Acts 4: 23-31
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
June 16, 2019
Trinity Sunday
The past six weeks we have been sitting in the story of the Acts of the Apostles. Luke’s writings tell us that being an apostle of Jesus Christ is not for the faint of heart.
The twelve apostles, Mary the mother of Jesus, and other women had to practice patience and wait in Jerusalem for God to empower them by the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1: 1-11). As they waited they devoted themselves to prayer and yet they had no idea what to expect in their near future (Acts 1: 12-26).
Holy Spirit made her dramatic entrance in the event of Pentecost. The Spirit birthed the first century church and empowered the apostles to have a sense of urgency to continue Jesus’ ministry; they were divinely inspired to dream big like God and do God’s work in the world (Acts 2: 1-4, 14-14-20).
Living into God’s dream started with relationships with God and one another. As the early Christians were united in the gift of faith they were empowered to live differently by God’s provision, Jesus’ redeeming grace, and the Spirit’s guidance.
Jesus’ instructions were to witness to the Lord’s authority and power starting in the apostles’ backyard of Jerusalem. Filled with Holy Spirit’s power, Peter and John embarked on their first mission trip as they were entering the temple for prayer. Peter and John were empowered to give hope to a man who had been born lame. They extended Jesus’ compassion and grace to heal this man whom society had merely taken pity on (Acts 3: 1-12).
This first local mission trip landed Peter and John in jail because they were daring greatly to be about the Lord’s business (Acts 4: 1-4, 13-22). Just proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ changes things, and yet this holy work in Jesus’ name threatened the religious authorities in Jerusalem.
This is where we enter the story today in Acts 4: 23-31.
After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant:
“Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth took their stand,
and the rulers have gathered together
against the Lord and against his Messiah.”
For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
The apostles received their first lesson in the school of hard knocks: being about the Lord’s business was not going to be easy. In order to experience God’s victory, they recalled Jesus’ example. Whenever Jesus was about to embark on the challenges of life and ministry he prayed. So the apostles did just that in our text today; they prayed for boldness (Acts 4: 29-31).
This was a full circle moment for the apostles. When we go back to Luke’s Gospel these men and women were not bold. They were like you and me.
Mary the mother of Jesus had big questions about bearing the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:29).
Peter felt unqualified and unworthy to follow Jesus (Luke 5:8).
The apostles argued about being the greatest without realizing what being empowered by God really meant (Luke 9:46).
They worried about God’s provision even after seeing Jesus feed five thousand (Luke 9: 10-17; 12:22).
After Jesus’ lesson on prayer, the apostles had no spiritual stamina in light of Jesus facing his destiny on the cross (Luke 11:1; 22: 39-46).
After following Jesus for three years the apostles still did not understand the big picture of God’s work in Jesus Christ.
Peter denied his association with Jesus three times after Jesus had washed his feet (Luke 22: 31-34).
When Jesus died on the cross the apostles stood at a distance as their hope dissolved into despair like a deflating balloon (Luke 23:49).
Who in the world would entrust the kingdom of God to a group of women and men like these? God did. And God empowered these women and men to be bold in order to join the Lord in kingdom building.
So how do you and I become empowered with boldness? How do we grow in our confidence of God’s power, Jesus’ grace, and the Spirit’s guidance? How do we come full circle from being timid disciples to bold apostles?
My commentary gave me a big clue to these questions: “If the church is too timid and does not ask God for enough boldness for ministry it must have timid convictions about who God is, what God has done, and what God will do” [1].
The Greek definition of boldness is to have a resolve of leaving a witness that something deserves to be remembered. That resolve is speaking with a growing confidence in love. It took years for the apostles to grow in their faith to be confident in God’s ability to do far more than they could ever hope, ask for or imagine. It takes time for your faith and mine to grow in godly confidence too.
Personal and communal commitment are required in order for our actions and voices to embody a bold conviction that God’s character and actions deserve to be remembered. Where do you go to learn who God is, what God has done, and what God will do? God’s Word will always illumine the truth of God’s character and actions in the past, present, and future.
Scripture tells us that the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth; he does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable (Isaiah 40:28). And yet God knows each of us intimately and calls us by name saying we belong to God (Isaiah 43:1). God is love (1 John 4:16). God’s love was revealed in sending Jesus Christ, God’s only Son as the Savior of the world, so that we might live through him (1 John 4:9, 14).
Through the cross and resurrection God has given us life in Jesus’ name. God revealed his sustaining presence in the Holy Spirit, who came like a violent wind to set the apostles’ faith aflame with a passion to serve God alone no matter the costs (Acts 2:2).
And as obstacles and adversity arise in our lives God promises to strengthen us, help us, and uphold us with God’s victorious right hand, therefore we have nothing to fear because of who our God is (Isaiah 41:10).
God’s character is unchangeable, and it is impossible that God would prove false (Hebrews 6:17-18). God’s word will accomplish God’s purposes (Isaiah 55:11). If we confess this to be true about God, then what a mighty spiritual force we have in every obstacle and opportunity.
All of our spiritual ancestors faced life’s obstacles and spiritual adversity. When they asserted their own strength they did not go very far. But as they tapped into the power of our God, they grew in their confidence that they would overcome. And their stories give us courage to say we shall overcome too. The genuineness of our faith will be tested (1 Peter 1: 6-7). Every test is an opportunity for our spirits to fully rely on God so that our faith may be refined and strengthened.
The Lord will always reward our imperfect faithfulness as our faith seeks understanding. God will bring us full circle from a timid faith to a bold faith as we commit to these things: steeping our spirits in God’s living Word; devoting ourselves to prayer; acknowledging our need for the Lord’s help – “I believe Lord, help my unbelief!”; focusing where God is active in our personal lives and in the life of our surrounding community and world; proclaiming that God’s faithfulness is bigger than any obstacle we may face; taking risks to join God in kingdom building. Therefore, when we are faced with obstacles, we will stand firm in the Lord and speak the truth in love and with integrity.
When we live out our faith with intentionality and authenticity, God honors our faithfulness by empowering us to grow in our confidence in God’s ability to do far more than we can ever hope, ask for, or imagine.
The Presbyterian tradition describes being empowered by acts of boldness in this way:
The church universal is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its own life. The church universal is to be a community of love, where sin is forgiven, reconciliation is accomplished, and the dividing walls of hostility are torn down.
The church universal is to be a community of witness, pointing beyond itself through word and work to the good news of God’s transforming grace in Christ Jesus our Lord [2].
This is what godly boldness looks like.
May our faith be in conversation with our heart to grow in confidence of God’s ability and in confidence of our shared call to be holy partners with God.
And may we be empowered by the apostles’ acts of boldness because this is where the rubber meets the road - you and I are the next generation of apostles to join God in building the kingdom. And God's grace requires something of you and me.
In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1] New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Volume IX Acts (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015), p. 73.
[2] The Book of Order 2017-2019, Part II of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2017), p. 2, F-1.0301
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