Christian Boldness
Christian Boldness
Acts 1-22; 29-31
Do you ever find yourself wishing you had the courage to say what you really mean? Instead of toning down what you mean, saying what you think deep in your gut without censoring or sanitizing it to make it more palatable for people. Like when your wife is trying on something new to wear and says to you, “Honey, does this make me look fat?” Well…okay, maybe you shouldn’t be totally honest about that one! But what about when people say things like, “Anyone stupid enough to believe in that Jesus stuff is just ignorant and mindless.” Are we, by our silence, choosing to agree with people when they deride our faith? Or are we prepared with a truthful response that is neither vindictive nor weak-kneed, because of the boldness of Christ in us by way of his Holy Spirit?
Truth be known, I hear people say things that are silly or things that I disagree with and instead of just saying, “You know, I really disagree with that,” I say things like, “Well, I’m sure you’ve come to that conclusion for good reasons, but what if we look at it this way.” The reality is, sometimes people do say some really ridiculous things and maybe we should just be a little bolder in speaking the truth. But we don’t, because somewhere in the course of life we’ve learned the lesson that people don’t really want to be told what’s true, they want others either to agree with them or tell them what they want to hear.
Imagine for a moment, if Peter and John would have adopted our usual approach in their conflict with the Sanhedrin. What if they would have said, “You know, you’re right! We will NEVER speak the name of Jesus again!” The entire course of Christian history might have changed forever. In fact, we probably wouldn’t be together this morning or listening to this message because there wouldn’t be a church.
Our world of tolerance, which is simply a code word for blanket acceptance of people and their behavior, has left us with a church that no longer has the courage to speak the truth to the world. We are often better observed by the world being gutless, not gutsy and dangerous. Now, I’m not advocating that we all try to develop a mean streak, because that isn’t Christian boldness at all. But I am advocating that we embrace and make every attempt to embody the boldness that belongs to us in Christ.
Thankfully, Peter and John were empowered with the boldness of Christ as they stood up to the bullying tactics and threats of the religious council that day in court. They modeled for us the kind of courage and boldness that should characterize followers of Jesus Christ. They weren’t scared by the threats because they weren’t confronting their accusers in their flesh. Their boldness was a gift of the Holy Spirit and they refused to back down from speaking what they had seen and heard of Jesus.
Essentially, Peter and John were in trouble because the religious leaders of the day thought they got rid of Jesus, once and for all, when Pilate had him crucified. Now, all of a sudden, these two show up claiming to have healed a man by the power and authority of Jesus Christ. The Sanhedrin quickly caught wind of this healing and of Peter and John’s bold use of the name of Jesus because this miracle became the talk of the town.
Here’s your history lesson for the morning. The Sanhedrin was the ruling authority over matters of faith in the Jewish community. The buck stopped with them when it came to dealing with religious disputes. The threat of this Jesus talk spreading through the community again had them nervous and so they were convinced they had to do something to stop it. So they brought Peter and John into the council chambers, issued a stern public warning that they, or anyone else for that matter, must never speak the name of Jesus again.
Despite the warning, Peter and John could not stop speaking the name of Jesus, because that was their only option. He was the source of their authority and it was he who empowered them to boldly carry out the ministry to which they were charged. Their boldness in Christ was a gift they specifically prayed to receive and they responded by giving God their obedience and devotion first. They would not be threatened out of obedience to God no matter how stern the demand.
If we are going to embrace boldness in our Christian journey there are several important lessons we can learn from Peter and John’s example. First, the courage they embodied in carrying out the ministry to which they were called shows us the sign of boldness. The Bible tells us the religious leaders perceived that these were uneducated, ordinary men. They were astonished at their boldness and courage and concluded that they had been with Jesus.
When people look at us, do they come to the same conclusion? Do they see Jesus in what we say, how we act, in the courage we display when faced with persecution and difficulty? One of the signs of Christ is our lives is gutsy boldness. It means being people who say what we mean and mean what we say. It means our yes means yes and our no means no. It means people will know their honest questions will get honest answers. It means speaking the truth boldly because we have nothing to gain and everything to lose by toning it down and making it easier to swallow.
We speak the truth with boldness because we love them and they, like us, deserve to know the truth. This doesn’t give us an excuse to abuse people with our words or to make them feel guilty and ashamed. If the words we speak boldly are true and if our motive is genuinely love the result will be authentic transformation.
Do you know, loving Jesus and loving people with this kind of boldness is going to make you dangerous. You won’t get a reputation for being a soothsayer. People probably won’t come to you as often looking for an easy word because they know you’ll give them the truth. Being a disciple of Christ isn’t a safe thing. Every real disciple; every saint whose story is still being told had a razor sharp edge to them, not because they were harsh and unloving, but because they spoke the truth of what they had seen and heard of Jesus empowered by his boldness.
Peter and John stood out, not because of their education or pedigree, but because of their guts. People were attracted to the truthfulness of their message and it was opening their eyes and hearts to the power of Christ. Because of Peter and John’s boldness lives were being healed and hearts were being set free forever. When the power of Christ is unleashed in our lives the evidence, the sign of that power will be the boldness by which we live.
Which leads to the next lesson we learn from Peter and John. The source of their boldness was not connected to the strength of their personalities or intellect; it was the result of the presence and power of Jesus Christ alive in their hearts. Lest we not forget, the Peter who boldly confronted the Sanhedrin that day in court was the same Peter found looking for a place to hide just a few moments after Christ’s crucifixion, denying that he’d ever known him.
The only answer for the boldness evident in Peter and John is that Jesus Christ was its source. When the chips were down, Peter proved that he lacked the courage to stand up for the truth of what he believed. Only when he found confidence in who he was in Christ was his faith able to stand up to the fierce heat of persecution he was facing.
Their boldness reminds me of a quote from the founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley. Wesley said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the Kingdom of Heaven upon the Earth.” It would have been so easy for Peter and John to look for a way out or to go into hiding to avoid the threats of the Sanhedrin. But they didn’t. They stood toe to toe with their accusers because their boldness emerged from a source that could not fail them: Jesus Christ.
Their own human courage would have failed them and they would have caved under the pressure. But by operating in the boldness of Christ the early church was established and the Kingdom continues to advance today. When Jesus told Simon, who he renamed Peter, that he would be the rock upon which he would build his church he also promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
Once upon a time, there lived a man named Clarence who had a pet frog named Felix. Clarence lived a modestly comfortable existence on what he earned working at the Wal-Mart, but he always dreamed of being rich.
"Felix!" he exclaimed one day, "We’re going to be rich! I’m going to teach you how to fly!"
Felix, of course, was terrified at the prospect: "I can’t fly, you idiot...
I’m a frog, not a canary!"
Clarence, disappointed at the initial reaction, told Felix: "That negative attitude of yours could be a real problem. I’m sending you to class."
So Felix went to a three day class and learned about problem solving, time management, and effective communication.... but nothing about flying.
On the first day of "flying lessons", Clarence could barely control his excitement (and Felix could barely control his bladder). Clarence explained that their apartment had 15 floors, and each day Felix would jump out of a window starting with the first floor eventually getting to the top floor.
After each jump, Felix would analyze how well he flew, isolate on the most effective flying techniques, and implement the improved process for the next flight. By the time they reached the top floor, Felix would surely be able to fly.
Felix pleaded for his life, but it fell on deaf ears. "He just doesn’t understand how important this is..." thought Clarence, "but I won’t let nay-sayers get in my way."
So, with that, Clarence opened the window and threw Felix out (who landed with a thud).
Next day (poised for his second flying lesson) Felix again begged not to be thrown out of the window. With that, Clarence opened his pocket guide to Managing More Effectively and showed Felix the part about how one must always expect resistance when implementing new programs.
And with that, he threw Felix out the window.(THUD)
On the third day (at the third floor) Felix tried a different ploy: stalling, he asked for a delay in the "project" until better weather would make flying conditions more favorable.
But Clarence was ready for him: he produced a timeline and pointed to the third milestone and asked, "You don’t want to slip the schedule do you?"
From his training, Felix knew that not jumping today would mean that he would have to jump TWICE tomorrow.... so he just said: "OK. Let’s go." And out the window he went.
Now this is not to say that Felix wasn’t trying his best. On the fifth day he flapped his feet madly in a vain attempt to fly. On the sixth day he tied a small red cape around his neck and tried to think "Superman" thoughts.
But try as he might, he couldn’t fly.
By the seventh day, Felix (accepting his fate) no longer begged for mercy.... he simply looked at Clarence and said: "You know you’re killing me, don’t you?"
Clarence pointed out that Felix’s performance so far had been less than exemplary, failing to meet any of the milestone goals he had set for him.
With that, Felix said quietly: "Shut up and open the window," and he leaped out, taking careful aim on the large jagged rock by the corner of the building.
And Felix went to that great lily pad in the sky.
Clarence was extremely upset, as his project had failed to meet a single goal that he set out to accomplish. Felix had not only failed to fly, he didn’t even learn how to steer his flight as he fell like a sack of cement.... nor did he improve his productivity when Clarence had told him to "Fall smarter, not harder."
The only thing left for Clarence to do was to analyze the process and try to determine where it had gone wrong.
After much thought, Clarence smiled and said:
"Next time...... I’m getting a smarter frog!"
p.s. Don’t you think Clarence should have noticed the frog could TALK???
Like Clarence, deciding he would teach Felix how to fly, we can’t just DECIDE to be bold. Our will to be bold will result in a boldness that will disintegrate with every attempt. We must learn to trust Jesus to empower us with the boldness necessary to stand our ground no matter what difficulty we’re facing. True boldness is born in our hearts when we realize just how much he loves us and when we learn to accept that we’re his and nothing can change that.
What is the answer to the boldness we need to live as Christ’s disciples? There’s a story about a Sunday-School teacher with a class full of little boys that should help us discover the answer to the boldness we seek. She posed a question to the boys saying, “What’s furry, gathers nuts, and lives in trees? The little boys thought for a moment and then she asked Tommy if he had an answer. “Well,” he said, “it sounds a lot like a squirrel, but its gotta’ be Jesus, ‘cause he’s the answer to everything around here!” Tommy was right. Jesus is the answer to the lack of boldness in our lives as disciples and he is the source out of which true boldness must flow into our hearts.
Let’s return to our text for a moment. As Peter and John were being questioned in front of the Sanhedrin they were asked to leave the council chambers so the leaders could discuss the case. Embarrassed that Peter and John weren’t running scared by their accusations and tactics, they wrestled with the question of what to do with them.
They knew popular opinion was against them doing anything harsh, but they knew they had to do something to keep news of the miracle healing from spreading too widely. The Sanhedrin’s reputation as authorities in the community was at stake here. Calling them in again, they issued this warning, commanding them, “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18, NIV).
The final lesson we learn from this text comes from Peter and John’s response to the Sanhedrin’s warning. “19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20, NIV). The substance of their boldness was evident in their courageous defense of the truth of Christ. Like Peter and John, once we have been liberated to see the truth of Christ we can’t un-see it. When our boldness is in Christ it is founded in an unshakable truth giving substance to our faith.
For Peter and John, Jesus was the substance of their teaching and authority. It was Christ they preached and did so under the authority of the Holy Spirit. Since the substance of their message was Christ, so was Christ the stuff of their boldness. If they were preaching a man-made message, if they were pulling together the most popular philosophies of the day and teaching it in the public square, their message would have been without substance and they would have been unwilling to place their lives at risk to see that message spread.
The recent movie Big Fish is a fanciful story about a man from a rural town in Alabama who loves to tell stories as a way of entertaining his young son at bedtime.
One of Edward’s stories tells of a time when a giant invades Ashton, creating a panic among the townspeople. The residents fear for their lives as the monster eats their livestock and wreaks havoc in the town. Because Edward had an experience as a boy that allowed him to see he wouldn’t die until he was advanced in years, he volunteers to confront the giant on behalf of the town.
The scene opens with the town gathered around the mayor in the city square. The mayor motions for quiet as he speaks to the angry crowd.
"Calm down! Just calm down!"
One person protests, "Mr. Mayor, he ate an entire cornfield."
A little girl adds, "He ate my dog."
A third person pipes up, "If you’re not going to stop him, Mayor, we will."
The mayor responds, "I won’t have mob violence in this town. Has someone tried talking to him?"
"You can’t reason with him," another resident insists.
"He’s a monster!" still another chimes in.
A voice can be heard way back on the edge of the crowd. "I’ll do it!" Edward Bloom states confidently as he walks through the parting crowd toward the mayor. "I’ll talk to him and see if I can get him to move on."
The mayor replies, "Son, that creature could crush you without trying."
Edward counters, "Trust me. He’ll have to try."
We then see Edward walking toward a riverbank cave outside of town. He calls out to the giant, introducing himself. The giant repeatedly tells Edward to go away. But Edward persists in wanting to talk. At last, a shaggy-haired, ten-foot-tall giant appears. Edward bravely throws rocks at the intimidating creature.
We hear him explain in a voice over why he is willing to face danger: Armed with the foreknowledge of my own death, I knew the giant couldn’t kill me. All the same I preferred to keep my bones unbroken.
After boldly challenging the giant, Edward is able to befriend him, bringing peace to the town.
As believers, there are many giants we must face and unless Jesus is the substance, the stuff of our boldness, it will be elbows and heels all the way to the nearest hiding spot. But when Jesus is the substance of our boldness there isn’t a giant out there who can scare us off. And who knows, maybe we’ll befriend some giants in the process.
The key to unlocking the boldness of Christ in our lives is the same for us as it was for Peter and John and the other early believers: pray for it. The believers continued to pray for courage to face persecution. The Bible says, “31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31, NIV). The Sanhedrin’s hope that their warning would derail the spread of the gospel only seemed to backfire on them. Instead of discouraging the church, their efforts bolstered the community’s dependence on Christ and empowered them to pray for boldness in sharing the message of Christ.
Courage, it would seem, came no more easily to these earlier followers of Christ than it does for us. Peter and John had indeed shown great boldness before the Sanhedrin, but to maintain their courage they were absolutely dependant upon the Holy Spirit whose gift their boldness was. And they would need it, and we still need it today!
Acts 1-22; 29-31
Do you ever find yourself wishing you had the courage to say what you really mean? Instead of toning down what you mean, saying what you think deep in your gut without censoring or sanitizing it to make it more palatable for people. Like when your wife is trying on something new to wear and says to you, “Honey, does this make me look fat?” Well…okay, maybe you shouldn’t be totally honest about that one! But what about when people say things like, “Anyone stupid enough to believe in that Jesus stuff is just ignorant and mindless.” Are we, by our silence, choosing to agree with people when they deride our faith? Or are we prepared with a truthful response that is neither vindictive nor weak-kneed, because of the boldness of Christ in us by way of his Holy Spirit?
Truth be known, I hear people say things that are silly or things that I disagree with and instead of just saying, “You know, I really disagree with that,” I say things like, “Well, I’m sure you’ve come to that conclusion for good reasons, but what if we look at it this way.” The reality is, sometimes people do say some really ridiculous things and maybe we should just be a little bolder in speaking the truth. But we don’t, because somewhere in the course of life we’ve learned the lesson that people don’t really want to be told what’s true, they want others either to agree with them or tell them what they want to hear.
Imagine for a moment, if Peter and John would have adopted our usual approach in their conflict with the Sanhedrin. What if they would have said, “You know, you’re right! We will NEVER speak the name of Jesus again!” The entire course of Christian history might have changed forever. In fact, we probably wouldn’t be together this morning or listening to this message because there wouldn’t be a church.
Our world of tolerance, which is simply a code word for blanket acceptance of people and their behavior, has left us with a church that no longer has the courage to speak the truth to the world. We are often better observed by the world being gutless, not gutsy and dangerous. Now, I’m not advocating that we all try to develop a mean streak, because that isn’t Christian boldness at all. But I am advocating that we embrace and make every attempt to embody the boldness that belongs to us in Christ.
Thankfully, Peter and John were empowered with the boldness of Christ as they stood up to the bullying tactics and threats of the religious council that day in court. They modeled for us the kind of courage and boldness that should characterize followers of Jesus Christ. They weren’t scared by the threats because they weren’t confronting their accusers in their flesh. Their boldness was a gift of the Holy Spirit and they refused to back down from speaking what they had seen and heard of Jesus.
Essentially, Peter and John were in trouble because the religious leaders of the day thought they got rid of Jesus, once and for all, when Pilate had him crucified. Now, all of a sudden, these two show up claiming to have healed a man by the power and authority of Jesus Christ. The Sanhedrin quickly caught wind of this healing and of Peter and John’s bold use of the name of Jesus because this miracle became the talk of the town.
Here’s your history lesson for the morning. The Sanhedrin was the ruling authority over matters of faith in the Jewish community. The buck stopped with them when it came to dealing with religious disputes. The threat of this Jesus talk spreading through the community again had them nervous and so they were convinced they had to do something to stop it. So they brought Peter and John into the council chambers, issued a stern public warning that they, or anyone else for that matter, must never speak the name of Jesus again.
Despite the warning, Peter and John could not stop speaking the name of Jesus, because that was their only option. He was the source of their authority and it was he who empowered them to boldly carry out the ministry to which they were charged. Their boldness in Christ was a gift they specifically prayed to receive and they responded by giving God their obedience and devotion first. They would not be threatened out of obedience to God no matter how stern the demand.
If we are going to embrace boldness in our Christian journey there are several important lessons we can learn from Peter and John’s example. First, the courage they embodied in carrying out the ministry to which they were called shows us the sign of boldness. The Bible tells us the religious leaders perceived that these were uneducated, ordinary men. They were astonished at their boldness and courage and concluded that they had been with Jesus.
When people look at us, do they come to the same conclusion? Do they see Jesus in what we say, how we act, in the courage we display when faced with persecution and difficulty? One of the signs of Christ is our lives is gutsy boldness. It means being people who say what we mean and mean what we say. It means our yes means yes and our no means no. It means people will know their honest questions will get honest answers. It means speaking the truth boldly because we have nothing to gain and everything to lose by toning it down and making it easier to swallow.
We speak the truth with boldness because we love them and they, like us, deserve to know the truth. This doesn’t give us an excuse to abuse people with our words or to make them feel guilty and ashamed. If the words we speak boldly are true and if our motive is genuinely love the result will be authentic transformation.
Do you know, loving Jesus and loving people with this kind of boldness is going to make you dangerous. You won’t get a reputation for being a soothsayer. People probably won’t come to you as often looking for an easy word because they know you’ll give them the truth. Being a disciple of Christ isn’t a safe thing. Every real disciple; every saint whose story is still being told had a razor sharp edge to them, not because they were harsh and unloving, but because they spoke the truth of what they had seen and heard of Jesus empowered by his boldness.
Peter and John stood out, not because of their education or pedigree, but because of their guts. People were attracted to the truthfulness of their message and it was opening their eyes and hearts to the power of Christ. Because of Peter and John’s boldness lives were being healed and hearts were being set free forever. When the power of Christ is unleashed in our lives the evidence, the sign of that power will be the boldness by which we live.
Which leads to the next lesson we learn from Peter and John. The source of their boldness was not connected to the strength of their personalities or intellect; it was the result of the presence and power of Jesus Christ alive in their hearts. Lest we not forget, the Peter who boldly confronted the Sanhedrin that day in court was the same Peter found looking for a place to hide just a few moments after Christ’s crucifixion, denying that he’d ever known him.
The only answer for the boldness evident in Peter and John is that Jesus Christ was its source. When the chips were down, Peter proved that he lacked the courage to stand up for the truth of what he believed. Only when he found confidence in who he was in Christ was his faith able to stand up to the fierce heat of persecution he was facing.
Their boldness reminds me of a quote from the founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley. Wesley said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the Kingdom of Heaven upon the Earth.” It would have been so easy for Peter and John to look for a way out or to go into hiding to avoid the threats of the Sanhedrin. But they didn’t. They stood toe to toe with their accusers because their boldness emerged from a source that could not fail them: Jesus Christ.
Their own human courage would have failed them and they would have caved under the pressure. But by operating in the boldness of Christ the early church was established and the Kingdom continues to advance today. When Jesus told Simon, who he renamed Peter, that he would be the rock upon which he would build his church he also promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
Once upon a time, there lived a man named Clarence who had a pet frog named Felix. Clarence lived a modestly comfortable existence on what he earned working at the Wal-Mart, but he always dreamed of being rich.
"Felix!" he exclaimed one day, "We’re going to be rich! I’m going to teach you how to fly!"
Felix, of course, was terrified at the prospect: "I can’t fly, you idiot...
I’m a frog, not a canary!"
Clarence, disappointed at the initial reaction, told Felix: "That negative attitude of yours could be a real problem. I’m sending you to class."
So Felix went to a three day class and learned about problem solving, time management, and effective communication.... but nothing about flying.
On the first day of "flying lessons", Clarence could barely control his excitement (and Felix could barely control his bladder). Clarence explained that their apartment had 15 floors, and each day Felix would jump out of a window starting with the first floor eventually getting to the top floor.
After each jump, Felix would analyze how well he flew, isolate on the most effective flying techniques, and implement the improved process for the next flight. By the time they reached the top floor, Felix would surely be able to fly.
Felix pleaded for his life, but it fell on deaf ears. "He just doesn’t understand how important this is..." thought Clarence, "but I won’t let nay-sayers get in my way."
So, with that, Clarence opened the window and threw Felix out (who landed with a thud).
Next day (poised for his second flying lesson) Felix again begged not to be thrown out of the window. With that, Clarence opened his pocket guide to Managing More Effectively and showed Felix the part about how one must always expect resistance when implementing new programs.
And with that, he threw Felix out the window.(THUD)
On the third day (at the third floor) Felix tried a different ploy: stalling, he asked for a delay in the "project" until better weather would make flying conditions more favorable.
But Clarence was ready for him: he produced a timeline and pointed to the third milestone and asked, "You don’t want to slip the schedule do you?"
From his training, Felix knew that not jumping today would mean that he would have to jump TWICE tomorrow.... so he just said: "OK. Let’s go." And out the window he went.
Now this is not to say that Felix wasn’t trying his best. On the fifth day he flapped his feet madly in a vain attempt to fly. On the sixth day he tied a small red cape around his neck and tried to think "Superman" thoughts.
But try as he might, he couldn’t fly.
By the seventh day, Felix (accepting his fate) no longer begged for mercy.... he simply looked at Clarence and said: "You know you’re killing me, don’t you?"
Clarence pointed out that Felix’s performance so far had been less than exemplary, failing to meet any of the milestone goals he had set for him.
With that, Felix said quietly: "Shut up and open the window," and he leaped out, taking careful aim on the large jagged rock by the corner of the building.
And Felix went to that great lily pad in the sky.
Clarence was extremely upset, as his project had failed to meet a single goal that he set out to accomplish. Felix had not only failed to fly, he didn’t even learn how to steer his flight as he fell like a sack of cement.... nor did he improve his productivity when Clarence had told him to "Fall smarter, not harder."
The only thing left for Clarence to do was to analyze the process and try to determine where it had gone wrong.
After much thought, Clarence smiled and said:
"Next time...... I’m getting a smarter frog!"
p.s. Don’t you think Clarence should have noticed the frog could TALK???
Like Clarence, deciding he would teach Felix how to fly, we can’t just DECIDE to be bold. Our will to be bold will result in a boldness that will disintegrate with every attempt. We must learn to trust Jesus to empower us with the boldness necessary to stand our ground no matter what difficulty we’re facing. True boldness is born in our hearts when we realize just how much he loves us and when we learn to accept that we’re his and nothing can change that.
What is the answer to the boldness we need to live as Christ’s disciples? There’s a story about a Sunday-School teacher with a class full of little boys that should help us discover the answer to the boldness we seek. She posed a question to the boys saying, “What’s furry, gathers nuts, and lives in trees? The little boys thought for a moment and then she asked Tommy if he had an answer. “Well,” he said, “it sounds a lot like a squirrel, but its gotta’ be Jesus, ‘cause he’s the answer to everything around here!” Tommy was right. Jesus is the answer to the lack of boldness in our lives as disciples and he is the source out of which true boldness must flow into our hearts.
Let’s return to our text for a moment. As Peter and John were being questioned in front of the Sanhedrin they were asked to leave the council chambers so the leaders could discuss the case. Embarrassed that Peter and John weren’t running scared by their accusations and tactics, they wrestled with the question of what to do with them.
They knew popular opinion was against them doing anything harsh, but they knew they had to do something to keep news of the miracle healing from spreading too widely. The Sanhedrin’s reputation as authorities in the community was at stake here. Calling them in again, they issued this warning, commanding them, “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18, NIV).
The final lesson we learn from this text comes from Peter and John’s response to the Sanhedrin’s warning. “19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20, NIV). The substance of their boldness was evident in their courageous defense of the truth of Christ. Like Peter and John, once we have been liberated to see the truth of Christ we can’t un-see it. When our boldness is in Christ it is founded in an unshakable truth giving substance to our faith.
For Peter and John, Jesus was the substance of their teaching and authority. It was Christ they preached and did so under the authority of the Holy Spirit. Since the substance of their message was Christ, so was Christ the stuff of their boldness. If they were preaching a man-made message, if they were pulling together the most popular philosophies of the day and teaching it in the public square, their message would have been without substance and they would have been unwilling to place their lives at risk to see that message spread.
The recent movie Big Fish is a fanciful story about a man from a rural town in Alabama who loves to tell stories as a way of entertaining his young son at bedtime.
One of Edward’s stories tells of a time when a giant invades Ashton, creating a panic among the townspeople. The residents fear for their lives as the monster eats their livestock and wreaks havoc in the town. Because Edward had an experience as a boy that allowed him to see he wouldn’t die until he was advanced in years, he volunteers to confront the giant on behalf of the town.
The scene opens with the town gathered around the mayor in the city square. The mayor motions for quiet as he speaks to the angry crowd.
"Calm down! Just calm down!"
One person protests, "Mr. Mayor, he ate an entire cornfield."
A little girl adds, "He ate my dog."
A third person pipes up, "If you’re not going to stop him, Mayor, we will."
The mayor responds, "I won’t have mob violence in this town. Has someone tried talking to him?"
"You can’t reason with him," another resident insists.
"He’s a monster!" still another chimes in.
A voice can be heard way back on the edge of the crowd. "I’ll do it!" Edward Bloom states confidently as he walks through the parting crowd toward the mayor. "I’ll talk to him and see if I can get him to move on."
The mayor replies, "Son, that creature could crush you without trying."
Edward counters, "Trust me. He’ll have to try."
We then see Edward walking toward a riverbank cave outside of town. He calls out to the giant, introducing himself. The giant repeatedly tells Edward to go away. But Edward persists in wanting to talk. At last, a shaggy-haired, ten-foot-tall giant appears. Edward bravely throws rocks at the intimidating creature.
We hear him explain in a voice over why he is willing to face danger: Armed with the foreknowledge of my own death, I knew the giant couldn’t kill me. All the same I preferred to keep my bones unbroken.
After boldly challenging the giant, Edward is able to befriend him, bringing peace to the town.
As believers, there are many giants we must face and unless Jesus is the substance, the stuff of our boldness, it will be elbows and heels all the way to the nearest hiding spot. But when Jesus is the substance of our boldness there isn’t a giant out there who can scare us off. And who knows, maybe we’ll befriend some giants in the process.
The key to unlocking the boldness of Christ in our lives is the same for us as it was for Peter and John and the other early believers: pray for it. The believers continued to pray for courage to face persecution. The Bible says, “31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31, NIV). The Sanhedrin’s hope that their warning would derail the spread of the gospel only seemed to backfire on them. Instead of discouraging the church, their efforts bolstered the community’s dependence on Christ and empowered them to pray for boldness in sharing the message of Christ.
Courage, it would seem, came no more easily to these earlier followers of Christ than it does for us. Peter and John had indeed shown great boldness before the Sanhedrin, but to maintain their courage they were absolutely dependant upon the Holy Spirit whose gift their boldness was. And they would need it, and we still need it today!
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