Obedience to God: Lessons from Acts 5

When looking at the 5th chapter of Acts, Peter and the other apostles are arrested and accused of not following the religious leader’s instructions. Their response was ingenious, “We must obey God rather than human beings!” How can someone argue with that? Gamaliel, a Pharisee, agrees and persuades the Sanhedrin to release the apostles.

A Memory Verse

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:29 (WEB)

As I live my life, I must consider who I choose to obey. As a child, I obeyed my parents and teachers, but now that I am an adult, the possibilities are endless. In the end, it is God’s commands that are most important.

There are several areas of life where it is tempting to put others ideas before God’s commands. In the workplace, we might be asked to do slightly unscrupulous things in order to bring in more profit. In education, we might be urged to accept test answers from another student who is only trying to help. In political life, we might have an inclination to stretch the truth a bit to destroy another opponent.

Even in our family life, there are many difficulties and temptations. We might be enticed to set church aside to allow our children to participate on a particular sports team. A friend might tell us that it isn’t that big of a deal to tell a small lie to our spouse. When our parents hurt us with careless words or actions, we might listen to the voice telling us not to forgive them.

Each of these acts is rebellion against God and places the words and ideas of other humans above the words of God. Advice from our friends, family, and those with authority over us can be very beneficial, but we do need to test it against the words of God. Any time we receive counsel to do something that contradicts the teaching of the Bible or our own conscience, we should tread carefully and think twice.

Consider how each of these might help a person follow the will of God and make wise decisions in this matter: reading the Bible, praying, going to church, attending a Bible study, interacting with other Christians, and analyzing your motivations.

Reflection Questions

Have you ever been asked to do something that you knew was wrong? How did you respond?
How can you know what God wants you to do in a particular situation? Brainstorm some different methods of discerning this.
When you know that the advice you are receiving is against God, how can you respond in a manner pleasing to God? Consider various sources of advice and how the answer to this question might change for each: family, friends, a boss, the government, a religious leader, etc.

Reflective Prayer

Use this memory verse to pray using the ACTS method: Adoration, Confession, Thankfulness, Supplication

Adoration: Praise God. Does this verse bring any specific characteristics of God to mind?
Confession: Tell God that you are sorry for specific sins. Does this verse bring any specific sins to mind?
Thankfulness: Show gratitude towards God. Does anything from this verse inspire gratitude?
Supplication: Make requests for yourself and for others. Does anything from this verse inspire a prayer?

If helpful, you can use a prayer journal template.