Randy's Blog

Before these religious leaders the next day, Peter testifies, "'There is salvation in no one else (but Jesus)! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.'" (4:12) Salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, God's own Son. Acts tells us that the religious leaders were amazed at the boldness of Peter and John, but since the man they healed was standing there with them, clearly healed, they were left with little they could say or do. So, they warn Peter and John to never speak or teach in the name of Jesus again.

Peter and John were faced with a crossroads in their faith at that moment. Two months earlier Peter wouldn't even stand up to a servant for his faith, and now he was facing some of the religious leaders who had dealt with Jesus. I understand Peter's denial. Call it peer pressure or call it fear or call it a desire to please people and fit in, but I've been there. I've downplayed my Christian faith to look cool or to avoid a put-down. I'm not bragging about that - in fact, I'm ashamed that I've done that. But I understand where Peter was coming from.

Now, Peter is faced with another opportunity to stand up for his faith, and this time the response he and John give is very different: "...'Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.'" (vss. 19-20, italics added) This time, Peter makes the decision to obey God rather than give in to his fear of what others will think or do. This time, he acts in faith, not knowing what the outcome will be, but deciding he can't do otherwise. This is the answer I want to give, and it's the answer I'm going to try to live, by the grace of God.

Peter and John remind us that we are called to obedience in our walks of faith. We won't do it perfectly - we're human, and we still struggle with sin. But, at the same time, if we made a decision to put our faith in Jesus Christ, his Spirit lives within us, working within us, empowering us to go far beyond what we ordinarily think we're capable of. However, we don't discover this until we have to live it, until we have to act "in faith" on it. Talk is cheap until we're faced with real life and its consequences. It's only then that we can truly walk by faith, or give in to fear.

This time around Peter and John walked by faith, and the religious leaders ended up letting them go. When Peter and John returned to the other Christ followers, they prayed to God for even more power and boldness: "'...give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.'" (4:29-30)

And this prayer became reality time after time after time in the early church. And, through God's Spirit, it's still happening today, if we live this faith. The Holy Spirit is no less active today than He was two thousand years ago - but too often we're just more timid in seeking Him and living by faith. We don't experience God's power in our lives because we back down too quickly. We don't pray for boldness and we don't act "in faith." But I don't want to live that way - I want to live by faith. I want to be bold. I want to see God's miraculous signs and wonders at work today. And, by faith, I'm praying that God will do this work in me, so He can do it through me. How about you - will you join me in this prayer...and this walk of faith?

Paul is talking about a confrontation he had with Peter. Peter had learned from God in a vision in Acts 10 that the old ways of the Law no longer applied to Christ followers. In fact, all those things had become "works," ways to earn God's favor, and they were no longer needed because of Christ. Peter now knew he was free to have fellowship with Gentiles, the old food laws no longer applied, and he would ultimately determine that Gentiles didn't have to become Jews first (being circumcised, followed the rules of the Law, etc.) in order to become followers of Christ.

Peter comes to Antioch, Paul tells us, and at first was really demonstrating a faith and trust in Christ's plan. But, when some Jewish Christians joined him, he reverted to older ways, setting aside many of the freedoms Christ had won for him and all his followers. Under the pressure of conformity, fear reared its head in his life, as it had the night he betrayed Jesus, and he allowed the old ways of Law and works to regain a hold on him.

Paul writes in Galatians 2:18 (NLT): "...I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down." As I read this, I felt like I have often been in Peter's place, rebuilding the old system of law that God's grace through Jesus Christ had already torn down in my life. The culture around us is built on "law," or "works," so that people are applauded by their "doing" even more than "being" who they are. This isn't all bad in our culture, but when this cultural norm bleeds over into our who we are, we find it easy to conform. A lifestyle built on how well we do is easy to understand: do good and be rewarded; do bad and suffer for it. But since we can't be "good" all the time, the danger is that we allow this cultural lifestyle to begin to dictate who we are. The adjectives and adverbs that describe how we are living, over time, become the nouns that indicate who we are. We become trapped in this and start feeling the need to do things to build ourselves up in our eyes and the eyes of those around us. This leads to cultural conformity and peer pressure. And I've discovered over the years I can easily fall back into this just as Peter did.

What I get out of this story is that whenever I feel pressure to conform, whenever fear begins narrowing my options and choices, I better be careful. There's a high likelihood that I'm rebuilding "the old system of law" that Christ has already torn down in my life. And what I've discovered is that, in our culture, this is typical, the norm, for us to feel a natural (sin-generated) pull toward this conformity and, ultimately, fear.

This is why grace is the answer! God's grace accepts me - I'm empowered to be me, not the cultural norm. Grace enables me to fight conforming to the patterns and culture of this world and, instead, be transformed into a new person (Romans 12:2). When I live in God's grace and love, His perfect love pushes out the fear (1 John 4:18) so that we don't have to "conform" but we can live freely as the individuals God created us to be, for whom Jesus died in order to free us, and for whom the Holy Spirit empowers us to become.

The "take away" for me in this reading is that when I feel the pressure to conform, the fear of not fitting in or doing what everyone wants or expects me to do, I'd better take a step back and see if I'm not rebuilding "the old system of law" in my life that Christ helped me tear down. The truth is, this is going to be a life-long struggle for me, and it's why I need to spend time in God's Word each day, to remind me of this grace that sets me free! I hope you're discovering the power of this grace in your life, too!