The book Acts of the Apostles reports that after the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles on the day of Pentecost, they began to perform many miracles.

However, the text says that while many began to believe in the Lord Jesus, another group, although it liked everything it saw and heard, did not make a decision or position themselves upon their faith.

You can read about it in Acts 5:

And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. Acts 5:12-13

As it always happened, the gospel divides people between those who believe and those who do not. The apostles’ preaching led many to convert and unite with the multitude of those who believed. The church then grew very quickly because of what people heard and saw.

However, there was another crowd that did not dare to join them for fear of suffering persecution since this whole movement was a threat to the Jewish religion and also to the Romans, who dominated the region at that time. So, becoming a Christian automatically meant conquering the two greatest enemies of your life.

Today, it has become trending to be evangelical. Still, those who converted paid a very high price at that time because they became a social leper and were excluded from society.

So, even though the people had the apostles in high esteem, they did not convert because they did not want to go through all the suffering that Christians went through.

And today is no different. How many people admire the work of the true disciples of the Lord Jesus? Maybe you are an admirer. You like to listen to the preaching, to hear the Word, and you hold us in high esteem, but you do not get involved, do not convert, and do not assume your faith because assuming would bring a great cost to you.

You start to think, “What will people think? I criticised so much that I made so many jokes about believers. Now, am I going to convert? It’s better to leave things as they are.”

But pay attention: being an admirer of our work does not benefit your life. People who esteemed the Christians will not enter heaven. There, only a Christian will come in! So, it’s no use having admiration. You have to take action, which is to assume your faith in the Lord Jesus, change your life in what this faith will require you to change and pay the price of people who may criticise you.

Salvation is free, but the faith that obtains it freely has a cost. The Christians of the primitive church paid a very high price for this free Salvation.

The trending word today is empathy. However, the Bible does not teach us to have empathy; it goes further and teaches us to have compassion, which is to do something about people’s suffering. Compassion moves you, while empathy only makes you feel good.

Faith needs action. People who truly converted at the time of the primitive church knew the price they had to pay and were ready. But others, despite admiring them, remained from afar.

The question is: what group are you in?

Check out the entire message in the video above.