Boldness Amidst Opposition
What is the greatest opposition you have ever faced? Who in here has ever had something mean said against you? Who has had someone belittle your character? Who has had a little kid stubbornly not budge no matter what you do? Who has been falsely accused and arrested? Who has been martyred?
It’s easy to follow God when opportunity comes, but what about opposition? Usually soon after opportunities from God come, opposition from Satan soon follows. That’s what we see in our text for today. Remember, Peter and John just healed a man that was lame from birth, in the name of Jesus. Everyone was in awe of the life change that they saw in this man. But, where God is at work, often opposition is close by.
It costs something to follow Jesus. (1-3) This is the first case of persecution we see of the church.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer has perhaps the best work on this topic. It is a Christian Classic called The Cost of Discipleship, and in it he explains the difference between what he calls cheap grace and costly grace. Listen to how he explains it.
“Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?...
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.”[1]
Part of why we don’t see the outcomes the early church did and also why we don’t see the opposition the early church did is because we have become too comfortable with being too comfortable. We have an anemic theology of suffering. Hear what Bonhoeffer has to say about this:
“Suffering…is the badge of the true Christian. The disciple is not above his master…Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true church, and one of the memoranda drawn up in preparation for the Augsburg Confession similarly defines the church as the community of those “who are persecuted and martyred for the gospel’s sake.”…Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer.”[2]
When Jesus calls us to follow him, as Bonhoeffer says, “he bids us come and die.” He tells us to take up our cross daily and follow him.[3] The cross is both our means of salvation, and it is our message of salvation. When we follow Jesus, we are reconciled through the cross, and we are entrusted with the ministry and message of the cross.[4] But here’s the deal with the cross. It saves sinners (praise God!) but it is also foolishness and a stumbling block to those who don’t believe.[5]
1 Corinthians 1:18 – For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:23 – but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.
And that’s what we see here in our text. A man was saved, but there were mixed reactions. We should expect the same reaction from our obedience.
Our witness should produce two different results: opposition and affirmation. (4)
Warren Wiersbe said,
“His message produced two opposite results: (1) some two thousand Jews believed the Word and were converted, and (2) the religious leaders of the nation rejected the message and tried to silence the apostles. We have here the beginning of the persecution about which Jesus had already warned His followers (Matt. 10:17-18; Luke 21:12-15; John 15:18-16:4).”[6]
I want you to think about your life for a little bit. Is there affirmation from your obedience to Christ? Do you see fruit from people coming to know Christ and growing in a deeper walk with Christ from your influence in their lives? On the other hand, do you face any opposition? Is your opposition from your proclamation of the gospel or from something else? Are you bold in your faith enough that it offends some? Do you offend, or do you let the gospel offend?
Christianity is an exclusive religion. By the way, so is every other religion, even the ones that claim tolerance. If it denies that the tenets of Christianity are true, which says that through Jesus is the only way to be saved, it is excluding Christianity, which means it is exclusive. All religions can’t be true. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”[7]
If you don’t face any opposition, I want you to consider why. Are you too soft with your witness? Is your witness nonexistent? I want you to consider if you do face opposition, do you have any fruit that accompanies it, or is it just opposition?
Tim Keller helps us think through this well when considering these early Christians and how we can apply their example to our lives.
“They were both attractive and growing, yet hated and attacked. This description of the early church cuts two ways. If on the one hand, we experience no attacks or persecution for our faith, it means we simply are being cowards. We are not taking risks in our witness, we are not being bold. On the other hand, if we experience attacks without a… fruitfulness and attractiveness (i.e., if we get lots of persecution and no affirmation), it may mean that we are being persecuted for being harsh or insensitive or strident. Jesus said we would only be blessed if we were persecuted “for righteousness’ sake.” It is quite possible (indeed, it is very normal) for Christians to be persecuted not for their faith, but for their discourtesy, insensitivity, and lack of warmth and respect in their dealings with others. Insensitive, harsh Christians will have persecution but not praise. Cowardly Christians will have praise but not persecution. Most Christians (whose walk with God is weak) actually get neither! But Christians who are closest to Jesus will get both, as he did.”[8]
The content of our opposition should be from resurrection, not rules. (5-12)
Christian morality is worth defending, but not at the expense of Christian witness. Peter and John were witnesses to the resurrection. That is where the man’s healing came from, and that was the message they were proclaiming. They weren’t preaching rules, they were preaching resurrection. BUT, the content of this message was in direct opposition to the powers that be.
“In the book of Acts persecution was largely Sadducean. They were the materialistic rationalists of their day—denying the supernatural, denying evil spirits, denying angels. Above all, they denied the Resurrection (see Mark 12:18), which the apostles boldly preached.”[9]
“Sadducees disagreed with the Pharisaic doctrine of the resurrection, but Pharisees posed less of a threat to them than the Christians, for the Pharisaic doctrine was only a theoretical hope for the future. From the Jewish perspective, the apostolic witness that one person had already been raised would proclaim that the resurrection had been inaugurated. By guaranteeing rather than simply teaching the future hope of the resurrection, the disciples threatened the Sadducees’ security as leaders of the people.”[10]
The content of their message was in direct opposition to those in power. Specifically, it was in direct opposition to Jewish authorities that didn’t believe the truth. They weren’t purposefully preaching against the Sadducess, but the gospel was in direct opposition to their beliefs, and they were proclaiming the gospel. A basis of the Sadducees belief was that there is no resurrection from the dead, but the man standing right in front of them was claimed to be healed in the name of Jesus, who was alive and able to heal this man.
I have labored in wrestling through the application of this passage. It has sat very heavy on me. I believe that Christian morality is a good thing. I believe with all my heart that the world would be a better place if every aspect of what the Bible deems as good and right were enforced, the world would be a far better place. Also, I have a strong conviction towards natural law ethics. I believe the Christian ethic is defensible to the world in showing that its ways are good and right. I believe those ways should be proclaimed and defended. But here’s where the predicament in my heart is, and this is why I have labored so hard in thinking through the application. We so easily face opposition in standing for Christian morality, while we so rarely, if at all, share the gospel. We will far more quickly shout that transgenderism is bad than we will share Christ with a transgender person. We will far more loudly argue for our second amendment rights than we will plead with someone to repent and be saved. Here’s where my internal struggle lies. We are willing to face opposition to try to make people look Christlike without knowing Christ. We want and expect people to look like Christians before they are one.
If we are louder about rules than resurrection, we risk sending “good” people to Hell. Rules can’t save. Only the resurrected Jesus can. Our world needs to know this. There is salvation in no other name than the name of Jesus![11] That means all the laws of the land, whether the rules of the Pharisees and Sadducees, or the biblical virtues America was founded upon, are completely powerless to save us.
Luke plays off the semantic range of the Greek word sōzō in this passage. “Healed,” “salvation,” and “saved” all have the same root word, sōzō. This is the word where we get our theological term that refers to the study of salvation, soteriology. The reason they are in this predicament is because a man was made whole, was saved by Jesus, and his salvation is boldly on display.
But this type of message and proclamation isn’t something disconnected from us and just relegated to apostles. We have the same power the apostles had because we have the same message the apostles had.
Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
God uses ordinary people to advance his kingdom. (13)
These were ordinary Galileans. They weren’t formally trained in the Law like these who were on the counsel trying them. They had Jesus. That’s all they needed. You know who you have, too? You have Jesus. It is in his name that people are saved. You don’t have to worry about the outcomes. God is the one who does the saving. You are just called to proclaim. And God will use you.
God uses the weak instead of the strong. He uses those with no influence to influence the many. That’s why they are facing opposition. They are upsetting the powers that are in place even though they are lowly Galilean fishermen. And they are answering these experts in the Law in their own court to the point that they have no rebuttal. They are speechless. But you know why?
A changed life is the greatest apologetic. (14-22)
Nobody can argue against a changed life. Their argument was, “Are you arguing against a good deed done to this man?” Scholar, Craig Keener shows us what this term means for them in their ancient context.
“The “good deed” or “benefit” is literally a “benefaction”: a kind act for which one would normally be praised. In ancient legal debate, a person who could argue that it was actually a praiseworthy act for which they were on trial cast the accusers in a negative light. It was common to charge one’s accusers with a crime, and that reversal is simple enough here: Jerusalem’s elite instigated Jesus’ execution.”[12]
Peter, in Holy Spirit empowered boldness, turns the charges around against these leaders.
God’s plan always prevails. (23-28)
We will discuss this topic in more detail tonight at Bible study. But, we know that Jesus had to be crushed. It was prophesied from of Old[13] and planned before the foundations of the world.[14] There would be no redemption apart from the sacrifice of Jesus. This is the only way for us to be saved, and this is the message that we proclaim. So, what do you do now?
Pray for Holy Spirit empowered boldness. (29-31)
“The prayer begins by confessing God’s sovereignty (his power to answer prayer) with lines from Psalm 146:6, a context praising God’s faithfulness to vindicate the oppressed; he is greater than their opponents.”[15]
And this is where we see their theology of suffering and ministry and message of the cross come out even more clearly. They pray not for God to remove the opposition, but for the Holy Spirit to empower them to continue to preach the message of the gospel with boldness no matter the opposition. Because they know what is most important. It’s that all would believe in the gospel and be saved…just like this lame man who was healed.
[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 44-5.
[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 91.
[3] Matthew 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27
[6] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2007), 331.
[8] Tim Keller, Evangelism: Studies in the Book of Acts. Leader’s Guide. New York: Redeemer Presbyterian Church (2005), 45.
[9] R. Kent Hughes, Acts, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1996), 61.
[10] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 328.
[12] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 328.
[14] John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8
[15] Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 329.
