The Right Kind of Boldness 11/24/40

Scripture: Acts 4: 5-31

There are a number of qualities which may be suggested by the word, "boldness." Two or three years ago, I read the book entitled "The Yearling" in which an old "slew foot" bear figured. This bear got its name from the kind of foot print left by its paw, which had been injured years before in a trap. The bear had gotten to be a notorious nuisance to the people who lived in the neighborhood. When food got a little scarce, or when he simply craved a little more meat in his diet, he would raid someone’s hog pen. The fact that he had been hurt by a trap, and had been shot at, did not keep him from coming near the buildings where man lived, if he happened to want fresh pork. When he wanted something he just went and got it. And that was all there was to it. Perhaps there are people with that kind of boldness. It is not necessarily admirable.

In this same book, the story is told of a man who went out with his gun in answer to the bawling of the cow and her calf one night. When, a few moments later, he yelled for a light, those coming from the house could see a pack of wolves, which had killed the calf, milling in fierce desperation around the lot. The light, and a shot from the man’s gun, sent them pouring over the fence into the woods; and in a few seconds they had all disappeared; but it was a close call and a horrible moment; for the wolves were bold with the desperation of starving wildness and a second’s miscalculation might have meant death for man as well as calf.

There are people who act in mobs with the same kind of boldness born sometimes of desperation. There is nothing admirable about it. In fact it often resembles cowardice more nearly than true boldness.

On the same low level is the boldness of the gangster who kidnaps in utter ruthlessness; and perhaps murders his victims, and sometimes his fellow gangster in cold blood. Bold as a sheet of cold steel, and no more admirable than cold steel.

Then there is the boldness which is more like a piece of cheap brass than anything else. Once in a long time you have encountered a door-to-door salesman like that. And you have seen the type elsewhere. You know the type as well as I do. Their humanity toward most people is just so much gall. (I have a feeling that a much-discussed book on "How to make friends..." should be read carefully in order to avoid a viewpoint that might be expressed as "How to make a lot for yourself out of your friends -- poor suckers!")

Much has been said from time to time in Victorian circles about the regrettable boldness of some maidens, implying that the true feminine character is retiring, perhaps coy, but certainly never matter-of-fact.

A year ago the world was startled by the boldness of a German submarine crew which stole into a place where it was not supposed possible for them to go, sank the great British battleship, "Ark Royal," and escaped unharmed from Scapa Flow. Their leader, and government, and nation gave them highest public honors. Here was a boldness which involved real danger to the German crew. There was a very real chance that the crew would pay for such an attempt with their lives. It is the kind of deed that stirs "hero talk" during wartime. What a pity that such boldness should have to be directed toward the death-dealing processes of international war! There are better uses and greater needs in God’s world for such a quality. There are, clearly, a wide variety of implications in the use of the word "bold."

Having thought of some of these various meanings of "boldness," my attention is arrested by the suggestion of a minister, elsewhere, who writes the words as a sermon subject - "Holy Boldness." I am not sure what he means by "Holy boldness" but the idea seems worth looking into. There may be suggestions about it is our Scripture lesson in the book of Acts. Perhaps the acts of Christ’s apostles are characterized by a splendid kind of boldness. I’m sure they are.

In this 4th chapter of Acts the word "boldness" occurs at least 3 times. It occurs in the 13th verse which reads "now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."

Why should those old leaders and office-holders come to any such conclusion? Perhaps this was a new thing in their experience. They were accustomed to deep, and often gullible, humility on the part of those who were unlearned and ignorant. Such people as these fishermen were supposed to be docile. They usually were! Not so these men! Their lack of education in the fine points of the law and of the arts did not stand in their way for a moment. They spoke boldly! And their hearers "took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus."

Is it possible that really being with Jesus makes one bold in speaking the truth fearlessly before men? I think that, if any one of us cares to follow this clue farther from himself, he may find a source of the true courage which everyone needs and desires to have as one of his own worthy personal assets.

If it be true that living for a time in the company of Jesus is a source of courage, can such boldness be not only found, but made one’s permanent possession? There are atheists - many of them, who say, "religion is the opiate of the people." Christians are soft. Not so those who really know Christ and his demands.

The wise fellows threatened and intimidated these disciples of Jesus of whom we read here in the fourth chapter of Acts. After they were let go we find these same disciples praying. Their boldness had been met with threats. Apparently they were afraid only of being shaken. So they went straight back to their Lord in prayer. "And now Lord behold their threatenings; and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word." Apparently they felt their boldness to be a power with a righteous charge in it, like a charge of electricity. But they made sure that their line was still in contact with the Source of that power. When shaken, or threatened, they returned to the Source of their power in prayer to their Lord.

The rest of the story is told, two verses later on, in the 31st. "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of the Lord with boldness."

O for more, and ever more, of this right kind of boldness in the life and speech of the sons of God. Our day is one in which people need the courage of Christian conviction, the hope that sees through the clouds that surround us for the time being. The kingdom of God and the church of Jesus Christ wait only for more people who will put their feet down on a definite stand for what they believe to be right, and who will maintain that stand with Christian conviction and boldness.

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dates and places delivered:

Pilgrim Church, Honolulu, November 12, 1939 PM

Wisconsin Rapids, November 24, 1940

Wisconsin Network "Foundation of Faith," May 19, 1942