Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The Book of Acts tells why the gospel was so successful at the time of the apostles. A consistent theme seems to emerge: they told the world that they had rejected and crucified the Son of God. This realization resulted in an enormous sense of guilt: what sin or crime could be worse than that?
For example, at Pentecost, Peter said: "God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). Immediately came the heart-broken cry, "What shall we do?" (vs. 37). Then when Peter and John healed the paralytic, Peter again said, "You denied the Holy One and the Just, ... and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead" (3:14, 15). You couldn't yawn and sit on the fence when you heard a charge like that! Then Peter and John told the rulers and leaders of the nation, "You crucified Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom God raised from the dead" (4:10).
Then when the apostles were again arrested by the police and brought to trial, they boldly charged, "You murdered by hanging on a tree [the] ... Prince and Savior" (5:30, 31). This was extreme confrontation! And the Holy Spirit was given both to those who proclaimed the truth and to those who believed it. Philip won the heart of a high-placed government official by preaching the cross from Isaiah 53 (8:32, 33). A sudden glimpse of the significance of the cross converted Saul of Tarsus (9:5, 6; 26:13-15), and empowered him to proclaim the truth more powerfully than any of the Eleven who had witnessed the actual event.
One exception to apostolic success is Paul's ministry in Athens (Acts 17). Few of his hearers responded positively. But reading through the Acts 17 story of his sermon we find not a mention of the cross! Paul at Athens was much like we are, working for "the higher classes." But from Athens Paul went to Corinth, where he determined "not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor 2:1, 2). A lesson for us?
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 23, 2000.
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