"We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). That is the theme of our passage and, indeed, of this whole section of Acts, chapters 3-8. After the resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is sweeping through Jerusalem with power to enable Peter and John and the other followers of Jesus to heal, to convert multitudes, and to speak boldly. The result is that Jerusalem is in an uproar, and the disciples are repeatedly hauled before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious and political council, to account for what is happening.

Apparently the council or Sanhedrin (synhedrion in the Greek) was a rather fluid body, made up of those who happened to be in power as leaders of the community at the moment. In Acts, it consists of the high priest and his family members, various rulers, elders, scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees. They act as a kind of judicial Supreme Court to interpret and guard Jewish life, custom, and law. It was the Sanhedrin that judged Jesus and delivered him over to Pilate (Matthew 26-27), and it is the Sanhedrin that examines and punishes the followers of Jesus for their teaching and activity.

The council has lots to do, according to Acts. First, Peter and John heal a man beside the Beautiful Gate in Jerusalem, a man who has been lame from birth for forty years. And Peter and John have to explain to the council and the onlookers by what power they have done this deed (Acts 3-4). Consequently, the council gives them orders "not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus" (Acts 4:17). The disciples go out and speak anyway, "with great power," giving "their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 4:33). In reaction, crowds of people hold the disciples in high esteem, multitudes are added to the followers of Jesus, and Jerusalem is flooded with sick people, all wanting to be healed, so many in fact that the streets are crowded with the beds and pallets of the lame and diseased (Acts 5:12-16). This time, the Sanhedrin doesn't hesitate. It throws the disciples into prison, only to find that an angel of the Lord opens the prison doors and sets them free, commanding them to go and stand in the temple and to speak to the people all the words of life (vv. 17-20). Once again the apostles are brought before the council, and that brings us to our text for the morning.

The high priest questions the Christians, as he questioned Jesus. The apostles were strictly charged not to teach in Christ's name, the high priest says, and now they have not only brought in the crowds to Jerusalem, but they have accused the council of killing Jesus. Rather than making excuses, Peter and the apostles renew that accusation and proclaim that nevertheless, God has exalted Jesus to the position of power on his right hand as Leader and Savior, giving forgiveness to Israel. This enrages the Sanhedrin, who want to sentence the apostles to death, but fortunately, a faithful Pharisee named Gamaliel intervenes and saves the apostles from being killed. They do not escape punishment entirely, however. They are beaten and then released, only to go on preaching and teaching (vv. 33-42). "We must obey God rather than men," the apostles have said (v. 29), and so nothing can stop their witnessing for the Lord.

The passage affords many pertinent thoughts for us. First of all, it is quite clear that religious bureaucrats may be wrong. The church receives lots of directions from the "higher ups" in its structure these days, and those directions may be wise, or they may be unwise. The question is: How to judge them? Should the directions of church executives be followed, or should they be ignored?

The question becomes even more pressing, however, when we consider how many religious movements there are today in our society. The multitude of sects and religious groups in this country now numbers in the thousands. And most of them have a charismatic leader of some sort who is saying, "Follow me." Some of the groups seem to be very fine. Promise Keepers, Young Life, Youth for Christ, and similar movements have seemed to further the cause of Christ in this country. But there are others that have enslaved their followers. The Moonies, for example, think they have a new messiah in the person of Sun Myung Moon. Jim Jones lured a whole colony to their death, as did the leader of Heaven's Gate. Louis Farrakhan sometimes preached a message of racial and religious hatred.

Many parents have agonized over the entrance of their son or daughter into some cult or sect, and some have gone to extreme measures to try to free their children from the effects of such groups, hiring persons to de-program the young person and to bring him or her back into normal life. Maybe some family members tried equally to de-program their relatives from the early Christian movement. After all, Acts tells us that the Christians in Jerusalem lived together in a commune, sharing all their goods in common or selling them and distributing the proceeds to any who were in need (Acts 2:44-45). There were undoubtedly Jews who thought the Christians' lifestyle was crazy. Equally, as we have seen, the religious authorities tried to prevent the spread of the gospel and to warn others away from Jesus' followers.

So how do we judge between legitimate religious groups and illegitimate? When do we listen to those religious "higher-ups" who warn us and our family members from being led astray by some charismatic leader or other?

There are probably two good criteria for judgment. First, what is the leader of the group claiming for him- or herself? Are they claiming absolute authority? Or in humility and selflessness, are they directing our commitment to God? No human being is to have absolute authority over another in the Christian faith. The kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God alone, and any leader who seeks rule and honor for him- or herself is not serving the Lord.

Second, what God does the message of the group proclaim? The human imagination is very fertile, and persons dream up all sorts of deities these days. But is the God being proclaimed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Is he the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead? The early Christians in Jerusalem had experienced the risen Christ. They had talked and eaten with him, and they knew that only the true God could raise Jesus from the grave and make him Lord. So is that the God whom some group is proclaiming, or are they worshiping another? 

The scriptures give two basic identifications of God. In the Old Testament, God is the one who delivered Israel out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. In the New Testament, the same God is the one who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Only the God who has done those acts is truly Lord. And he commands us, "You shall have no other gods besides me" (Exodus 20:3). If we hold on to that command and those identifying acts, and worship and serve that Lord, we shall not be led astray by false prophets and illegitimate gurus.