Ordinary Boldness

Introduction

What’s up CLU! My name is Alex, I’m one of the pastors at Citylight South.

You guys have been doing a series called “Don’t Miss Out!” this semester and it comes from the core values of our church. Down (Gospel coming down to us), Up (being formed to look like Jesus), IN (Family), and OUT (Mission). I love that this is a series you guys are running at this spring because it matters so much. You guys are only in school for 4 years. You’ll rub shoulders with people you never would have expected to and you’ll meet people you may never see again, but God has a a desire to invite you into his mission. You may have signed up and come to Doane because you wanted to play a sport here, loved a coach, it felt like home, you liked the small feel, you loved the major and faculty. Whatever that reason might be, is actually no longer the reason you’re here.

You are here because God ordained it. The question you have to answer now is, are you willing to give your life to it?

Are you willing to resign the dotted line to a life of boldness and a purpose of not just being a student at Doane University, but the reason why you’re here is to make disciples and see people come to know Jesus? Are you willing to take off the jersey and put on the armor of God and step into the battle field?

What if you didn’t just passively use this time for your own fulfillment, and what if you used it to glorify God and not just change someones experience at Doane, but used it to change their eternity?

The heart of the sermon series is don’t miss the opportunity that God has given to you.

Context

Tonight we start Acts 4, but before we get there I think it is important that we look back at what has happened in the story so far. We start Acts 1 with Jesus after the resurrection talking with the disciples. As he is with them he gives them the command to go to all the nations, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

After his ascension we see the disciples have a conversation with two angels who assure them that Jesus will return and they will receive the promised Holy Spirit. After selecting a 12th disciples to replace Judas they gather together at pentecost in the upper room where a sound like a rushing wind and like tongues of fire come upon them! The Holy Spirit finally comes and dwells with his people, the church. During Pentecost we read of Peters first sermon to those who were in awe of what was happening with them sharing the gospel of Christ in different languages and 3000 come to faith.

Shortly after, On their way to temple we see Peter and John pass by a lame man and have a crazy interaction where he begs them for alms but they give him Jesus instead. The man who has been lame for his whole life gets up and walks and praises God. Many see what just happened and Peter explains the truth that Christ died for those who killed him and repentance and faith in Jesus leads to life!

Which brings us to where we are today. Acts 4 where Peter and John are out proclaiming what just happened, but they’re interrupted by the Jewish leaders. The big idea for this passage is Be Bold Even When it Costs. I want to give you a road map of where we are headed today, because its important that you follow along and see the beauty before us. First we’ll see a Bold Proclamation, then we see the Scent of Boldness, and finally we see a Prayer for Boldness.

Read 5-12

Bold Proclamation (v. 1-12)

While Peter, John, and the lame man are sharing the truth of Jesus to the crowd, the priests and sadducees come up to them. They’re annoyed because they’re preaching about Jesus and his resurrection. The Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection. In the middle of this large crowd they take Peter, John, and the lame man and arrest them.

Can you imagine what it was like in jail for them? Peter sees a dude chillin in a spot. Says “what’re you in for?” “oh, I parked my camel in the wrong spot and was working on the Sabbath. What about you?” “I told a guy who has been lame since birth to get up and walk.” “uhh what? What about your friend?” “He’s the guy who got up and walked…”

Anyway, the next morning at their trial notice that Luke gives us the names of some of those who were there. Annas, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander. This wasn’t by accident. Luke is drawing something out for us here. These are the very men that put Jesus to death. The same people who ordered the killing of Jesus. Imagine what must have been going through the mind of Peter and John. They know that just a few months ago these men killed their best friend.

By What Power? (v. 7)

In the midst of the trial they ask them “by what power or by what name did you do this?” The Jewish leaders care deeply about their power. They care about being on top. And so as they ask this question they want to get down to it because they know that Peter and John aren’t lifting them up as the religious leaders, but they’re lifting Jesus up and they are disagreeing with their teaching because they are teaching the resurrection.

This should bring to us a reminder to our minds because a very similar question was asked to Jesus himself. Jesus was teaching in the temple and preaching the gospel and the priests and scribes ask him in Luke 20:2 “tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” The disciples are doing the same exact thing that Jesus was doing. They’re following Jesus example and doing the same thing he would do.

Peter goes on to not only tell them, but show them by what power. Peter’s response is because of the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Luke didn’t accidentally put that line in again, but he wanted to remind us that this bold proclamation is because of the Spirits empowerment in him.

CLU, Peter goes on to share about how these are the very men that ordered the killing of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He quickly draws them in to say in verse 10“let it be known to all of you...that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who you crucified, whom God raised from the dead” by Him, by his power! and stands up. He is the cornerstone that we are built on.

Quickly Peter turns it from his trial and flips it around and makes it the trial of the Sanhedrin.

He brings their sin, their wrong doing, their murder trial to session and calls them out. They were the ones who had Jesus killed. They’re the ones who won’t submit to God. They’re the ones that want to stand high on their authority and no one else's. They’re the reason Jesus was brutally crucified. But Peter gives us a lesson about what it means to follow Jesus. Following Jesus means we must be bold to tell the truth.

Boldness means point out sin

As a believer, someone who has been born again and changed by Christ, we invitied to tell people about Jesus. But the reality is that people will never really understand who Jesus is and what he has done for them if they don’t know and recognize their sin and their need for a savior. This is one of the most conflicting parts in our conversations with people as we share the gospel. They must know and understand that they’re the same people who stand guilty before a Holy God. They are the ones who have sinned against him and it’s because of our sin and their that Jesus had to take the cross. The reason Jesus was crucified was because of you, me, and everyone else who has sinned.

But in our conversations with people, we learn that following Jesus means we must proclaim the whole gospel with boldness. This means that we must be willing to tell someone that they are in desperate need of saving. Their sin will be paid for, one way or another. It will either lead them to death and separation from God in Hell for all eternity or it will lead them to bow their knee to Jesus, accept his free gift of salvation, and trust in him to receive the forgiveness of sin he offers us. We cannot shy away from the conversation of sin, exposing it in someone’s heart and life because it’s serious and they need to know why they need saving in the first place in order to rightly receive the gospel of repentance and salvation in Christ.

Peter’s bold proclamation allows us to see that we must boldly proclaim not just God’s sending of his son, but the reason for him coming in the first place. But the reality is, our boldness has its consequences. Keep reading with me.

Read 13-17

The Scent of Boldness (v. 13-22)

The second point we see is the scent of boldness.

When they saw the boldness of Peter and John...they perceived that they were uneducated common men. The Sanhedrin came to understand that they were just fishermen. Men who didn’t have an education. No theology degree. Not able to read. Not able to really understand the complexity of the scriptures. Uneducated. Common. Men.

CLU, I know there are some of you who may feel like you don’t have all the answers in moments where you want to have conversations about Jesus with people. I know there are times where you feel like you’re not equipped.

Its not about how educated you are, how well you know your bible, how much theology you know, knowing all the right answers. You can do this! You can be bold to proclaim the name of Jesus. The Spirit leads and guides and empowers to lead you to say “its all about jesus” Remember verse 8 “then Peter FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT” If you have trusted in Christ, you have the Spirit of God in you. You have this same empowerment as Peter.

They were common men. That is why Acts and today is so great. God uses ordinary common people to do extraordinary uncommon things because HIs Spirit is in them. He is in you.

Been With Jesus

The scripture tells us that they were common men and they were astonished but here is why “they recognized they’d been with Jesus”

These are just regular guys, uneducated and normal guys. But there is something that isn’t normal. They had been with Jesus. They could see it. They could tell that these guys had been with Jesus. That is what was different. Remember they were doing the same exact thing that were told Jesus was doing in the gospels and the same language and phrasing is even used in the greek to describe it and help us see how their time with Jesus rubbed off on them. They didn’t just watch him, they learned from him and began to smell like him.

So have you actually been with Jesus? Are you pursuing Jesus, to know him and spend time with Him? And is my life noticeably different? They noticed these guys had been with Jesus. Is it noticeable in my life?

Because if you are spending time with Jesus, it will make a difference. Jesus will change your life.

Think about it this way: Why would the world want the gospel from someone that’s not living it? Why would people want what you have if you’re not even excited about what you have? Why would people want a changed life if your own life isn’t changed? Why would they want your Jesus, if your Jesus looks just like their life? Being with Jesus leads to a transformed life. Have you ever actually grabbed on tightly to Jesus, spent time with him, been transformed by him?

There is no denial for transformation. And when you spend time with Jesus, you start to smell like him. You start to become like him. You start to talk about him more. You start to actually live life like he desires you too all because the Spirit of God uses prayer and time in the word and community to shape and form us and convict us to life a life honoring to God to actually be able to point people to Jesus.

Kevin & My Story

That transformation that proof of who God is and what he has done in your life leaves people speechless. I have a friend who’s name is Kevin. Kevin and I became friends on the doane track team and Kevin really hated Christians. He’d always interacted with them and had terrible experiences. Hypocrisy, rudeness, deceit and more. But Kevin met me before I became a Christian and then he watched me be changed by Jesus. I was once a frat boy life of the party and soon became the car ride DD picking them up trying to take them all to church. Kevin saw my transformation and witnessed the work of God before his eyes. Just a few months ago, Kevin said somethign to me that I loved hearing. He said “Alex, you’ve ruined it for me!! I used to hate Christians and now I see the truth of what God does in people. I can’t hate them anymore…..just the fake ones”

Praise God for transforming me. Praise God for how we can use the transformation from being with him to share and point people to him! There is no denial in being with Jesus leading to life transformation.

As they learned from Jesus, they isn’t’ just kind of do what he did. They were bold at whatever the cost. Just like Jesus was willing to give his life to tell the people of their need for God and to expose their sin to the point of death, Peter and John here continue to be bold in their faith. V. 20 says “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

These men don’t care if they’re “allowed” or not to speak about Jesus. They’re going to do it because eternities are at stake and people must know about Jesus. The scent of Jesus was all over them as they face the religious leaders boldly proclaiming Christ at whatever the cost. The more we are around Jesus, the more we see his compassion for us, we continue to desire and love the people around us so much that we pursue them to tell them about Jesus and their hope for eternity in Christ. We too continue to be changed to say “I can’t help but tell you about the man who changed my life…”

In our boldness, in our time, we’re reminded that we can’t do this on our own though, we need help and that’s what we see next.

Read 29-31

Prayer for Boldness (v. 23-31)

Once Peter, John and the man get dismissed from jail and the court they go back with their friends to tell them of what just happened. As they begin to share with them all they are overjoyed at what the Lord has done and that leads them to pray to God. This prayer is so incredibly beautiful. So rich. But what strikes me in this prayer is verse 29. They say to the Lord “look upon their threats (the enemies of God) and grant your servants to CONTINUE to speak your word with all boldness.”

I can’t believe it! They literally just escaped death from the hands of the men who killed Jesus and they ask for MORE boldness. They say, Jesus would you let us keep going! Would we continue to speak your word boldly!

I’m amazed at their courage, boldness, and faith in God that they ask him to do more and ask him to keep encouraging them to be more bold!

This prayer is so rich because they put aside their comfort. They don’t say “Lord would you just provide more money for us, God would you just help work be less hostile, Lord would you just make sure they are still friends with me after I tell them.” No they don’t pray for comfort they pray for more boldness!

They basically say “lord remove this hard season from me and if you don’t thats okay. If you don’t Lord would you just grant me courage to be bold regardless of the outcome. If its not your will to remove this suffering, this pain, this hard season from me, then would you use it to make your gospel continue to go forward”

They’re faith and trust in God is AMAZING!!! Would you be asking for more boldness after escaping death? I probably wouldn’t! Yet they ask for it and God answers their prayer. V. 31 “all filled with the Holy spirit and continued to speak the word of God with all boldness.”

Friends 3 quick encouragements we can take away from this passage.

1. Pray for boldness

Look back at the beginning of chapter 3. One small step of obedience to talk to the lame man. To offer him all they had led to thousands coming to faith. It led to them being before they entire Jewish leadership court to share the gospel. It led to so much. Just one small step of obedience to be bold led to all of that.

We never know what the result will be from our boldness. But we do know that God can give us boldness. That he will use our faithfulness to plant seeds.

So let us pray for boldness. To pray that God would give us boldness to go before two people and share the truth of Christ with them. Pray that God would give us boldness in those moments.

2. Be Bold Together.

CLU, you don’t have to do this alone!! Look, Peter doesn’t do this on his own. Peter has John with him as he’s going and preaching and healing people. You have each other here to learn from one another and go together. If you don’t know how to share your faith, ask someone who does. Learn from them. Practice sharing your testimony. Invite each other to be praying for who you are pursuing. If you’re trying to get time, inviting, sharing the gospel send a group text, tell your city group, pray with one another. Ask them to go with you to share the gospel on campus together. Be bold with one another and be bold together because you don’t stand alone, you stand with brothers and sisters to do this with one another.

3. Be bold out of love.

The most loving thing we could ever do is tell someone about Jesus. If we truly love someone, if we truly believe in the truth that Jesus is the only name under heaven that we could have life in - isn’t it the most loving thing we could tell someone about?

Imagine a friend who you have. They’re living life making terrible decisions. Maybe they’re addicted to a drug or alcohol. Would it be loving for you to let them continue to walk down a wicked path that could lead to death, hurt, pain, loss? No it wouldn’t

Out of compassion and love for that friend you would stand before them and say “you need to stop this. Its ruining your life!”

CLU you have the same opportunity with the gospel. Because believing in some other fake God or believing in themselves leads them to death and hell. To be apart from Jesus forever. But out of love you can be bold. Out of love you share the truth. Out of love you tell them about Jesus and the greatest eternity they could ever imagine. With Jesus himself.

Jesus was bold to take our penalty. He was bold to not be about his own comforts but lay down his life for us. He was bold for us and took on sin and death to give us new life in him. And it isn’t about us making ourselves bold but Jesus was bold for us and lives in us.

CLU - Let’s pray for boldness. Let’s be bold together. Let’s be bold out of love.