Where Is Our Boldness?
Early in the life of the church Peter and John, the leaders, were arrested and warned by the men who had crucified Jesus that they were to never preach anything about him again. (Read the entire story in Acts 4:1-31.) Remember that Peter had denied Jesus three times. John had never been an outspoken leader but referred to himself as the “one whom Jesus loved.” In other words, he was closely attached to Jesus and was not seen as a visionary leader. When the two men were warned, they returned to the other believers and told them what had happened. You would think that they would be terrified. What they did remains as one of the most brave and Spirit-filled responses. Immediately, everyone dropped to their knees and began praying. Notice the heart of their prayer, what they requested: “Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to…(what? How they finished this is how we know their plan, their chief focus)…to speak your word with great boldness.” (Acts 4:29) When the Holy Spirit filled that room, the disciples “were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (v. 31). Clearly, this means they spoke it into the community, the world around them, and not just to one another.
Where is our boldness today? Boldness is not rudeness or being mean. Boldness comes from the Holy Spirit. Most of American Christianity has become complete entertainment, lacking real spiritual truth and power. The general excuse today is that we must everyone believe what they want to believe and not be intrusive. Had that been the practice of the early believers we would never have had the opportunity to believe because the gospel would have died right there with that first threat. The scene from Acts took place in the midst of a very pluralistic society. The Romans had their gods and the Jews had perverted the practice of worship of Yahweh to the extent that it was but a form of religion. We seem to think that we must only be bold when we speak to Christians for fear of offending someone. Hell is very offensive. Bondage and suffering are offensive. Let us pray “Lord, give us the power to speak your word in boldness.”
The world is being shaken. Every day there is news of another crisis or trauma, some human-made and others natural. The Bible tells us that these are like the labor pains of a woman. They will produce something, and we should heed the signs. They may subside for a season, but they will return and increase in intensity. These are not times to be playing games with church. These are times when Christians must take the souls of those they knew seriously. There does come an end to the day of salvation. Time does expire and it is too late. Pray for boldness!
