Sermon: Empowered by Their Acts - Daring Greatly

Empowered by Their Acts: Daring Greatly
Acts 4: 1-22
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
June 2, 2019


The apostles Peter and John had just encountered their first local mission trip at Solomon’s Temple, as told in the third chapter of Acts. Through the ministry of personal connection, Peter took the hand of the man who was born lame and raised him up in God’s strength. And then this man walked into the temple with Peter and John (Acts 3:7-8). The man was not only healed by the power of Jesus Christ, but he was freed to be who God created him to be; a beloved child of God. This man’s whole identity changed by being restored to the community.

The apostles’ first mission opportunity was about practicing resurrection. Practicing resurrection not only meant seeing this man’s need but also honoring this man’s dignity. Peter and John empowered this man to stand on his own two feet. And at that moment, this man received the hope of Jesus Christ and he could do nothing less than praise God.

This is where we enter the story of Acts 4: 1-22:

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
it has become the cornerstone.”
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, ‘What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it. But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.’ So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.

The religious authorities in Solomon’s Temple did not think the first Christian mission was a success. Rather, they threw Peter and John in jail. You see, Jesus and his ministry made the religious authorities nervous.

Even after they had sentenced Jesus to die on the cross, he had somehow been raised from the dead. And now the Christian movement was gaining momentum at five thousand followers. The religious authorities wanted to bring the movement to a stop.

The religious authorities and the crowd in Solomon’s Temple were shocked by the apostles’ boldness. Peter and John had stepped into the arena of faith and by the power of the Holy Spirit they were confident to lift up the power of Jesus Christ and the need for God’s blessed assurance of salvation to be remembered. With zeal and passion Peter and John said to all who had ears to listen, “We cannot keep form speaking about what we have seen and heard!” (Acts 4:20).

Can you imagine having such passion for making Jesus Christ known, regardless of the costs? Many of us find ourselves quite timid in sharing our faith. Where does confidence like that come from?

The year was 1910. President Theodore Roosevelt gave his famous speech, commonly referred to as “The Man in the Arena” delivered in Paris, France. His words eloquently reveal that the confidence and success of a people stem from discipline and character. Listen to the most quoted portion of his speech:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Roosevelt’s words not only speak to the collective spirit of the American people to act with confidence and courage, but his words aptly apply to the community of faith.

Within the arena of faith, we experience the victory of Jesus Christ as we follow Christ’s example striving to do his deeds; committing to know the great enthusiasms of the gospel and the rewards that come from our great devotion to it; and spending ourselves in the worthy cause of proclaiming the kingdom of God.

Spiritual confidence is built by the act of showing up again and again to step into the arena of faith daring greatly, even when we stumble and fail. And we will stumble and fail because we cannot live out our faith perfectly.

Most of us have been captivated by the bold faith of someone we know. The way she or he lives out their faith and dares greatly for God in authentic ways inspires us to do the same. And yet there are a number of ways we Christians do this.

I had the privilege of meeting Rev. Jack Haberer, years ago when serving my last church in Mississippi. Rev. Haberer is a fellow minister in the Presbyterian Church and former editor of The Presbyterian Outlook. Haberer worked with the last church I served in helping us understand the core convictions of faith (God Views)that drive us to dare greatly for God.

Haberer says there are five basic convictions that we live out in the arena of faith. The five convictions are: the Confessionalist, the Devotionalist, the Ecclesiast, the Altruist, and the Activist. The Holy Spirit drives us to identity with one or more of these five convictions.

The Confessionalist has a conviction to “enlist in God’s mission to proclaim and promote scriptural truth. Joining the great theologians, the Confessionalist happily affirms the core doctrines of the Church and when facing challenges to the truth, puts the declaration of truth above maintaining comfortable relationships within Christian community [1]. The apostles Peter and John stepped into the arena of faith with a Confessionalist conviction to proclaim the truth of Jesus’ resurrection power.

The Devotionalist has a deep hunger for a growing relationship with God and a passion to know Christ more fully. The Devotionalist adopts a vision of God and a commitment to God’s mission that calls people into a direct, vital, and dynamic relationship with God [2]. Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, was a Devotionalist (Luke 10: 42). For Mary, the arena of faith began in her home and then stretched into her everyday living.

The Ecclesiast is driven to gather believers together for “worship, for sharing sacraments, for study, for mutual care, and for equipping the community of faith to serve God.” The Ecclesiast leads the church into ministries of outreach by never allowing the overall vision to turn inward [3]. The apostle Paul was an Ecclesiast. As a church planter, Paul stepped into the arena of faith to encourage both devotion to God and reaching out to the community and world to bring about God’s redemptive unity.

The Altruist is committed to “be as Christ to others…by showing altruism towards the needy to express their gratitude to God. The Altruist drives many to Christian service, because Jesus called us to care for the least of these by feeding the hungry, refreshing the thirsty, sheltering the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and visiting the imprisoned” [4]. The Altruist Mother Teresa is a household name who stepped into the arena of faith with a wholehearted conviction to seek the welfare of the least.

The Activist takes Micah’s prophetic voice seriously that God requires us mortals to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). The Activist has “sensed God’s call to follow Christ to become a social transformer” to join Christ in breaking down barriers to knowing God’s peace and unity. And yet, “the call to do social transformation has been blurred by an ongoing difficulty felt by those trying to sort between their faith and their politics” [5].

Jesus Christ embodied these five convictions. Jesus confessed God’s truth, devoted himself fully to love God and neighbor, worked for unity, and served the least of our neighbors. Jesus also stepped into the arena of faith as an activist.

Jesus lifted his voice with righteous anger in the temple and turned over the moneychangers’ tables for defiling his Father’s House (John 2:13). He demanded change that glorified God.

At the moment of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, “Jesus threatened the religious power and authority of the Jewish religious elite and he threatened the political power of the Romans” [6]. Not only did Jesus challenge the Jewish and Roman authorities but he turned them on their head though his actions on the cross.

Even as Jesus Christ embodied all five core convictions that Haberer names, there is no single right way for you and me to enter into the arena of faith. Haberer says that we need all five of these convictions to drive us forward into God’s vision of reconciling the world according to God’s will.

Our text from Acts today encourages you and me to pay attention to the way God’s Spirit is moving in our lives. Pay attention because being empowered to dare greatly is to claim the responsibility to carry on Jesus’ ministry and join God’s mission to transform the world. Each of us will claim this responsibility of faith in our own unique ways as the Spirit of God equips us to be agents of God’s faith, hope, and love in our communities and in the world.

What convictions will drive you into the arena of faith to dare greatly as an apostle of Jesus Christ? It is a worthy question for us to be in prayer about.

In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

Sources Referenced:

[1] Jack Haberer, “God Views: The Convictions of Faith that Drive Us and Divide Us” (Louisville: Geneva Press, 2001), p. 48.
[2] Haberer, p. 59.
[3] Haberer, p. 66, 69.
[4] Haberer, p. 81.
[5] Haberer, p. 87.
[6] Haberer, p 86.