The Bible teaches us to honour those in authority, especially the leaders of our countries. Today we’ll look at when we need to instead follow a higher power, God.

Last week in episode 5 of the God’s Word, Today’s World podcast we looked at how as followers of Jesus Christ, we have two important things we need to balance in our lives: Truth and Love. If we focus on truth and forget love, we start to focus on the mistakes of others. We become quick to judge, and to condemn others. We can become Holier than Thou, “Well, at least I’m not as bad as they are.”

But if we just focus on love and ignore truth, we start to water down the gospel, we try to make it acceptable to everyone. We focus only on making people happy. We avoid confrontation, we avoid uncomfortable situations.

We need to have both, the confronting truth, and the gracious love. We need both because that’s the example Jesus gave us every time he spoke to others, that’s the example the apostles gave us when they spoke to others about Jesus.

Today we’re looking at who Peter and John chose to obey when commanded by the Jewish authorities not to talk about Jesus. Our passage today is Acts 4:1-22 (WEB):

As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came to them, being upset because they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening. But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest. When they had stood Peter and John in the middle of them, they enquired, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?”

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, may it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands here before you whole in him. He (that is, Jesus) is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given amongst men, by which we must be saved!”

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled. They recognised that they had been with Jesus. Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred amongst themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can’t deny it. But so that this spreads no further amongst the people, let’s threaten them, that from now on they don’t speak to anyone in this name.” They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”

When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that which was done. For the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

So after the Holy Spirit through Peter and John had healed the beggar at the temple, Peter and John stayed there, teaching the people about Jesus. It was 3pm when they arrived, and now it’s evening. When the priests and Sadducees heard what the apostles were teaching, they threw them in jail overnight—because it was against Jewish law to hold trials at night.

Can you see the hypocrisy? These very men took Jesus captive at night, and pushed through his trial. At night. What they did to Jesus was illegal by their own law, but now it suits their purposes to have Peter and John detained overnight, to let them sit in jail and think about what they’ve done—and to keep them from preaching further. Now that it suits their purposes, they’re quite happy to follow their own laws.

Anyway, the following day, they question Peter and John, and Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit and responds to them. Peter’s response astounds them because they realised that Peter and John were unschooled, ordinary men, and yet they had an incredible understanding of the Old Testament, of the books they themselves claimed to follow. They also noted that these two men had followed Jesus.

And they were afraid. There was nothing they could say against these men, because they had clearly done a miracle, the man they had healed stood there with them! They couldn’t deny he had been healed, and they couldn’t deny he’d been lame. He was 40, he’d been a beggar for decades, many of the men in that counsel had probably given to him dozens of times over the years.

And yet, even while faced with this undeniable miracle of God, they refused to believe.

And in verse 18, they commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

To which Peter and John said in verse 19-20 (NIV):

“Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Today I want to focus on Peter and John’s response:

“Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him?”

This can be a challenge and seem like a conflict in the Christian faith, because we’re also commanded to listen to the authorities. Peter himself in 1 Peter 2:13-17 (CSB) says this:

Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves. Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Let me be clear, when Peter said these words, he wasn’t talking to believers who lived in a comfortable society like the modern Western World, where we have religious freedom, freedom of speech, and can openly believe what we want.

Peter wrote 1 Peter around 60-65 AD during the reign of Emperor Nero.

In AD 64, a fire broke out in the shops around Circus Maximus in Rome. When rumours circulated that Nero was responsible because he was wanting to clear land to expand his palace, he blamed it on Christians.

He then ordered all kinds of persecutions. Most infamously, he dressed some in animal skins and had them torn apart by wild dogs in the circus.

Others, Nero burned to death on the nighttime pyres that he was using to light his garden parties.

It’s this man that Peter commanded believers to honour.

If believers were expected to honour a man like that, how much more should we make sure to honour our leaders today?

We can’t use the excuse that they’re terrible people and don’t deserve our honour, because Nero was likely worse—much worse—and yet believers were still to honour him.

They were still to follow his laws.

Unless…

Unless those laws contradicted God’s commands.

The only time breaking the law is permissible is when mens’ laws go against God’s laws.

In Acts 4:19 (NIV) Peter said:

“Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges!”

The rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law were commanding Peter and John not to speak or teach about Jesus.

That directly went against what Jesus command to them in Acts 1:8 (WEB):

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

Peter commanded believers to honour the rules and laws of those in authority—unless to do so meant breaking God’s commands.

Jesus commanded believers to be his witnesses, to talk about him, to spread the gospel, the good news of what he did on earth. To spread the news that he, the Son of God, left heaven and came