Becoming Bold
Last week, we spoke of the widespread fear, loneliness, and depression in the world. And we told that we baptized Christians are indeed God’s children, part of God’s family because Jesus has accepted us as brothers and sister. And then we pointed out that when we recognize that we are truly God’s children, that deep understanding takes away all of our fear, loneliness, and depression, for with God loving us, knowing us individually, and being ever present with us through the Holy Spirit, we have nothing to fear, should never be lonely, and thus, we have a deep joy instead of depression.
It is from that base that we can look around at the second problem of the world around us: Many people are loud, but change for good rarely seems to happen. How can we boldly change the world around us for the better?
When we look at the world around us, we see many people marching and loudly protesting – particularly younger people. We see other people demanding change in our world through politics – both from the progressive and the conservative sides. It seems like most people have adopted the idea that to change things for the better, we need to be loud and offensive.
You’ve seen this in action on both sides of the political divide. We’ve seen so many marches and protests that they have become boring for most people. We’ve seen the politicians who like to accuse the “other guy” of going overboard. We’ve heard the increased use of profanity in political discussions, and we’ve heard ordinary people calling proponents of the other side’s ideas “Communists” or “Fascists”, “racists”, or “groomers”, all of which are words that have become insults which can ruin a person’s life if people begin to believe it.
The Russians refer to Ukrainians, even Ukrainian Jews as “Nazis”, while the Ukrainians refer to Russian invaders as “orcs”, which are the evil pig-like creatures from “The Lord of the Rings” movies.
It has been said that the argument is lost by the person who begins to insult the other and stops dealing with the ideas. We have begun to turn our political opponents from people with whom we disagree into sub-humans, aliens, or demons. Time and again, the world has shown that this is the first step along the path toward war – when we stop looking at the other side as people and consider them to be animals or demons.
We do this with leaders, too. So often I hear about how diabolically complicated the other side’s plans are, how there are hidden motives behind everything, and how the all-powerful “THEY” are so sneaky. And then, a few minutes later, the same person tells me how the leaders of the other side are stupid, incompetent, and senile. I’ve heard this about both parties, and both candidates. Which are they? Super-intelligent or too stupid to recognize basic facts? They can’t be both!
The real answer, of course, is that they are starting from a different place than we are. Things that make absolutely no sense to people who own a couple acres or more and live in the woods make perfect sense to people who live in 500 square foot apartments, with 2000 other people in the same building.
And things that make no sense to those city dwellers make perfect sense to people who live 10 miles from the nearest police station. This graphic represents the city’s idea of “rural” on the left side:
Of course, to people who live in rural areas, the left side is what rural people consider to be a packed subdivision, with quarter-acre lots. “City”. It all depends upon where you are coming from, I guess.
And so, people argue and fight.
It was the same in Jerusalem shortly after the Resurrection. Peter and John and the other disciples had seen the Risen Christ. They had experienced his power during his ministry and after He had risen from the dead. The disciples were practical men. At least a third of the disciples had been hard-working net fishermen on the Lake of Galilee, a hundred miles from the Temple in Jerusalem. Galilee was a rural area, known for fishing, farming, and orchards.
Jerusalem was a place where people lived off of visitors to the Temple, and the taxes collected by the Romans, King Herod, and the Temple authorities. It was a tightly clustered city, with over a hundred thousand people, tripling in size during the various festivals.
In Galilee, people traded their hard-won fish and the dates and grapes and other produce they had grown to each other. They needed strong, capable bodies to earn a living – strong arms and backs, good eyesight, and legs that could carry them around the farms and between boats and homes. Cash and coins were hard to find, and generally had to be saved for the tax collectors and the trips to Jerusalem. Galilee had a barter economy; people traded work and things to each other. In Galilee, people cared more about what you did than what you said. A full barn was a symbol of wealth in Galilee. But in Jerusalem, people didn’t have barns to store extra food in, so coins were the preferred way of trading wealth. Jerusalem had a cash economy.
Because people in Jerusalem lived in a cash economy, it was also a place where the people who had sharp minds, smooth tongues, and an ability to persuade other people to help them gathered. People in cities have long cared more about how you talked and delivered upon promises than in your physical strength. A fat moneybag and nice clothes were symbols of wealth in Jerusalem. And that cash economy also attracted those people who needed to persuade people to simply give them money, for the visitors to Jerusalem brought cash which they could easily drop in the bowls of the beggars. The homeless, the disabled, the smooth talkers have always found places in the larger cities.
And so, when Peter and John come to the Temple gate one day after the Resurrection, they find a lame beggar sitting there, asking for coins. The disciples have no money to spare, but they know what they do have – they have the power of the Holy Spirit, and they know the power of Jesus to heal people. Instead of calling together a great crowd to raise money for the beggar. Instead of calling for a protest against a world without welfare or support for beggars.
Instead of creating a big scene, Peter, this practical man from Galilee, who didn’t like to talk, but liked to DO speaks quietly to the beggar – not to a crowd, but just to the beggar. Words that only Peter, the beggar, and John heard. Peter famously said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” He helped the man to his feet, and the man began to walk and jump and praised God.
Peter and John had changed the world around them through their reliance upon Jesus. The man was clearly happy. But, as often happens when we quietly do good, people noticed. They recognized that the beggar was now walking and that a miracle had happened. And they paid more attention to Peter and John than to the beggar, so Peter had to explain. He didn’t take credit – instead, he deflected the credit back to Jesus Christ.
Peter told them that he and John had not done anything, but that it was the man’s faith in the name of Jesus that had healed the man. And then Peter reminded the people of who Jesus was and what he had done, how he had been killed, and how he had been raised from the dead by God.
Just as Peter is getting wound up, the leaders of the Temple and the Temple guard came up to Peter and John and arrested them, partially because the Sadducees who ran the Temple did not believe in any Resurrection - past, present, or future - and Peter was talking far too much about the Resurrection of Jesus. The two disciples were taken to jail.
My son Andrew had a similar experience. A couple of years ago, he took a solo vacation to visit some friends in Idaho. Since it was close to his path, he went to Salt Lake City and stopped in to tour the Mormon Temple. He began speaking with one of the tour guides and started asking questions about Mormon belief, which moved into questions such as “how do you reconcile that belief with such-and-such passages from the Bible.” After a few minutes, a senior guide came up and said to him, “I think you’ve moved beyond questions and are now beginning to teach. Please leave or I will call security.” Andrew left and continued on his journey.
But Peter and John spent the night in jail when they spoke about the Resurrection in a Temple operated by people who did not believe in any resurrections.
The next day, the assembly of the leaders of Jerusalem met. There were elders and teachers, the high priest of the Temple was there, as well as men who had previously been high priests and men who would soon become the high priests. This was the equivalent of having a meeting of the top law school professors from Harvard, Yale, and all the other Ivy League schools, along with the greatest minds of the Jewish nation and men who had the power to put the disciples in jail and throw the key into the ocean. Peter and John were brought before this intimidating group and asked, “By what power or what name did you do this?”
Now please remember that Peter was the disciple who had snuck around the night Jesus was arrested, even denying knowing who Jesus was three times that evening for Peter was soooo frightened that he would also be arrested.
But this day, we saw a different Peter, a bold man, the ship captain who was never afraid of anything. Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts, tells us that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter said to the men who could put him in prison for the rest of his life: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Luke goes on to tell us that what particularly amazed the assembly were the fact that Peter and John were “unschooled, ordinary men” from Galilee and had been with Jesus. The Galilean accent was recognized in Jerusalem as a “hick” accent. It wasn’t seen as cultured. It wasn’t seen as proper. It was seen as uneducated and the people who spoke it were seen as a bit slow and stupid. In fact, Galilean speakers were seen and mocked by the sophisticated people of Jerusalem in the same way that New Yorkers have often looked at West Virginians. But the man who had been healed was standing there, walking around a bit, right beside the two disciples. So the assembly decided to warn the disciples not to teach this anymore and let them go. But Luke also tells us that that another couple thousand people became believers because of what happened to the lame beggar.
Where did Peter’s boldness come from?
Let’s be very clear. Peter was naturally a bold, outspoken man, a leader of the fishing boats in Galilee. But he had been very frightened of the Temple guards who had arrested Jesus that night after the Last Supper. Peter had a healthy respect for the authority of men with sharp spears and sharp swords. And so he ran away that terrible Thursday night and hid.
But this day, his boldness was back – even in the face of those same men with those same spears and swords. Where did his renewed boldness come from?
Over the previous two months, Peter had learned that death is not the end. The Temple leaders denied resurrections were possible – but Peter had seen a resurrected man. The Temple leaders had let that beggar sit outside their gates for months and years, perhaps decades, doing nothing for him. But Peter, through his belief in the power of Jesus, had repaired the man’s life in less than a minute simply by using the name of Jesus.
Peter had not put on any new armor. He did not have the offensive power that comes from intensive martial arts training. He could not cast balls of fire or fire lasers at the soldiers. But Peter could heal people because of his strong belief and understanding that Jesus was truly the Son of God, God walking upon the earth – and Peter knew that Jesus would back Peter up just as God the Father had backed up Jesus, for Peter was trying to do the very same thing he had seen Jesus do. Peter knew that this was what Jesus wanted done – Jesus had told Peter and the disciples - and us - that the disciples would do everything Jesus had done and even more. He wanted Peter to heal people and testify to the power of Jesus. And He wants us to do the same. But how can we be bold?
I used to have a little Shi Tzu puppy who was very bold, very willing to challenge any visitor to our home – as long as she knew I was standing behind her. But she was not so bold when she was alone, or when she looked behind her and I had walked away.
Peter was the same way. We can be the same way. We can be bold when we are doing exactly what we know Jesus wants done. For understanding the Resurrection takes away our fear of death, and understanding Jesus tells us that He expected us to take over where He left off.
But there was another reason Peter was bold. Luke tells us that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he spoke before the assembled leaders of Jerusalem. Peter did not speak the words; Peter did not come up with the words. Instead, the Holy Spirit spoke through Peter, and so, with the very breath of God flowing out of Peter, Peter could be very bold, for all Peter needed to do was let the Spirit speak. All Peter did was let the Holy Spirit acts and speak through him.
Some people think that the mark of the Holy Spirit speaking is when someone speaks unintelligible words that make no sense, words that are spoken in a language which is not of mankind. Other people think that the Holy Spirit only comes in someone who speaks loudly.
But Elijah once ran away to the mountain of God in Sinai, and God came by. In I Kings 19:11-13, it tells us about God’s visit to Elijah: “A great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper… a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
The Holy Spirit spoke to the writers of the Bible and we know that the Spirit still speaks to us thousands of years from the writing when the Bible is read.
Most people hear the Holy Spirit as an intense whisper, and as the ability to speak amazing things far beyond our normal ability to put ideas together. I experience the Holy Spirit when I type and write and let the Spirit take control, and occasionally when I speak.
All baptized Christians can speak boldly when the Spirit fills us. It doesn’t mean we need to shout. It simply means that we can tell someone what they need to hear, even though we would normally be cowards.
And this is how the world can really be changed.
We don’t need to march and carry posters. We don’t need to riot and burn things. We don’t need to make outlandish statements that offend people and make us look like jerks.
Instead, we need to have that quiet confidence that Jesus is God, that Jesus loves us, and that we are doing and saying what Jesus truly wants – not necessarily what we want, not what people are pushing us to do – but what Jesus wants. And we know this because we are listening to the quiet, intense whisper in our minds – the whisper of the Holy Spirit.
And we need to teach this to our children and grandchildren.
Good change happens quietly. Revolutions and wars make front page news and revolutions are a great way to get your name put down in history books - usually with a description of how you died. But revolutions and wars also cause great damage and hardship along the way. Force always leads to resentment – and often to shed blood.
Jesus changed the world by sacrificing himself. There was no great battle, as battles are known. There was no great scene of fighting between his followers and the enemy that secured the victory. No, it was one man saying, “I am a king, but not of this world. You can kill me, but I will arise again and then you will know what real power is. For when you lift me up on that cross, I will draw all people to myself. “
And this was how the victory was won – it was won because of a death without revenge, a surrender rather than a devastating use of power, an example, a victory which happened in a tomb when one man who had been killed opened his eyes again and walked out of that tomb, to speak to his followers and command them to tell his story. Just tell His story.
For the world changes for the good every time the story is told and believed. Each time that happens, a soldier for the enemy becomes a soldier for Christ. The story of Jesus doesn’t kill people or wound people - although sadly, we people might do that. But the story heals people and leads them to desert their demonic former leader and join the army of goodness.
So when you hear of people “fighting for God”, ask yourself: Are they truly fighting for God’s glory or are they fighting for their own glory? Are they fighting to change the world for the better – or are they fighting to destroy someone else? For the most powerful warriors for Christ were not the knights of the Middle Ages or the Reformation who wore crosses on their uniforms – but were Billy Graham, John Wesley, Saint Augustine, Rick Warren, Francis of Assisi, C.S. Lewis, Harper Lee, and all the millions of people who preached and wrote and organized churches and missions and taught Sunday school, and invited young men and women and children to lunch and breakfast and dinner to have a quiet chat about what was really important in life, telling the story of Jesus, and so they led over a billion people to change how they lived and thus the world was changed for the better.
Will you speak boldly to people of Jesus’ love so the world can be changed? It starts when you ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words and speak with just one person today, another next week, and so on, growing in your confidence and ability to teach the most important ideas in the world to others. For all this takes is your choice to speak as God asks and speak to whomever God puts in your path.
And you too, will become a bold representative of Christ on the earth, changing the world for the better. That’s how Peter and John got started – with one person who they trusted would be healed by Jesus when they took pity on that poor beggar.
Be bold. Jesus has your back!
How have you told the story and to whom? Leave your experience in the comments section below.