Acts 4:13-31 "Bold as Love"
Germany in the 1930s was an interesting place to be a Christian. By “interesting” I mean confusing and dangerous. A very popular leader named Adolf Hitler was rising in power and very few people were trying to stop him. He had a lot of ideas that flew in the face of anyone who cared about freedom or human decency.
There was a young pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who Sunday after Sunday preached in the Zion Lutheran Church with boldness that Christians needed to wake up. He warned against the coming dangers of Hitler’s Nazism, he called for the church to stand against him and stand up for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He preached a message that was loud and clear: We’re going to listen to God and not this lunatic who’s trying to take over and control the German churches.
His preaching got the attention of some people who agreed with him and they asked him to be part of a resistance, including a plan to assassinate Hitler. He agreed to help.
It didn’t work out, the Nazis found out about Bonhoeffer’s involvement in the assassination attempt and he was thrown in prison. But that’s where his most lasting ministry really started. He wrote letters encouraging fellow prisoners, and kept his faith strong.
He knew the risks when he started preaching against Hitler. He was bold anyway.
He knew the assassination attempt had a slim chance of success. He knew it would probably cost him his freedom and his life. He was bold anyway.
If we believe God is good and God is in control, then shouldn’t we listen to Him and do what He wants us to do rather than anyone or anything else? No matter what the cost? Don’t we believe that’s going to ultimately be best for us, for the people we love, and for the world?
Previously in the Acts of the Apostles…
Peter and John were walking to the temple one day to meet with other believers and teach about Jesus. They saw a crippled man at one of the gates who was begging for money. Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none but such as I have I give unto you, in the name of Jesus rise up and walk.” The man was healed, started running around and getting everyone’s attention. Peter took advantage of the crowd that gathered around and preached a sermon with a big emphasis on Jesus being raised from the dead. Someone called the cops and they were thrown into jail. But it was too late, thousands of people heard the message and believed. The church grew to over ten thousand people.
So, the next day Peter and John were standing before the council—the most powerful group of religious leaders in Israel. The Sanhedrin. Peter started preaching again, this time about how salvation is only in the name of Jesus.
That brings us to Acts chapter 4…
The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13
This council was made up of the highest ranking, most educated, most respected teachers in all of Israel—these were the ones who certified rabbis. Most people would be quite intimidated if they had to give a theological defense before them. But these two country bumpkins just stood there calmly and made their case. They weren’t rude, they weren’t smug or arrogant. The members of the council were impressed. A couple of fishermen from Galilee who had never studied under a certified rabbi, who had never been given access to study the Scriptures were holding their own with the most educated men in the world.
Remember, no one had a Bible. The local synagogues would have a collection of scrolls, maybe not a complete set, but common people couldn’t just go in and read them. We need to realize what a privilege we all have with our unlimited access to the Bible. So, Peter and John had paid attention in church, they were familiar enough with the Scriptures to quote them—yes, the Holy Spirit brought these things to mind but it had to already be in their mind for Him to remind them of it.
The same thing had been said about Jesus—no formal training—they were impressed with Him, too. The disciples spent three years with Jesus, and it was obvious that they learned a great deal from Him. They had become a lot like their rabbi. How many of us have been a disciple of Jesus for three years or more? Would the same be said of us? Do people recognize us as people who have been with Jesus?
They really wanted to shut this Jesus thing down, why won’t He just go away?
But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say. Acts 4:14
Kind of hard to ignore what they’re saying when a miracle is staring them in the face. Notice they didn’t refute that it happened. They didn’t even deny that Jesus had come back from the dead. Isn’t that crazy? They know it’s all true. Jesus was resurrected. He had performed miracles (that they also didn’t deny) and now His followers are doing the same thing. They just didn’t believe God was behind it.
So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves. “What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it. But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.” Acts 4:15-17
Quite a pickle. Their solution is so stupid. It really shows how over-inflated their sense of power was. “We are the final authority! Whatever we say will be obeyed!” Let’s see how that works out for them…
So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:18-20
I mean, this is the answer anyone with any integrity would give—anyone who has a spine and actually believes in something—has actual convictions. Why would anyone listen to people instead of listening to God?
It’s a good question. Why do you listen to anyone or anything other than God? We’ll come back to this after we finish our story…
The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign—the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years. Acts 4:21-23
“What do you mean you’re going to listen to God instead of us?! Why we oughta! It doesn’t say what their threat was—probably to beat them with a whip. But they just let them go for now. Afraid of the mob of worshipers outside. They didn’t want the people to turn on them. It says the man had been crippled since he was born, more than forty years. This was quite the miracle—things like this just don’t happen.
It was a mistake to arrest them in the first place but it was a bigger mistake to let them go once they did—at least if they wanted to squash this Christianity thing.
As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the LORD and against his Messiah.’
Acts 4:24-26
Peter and John went back to the other believers and were like, “You’re not going to believe what they said! They told us to stop talking about Jesus.” Everyone got a good laugh out of that. Then they prayed.
They started with a standard Jewish opening for prayer, “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth.” Then they quoted Psalm 2 where it talks about the Messiah—how futile it is for God’s enemies to waste their time fighting against Him. God is going to do what God is going to do and His enemies can’t do anything about it—no matter how hard they try.
And they tried pretty hard…
“In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will. And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Acts 4:27-30
God had a plan that He started at the beginning of time. The Romans and the Jewish leaders thought they were going to be able to stop it by killing Jesus but all they did was make the plan happen. God is sovereign. Nothing happens outside of His authorship. This is His story, He wrote it, He created it. That’s what it means for Him to be God. These are deep, heavy mysteries. Many people have gotten lost trying to simplify them and make them easy to understand.
This is all we need to know: We can be confident that God is good and God is in control. Nothing is going to surprise Him. Nothing is going to thwart His plans. You can be absolutely confident in putting your faith in Him because God is good and God is in control.
They tried to kill Jesus. It all looked really dark for a few days. It looked really bad. But everything they did was determined beforehand according to God’s will. All that darkness was right on cue.
So, when the same people threaten Peter and John, it’s the same. No matter how bad it gets, how bad it looks—and it’s going to get really bad—God is still in control and He is still good.
If your story is at a bad spot, that's how you know your story isn’t over.
The disciples had believed in Jesus for three years. The rest of these people were brand new Christians. They still weren’t going to be shut down by a bunch of grumpy old unbelievers—it just made them more bold.
After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. All the believers were united in heart and mind. Acts 4:31
You know how when someone texts you, you can give a tapback like a thumbs up or a heart? They prayed and God gave a little tapback by shaking the room and filling them all with the Holy Spirit—topping them off, getting them ready to preach the word of God with boldness. Giving them the power to live out their faith. What does it look like when God fills someone with the Holy Spirit? What’s the fruit of the Spirit that comes from it? (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). They were united in heart and mind. United in their emotions and in their thinking. Have you ever seen a church that’s united in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? That’s a bigger miracle than shaking the building.
What would it look like for NewChurch to be united like that? What would it look like for you to love the people in this church? Really love them. God says it would look like doing what you can to give other people joy. That might sound strange, like how do you give other people joy, but when we try to create peace—peacemakers instead of trouble-makers, instead of complainers and gossips—that goes a long way. So does being patient with people, showing kindness, being gentle with how we treat each other. Being good to each other. All of this is what it means to love people. Being faithful to God is exercising self-control with each other.
We’re not always going to agree. Sometimes people are going to be frustrating. They’re going to stir up emotions of anger or they’re going to hurt our feelings. It’s not always going to be easy to get along with each other.
So, who are we going to listen to? Our emotions? Or God? Our pride? Or God’s word?
I heard someone say the other day, “Most of the time, the best way to share our faith with people is to tell them we’re a Christian and then don’t be a jerk.”
Be a Christian and don’t be a jerk. Being a jerk is not a fruit of the Spirit.
Preaching the word of God with boldness is.
The religious leaders told Peter and John to stop talking about Jesus. Stop sharing their faith. They said that wasn’t going to happen—they weren’t going to listen to them instead of listening to God.
We believe in God, right? We believe in Jesus, the resurrection. We believe He’s the way, the truth, and the life—the only way to the Father, right?
Why would we listen to anyone or anything else?
Our emotions, our doubts, our apathy, our fears, our insecurities—why would we listen to anything they say that contradicts what God has told us?
What has God told you to do? Do you know what God wants you to do?
Last week Kemper gave a powerful message about sinking our teeth into the meat of God’s word. Growing in our knowledge of what He’s revealed to us through the Bible. He challenged us to know as much about Scripture as we do about other things we’re interested in: sports, movies, the expertise we have in our various vocations, politics, music or whatever floats our boat. If you can name 12 songs by your favorite artist but you can’t come up with the twelve disciples—if you can name 27 movies or TV shows that you’ve watched but not the 27 books of the New Testament—you’re not taking your faith serious enough.
God will speak to you through His word. You might want to pay attention to what He says.
So yeah, read your freakin’ Bible. But that’s only the first of three very important steps.
You also need to believe what it says.
You heard a pretty big chunk of God’s word today. We read it to you. Did you pay attention? Did you believe it? Because there’s one more very important thing you need to do.
You need to do what it says. Don’t be hearers of the word only but also doers. You won’t grow in your knowledge of the word, or in your knowledge of God, or as a Christian in any way, if you don’t do what God is telling you to do.
I’m not saying you won’t be saved. I am saying you won’t enjoy being a Christian. No obedience, no joy. No obedience, no growth. You’re not going to share faith with other people if everything about your life screams, “I’m not trying to be faithful, I’m not trying to be good, I’m not exercising any self-control.” You might be going to heaven but you’re creating a life of hell for yourself and everyone around you in the meantime.
If you want to grow in your knowledge of God’s word, if you want to enjoy your life as a Christian, you have to read your freakin’ Bible, believe your freakin’ Bible, and do what it freakin’ says.
Today’s message is all about boldness. I want to challenge you to be bold in living out your faith. Bold in how you love people. Bold in your patience. Bold in your kindness. Bold in your gentleness. Bold in making peace with people. Because if you are bold in these things, you will be able to lay the foundation for people to trust you. You’ll be able to boldly share Jesus with the people God puts into your life.
The way you treat other people should be a picture of what God has done for you through Jesus. It might be a blurry picture that’s a little crumpled up with some dirt on it—but they should be able to make out the basic shape of Jesus in how you treat them.
Tell people you’re a Christian and try not to be a jerk.
For some of us, this is asking a lot. Trust me, I get it. And it’s not going to be possible unless in addition to hearing God’s word and believing it—we also pray for God to empower us to actually do what He says. To shake us like that house and fill us with the Holy Spirit. Top us off every day. Keep all those things He’s told us fresh in our minds and hearts.
Always be ready to do what God tells us to do no matter what anyone else says.
God is in control. His sovereign plan will prevail. His ultimate purposes will not be stopped.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached boldly against the evil he saw rising in his country—he begged the church to wake up and do something about it. He proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus, the resurrection, and salvation in Christ’s name alone in the face of all the dark and atrocious things Hitler was doing—it cost him his freedom. After being in prison for two years, he was executed on April 9th, 1945. A few days later, Hitler committed suicide, and only one week later the Allies roll into town and liberate the camp where Bonhoeffer had been held.
I’ve always found that very hard to hear. He was so close to being free again.
But his faithfulness was very meaningful. The letters he wrote while in prison were collected and published as one of the most inspiring theological works of all time—"Letters and Papers from Prison." He never gave up the hope that if God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not the Nazis with their bad ideas and silly mustaches.
If Bonhoeffer, a young Lutheran pastor, can stand up to Hitler and the Nazi regime, if Peter and John, a couple fishermen from the country, can stand up to the Sanhedrin—then we can do the same thing when we’re faced with anything that tries to shut us down and silence our faith. We can be bold and say, “We’re going to listen to God rather than you.” Our faith that God is good and God is in control gives us all the confidence we should ever need to do what He requires of us.
Pray for the Spirit to give you boldness, and wisdom, to say and do what God wants you to do no matter what you’re facing. Pray that God will fill you with the Holy Spirit so you can say and do everything in love—with joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Believe God when He says you are forgiven, you are being made new, and He is leading you somewhere good. This is what it looks like to be bold as love. AMEN