Cultivating Courage

Into a violent world that prized only power, came a movement motivated by love. A few frightened failures huddled in one room, became a global phenomenon, fanning across their world within 30 years. With no army, no politics, no detailed strategy, they changed history. How did it happen, and can it happen again? This is Acts Odyssey.

Well, good morning. I am so excited about how this series has begun. If you're just joining us, you chose a great weekend. We are just one week into this fall series where we are studying a fascinating book of the Bible called Acts. It's all about what was Christianity like right at the start. And here's why this is so important for us to talk about.

You know, maybe for you, the word church has in your life been kind of a net negative, right? When you think of church, you tend to think of not positive associations, hypocritical, judgmental people, and dull, boring Sunday mornings, and not something that you'd want to invite your friends to. But when you look at how the church actually started, it was totally different from that. It was exciting. It was adventurous. It was loving and caring. It had a great reputation. It was very daring and bold and courageous.

And so what we want to do in this series is explore that a little further. And if you see the box on the first page of your message notes, it looks like this. We not only want to study about the book of Acts. We kind of want to recreate the atmosphere of the book of Acts. And there's all kinds of ways that we're doing that. Mark mentioned the book, but also you can text to join our daily video devotions and kind of become part of the daily study of God's word.

We can do it virtually through media these days. And the way they did it in the early church was they met from house to house. It says day by day. As Mark and Paul mentioned also, the acts of kindness, lots of other ways were trying to recreate the atmosphere of that very early church.

Just to get you up to date, we saw last weekend how the church, early Jesus movement in Acts chapters one through four is just exploding. Day one, 3,000 people join. Day two, another 2,000. So it's just like a Wild West posse, as we said last weekend. Kind of disorganized, but it's in motion. And everybody's deputized, and they all understand the mission that they are all focused on. They are selling their stuff to help the needy. They are healing people. They are enjoying the favor of the people.

The problem? There is a fortress religion up in the temple in Jerusalem. And the leaders there literally kill people to protect their power. And last weekend we saw how Peter and John heal a man who has been laying his entire life. And after they do that, those religious leaders realize their power is threatened. They don't care that this guy can walk again. They care that their identity as the religious powers is being threatened.

And so they arrest Peter and John, tell them to never, ever preach about Jesus' name again. And so what happens next? Well, that's where we are this morning. In the next section of Acts, the pressure on these very early believers to just shut up really starts to build.

Now, to put this in perspective, remember, this is only at this point in Acts, this is only about a two-month-old baby church. And to kind of give you some orientation on that, here is an actual two-month-old baby, just for perspective. Just for illustrative purposes. This is my grandson. He is just two months old. He is growing fast. He is putting on weight. He's starting to develop a personality.

Well, the early church in Acts, chapter 5, is only about two months old, but it's growing fast. And it's putting on weight. And it's developing a personality, as you will see. Now, why do we need to hear this story today? Why is it relevant to us if it happened 2,000 years ago? It is so, so relevant to what is happening today.

Article of New York Magazine this summer said, "Every year since the year 2000, a majority of Americans, when polled, say they feel less safe and more afraid than the year before. Every year for 16 years in a row, when the reality is that in every single one of those years, America has gotten safer statistically." The article says, "There are few times in history when a nation has had more safety and better health, and yet we are more fearful as a culture than ever before." And it's just getting ridiculous.

Now Time Magazine says, "Clown hysteria has taken the country by storm." Did you know this is an actual thing? Fueling fear while prompting calls for calm from police departments. It's like we are looking for things to freak out about. And I wish I could say that Christians were different. Sometimes it seems to me like Christians are some of the freaking outingest people out there.

And I have a question. What happened to us? You know, there was a time when the Christian movement astounded people with its courage in the face of real existential threats. There was a time when the Christian movement was all about one simple thing. God solved the dilemma of death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which by God's grace means we will be resurrected and glorified and live forever with Him. So actually we have nothing to fear.

And there was a time when the outside world looked at believers in Jesus Christ, and they were in awe of them, even if they didn't agree with them. They were astonished at their boldness and at their confidence and joy, even in the face of death. And today it seems like the world looks at us Christians and doesn't see a posse of brave people unified with one single mission anymore, but a fortress of frightened people. What happened? And how can we get some of that courage back?

How can we not live with so much anxiety? How can we not quake in fear at the latest headlines? How can we be more bold in our witness? Well, I'm going to tell you a story this morning that many Christians don't even know is in the Bible. It's in Acts chapter five. And then after I tell you the story, I want to very quickly just make four brief points about cultivating courage.

I heard a great storyteller named Andy Stanley tell this story, and I just want to borrow some of his insights in Acts chapter five. More and more people are embracing the message. Word gets outside Jerusalem that something's going on in the city and people start pouring in. And they may not even believe the Jesus message yet, but they love the fact that people are getting healed and that the poor and the needy are getting taken care of.

And suddenly the religious leaders up in that temple fortress get very, very jealous. And Luke tells us that they arrest all the apostles, the whole group in one afternoon thinking, you know, we tried to kill the main guy and it didn't work. So now let's try to get all 12. So they arrest all 12 of the leaders and they leave them in jail overnight.

And the plan is to bring them out the next morning and intimidate them by a show of force and scare the Jesus out of them. Literally, that's the plan. Scare the Jesus out of them. And Luke says in the middle of the night, something comes and opens the door of the jail, an angel and all the apostles slip out of the jail.

Meanwhile, the next morning, the temple authorities call for a meeting of the entire Sanhedrin. And the Sanhedrin was kind of like a Congress of the nation of Israel at that time. And when they're all gathered together, they say to the guards, bring out the prisoners. And the guards go to the jail cell and there's no one there. And they go back to the Sanhedrin and just picture the scene, you know, Your Highness, can I have a word? Yeah, there's no one there. What? There's no one in the jail cell. There's no one there. You idiots go find them. We'll be waiting for you.

And so it says the temple guards leave the courts and they go, they walk outside the door thinking, we're going to have to go to the hills to find them. Well, they don't have to go far because all 12 disciples are there in the temple courts right outside preaching in the name of Jesus. I mean, that takes guts. But then it says as they approach them to arrest them, it says they were afraid to arrest them. Why? Because there's this crowd of thousands of people around them and the people just are loving what's happening because they're not sure about the message that these guys are preaching yet. But as I said, the needy are getting helped. People are getting healed. And so they're drawn to these apostles.

And Luke says the temple guards thought to themselves, if we try to arrest them, the people will stone us. And so it says they went up to the apostles quietly and asked them to please come with them. And I can just imagine the scene. Peter, can we kind of talk mano a mano over here? My job's on the line here. You know, I've got a family to support. So can you guys just kind of arrest yourselves or something and just come along quietly like you want to? And incredibly Peter and John, the rest of the apostles say, okay, all right, we'll come with you.

And they come into with such boldness. They come into the court of the entire, very intimidating Sanhedrin. And that's where we join our story in verse 27 of chapter five. The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, they said. They didn't even want to say the name of Jesus. Yet you have filled Jerusalem. This is how big this was. With your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. They're saying, look, the way you tell the story, it's like, we're the bad guys. And Peter must be thinking, well, that's because you are, you know.

And by the way, the Bible is not the only book from the first century to criticize these particular religious leaders. The Jewish Talmud also is very critical of these exact same religious leaders here. And then the next verse is huge. This is the key to the whole thing. Peter and the other apostles replied. And let's just read this highlighted sentence out loud together. Can you say this with me? We must obey God rather than man. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead, whom you killed by hanging on cross. Peter is not backing down. God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior, that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.

And don't miss this next part. This is so distinctive about their message. We are witnesses of these things. And so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. In other words, this is not something we have heard about. This is not something we were just taught. This is something we saw. Every single time Peter and the other apostles talk in the book of Acts, they're like a broken record. Jesus is raised. Jesus is raised. And I really want you to get this because it's important to understanding the whole rest of the book.

The book of Acts is actually the message of the early church was not actually about the primarily about the teaching of Jesus. It was not even primarily about the activities of Jesus. The primary core teaching of the early church was really about one event. And that was the resurrection of Jesus, which they saw as validating Christ's claims to be the Messiah. And it says when they heard this, the leaders did not like it. When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. Them who? All the apostles. Let's just kill all 12. We were able to bring pressure on the Romans 50 days ago to kill their leader. We can do it again. Let's kill them all.

And then something really fascinating happens. I mean, the existence of the early Jesus movement seems to be kind of teetering on this point when a very unexpected champion arises. I love this next point. But a Pharisee, one of the guys in this meeting, not a Christian, named Gamel Yell, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people. He's a pretty famous guy, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. So this guy says, guys, before we decide to execute another bunch of people and make 12 martyrs instead of one, I got an idea. Let's ask these guys to step outside the room, then I'll tell you my idea.

And by the way, if the apostles were not in the room, how do we know anything about what Gamel Yell says next? Well, Luke tells us how. He says some of these very Pharisees become followers of Jesus Christ. In fact, a major narrative of the book of Acts is how one of those Pharisees, a student of Gamel Yell, later, reluctantly, becomes a convert to the Jesus movement. And I talk about that in this week's small group video.

So the apostles leave, then Gamel Yell addresses the Sanhedrin, men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do with these men. Let's think about this. And then he gives them a little history lesson. He says, some time ago, some time ago, Thudus appeared, claiming to be somebody. And about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed. All his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. He says, guys, remember back with me. Remember that new Messiah type a few years ago? The Romans squashed him like a bug, and it didn't go anywhere.

And after him, he goes on, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. Now, there's lots of historical background about who Judas the Galilean was because he caused a major revolt against the Romans. What happened was the Romans decided to do a census for the purpose of figuring out how many more people lived in Judea so they could tax them more. And Judas the Galilean says, no, we're not going to do the census. And he starts a movement called the zealot movement. And they were basically violent terrorists. Later on, one of the followers of the zealots becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, intriguingly.

But what Gamaliel is saying here is he too was killed. All his followers were scattered. Rome sent in a bunch of people and squashed it. And the implication is, remember, guys, we didn't get involved either time. Rome took care of it. Now, if we would have supported Judas the Galilean, then Rome would have squashed us too. But if we would have opposed Judas the Galilean, then all the people would have been against us because they loved him. You see what he seems to be saying? Remember how wise we were just to stay out of those, how our problem just kind of got solved for us?

Therefore, he says, in the present case, in the case of this whole Jesus movement, I advise you, leave these men alone. Let them go. For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. Against the might of Rome, there's no way that these guys are going to succeed. But if it's from God, you won't be able to stop these men. You'll only find yourselves fighting against God.

Now, pause the story for a second and listen to the implications of this statement. He is saying the only thing that could overcome and change Rome, the Roman Empire, the eternal city, Rome, at that point in history, is the power of God. He's saying there is no chance that some human movement could possibly change Rome. And in fact, Rome did try to squash the Christians. And what happened? Raise your head if you've ever been to Rome. Anybody here ever been to Rome? Several of you. You know what they say there are more of in Rome now than any other city in the world? Crosses. Crosses that represent not just executed people, but the one person who was crucified and rose again.

So just speaking historically, you don't even have to be a Christian to acknowledge that the Roman Empire was completely changed by the message of these twelve apostles in ways Gamelio never could have imagined. So the Sanhedrin likes his reasoning. His speech persuaded them, and they called them the apostles, and they don't just say, "You can go." And they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.

You know, "flogged" has little meaning for us, but in those days, you know what "flog" meant? "Flog" meant a cat of nine tails, a leather whip with nine kind of little whips that came out the end of it. And at the end of each one, there was tied onto it something sharp, like a piece of bone or glass or metal. And they would literally rip open the backs of people who were flayed with a cat of nine tails, leaving permanent scars as they would just cry out in agony and pain. And they did this to the twelve apostles.

Now, if this had been you, how would you have responded? Listen to their response. The apostles left the Sanhedrin. What? Rejoicing. Because they had been counted worthy of suffering, disgrace. Wait. You're permanently disfigured. Everybody who doesn't know the backstory is going to see those scars, and they'll think that you are a criminal. But they rejoice that they suffered for the name. The name. What name? Jesus. Those scars became the thing that they were the most proud of.

I've got to tell you, the last couple of years, I've been so humbled by people I have met who are proud and rejoice that they get to suffer for the name of Jesus. I told some of you about a year and a half ago, last year I went to Zambia in southern Africa with Johan Combrick, one of our missionaries we support here. And we went out far, far, far, far, far into the rural parts of Zambia. And we went to near a village where a pastor named Crispin, who we helped train with materials that we buy, became a pastor. He was threatened by people in the village who said, "If you do not stop preaching about Jesus, we will kill you." And they were good on their threats. He was found hacked to death a few months before I went, his body floating in the lake outside the village.

And when I was there, I went to a couple of pastors' meetings and they were appointing the guy to take his place. And I talked to this guy, and I said, "How do you find the courage to go into a place where your predecessor was murdered?" And this was not some young guy, you know, you kind of imagine some 22-year-old or something is going to go, "I'm going to get it going there." This is a guy who's about my age, so not a young guy, right? And he looks at me and he kind of laughs and he says, "Well, you cannot entertain fear." And that phrase has just kind of haunted me. I bet I've thought about that hundreds of times since he told me that. Like, you cannot entertain fear. You cannot entertain fear.

Because you know what? Entertaining fear defines our culture right now. Not only in our actual entertainment, which is about fear, but our news and everything else. It's all about entertaining fear and mulling over fear and focusing on fear. But he knows and the apostles knew you can't do that. He was so bold about his witness, even though he faces the very real prospect of death. And I can't help but be convicted by this. And I'm talking personally. I'm not pointing my fingers. I'm talking personally.

Here I am. Here we are in one of the safest countries, in the safest part of the world, in one of the safest eras in human history statistically, and we are afraid to be bold about our faith. Because we think some people might think I'm a little weird. You know? Well, they might think I'm kind of strange. They might not like me as much as they do now. That's about the worst we face here in this country when it comes to persecution. It's incredible. Somebody once said, and let me ask if you agree with this statement, in our country we are so extraordinarily blessed we've allowed it to strip us of our boldness.

And I read the book of Acts and I can't help but think what happened to the church Jesus came to start? That was so bold and so loving. And by the way, don't ever feel guilty for being blessed. I'm not going there with that. Don't feel guilty for being blessed. Rejoice. God has lavish blessings on us. Don't feel guilty, but feel responsible for what you're going to do with these blessings.

One more verse in this story. Check this out. After the temple leadership has told them again not to speak in this name and flog them, day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped. They never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. They never stopped. What do we do with that? How do we respond to that? What has happened to us? Where did that go? And how do we get it back?

Well, how about we wrap up this morning with what I call some boldness baby steps from this story. And they're on page two of your notes there. And I just want to zero in on two verses that have what I call building blocks of boldness here. And this is pretty simple really. Number one, I need to remember who I serve. Remember who I serve, right? Remember who calls the shots in my life. Peter says we must obey God rather than men.

When you have to make a choice, who do you take your orders from? During the rise of Nazis in Germany, a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor there. And when they started rounding up the Jews, Bonhoeffer was actually safe in New York City on a trip. But he raced home and published a pamphlet urging all Christians to resist the Nazis. And you know what it was called? The pamphlet? The title of it was We Must Obey God Rather Than Men.

How do you find courage to face down an evil like the Nazis? You remember there's somebody greater than Hitler. You remember there's a kingdom that's going to last far longer than the Third Reich. You remember there's an army that's greater than the Nazi army. And he paid the ultimate price. He was arrested and he was executed. You know when I think of him, I think of this famous picture. I ought to just get this printed and framed and put in my office. I love this historical picture. Everybody in this whole crowd is giving the Nazi salute except for one guy who's folding his arms thinking I will never bow to Hitler.

And historians actually know the name of this man. And the Nazis took this picture, found him, arrested him. He died in a concentration camp. You know what? I want to be that guy. But honestly, I don't know if I am. So how do you get there? How do you stand tall like that? Under that kind of pressure. In our country we don't have authoritarian dictators, but we do have a lot of pressure from our culture. Did it shut up and fit in and goose step with all the rest? So how do you stand up?

Well, when it comes down to it, do you believe this sentence? That is the foundation. I must obey God rather than man. And then I build on that with these next three attitudes. And this next one might seem counterintuitive to you. To build courage, expect trouble. Expect trouble. This story says that they were actually rejoicing because they've been counted worthy of suffering, disgrace, for the name now. That is astounding. What does that even mean? We're so far removed from that mentality. They were expecting it.

I love this quote from G.K. Chesterton. Jesus promised his disciples three things, that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble. We forget this, but he really did. Jesus said it, didn't he? Matthew 5:11, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven." Now, you've got to watch this.

Because I've had people come up to me and tell me, "I'm just getting persecuted. I'm just getting persecuted at my work, because of my faith." And knowing them, I think to myself, you're not getting persecuted because of your faith, you're getting persecuted because you're annoying, you know? I'm a believer, and you annoy me. I can't imagine what other people must think of you. This is not a license to be obnoxious. What this means is no matter how winsome you are, there are going to be people drawn to you, and there are going to be people who think less of you, solely because you're a believer. Don't be surprised, expect trouble.

Here's how huge this is. Marathon runners, you probably think that these men and women who run 20, 30, 50 miles, these ultra-distance runners are different from you. They feel less pain when they run. Well, they've done some research on this. You know what they found out? Marathon runners feel the exact same amount of pain that a normal weekend warrior does when they run. Isn't that amazing? It feels just as uncomfortable to them. So what's the difference? One thing. They expect it. They've been there before. Psychologically, they're prepared for it. It doesn't scare them. In fact, they know they can run through it. Same idea here. Faith's a marathon. Pain's a part of it. But you can run through it. That's why Jesus told you to expect it.

And then a third thing I see in the apostles here in these verses, they cultivate a culture of courage. They cultivate a culture of courage. It says, "Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house." Day after day. In other words, they didn't just wait for the big once every decade moment. They created a daily culture where they were doing bold things. So how do you and I create a culture of courage here in this church? Well, I suggest one way to do it during this series. They're in your notes. Share your stories through social media. Send me a photo of your small group or a picture of the service project you or your group are doing or a story about answered prayer during this series. And I'll post those. It'll help create a culture of courage here, a culture of God is at work. Look at what's happening.

And here's another way to cultivate a culture of courage. Take advantage of opportunities like the Acts of Kindness projects. Here's some more videos of past projects we've done. I mean, look at this. Cleaning local schools and cleaning up parks and beautifying the Homeless Services Center and everything from raking leaves to demolition to painting to building. Awesome stuff. Now, let me ask you this. Does it make you kind of uncomfortable to think of stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something like this? Well, then that's one reason to do it. By doing these projects, we're not only letting our light shine, we are cultivating a culture of courage because you just never know what is going to happen on one of these projects.

So take a risk. Be bold. Be bold at work. Look for ways to invite people to church to share your faith. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Last Thursday, I got to hang around with a friend of mine who works for a major television network. And I got to watch him at work on set. And he went around talking to people. He is so bold in telling his co-workers about TLC, inviting them to church to go on the website, watch videos. But you know what? He is also so beloved. His work ethic is legendary. He's so trustworthy. He's so generous with his time. That I can tell everybody respects him. He has earned a hearing. When you earn people's respect with your integrity and your kindness, then you can be bold with your witness. That's exactly what the early Christians did.

And then finally, to stay courageous, stay on message. Stay just like a laser beam on message. The biggest danger to the faith is not temptation. It's not persecution. It's not intimidation. The biggest threat we face is distraction. Would you agree with that? There is always going to be some new, latest, hot issue in our culture that people will try to make into the most important thing ever and distract Christians from our actual message. Think of these first believers. They could have started to rally people against their political opponents, right? But they never did. Instead, it says they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the what? The good news.

So what is the good news? Well, I think John 3:16 is a great summary. The good news about Jesus Christ. That is our message. Stay on it. Proclaim it boldly. Now let me wrap up with this. If you're visiting and you would not call yourself a Christian, you might be thinking, well, frankly, all this is exactly what I hate about Christians. René, you're saying be bold, be a witness, but that's what creeps me out about Christians. Why can't they just keep it to themselves? Well, the good news is most of us do. You probably live next door to some Christians. You probably work with some Christians. You probably golf with some Christians. And you never know because they keep it secret. So you're probably safe.

But the thing is, there are some of us who really believe this verse. God so loved the world, the whole world, that he gave. He didn't take. He didn't demand. He didn't require. He gave. His only son that who ever and in the Greek, whoever means whoever anybody in the world believes won't perish but have everlasting life. That means there's something beyond this life. And listen, if we Christians have been a nuisance and a bother. And if when you think of us, you think of people that are that are in your face and judgmental about this message, then that's our fault, not yours.

Because as somebody said, if we had kept the spirit of the first Christians, we would be bold, but we would also perhaps reluctantly win your favor because we would be so generous and so loving and so kind. You see that here in the early church, don't you? If we'd kept the spirit of the first Christians, we would be bold, but we would be so full of love that you'd want to be friends with us. That you'd want to hire us. That you'd want your kids to marry our kids. You know, if we kept the spirit of the first Christians, you'd want the integrity part. You'd want the character part. You'd want the ethical part. You'd want to hang around with us. Even if you never believed in Jesus, you would love Christians because of that.

And if that has not been your experience with Christianity, then that is our fault, not yours. So forgive us for not being always a very good church. Not always being very good representatives of this movement that's about God giving and not taking. But I hope that one day, either because of us or in spite of us, that you would come to believe that God so loved you, that he gave you his son so that you could have life. And in the meantime, we're going to try to learn to be like the movement that Jesus intended for us to be like.

Because you remember what that wise man Gamaliel said? If there are activities of human origin, it will fail. And that applies to Twin Lakes Church and anything we do here. But if it's from God, you will not be able to stop them. So whatever we claim to do in the name of Jesus, let's make sure it's the kind of thing he came to do. Because if it is, then it is unstoppable. Father, thank you so much for your mercy. Give us courage and boldness. Help us shine. May people see our grace the way we walk the talk, our work ethic. And may people see you in us, past us, all the way to you. Build your kingdom here. And God, if there's anybody here today who has had a bad experience with Christianity, may they see past those negative people and all the way through to the positive, loving, gracious God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.