[Darris McNeely] One of my favorite movie lines, people should know when they're beaten,
when they're defeated. Sometimes we have to bring that down to our level in situations
we get into and know where to press, where to push, where to retreat, where to back down,
and have the wisdom to discern at the times that these pop up in our lives. There's a story
from the book of Acts Chapter 5 of the Jews in Jerusalem railing against the church, James, and
Peter, and John, and their efforts of preaching the gospel and the works that they were doing,
they kept bringing these men before their council, their Jewish council and forbidding them to preach
in the name of Christ. And on one occasion, they were about ready to take a step beyond
probably and stone maybe even to the point of death, when a wise man in their midst, Gamaliel
stands up and says, "Let's put everybody out, let's have a private closed talk."
And the story in Acts Chapter 5 here where Gamaliel, who was a wise Pharisaic teacher of
the law in Jerusalem, the first century. In fact, he was the one who taught the apostle Paul. But
he stands up in this council of the Jews and he relates two other stories that had taken place of
men who had risen up in Judea, in their period and their time, and their work and efforts to
rally the Jews, throw off the yolk of Rome came to nothing. And Gamaliel says this, he says,
"I say to you, keep away from these men." And he's speaking of the apostles. "Let them alone,
for if this plan or this work is of men it will come to nothing". Just like a lot of other
works of messiahs, so-called messiahs, and other zealot-type leaders had done, it came to nothing.
And he said that's the possibility here. And so, don't tarnish yourself. Don't bloody your
hands here. Verse 39 though, he says, "But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it;
lest you even be found to fight against God." And so Gamaliel had the wisdom to stand up and say,
it could go both ways, men. This could be nothing but their own work of men, and you're gonna just
bring shame upon yourself because there is a level of popularity for these men among the people.
But he said, even that if it's of God, you're gonna be fighting against God.
And that's the story. They agreed with him and they called for the apostles, they beat them
and commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Well, you know,
the rest of the story in Acts. They didn't stop. They continued on, the church continued to grow.
These Jewish leaders were blinded by their hatred for what had happened. They were blinded by their
guilt for engineering the death of Jesus Christ. There were a lot of currents working
there and they could not even acknowledge the good things that the apostles were doing of healings,
and the benefit to people of their message. And they could certainly not
recognize that Jesus was the Messiah and they were trying to stamp it out
from their blindness and their antagonism toward what was going on. And they were actually fighting
blindly. And we know from the story and the fruits that they actually were fighting against God.
But to bring it back down to our level, there's a lesson for us to take from
Gamaliel, knowing you're beaten, knowing you might be losing, knowing when to press your
point even at times when you might be right, could be what we call a pyrrhic victory. You're
going to lose more than you actually gain even if you do win. And even sometimes the person,
the situation that we might be fighting against, it might be of God. And God's hand might be there.
And so the better part of wisdom is to back out and let the fruits show exactly what's taking
place. Gamaliel's act of wisdom here comes down to us and has a number of applications
in our own life. It's important to remember these stories. Act in wisdom and not in anger.
That's BT daily. Join us next time.