No Small Act - Standing Tall
November 29, 2020 Sunday Evening Study

I am deviating from the series a little bit tonight. As I was going through the book of Acts looking for the next “small part” I read over this story, and though the characters are all very significant in the New Testament, I just wanted to talk about this part of the story. We read about the miracles and the acts of Jesus and the disciples and we often gloss over this narrative that is as astonishing as any of those other stories, and even has practical application today. Please open your Bibles to Acts 4.

This is a true story. At a well-known company’s national sales convention, a very popular and heralded speaker delivered a very stirring motivational talk. This was a speaker many came to see, so to have him at the convention was a privilege that all attendees were sure to take advantage of. When the time came, he punctuated his speech with profanity and was frequently using the Lord’s name in vain. At first it was laughed off by most - after all, this is no different than how people talk anyway. Finally, a Christian salesman in the crowd couldn’t stand it any longer. He rose from his seat, stood up on his chair, and shouted “Please leave God out of it.” Without another word, he sat down. The embarrassed speaker cleaned up his language for the rest of the speech. Yet, afterward, more people waited in line to shake the hand of the Christian man than for the speaker himself.

In your own experience, haven’t you found this to be true? In the face of an uncomfortable situation, many people are thinking the same thing, yet it is often never voiced. It’s a safe bet that dozens, if not hundreds of people in the crowd listening to the speakers colorful language were squirming in their seats, or at the very least put off as the profanity rained down in what was supposed to be a professional environment. Yet only one man took a stand and spoke up, leaving others to wish they had the boldness to have done the same.

In this passage, we will see the leaders of the infant church display even greater courage than this outspoken salesman. Jesus has been crucified at the hands of the Sanhedrin, and Jesus’ disciples continued ministering. After healing a crippled man and the temple gate Beautiful, Peter and John are telling the people that the power that healed the man came from the one they had rejected and crucified, and they lead the people to repent.

This catches the ear of the Sanhedrin, and they haul in Peter and John to speak with them. Read Passage Acts 4:7-17.

Consider the scene here - Peter and John have basically seen what happens when you are on the bad side of the Sanhedrin in what was done to Jesus. They are well aware of whom they address. Not just the Sanhedrin - the High Priest himself - the highest authority in all of Jewish hierarchy. They know the consequences placed before them here, and they no longer have Jesus acting as a buffer - taking the blame for the things that are happening. They are now in the fire, and they respond in kind.

They begin by first clarifying the charge, and in doing so expose the skewed priorities of the Jewish ruling council. The effectively ask - “Are you really calling us to explain ourselves because we performed an act of kindness toward someone in need?” Immediately they are making sure the people in attendance are aware of the sheer ridiculousness of the proceedings - they have not broken the law, they have not hurt anyone, and have in fact provided a kindness to one who could not help himself. Yet here they are, explaining themselves before the highest court in the land.

Pointing out the inherent problem with their questioning was not enough for Peter and John. They then make sure to proclaim the real underlying issue - the fact that they had condemned an innocent man to death, and in doing so had rejected the Messiah - the Son of God for whom they had spent centuries waiting and watching. They claim their authority from Jesus - whom the Jews crucified and whom God raised from the dead - and they are saying this outright, without shame, and without fear.

In Colorado, the story of what happened during the shooting at Columbine is especially famous. People I knew and worked with had been personally impacted by that event, and the memorial at Columbine High School is extremely moving and tragic. The story many churches heard was of gunmen entering a classroom and asking if anyone was a Christian, a girl standing up to proclaim her faith, and her losing her life as a result. Now this is not actually what happened, but the story is still remarkable.

The shooters had entered the library after having already shot multiple students, teachers, and detonating pipe bombs. There were 56 people in the library, the vast majority being students. The two shooters were walking around, shooting people in a fairly indiscriminant fashion. A group of three girls received a shotgun blast nearly point blank. One of the girls, an 18 year old named Valeen Schnurr began to cry out for God after being shot. In response one of the shooters asked if she believed in God - she replied that she did, the shooter asking why, reloading, and walking away.

This is perhaps more closely related to the situation in which Peter and John found themselves in front of the Sanhedrin. At Columbine, Schnurr knew that the wrong answer would likely end her life, and even with that knowledge she held to her faith. Peter and John know that in the same way, their lives were in the hands of these leaders, and yet, even after pointing out the folly of the leadership itself, they spoke with boldness, explaining the guilt of the very people who were such threats to them.

Living a life that pleases God is not always easy or popular - even more so as we move further and further away from faith as a nation. Speaking valiantly for Christ and living a righteous life require living out our convictions and commitments as faithful children of God. Standing tall for what’s right, despite the foe, the odds, or the threat against us can and often will exact a high price. The truth of the matter is that we face war, and it is a war we can train for only by spending time with God and equipping ourselves with His truth.

We are fortunate in that we do not often get called to faith of that magnitude - to account for our faith by physically putting ourselves in harm's way. In fact, we don’t often find ourselves in situations where we defend what is proper against the odds like our salesman friend earlier. The truth is that we often become content to watch these things pass us by - to sink further into ourselves and stay safe and secure in our little bubble.

The disciples had seen their master arrested, beaten, and crucified before their eyes. The example we must follow is what they did in the wake of tragedy and under the eyes of the very authority by which the tragedy occured. They went to work, and they did so with boldness and faith without hesitation. 

In our lives their will be opportunities to speak up and defend what we know to be true, what we know to be right. When that next challenge comes, we are not called to be belligerent and unloving in our response, but we must also remember that we have the responsibility to not be one of the ones squirming in our seats - we must speak the truth in love with boldness. 

In the words of the 16th Century artist and Roanoke colonist John White: “True courage does not consist in the absence of fear but in doing what God wants even when we are afraid, disturbed, and hurt.” Let’s Pray.