Facing Fear in Evangelism

 By Ryan Itzel

Facing Fear in Evangelism

            It seemed to be a normal day on the streets of Frederick, MD. We set up for our outreach in our usual spot in front of the local candy shop. We had a few conversations and handed out a few tracts. After about an hour a man came by. We had seen him in the past but never had a conversation with him. Today seemed to be like normal. We offered him a tract and received no response. However, about 15 minutes later he came by again, this time with phone in hand and began recording us. We weren’t sure what his intent was, but pretty quickly we realized he was in opposition to what we were doing. He called us many names on his live video he was recording for his friends on social media and accused us of terrible things for being Christians. We tried to engage him with the gospel, but he was unwilling to talk. After a few moments of verbal attack, he turned physical. He began to hit the board we use to put up questions that prompt gospel conversations, pushing it over and breaking it into multiple pieces. I was shocked! I had never experienced something like this on the streets doing evangelism ministry. After threatening to come find us that evening at our homes, he was gone. This was not the last time my team has experienced hostile behavior by those who hate the gospel. Needless to say, I felt fear. What if he comes back? What if he attacks us next time? These questions are appropriate, but the real question we should be asking is, “How do we press on in faithfulness when we face opposition?” Acts chapter 4 helps us answer that question!

Context

Before we begin digging into this text, we need to understand a few things about the context so that we can rightly apply this text to our ministry contexts. First, the book of Acts was written by Luke. Acts is really part 2 of a 2-part volume written to a man named Theophilus. Part 1 was the gospel of Luke that told of Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection, while the book of Acts is part 2, and in many ways, the first church history book ever written. Acts was written detailing the gospel proclaimed through the apostles, primarily Peter and Paul, but ultimately it is a picture of the work of the Holy Spirit who worked in and through these men to bring about the spread of the gospel. Second, Acts 4 takes place relatively early on after the foundation of the church. Jesus was raised, lived on earth for 40 days then returned to heaven (Acts 1:3). Pentecost was around 10 days after Jesus ascended, resulting in Acts 3-4 taking a place only a short time later. This is important for us to understand, because it reminds us of the power of God to take fearful, doubting, and even denying individuals, and make them into bold proclaimers of the Word

Finally, there is a progression of events leading up to what we see in chapter 4. Here is a brief summary of the events that set up the narrative of Acts 4:

        Chapter 1: Christ ascended back into heaven after giving the great commission His disciples.

        Chapter 2: The promised Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples which establishes the church, resulting in Peter preaching the gospel and thousands of people being added to the church in one day.

        Chapter 3: Peter and John enter the temple to pray. They then heal a man who had been lame since birth and preach the gospel to all who can hear in the temple.

The gospel is beginning to go out, the apostles are emboldened by the resurrection of Christ and the power of the Spirit, and people are being healed as an authentication of the gospel they preach. As we will see in Acts 4, these events do not go unnoticed by the religious leaders of the day.

With all of this in mind, I want to give you three points to guide our time in this text. These points are three realities that drive the weak and stumbling believer to bold proclamation of the gospel, even in the face of persecution.

        1. Boldness Driven by the Holy Spirit v1-12

        2. Boldness Driven by the Fear of the Lord v13-22

        3. Boldness Driven by Dependance upon God v23-31

 

Boldness Driven by the Holy Spirit

Our text begins by demonstrating a boldness driven by the Holy Spirit; that the Holy Spirit will help us to proclaim the gospel as we rightly should. Acts 4 begins immediately where the events of Acts 3 ended. Peter and John are in the temple, they just healed the man who had been lame from birth, and are preaching the gospel to those in the temple. Thus, chapter 4 begins with “And as they were speaking…” Peter and John are still preaching the gospel, calling their hears to repent and trust in Christ. As they are doing this, however, the attention of the priests, the temple guard, and the Sadducees was drawn. The text says they were greatly “annoyed,” particularly because of their preaching of the resurrection from the dead through Jesus. The Sadducees were the ones who ran the temple in that day, and they did not believe in the resurrection (you can see an event where they try to trip up Jesus about the resurrection in Matthew 22:23-33). When they heard this kind of preaching going on in the temple, they must have been seriously angry. Likely they thought they had finished with this kind of preaching when Jesus was crucified. But this was not the case. The disciples, taking up the charge from their Master from Acts 1, Matthew 28, and Luke 24, now preached the gospel boldly to the lost! But as a result of their preaching, the Sadducees and priests had the temple guards arrest Peter and John. They are placed in prison until the following day, and on the next day, the High Priest, his family, the scribes, and elders gathered together to judge Peter and John.

Now, think about this setting for a moment. Last time Peter was in the room with these people he denied Christ three times, and at that time he was not even the one on trial. This time he is arrested with John, what natural fears do you think could have crept into their minds at this time? I’m sure the thought must have crossed his mind, “Are they about to do to us they same thing they did to Christ?” In this moment, there is a greater threat to both of them than even before, but as we see, their response is totally different this time. They ask Peter and John, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” They don’t ask questions to determine if this was a true miracle, because, by their own admission in verse 16, this miracle was not something that could be denied. They asked for their authority. This is the time Peter and John could have softened the gospel. They could have omitted the offensive parts of the gospel, stayed silent about the gospel, not mentioning the name of Jesus, but instead they proclaimed the gospel with boldness.

In fact, Peter doubles down, calling them out as the ones who crucified Christ and rejected Him! He then follows up in verse 12 with one of the clearest stamens on the centrality of Christ in the gospel and salvation, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” So then, according to the text, what gave Peter the boldness to respond with this kind of strength rather than cowering away as he had done before? Peter was filled with boldness by the Holy Spirit. As a result of the Spirit’s work in him, Peter preached the gospel to a hostile court, knowing that it could have resulted in his death for the gospel. He boldly proclaimed the gospel, and his boldness even shocked the religious leaders!

Now, Peter and John were not bold because they were highly educated and trained individuals. Verse 13 says they were uneducated. They were not bold because they were people of high position and influence. Verse 13 says they were common men. They were bold because they had been with Jesus, and His promise of the Helper had come and helped them in their time of need. Jesus said in John 14:15-16, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,” The Holy Spirit had come and would help them be bold for the sake of the gospel and the glory of their King, and guess what… that same Spirit has been given to you!

The promise of the Holy Spirit coming is for all believers, not just for the Apostle. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” Likewise, Ephesians 1:13 states, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit who works in us is the same who gave Peter and John boldness to preach the gospel in the face of hostility.

Now, you may be saying, “Well it was different for them. They did signs and wonders, like healing the guy from chapter 3.” While it is true that they did signs and wonders and we don’t today, we must not forget that the primary point of Acts chapter 3 is not the miracle of healing the lame man but the preaching of the gospel. The healing of Acts 3 did what all the miracles of Jesus and the Apostles were meant to do: It was meant to authenticate the message they would preach (Hebrews 2:3-4). Jesus said in John 5:36, “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.” The miracles of the New Testament were not the point of the ministry of the Apostles or Jesus (Mark 1:38), they were simply to authenticate the message, showing that the gospel they preached was the truth

My friends, if you have repented and trusted in Jesus, you have the same Spirit to help you deliver the gospel, and you have the already authenticated message of the gospel in your hands. It is time we begin to trust the God we proclaim to help us deliver this message to the lost, as He has commanded us to do. Faith in relation to our evangelizing the lost is not about having faith in yourself, it is about having faith in the help, power, and promises of God to empower you to do what you cannot do in your own strength. When Peter had faith in himself, he failed (Luke 22:33-34). But when Peter and John had faith in the Lord, trusting the Spirit of God to help them as Christ as promised, they boldly preached the truth in the face of opposition. I submit to you today, my friends, that if you have repented and trusted in Christ to save you, you have the same Spirit within you who can and will help you to fulfill the great commission that has been entrusted to you by our Lord. If we will be a people who trust in the help and power of our great God, we too can have boldness like Peter and John to proclaim the gospel through the Spirit who will empower us in our weakness.

 

Boldness Driven by the Fear of the Lord

Peter and John had just preach the gospel boldly to the High Priest and his court, telling them that trusting in Jesus is the only way to be saved. These people were astonished by the two men. There was no earthly reasoning that should have given them boldness to speak as they did. So, what were they to do with Peter and John? Verse 14 makes clear that there was nothing they could say in response to their claim, for the man who was healed was in the court room with them. There was physical, authenticating evidence of the message they preached, and the power of Christ alone to save In this moment, they were speechless, so they sent them all away and discussed in private what they ought to do with these men. They were clearly in a hard place.

They could not deny the work because the miracle was standing before them that day. The man had been lame his whole life, and according to verse 22 that was more than 40 years. They also could not kill Peter and John, because it was a notable sign, and one that all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were talking about. So, what were they to do? They decided to warn them against speaking in this way again This was not a warning out of concern for the people and the spread of a false gospel, this was a threat, driven out of envy and hatred of the truth.

 

            “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” – John 15:18–21

 

Here the faith of Peter and John would be tested again. Would they cower when under threat?

The text does not say what kind of threats they gave to them, but verse 21 states that they they gave further threats to Peter and John in an attempt to silence their preaching. Yet they responded with continued boldness! Verse 19-20 says, “But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Peter and John double down in their resolute response to obey Christ and preach the gospel. What drove them to this reality? Ultimately, it was the Fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord can be summed up as a right attitude toward God which drives right action. The fear of the Lord is a reverential attitude of respect and trembling before God and His Word, which results in obedience to God’s will. The fear of the Lord is not fear of Judgment, for God’s perfect love casts out our fear of judgment (1 John 4:18).

For Peter and John, they had a fear for God, reverence and respect of His character that drove them to obey God, rather than obeying man. If they had been motivated by the consequences of disobeying the religious council, fearing for their lives and ceasing to give the gospel, they would have been following the fear of man. Instead, they kept their eyes upon the Lord and chose to obey Him, no matter the consequences

The Scriptures repeatedly tie a right reverential fear of God to obedience. Exodus 20:20 contrasts sinful fear and the fear of the Lord, “Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” Job 1:1 gives an example of the fear of the Lord, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” Even Proverbs 3:7 gives us a command to fear the Lord, “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.” If we do not fear the Lord we will not obey the Lord!

Now, notice what they say in verse 20, “for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” According to this verse, their fear of the Lord was learned from the incarnate Word. They saw the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they had seen Jesus with their own eyes, they knew and could attest to His resurrection. The reality of the person and work of Christ drove them to fear God and obey Him. This should be encouraging for us today! But how is it encouraging? After all, Peter and John saw these things, but we are 2000 years removed. How can we learn to fear God rather than man in our lives and in our evangelism if we are so far removed from the time of Christ? Well, the same Peter who spoke these words here in Acts 4 also said in 2 Peter 1:16-19,

 

            For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place…

 

Peter and John had both seen the glory of Christ upon the mount of transfiguration, they had walked with Christ, they had heard the Word of the Father say, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” and yet, in verse 19, Peter says we have something even more sure than the experience of that revelation, the living and abiding Word of God. My friends, we too can be driven to bold proclamation of the gospel, unable to do anything but speak of what we have heard from the Word of God. Peter had seen the Incarnate Word and His resurrection, but we have the written Word in the 66 books of the Canon of Scripture. As we grow to know the God of the Word through the Word of God, we too can be filled with boldness that is driven by the very character of God.

 

Boldness Driven by Dependance upon God

After Peter and John were threatened and released, our passage tells us that they returned to their friends and reported all that had taken place. This was a possible big turning point for the church. The church was young, and it would be easy for them to seek to avoid persecution. The threats were likely severe, enough that could cause people to shy away from public ministry. They knew if they continued to do ministry the persecution would increase. Naturally, they could have been driven to anxiety and fear, but the people chose to look to God instead. The text says that Peter, John, and their friends, lifted up their voices together. They brought these concerns before the Lord, petitioning for His help to be faithful. It is not that they didn’t feel natural fear. Likely they had much concern over the persecution that lied ahead, but rather than be controlled by this fear, they took their concerns to the Lord. This is exactly what the Scriptures call believers to do (Philippians 4:6-7). In the text we can see three marks of their dependance.

 

A Humble Dependance

The believers knew to whom they turned. Their view of God was not like much of modern Christianity, where God would love to hear our prayers and answer them, but ultimately is limited by the will of man. No, they knew the Lord was the Sovereign Lord. He has total and absolute control over all things, at all times, and in all places. This was a high view of God! They saw God for who He truly is, and this brings comfort. When we have a low view of God and high view of man, we have no reason for confidence in the Lord when we go through times of trial. But they knew God was in control and thus could be trusted with their fears and circumstances. God as the sovereign Lord speaks to His power and control over all things. His sovereignty is displayed in that He not only governs the world in which we live, but He is the very maker of it. God powerfully brought all things into existence. He has the right to all things, control over all things, and power to bring about His sovereign will in all things. This is a humbling reality for His people, and one that should drive us to further dependance upon Him.

 

A Confident Dependance

Their dependance and confidence was driven by the sure reality of the declaration and plan of God. In their prayer they quote from Psalm 2:1-2 written by David, around 1000 years earlier. They could literally see the events they had experienced foretold a millennia beforehand by God the Holy Spirit. They saw the rejection of their Christ; they saw the sovereignly ordained fulfillment of Christ’s cross and suffering; they knew that while the evil plans of man were fulfilled by their evil hands, God sovereignly ordained these events all the way in eternity past. Not only did God ordain the events of the cross and redemption, but He has ordained ALL events that take place in our world (Isaiah 46:8–10). If God could create all things, govern all things, and work out His eternal plan through all things, how could they not bring their needs before Him? How could they not trust Him with their tomorrow?

 

A Hopeful Dependance

They knew He was sovereign; they knew He had ordained all that would pass, but they also knew they could bring their requests to Him. It was to the God who made the world and ordained the events of the gospel and their own lives that they brought this request. What is at the center of their request? It was not a request for relief and no future persecution, it was a request that they would be able to continue to deliver the gospel to the lost with boldness. If we are to have a bold and speaking faith, we must be a people whose dependance upon God is evidenced by our prayers and supplications to Him. When was the last time you prayed for God to give you boldness to share the gospel to the lost? Oh, how often we seek to do evangelism without a single thought or turn to God. May that never be! May we be a people who are in constant, desperate dependance upon God that we do not go a day without petitioning Him for help to proclaim the gospel as we ought.

When writing this chapter, I was faced with a situation to back down due to fear. Once a month I join up with other evangelists and pastors to preach the gospel at an abortion clinic in Hagerstown, MD. It is a difficult time of ministry, emotional, and faced with much hostility. But this day was different. When we arrived, there were 9 “escorts” guarding the women coming from hearing the preaching of the gospel, 5 cop cars parked on the street where we gather, and even a professional photographer taking pictures of us trying to intimidate us. I was nervous. But I thought at least I could wait to preach and have more time to prepare my mind and get over my nerves. My moment of peace was quickly gone when the group asked me to preach first. But as a dear friend prayed for me, my mind turned back to this very text I had been studying. I remembered the hopeful prayer of these early saints, and I cried out to the Lord for help and boldness. By God’s grace, I the Lord helped me to preach the gospel even in the face of hostility.

We ought to pray like this for our own boldness, as well as pray for one another. Even the Apostle Paul asked for the Ephesian Church to pray for him in Ephesians 6:18-20, that he would be bold in preaching the gospel,

 

            To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

I encourage you to begin right now, today, to pray for your own boldness as well as pray for the boldness of those around you, to faithfully and boldly proclaim the gospel. True faith is a speaking faith and God has given us everything we need to faithfully proclaim the gospel to the lost. So, let us today, encourage one another to trust the help of the Holy Spirit, remind one another of the character of God that drives our conduct, and pray for one another that we might be bold to proclaim the good news to all the Lord brings our way.