boldness

September 2, 2025 –  The Followers of Jesus Respond to the Threat — Acts #11

David Chupp Acts , , , , ,

September 2, 2025 –  The Followers of Jesus Respond to the Threat — Acts #11
Acts 4:23-31

We have been discussing this one story about Peter, John, and the lame man for the past month. The story unfolds over 24 hours, but spans almost two chapters of Acts.  It began one afternoon at 3 pm when Peter and John were going to the Temple.  There, they encountered a man who was paralyzed from birth, and he was healed.  He followed them into the Temple, and everyone there recognized him as the lame beggar whom they had passed for years.  Peter and John preach for about 2.5 hours and then are placed in custody overnight by the Temple police.  The next day, they are questioned by the court of high priests, who threaten them not to continue to speak about Jesus.

We noted that this is just the beginning of the persecution that will intensify over the following four chapters of Acts, culminating in the first martyr for the faith.  But at this point, the priests don’t yet feel they can do more than threaten them.  So they warn Peter and John not to speak any more about Jesus.

This is Israel in the first century.  They have no First Amendment that guarantees free speech. This is a genuine threat that they must take seriously.  The last person Peter and John saw this group deal with ended up on a cross.  Today, we examine how these followers respond to these threats and consider how we should react when we face similar threats.

Perhaps you feel that this doesn’t apply to you.  In the US, we are not currently under any significant form of persecution. You may not have ever been physically threatened by a person who meant you harm.  But have you ever felt your life was threatened by an accident or illness?  Has your health been threatened?  We all know friends who have been threatened by cancer and other physical threats this past year.  We know people who physical disasters, flooding, fires, and storms have threatened. And while persecution is not a big problem for many of us now, in many countries it is a big problem. The Bible tells us that a time of persecution will come everywhere.  And just as the followers in Acts 4 are seeing the first hints of persecution, we are seeing the first hints of persecution here in the US.  None of us here may live to see more than these stirrings of persecution, but it will come, and we must be ready. We must discuss how we should respond when it does come.   So how do you respond when you are threatened? 

Acts 4:23-31  When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who, through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
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, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue 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.” 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

How do you respond when you are threatened or get bad news?  They have been warned by the highest court not to speak about Jesus anymore.  However, they feel compelled to share this great news about Jesus with everyone.  

When they got the bad news, here is what they did not do:  They did not panic, fret, wring their hands, cry, moan, or groan.  They did not get angry, sad, depressed, or anxious.  They did not do any of these things.  They prayed.   If your initial response to getting any bad news is not prayer, then you are doing it wrong. 

So these followers in Acts 4 responded to bad news with prayer. But let’s look a little deeper and see how they prayed and what they prayed for.

Acts 4:24  And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord…

They addressed God as “Sovereign Lord.”  What does this title mean?  “Sovereign Lord” is translated from a single Greek word, ‘despotes’, from which we get our word despot.  The modern definition of despot is: “a ruler or other person who holds absolute power, typically one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way.”1 Today, this word has a very negative connotation.  But the original Greek term was neutral, referring to the head of a household. (The female equivalent was despoina, or “lady of the house”.)  Later, in the Byzantine Empire, it was a term of high honor.  However, it now carries a very negative connotation, similar to the words ‘tyrant’ or ‘dictator’, which were initially neutral terms until the late 1700s. 

Why did these terms develop such a negative connotation?  Due to the rise of oppressive rulers, people began to realize over time the potential problems that occur when one person holds all the power.   Specifically, it was during the time of the French Revolution and the reign of Louis XIV that the term ‘despot’ became so negative. It was Lord Acton in 1887 who wrote: 

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence2 and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.“3

Power in the hands of men is a temptation few can stand. God alone is the supreme power that is incorruptible.  He is sovereign in that he is all-powerful.  He controls the sun, the moon, and the stars.  He controls the wind, the clouds, and the storms.  And He has the power to control every detail of our lives.  But God, in His wisdom, withholds His control over you unless you allow it.  He asks us to submit our wills to His voluntarily.  Now, there are times when God will override man’s free will.  We see this especially in how God deals with evil kings, such as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus, as seen in this verse in Proverbs:

Proverbs 21:1  The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of Yehovah; he turns it wherever he will.

God directs the will of kings in circumstances when He must protect or discipline his people.  But this is the exception, not the rule.  Except on these rare occasions, God will only be sovereign in our lives if we allow him to be.  His kingdom is one you choose to enter or exit.  By definition, you are only a part of the kingdom if you follow the rules of the king.  Adam and Eve chose not to follow the king’s law and left the garden.  If we want to be in God’s kingdom, we must follow him as king and obey his precepts.  That is what it means when we call Him ‘Lord.’  He directs, and we follow.  You can only call him ‘Sovereign Lord” if you follow him and obey his laws.

So they pray, addressing God as their ancestors addressed God in the scriptures:

Acts 4:24  Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…

You see this same manner of addressing God throughout the Bible, especially in the psalms and Isaiah, and here in Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 9:6  You are Yehovah, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

And then, in their prayer in Acts 4, they quote the first two verses of Psalms 2.  Again, the prayer begins:

Acts 4:24-26   Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed.”

Psalm 2 describes the rebellion of kings and nations against God and His Messiah (His Anointed).  In quoting this psalm, they recognized that the threat was not against them, but against God Himself.  It is God’s plans the high priests want to thwart.  And if you know Psalms 2 as these followers know Psalms 2, you know how this ends.  If you don’t know the psalm, then of course you should stop reading Acts and look it up.

How does the psalm say that God responds to the nations plotting against him?

Psalm 2:4   The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

He laughs at them.  He tells them he has installed His King in Zion, the one he calls his son.  And he will break the other nations with a “rod of iron”.  He will “dash them to pieces like pottery” (verse 9).  They should recognize his Son as the true king and “celebrate his rule with trembling (verse 11), for “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” (verse 12). The first-century disciples, quoting this psalm in their prayer, acknowledge:
1. That God is their personal sovereign.
2. That He is the all-powerful creator who is sovereign over the world.
3. That He has appointed a King to rule, that is His messiah.
4. That His Messiah will defeat all enemies and rule forever.

They continue their prayer, identifying this attack by these priests as the same response these priests had to Jesus.  

Acts 4:27-28  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, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place…

It was inevitable that the powers of religion and government would both rise up against Jesus.  And God would intervene and resurrect Jesus, thus claiming the victory over them, over sin, and over death.  

And now they come to the part of the prayer where they make a request to God regarding the situation in which they have been threatened.  What did they ask for?

If you were being threatened, what would you ask God for?   Obviously, you would ask him to remove the threat.  If someone wants to hurt you, what would you ask for? You would pray, “Please don’t let them hurt me.  Stop them.  Get in their way.”  If your health is threatened, what would you ask for?  “Please heal me.  Please take away this cancer, please heal my heart.”  If you are threatened by temptation, what would you pray for?  “Please remove this temptation.”  All of these sound like reasonable responses, but they are not the complete response that the Bible teaches. 

For example, regarding temptation: On the night Jesus was arrested, Jesus told Peter that the Satan would tempt him.  Jesus tells him that He is praying for him.  What does Jesus pray for Peter?    

Luke 22:31-32  Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

He does not pray to take away the temptation; he prays for Peter not to fall.  He prays that Peter might endure the temptation.  Trials and temptations are essential parts of our walk with God.  Through them, our faith is tested and grows. If we were to pray away all of our trials, then we could not grow.  This is how the book of James begins:

James 1:2-4  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We need trials of various kinds, so that our faith will grow.  These troubles produce a faith that endures.  Now it is okay to ask God to remove them if possible.  Remember, Jesus prayed in this manner in the Garden.  

Luke 22:42  Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.

God does not want us to suffer, but sometimes suffering is necessary to learn to depend on Him, to learn obedience, or to accomplish the mission He has for us.  Discipline can be painful.  What parent has not said, “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”  (Though I wonder if any children ever believed that.)  Some lessons are unfortunately learned the hard way.  

This is the same way we should pray if someone is trying to harm us or kill us.  That is precisely the situation Jesus was in when he prayed this prayer.  He was about to be handed over to men who would torture him to death. Yet Jesus prays, ‘If this is the best thing for the kingdom of God, then let’s do it the hard way.’   Be honest with God and tell him you really would like to avoid that bad situation, but then be a good servant of God and submit to his will if it is best for the kingdom.  God is our sovereign, our king, so we bow our will to the will of the king.  

When the highest court in the land threatened these first-century followers, they didn’t respond with worry, with anxiety, with defeat, or with dismay.  They turned to pray.  They prayed to God, who was sovereign in their lives, and they were willing to follow the path He directed.  They recognized the battle is not so much against them, but against God Himself.  And they knew from scripture that God would be victorious, just as he was victorious over these same priests when they threatened Jesus.   But remember that victory for Jesus was marked by a cross, a grave, and ultimately a resurrection.  So too, victory for most of these followers will end in violent deaths before their resurrection.

When they were threatened, they didn’t ask God to remove the threat. What did they ask? 

Acts 4:29-30  And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue 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.

Look upon these threats and give us the boldness to continue speaking your word, despite the threats from these priests.  They saw themselves in a battle.  And they have entered a battlefield where it looks like they are outnumbered and outgunned.  But they don’t call to be airlifted out to escape the battle; they call for back-up.  They call for reinforcement.  They call to the one who has all power and is sovereign.  

Is your burden heavy?   Don’t pray for lighter burdens, pray for stronger backs.
Is your path hard?  Don’t pray for an easier path, but ask God to walk with you and strengthen you on the path you’re on.
Do you feel trapped?  Don’t pray for an escape route, pray for wisdom and endurance. 
Pray for boldness in the face of trials, temptations, and persecutions.

Look how far these followers of Jesus have come in a few short months.   They have come a long way from the disciples they were when Jesus was arrested.  Then they were afraid to be associated with Jesus.  Peter denied that he knew him, and was scared not by a man with a sword, but by a servant girl standing around a fire.  After the crucifixion, they were hiding in a locked room, afraid that the Jewish leaders would take them next.  Then they were ruled by fear.  

But now they are ruled by faith.  Just a few months later, they are recognized for their boldness. They have passed from fear to courage.  They are speaking publicly, affirming their relationship with Jesus.  Then they find themselves face to face with this same group that condemned Jesus, and they threatened them to stop speaking Jesus’ name.  And how do they respond now?  Peter, who denied Jesus in that very man’s courtyard a few months ago, now tells them, “Well, you are the religious experts, so tell me, who is more important to obey, man or God?  I can’t stop speaking the truth about Jesus that I have seen with my own eyes.”  Peter is a totally different person.  

What changed in Peter?  He spent time with Jesus after his resurrection.   And Peter’s fear melted away in the light of his faith.  Why was he afraid before?   He was worried for his future, he was scared he would be shamed, and he was afraid he would die.  His fear is all about what might happen to himself.  His thoughts were centered on Peter.  It is all about me.  The most important person in Peter’s life was still Peter.

Then the resurrected Jesus meets him by the lake.  Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?”  Peter says yes, and then 3 times Jesus replies, ‘Feed and tend to my sheep.’ Stop prioritizing Peter and reach out to others.  Jesus knows that the secret to removing Peter’s fears is to liberate Peter from himself.  Quit worrying about what might happen to Peter! 

Jesus stands as a testimony that anything man may do to you is not permanent.  There is something about walking around with a formerly dead guy to help remove your own fear of death.  Jesus pushes Peter to true humility.  Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.  The cure to the fear of death is dying to self.  Boldness begins when self ends.  When you are certain in your faith that God loves you, that he wants only the best outcome for you, then you can trust God and not worry about anything that might come.  

When you have died to self, when you have given your life away to Jesus, then your life becomes less important to you. But your life has become even more important to Jesus, who will care for you and work everything out to the best, so much better than you could have ever done.  If we put our love for God and others ahead of the love of our own life, then we have little to fear.   John the Baptist said it this way in John 3:30, “He must increase, I must decrease.”  This happens as the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, just as He did with these disciples.  And that is the big difference in these followers now.  God’s Holy Spirit has come to them.  There is a close connection in the Book of Acts with the word ‘boldness’ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

In their prayer, they recognize this.  The attack is not against them; it is against God.  So we do not need to fear, for God can handle it.  We can then continue in the boldness of the gospel.  They responded to the priest’s threats with prayer to ask God to make them bolder in the face of the danger.  And God honored this request and showed His approval in a way only He can:

Acts 4:31 “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.

God rains down His Holy Spirit on them anew.  And the whole building shook with the power and glory of God.  Oh, that our buildings would shake with the power of God’s approval on us!

1.  Oxford Language Dictionary, 2024.
2.  Lord Acton’s comment on the corruption of those who exercise influence without authority rings loudly in our culture today, particularly in the context of social media influencers.  They have no legal authority over people, yet they maintain power over millions through various social media outlets, which is evident in their sometimes multimillion-dollar income.  We are just beginning to recognize the dangers of this influencer culture, which include misinformation, endorsement of hazardous products, unrealistic beauty standards, the promotion of a culture of comparison, deceptive marketing, and privacy risks.  We must be similarly wary of the rising trend of Christian Influencers.  Please check out the article in Christianity Today, which states, “Christian influence comes with a cross. Its purpose is far more about self-sacrifice than self-indulgence.” (Giboney, Justin.  “How to be a Christian Influencer Worthy of the Name.” Christianity Today, May 21, 2024.)
3.  Letters of John Emerich Edward Dahlberg, Lord Acton.  1887.

August 26, 2025 –  The Priests’ Response — Acts #10

David Chupp Acts , , ,

September 2, 2025 –  The Priests’ Response — Acts #10
Acts 4:13-22

Recap:  John and Peter were on their way to the 3 pm Temple service, and healed a man who had been paralyzed from birth and begged at the gate.  He followed them into the Temple, and there was an uproar over his healing.  Peter and John explained (in a several-hour sermon) that Jesus healed him and was the Messiah.  The High Priest had them arrested and jailed overnight.  The next morning, they questioned Peter and John, who again told them that Jesus, whom they killed, was resurrected and is the Messiah, and he is responsible for the healing.  

Acts 4:13-22  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. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

Here are Peter and John standing before the elite, most respected people in the city of Jerusalem: the High Priest, the former High Priest, and the who’s who of priests in the land.  And they are just poor country fishermen. They were Galileans, so they spoke with that accent that these elite priests in Jerusalem thought was so unrefined. They didn’t go to the rabbinical schools.  They dressed simply.   And here they are defending their actions in the most prestigious court in the Temple.  Just for a moment, imagine yourself in your best dress overalls, defending yourself before the highest court in the land in your thick Southern accent.  Now you know the situation.

Peter and John should be intimidated.  But everyone there was struck by their boldness.  Surprisingly, they are holding their own and perhaps outdoing these experts of the law, the best-trained biblical scholars there are.  How is this possible? How can these simple fishermen have such a good command of scripture and speak so well?  The answer is back in verse 8 :

Acts 4:8  “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…”

They speak through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The same power is available to us today.  

These experts are having the same problem with Peter and John as they had with Jesus, who embarrassed them on multiple occasions when they tried to trap him.  His knowledge of Scripture was way beyond what they would have expected, and they said about him:

 John 7:15  How is it that this man [Jesus] has learning, when he has never studied?

And like Jesus, the disciples supported their teaching with miracles. 

So these chief priests were stuck.  Peter and John had broken no law that they could be punished for, and even if they had, the public support was high for them after this healing.  They couldn’t deny the miracle, as the man was standing before them.  So they brought them back in and threatened them not to talk about Jesus anymore.  (Note that healing is okay, as long as they don’t mention Jesus.)

But there is something else going on here that you don’t need to miss.  And it is not so simple to see because the most important thing to note in this proceeding is something the chief priests don’t do.  What is missing from this discussion?  Peter has just made this statement to them:

Acts 4:19-20  …let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.

They don’t once refute the apostles’ claim that Jesus was resurrected.  They never argue that point. If they could have, they would have shut down the apostles in a hurry. But they could not.  No one is denying the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.  Too many people had seen Jesus alive after the crucifixion.   It was like the healed man standing before them.  Jesus’ resurrection was a very inconvenient fact for them, but for us it is the hope of glory.  

So these officials are between a rock and a hard place.  They can’t deny that this man has had a miraculous healing.  They can’t deny that Jesus came back to life.  But they can’t allow this Jewish sect that claims Jesus is the Messiah to continue, because it is growing fast.  Now there are 5000 followers in the city.  And this is a city of only 30-40,000.  That is already 12-14% of the population.  Five thousand is a large group, especially if those 5000 are committed and vocal.

In 1950, over 90% of the US identified as Christian. But we all know that number has fallen dramatically.  In the US today, about 65% say they are Christian.  But in that same study, only 45% say that religion is very important to them.1 So there are 20% of people in the US who claim to be Christian but say that it’s not really important.  Can you be a follower of Jesus and think that religion doesn’t matter?

I almost wish we didn’t use the word ‘Christian’.  I prefer “disciple (or follower) of Jesus.”  The word “Christian” is only in the Bible 3 times, whereas the word “disciple” is in the New Testament over 250 times (269). Here’s the problem: “Christian” doesn’t mean the same thing today as it did.  Now people identify as ‘Christian’, saying that if they have to choose a religion, that is the one they would choose.  “If I have to check a box on a census, I don’t want to check ‘none’ for religion, and it is not Buddhist or Hindu, so I’ll check Christian.” They don’t mean they are true followers of Jesus the Messiah. They don’t mean they are trying to live their lives like Jesus. But here is the hard statistic.  Based on responses to questions about daily prayer time, Bible reading, and worship attendance, studies from the Barna group estimate that only 4% of the population of the US are actually living their life in an attempt to follow Jesus.  So while 65 out of 100 Americans claim to be Christian, only 4 of those are attempting to live as Jesus commanded.  The church has an identity problem.

As John Mark Comer has said, in his book Practicing the Way, we have created a culture where you can be called a Christian but not be a disciple of Jesus.2   As if being a disciple of Jesus is some kind of optional bonus track you might choose to take as a Christian.  Comer says that he has Catholic friends who divide people into “Catholics” and “Practicing Catholics”, where the first is more of a cultural identification, like being a New Yorker or a Southerner.  And “Practicing Catholic” is more of a measure of genuine spiritual devotion.  I personally have heard the term “cafeteria Catholic,” meaning they pick and choose which aspects of the Catholic faith they want to keep and ignore the rest.

The Bible doesn’t speak this way.  If you are a disciple of Jesus, you are an apprentice.  A disciple is seeking every day to imitate Jesus, to live as Jesus would live if he were here today.  A disciple seeks every day not to do whatever they want or what they feel is best, but to do the will of the Father.  There are no part-time, occasional disciples of Jesus in the scriptures.  You cannot pick and choose which parts of following Jesus you want.  For example you can’t just say, “Well, I like the idea of heaven instead of hell, and I like the healing Jesus does, and the love others stuff is good, but that “putting others ahead of me” idea – that is a little much.  And trials and tribulation, the “suffering like Jesus”; I’m out on those.  But there are no cafeteria disciples.  You can’t pick and choose.  In fact, the whole idea of making Jesus your Lord is that you don’t choose anymore; you follow whatever He chooses for you.   With Jesus, it is all or none. 

And in the Bible, there is no category for people who want to identify as Christian without making a radical change in the way they live their lives.  In the scriptures, you are either a disciple or you are the crowd.  There is no middle ground.  That is a recurring theme throughout the Bible: that you must choose.  Just as we saw last week, Jesus is a stone in your path.  He will either be a cornerstone upon which you build your life, or he will be a stumbling block.  It is one or the other, and it has always been that way.  Joshua said it over 3000 years ago:

Joshua 24:14-15  Now fear Yehovah and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve Yehovah. But if serving Yehovah seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve Yehovah.

If you choose to serve Yehovah and be a disciple of Jesus, you have made a commitment to obey His commands.  And in Jesus’ last words before ascending to heaven, he commands us to be his witnesses to all the world.  He asks us to be a priesthood of believers, taking his gospel everywhere we go.

Let’s look at a little more information from that Barna poll:

They asked millennials who identified as Christians (millennials are those born between 1980 and 2000) a set of questions:  Ninety-six percent of millennial Christians said, “Part of my faith means being a witness about Jesus.” Ninety-four percent said, “The best thing that could ever happen to someone is for them to come to know Jesus.”  (So far, so good.). But a full 47 percent—nearly half—also said, “It is wrong to share one’s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith.”3 So we want everyone to know about Jesus, and we know that is our job, but half of these Christians (age 25-45) say we shouldn’t share our faith.  How does that make any sense?

We live in a society now where, especially with younger people, faith is seen as a private matter. If you ever mention it in public, be careful not to promote a specific faith, as you might offend someone.  It is acceptable for the president of the US to say “and may God bless America” at the end of a speech.  But it would not be acceptable for the president to specify which God he is asking to bless America, for then he might offend someone. It is becoming less acceptable for anyone to talk about their faith in public.  Is faith a private matter?  As Joshua noted, each individual must choose which god they will follow, so it is a private decision.  But the Bible is very clear that our faith is to be anything except private.

We all know that Jesus said the greatest commandment was: 

Matthew 22:37  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

And most people know that Jesus was quoting from the book of Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 6:4-5  Hear, O Israel: Yehovah our God, Yehovah is one. You shall love Yehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

And we know that in Jesus’ day, this was the first verse of Scripture that a parent would teach his child.  When Jesus was a little boy, this was the first verse he memorized.  It is the first part of the Shema, the prayer Jesus and all the disciples would have prayed together 2-3 times a day, as did all other devout Jews.  It is no wonder Jesus chose it as the greatest commandment.  

But do you know what follows that first verse that Jesus quoted?  What is the next part of the prayer Jesus prayed every day?

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 Hear, O Israel: Yehovah our God, Yehovah is one. You shall love Yehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

“These words shall be on your heart.”  We are to know these words by heart, but we are not to keep them locked in there.  “Teach them diligently to your children”. Parents are commanded to teach their children God’s word.  Not just to send them off to school or Sunday School or youth group, but to personally teach their children.  The word of God should be discussed not just for an hour on Sunday, but at all times, whether you’re sitting at home, walking, traveling, lying down, or waking up. That is all day long.   Our speech during all our waking hours should be filled with God’s words.  How much of your daily conversations are about scripture?

But if you live your faith publicly and openly today, then you are likely to have someone say, “It’s not right to tell me what is right or wrong.  I can decide that for myself.  No one has the right to tell me what to believe.”  But as John Mark Comer said, “Everyone is preaching a ‘gospel.”4  The gospel is “good news”, something we want to share with others.  Everyone is spreading some good news that they think you should believe.   Whether it is the gospel of intermittent fasting, the benefit of Pilates, or their views on immigration, wars in the Middle East or Ukraine, your favorite football team, or whatever.   Everyone wants to spread their news, and it seems it is ok socially to talk about many of these in public, except the Gospel of Jesus.

Peter said this to those priests:

Acts 4:19-20  But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

We have to speak what we have seen and heard because it is better to be obedient to God than to be obedient to you.  I would agree that everyone must decide what to believe and who to follow for themselves.  But if I truly believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; if I believe that there is no one comes to God except through Jesus, then as Peter said, “…we have to tell others, just as God commanded us to.”

But in our culture, if you do this, you may be seen as intrusive.  I would like for you to see a different person’s perspective on this. It is the well-known magician Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller.  (They are now celebrating 50 years of shows in Las Vegas.)  Mr. Jillette has always been very vocal that he is an atheist. About 15 years ago, he shared this story on his podcast about someone who spoke to him after one of their shows.

If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and if you think Jesus is the only way, then he said, “How much do you have to hate someone,” not to bother to tell them.  Are you going to stand by and just let them get hit by a truck and not try to help them?  Jesus tasked us to take the gospel into all the world. Are we willing to even take it down the street we live on? Jillette said one good man living a good life would not convince him.  I wonder if there were many more living a bolder Christian life in front of him, then what impact would that have? 

If you asked Penn Jillette, he might tell you that it seems most Christians are ashamed of their gospel, which is why they don’t talk about it.   Jesus anticipated this, and here is what Jesus said about it:

Mark 8:34-38 “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Jesus is making a radical statement.  “Taking up the cross” may seem to be a metaphor in our day, but it certainly was not in Jesus’ day.  Jesus is not speaking figuratively here.  He is talking about each one of them dying a horrible death as the cost of following Him.  And by losing their lives, he says, they will save their souls on the last day.  And note who Jesus is talking to.  He was talking to the disciples, but before he said this, he called the crowd to him.  This call to die is a call to every follower, not just the 12.

If we choose to follow Jesus, we have chosen to be disciples, striving every day to live life as Jesus did, to be obedient to his direction, to dwell in his Word, and to share his gospel.  There is no other way to be a follower of Jesus.  It is all or none.  In the coming weeks, we will talk more about how we can be faithful witnesses in our skeptical world.  But it is not preaching on a street corner.  It is not bashing other people for their sins. It is about living life in a way that allows people to see a difference.  

People should be asking you, Why do you care so much about others? Why do you donate your time to help the poor or homeless? Why do you give up your hard-earned money to the church and to charities? Why are you always looking for ways to help other people? Why do you invite people into your home?  Why are you always so cheerful? Why do you read that Bible every day? Why are you handing out those little Jesus figures?   If people don’t see a difference in our lives, then we can not be a witness to them.  When they ask those questions, we have an opportunity to explain where that kind of living comes from.  We can answer that we are this way because of the grace Jesus has shown us, because Jesus loves us even when we don’t deserve it, because Jesus is our Lord, because He died for us, and because he asked me to do these things.  

As we noted, today, there are a lot of people who call themselves Christians, but they aren’t following Jesus.  There will come a day when we will no longer have this false category of Christians who do not choose to live their life for Jesus.  What will it take for that to happen?  It will take the same thing that is about to happen in the book of Acts.   Persecution is coming.

This story today in Acts 4 is the beginning of persecution.  These priests don’t like what Peter and John are doing, but they feel limited in what they can do about it.  But over the following four chapters of Acts, they will become more and more bold until at the end of chapter seven, they stone one of these followers to death for his witness.  We are just seeing the beginning of this rise of persecution that will end in scattering these 5000 followers.  When persecution comes, those who are members in name only will disappear, but those who are truly disciples will respond differently.  Next week, we will see how these early disciples responded to this initial hint of persecution.

1.  “How Religious are Americans?”  Gallup. March 28, 2024
2.  Comer, John Mark.  Practicing the Way.  Be With Jesus, Become Like Him, Do as He Did.  2024. page 32.
3.  “Almost Half of Practicing Christian Millennials Say Evangelism Is Wrong,” Barna, February 5, 2019,
4.  Comer, page 150.