The Pragmatic Advice of Gamaliel

Go again to the book of Acts, congregation. The last two times that I led you in worship were in Acts, and the last time we looked at the story of Ananias and Sapphira. But we're going to look at Acts from verse 17 of chapter five. The story of Ananias and Sapphira ended the first part of that chapter, and I want to continue in that chapter now this morning. So from the book of Acts chapter five and reading from verse 17.

But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. During the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison door and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council and all the senate of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they didn't find them in the prison.

So they returned and reported, we found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside. Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name.

Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted Him at the right hand as leader and saviour to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.

And I particularly want to concentrate on the next part. When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, held in honour by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put them outside for a little while. And he said to them, men of Israel, take care what you're about to do with these men. For before these days, Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men about 400 joined him.

He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail.

But if it's of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God. So they took his advice. And when they called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name.

And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, what do we do with this fellow called Gamaliel? Is he a hero or is he a villain? On the internet, you can find sermons that applaud Gamaliel's advice. They say, here he is giving some wise advice that saves the apostles, and this man's not even a Christian.

What a hero. On the internet, you'll also find sermons that lament Gamaliel's advice. They say, this is the typical talk of someone who doesn't want to decide for or against Jesus. And so Gamaliel is like so many people today who just want to sit on the fence. So what are we going to do with Gamaliel this morning, friends?

Luke quite deliberately included this conversation in the meeting of the Jewish council. He didn't have to do that, did he, when you think about it. He could have summed it up in a few words. He could have said something like, well, the council was divided over whether or not to kill the apostles, and those who were against killing them, they won the day, and so the apostles were led off with a beating. Luke doesn't do that.

Instead, he gives us six verses telling us about Gamaliel, a detailed report of his advice to what's called the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council. Because you see, friends, Luke wants to teach us something important. And I believe that Luke wants us to understand that Gamaliel is a pragmatist. Now I can imagine some of you saying, what's a pragmatist? Well, it's somebody who looks at things only purely from a practical point of view. Let me give you an example, and it's a warning.

It's an R-rated example. That's a rather extreme one, but I think you'll get the point. There's two elderly ladies who meet in a laundromat and they haven't seen each other for quite some time. And after inquiring about each other's health, one asked the other, and so how's your husband doing? And she said, oh, Ted, he died some weeks ago. He went out in the garden to dig up a cabbage for dinner.

And he had a heart attack, and he dropped dead right there in the middle of his veggie patch. And the other lady said, oh, dear. I'm so sorry to hear that. So what did you do? And she said, I opened a can of peas.

Get the picture, congregation. This lady is an extreme pragmatist. Just the practical considerations are the only thing that she's interested in. So let's this morning consider Gamaliel the pragmatist and see how God uses even the advice of a pragmatist. The story begins in verse 33, as I highlighted, with a very, very angry Sanhedrin, the Jewish council.

This is actually the third time the Jewish leaders have attempted to halt the spread of the Christian faith. First time was when the layman was healed back in Acts chapter three, and so in Acts chapter four, the rulers and the teachers call Peter and John in, and they tell them to stop preaching Christ. The apostles refuse, and they say we must obey God rather than man, and so they continued to spread the good news about Jesus wherever it was possible. Now here in Acts five, we're told about the arrest of the apostles and how they're put in jail, and the opposition makes a second attempt to squelch Christianity. The only problem is that God intervenes, and He intervenes miraculously and throws open the prison doors.

The score is now apostles two, religious leaders zero, zilch, nothing. And so things get really serious. The Jewish Supreme Council is called together, this Sanhedrin, a meeting of 70 key leaders from Israel. It was a gathering, by the way, that was dominated by the Sadducees. Now that's actually mentioned in our text.

You remember the Sadducees. There's an easy way to remember who the Sadducees were. They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in the resurrection, and that's why they were always sad, you see. Here, as the apostles again stated they must obey God rather than man, that council is furious.

And the upshot is that in their fury, they decide to put the apostles to death. Now into the middle of that emotional reaction comes this man Gamaliel, and he asked for attention. Gamaliel is a rabbi. He's a Jewish teacher. Maybe this morning his name sounds slightly familiar to you, and that shouldn't be surprising because later in Acts, Paul tells us that this man had been his teacher.

So Paul says, I sat at the feet of Gamaliel. In other words, Gamaliel was Paul's mentor. Now Luke tells us that this man in our text here, that this man was honoured by all the people. And one of the reasons for that was that Gamaliel was the grandson of a very famous rabbi called Hillel. And back two generations earlier, there had been two prominent rabbis in Judaism.

There was rabbi Shammai who was very, very strict on the interpretation of the law of Moses. And over against him, there was this other guy, Rabbi Hillel, who was much more lenient in applying the law. And now Hillel's grandson is a leading Jewish teacher in Jerusalem, and he's a Pharisee. Now picture this in your mind, congregation. This scene in the Sanhedrin. There are these two parties in Judaism, if you like, two sects.

And these two groups of people don't particularly like each other very much. They really don't get on well together. There's the Sadducees and they've got the numbers to control the council. And there are the Pharisees, they're in the minority, but they're led by this popular teacher and preacher, Gamaliel. And then we see something of the respect that this man is held in because he advises this Sadducee-dominated Sanhedrin and they actually listen to him.

In this way, he saves the apostles' lives. That's why many people today have a high regard for Gamaliel. He settles the council down, and the apostles are spared, and Christianity flourishes. And people say, what a marvellous contribution Gamaliel made to the cause of Jesus Christ and the gospel. Well, I want to examine Gamaliel's advice with you this morning, and there's certainly some wisdom.

I want to admit that there's some wisdom in his advice. But isn't that always the case, congregation, that in pragmatism, there's often some kind of appeal? It says if something works, it must be okay. And people like that kind of advice up to a point. It even makes sense. And so here are some things we can learn from Gamaliel.

I want to suggest three things this morning. First of all, Gamaliel suggests that they adopt a wait-and-see attitude, and isn't there wisdom in that? Wait and see how things develop. It's a thing that we need to hear sometimes when you're so angry that you see red. That's not a good time to make a decision.

You need to cool it, and that's in effect what Gamaliel is saying. Cool it, chaps. Settle down. And then he goes on and he relates two specific examples where time proved that things sorted themselves out. He tells them, therefore, leave these men alone.

Just wait and see how it all pans out. You can act now in anger, but later on you may come to regret it. Secondly, Gamaliel tells them that they need to learn from history. And that's true, isn't it, friends? We'd all want to say that.

There was a famous philosopher who once said the only lesson we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. And so we need to say, yes, we need to learn from history. And so Gamaliel mentions these two rebel leaders who gained a following, but the leaders were killed. And when those leaders were killed, the followers were dispersed and that ended the matter.

A history lesson. Right? If a movement's not from God, it's not going to last. If it's from man, it will fail. Thirdly, we could sum up Gamaliel's advice as a call for tolerance.

Now as soon as I say that, you'll say, well, that's especially valued in our society today. That kind of pragmatic advice is being offered all around us. We need to be tolerant. And that would be enough to make many people regard for many people today, Gamaliel a hero. Gamaliel even links his tolerance to his piety, to his respect for the actions of God.

He says, if something's from God, then you're not going to be able to stop it anyway. And then in fact, you may even find yourself one day fighting against God, so just be tolerant. Now in all of that advice, there's a certain amount of truth in Gamaliel's arguments. It's true that if you fight something that is of God, then you're going to find yourself fighting against God Himself. And many opponents of the Christian faith have discovered that.

Let me tell you about the classic example in the Bible. The apostle Paul, remember him? Thought he was doing God a favour by capturing Christians. Even went to Damascus to do that. But on the Damascus Road, Paul found that rather than fighting for God, he was actually fighting against the Lord God. The same time, there are elements in Gamaliel's argument that are just not true.

Let me ask you this. If you have to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, how long do you have to wait and see? Gamaliel suggests that if something's not from God, then it will fail. And if something is from God, it will succeed and that's true. But so often, friends, only in the long term.

And so often things of God have not seemed to be all that successful. Mission work has sometimes gone on for years without a single convert. I remember some time ago, someone was telling me about a pastor who began a new church plant in an area of the suburbs where there weren't any other churches, and for a long time, the only congregation was his wife and his kids. Or do you want to be reminded of Noah? I mean, he's called a preacher of righteousness.

But all those years in which he was building the ark, he was calling people to repentance. But there was never a single convert, and only he and his family entered the ark. So take a wait-and-see approach, and sometimes you've got to wait an awful long time to see God succeed. And let me point out, friends, that the reverse is also true. Human work can sometimes be very successful.

Even human work that goes against God. Yes. There have been times when movements that have been virtually satanic have prospered for a long time. Today in the world, there are still anti-Christian regimes. Do I have to mention North Korea?

Anti-Christian regimes that oppose God, but who do rather well. Things don't always fit in as neatly as Gamaliel would like us to believe. I have another problem with Gamaliel and that's his motivation and it's a little bit subtle in our text. It comes out in a small point of translation in verse 35. Many Bibles have something along these lines where he says, men of Israel consider carefully what you intend to do or take care.

Certainly captures the idea that he is warning them and strongly. The old King James version translated it this way. He says, men of Israel take heed to yourselves. In other words, what Gamaliel is doing is motivated by self-preservation. His advice is self-serving.

He's saying pay close attention to yourself. Think about what this is going to mean for you. Think about the implications for yourselves. Gamaliel wanted to avoid the leaders in the Sanhedrin getting themselves into trouble, and the trouble could have come from either of two sources. The trouble could have come from the direction of the common people.

Have a look at verse 26, a little bit earlier in the chapter. Says, the captain and the officers go out to bring in the apostles and then notice what follows. It says, they didn't use force because they feared that the people would stone them. See, at this point, the followers of Jesus are enjoying a tremendous degree of popularity with the masses. And so it makes sense that Gamaliel should say take heed to yourself.

You don't want to be stoned yourself by the populace. The other source from which trouble could come for the Sanhedrin was Rome. Keep in mind, Jerusalem is a city under control of the Romans and these leaders are accountable ultimately to Rome and killing the apostles could bring the anger of Rome on the necks of these leaders. Point is, congregation, and I want to stress this, pragmatism is so often self-motivated through our own practical advantage, for our advancement. At this point we need to ask whether pragmatism is all that serious.

Now okay, we've seen some of the problems, but isn't there still wise advice when all is said and done? And I'd say yes except for one thing and this is the most serious criticism that I've got of Gamaliel. Pragmatism is always concerned with practicalities and very rarely with truthfulness. Gamaliel said, if it's of God, it will succeed. If it's of man, it will fail.

So what's missing in the equation? What's the glaring omission? What does Gamaliel fail to ask? Never once does he encourage the Sanhedrin to ask the question, is this of man or is this of God? He suggests the only way he can figure it out is by adopting a tolerant wait-and-see attitude.

Wrong. You can figure it out from the scriptures. And that's the real problem with Gamaliel's pragmatism. It effectively sidelines the Bible. Now please remember that the Sanhedrin was the same body that had had Jesus executed.

These men, Gamaliel, had witnessed the death of Christ on the cross. They'd experienced the three hours of supernatural darkness. Maybe they'd even stood there and heard Jesus cry out, Father, forgive them for they know not what they're doing. They felt the earth tremble beneath them as the world's creator breathed His last. And then later, there had been the news of the resurrection and the case of the missing body.

Why didn't Gamaliel say, brothers, it's time we looked into this more deeply to see if it is of God. Let's do our homework. Let's do some research. Pragmatism so often fails, congregation, because it doesn't rest on the firm foundation of scripture. Let me just apply that to something that's been relevant to me over the years and that's the issue of baptism.

Problem is so often I've been asked to have the baby done. Someone comes into town and wants the baby done. Classic example back in Tasmania, there was a man, his wife came into town and he said my wife came in to have the hair done, I had to get the tractor done and we thought while we're in town we'd get the baby done. If you're like saying to him what do you want done to the baby, you know, but they wanted a christening as he calls it. That way, it's sorted, the child may get its name on the roll of a church. Pragmatism. Pragmatism says that might even be handy as a kind of a heavenly insurance policy for the little one.

And I better say people like that. No, we baptise believers and their children on the basis of scripture, not pragmatism. We accept the word of God and its teaching about the covenant, that the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off. Scripture trumps pragmatism in the life of the believer. This morning it's important, congregation, that we consider the outcome of Gamaliel's advice. And our text clearly spells out the consequences.

So what were they? Well, some of the consequences were very serious. It meant first of all that the Sanhedrin never came to grips with the reality of who Jesus really is. It meant that they missed out on thinking through the gospel and they remained in opposition. And the sad thing is that unless they changed, they perished in their unbelief.

And it's still a problem with pragmatists today. Don't want to go to the scriptures, but look purely at the practical aspects of Christianity. And unless people change, they're going to perish in their unbelief. It's been suggested that Gamaliel did later believe and was saved. The Roman Catholic church believes that he was converted and they've even declared Gamaliel a saint. They also have a tradition that later on it was Gamaliel and Nicodemus that buried the martyr Stephen.

Well, it's only a tradition and I want to say this morning I'm not convinced, although I wish it was true. Ultimately, of course, we've got to leave that question with the Lord, but let me tell you why from the information that we have, I am not optimistic. Gamaliel, friends, is a doubter. When you read carefully, have another read through it when you get home the words of our text, you find his argument is full of ifs and buts. There's no certainty in Gamaliel.

In fact, it even seems to me that he assumes that Jesus is still dead because he assures the Sanhedrin that when a movement is leaderless, it fizzles out. There's a subtle insinuation that Jesus is dead and the leader's gone and leaderless organisations are doomed. Now, of course, there's one positive consequence of Gamaliel's practical advice and that is that it did save the apostles from death. But I want to make an important comparison for a moment. In verse 33, it says the Sanhedrin was furious.

It's a very strong word in the original Greek text that comes from something being sawn in two. It's why some Bibles read that these leaders were cut to the heart or cut to the quick. In other words, a very, very deep-seated emotion of anger is literally tearing them apart. That word only occurs two times in the New Testament. First time's here in verse 33 of Acts 5.

But a couple of chapters later, we get exactly the same reaction from the Sanhedrin and that's when Stephen is preaching his sermon to them. And on that occasion, on that case, there is no pragmatic advice from Gamaliel and so Stephen dies the first martyr of the Christian faith. So there's no doubt in my mind that Gamaliel's speech saves the lives of the apostles on this occasion. Now okay they still get a beating and I assume that that's the Sanhedrin's way of expressing their frustration, maybe even saving face. And so we read the apostles were flogged.

Probably what was common in those days, 40 lashes less one. But the amazing thing is, friends, that the Christians did not see that in terms of defeat. Have a look at verse 41. Notice how it led the apostles to rejoice. What an amazing thing to do.

Flogged. And you respond by being glad. Glad because you've been counted worthy to suffer disgrace for Jesus. So thanks to Gamaliel, they live to rejoice in the Lord. Except I want to qualify that. Ultimately, it's not thanks to Gamaliel.

Ultimately, in Acts 5 and in our text this morning, it's not Gamaliel's weak words of wisdom that's the focus. Ultimately, the focus is on God's sovereign guiding of events. God makes things happen as people live by His word. The word drives and motivates us to act for our Lord, but you know our all-powerful and our all-wise God can even make things happen through pragmatism. Not that it's right, but God can use that.

Here the Lord uses Gamaliel's pragmatism to set His servants free so they can continue their work. Believe me, with just one application I need to make this morning in closing. Today I've offered you some criticism of Gamaliel's words. I think it's always the task of the church to evaluate things by the standard of scripture, and then not just some scripture but all scripture. Means that over the years I've sometimes had to be bold and courageous and tell people that they're wrong and I've done that at times also from the pulpit. I've pointed out the pragmatic and heretical views of some prosperity preachers.

Televangelists who tell you that your best life is now and that God wants you to be fabulously rich. That's pragmatism. Our lives and our churches need to be grounded in God's word. But I also need to keep in mind that God is sovereign and that God uses whom He wills. It's an old saying in Dutch that my mother often used.

Some of you who've got a Dutch background here may recall it, that God sometimes uses a crooked stick to hit a straight stroke. And that's true. Absolutely. We praise God for it. So that our God can even use pragmatism to serve the gospel, even a Gamaliel to accomplish His purpose, even pragmatic prosperity preachers.

But the purpose that God has in mind is that Jesus may be worshipped and that we as His people may continue to make disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion prayer. Forgive us, heavenly Father, that too often in our Christian life we make pragmatic decisions, decisions that are not founded upon the truths of your word. We pray that you would forgive us and help us, Father, to test everything that we do against the truths that you've revealed to us in your most holy word. We pray that to forces of congregation here at church, help us, Father, to be guided always by that living word that you've given to us and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.