God's co:mission requires boldness...

This week, we are looking at a prayer that early followers of Jesus prayed after two of their leaders, named Peter and John were arrested by the leaders of the Jewish people. Yesterday, we discovered that these early followers of Jesus prayed in a way that recognized God as being large and in charge as the Creator of the universe. Today, as we continue looking at this prayer, we see Luke reveal what these early followers of Jesus prayed next in Acts 4:25:

who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, 'WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? 'THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.' "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 purpose predestined to occur.

In other words, these early followers of Jesus are proclaiming through prayer that “while we were surprised at the events that have occurred, God you were not surprised. While we were surprised that the Jewish religious, political and judicial leader had arrested Jesus, tried Jesus, convicted Jesus, and handed over Jesus to be crucified by the Romans, God you were not surprised. While we were surprised, you were not surprised because this had been you plan all along. And you had revealed your purpose and plan hundreds of years earlier to King David, who wrote your plan down in a Psalm that we had read growing up about the Messiah.

In Psalm 2:1-2, you predicted and proclaimed that the Jewish people and the Gentile Roman government would take your Son, who you appointed as the Messiah and gave Him the mission to rescue us from selfishness and sin, and would kill Him. And while they thought that they were in control and while we thought that things were spinning out of control, Lord we now see the reality is that You have been in control all along. Lord, You are large and in charge and You are in control because You have had this plan in mind all along. You are not surprised at what is happening to Peter, to John, to us, because this has been your purpose and plan before time began”.

You see, for these early followers of Jesus, their eyes had been opened to the reality that they were a part of God’s predetermined plan to deal with the problem of selfishness and rebellion that plagued humanity. Their eyes had been opened that they were a part of God’s co-mission. And their response to all that they had heard as Peter and John shared their story was to pray to God in community with one another in a way that recognized that the Lord was large and in charge and was inviting them to partner with Him as He advanced His kingdom mission. And it was this recognition that led to their response of worship as they began this prayer. And it was this recognition that led them to make an amazing request in verse 29:

And now, Lord, take note of their threats,

Now place yourself in the shoes of these early followers of Jesus. You have seen two of your leaders arrested and questioned by the most powerful people in the Jewish nation. These powerful people have threatened that there would be further arrests and increased consequences if they continued to mention the name and talk about the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. You have gathered together to pray. Would this be what you and I would pray? I mean wouldn’t we be tempted to pray that God would protect us from the threats? Wouldn’t we be tempted to pray that God would deliver us from the threats? Wouldn’t we be tempted to pray that God would hinder, harm, or destroy those who are threatening us?

But that is not what these early followers of Jesus pray. Instead these early followers of Jesus ask that the Lord would take note of their threats. “God we just want you take note of our present situation. We just want you to see that we are being threatened and that we may be facing a similar situation to what Your Son Jesus faced.” Then notice what they pray for next:

and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence,

And grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence. Now this word confidence, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to have a state of boldness. These early followers of Jesus responded to the threats that they were facing by praying that God would equip and empower them to share the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel with boldness. And it is in this prayer by these early followers of Jesus that we see God reveal for us a timeless principle that is necessary to embrace in order to fully engage in the co-mission that we have been given by God to partner with God in a way that advances God’s kingdom mission as we reveal and reflect Christ to those around us. And that timeless principle is this: God’s co-mission requires boldness.

Now boldness, simply put, is the courage to speak up when an opportunity pops up. Boldness is not standing on a street corner screaming through a bullhorn while holding signs saying “turn or burn”. That is not boldness; that is something else that we will talk about in another sermon. Boldness is not loudness; boldness is not confrontational coldness. Boldness is not about winning an argument. Boldness is to courage to speak openly and frankly when an opportunity presents itself to do so. Boldness is the courage to invite a classmate to AWANA. Boldness is the courage to engage another Jr. or Sr. High student when they ask questions about what you believe. Boldness is the courage to buy a ticket and invite a coworker to the church picnic. Boldness is the courage to invite the neighbors to come to a community group with you. Boldness is the courage to invite a mother who is in line with you at Wal-Mart to MOP's.

You see, these early followers of Jesus recognized that there would be opportunities that would continue to pop up. And with those opportunities would be opposition. With those opportunities would be threats. With those opportunities would be fear and hesitation. And those realities drove these early followers of Jesus to ask for boldness, for the courage to speak up when an opportunity popped up to share the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. And in the same way today, to fully engage in God’s co-mission requires that we have the boldness to speak up when an opportunity pops up. Because when we are faithful to speak up when the opportunity pops up, we create the space for God to partner with us in His co-mission to do what only He can do.

Tomorrow, we will see how God entered into their prayer to do what only He could do. In the meantime, how would you define boldness? And are you exercising boldness?