Boldness
Acts 4:1-22
The New Testament in a Year sermon series
Rev. Brian North, Westminster Presbyterian, Chehalis, WA
January 15th, 2012
Oftentimes in life, we have decisions to make, or things to stand up for, that require us to be bold. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of those people. He lived a very bold life. Unfortunately, however, we are often lacking in boldness, and we give in to the opposition. That’s why many New Year’s resolutions don’t last: they require some sense of boldness – a new direction, a new schedule, new habits, and so forth – but we opposing forces mount up, and we ultimately give in to them, rather than boldly sticking with what we supposedly resolved to do. How many of you made New Year’s Resolutions? I did too: I resolved to make New Year’s resolutions next year. Actually, I did set a few goals for this year, and they’ll take a certain degree of boldness to achieve them. And it’s probably the same for you.
Well this morning we’re looking at a passage where we’re going to see boldness expressed in five different ways. And in this I hope we will all be inspired to live boldly as well. So, we’re in Acts 4, starting with verse 1. You need to know that just prior to this, there was a man who couldn’t walk, and who always sat at one of the gates to the temple, begging, and who asked Peter and John for some money as they walked by. Peter’s response to him was, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And he did. Word of the healing spread quickly, and was witnessed by all kinds of people as they were heading into the temple. The guy praised God. People were astounded. And Peter addressed all the on-lookers, giving all the credit and glory to Jesus. That gets us to today’s reading:
While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand (Acts 4:1-4).
The first aspect of Boldness that we see here is the boldness of the Resurrection – both Jesus’ and the resurrection of those who believe in Him. Peter and the Disciples were witnesses to the resurrected Jesus. And that resurrection was a bold move. It was a move conquer death. The motives and the subsequent boldness of the disciples are completely because of the resurrection.
Someone recently told me about a Presbyterian church that they attended for a while in another state. She said that she stopped attending there because they didn’t believe in the resurrection. I was a little surprised, quite frankly, but the person who shared this with me is pretty astute and observant and all that, and I trust her on it. And I thought, “Wow. If they don’t believe in the resurrection, what do they have to offer? There’s no power in the preaching or the teaching, there’s no eternal life to offer…That must be a church that’s really struggling.” So I went to our denomination’s website and looked up the statistics on the church, and saw pretty much what I expected to see: Consistent and drastic loss of members and Sunday morning worshipers over the last 6 or 7 years. In fact, it was a loss of almost one half of their Sunday worship attendance. You see, there’s boldness in the resurrection, and that’s what motivates us in our faith, just as it did for the disciples here. Without it, we have nothing to offer. Let’s continue on…
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:” (Acts 4:5-8).
Here we see the boldness of the Holy Spirit. Peter is standing before a whole crew of people. These are the very people who participated in sentencing Jesus to the cross. They thought they were rid of him and the problem he had become – or at least the problem that Jesus was perceived to be. In the first few verses, we’re told that they’re “annoyed” by their teaching and proclamation of the resurrection. These are not people that are dancing in the aisles to hear that people are still carrying on in Jesus’ name and proclaiming a resurrection. It’s like when you thought you’d finally gotten all the Barney videos out of the house, and then it turns out there’s one last one left in the DVD player that you missed, and your kids get a hold of it. And you’re annoyed as your kids watch it. And it makes you want to rip the dvd player off the shelf and throw it out to the garbage. That’s the kind of “annoying” this is. And these guys have a lot of power. And they put Peter in front of them and they want an explanation for what’s going on. So you can imagine the intensity of this, and what Peter would be feeling. But Luke tells us that Peter was then filled with the Holy Spirit to say to them what he said. And as we’ll see in a moment, in spite of the possibility of losing his life, he doesn’t back down. That boldness comes from the Holy Spirit. It’s the Spirit that gave him the courage to say what he said, to give him the right words, to speak them with power and authority and courage and conviction. The boldness of the Spirit is evident in Peter in this moment. Let’s keep going and you’ll see even more what I mean:
[Peter said to them;]‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
it has become the cornerstone.”
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:8b-12).
See what I mean? The Spirit gives Peter boldness. But we also see here the third facet of boldness in this passage: the boldness of the name of Jesus Christ. We don’t think about this so much in our day, but certainly they did in theirs, that: A person’s name was really a reflection of the person’s character. Names meant something. For example, in the Old Testament, there are several names that God is given: El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty); Adonai (Lord or Master); Jehovah Rapha (The Lord that heals); Jehovah Nissi (The Lord my Banner); Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You); Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Who Will Provide), and others. All of those names tell us of the character of God.
This prompted me to take a look at the meaning of Gwen’s name, and my name. Gwen means, “Amazingly talented, intelligent and beautiful.” Isn’t that cool? Brian means, “Luckiest guy in the world.” Totally fits. Ok, so they don’t mean those things.1 But “Jesus” means, “Yahweh saves.” When Mary is told of her pregnancy, she’s also told what to name the baby, and when told “Jesus” the angel says it’s because he will save people from their sins (Matthew1:21). There is boldness in the name of Jesus. It’s a boldness that challenges the grip of sin and releases us from its grip so that we can live rightly and eternally with our holy Heavenly Father.
By the way, that church I mentioned earlier, I took a look at their website to find out a little more about them. And I could not find the name of Jesus anywhere on the website except for a brief mention in one place, and it was more of a historical reference than a statement of faith. Even in their statement of beliefs and their core convictions, the name of Jesus was not mentioned. Contrast that with Peter’s speech. He’s not ashamed of the name of Jesus. There is boldness in that name, because, as Peter says, it’s the only name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved. Let’s continue on…
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition (Acts 4:13-14).
Here we see boldness in the transformation of a person’s life. And that transformation comes from spending time with Jesus. They noted that Peter and John were “companions” of Jesus. In other words, they were with Jesus. They spent time with him. They learned from him. They modeled their lives after him. Jesus influenced them and shaped them, and ultimately: transformed them. A life that has been transformed by Jesus is a bold life.
All of us have been transformed on some level. Some people have really radical transformations. Maybe you’ve heard people tell the story of how Jesus transformed them. They used to be addicted to heroin or alcohol and Jesus got a hold of them and they left it all behind. Those are amazing transformations that inspire us. I’ve heard people who don’t have such a radical story to tell say, “Man, what an amazing story. I wish my faith story were like that. I want Jesus to save me from that stuff. I wish I was addicted to drugs.” Really? No you don’t. Just ask anyone who ever was addicted to drugs or alcohol or lived a life of crime or anything else like that, they’ll tell you: You don’t want to be saved from the midst of that kind of lifestyle. Be glad that Jesus saved you from ever getting into that stuff in the first place. So all of us who have proclaim the name of Jesus have been transformed. And there’s boldness there when we live out that transformation. Ok, let’s get to the last chunk of verses:
So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, ‘What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it. But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.’ So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old (Acts 4:15-22). (You know, I just turned 39, and I really don’t appreciate that last verse. I’m sure many of you appreciate it even less!)
Here we see the boldness of the opposition. Wherever the resurrection is proclaimed, wherever the spirit fills people, wherever the Name of Jesus is lifted high, wherever people live transformed lives, there will be opposition. And we see here that opposition has the boldness, and audacity, and arrogance to tell them to shut up about Jesus. If you are living boldly for Jesus Christ as Peter and John did, as Martin Luther King, Jr., did, and countless others have…you’re going to face bold opposition. It’s inevitable. And what that opposition wants you to do is to keep quiet; to live in timidity; To give up on those resolutions and goals that God has put on your heart so that further transformation won’t take place; the bold opposition wants to keep the Holy Spirit in check, to make us ashamed of the gospel, to make us uncertain of God’s grace and truth, to doubt our salvation, to forsake the new and revert back to the old. That’s what the opposition wants.
So we see here that when we live in the boldness of the resurrection and the Holy Spirit, and we proclaim the boldness of the name of Jesus, and we live out the bold transformation that God has done in us, when all that happens: then even the bold opposition cannot win the day. As bold as the opposition was that put Jesus up on the cross and in the tomb, it couldn’t hold him down, and because of that opposition, something even more glorious came forth in the resurrection. That’s the boldness that you and I have access to in our lives and that God wants to plant in you and me. That’s the kind of resurrection life that you and I can live beginning today. So in this coming year let’s live boldly for those resolutions and goals in our personal lives; let’s live boldly for our goals as a church, and that through all of that let’s live with boldness for Jesus Christ so that his name is lifted high and proclaimed loudly through you and me here in Chehalis and wherever we go. Let’s pray…Amen.
