Acts 5:1-42

Grace

To grow closer to and more like Jesus using spiritual disciplines and increasing simplicity in lifestyle.

Readings

Reading deeper…

Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary, Chapter 5

Devotion 1

Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, allowing space for God’s voice to be heard.

Read: Acts 5:1-11

What are your impressions when you read this passage?

“It [Acts 5:1-11] sits most uncomfortably with my belief that God is patient and gracious, longsuffering and full of loving kindness. My belief in that is so strong, because of other scriptures, as well as personal experience, that if one has to be ‘sacrificed’ for the other, well: I would let this story go. But it is here, staring us in the face, and demanding some kind of explanation.”1

Ask:

What do you find is helpful in wrestling with ‘unpleasant’ stories in the Bible?

Share: Communion

Pray:

Share in a time of prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

 

1 Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary. Dandenong: UNOH, 2014. 67. Italics in original.

 

Devotion 2

Take time to sit in silence, aware of the presence of God’s Spirit

Read: Acts 5:12-16 as a Lectio Devina

Share: Communion

Pray:

End with the Lord’s prayer

 

Devotion 3

Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of repentance together, aware of our inadequacy and God’s grace.

Read: Acts 5:17-32

Ask:

Where do you hear God’s voice in this passage?

“‘We must obey God rather than human beings’ 5:29.

This one sentence captures the dilemma of civil disobedience. Sometimes we have to obey God, not governments. Sometimes we have to march to a different drumbeat than the authorities on this earth. Sometimes we have to accept the consequences of our decisions and take a stand. Sometimes our governments are wrong.”2

Read: Micah 6:8, then Matt 5:9 & James 3:17-18

Ask:

How do we do justice in this world?

And what does it mean to be a peacemaker in the world while we do that?

Share: Communion

Pray:

Share in a time of prayer

End with the Lord’s prayer

 

2 Reiher, The Book of Acts, 73.

 

Devotion 4

Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of thanksgiving together, aware of God’s loving-kindness

Read: Acts 5:33-42

“But they [the apostles] were not murdered that day. They were saved, in fact, by one of the religious leaders sitting on that very council. A man named Gamaliel… This Jewsaved the early Christian apostles’ lives that day, A Jewish rabbi, a Pharisee… and an elder of the people, saved the early Christians.”3

Going Deeper

Read: Proverbs 31:8-9

Ask: 

How do we speak up for the voiceless?

 

3 Reiher, The Book of Acts, 75-76.


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