Boldness

This is week number two in a short series about developing an outward faith. I started this one last week with the observation that the New Testament writers assumed that people who came to embrace faith in Jesus would naturally share and express that faith with other people. The Bible assumes that we would still be people like that today if we profess to have faith in Jesus. But I also made this observation last week: we’re not very good at it. Sharing our faith with other people who feel very detached and far away from God is a basic component of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

I want to pick up where I left off last week. If you were not here last week—or if you were here but have no memory of anything I said last week—it will not be difficult to catch up with the next step forward we are taking today. Last week I started us off in the ABC’s of outward faith with awareness. A faith that is able to be expressed outwardly is a faith that has to be aware of where God is already at work in and around us. And it is a faith that has to be aware of whom it is that God is placing in your path; someone who feels far from God, someone with whom you can have a relationship. It begins with awareness. Last Sunday I left us with the challenge to start praying for just one person or household you know who feels far away and detached from God. Begin with being aware of who those people are in the orbit of your everyday life.

the ABC’s of outward faith awareness boldness

The next letter in our ABC’s of outward faith is boldness. A faith that expresses outwardly has to be ready to take some bold steps forward. It is one thing to become aware of the people God is placing around us and to become aware of the ways God is at work in the world around us. Awareness is where you start. But even if you become aware of those things and then never ever take a step to do anything about it, then your awareness really doesn’t do any good.

Let’s start by taking a look at this story about Peter from the book of Acts. And then we will consider what a bold faith looks like for us in today’s world.

Acts 10:9–19 (NIV)

Acts 10:9–19 NIV

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.

Acts 10:28 (NIV)

Acts 10:28 NIV

He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

Look with me at a few features we see happening in this story from Acts 10. On the one hand, this seems to be a passage that nullifies Jewish kosher eating laws. Peter sees a vision in which he is told to have a snack with a buffet of options that good law-abiding Jewish people would consider off-limits. There were certain foods that Jewish people were not allowed to eat, and Peter’s reaction to the suggestion that he should eat from what he sees in his vision tells us that it must have been items that would have been considered impure.

I used to joke with my kids that this passage in Acts is the eleventh commandment: thou shalt eat bacon. But of course, the vision itself is symbolic of something greater that God is showing to Peter. Let’s open that up and then consider how this brings a moment of boldness into Peter’s faith.

what Peter had to learn — God is able to redeem anything that was once considered impure

First, look at the symbolism. When God shows Peter a vision that reverses the impurity of Jewish dietary laws, Peter learns by the end of this story that, in Christ, God is able to redeem anything that was once considered impure. If we look back in the ABC’s of outward faith, this could be identified as the moment of awareness. God showed Peter something he had not seen before. God opened Peter’s eyes to see where the Holy Spirit is at work in the world around Peter. And prior to this vision from heaven, Peter was missing it; he was not aware. But this week I want us to see the next step in the ABC’s of outward faith. Peter is faced with a moment of choice that required his faith to be bold.

Peter is faced with a moment of choice that required his faith to be bold

It wasn’t enough, then, that Peter is simply aware of God’s activity to redeem what was once considered impure and unredeemable. Peter comes face-to-face with the next step. What is he going to do about it? Peter responds with boldness. Consider with me at what this boldness looks like, because there is a lesson here in what bold faith can look like for each of us too.

bold faith

Don’t miss this detail in the story. Verse 16 tells us that the discussion between God and Peter in this vision happens three times. That detail is incredibly significant. What other conversations had taken place in Peter’s life in a repetition of three? I can think of a couple. It was three times that Peter denied knowing Jesus on the night of Christ’s arrest before the crucifixion. After Jesus rose from the grave, it was three times that Jesus asks Peter, “do you love me?” In order to reinstate him as an apostle with the instruction, “feed my sheep.”

a vision that reminds Peter of where he has been before

Here’s the point. This vision that Peter sees not only reminds him of where God is moving next, it is also a vision that reminds Peter of where he has been before. The scene in which Peter denies Jesus shows us one of the lowest points in Peter’s faith. In spite of everything we could ever say about a faith that has boldness; the moment of Peter’s denial plainly displays the exact opposite of boldness. The moment later on when Jesus pulls Peter aside on the lakeshore is a reminder for Peter that his past failure to live up to a bold faith is not held against him. Peter had a moment on that night in the courtyard of the high priest when he could have stepped up and proclaimed an amazingly bold display of faith if he had only accepted and proclaimed his connection to Jesus. But Peter failed back there in the worst possible way.

Peter has to confront his past failures and mistakes as part of the process in his steps forward towards boldness

The three-times nature of this vision in Acts would not have been lost upon Peter. He would have known exactly what God was referencing in his own past by bringing this same conversation in front of Peter three times. It illustrates something for us. Peter has to confront his past failures and mistakes as part of the process in his steps forward towards boldness.

confront fears and past failures

That can be true for us too. In fact, quite often that is true for us. The thing that holds our faith back from being bold is a fear or a failure that keeps a grip on us. That is absolutely a part of Peter’s story. And I think it is a part of all our stories as well. I didn’t go right from my college years into seminary. It was quite a few years later that I went and did my seminary education. Even in moments while living in Kalamazoo when that was repeatedly being placed in front of me, I completely ignored it as best I could. Among all the reasons I kept holding onto in my mind about why I would not go to seminary, the biggest objection I had was the languages. A pastoral degree from Calvin Seminary requires learning both Greek and Hebrew. It wasn’t a laziness that I just didn’t want to put in the work—I was okay with doing the work. And it wasn’t a lack of desire that I just didn’t care about biblical languages—I found it fascinated to learn about. In the end it was about a fear that I couldn’t do it; that I would not be able to learn those languages well enough to pass and get my graduate degree. It was a fear of failure that kept me away from taking that bold step forward.

have there been moments when fear has held you back?

naming fears and failures out loud helps to begin taking the next step

What about you? Think for a moment about the opportunities that God has placed in front of you in your life to take a bold step forward. Have there been moments when fear has held you back? In this vision that Peter sees from heaven he is reminded of the time when his own fears prompted him to deny Jesus three times. Fear held him back. Don’t leave here today without giving some honest thought in your own life about times when there has been a fear that keeps you from taking that next bold step forward in faith. Can you name it? Can you put words around it? Can you call out that fear and name those failures which put a lid on top of your faith and keep it from finding that next bold step. Peter had to be reminded of it and confront those past fears and failures. The same thing is true for each of us too. Name it. Call it out. Identify it. Sometimes just being able to name the fears and the failures and say it out loud gives us what we need to begin taking that next step past it.

bold step of faith he took brought Peter somewhere new that he had never considered possible before — confronted him with a new way of thinking

posture of humility

Here’s one more observation we see from Peter in this story. The bold step of faith he took brought him somewhere new that he had never considered possible before. Peter had gone his entire life being taught that religious purity meant avoiding certain foods and avoiding certain people. In the entire lifetime of Peter’s faith up to this point, there had never been room to even consider the possibility of associating with gentiles. The thing that made this a bold step forward in faith for Peter was the realization that this next step in front of him was something that he had never thought possible before. In Peter’s case, it is a bold step of faith that required a brand new way of thinking for Peter. To follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit meant that Peter had to be willing to go places he had never been before. It was a bold step forward for Peter to go with these men to the house of Cornelius. We should not minimize that part of the story. I imagine in Peter’s head he was thinking to himself, never in a million years would I have ever dreamed my life of faith would bring me here!

question Peter has to ask himself: have I been wrong about ignoring people whom God is able to redeem?

Peter’s action in this step carries potential consequences. He could be disowned by the Jewish religious community for what he did. He could be an outcast among his own ethnic people for crossing that line and entering the house of Cornelius. This was most certainly a step of boldness for Peter’s faith to move in this new direction. I think it took a rather large dosage of humility in order for this to happen. Peter had to be humble before God just to find himself able to ask the question. Here is the question Peter has to ask himself: have I been wrong about ignoring people whom God is able to redeem? Peter could not take that next bold step forward in expressing an outward faith unless he first had the humility to seriously ask that question of himself.

That is important for us today as well. The boldest steps of faith are steps that require the most humility. It is a humility that is eager to learn what we might not have known before. It is a humility that is eager to look for what we might not have seen before. It is a humility that is ready to admit that we might have been wrong before. Peter needed humility to take that step forward, and we do too.

What does that look like for your life of faith right now? Is there a bold step in front of you that might require a healthy dose of humility to walk forward? In the ABC’s of outward faith, a bold faith that expresses outwardly needs to go one step awareness and embrace the boldness to make the next move, to take the next step forward. Is there a step like that in front of you right now?

last week challenge — start with one person/household

this week challenge — start with one step

I will make the first move to bring my faith into that relationship

Last week I challenged us to each identify just one person or one household for whom we could begin praying—specifically a person or household who feels distant and separated from God. This week I want you to think about what it might look like for you to be the one who makes that first move to bring your faith into that relationship. It will take a boldness that requires facing past your fears and failures; it will take a boldness that requires humility before God. But that is exactly the kind of faith we have been given by God.

you can take bold steps of faith because it is not your strength at work in those steps, it is the power of God working in you

Jesus came and gave himself on the cross so that your life of faith could be connected to God. Your faith can have boldness, not because you have figured out how to reach out and tap into some extra strength and courage, but because Jesus reached out to you and redeemed you, because the Holy Spirit came to you and infused your faith with a boldness that is not your own but comes to you from God. You can take bold steps of faith because it is not your strength at work in those steps, it is the power of God working in you.