Acts 4:23-31, "The Recipe for Boldness in the Gospel"
Notes
Transcript
When we look back at the people who have changed the world, they share a common trait. They are bold enough to do or say what no one else will. And when we look back at the people who have changed the world for good, overcoming evil, establishing the kingdom of God in justice, righteousness, faithfulness, and steadfast love (the gospel), they all seem to be using the same recipe. Our passage spells out the three ingredients in the recipe for boldness in the gospel. And it challenges us and invites us into integrating those three ingredients into our own lives.
Context: the same religious leaders that had Jesus crucified arrested Peter and John, put them on trial, and demanded an explanation for the healing of the lame man. No good deed goes unpunished.
Nothing goes according to plan for those in power. Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit, and preaches a bold message of conviction to those that crucified Jesus. Acts 4:10, “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified...” But also a bold message of the power of the risen Jesus, “...but God raised him from the dead.” This is the gospel. He is on the loose, and there is healing in His Name. They are afraid of the name of Jesus. It is a powerful name.
This is the gospel Peter preaches,
Acts 4:12 (ESV)
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
When we learn to rely on the power of Jesus in our lives, we grow bold. The first ingredient for boldness in the gospel is spending time with Jesus.
Boldness Comes from Being with Jesus
Boldness Comes from Being with Jesus
Acts 4:13 (ESV)
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
If you were surrounded by the most powerful people in your country, the people with the most connections, the smartest theologians that could quote the Bible chapter and verse to you, would you dare open your mouth, let alone tell them they had gotten their own religion wrong?
How does someone become this bold? They have spent enough time with Jesus that they really know Him and what He is capable of. They can recognize real spiritual life and spot the fakers. They know the truth, not because they learned it in a book, but because the Truth is a Person, and they know Him. You don’t have to be educated, well-connected, powerful in the worldly sense, to be powerful in the mission of Jesus. You just have to know Him and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
If you have had a genuine, life-changing experience with Jesus Christ, no one can deny it (see Acts 4:16). And if Jesus has worked in your life, you
Acts 4:20 (ESV)
for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
Do you have experiential knowledge of Jesus? Are you spending time with Him? If someone watched your life would they see the power of God, the boldness Jesus had in speaking the word of God? Would they clearly recognize you have been with Jesus?
But be careful. Time with Jesus makes you more bold. And boldness is addictive, apparently. The disciples want more. Peter and John return to their friends, and they pray. What do they pray for? They all pray for even more boldness. In their prayer, we find the second ingredient to boldness in the gospel.
Boldness Comes from a Big View of God
Boldness Comes from a Big View of God
The way the disciples of Jesus see God as much bigger and more powerful than anyone else. They address their prayer to the “Sovereign Lord”. The word is literally, “despot”. The God they are praying to has all the power in the universe. He made it after all, and it’s His. And He chooses to speak through people by the Holy Spirit, like King David. David was himself a king of kings. But even he recognized that God is bigger. So when these disciples of Jesus want to pray according to the truth that God is in total power over the plans of men, they choose David’s prayer from Psalm 2.
By the way, if you want a more powerful prayer life, pray scripture. The Holy Spirit has spoken to the writers of the Bible to inspire them with God’s words. You can’t really do better than that. I may not like having my words used against me. But that’s because I make so many mistakes with my words. God makes no mistakes. So He likes having His words used in prayer. When we soak ourselves in scripture, the Holy Spirit can guide us to pray more truth and guide us into a greater understanding of God’s will than if you prayed according to your own understanding.
But look at the prayer they pray from Psalm 2. People can rage. They can plot. They can try to gather together against the Lord and against His Messiah. But why? They won’t succeed. These disciples have a Messiah who was crucified at the hands of evil men and then rose from the dead. They have a powerful Messiah. And a big, big God.
How big is your God? Can people ruin His plans? Can earthly rulers overcome Him? Can anyone take the Lord’s Messiah off His throne or put Him back in His grave?
The scripture the disciples pray enlightens their situation. They see that the rulers of their own city had their chance. They did their best to stop God’s plan.
Acts 4:27 (ESV)
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
but in the end, they only did what God had predestined to take place.
to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
So, what’s the application for them?
Now that these same powerful people are threatening them, they don’t pray that God will protect them. This is not defensive prayer. They go on the offense.
Acts 4:29 (ESV)
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
They pray that God will give them more boldness to speak His word and that He will heal more people and there will be more signs and wonders performed through the name of Jesus.
Acts 4:30 (ESV)
while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
And this prayer is immediately answered.
Acts 4:31 (ESV)
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
The power of God shakes their house, fills them with the Holy Spirit and they speak the word of God with boldness. This is the third ingredient of boldness in the gospel.
Boldness Comes from Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
Boldness Comes from Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
“What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy [Spirit] can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy [Spirit] does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer.” E.M. Bounds, “Power Through Prayer”
This combination of people who have been with Jesus, praying with a big view of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, is world-changing. The world won’t be changed by clever ministry strategies. The world will be changed by the bold. Followers of Jesus who are willing to say and do things beyond their own power because they are confident in God’s power.
God has been calling some of us to pray for revival in our time. He has been answering. The answer to our prayer is not more clever marketing or strategies. It isn’t more money to start new programs. It is people who will spend more time with Jesus, who spoke the truth with great boldness. It is people who trust in a big, big God, whose plans cannot fail, who plans bold plans like raising His Messiah from the dead to renew the world. And it is people filled with the Holy Spirit and His power who will speak the word of God with boldness.
Communion is an opportunity to be formed in all these ways...
Questions for Discussion
Who are some people you think of as bold? What makes them bold?
What is a situation in which you wish you had been more bold?
Our recipe for boldness in the world-changing gospel includes the three ingredients, being with Jesus, a big view of God, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you have any people in your life who are bold in the gospel, and how do their lives demonstrate our three ingredients?
How do Peter and John demonstrate that they had been with Jesus? In what ways should we expect the same effects in our life?
What are some practices or patterns you have found helpful in maintaining time with Jesus?
What are the best ways to develop a big view of God? (How did the early Christians get theirs?)
How would you compare the prayers we pray with the prayer these disciples pray in Acts 4:24-30?
How will you respond to this passage this week?
Who is someone you could share this passage with this week?