Unstoppable Boldness

Please turn with me to Acts chapter 3 and let's pray.

There is a society called the "Dependent Order of Really Meek and Timid Souls" – the acrostic of their name is “Doormats”. Their official motto is: "The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's OK with everybody!"

Years ago I knew someone who was a really nice guy, but he was painfully timid. He had a hard time saying anything assertively, so he softened the edges of everything he said with words like “I think” or “maybe”. If you asked him what time it was, he’d look at his watch and say something like, “I think it’s 3:00” as if saying that it was 3:00 would be too confrontational. His words and tone always seemed to be walking on eggshells –as if there were an unspoken, if that’s ok with everybody.

The form of fear we call timidity can be paralyzing because it makes one afraid of doing or saying something that isn’t OK with everybody. One area where many Christians find themselves lacking boldness in is when it comes to sharing our faith and living out our convictions. Even naturally bold people can find that themselves strangely timid when it comes to talking about Jesus. We find ourselves wanting to soften the edges of what we believe so that it doesn’t offend anyone. The problem is the message of the cross carries an offensive component that can’t be removed without gutting the message of its power. While we don’t want to be personally offensive, there’s no way to say to someone that they are a sinner in need of a Savior and Jesus is the only way to be saved in a way that will be ok with everybody.

For our guests we are in a series in the book of Acts called “Mission Unstoppable” and this book has good news for those who struggle with timidity. The book opens with a group of believers who, even after seeing the resurrected Christ, are still timid and inward focused – but when the Holy Spirit is poured out on them they become different men and women. As they explode out of the upper room and launch out on a mission that would turn the world upside down and change the course of history forever the Holy Spirit has given them the power they need to be Jesus’ witnesses to the ends of the earth, and one quality of that power is an unstoppable boldness. If we struggle with timidity in our witness, if we need greater boldness to share with others who Jesus is and how he can change a life, God’s answer to us is to be filled with the Spirit – and He will provide us with all the boldness we need. Unstoppable boldness.

Title: Unstoppable Boldness 

We are going to zip through chapters 3 & 4, so there’s a lot we’re not going to cover, but from these chapters I want to share four points about the Spirit’s emboldening work in us.

I. The Spirit will give us bold faith to reach out to those in need (3:1-10)

Everything that unfolds in these two chapters hinges on the healing of the lame man. Luke tells us this man was lame from birth and we will see in chapter 4 that he is over 40 years old. For 40 years he has had to depend on others to carry him anywhere he needed to go, and every day friends carried him to the temple gates so he could beg for a living.

How many times had Peter walked by this man before? Peter had been to the temple many times and the lame man has been there every day begging, so no doubt Peter has seen him before. But this day as Peter and John walk by and the man calls out to them asking for alms, Peter hears something another voice: he hears the Holy Spirit speak to his heart that God wants to heal this man. So, acting with a bold faith, Peter turns to the lame man and says, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk! And reaching out his hand, Peter raises the man up.

What an amazing moment this is. For the first time in his life, this poor man can stand, he can walk, he can even jump up and down. You can feel his joy in these verses. This isn’t some somber and dignified scene – he is leaping and shouting praise to God out of pure joy! It reminds me of a beautiful, joy-filled prophecy in Isaiah:

Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with

vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." 5Then the eyes of the

blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6then shall the lame man leap like a

deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. Isaiah 35:4-6 (ESV)

Not just leap – leap like a deer. Not just sing, sing for joy. What we see here is that when God comes, He leaves a trail of laughter and joy because He touches people and saves them and meets their deepest needs – and they can’t help but cut loose with joy! And I think no one is laughing more or rejoicing more than God – because we see in the Bible and especially in Jesus’ ministry that God has compassion on the sick and suffering and delights to set them free from their infirmity. Jesus had compassion on the crowds who came to him and here we see Peter acting like Jesus. In the gospels Peter is usually rebuking needy people for bothering Jesus, but now, filled with the Spirit, Peter is different. He sees the needy with different eyes and he is an instrument for God to use.

I believe the Holy Spirit wants to give us eyes to see and ears to hear His call to reach out to the needy as well. In this case God reaches out through Peter and heals a crippled man and God still heals today and we should pray for the sick, with faith that God will heal. We could easily spend an entire message on the subject of healing. God chooses not to heal some, and we need to help them know that if they aren't healed, it's not because God loves them less, but we should pray for the sick and expect God's healing. So healing is the ministry Peter offers here.

But I want to broaden the application some. After Peter speaks a healing word to him, he then reaches out to help raise him up. As someone said, it was Jesus’ power, but Peter’s hand that raised him. God wants to use us to reach out to those in need with the gospel, with care and concern, with friendship, and if we’re not seeing many such opportunities I think it’s probably not because they aren’t there but because we aren’t listening or seeing. The more we are filled with the Holy Spirit I think the more we will see people and hear the Spirit interrupt our plans and say, “reach out to them” and in those moments it will take a bold faith, cause we risk falling on our face.

Sometimes the need will be obvious, but sometimes the Holy Spirit will speak to our heart to reach out to someone and there’s no obvious reason why – that can be especially scary. Two people have shared with me just this week how the Lord put someone very clearly on their minds to reach out to – both of them were obedient to follow the Lord’s leading. We may or may not ever know why we’re led to reach out – but I am convinced that if we are listening and looking, we will see more needs around us and hear the Spirit say, “reach out”.

ILL: Years ago I had an unusual experience with this. I drove down to a beach I often went to pray, and this morning when I got done I got into my car it wouldn’t start. Dead. Tried again. Nothing. And as I sat there wondering what was going on a woman jogged up to the beach and then stood looking out at the water just a few yards from my car. And I felt the Lord impress, I want you to talk to her. Well I argued and tried the car again. A minute later she jogged off and I felt like I missed it. As she jogged away I thought, wouldn’t it be something if the car started now? But I didn’t expect it too. Wouldn’t you know, the car started up right away. I knew I needed to talk to her.

So I found her jogging down the street and parked a few blocks down and got out. I felt very uncomfortable, kind of like a stalker, but I felt I had to obey. As she jogged by (or walked –don’t remember) by I asked her if I could interrupt her for a minute. I told her I felt the Lord wanted to let her know He saw her and loved her. I couldn’t have been prepared for her response. She got very upset and turned away and said, I can’t believe you’re saying that. This is just too much, I can’t believe you’re saying that. She wasn’t excited, she was visibly upset. Then she told me her story. For years she used to jog this route down to that beach every day and she would pray, but she had stopped a year ago when a family she was close to lost their husband and father to cancer. She was so angry that God would allow those children to grow up without their father that she stopped praying and stopped the run. This was the first time in a year that she had jogged down to that beach. As she shared her confusion and anger that God would allow this father to die at a young age, leaving behind his family, I was able to share with her that my father also died at a young age and I could testify, God will watch over those children. I encouraged her that my stopping her was proof that God saw her and heard her, and He would care for those children. Don’t stop talking to God – pray for those children!

She never did get comfortable with the encounter – she was visibly shaken. But I left having no doubt that the Holy Spirit had spoken to me – no coincidence. Not sure what the Lord did in her life – never saw her again. But while that is a bit unusual and I don’t recommend you stop joggers often, I do believe the Lord wants to give us eyes and ears to see and hear. The Spirit will give us a bold faith for reaching out to the needy.

II. The Spirit will give us boldness to preach the gospel clearly (vv. 11-16)

Everyone knew this lame man and so the news of his healing spread like wildfire. People are filled with amazement and awe and just like in chapter 2 Peter uses the opportunity to preach Christ to them. The miracle gets their attention for the preaching of the gospel – always the primary focus is Christ and what he did on the cross. The book of Acts is unique in how dynamically God was at work in the early church, but God is still powerfully at work in the church. Maybe not to the degree that they saw, but where the church prays and has faith God is still doing wondrous things – but like then the wondrous things aren’t meant to be the focus, the gospel of Christ is. Signs and wonders are meant to get people’s attention so that the gospel of Jesus Christ can be preached and so that their hearts are ready to hear, believe, and receive Christ.

There might be someone here this morning who is not a Christian, and you might be thinking, “What is he talking about – healing and stopping strangers in the street and some Spirit talking to us? It all sounds kind of crazy to me.”

I don’t blame you if some of this sounds a little weird, but let me try and explain. God is real and He is really working in people’s lives. Christianity isn’t a religion that talks about God; it’s a relationship with God.

But the Bible says that all of mankind, including everyone of us in this room, are born separated from God because of our choice to sin and rebel against God. Because He is holy and just, He couldn’t just ignore our sin – it needed to be paid for. But because He loves us so much, He wouldn’t just abandon us to our sin. So out of love for us He sent His Son to die on the cross to pay for our sins. Think of it this way: all the fierce anger God has for sin that was stored up in His heart: He poured it all out on His Son so that Jesus took all the judgment due us and paid the full price for our sin. That’s what Jesus did to save us, but the Bible tells us that our part is to respond by repenting of our sin - that doesn’t mean to never sin again, it means to turn from sin as our source of joy and direction of life – and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. All those who trust in Christ will be forgiven and given eternal life as a free gift. You can pray and ask Jesus to be your Savior in your heart – you can do it right now. You don’t have to wait. He promises to hear and to save all who call on his name.

III. The Holy Spirit will give us a bold answer when opposition rises up (4:1-12)

These are the same men who tried Jesus by night and thought they could silence him by crucifying him, and now here are men healing and boldly proclaiming the name of Jesus as the only way to be saved. They can’t get rid of Jesus no matter how hard they try.

But they assume these uneducated men will be intimidated so they threaten them severely not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. Peter and John boldly answer them: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:19-20 (ESV)

It is the power of the Holy Spirit that gives John and Peter such boldness in the face of intimidating and powerful men who are not ok with what’s going on and the Holy Spirit desires to give us boldness in the face of opposition as well. And opposition will come at points in our life. We should not be surprised.

I hate to admit it, but sometimes Christians can be obnoxious or arrogant and not know it, and what they think is opposition to the gospel is actually opposition to them not their message. That’s not what we’re talking about. But there is no way to accurately tell the gospel and have everybody ok with it. The timidity that would lead us to soften the message and say Jesus is Lord and the only way to be saved – if that’s ok with everybody – is a fear we can only fight by being filled with the Spirit.

Now we don’t shove it down people’s throats if they don’t want to hear. Peter and John didn’t look for the authorities to preach Christ to them – they were just answering their interrogation about the healing. But when ordered to stop speaking to others in the name of Christ they respectfully but firmly said, “we can’t do that. We need to obey God.” No arrogance. No anger. No shoving it down their throats. But also no backing off or softening the message.

Opposition will come if we are faithful to witness of Christ’s saving power. The Holy Spirit will give us boldness to answer when it does.

IV. The Holy Spirit will give us boldness to pray for more boldness (4:23-31)

What we’ve seen from Peter and John in these two chapters is pretty bold, but they join with the other disciples to ask for more boldness. Look at what they pray – and I wish we had more time to devote to this. There is rich theological truth here.

• First they declare the greatness of God and the smallness of men who oppose God -vv.23-26

• Then they declare the sovereignty of God over them – even what they did to Jesus was what God’s hand and plan had predestined to take place. They weren’t in control of anything – God was totally in control. (This is a good reminder when we fall for the illusion of control. We don’t control anything – our lives could be snuffed out before we take the next breath. Trust God.) vv. 27-28

• Then they ask God to hear the threats and give the disciples the ability to speak the word of God with all boldness.

In other words, don’t let their threats intimidate us. Give us added boldness in the face of these threats. And they ask for God to stretch out His hand but not to hurt or punish those who are threatening them. I know I’d be tempted to ask for that. But they ask God to stretch out His hand and do good to people - to heal and work signs and miracles. The stuff that got them in trouble in the first place! All this trouble came because Peter healed a lame man. This prayer represents their desire to see more sign and wonders– not to annoy the religious leaders who opposed them, but to spread the name and fame of Jesus Christ to all the land. It’s a bold prayer from bold people asking God for even more boldness.

And God apparently likes it because the place they were meeting in was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit (the answer to their prayer for boldness) and they continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

As we go through Acts, I am being reminded of my need to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. Christianity cannot be lived out in our own strength – we need the Spirit’s power. And boldness. To see people all around us who need to hear about Jesus and step out with bold faith and share Jesus with them. To see hurting people – whether it be physical or financial or in their personal lives and to reach out with the love of Christ to them. Sometimes even to joggers at the beach. And to pray for more boldness from the God who loves to hear His people boldly ask for more. So let’s close by praying and asking.