SCRIPTURE PASSAGE
Acts 5:1-42
LEADER’S NOTE
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OVERVIEW
If you want to move people in a certain direction, it requires some type of power. Physical power can move people by reward or punishment. Some prefer to draw followers by communicating a goal that motivates followers to move on their own. Another method treats people like sheep and simply gets one person to move and the rest follow. We call that peer pressure, also known as “everybody’s doing it!”
Early in life most children follow their parents—their primary caregivers. Unable to talk or walk from birth, their dependency appears obvious. But as children grow and develop, they become increasingly independent of their parents. When children go to school, their social unit expands beyond more than just their family. Church is another broader social unit. By adolescence, two major physical changes initiate broad ramifications for the rest of a person’s life.
The first is the onset of puberty, which begins the challenge of what a person will do with their sexuality. This is not simply an adolescent matter. It begins in adolescence, but it will continue for the rest of your life. You can see in Bible examples and current-day news and observations about how sexuality remains a potent factor from adolescence throughout life.
The second major change relates to our topic for this Sabbath. A teen’s left and right hemispheres of their brain make new connections in the middle of their head (corpus callosum), which enables a person to think in ways they couldn’t previously think. You start asking “Why?” not like a two-year-old seeking attention, but because you really want to know. You may have been told previously, but now you can understand in a whole new way, so you need to be “re-treaded” on what you discovered earlier in life because you can now think in a new way.
This is why a person who grew up loving Jesus still needs to make a personal choice to follow Jesus in their teen years when they’re able to think in new ways. Their previous decision and desire are valid, but with a new capability to think, a new choice must be made. Perhaps the teens in your Youth Sabbath School need to make that decision today.
With this change, you can now consider what other people think. Previously you only thought about yourself, naturally. Now that you realize that other people have their own thoughts, what do you suppose they are thinking about? They are probably thinking about YOU, right?! Psychologist David Elkind labeled this an “imaginary audience.”
For example, when you come from the cafeteria line and need a place to sit, you might not see a place right away, so you pause. Then you realize, “Everybody is looking at me right now, and it looks like I have no friends because there’s no place for me to sit.” You spot an open seat, but you quickly notice who else is sitting there. If you were to sit with that person, what would other people think about you? You can’t take that risk. So finally you find a spot and just fit in. Ideally, the most popular person in the cafeteria would shout out your name and ask you to come sit with them. After you finish eating, you realize that you never once looked back at the cafeteria line to see whether or not other people faced the same crisis point as you—having your food and then needing to find a seat while “everybody is looking at them.” That’s the imaginary audience.
From this point forward, you will know what “peer pressure” is—the sense that the people like you or the people that matter to you do things a certain way, so you should do that, too. Or they don’t do things a certain way, so you don’t want to do it that way either. Teens demonstrate this by the way they dress—often different than their previous role models (parents) and now the need to dress like fellow teens. This is why fashions change so often—young people have to come up with their own “peer uniform” (and clothing businesses want to keep selling stuff). This is why musical styles for teens are often the “new sound.” The same is true for hairstyles.
With a new ability to understand that other people are thinking about you, you want them to think positively about you. So you’re willing to make some decisions to fit in with others—your new peer group.
Some teens no longer have an interest in Youth Sabbath School because their peers no longer think it’s the thing to do. They stop participating because of peer pressure. Other teens choose Youth Sabbath School, and their influence gets labeled as “positive peer pressure.”
While this starts in adolescence, it will continue for the rest of your life! Instead of being called “peer pressure,” it gets called “social pressure” or society. While you get to practice this in your adolescence, you will get to deal with it for the rest of your lives.
Today’s Scripture passage in Acts 5 gives a variety of examples of peer pressure and societal pressure, and how different people responded to it. This can help us, as followers of Jesus, to know how to relate to peer pressure.
Lead or Follow?
Would you rather follow a leader who is smart, powerful, or kind?
Read Acts 5:1-42.
1. Why did Ananias lie about the cost of the couple’s land sale and gift?
- He figured it was better to keep some in savings in case he needed it.
- He wanted to keep pace with the gift Barnabas made (Acts 4:36-37).
- Making a big donation would give him status among the believers.
- The church’s need was so great he wanted to respond at least some.
- The sale of the land yielded a greater amount than they expected.
- Nobody would find out he was lying.
- It was his money, so he could do whatever he wanted with it.
- Everybody lies some of the time, don’t they?
- Other.
2. Why did Sapphira lie about the amount?
- She and her husband had privately agreed to adjust their gift.
- She had second thoughts about their rash decision to give it all.
- She had no idea her husband had just died for lying.
- It was her husband’s idea.
- The early church didn’t really need all of the money.
- She wasn’t going to be manipulated by peer pressure.
- The apostles should have been grateful for the gift; any gift.
- It’s not that big of a deal.
- Other.
3. How would you react to the sudden death of this couple?
- I’m never going to lie again.
- I’m never going to donate again.
- God is mean and vengeful.
- Peter is mean and vengeful.
- I would have some questions.
- I would have some fears.
- Being part of the church is much more serious than I realized.
- Why did they do it?
- Other.
- What was happening at Solomon’s Porch/Colonnade (vs. 12)?
- Nothing.
- Something.
- This was where believers in Christ’s resurrection hung out.
- Positive peer pressure.
- Encouragement for new believers.
- It became the happening place.
- It challenged the existing power structures.
- The Holy Spirit kept being poured out on people who met there.
- Other.
5. Why didn’t Peter give in to the pressure the religious leaders used?
- The religious leaders didn’t have much power.
- Peter never gave in to peer pressure (um, see Mark 14:66-72).
- After an angel escorts you from prison, you obey the angel.
- The power of God kept Peter rooted.
- The power of fellow believers kept Peter rooted.
- Peter cared more about what God thought of him.
- He knew the religious leaders were just jealous.
- Jesus had prepared Peter for this (Luke 21:12-15).
- Other.
6. How was Gamaliel able to defuse the crisis?
- He was a very wise guy.
- Gamaliel used his status and reputation to steer the crisis a new way.
- He removed the apostles from the council chamber.
- God placed Gamaliel where he was for this particular time.
- He promised this would end very soon.
- He gave both sides what they wanted.
- He kept intact the belief that the death of Jesus would end this thing.
- Other.
7. When it comes to spiritual things, are you more likely to lead a group, follow a group, or a combination of both?
8. What gave the disciples such courage when they faced such pressure? When or how does God give you courage?
SUMMARY
Acts 5 provides multiple examples of peer pressure in New Testament times. Those same pressures exist today. We can see how peer pressure operates in negative ways and also in positive ways. We also see that having a strong anchor point in Christ and an active Holy Spirit in one’s life transcends the peer pressure most people feel. This challenges us to purposely place our anchor in Jesus and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide our choices rather than simply going with the crowd or the expectations of others.
APPLICATION
The applications from Scripture for how to relate to peer pressure might be obvious to you. If so, go ahead and apply them. If you’d like to prime the pump for some ideas, check out three applications below for this week’s Relational Bible Study on Acts 5 and peer pressure.
- WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
If you’re a teen, you’re probably now able to think about what others think about you. What DO others think about you? How do you know? Is it just a guess?
- Take inventory of the different groups you are part of, such as your family, friends, church, school, maybe work, or just people you hang out with in person or online.
- Take the one-page sheet “Where Are You Going?” and identify different groups of which you are a part.
- Then make an honest assessment of whether that group influences you toward God, toward others, or toward yourself. The acronym JOY (Jesus, Others, You) matches the greatest commandment to love the Lord with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28-31).
- Then ask yourself what changes you may want to make to have certain circles influence you more and other circles influence you less.
- Then act on that, asking the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom and courage to follow through. And celebrate the good groups where God has already placed you.
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- SOLOMON’S PORCH—A PLACE FOR YOU
The early Christians met in the temple at a place called “Solomon’s Porch” or “Solomon’s Colonnade.” It was a hangout spot for them to bond together with God through Scripture, prayer, and community.
- If you don’t have a place like that, start one. You need only one other person to join you.
- Ask your Youth Sabbath School teacher or leader to help you start it. It could meet at a person’s house on Friday evenings or at the church on a Sabbath afternoon, or come up with your own time and place.
- If you need additional material for Bible study beyond the Cornerstone Connections, go online to http://RelationalBibleStudies.com.
- START SOMETHING
Use peer pressure for good! These kinds of things are happening all the time. You can initiate it. Sometimes it only takes one or two people to shape peer pressure in a positive way.
- One teacher and one student influenced an entire high school one year by writing anonymous notes of affirmation and shoving them through the vents in students’ lockers.
- When the students opened their lockers, there was that anonymous affirmation.
- Others started doing it on their own until most of the students were going out of their way to affirm one another.
- It influenced the campus culture for an entire school year.
- What could you do in your home, your church, or your next school year?
