Apostolic Boldness
Acts 4:1-31
WHEN GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH was Vice President of the United States, he represented our nation at the funeral of former Soviet Communist leader, Leonid Brezhnev. He was deeply moved by the silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed. She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband/s chest.
There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might have mercy on her husband.
In the Book of Acts we also have an example of profound courage on the part of the apostles that left a deep impression. In the 13th verse of chapter 4, we read, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
The Jewish elders, rulers, and teachers observed three things in these two apostles:
1. Their courage—courage to speak boldly to those who had the power of life and death over them.
2. That they were unschooled and ordinary men. That’s God’s way. He often uses the weak things of this world to confound the wise (I Corinthians 1:27-29). Consider how, in the Old Testament, we are told that He used:
- a staff (Moses)
- a jawbone (Samson)
- a stone (David)
- a handful of flour and a little oil (Elijah)
3. That they had been with Jesus (the Source of their boldness).
These two apostles stood before the Sanhedrin—70 leaders plus the high priest, who acted as president. Verse 5 tells us the they were composed of three groups:
o Rulers: chief priests of the temple
o Elders: tribal or family heads
o Scribes: experts in the Law of Moses
Verse 13 makes it clear that these leaders were “astonished” by what they observed. The KJV says they “marveled.” To be astonished means “to be filled with sudden wonder or amazement.”
These were ordinary men but they were speaking and acting like extra-ordinary men, especially as it related to speak God’s Word without fear of consequences. These apostles were not alone in their bravery. Consider…
o Joseph of Arimathea. He was a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God. He went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body (Mark 15:43).
o Paul & Barnabas. Act 14:3 tells us that they spent considerable time speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
o Paul. He entered the synagogue in Ephesus and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8).
In each case, the settings for these acts of courage was one of hostility and danger. Where did the boldness come from? That’s the key question here. The answer lies in Acts, chapter 4.
1. The Boldness of the Resurrection (vs.1-4)
Peter and John were eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Christ. They couldn’t keep silent. John wrote about it later in his first epistle: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.”
To speak of bodily resurrection enraged the Sadducees, who did not believe that such a thing existed, so they threw them in jail.
You see, when you have a message of hope beyond this life, it cannot be contained. It must be proclaimed with conviction.
2. Boldness of the Holy Spirit (vs.5-8).
“The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest’s family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people!”
Charles Finney wrote how God gave him mighty infillings of the Holy Spirit "that went through me, as it seemed, body and soul. I immediately found myself endued with such power from on high that a few words dropped here and there to individuals were the means of their immediate conversion. My words seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in the souls of men. They cut like a sword. They broke the heart like a hammer. Multitudes can attest to this...Sometimes I would find myself in a great measure empty of this power. I would go and visit, and find that I made no saving impression. I would exhort and pray with the same results. I would they set apart a day for private fasting and prayer...after humbling myself and crying out for help, the power would return upon me with all its freshness. This has been the experience of my life." (W. Duewel, Touch the World Through Prayer, OMS, p. 232).
3. Boldness of the Name (vs.9-11).
“If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is "’the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’
Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worchester once preached before King Henry VIII. The king was very upset by the boldness in the sermon and ordered Lattimer to preach again on the following Sunday and apologize for the content. The next Sunday, after reading his text, Lattimer began his sermon: “Hugh Lattimer, do you know before whom you are to speak this day? To the high and mighty monarch, the king’s most excellent majesty, who can take away your life, if you offend him. Therefore, take heed that you do not speak a word that may displease. But then, consider well, Hugh, do you not know from whence you came—upon whose message you are sent? Even by the great and mighty God. Who is all-present and Who beholds all your ways and Who is able to cast your soul into hell! Therefore, take care that you deliver your message faithfully.” He then preached the same sermon he had preached the preceding Sunday, and with considerably more energy.
4. Boldness of Jesus Only (vs.12)
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Peter is proclaiming that which he heard Jesus say in John 14:6, “I am the way…”
There aren’t many ways—only one, because only Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. Courage to proclaim this today perhaps as never before because we live in an age of political correctness.
5. Boldness of the Transformed Life (vs14)
“But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.”
O, the power of a changed life! Those who trip over theology cannot deny the reality of experience!
6. Boldness from Opposition (vs.15-22)
“So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name." Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.”
Sometimes we may be called upon to take a stand even if it means persecution. We may be called on to choose between pleasing God or pleasing men.
May the example of these two apostles and others like them down through the history of the church, inspire us to boldly proclaim and live the Christian life. Filled and led by the Spirit, we can make a difference. We can be salt and light right where we live.
7. Boldness of Prayer (vs.23-31
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "’Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31 After 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.
William Cary was once reproached for spending so much time in prayer that he neglected his business. He replied that supplication, thanksgiving, and intercession were much more important in his life than laying up treasures on earth. “Prayer is my real business!” he said. “Cobbling shoes is a sideline; it just helps me pay expenses.”
The question for all of us is: WHEN OTHERS LOOK AT OUR LIVES, DO THEY TAKE NOTICE OF OUR SPIRITUAL COURAGE? DO THEY ATTRIBUTE IT TO OUR BEING WITH JESUS?
