Sermon: from fear to boldness.
There was a shift that occurred in the lives of the disciples.
I remember as a young boy doing things for the first time and a lot of them involved overcoming fear, swimming across the Maitai River, riding a bike, riding a bike no handed, riding a bike down the Nayland Road hill no handed, visiting people I didn't know for the first time, having a go on a flying fox, sailing a P Class yacht on my own. When I was a little older there were things like phoning a girl I liked Elizabeth Dyer, just to talk to her. This didn't even involve asking her out or anything, it was just I wanted to talk with her, scary stuff. As I got older there was joining the workforce, tramping trips, spending time alone in the bush, kayaking new stretches of white water, sitting my driver’s licence and the like.
These were all turning points in my life, they all required me to move from a place I was to a place where things would never be the same again, the things that concerned me and to be honest made me a little afraid were mainly firsts. Facing up to these things and many others have helped to form my character. Overcoming these firsts, you could say defeating them has led to new understandings and the ability to face bigger challenges with resolve and an understanding of what I can achieve or at some stage might be capable of achieving. That was a little of my life story and you will all have your own stories of overcoming things that may have had you anxious as you grew up.
I started the sermon with a sentence, “There was a shift that occurred in the lives of the disciples.” Just a bit of ground work on these blokes, I don’t believe Jesus disciples were very old. I have spoken previously about how Jesus and Peter were required to pay the temple tax. In Matthew 17:24-27 there is a story of how Jesus gives the nod to Peter about going fishing and that inside the fish will be a four drachma coin which enough to pay both Jesus and Peter’s temple tax, you had to pay this tax if you were older than twenty. Also if we look at the dates that some of the disciples died we see that: “James the son of Zebedee: He was put to death by Herod Agrippa I shortly before the day of the Passover, in the year 44 or about 11 years after the death of Christ. Simon Called Peter by Christ died 33-34 years after the death of Christ. John” who died of natural causes “No death date given by early writers. Death date is by conjecture only and is variously assigned as being between 89 AD to 120 AD”
(http://amazingbibletimeline.com/bible_questions/q6_apostles_die/#sthash.U7onh5GK.dpuf, sighted 09/04/2015).
Looking at John’s age if we say he was in his late teens say seventeen when Jesus died and resurrected we would be able to say he died somewhere between the ages of 73 and 104 years of age. If he had been older than his teens when called by Jesus he would have been a very old man when he shuffled off. Here endith the history lesson.
My reasoning for bringing this up was that these disciples were young men when Jesus was put to death by a method most hideous, being young having lost their teacher in the way they did I would say and most of us would that they had every right to be scared. John’s gospel finds the disciples these young men afraid, John 20:19 states, “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Until Jesus appeared these blokes had the wind up, they were scared for their lives. If we look at the account of Thomas meeting Jesus post resurrection, I think he was more afraid than doubting, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe.” He was not just going to listen to the rest of the disciple’s witness, was it fear or was it doubt or a combination of both? Perhaps it was safer not to believe, was he elsewhere when Jesus appeared to the disciples as it was a safer option? Who knows?
Then we get this account from the book of Act’s and a good way to think of the book of Acts is that the gospels are an account of Jesus earthly work, mainly with his disciples / the apostles. The book of Acts is an account of Jesus work through the lives of the disciples / the apostles. Incidentally it is believed that Luke the gospel writer wrote Acts also.
Where I’m off to with this is that there is a marked shift that occurs to the disciples early in the book of Acts, this occurs in part through their encountering the resurrected Jesus and through the Holy Spirit being poured on them on the day of the ‘festival of Pentecost’ aka ‘day of first fruits’. What happened was that they no longer feared. Skipping over to Peter addressing the crowd in Acts 3 which in itself showed courage, if we look at Acts 4: we get this amazingly gutsy descriptive of Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, remember the Sanhedrin, these were the religious geezers who had planned Jesus death, it was Caiaphas who went on about one man dying for many, as John recalls, “in his gospel Chapter 11:45-57.
But in Acts 4 before this Caiaphas rooster and the rest of the Sanhedrin, Peter and John are asked about the healing of a crippled man, “By what power or name did you do this?” I would say the way they were asked was not in a sympathetic structured way.
Peter filled by the Holy Spirit answers bold as brass; “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are being asked how he was healed, 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. He (Jesus) is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become a capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given to men by which we must be saved.”
Now this is a huge change, Peter and John had been in fear of their lives, Peter so much so that he even denied he knew Jesus around the time of the crucifixion. The interesting thing is that most of us have an inbuilt fear response self-preservation mechanism; and those who don’t usually have mental health issues. This is designed to keep us safe. If we go back a few generations it was wise to fright and flight when a lion was coming in our ancestors direction or the clan from over the glen were out marauding, oh the mess the Johnstone’s made of the Moffat’s in 1557.
But this fear can develop into a general fear of man, what might others think of me, if I share my faith in God, I could be judged, in the case of the disciples as in the case of many believers today if I talk about my being a follower of Jesus it might just cost me my life.
But here’s Peter letting the Sanhedrin know what a complete and utter mess of things they have made, You killed Jesus and God raised him from the dead “the stone you builders rejected, which has become a capstone.” This was a really bold statement, he was telling them they were a bunch of plonkers and that they had really messed up killing Jesus. Later in chapter 4:19 after the Sanhedrin have told Peter and John they are commanded to no longer to speak about Jesus, “Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in Gods sight (they are pulling out the biggest of guns here) to obey you or God. For we cannot help speaking what we have seen and heard.’” Then this religious committee the Sanhedrin threatened them some more and let them go.
Peter and John knew what was what, they knew Jesus risen from the dead, they had the Holy Spirit descend upon them, they knew the infilling of The Holy Spirit and they continued to see miracles happen in Jesus name. These disciples were not going to back down for anything. Apart from John all of the Apostles died because they would not back off speaking the gospel, they would not stop telling the Good News of Jesus. This Good News was gaining momentum and soon the news was going to be worldwide.
In Acts 5:41-42 there is even more interesting stuff going on with the Apostles. At this time a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel tells the Sanhedrin that they need not be too concerned about the Apostles and that if what they follow is not of God they will soon fail. Then they flog the Apostles and tell them not to speak in Jesus name. The response is interesting, “The Apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they proclaim the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”
These guys were as bold as, they didn't just drop around to see their mates and tell them Jesus was the Christ, they didn't just share the message on Sunday between 10.30 and 12.00, these Apostles had been flogged, and they had had a pasting and told to shut their traps: to which they celebrated and went back to the Temple and continued to spout on about Jesus. They were as bold as the boldest thing that ever was bold. Flogged in the day was under Jewish law limited to 39 lashes. Yet these Apostles went back for more, celebrating that they had suffered for the name of Jesus. These men knew that what they were saying was truth, they were driven by a compulsion that it was important that the message was delivered to all people, even in the Temple, the very place where they would be seen by those who had given them thirty nine lashes for speaking about Jesus previously. Why because they knew who Jesus was and is!
They understood that it didn’t stop in the physical but even if they died for Jesus sake they would live. The words of Peter to the Sanhedrin: “The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:29-31)
This was like saying, “You wombles, what a bunch of complete and utter eggs, you have really messed up”, only in a much more savvy way.
There is something here about being slow to anger and loving your enemies that we can all learn, about being sensitive in our witness.
But boldness for Jesus names sake is an important thing, Peter and John, the rest of the Apostles knew exactly who they were in Christ Jesus. They knew who they were in the external scheme of things, their boldness came through the witness of The Holy Spirit in their lives…they had the Power of God energising them, the perfect love that drives out all fear filled them.
We hear after Saul’s aka Pauls’ conversion that he too “preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus…speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.” (Acts 9:27b – 28b).
The impact of encountering Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives encourages us to witness boldly, to declare our knowing Jesus. Paul says this about why he is bold in 2 Corinthians 3:7-1. “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone (he’s talking about the law) , came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore since we have such a hope that is why we are bold.”
We live in glorious time’s people! The Spirit of God is with us, we too can be bold because of this, we hope in something that lasts, the Spirit ministers to us.
As we know who we are in Jesus, as we understand our salvation and justification before God, brought about by confession of Jesus Christ risen from the dead and that heart belief. As we know these this we can be bold before our critics, before a world of unbelief, for we have experienced and understand God at work in our lives, in the wider community and in all things.
Today there may be some here who are struggling with their faith, struggling with doubt, others who may be struggling to be the witness Jesus calls them to be. At this time I ask that you be honest with yourself, be open to God working in your lives as I pray.
Let’s pray, Father there are times Lord when we struggle in fear, times when we struggle with doubts. Lord the wonderful example that you have given us in your word, of the Apostles, these men who once cowered in fear, who after encountering Jesus risen from the dead, were as bold as it was possible to be, even to the point of death.
Their wonderful example, Lord we ask that you help us to be like them.
Their wonderful example, Lord we ask that you send your Holy Spirit upon us and fill us Lord with your Spirit as you did them.
This wonderful example, Lord we ask that you have us witness for your names sake as they did.
We ask this in Jesus mighty name!
Amen.
