Lots of us like to be temporarily frightened. There is a certain thrill at being shocked by a scene in a scary movie. I personally enjoy it, although some people can’t seem to take it. I’m sure I’m in the majority, however, because these kinds of movies are very popular, and always have been.
A little scare may be fun, but real fear can take over the human psyche. It is such a powerful force that it can control a human being. Taken to the extreme, it can even kill. The expression, "scared to death," might become reality in certain circumstances for some people. Some are totally immobilized by fear. To them, fear becomes a bondage, a prison from which they find no escape.
Of course, our society likes to categorize the fears we have. We want to make every human malady and problem a sickness of some kind, so we define it in "scientific" terms. In this case a fear becomes a phobia. Phobia is in vogue today to describe all sorts of fears which afflict people. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of phobias. I like to keep a little list of them just so I can feel more scientific about the things that scare me. One phobia was made familiar to us all by Steven Spielberg in his movie by the same name — Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders.
Can you guess what some of these phobias are? There is claustrophobia, the fear of enclosed places; acrophobia, the fear of high places; agoraphobia, the fear of open places; and anthropophobia, the fear of people. There are all kinds of obscure phobias: bacteriophobia, the fear of bacteria; zoophobia, the fear of animals; eisopetrophobia, the fear of mirrors; aurophobia, the fear of gold; metophobia, the fear of money; telephonophoboa, the fear of the telephone; blennophobia, the fear of slime; musophobia, the fear of mice; microphobia, the fear of small things; neophobia, the fear of new things; monophobia, the fear of one thing; pantophobia, the fear of everything.
There are still more: scotophobia, fear of darkness; carcinophobia, fear of cancer; hydrophobophobia, the fear of rabies; algophobia, the fear of pain; kinetophobia, the fear of motion; tachophobia, the fear of speed; autophobia, the fear of being alone; hypegiaphobia, the fear of responsibility; kakorraphiaphobia, the fear of failure; gametophobia, the fear of marriage; and even phobophobia, the fear of fear.
But wait, we’re not through. There is triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number thirteen; oikophobia, the fear of home; thanathophobia, the fear of death; ouranophobia, the fear of heaven; stygiophobia, the fear of hell; peccatiphobia, the fear of sin; and ecclesiophobia, the fear of church.
As I said, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands more. And the list grows each day. We do live in a fearful society, and many people are in bondage to it. We all have a tendency to fear. It is a weakness in the human race. And it can be a real problem for us as we seek to serve Jesus Christ.
You see, the enemy of Christianity is Satan, and he uses the process of developing fear to come against us and to keep us from fully following Jesus. This process is known as intimidation. To intimidate is defined as "to make timid or fearful." And intimidation is a strategy of Satan by which he seeks to control people. People in the world who do not know Christ seek to control Christians through intimidation. As we attempt to live biblical Christianity in a secular society, we will come face to face with intimidation. The real question is what we will do when we face intimidation. Will we yield to fear, or will we find a way to overcome intimidation?
The apostles faced the same question because they faced intimidation every day in their ministry. As they sought to share the Gospel of Christ and win the world to Jesus, they had to come to grips with the intimidation of the world. In our text today, we see such a situation. And we will also find valuable lessons in how to conquer the intimidation which we face.
In Acts 1, the promise is given by Jesus that the disciples would receive power. In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, they received that power. It was the power to become mighty witnesses for Jesus Christ. Thousands of people were saved that day and the power of God was unleashed. In Acts 3, we see the power of God used to help people. The man by the Temple gate called Beautiful was healed. Now, in Acts 4, we see the fallout of that healing among the religious leaders of the day.
What we see here is a confused query. The religious leaders didn’t know what to do. They had never encountered this kind of situation. The power of God had come down, and now they had to deal with these people with power. The believers had been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and were now proceeding to live biblical Christianity in their secular society. Whenever that kind of radical transformation takes place, it always creates a stir. People living in the power of God stand out in the crowd, and the world doesn’t know quite what to do with them. This was the confused query of the religious leaders. In verse 16, we hear them saying, "What are we going to do with these men?" They didn’t know how to respond. God’s power had fallen and God’s people were on the move. Things were happening — things these religious leaders had not counted on. The disciples were preaching boldly in the name of Jesus. A notable healing had taken place right under their noses and they couldn’t deny it. What would they do with these men now? They didn’t have the answer. They were in a state of confusion.
The question they asked is the same question the world asks today. Just as the religious leaders did not know how to respond, so the world does not know how to respond. When a Christian attempts to live biblically, he stands out. When a believer attempts to live with high moral standards in honesty and integrity, in purity and holiness, refusing to engage in any activity or conversation which would violate the principles of God’s Word or hamper His testimony, this kind of person cuts across the grain of secular society. And what does the world do?
I believe the tactics of the world are quite predictable. The first thing they do is try to ignore us. They simply act like we’re not there. If they can’t ignore us, their next strategy is to belittle us, or at least belittle our faith. Sadly, the events in the ranks of the televangelists have given them much ammunition in this regard. If belittling doesn’t work, they seek to intimidate and threaten. They try to use their power or position to control and manipulate us into giving our Christianity a little lower profile. This is how they attempt to answer the question, "What shall we do with these Christians?"
In our text, we find the religious leaders deciding on a plan of intimidation. They concluded that the proper course of action would be to warn Peter and John to quit preaching about this Jesus. And that’s what they proceeded to do. Little did they know what kind of men they were now dealing with. These were no longer the men who had fled when Jesus was arrested. They were a new breed altogether.
The religious leaders were about to encounter men who had a courageous quality about them. Peter and John would no longer be intimidated. They knew in whom they believed and were persuaded that He was able to keep them in the center of His will. Lives that had been marked by cowardice were now marked by confidence.
The religious leaders noticed this confidence. In verse 13 it says, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." But while they recognized the confidence of Peter and John, they still thought they could intimidate them.
Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." After further threats they let them go. (Acts 4:18-21a)
Their tactic was simple, and it is still the tactic the world uses today: If you can’t ignore the Christians, intimidate them. The goal, of course, is to get these Christians to cool it when it comes to living out biblical Christianity.
Notice that the religious leaders were willing to let them both believe anything they chose. What they were not willing to let them do was to act on what they believed. That is precisely what the world tells us today. "We respect your right to your religious belief, just don’t impose that belief on anyone else." The fact of the matter is that we can’t impose anything on anyone. But that’s not what they mean. What they mean is that they do not want us acting on what we believe. They don’t want us talking about what we believe. They certainly don’t want us trying to influence other people to believe what we believe. And when we live out what we believe and stand up for what we believe, they are threatened, so they seek to threaten us. They just want us to calm down, to lay low, and to blend in.
Peter and John would have nothing to do with it. They said that they could not stop speaking what they had seen and heard. In essence, they told the religious leaders that they had to obey God rather than men. They did not say that they would not stop speaking, they said they could not. You see, it wasn’t their choice. They saw it as obedience to God’s command. It was not God’s suggestion that they be witnesses, it was God’s command. They had no choice but to obey. "For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" was their reply.
We see here evidence of the confidence and courage which now possessed these disciples. But we must not miss the truth that this was a tense situation. They were speaking to the highest religious authorities of the day. It was a fearful thing to be dragged before the great Sanhedrin court. These were the same leaders who decided to put Jesus to death and set in motion the events for His crucifixion. Who was to say the same wouldn’t happen to these disciples? This was a fearful situation which they faced. But face it they did, and in the power of God.
We face situations like this in our lives as we seek to live out biblical Christianity in a secular society. We have to face our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, our employers. We have to face the people with whom we do business — our clients, our customers, the mechanic who works on our car, the shopkeepers who sell us our clothes and our food, and the list goes on. We must relate to people in the society in which we live, and sometimes we are intimidated by them because we are afraid of how they may respond.
The problem is, when we do so, we come away from the situation feeling like we have somehow failed the Lord. We don’t feel good about ourselves, and we vow to do better the next time. But the good news is we don’t have to feel that way. We can face our fears and overcome them. We can live in the boldness of the power of God. We can make a difference in the lives of others. We can turn our community upside down for Jesus Christ. We can have the same confidence and boldness that Peter and John had in the face of fears which could have immobilized them. We have the same resource available to us which was available to them. And I believe we have the same desire to be bold witnesses which was theirs.
The desire for boldness and bold witness was a collective quest of the whole Church. If we desire boldness as they did, we must go to the same source to receive it. The confidence of Peter and John was as a result of them having been with Jesus. So when they needed more boldness and more confidence, they came to Jesus again to receive it.
"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." (Acts 4:29-30)
How do you face intimidation and overcome it? You do so by drawing on the same resource by which you live the Christian life. Jesus is that resource. He is the power by which we live. He is the power by which we witness. He is the power by which we become confident and bold. He is the power by which we face intimidation victoriously. When they needed power, they understood they needed prayer. And so they prayed.
In their prayer, we see several important elements. Firstly, they did not assume that they should have to bear these threats alone. They asked God to take note of the threats. You see, the threatening situation was God’s problem, not theirs. And so they laid that problem at His feet. The implication is that God would do something about it. Secondly, they prayed that they would be given confidence to speak God’s word. The collective quest of the early Church was to be able to confidently spread the Good News about Jesus Christ. That should still be the quest of the Church today. And thirdly, they prayed that God would act in a way that only He could, to touch the lives of people.
You’d better be careful when you pray this kind of prayer. This is the kind of prayer that God answers. He certainly answered them. The Scripture says, 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)
Here the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is that they were emboldened to speak the Word of God. They faced intimidation, they turned to the Lord, and intimidation turned into boldness. It happened then, and it can happen today.
Intimidation comes from many sources, but one of the greatest sources of intimidation for the Christian is the fear of facing people to share the Gospel message of Christ. It’s a fear the Devil seeks to feed, but it’s a fear we do not have to endure. God has called us to boldness. We can face intimidation in the power of Jesus Christ and overcome it. We, too, can become confident and bold, as we share the life-changing Gospel of Christ. But we must go to the only resource which counts. We must go to Jesus and draw upon our relationship with Him for strength. And then we must act. We must speak in His name and watch Him work.
You do not receive courage, confidence, and boldness by listening to a six tape series on the subject. The answer is not necessarily a seminar. In the final analysis, boldness comes as a byproduct of our relationship with Jesus.
It sounds so simple, almost too simple. But the paradox of the Christian life is that it is simple. The Christian life is both impossible and easy at the same time. It is complex and simple. It is impossible to live in our power, but easy to live in His. It is complex and beyond our comprehension and simple in that all you must do is surrender to Jesus and let Him figure it out for you.
Whatever intimidation you face, you can do it with faith and boldness in Jesus Christ. You can rise above intimidation and overcome it through the power that comes from knowing the Lord. Flee to Jesus. You will find refuge in Him.
Copyright © 1997 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
This data file may not be copied in part (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.