a second look at the Christ. He entered this world to seek and save the lost. Motivated by the Father’s love for fallen humankind, His life, from cradle to grave and beyond, was dedicated to winning your forgiveness and salvation. To that end and for that purpose, Jesus resisted the temptations of the devil and the enticements of the world. So that you might live in peace and in paradise He allowed Himself to be arrested; He endured liars who tried to ruin His reputation and He permitted all manner of evil to be done to Him… so that He might give up His life on a cross.
Read through the Gospels and you will find that His words were filled with invitation and encouragement; His actions were centered on healing and providing hope. Take a look and you will see His third-day resurrection from the dead has conquered the bullies of sin, death, and devil; the unholy three who had successfully tortured humanity for so long. Listen to Him, believe Him when He says He has come so we might have life and have it abundantly. Listen to Him and trust Him when He invites you to cast your cares and troubles on Him because He cares for you. Listen to Him and follow the One Who is the Good Shepherd Who gave up His life for His followers. Listen to Jesus Who is the One Person Who has seen you for who you really are and, in spite of any shortcomings you have, continues to love you, completely, totally, eternally.
Now a reasonable person might reasonably think that such a loving Lord would be honored, revered, and respected. Can I tell you that such a reasonable person would be wrong? The world, having seen Jesus’ gentleness and love, looks at Him and sneers. To the world, Jesus is weak, a Person to be bullied and those who believe in Him are targets worthy of disdain, disrespect, and derision. Don’t be surprised. It has always been that way. When He was physically with us, Jesus was called a devil, a sinner, a blasphemer, and a Samaritan. After the Holy Spirit empowered the church on Pentecost Sunday, Jesus’ followers were persecuted by the bullies of church and state.
Look in the fifth chapter of the book of Acts and you will see Jesus’ disciples preaching with such boldness and fervor that the church grew dramatically. Now anytime the Lord does something magnificent and moves souls from hell to heaven from damnation to salvation, the world and Satan go nuts. They will do anything, everything to try and shut down the good news of salvation. This they do because they are threatened; because they are afraid of losing their hold over people; because their sins and weaknesses have been exposed. With such motivations, in Acts 5, the Jewish Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, had the Apostles arrested.
Back then, like now, the powers-that-be wanted to put an end to the Resurrection message by silencing the Lord’s spokesmen. Well, the Lord wasn’t ready to have that happen and He sent an angel to free the apostles. As they were released from prison, God’s representative told them to go back and continue their preaching. This they did and when the court sent for the accused, they found their jail cells empty. At the same time they were told the Apostles were free, on the streets, and preaching salvation through faith in Jesus.
Once again the court had the apostles arrested. Once again they were brought before the tribunal. Once again God’s men were bullied. The court said, (Acts 5:28) “We strictly charged you not to teach in His name, and here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” In other words, “Guys, we told you to shut up and you haven’t. You keep preaching, people keep listening and they are concluding that we are responsible for Jesus’ death;” which, of course was pretty much true. I say pretty much because, although the High Priests and the Sanhedrin had been the agents who choreographed Jesus’ death, it was the sins of all humanity which put Jesus on that cross.
That being said, the bullies were pressuring the Christians to be quiet. In the face of that pressure, Peter and the other apostles responded with a simple, “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree… to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things.” In short, the apostles pushed back. Respectfully, honestly, powerfully, the Apostles refused to be intimidated and they pushed back. Later on, when he was on trial for his proclamation of the Christ, St. Paul would push back against the bullies and demand he be tried by Caesar.
There is a lesson here for you Christians who are being bullied. There are three ways of dealing with a bully’s attacks. You can either retreat, or you can respond, or you can endure. All three of these, retreat, respond, endure; are, at the right time, quite legitimate responses. When Jesus was dying for us, He endured. He endured the lies, the beatings, the false trials, the whip, the taunts, and the cross. At any point in time He could have put an end to the pain He was enduring; He had the power to vaporize all those who had bullied Him. He could have, but He didn’t. Instead He chose to endure and allowed Himself to be taken to the cross just as a sheep is silent as it is brought to the slaughterer.
Over the centuries there have been many of God’s people who have endured being bullied for the sake of the Gospel. This year, a Chinese pastor and his wife were ordered to leave their church so it could be bulldozed and a business be built on the property. The couple endured and refused to move. The head of the construction crew ordered the dozers forward and the couple was buried alive. The pastor managed to dig his way out from under the dirt covering him, but his wife died.
Scripture tells of other times when retreat was the preferred method to respond to bullies. There were times when Jesus was being confronted by a lynch mob dedicated to His murder. Since it had not been prophesied Jesus would die in such a way, He did not argue with them; He did not force them to believe on Him; He did not rain fire and brimstone down upon them. No, He simply walked through the crowd and went to a different location; He bypassed His bullies and went to a different spot where He and the message of repentance and salvation could be preached to a less antagonistic group of listeners.
Since Christianity, unlike some of the world’s religions, is a religion of peace, it is generally expected that retreating is what we will do when we are being bullied. Scripture, along with church history, will show that this approach has often been adopted by God’s people. When persecution of God’s people began in Jerusalem, they went elsewhere. Before the destruction of Jerusalem a Christian prophet warned what was coming and the believers moved out. Today when a government shuts its borders to the story of the Savior, most, but not all, of God’s witnesses will go elsewhere. As Jesus instructed, they will shake the dust of that bullying location off their feet and they will proceed to where hungry souls will eagerly receive God’s salvation.
But there are times when Christians must push back, when, like the apostles, we are obliged to push back. When an individual or a government tries to bully us and keep us from the Savior, it is time to take a stand. It is what Luther did at Worms when he said, “”Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” It is what Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer did when he became part of a resistance group to Adolf Hitler.
Now, I know the Scriptures tell us to submit to those who have authority over us. That is because, in showing them respect, we show the Lord respect. But, when those authorities overstep their bounds and bully us, ordering us not to preach the Gospel or do what God has called us to do, we must be willing to respectfully, not violently, but respectfully push back. When the Egyptian Pharaoh ordered the Jewish midwives to kill the male babies, they pushed back and refused. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were ordered to worship the king’s image, they pushed back and did what was right.
Today we have talked about bullies. We have talked about how to respond to their attacks. But before we end, I would like to share one other story; the story of Nadin Khoury, a boy who, at the age of 13, weighed about 100 pounds. Nadin’s mom had escaped war-ravaged Liberia and moved the family to Philadelphia where she was looking for work.
Nadin, the new kid in town, was singled out by bullies for harassment. Each episode escalated. Then the day came when he was dragged through the snow, stuffed into a tree, and hung up on a wrought-iron fence. I know exactly what happened because one of the bullies videoed their cruelty and posted it on Facebook. Nadin’s story evoked a response and he was invited on TV where he tearfully told his story as the bullying video played behind him. When the video ended, the show’s curtain opened and three of the Philadelphia Eagles football team’s members stepped out and sat by Nadin. They gave him a signed football jersey and then, one of the players, on TV, gave Nadin his personal cell number. As he did, he said, “Anytime you need us, I got two linemen right here.”
Nadin had protection from the bullies. And so does every Christian. No, not pro footballers; we have a Savior Who promised to be with us always… a Savior Who will rescue us from our bullies, or help us through their bullying. It is the kind of Savior you should have. If you don’t, please call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
Action in Ministry for July 31, 2016
Guest: Rev. Mark FrithANNOUNCER: You’re listening to The Lutheran Hour. This is Action in Ministry. Pastor Gregory Seltz joins us now.
SELTZ: Good to be here.
ANNOUNCER: Nurturing and protecting our children, that’s really at the heart of what we do as parents, but bullying, that goes against the grain, doesn’t it?
SELTZ: Yeah, it sure does, Mark. You know, if we could always protect our children from bullies, we would. But sometimes, and here’s a difficult thing, sometimes they’re the bully. Sometimes they rebel against what they were taught and they choose a path that is destructive. All of this is really tough stuff.
ANNOUNCER: Our colleague, the Rev. Mark Frith, has counseled many families over the years, and he’s heard this heartbreaking story about children who are living in rebellion. But, he’s found a particular resource that has given these parents hope.
SELTZ: Pastor Frith, thanks for joining us.
FRITH: Thanks for having me.
SELTZ: One particular resource that you found to be especially helpful is this booklet we’re talking about Parents of Prodigals. How has this played a part in your life and in your ministry?
FRITH: We have witnessed many parents struggling with their kids who don’t want to follow kind of this prescribed pathway of Christian growth, if you will, so it goes from parents of teenagers trying to motivate and encourage their children to grow up in the faith, all the way to the parents who have grown children who have fallen away and don’t participate in the life of the church in worship and growth. We all have friends; we have family members who are like that with those facing those kinds of challenges.
ANNOUNCER: What is a prodigal?
FRITH: That’s a good question, Mark. Who uses that word in their daily life? Prodigal. I don’t know that I’ve actually heard that any place outside of this Bible story that Jesus uses for teaching; that’s called The Story of the Prodigal Son. The term prodigal means specifically…the dictionary definition is “someone who spends money in a reckless manner.”
ANNOUNCER: Okay.
FRITH: So we find this story in Luke, chapter 15. Jesus relates a father who has lost his younger son to a life of wild living, exhausts his inheritance. He returns to go back finally to his dad, a broken man. But he finds his father who has been waiting for him all along; awaiting his return and that’s what happens. So, that’s a great story in this sense for parents to really understand the fact that there is hope so don’t abandon that. You have a heavenly Father Who never gives up on you and never gives up on your children.
SELTZ: That’s exactly right. There is a little prodigal; actually there is a lot of prodigal in all of our hearts. But this is more about…we’re talking about an acute situation where it actually really is happening publically with people that you love. So while these kids are off, kind of like what you’ve been talking about, spending their inheritance; what’s going on with the parents?
FRITH: Parents have come to any number of emotions and actions when it comes to this; anywhere from anxiety, to regret, to shame, to hurt, to worry and fear, and sometimes actually anger.
ANNOUNCER: Tell us how you’ve used this booklet and what effect it’s had.
FRITH: Well, this booklet by Lutheran Hour Ministries here is a relatively new resource; just within the last year. I’ve appreciated using this just simply to give to a parent that I might run into, whether it’s at my home church or whether I’m out in the field, somebody that you happen upon; because it’s a brief little tool; it’s not exhaustive by any means, but it’s something. When a parent is anxiety ridden, and they’re hurt, and they’re simply caught not knowing what to do, it gives them something. It helps them to understand that you’re not alone; don’t forget to continue to pray; don’t abandon your hope because your heavenly Father has not. That’s why I find this booklet to be so helpful, because it’s a long road.
ANNOUNCER: And to sum it up, God can do what we as parents cannot do.
SELTZ: That’s what we have been talking about too. God is holding that son or daughter in His hands and He yearns for them to come home even more, if you can imagine, even more than we do. For now we do trust that He Who began a good work in them will bring it to completion through Jesus Christ. Pastor Mark Frith, thank you for joining us here today with a powerful message of hope for these folks and parents.
FRITH: Thank you. It’s an honor to be here.
SELTZ: That’s our Action in Ministry segment today to bless, to empower, and to strengthen your life in Christ for others.
ANNOUNCER: Once again, the title of this resource is Parents of Prodigals. For your free copy, go to lutheranhour.org and click on Action in Ministry. That’s lutheranhour.org. Or call 1-855-john316. That’s 1-855-564-6316. Our email address is info@lhm.org.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for July 31, 2016
Topic: Lying DisciplesANNOUNCER: What if the disciples had lied about the resurrection? That’s our question today for our Speaker Emeritus, Pastor Ken Klaus. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hello to you, Mark, and to our listeners.
ANNOUNCER: Last week, we discussed whether there was anything that would make you stop believing in Jesus.
KLAUS: And I said, “Yeah, there is–if they found His dead body.”
ANNOUNCER: And your closing comment was, “That’s never going to happen.” People won’t ever find Jesus’ dead, un-resurrected Body.
KLAUS: And I’m glad of it.
ANNOUNCER: But, following up on that, let’s explore a couple of different alternate scenarios. For example, let’s suppose the disciples got together and conspired to report, not what they actually saw, but what they wanted to see.
KLAUS: And why would they do that?
ANNOUNCER: It’s been suggested that they were seeking power by establishing a religious cult in which they would be the head honchos.
KLAUS: If that’s the case, then these guys figured wrong big time. Instead of power and glory, most of them suffered violent, gruesome deaths on account of preaching Christ crucified and risen.
ANNOUNCER: Or-what if somebody had just fooled the disciples into thinking Jesus had risen? How do you know these emotionally distraught followers were really telling the truth?
KLAUS: That’s a lot in the cooking pot. Let me see if we can boil it down. I think I’m being asked, “How can I be sure the disciples got it right? How can I be sure the disciples were telling the truth?”
ANNOUNCER: And how do we know they were not intentionally seeking to deceive us?
KLAUS: I can think of all kinds of reasons why that would not be the case. First: the more people you involve in a conspiracy, the harder it is to maintain the lie. St. Paul said the risen Jesus was seen by more than 500 people at the same time. How do you get that many people to stick with a made-up story? Second, why would the disciples have shown themselves in such a poor light? According to the Gospels, these guys were always arguing with each other.
ANNOUNCER: And the record also shows they never understood Jesus’ mission… and they were totally unprepared for His resurrection.
KLAUS: Yeah. For me, the ultimate argument against the disciples being spiritual conmen is that they stuck to their story, even as they suffered martyrdom on account of it. And even though they died far removed from each other in both time and geography, none of them ever said, “Hold on… you mean I can save my life if I tell the truth? Well, OK, Jesus never rose from the dead–we made it all up.”
ANNOUNCER: There is no indication that any of them ever denied the message they had been preaching; but what if they were unintentionally spreading a false story. Is that possible?
KLAUS: I think that is far easier to disprove than the first. For me, there is no question that the disciples were not unintentionally lying about Jesus and His resurrection. And lest anyone miss the point, this also provides an answer to those folks who have been subscribing to the idea that the church has, for centuries, been lying about what happened that first Holy Week in Jerusalem.
ANNOUNCER: How do we know the disciples were not led astray or fooled?
KLAUS: First we begin by playing detective and we ask, “Who would have a good motive to con the disciples and create a new religion?”
ANNOUNCER: Certainly not Pontius Pilate. He was afraid of an insurrection and a living Jesus would have been the rallying point for that.
KLAUS: How about the Sanhedrin and the High Priests?
ANNOUNCER: They had a lot to lose if Jesus kept His promise about rising on the third day.
KLAUS: And if they were going to con the disciples, why would they have had the tomb sealed and a guard placed there? The truth is, from the get-go, the Jewish leaders were against the preaching of a risen Christ. Why? They didn’t believe in Jesus and they didn’t want to lose their influence among the people.
ANNOUNCER: Anything else?
KLAUS: Absolutely. If the disciples were wrong in what they were preaching, and someone wanted to stop them and undermine their influence among the people, all they had to do was roll out Jesus’ dead body.
ANNOUNCER: Certainly the appearance of Jesus’ corpse would have straightened everything out.
KLAUS: It would have–but it would have meant that we were still dead in our sins! Again, nobody came up with a corpse because there was no corpse! Jesus was alive, even as today He is alive. And that means new life and forgiveness for all of us who trust in Him!
ANNOUNCER: So once again, we finish right where we started. Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.“Gracious God, You Send Great Blessings” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House)
“Almighty God, Your Word Is Cast” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House)