I haven’t read Nick Vujicic’s book Unstoppable: The Incredible Power of Faith in Action, the self-told story of a man born with no arms or legs. As a Christian he managed to overcome that monumental burden, become a motivational speaker, get married, have children and be a witness, as his book title suggests, to the power of faith in Jesus.
I came upon Vujicic’s book because what struck me in our text for this Sunday, Acts 5:17-42, is the refrain of Jewish authorities attempting to stop the apostles from talking about Jesus and their consistent refusal to desist, especially Peter in the familiar verse 29, “We must obey God rather than human beings!” [TNIV]. So “Unstoppable” became the sermon title. I then remembered to 2010 train film by that name with Denzel Washington and then found references to Vujicic’s life and book on-line.
Always a little skeptical of “victorious-Christian-life” stories (see some comments in last Sunday’s sermon), I read the negative reviews of Unstoppable by Vujicic and found that several readers thought he focused a little too strongly on himself and his own achievements in overcoming huge disabilities. Not having read the book and wanting to exceptionally charitable to a man who holds to faith as strongly as he does, I will still say that if those critical reviews of Vujicic’s writing are at all accurate, it reflects a significant difference from the unstoppable witness of Peter and the other apostles.
Acts 5 does not really give us the sense that those first witnesses to Jesus were unstoppable. In fact, both Acts and history record that many of them were stopped cold by persecution and martyrdom. Their witness ended when their lives were ended. What was actually unstoppable was was the Holy Spirit given to them through the grace of Jesus Christ. Though the apostles, like Nick Vujicic, exhibited great courage, it was their Lord and Savior who could not be stopped.
Critics of Vujicic complained that his book was too much focused on himself. The apostles had very little to say about themselves and a great deal to say about Jesus. Their messages constantly repeated what Peter said again in verse 30, that though He was crucified by the authorities, that did not stop Him. God raised Him from the dead and His life and power are going forward in this world.
Again, I want to be very charitable to Vujicic and I imagine in conversation he would be the first to attribute his victories and success to Jesus. I just want that to be the lesson we consistently hear in stories like his and in biblical stories like today’s text. Jesus is the overcoming, unstoppable force, and as we trust in Him we are simply hopping aboard that mighty Train which roars down through the ages carrying our world into the kingdom of God.