Jesus calls, commissions, and empowers us to speak that good news for him with great boldness. You may end up seeing people converted by your words; you may end up in jail. There are no guarantees with God, except for these: that God has installed his crucified and exalted anointed one, Jesus Christ, as King over all nations, and that on the last day, all those who are his will enter into glory—not one of his people will be missing.

Profound Change

It’s hard not to love the story of Cinderella, the poor and neglected girl dressed in rags who is suddenly transformed into a gorgeous princess at the wave of the fairy godmother’s magic wand. The trouble is that the change that is offered is merely superficial. When midnight comes, the coach is recognizable as a pumpkin, and the coachmen are nicely dressed, sweetly perfumed rats. No lasting, foundational change has been brought about.

It is not so with the changes that Jesus brings to a life. Jesus changes people from the inside out, and as a result, the changes that he brings are real, substantial, and lasting. In Acts 3 we see the dramatic change that the power of Jesus brought into the life of the crippled man. From birth, he had been unable to walk, and because he was physically less than perfect, he was excluded from the temple where the presence of God dwelt. Now the man could not only walk but run and jump and leap to the praise of God (Acts 3:8). Perhaps even more astounding than the change in the crippled man is the change that has been brought about in the disciples.

In the space of a few weeks, they went from being a group of terrified individuals huddled away in an upper room for fear of the authorities (John 20:19) to men who walked the streets of Jerusalem and stood in front of the Jewish authorities proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ boldly to anyone and everyone who would listen. Boldness is a key theme in Acts 4 (Acts 4:13, 29, 31). Peter in particular had been changed from a coward who denied that he even knew Jesus when he was confronted in the high priest’s house on the night before Jesus’s crucifixion (Luke 22:54–60) to a courageous witness to the exclusive and unique power of Jesus as the messianic Son of God, the only source of life, health, and peace in this world. This was a miracle every bit as remarkable and as undeniable as the healing of the crippled man.

What gave the apostles their boldness in speaking such an unpopular message? Acts 4 addresses the aftermath of the healing of the crippled man. It shows us Peter and John being arrested by the Jewish authorities and put on trial for their actions—at the same time that many other people were coming to believe in Christ as they saw the lame man healed and heard Peter’s preaching. This chapter of Acts identifies several sources for the apostles’ powerful boldness, sources that challenge our general reluctance and unwillingness to speak out for Christ—especially if we think that people might be offended or angry with us for what we say. This chapter also encourages each of us to find a fresh boldness in speaking for Jesus.

1. Personal Acquaintance with Jesus

In the first instance, the apostles’ boldness comes from their personal experience of Jesus Christ. They may be “uneducated, common men,” but they have been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). Even the apostles’ enemies recognize that time with Jesus was the source of their confidence.

Their confidence came not from years of reading learned theological treatises in seminary but from time spent with Jesus. This is a tremendously important truth to understand. Some may have spent a fair amount of time reading theological books, while others haven’t, and there is application here for those in both categories.

For those of us who have spent time in theological training, there is a real danger that when we speak to others about Jesus, we make things too complicated. My wife is a much better evangelist than I am because she has an ability to cut right through the peripheral questions and get down to the heart of the matter: Who is Jesus? Some of us need to be reminded that people are not converted ultimately by intellectual arguments but rather as the Holy Spirit gives them new birth and opens up their eyes to who Jesus is.

On the other hand, there is also an application here for those who haven’t had any theological training. Perhaps you are tempted to let your lack of knowledge prevent you from speaking up for Jesus. Don’t let that absence of training worry you; go ahead and tell people what you do know about Jesus. The fact that God has made you his and holds you safely in his hand, and that he has given you a hope and a glorious inheritance in Christ—all this is dramatic enough!

But don’t wear your theological ignorance like a badge of pride. Remember that even though the disciples hadn’t been formally schooled, they had been with Jesus. They had devoted themselves for three long years to being with him, listening to his teaching, watching him at work, studying him, and learning at his feet. Even though we can’t physically go and travel around with Jesus, we can still sit at his feet as we read the Scriptures and study them and as we help one another apply these truths into our hearts and lives.

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