This is not only the third Sunday of Easter, but it is also the third week of our current message series which we have entitled “Groundbreaking.” A groundbreaking event describes something that has never been done or seen or made or perhaps even ever thought of before. Often, it shocks, and occasionally it dazzles. It might be something that changes history or shapes culture. It might be something that redefines the way people live and work and relate to one another. 

Easter celebrates the most groundbreaking event in history, the most groundbreaking event ever, an event that was groundbreaking in every sense of the word. The resurrection proved that Jesus was who he said he was and he could do what he said he could do. And one of the things that Jesus said he could do, beside rise from the dead himself, was that if anyone of us have faith in him and do our best to live that faith, then we too will rise with Jesus to eternal life.

Easter is also groundbreaking because it's the event that launched the movement that is the Church. The Church introduced all of those groundbreaking concepts that Jesus had taught the apostles, groundbreaking ideas like every human being is precious before God, groundbreaking ideas like love your enemies and turn the other cheek. Through this series, we want to discover or rediscover the principles and practices of the early church that made them a movement that mattered, because that's what we want to be, too.

Today we're going to look at just one principle of the early church, but it was a core principle, core to everything that they did, and a principle that could be useful to us, too. It's a principle that's both liberating and intimidating. The principle is stated clearly in the first reading that we read today from the Acts of the Apostles.

First a little background for the story that we're looking at today. There's a point in the story where after the resurrection, the apostles are hanging out on a daily basis at the temple in Jerusalem. There in the temple courtyard, they're attracting attention, a lot of it, more and more on a daily basis, because as we read last week, they were healing people. Acts says that the religious leaders, the same people who had conspired against Jesus, we're becoming increasingly jealous of the apostles' popularity, so much so that they eventually arrest them and they imprison them for a night, the plan being that the next day they would try them for their crimes. Scripture tells us that an angel of the Lord releases them from prison and instructs them, "Go and stand in the temple and speak the words of life." The next day, the religious leaders call for the prisoners to be brought in. So the officers of the court go to the prison, and, of course, the apostles aren't there. Someone tells them, "The men you put in jail are standing in the temple court teaching the people." So the guards race out and haul the apostles back into the court. And that's where our passage picks up today.

The Chief Priest tells the Apostles that they have been warned not to preach in the name of Jesus. Now St. Peter, as the spokesman, steps forward. Most of us would be tempted to try to talk our way out of the situation, but Peter does something unexpected. He declares that they have decided to live their lives according to a bold principle: namely, “We must obey God rather than men.” That’s an important phrase for all of us to remember, so let’s say it together: We must obey God rather than men.

So often we don't have the kind of impact, the full impact that we could have, that we should have, because rather than trying to obey God and honor and please Him, we obey people. We run around fearing human opinion and lose sight in the process of God. It might be something as simple as spending a lot of money that you don't have on clothes to impress people around you. Maybe it's something much more consequential like an authority at work who's asking you to lie or cheat or fudge the facts. Maybe you feel pressured to do the wrong thing and you don't want to do it, but it feels like you have to do it or you're going to lose your friends at school. Maybe you have an opportunity to speak up for something that's right or good or true, and you find yourself remaining silent instead, because your concern, people might think you're some kind of religious freak. We fear human opinion and in the process lose sight of God. 

The difference for Peter, the difference for you and me if we're going to be Christians, is this, we're not just standing up for principles, as worthwhile as that is, we're not just standing up for principles. We're standing up for principles based on a person. We're standing up for the person of Jesus Christ. It's the wise thing to do. Human power is temporal. It's short term. It's limited. God's power is eternal. It's infinite. So it's the wise thing to turn to. Besides it's easier to live in obedience to God. When you obey human beings and live to please them, life becomes complicated. Obeying God simplifies life. It's free, because rather than having many masters, you've got one, and that brings the freedom to say no to others or everyone else if you have to.

Acts then tells us that “the Sanhedrin ordered the Apostles to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them. So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.” When we run away from what is right, when we run around trying to please everybody else, when we fail to do what we know we should do, it never feels good. Sometimes it feels terrible. Obeying God feels great. It feels great, and it brings rewards, too.

Where is the Holy Spirit or your conscience speaking to you about this message today? Is there a good idea or maybe a bold decision that you're hesitating to make because you're afraid, you're afraid of what others might think or say? You know it's the right thing to do, you know it's what God wants you to do, but you're afraid. The early church was groundbreaking, precisely because they moved past their fears. It's not that they didn't have fear. They had fear just like we do, too, but they moved beyond their fears to follow God and obediently serve him. If you were willing to move beyond your fears in one area or another and become a little more fearless, what kind of impact could you have in your school with your friends or among your colleagues at work or with the other moms? What kind of impact could you have? It might very well be groundbreaking.