The Good Shepherd Gives Courage to His Sheep!

4th Sunday of Easter, 4/29/12 Acts 4:23-33 The Good Shepherd Gives Courage to His Sheep! I. The courage to defy the powers that be II. The courage to testify to the risen Jesus Are you familiar with the Peanuts character Linus and his signature blanket? Most of us are. Linus rarely appears anywhere without his blanket. Whether he’s watching TV, playing baseball, walking along the street or participating in the Christmas pageant, Linus’ blanket is his constant companion. And his sister, Lucy, belittles him for it. She refers to it as “that stupid blanket.” But Linus remains undaunted. In fact, he defends his blanket, showing her how he uses it not only to bring him constant comfort, but also to perform useful tasks, tasks you wouldn’t think a blanket would be possible of performing. But its number one purpose is to provide him comfort. Today we’re celebrating the fact that Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Without a doubt, that truth is one of the most comforting of all the Bible’s truths. Literally millions of Christians have received comfort at the death of a loved one as they hear or read the familiar words of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.” It’s a source of daily comfort to know that Jesus is watching over us and will continue to do so even though we, his sheep, love to stray. But the truth that Jesus is our Good Shepherd is not just a comforting truth for us. It’s also a powerful, tremendously useful and practical truth for us. We see that very thing in the event that Luke describes for us in Acts 4. Here the Good Shepherd doesn’t only provide comfort, he also provides courage, a courage that they sorely needed at this point. And our Good Shepherd is still providing it for us today. The Good Shepherd gives courage to his sheep! May he instill such courage in us as he guides and instructs us with his word this morning. Part I. US historians love to debate defining moments in our more than two centuries of existence. Which had more impact—the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the terrorist attacks of 9/11? Few debate the importance of man’s first steps on the moon. The Emancipation Proclamation and, about 100 years later, the signing of the Civil Rights Act brought sudden and long-lasting changes to our country. And no one would even be talking about US history without the Declaration of Independence. I’m sure you could add to that list of defining moments. Maybe it didn’t occur to you when you first heard these words of our text, but you were listening to the account of a defining moment in Christianity. The Christian Church on earth was still in its infancy. This event likely occurred only a few weeks after the Day of Pentecost. The Church had not spread much beyond the walls of the city of Jerusalem and there was a very concerted effort to extinguish that Church within those walls. That threat came from the most powerful Jews in Jerusalem at that time. Earlier in Acts 4 Luke tells us, “They [the Jewish leaders] …commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. After further threats they let them go.” Recall that these were likely the very same leaders that had crucified Jesus. They were powerful men who were accustomed to getting their way. It was their highest goal to put an end to the work of the Apostles. The Christians were now put on notice that they were to stop talking to others about Jesus. In other words, the work of the Christian Church on earth was to come to an abrupt halt. What would the apostles do? This was no small matter. It was a defining moment. Would they do as commanded and abandon the commission that Jesus himself had given them to go begin preaching about him there in Jerusalem and then expand into all the world? Would they take things underground for a while in the hope that the oppression would cool off and allow them to return to their great commission charge, slowly at first but with ever-increasing intensity? What would the apostles do? What would the Church do? The Church would do what the Church has always done. The Church on earth showed that in the words of the prayer that it gathered to speak. That prayer declares the folly of opposing not the Church, but the Lord of the Church. The prayer begins with a reminder of just how powerful the Lord of the Church is. He’s the One who created all things. Everything owes its existence to him. For the creatures to rebel against the Creator is utter foolishness. But that’s what creatures do. And this wasn’t the first time. The Christians quoted words from Psalm 2, words which imply that what the Jewish leaders just attempted had been attempted countless times before, without success. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.” These threatened Christians recognized this latest command of their secular leaders as another attempt to dethrone the Lord. Every such attempt is destined to fail. This one certainly would as well. And then these Christians did what Christians have always done. They prayed to the Good Shepherd to bless and protect them. They said, “Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” They didn’t pray for him to vaporize their enemies. They simply called on the Lord to do what he has promised to all his people—to protect them as he sees best and to enable them to speak his word boldly. In other words, they were asking him to give them the courage to defy what their leaders were demanding. In light of who these leaders were, that was huge! And that’s what the Good Shepherd gave them. The Good Shepherd gives courage to his sheep—the courage to defy the powers that be. It would have been easy for these early Christians to do what we find so easy to do ourselves—we assume that resistance is futile and we give up before trying. We convince ourselves that this is the way our world is and we can’t do anything to change it. In fact, we may even convince ourselves that the best thing to do is to take a softer stance on what Jesus says in his word. That way we won’t turn as many people away. But, is this what our Lord says, or not? And if he says it, then we have him behind us. This is his almighty word, a word which called our world into being and a word which calls us to faith in him as our Savior. Through this word our Lord bestows on us forgiveness for our timidity and assures us of life with him. In fact, through that word he gives us the courage to continue proclaiming his word even in the face of the powers that be. Part II. No doubt you’ve heard the statement, “Let go and let God.” Those words are a reminder that our God is in control and we need to let go of our worries and concerns and let him work them out for us. That’s exactly what these early Christians did. They had a huge problem on their hands. But instead of fretting about it, they let go and let God. Listen to their prayer, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” As trusting children of God, they reminded the Lord—as if he needed reminding—of the threats that their leaders had made. These were not just threats against them; they were threats against the Lord himself. And then immediately they asked the Lord to enable them to defy their leaders. They ask him to enable them to speak his word with boldness. They weren’t going to back down. They knew what their Lord wanted them to do. He wanted them to continue proclaiming his saving name and so they asked for the confidence to do just that. And immediately the Lord revealed his power as an answer to their prayer. Luke tells us that “the place where they were meeting was shaken.” We’re not quite sure what this entailed, but we certainly understand the action. This was a sign from God indicating to them without question who was in control. The Lord had the power to permanently neutralize these enemies of his Church. He would do that if that was the best course of action. More importantly, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Just as the Holy Spirit had empowered these Christians on Pentecost, so also here once again. He strengthened their faith, built up their confidence in the almighty power of the Savior whom they served, and equipped them to carry out the high calling of their apostleship. Jesus had earlier sent them out. The Holy Spirit now made them eager to do go out. The results were immediate. They “spoke the word of God boldly. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.” The evil efforts of the enemies of the Church backfired. The result was that the apostles were even more intent on preaching and teaching about the resurrection of Jesus. The enemies of the Church were powerless in the face of the almighty power of the risen Jesus. The Good Shepherd gives courage to his sheep—the courage to testify to the risen Jesus. Testifying to Jesus is not likely your favorite thing to do. I’ll admit it can be intimidating. Like you, I’ve shied away from opportunities. But how about trying this? Just tell others what Jesus means to you. Tell them what comfort his forgiveness brings you. Tell them how confident you are of eternal life with him because he rose for you. And all the while, your Good Shepherd will be right there with you, giving you the courage to witness to others about him. May our Good Shepherd bestow that courage in abundance on us all! Amen.