What a Friend We Have in Jesus | Earth, Wind, & Fire - Sermon Cut

What a friend we have in Jesus. The top five

of Pastor Jim's favorite hymns, that comes at

us at number four. Okay, what a friend we have

in Jesus. Spoiler alert, we will have sung all

five of my favorites in this sermon series. Why?

Because I wrote it. And so understanding that

we have a friend in Jesus, especially played

on that beautiful organ. Thank you, Joe. That

is, to me, just a little slice of heaven. The

words of that song, it's just so relatable. And

I don't know where you are when it comes to friendships

in your life. As I get older, I see how friendships

have changed over the years, how friends are

this new concept when you're in elementary school,

and friends are kind of a big deal. And that

truth really continues throughout life. That

if you think about it, friends, people that God

puts in your life, we're not talking about spouses,

though that should be your friend. If not, see

me in two weeks. I'm out of the office this week.

We probably should have a conversation if your

spouse isn't your friend. But our friendships

throughout our life change. I remember I had

two, if I had best friends, I've always struggled

with that term best friend. I don't know why.

It's probably something I'll work out in therapy.

But I had Andy Hulkin and John Foley, Jonathan

Foley. We lived about half a block from each

other all the time. We just, every day after

school, we would play in the cul -de -sac. We'd

play baseball. That was kind of our game. And

I thought about writing this. this sermon this

week, I haven't talked to those guys in probably

20 years. Yet I still remember that they were

my best friends. Right? John Foley was one that

really taught me a lot about baseball because

his dad was a big baseball guy. And going over,

we would always watch baseball together, and

that was really where my passion for baseball

came. And my friend Andy is really where my hatred

of cats came from because he had a cat named

Tiger that I swear was sent from Lucifer to end

my life. And so I will forever be scarred emotionally

and physically of that. But Andy, again, we had

a love of music together. Him and I were in a

band together growing up. And so just you think

about those friends. I want you to take a moment

about those friends you had in, let's just say,

middle school. Some people call it junior high,

but some people don't like that, Nikki. But middle

school, junior high, the friends you had there.

Think about it for about 10 seconds. How many

of you are still friends with those individuals?

That's amazing, right? That is phenomenal. Now,

how many of you haven't moved around a lot of

those that rose their hand? Because that's a

lot easier when you stay around. When you go

away to school, when you move, you do tend to

lose those relationships. But as we see in what

we're going to see in chapter 4 of the book of

Acts, Having a friend in Jesus gives us something.

And it's not something that we take in a consumeristic

kind of way, but it meets us where we are when

it comes to conflict, when we have pressure situations,

and suffering. Because what we're going to see

is the disciples, the apostles of Jesus, because

they had a friendship with Jesus, they saw him

do the teaching, they lived life with him for

three and a half years or so, they had... an

ally, an advocate to have courage in conflict,

peace under pressure, and joy in suffering. We

have a lot of scripture to get through, so we're

going to start in Acts chapter 4. We're going

Acts 4 · chapter mention

to start the first three verses. The first three

verses, I call this the confrontation. So the

confrontation begins, and it's going to kind

of be this narrative that we're going to see.

So starting in chapter 4, verse 1 through 3.

And as they were speaking to the people, the

priests and the captain of the temple and the

Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because

they were teaching the people and proclaiming

in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And

they arrested them and put them in custody until

the next day, for it was already evening. Is

that it? All right. So that's where we are with

the first three verses. So they're preaching.

They're preaching Jesus. Again, they didn't take

preaching classes. They didn't do exegesis. They

didn't do cultural context or what we call hermeneutics.

They literally were preaching Jesus' message.

Jesus was killed. He was put in a tomb. Three

days later, he rose from the dead. That was the

gospel. Unadulterated, pure gospel. And then

all of a sudden the priests, the captain of the

temple and the Sadducees, were greatly annoyed.

Not just mildly irritated, right? Greatly annoyed,

Luke's writer tells us. Because the apostles

were proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of

the dead. If we go back to the Gospels, it's

the exact narrative that the temple was trying

to snuff out. They paid off the guards. They

wanted to snuff that narrative. They wanted to

lie. They wanted to cover it up. They wanted

to deceive the people because they knew that

they knew that they knew that if people started

getting whiff of the fact that Jesus rose from

the dead, that he was the Messiah, he was the

Savior, and that people would put their faith

in him. And what did that mean for the temple?

A lack of? Anybody? No? Control. Someone said

control. The lack of control. They wanted to

control the people. They had a way of perverting

the temple for their own gain, their own authority.

And what this message was doing was undercutting

all of that with truth. The Sadducees denied

the resurrection. The gospel was a direct threat

to not only their theology, but their authority.

Because they have conflated those together. When

we look for human authority to define our Christ

-likeness, we are doing it wrong. Yes, are we

called to submit to the governing authorities?

Absolutely. But that's not for your definition

in Christ. Right? Republican, Democrat, that

is not, Christ doesn't define you through those

terms. Let's go even just a cut deeper to 214

Ridge Road. Being Christian Reformed does not

define who you are in Christ. You are a Christ

follower first. Period. End of that. Don't add

things to it. Does that inform all the rest of

yourself? It should. Right? That I am a follower

of Christ, so it should define how I live my

life. That's not any smart thing from Jim. That's

in the Word of God. Yet the Word of God cannot

be chained up as the authorities of the temple

were trying to do. Even Peter and John are arrested.

Many who heard the Word believed. They were arrested

for preaching Jesus. Believe me, as a preacher

in the United States, have I ever worried, 20

years now in the pastorate, have I ever worried

that I was going to be arrested for preaching

the gospel? No. Have I ever worried about getting

emails 10 minutes after service? Absolutely.

But that is not the same as getting arrested.

Those sending it might want it to feel the same.

It never does, right? Especially to those that

don't put their name on it. I don't even read

those. But understand that I've never had that

fear. In the United States, we don't necessarily

have that fear. And I count myself lucky because

I know stories where that's not the case around

the world. Right? We talk about this missionary,

Josh, that we just commissioned to go. Guys,

where he's going to be, Christianity is not the

world religion. It's not the tribes and village

religion. Islamic religion is there predominantly.

And he's going with not deep theology or hermeneutics.

He's going to go with the Word of God translated

in a language. He's going to trust and stand

on the Word of God much like Peter and John did.

And that is why Peter's going to give a defense.

And here's, well, let's read it first and then

we'll make that point. So starting with verse

5. On the next day, the rulers and elders and

scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, and Ananias,

the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and

Alexander, and all who were the high priest family.

And when they had set them in the midst, they

inquired, by what power or by what name did you

do this? Claire, can you go back to that first

slide of the scripture? These names, where else

do we see these names in scripture? Ananias and

Caiaphas. John and Alexander, not so much as

far as the Sadducees go. But where do we see

Ananias and Caiaphas' name before? What? The

crucifixion. Their names really only come up

during Holy Week. For something good? Why do

we have those names during Holy Week? They were

the ones overseeing Jesus' death. These were

leaders of the temple. Leaders of the church

in that time. I'd probably just call it the temple.

I'm probably not going to call it the church.

The temple at that time. The same council that

condemned Jesus now stands over Jesus' followers.

By what power or name do you do this? I thought

to myself, what a dumb question. These are supposed

to be leaders of the temple. Direct conflict

of the way, as we talked about. It wasn't Christianity

yet. That name didn't come for a couple hundred

years. But the way, the way of Jesus. They ask

these questions. For lunch, I'll put lunch on

this. For lunch, in a conversation with Pastor

Jim, why is this not the first time we've heard

those questions? Where else do we hear these

questions? You already answered, Nikki. You can't

answer again. These two questions, we hear that

this isn't the first time we've heard these questions.

Where else do we hear these? Calm down, let other

people get it. You already know it's probably

Holy Week. What? You're in college, so I'll take

you out for lunch anytime, even though that answer

was wrong. Junior high youth workers are hitting

it out of the park. Way to go. The rest of you,

you're on the bench. Let's get into the scriptures.

This has happened before when Jesus was arrested.

It happened again when he was teaching in the

temple. They know the answers to these questions.

But what they're trying to do, just the same

thing they did with Jesus, they're trying to

trap them. The irony here is they think they're

on trial, but the power of Christ is about to

be displayed again. Because the Holy Spirit,

remember, they had to wait for the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit just didn't say, peace out, I'm

gone, start the church. He's with them, with

us, every step of the way. Verse 8. Then Peter,

filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers

of the people and the elders, we'll get to verse

9 in a second. But Luke highlights this, right?

Luke's writer highlights that the Holy Spirit

is at work. Courage and witness is never self

-generated. Peter isn't doing this on his own

authority, out of his own power. We can't do

that because of what we prayed for a couple minutes

ago. The fact that we are at war with ourselves,

that good reformed theology of total depravity.

Does anyone know what depravity means? Dead in

sin. We are bent against God. That is what depravity

means. And we have that inside of us. Well, pastor,

I'm a believer. I'm a professed. I was baptized

as a kid. I made my professed faith. I'm a member

of the church. Absolutely. You're still a sinner.

That doesn't make you perfect. That doesn't make

you devoid of the need of the power of the Holy

Spirit. And Peter, foot and mouth disease Peter,

who denied Jesus, lost a rabbi. Rabbi restores

him in the book of John. is filled with the Holy

Spirit. The boldness you have in your faith,

now I'm going to qualify this, the boldness you

have in your faith is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Okay? Now get ready. That felt good. This isn't.

The dumbness we have when we speak out on behalf

of faith for our own volition is not the Holy

Spirit. That's depravity. And that's the rub.

There are times we love to get up on our high

horse, right, and just launch those grenades

at people in judgment or because you didn't do

what I wanted you to do, opinions or whatever

in the church, and we think it's the Holy Spirit

at work. But when it's guilt, when it's hurting

others, right, when it's trampling over people

or denying their right to be in the church, so

to speak, maybe that's a weird way of saying

it, but saying you have to be this way in order

to be a part of this, that's not the work of

the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm not saying it's not

the truth, different conversation. When we do

it to condemn, that is not the work of the Holy

Spirit. That is the work of our depravity. When

we do it as a Pharisee and a Sadducee, that is

not the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit

fills us with boldness, yes, absolutely. But

it's going to be a boldness that models the way

of Jesus. What does Jesus say? Let him without

sin cast the first stone. Yet, in church, we

love to be the first caster of stones. We love

to throw stones at people. That's not going to

be the power of the Holy Spirit. Holding someone

accountable to the truth of the gospel and the

truth of God's word can be done without stone

throwing. Yet for a lot of us, we like to just

take it. And for a lot of us, we like to hide

behind certain people, maybe the elders, and

we throw and then run. We do it in a cowardly

way. But Peter doesn't do this. This fulfills

the promise that Jesus gave in Luke 12. Do not

be anxious, for the Holy Spirit will teach you

what to say. So what did he say? Let's go with

verse 9. If we are being examined today concerning

a good deed done to a crippled man by what means

this man has been healed, let it be known to

all of you and to all the people of Israel that

by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom

you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,

by him this man is standing before you well.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by

you, the builders, become the cornerstone, and

there is salvation in no one else, for there

is no other name under heaven given among men

by which we must be saved. Peter is preaching.

He is filled with the Holy Spirit. He is preaching.

He is directly answering the question. The healing

came by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Could he have left it there? Absolutely. He doesn't.

He doubles down. Whom you crucified, whom God

raised from the dead. That is the narrative of

the gospel. That is the heart of our message.

Yet, Allow me a little grace here because I'm

preaching to myself first. Yet we love to find

ourselves in the middle of that. Not by the name

of Jesus Christ, not by whom God raised from

the dead, whom you crucified. We can pull out

the judgment and use that for our own gain when

we believe it suits us. And that's something

we have to be careful about as believers. That

we are a part of the narrative. We all claim

sinner. If you are not a sinner this morning,

you don't need to be here. Spoiler alert, we

all are. We were part of the people that crucified

Jesus. Though we were not there then, literally,

our sin is what took him to the cross. Our sin

is what he died for. And Peter, again, he's not

only going to double down, he's going to then

bring about a call for them. I don't look at

this as an altar call, but it's pretty close.

That he does not want to leave the leaders of

the temple without the full gospel message. Salvation

is found in no one else, for there is no other

name under heaven given among men by which we

must be saved. This idea of saved. This is a

new concept. Jesus talks about it. The church

rejected it. The church was never built in that

mode, the idea of salvation. Just like if I were

to talk, or if all of a sudden we were to do

an altar call in a Reformed church, there would

be some friction. I'm sure we would get some

emails. Because in the Reformed tradition, we

were brought up that we baptize our kids. We've

had 77 of those in the last seven years, praise

the Lord. That it's not because the baby that's

being baptized is desiring salvation. We don't

even know what the baby's desiring. Probably

for me to stop talking so I can go back to bed.

Not to waterboard them when it comes to their

baptism. But guess what? That's how I do it.

Understand that what we believe is that the Holy

Spirit is the one that's going to regenerate

your heart and that you're going to come to the

knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

How? By understanding the bad news of your sin.

I've said it before. I'll say it again. When

someone comes and asks to make profession of

faith, the first question I ask is, tell me about

your sin. Exactly. Because if you can't tell

me about your sin and the bad news of sin, how

in the world are you going to tell me about the

good news of Jesus? And we all come to it at

different times. We've had 12 -year -olds. We've

had 96 -year -olds come to salvation in Christ

in that time. Praise the Lord. You remember Nuria?

Nuria White? Two Mother's Days ago, baptized.

A mere year later is now in glory. It's a beautiful

story. Salvation is found in no one else. The

Belgian Confession, Article 26, helps us with

this understanding. Jesus Christ is our only

mediator and advocate. We need no other go -between,

for he alone reconciles us to the Father. Understand,

this is what the temple hated. They wanted people

to have a works righteousness understanding.

If you give, if you do, if you sacrifice, you

will be favored in God's sight. It wasn't even

a salvation thing. It was just to find yourself

favored in the sight of Yahweh. So even the most...

Depraved of leaders, even the most perverted

of systems, have to be impacted by the gospel.

The council has astonishment in verse 13. Now,

when they saw the boldness of Peter and John

and perceived that they were uneducated, common

men, they were astonished. And they recognized

that they had been with Jesus. Leave that up.

Friends, that should be your desire for every

encounter in your life. Every encounter you have

with an unbeliever. And we all know, that's why

church still has a job. That they recognize that

they have been with Jesus. In the way I live

my life, don't I want the world to have that

understanding of me? And all that does is make

me mourn my sin. Because I'm a sinner just like

you. And you're a sinner just like me. And do

we want the world to be wrapped up in our sin?

Or do we want the world to be wrapped up and

astonished by a Savior that saved this guy from

sin? That's the gospel. It's not about what you

know. It's not the depth of your theology, though

that's good to have. And once you are a believer,

we want to deepen that knowledge and that understanding.

Romans 5, 2 Peter 1, talk about the growth, what

we call sanctification. But friends, that's the

goal. Whether it's the person that you just had

an encounter with in the checkout line, or the

waiter or waitress that mess up your meal at

your favorite restaurant, whether it's your boss

that you can't stand, or that neighbor that doesn't

cut their lawn on time. We talk about that neighbor

a lot. Everyone at Melbrook does a good job.

I don't know why that keeps popping in my head.

Can that be how we leave people in our encounters?

Do people recognize that you've been with Jesus?

Because I think that's the goal. That's what

we should desire in our life, in the way we live

out the gospel. They see the boldness of Peter

and John, uneducated, ordinary men. Absolutely,

it's why Jesus picked them. And they conclude

that they have been with Jesus. The greatest

credential for ministry is not education. Sorry,

Evan. Sorry, Mike. I know you're going to seminary,

but it's not education. It's not status. Okay,

elder. Okay, deacon. Okay, chair of a committee.

It's none of that. It's having communion with

Christ. It's that people can see your life and

go, they're a Christ follower. And I know a lot

of you have grown up in religious systems and

churches where your takeaway has not been that.

It's been something very different, maybe even

darker. But just remember, the greatest credential

you have for living out ministry in whatever

you do, whatever job you have, is that people

can see that you're with Jesus. I'd love it.

I'd love it if the narrative stopped here. It

would be so much better. But unfortunately, it

doesn't. So let's go on to the undeniable miracle

in verse 14. What shall we do with these men?

For that a notable sign has been performed through

them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

and we cannot deny it. They see the miracle.

These are uneducated men. These are ordinary

men and this guy can walk. They saw him at the

front of the gate beautiful. We talked about

that. Every day this guy was dropped off. Now

he's walking. They don't know what to do. It's

messing with their heads. So they can't control

it. They can't put their hands on it. They can't

manipulate it. So what are they going to try

to do? They're going to try to silence it. But

before we get to that, one point about miracles.

Sit with that word this week. I'm going to be

out of the office. We're going out of town for

half the week, and I'm going to be out of the

office, so don't email me about it. I'll get

to it the next week. But what do you do with

the word miracle? Miracles play so much in our

lives, and we sometimes don't see it as that.

Well, Pastor Jim, what's a miracle? It's something

I can't explain, but something that points to

God. That can be a healing. That can be a restored

relationship. You know that relationship that

is just dead as a doornail. You just know it's

broken. It's never going to come back. All of

a sudden it does. Guys, that's a miracle. We

get so afraid to use the word miracle because

we don't think we should be allowed to do it.

If you can't explain it and all you can do is

point to God about it, call it a miracle. It

is very okay. But the temple didn't like that.

So what do they do? They're pretty consistent.

They try to silence it. Verse 17. But in order

that it may spread no further among the people,

let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in

this name. You can't even say his name in this

name. So they called them and charged them not

to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Pop quiz. This is the end of the church. True

or false? See, that's why I didn't put lunch

on that. That was way too easy. Right? There's

so much more of the Bible to read. This is man

trying to manipulate. This is man trying to do,

really. The abuse of power. This is an abuse

of authority. The leaders command them not to

speak or teach in the name of Jesus. This is

the world's oldest strategy. Sorry if you get

offended by it, but this is the world's oldest

strategy. Silence the gospel by intimidation.

There's no way you can believe that. There is

no way that you have to be quiet. We're going

to censure you. We're going to silence you. It's

funny. What is the better way to silence them?

Unfortunately, both these guys do get it in the

end. They get killed for it. But the temple won't

do it. The Romans will. Totally another rhyme

for totally another time. The world's oldest

strategy, silence the gospel by intimidation.

Someone hurts us, we're going to hurt them back.

Someone speaks against us, we're going to speak

louder. It's the oldest trick in the book. But

there's a bold response to this. Now friends,

We live in a world where we probably don't have

a lot. Maybe some of you are starting to feel

that. The idea of Christianity has become under

fire. Not as of late. It's been there. Always

have been. But that the world, the worldly powers

don't want us to live a life of a humble servant

of Christ. They don't. It's about authority.

It's about what I can get. It's about power.

All of those things. But there is a response

here. They could have just kept their quiet.

They'd be like, we're too afraid. We can't do

it. We're going to slink back. We're going to

just shut our mouths. They don't. And I think

it's because they walked with Jesus and saw all

the things, but they give a bold response. Verse

19. But Peter and John answered them, whether

it is right in the sight of God to listen to

you rather than to God, you must judge. For we

cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

I love this. They don't get into a theological

argument. They don't try to discredit them. They

don't try to disrespect them. They basically

just calmly say, whether it is right in the sight

of God to listen to you rather than to our God,

you must be the judge. But we can only speak

to what we have seen and heard. They are the

true disciples of Christ. They walked with him.

They talked with him. They had friendship with

him. Belgian Confession, Article 7. Scripture

alone is our rule of faith. When human authorities

contradict God's word, obedience to God must

come first. Submit to the governing authorities?

Absolutely. Until they call you to actively sin.

Then I'm not saying that we need Christian anarchy,

because that's not a thing. But understand that

at some point we may have to stand. And say,

for that I cannot do. Because it is against my

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And no, that does

not mean that gets you out of a speeding ticket.

That's not what we're talking about. Go deeper

and grow up. Friendship with Jesus means allegiance

to him above everything else. I'd love to say,

they said it, they were able to baptize the Sadducees

and the Pharisees, it was all good. Unfortunately

not, there's still two more verses, verses 21

and 22, what I call the aftermath. And when they

had further threatened them, they let them go,

finding no way to punish them because of the

people. For all were praising God for what had

happened. For the man on whom this... sign of

healing was performed was more than 40 years

old. I could go into a deep dive of what that

meant. We don't need to. But notice, they threatened

him again, tried to intimidate him again, but

released him. The man was healed, was over 40

years old. His lifelong disability made this

miracle undeniable. God's grace does silence

fear and does embolden faith. What a friend!

We have in Jesus. All the things we sung about,

I break down to these points, and yes, I will

be landing the plane. And here's the thing about

landing a plane. Here's the thing. How many of

you would very much appreciate a pilot that when

he says, we're going to descend now onto whatever

town, and then all of a sudden, is that a good

landing? No, it's smooth. It takes time. Landing

gear has to come out, right? There's a moose.

You've got to pull up. All the things. So here

I'm going to land my comfortable plane with five

very quick, Sarah, very quick points. Friendship

with Jesus brings courage in conflict. Friendship

with Jesus brings courage in conflict. Two, you

cannot silence a heart. That has been changed

by Christ. You cannot silence a heart that has

been changed by Christ. When grace grips you,

witness becomes natural. Like the healed man,

you can't help but leap and praise God. Third,

the gospel will always face opposition. The gospel

will always face opposition. Whether cultural

hostility, spiritual apathy, fear of rejection.

Every age, every time, and every place has its

Sadducees and its Pharisees. The question we

have is, will we still speak? Four, the Spirit

fills ordinary people with extraordinary witness.

Some of you may be thinking, I don't have much

of a testimony. I've been in church all my life.

I've always known Jesus as my friend. And one

day I came to the understanding that he was my

Savior. Friend, do you not hear how amazing that

is? That in a world that wants to pull you right

and left, up and down, you stayed the course?

I would love for that to be my testimony, but

God had to slap me across the face multiple times.

And I know at least 60 % of you feel the same

way in a statistic I just made up, but it's probably

true. And fifth, Christ's friendship sustains

us under pressure. Whatever that pressure is

for you, I don't know. That pressure could mean

a variety of things. But being close with Christ

gets us through this. They had been with Jesus.

That's what made the difference. Intimacy with

Christ gives us peace when the world stands against

us. So remember to whom you belong. You belong

to Christ. And if you're here this morning and

you don't know if you are, Find me after service.

Find a prayer paramedic. Maybe you've never confessed

Lord as Savior. Let's make that today. Because

today, October 12th, 2025, we'll be standing

then as your testimony date of the day that you

and Jesus became friends when you recognize him

as Lord and Savior. Church, this is our moment

to stand firm in grace. The same Spirit that

filled Peter fills us. The same Jesus who stood

with them stands with us. And when the world

says, be silent, may we too say, we cannot but

speak of what we had seen and heard. Please stand

if you are able. And let us close together with

our closing prayer. Lord Jesus Christ, you are

our Savior and our friend. When the world stands

against us, help us to stand with you. Give us

courage to speak your name, wisdom to live with

grace, and hearts filled with your spirit. Strengthen

us to proclaim that there is no other name under

heaven by which we must be saved. Amen.