Biblical Boldness

When you think of “biblical boldness”, you may have flashes of guys like Moses, Peter, and John the Baptist.  But have you ever thought of throwing the Apostle Paul into the mix?

 

Acts 9 gives us several insights into a biblical form of boldness.  It’s antonym would be “selfish boldness”.  Selfish boldness causes you to bust through obstacles reguardless of who you hurt.  It races in to defend your own reputation and to “put those people back in their place”. 

 

By looking at Paul’s example as he was trying to gain acceptance into the Christian church, we can see what REAL BIBLICAL BOLDNESS looks like:

 

• BOLDNESS KNOWS WHEN TO BE QUIET…  Paul was let down the side of the city wall secretly in the middle of the night.  The reason was because a crowd was waiting at the gates ready to kill Paul the moment he tried to exit the city.  He could have tried to blast his way through screaming, “GOD WILL PROTECT ME!!!”, “THEY CAN’T REALLY HURT ME!!!”.  But biblical boldness uses a little something called common sense and knows when to keep its mouth shut!

 

 

• BOLDNESS DISCERNS THE TIME TO TEST THE WATERS AND WHEN TO DIVE IN…  In verse 26, Paul tried to join himself to the disciples but they pulled away in fear.  He could have been zealous and said, “YOU’RE GOING TO BE MY FRIENDS!!!”, or “THIS IS WHO I AM…TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!”.  But Paul exercised discernment by testing their willingness to accept what he was able to offer.  Forcing his way in would only have made their defenses go up more.

 

• BOLDNESS KNOWS WHEN TO SPEAK AND WHEN TO LET OTHERS SPEAK FOR YOU…  Verse 27 shows us that Paul had an advocate in Barnabas–the son of encouragement.  Isn’t it a great thing to have people who believe in you that will speak into your life?  Barnabas had much more pull with the crowd of disciples than Paul.  Paul knew that if he had any chance in well…JERUSALEM :)  He would have to keep quiet and let Barnabas talk for him.  Sometimes you may be tempted to put down all of the lies that are being said about you, but biblical boldness will let God clean up the false accusations so that you can just concentrate on doing what He’s called you to do.  REMEMBER…Blessed are those who are persecuted for His name’s sake, for their’s is the Kingdom of Heaven.  Everytime someone speaks a lie about you, that just gurantees your place next to the throne…SO BRING IT ON!!!

 

• TRUE BOLDNESS OPENS UP AND DECLARES A THING ONLY AFTER THE SPIRIT OF GOD GIVES THEM SOMETHING TO SAY…  Here’s the key, short and sweet…Unless God’s Spirit gives you something to say, then keep your lip zipped!