I’m encouraged today by the fact that 12 of our Brethren were not side-tracked by the Success Syndrome. To the Apostles of the First Church of Jerusalem, SUCCESS WAS SUFFERING SERVICE. Which leads me to conclude that the Success of a Person or Church is not determined by Praise but by Pain; not by Accolades and Applause but by Agony; not by Seniority but by Suffering! I agree with Dr. King who said, “Longevity has its place.” Yes, to live a long time, to achieve seniority has its place. But I also concur with Cowper who deduced that one who has seniority can “Let down buckets into empty wells and grow old with drawing nothing up.”
Consequently, I conclude that Success is predicated upon God’s Prevailing Purpose, and a Person’s Obedience to that Purpose in terms of Suffering Service. And so, I desire to Serve today as a Servant who Suffers for his Savior.
Here we are once again to discuss what’s going on underneath our skin. So, WE NEED TO TALK! Let’s discuss -
“BADGES OF HONOR”
The Scriptural basis for my theological argument is Acts 5:41. It says (read).
In our target text, Luke immediately zooms in on 12 Men Possessing A Character whose Content Counted. Luke says in verse 41, “They” (these 12 men alone as distinguished from all others in that hall) were the only ones with A Content of Character that Counted. There were at least 72 other men in that room; for the Sanhedrin Council consisted of 72 men who were required by law to be morally and physically blameless. And we know the commander of the Temple police was present along with some of his armed guards from verse 26. So at least 80 other men were present in that room, but only these 12 men possessed a Character whose Content Counted! For in the Greek Text “These men” or “they” is emphatic: meaning, the emphasis of the sentence is upon the character of these men and no others. “These men or they” referring back to the apostles in verse 40.
And then again in verse 41 Luke high-lites the Consequential Conduct of Counted Character in that descriptive verb “departed.” This verb in the Greek pictures these 12 men of Counted Character alone “going, leaving or departing.” They, upon being released from custody by the Sanhedrin, as a Necessary Consequence, Departed. They were departing alone; no one else left but these 12 Apostles of Counted Character.
I think we need to look at THEIR CONSEQUENTIAL CONDUCT because in their leaving, these men are exemplifying THE DISCIPLINE OF DEPARTURE. There are Two Reasons I thought it would be helpful for us to scrutinize this Discipline of Departure as modeled by these 12 Men of Counted Character.
The First reason being they had been taught this Discipline of Departure by the Master Himself. And I’m sure you would agree that Jesus certainly Knew How To Leave! First, He shared this principle with them by word of mouth. Matthew 10:14 records Jesus saying to them in places of hostility and rejection: “and whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when ye depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.” And then in verses 24 & 25, He continues explaining the discipline saying: “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master.” And then He arose and fleshed it out for them giving the pattern; for in Matthew 11:1 it says: “When Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.” Mark 1:38 records after Simon and two others had disturbed His prayer time with “Everyone is looking for You,” said Jesus, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also…” Then in Mark 5:17, after the people of the country of the Gadarenes pleaded with Jesus to depart from their region after He had de-demonized the man who lived among the tombs, verse 21 of Mark 5 says that “Jesus crossed over again by boat to the other side.” JESUS KNEW HOW TO LEAVE! AND HE TAUGHT HIS DISCIPLES HOW TO LEAVE! So back in our text-Acts 5:41, Luke writes “And they departed from the presence of the council.” No insults or threats - They Just Left! No waiting around for an apology, but upon being released - They Just Departed!
Therefore, the Second Reason we need to scrutinize this Discipline of Departure is because MOST OF US DON’T KNOW HOW TO LEAVE! To depart is one of the hardest things for us to do. For there are times when we stand grappling with the Difficulty of Departing. When visiting friends or family, we don’t know how to leave; for we say ‘Good-bye’ and still linger and talk, shuffling our feet and looking at our watches. Often when talking on the phone, we don’t know how to just hang up; for we say “good-bye’ and then start up a new conversation. Sometimes we don’t know how to just leave the church house; for we linger and talk long after services are over. Don’t let us get fired from a job and be told to leave; we’ll hang around trying to get that last word in-”I quit!” Many of us have difficulty leaving Toxic Relationships. We can’t seem to leave healthy, we have to leave hurt and broken. Some have difficulty leaving an unhealthy church environment; we’ll hang around until it kills us! Yeah, We Don’t Know How To Just Depart! We have to exchange words, trade insults, hurl threats and wait around for an apology that never will come - WE CAN’T JUST LEAVE!
So that’s why I wanted to look at this Discipline of Departure. For if we possess the Content of Counted Character, then the Consequential Conduct of Disciplined Departure will follow. It takes Character that Counts to Just leave without Fussing, Fighting and trying to Get Even! “They departed from the presence of the council.”
But that’s not all; for we are told the Circumstance of their departure in that Present Participle “rejoicing.” As they were departing, they were rejoicing. The root of this word “rejoice” is from the Hebrew word “Soos,” which literally means “to go in Circles Dancing, Leaping Up and Down for Joy.” Therefore, the sense of verse 41 is, as these 12 Men of Counted Character were modeling the Consequential Conduct of Disciplined Departure, they were at the same time Going in Circles Dancing, Leaping Up and Down for Joy!
Now I believe this picture of 12 Dancing, Leaping, Shouting for Joy Apostles will be seen as A DARING DEPARTURE when you consider what had just happened to them. For in verse 40 this council of 72 men had just had them Beaten. The Aorist Participle “deirantes” in the Greek text literally means “after flaying them.” That is, after having them beaten to such a degree as to remove from their backs some of their skin. According to Deuteronomy 25:3 all 12 of them had been given 39 blows, stripes or licks. To prevent the possibility of excess by making a mistake in counting, the legal number was reduced by one from 40 to 39.
They were stripped of their clothes from the head to the waist, tied by their arms to a low pillar in the hall that they might lean forward and the executioner might get at their backs more easily. The executioner then stood upon a stone to have more power over them as he beat them with a rod or a whip made of ox-hide, both on their backs and chest in the open court before the eyes of the Sanhedrin. Therefore the picture verse 41 portrays is: These 12 Men with Bleeding, Swollen, Laid-Open Backs hardly able to raise themselves up to stand on their own power, somehow were departing from the eyes of this council Going in Circles Dancing, Leaping Up and Down for Joy! Now that’s A Daring Departure! As if saying: Is that all you got? Is that the best you can do?
They Dared to Leave Unbroken! They Dared to Depart Defiant! They Dared to Go Away with Boldness, suggesting in that act of defiance that they were “more than conquerors” thru Christ who
loved them! Oh what A Daring Departure! They didn’t leave with bowed-down heads, drooped shoulders, hunched-backs saying ‘yes sur and no sur’ as Uncle Toms and slaves who now knew their place. No! Their response to being commanded not to speak again in the Name of Jesus was “they departed from the presence of the council Going in Circles Dancing, Leaping Up and Down for Joy - Rejoicing!”
Perhaps the beating had caused temporary insanity on the part of these men. Perhaps the whip temporarily disconnected them from reality and they are only disoriented. For surely, you say, no sane person would act in the manner these men are. But then we must ask ourselves, Are they really acting insanely, or are they acting in a manner consistent with their Character? I don’t know about you, but when I read this passage, it got my immediate attention and caused me to ask questions. I had to ask Why would these men dance for joy after being almost beaten to death? What would cause them to act in this manner? What did they have that I don’t have? And if I don’t have it, then How can I get it? What caused them to dance for joy after being so badly mistreated? I wonder, are you interested?
That Causal Conjunctive “that” might hold the answer; because “that” signifies “because that or seeing that or recognizing that or realizing that.” In other words they thought; they reasoned and put two and two together and came up with four. That act of just being beaten made them conscious of a fact; it had just been manifested to them by the Holy Spirit that “they had been Counted Worthy.”
That phrase “counted worthy” means “thought worthy, considered worthy.” The word “worthy” originally meant “drawing down the scale.” In other words, after being placed in God’s scale, the apostles had enough weight to draw down the scale. They Weighed Enough; They had Worth; the Content of their Character had Weight, Substance, Integrity; It Weighed Enough to Draw Down God’s Scale! And if you further note, you will detect the Tense and Aspect of this verb is Past Passive; which means that Someone Else did the counting or evaluating before the time of the beating. They did not do the counting. They did not think themselves to be worthy; but Someone Else Did. And that Someone else was God the Father. God had deemed that they weighed enough. And the Content that qualified them was the Permanent Presence of the Holy Spirit. For time after time after time, they had been filled with him to such a degree that they were Heavy. Being filled with the Fullness of God makes one weigh enough to draw down God’s scale. Having Christ dwell in one’s heart by faith makes one weighty and worthy of the Father’s approval. Being filled with the Spirit of God causes one to draw down the scale in terms of Possessing a Character that Counts. For the Quality goes in before God’s Name goes on .
I wonder, how much do you weigh? Do you weigh enough to draw down the scale?
But note also that Oxymoron (bringing together contradictory terms) in “counted worthy to suffer shame.” To suffer shame means “to be Dishonored, treated shamefully or to be Disgraced.” To suffer shame seems to contradict to be counted worthy. That kind of thinking is foreign to our world and doesn’t make any sense. You mean to tell me that I have to be counted worthy to suffer shame? Yes, you do. You see, in the economy of God you have to weigh enough to draw down the scale to counteract the weight of dishonor or shame. These men weighed enough to suffer shame and not be negatively affected by it. The Content of their Character Weighed Enough.
The world of the carnal man desires being counted worthy to be honored or praised. But there is nothing which men fear more as shame. We find that death itself has often been preferable in the eyes of men to shame; and even the most wicked and callous-hearted have dreaded the shame and contempt of their fellow creatures far more than any tortures to which they could have been exposed. For Abimelech, a man who murdered his own brethren without regret, was overcome by shame when a certain woman cracked his skull. So he asked one of his armour-bearers to kill him because he did not want it said of him that a woman killed him.
Nothing can so break down the human spirit as to be subjected continually to the visible and manifest contempt of one’s fellows; in fact to go further, shame is so frightful to man that it is one of the ingredients of hell itself. The shame of everlasting contempt; to be despised of men, angels and God is one of the depths of hell. You see, to be beaten by one’s own people was truly a Disgrace; for even the Roman judges did not dare treat Roman citizens this way. But the Jews had no such restrictions. And yet these disgraceful stripes the apostles considered as BADGES OF HONOR! They wore them with pride; they showed them off as Medals of Honor!
Perhaps there is someone here today who is Suffering Shame because you weigh enough to draw down God’s scale. If so, let me encourage you to wear your shame, disgrace and mistreatment as a Badge of Honor! But never think you are suffering because of you. If you are counted worthy to suffer shame it is “FOR THE NAME!” Our great and compassionate Savior suffered on account of Our Name; cannot we suffer shame for His Name. He did suffer shame upon that cross!
But yet, He despised the Shame and endured the cross on account of Our Name. Shall we not suffer shame for His Name? For there is salvation in no other name; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Salvation is possible only in connection with the Name Jesus. All who desire to be saved must embrace His Name. This is the Name for which we must Suffer Shame.
Roots-Kunte Kentay: what is your name-Toby or Kunte?
Help Me Hold Up The Name!!!
