Faithful Men On Trial
In the beautiful hymn, “Faith Of Our Fathers”, the opening stanza has these words. “Faith of our fathers! Living still, in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword; O how our hearts beat high with joy, Whenever we hear that glorious word.” The spread of the Christian faith through all the years has come at the expense, at times, of the death of the believers who put it all on the line. How sweet to them are the lines from the book of Revelation, “…be thou faithful unto death…” (Revelation 2:10). From its very beginning those who chose to follow Christ have often been put on trial.
Peter and John were called before Jewish leaders upon the healing of a lame man in Acts 3. The Jewish leaders demanded to know how this miracle was done (Acts 4:7). It is no small issue that the ones who were behind this initial effort to arrest the apostles were the Sadducees, which did not believe in the resurrection (Acts 4:1). Later when the whole council comes together the apostles made their defense (Acts 4:5). Peter and John declared it was through Jesus, whom the Jews had crucified, that this miracle noted in Acts 3 had been done (Acts 4:10). The Jewish authorities in private session admitted that the miracle had been done (verse 16).
The judgment, then, of the council was that Peter and John were commanded to no longer preach in this Man’s name (verse 17,18). The rest of Acts 4 and the early part of Acts 5 is a record of the spread of the gospel throughout Jerusalem as the apostles refused to quit teaching people about Jesus. Beginning with verse 17 of Acts 5 the whole band of apostles is brought to trial. This verse also shows once more it was the Sadducees, the religious liberals of the Jews, who brought the apostles to trial. The end of this trial was more threats and now a physical beating of the apostles (verse 40).
Next we find the man Stephen brought to trial in Acts 6. His defense in Acts 7 ended with his being killed. From the death of Stephen the church began to be persecuted and the believers fled Jerusalem and wherever they went, they were preaching the news about Jesus and the need to obey Him (Acts 8:4). Years later Paul, having been converted to Christ states that five times he was on trial with the end result being that he was beaten by the Jews, that is in their synagogues, much as the apostles were in Acts 5. Men put on trial because of the message that they preached about Jesus and the need for all the world to bow to the Son of God.
I find it somewhat alarming that now in the 21st century that faithful men are put on trial. It cannot be for the gospel which they preach because it the same gospel they have preached all their lives. Faithful men stumble and do contrary to God’s will as Peter did by his practice of racism against the Gentiles (Galatians 2:11-13). Such a mistake in applying the Scriptures was not what Peter was put on trial for but rather his defense of the Christian faith. Yes men can stumble and repent. Their lives can be used by God to bring glory to His Son through the church (Ephesians 3:21).
Here is where my concern lies on these issues. Someone writes that our lectureship here at Garfield is somewhat suspect because the lines of fellowship are being clouded. What were the lines of fellowship that were being clouded? Well one of our speakers spoke at a congregation that the accusing brother did not think the preacher should have spoken. The man being charged was in his 70’s and had spent his entire life preaching the gospel of Christ to any who would listen. Placing such a man on trial regarding his preaching of the gospel would not be unusual. Questioning his faithfulness to the Lord should be unusual. Brethren it is a serious matter when we argue that a man’s soul is in jeopardy because of what he teaches or practices. Those who leave the faith and are not walking in the light of God’s Word should be condemned for such conduct (I John 1:7; II John 9). There is an attitude growing within the brotherhood that should cause us all to be concerned.
The attitude is this. I must regard all men whom you say are unfaithful and not worthy of fellowship. If I do not agree with you then you cannot have fellowship with me. Such trials or test of a man’s faithfulness to the Lord is equivalent to the actions of the Sadducees in Acts 4 and Acts 5. Test each man’s doctrine and actions of life by the Word of God. Men of faith have always stood such trials and emerged as faithful men of God. May it be so in our times.