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What do we do when those around us are telling us to do one thing, but our conscience says quite another? Or what do we do when the culture surrounding us advocates one thing, when what we know to be true is quite different?
Most of us are familiar with the Hans Christian Andersen folktale entitled The Emperor’s New Clothes (first published in April 1837).(1) As you will recall the emperor becomes convinced that a new suit of clothing of unparalleled beauty and quality has been crafted for him to wear that can only be seen and appreciated by those who are truly wise and discerning. It is an innocent child who ultimately has the courage to say, “But he hasn’t got anything on!”
Sadly, we, too, are often told to accept truths that are not true, and believe facts that are as baseless as the emperor’s nonexistent clothing. What are we to do? Who should we obey?
Soon after Pentecost, the apostles encountered just such a dilemma. Peter and John had just been brought before the high council having been accused of violating the authority of the religious leaders of the day.(2) Luke tells us that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Bear in mind, the Holy Spirit had already entered into Peter’s life on the Day of Pentecost. He didn’t need to reenter. But Peter did need to be filled. Being indwelt by the Spirit of God is a one-time act. For Peter, it was at Pentecost. For you and me, it was when we believed, repented and received Christ as our Savior. But being filled with the Spirit of God is a continuing decision on our part. It is an ongoing decision about who will be in control of our lives.
Peter had consciously decided that the Spirit of God would be in control – and not Peter. As followers of Christ, we, too, must continually make that choice. Who sits in the “driver’s seat” of our lives? Am i the one who is steering and accelerating or braking – or have i turned those controls over to the Spirit of God? In some respects, walking with Christ would be so much easier if we didn’t have the choice—if somehow our flesh nature had been removed altogether at salvation. But though our flesh nature has been redeemed at salvation, it is still with us.
The Holy Spirit is doing an ongoing work of sanctifying our flesh nature—but that nature will be with us until the day we stand face-to-face before Jesus. Until then we must continually crucify our flesh nature. That’s what Jesus was talking about when He said, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”(3) The decision to deny self and take up the cross is continual.
Peter is a great picture in Scripture of what we look like when the flesh nature is in control versus the Spirit of God. When Peter’s flesh nature was in control, He looked at Jesus and proudly boasted that he would follow Jesus to the death. Then he proceeded to deny His Lord three times out of fear over the simple questions of a few powerless servants. The result of his flesh nature being in control was denial of his Lord and deep personal shame. But in this instant in the Book of Acts, we see just the opposite! The flesh nature has been denied – or crucified – and the Spirit of God is fully in control. We would do well to learn from Peter’s example.
Being filled with the Spirit, Peter could speak with confidence and courage in the presence of people who otherwise may have intimidated him with their position and authority. The Spirit of God empowered him by giving him the strength and the power. The Spirit of God enabled him by giving him the words to speak. The Spirit of God emboldened him with the confidence and boldness to be unwavering in the speaking of truth. The very fact that Peter was not intimidated amazed the religious leaders. He spoke with an authority unlike anything he had heretofore demonstrated.
It was the same authority they had only witnessed from two others before this—Jesus and John the Baptist. The religious leaders knew that Peter and John were disciples of Jesus – and their boldness and actions confirmed it. Jesus had told His disciples that “a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”(4) Their words and their actions affirmed that they were disciples of Jesus. Boldness and clarity come when we spend time with Him, speak His truth, and are led by His Spirit. We would do well to ask ourselves if our words and actions affirm that we are disciples of Jesus.
It would be nice to believe that if we are filled with the Spirit of God then those around us will rightly respond to the truth we are speaking. But that’s not the case. The religious leaders rejected truth when Jesus spoke it to them, and they rejected the truth that the Spirit of God spoke through Peter. As a matter of fact, their hearts were so hardened to the truth that they attempted to discredit the undeniable truth of the healing of the lame man.
The religious leaders were not seeking truth; they were seeking a way to avoid the truth. Their lack of acceptance was never a problem of the mind; but a problem of the heart and will. Those who benefit—or perceive themselves to benefit—from wrong-doing and wrong-thinking will usually turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to contrary evidence of what is right and what is true. The mind selectively sees and perceives reality in order to justify what the heart desires. And as the prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.”(5)
Peter and John knew that their calling wasn’t to win an argument; their calling was to stand up and bear witness. We would do well to heed that lesson. Both groups had to choose between what was popular and safe or what was right. Peter and John knew that standing up for the truth of the gospel was right, though it was not the safe or popular choice with the religious leaders. The Spirit of God will always lead us to stand for what is right over what is popular, or what is safe. Our flesh nature, however, will always choose what is safe or self-satisfying over what is true. The high council had no difficulty rejecting the truth, but they feared the backlash from the crowd if they attempted to deny the miracle. Thus they sought a way to reject the truth but remain politically correct.
Often one of the great obstacles to our speaking out about God’s truth is that we think we have to win—or we think we have to operate with the assumptions of secular leaders. But Peter shows us that this is not what we have to do. Our calling is not to win or to borrow the assumptions of the world. Our calling is to stand up and tell it like it is in the eyes of God. Peter defined it clearly—“Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him?”(6)
Then Peter said, "We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard."(7) He was a witness.As one who was filled with the Spirit, he stood up and told it like he saw it. If we are to follow his example, we must be willing to let the chips fall where they will. Our concern cannot be if the culture agrees with us. Our job is not to win. Our job is to walk in the Spirit of God, proclaiming His truth and acting according to His works, no matter how the world around us may respond. We must obey God rather than men – and the only way we will do that is if we are filled with His Spirit.
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You can read the account of Peter and John standing before the high council in the Bible in the Book of Acts, chapter 4, verses 1 through 22.
This post is taken from chapter 12 of my book, Until He Returns. For more information about the book, click here.
(1) The Emperor’s New Clothes written by Hans Christian Andersen, published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen Denmark on April 7, 1837
(2) Acts 4:8-22 (NLT)
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the Man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead….The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say. So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves. “What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it. But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.” So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign – the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years.
(3) Luke 9:23 (ESV)
(4) Luke 6:40 (ESV)
(5) Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)
(6) Acts 4:19 (NLT)
(7) Acts 4:20 (NLT)
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