BQ Devotional, Acts, League Meet #1 (10/3/2015)

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
(Acts 4:31)

To speak boldly (parrhesia) is something that would be very unusual in this situation. During this time period, it was very common for public  speakers to repeat and mimic speeches that someone else gave. If you were a follower of another person (i.e. Aristotle, Plato, etc), you would speak the same words and in the same mannerisms as the person you subscribed to. Even the Corinthian church made it a point to say that they were followers of Paul and Apollos and argued which was better.

What caught many people by surprise during Jesus’ earthy ministry, is that He spoke “with authority” (Matthew 7:29). While other Pharisees (which were experts of the law and great orators) repeated other sermons that they heard, with the same words and the same mannerisms, Jesus preached original material that no one else ever heard or thought of. When Jesus would preach, people would be astonish about what He had just said. They would bring the sick to Him, and He would heal all of them. This was done both inside and outside the church. It happened so often that large crowds would follow Jesus. He would move from town to town, and these large crowds would follow Him. He would sit down on mountain side and speak to whoever could hear him. He would get into a boat and speak to everyone on land because the crowds were huge. All this is to say that Jesus was original. There was no one else like Him. Not even how He preached. Instead of portraying God the Father as an angry judge in heaven waiting for the perfect opportunity to punish His beloved people (which is the image portrayed by the prophets), Jesus showed Him to be a loving Father ready to bless. This is our example of how to speak boldly (parrhesia) … knowing the nature of God and portraying Him differently to the ungodly and the saved.

The disciples really did not have everything figured out in Acts. They made many mistakes, but when they prayed, earthquakes happened. Not only that, God’s Spirit was with them. Even though they were flawed, imperfect, unexperienced, and uncertain, God changed them from the inside out. They had just witnessed the Romans crucify their leader. To claim to be a follower of Jesus would invite the same death sentence on themselves. They were unsure what would happen to them by confessing Jesus. Because they prayed (yes, just prayer all by itself), they spoke the Word boldly (parrhesia). 11 people who failed a short time ago changed the entire world forever by prayer and speaking boldly (parrhesia). The disciples did not just speak boldly in church. They spoke boldly (parrhesia) outside of church. They spoke boldly (parrhesia) when they were on trial waiting to die. They spoke boldly (parrhesia) to the poor and sick. Even though they were not perfect, God used what they knew to change the culture they were living in.

Parrhesia in Acts means “to proclaim, to speak publically, to speak openly”. They had common jobs (i.e. fishermen, tax collectors, etc). They had no formal training in apologetics, oratory, or rhetoric. They were not in debate clubs in school. Most of them had limited schooling and learned their trade from their father and worked that trade since the time they were young boys. When church leaders witnessed their effective speaking (Acts 4:13) and seen the signs and wonders (Acts 4:29-30, Acts 14:3), their conclusion was that they were with Jesus. Speaking boldly (parrhesia)
confirmed that they knew Jesus.

What a wonderful model. Ordinary believers, who made mistakes, went to church when they were supposed to (during the hour of prayer), who were common people, who spoke about the Jesus they knew outside of church with people who were not allowed in church, and who prayed, were filled with the Spirit and spoke boldly (parrhesia). They were not carbon copies of another pastor or of an author of a bestselling book. They did not watch the top 10 sermons on youtube and facebook to figure out how to give an alter call or grow a ministry. They did not know what they were doing. The just spoke boldly (parrhesia), and God did everything else.

The challenge to you is to learn how to pray and learn how to speak boldly (parrhesia). This does not mean to go outside church and bring the sledgehammer of God to the ungodly. Rather, portraying a different version of God that is expected by the culture because you know what is written about God in the Bible. This also means to going to people outside church
who are not welcome in church and speaking boldly (parrhesia).

Knowing the Scripture only gets you there half way. Praying and speaking boldly (parrhesia) allows Holy Spirit to bring people back to God.