Acts 4 - Astonished

Intentionally Posturing Our Hearts & Lives in Surrender to the Holy Spirit


Acts 4:1-16
Astonished
 
My father used to have a saying. Well, he had many sayings, but this is one of my favorites:

“There is a man impressed with the sound of his own voice”.

A man so enveloped in his own pride, he loved his thoughts and his intellect and thought them superior to anyone else. I have a feeling many members of the Sanhedrin in Jesus’ day loved the sound of their voices too.

And then there’s Peter. An unschooled ordinary man. These prideful leaders could not wrap their minds around how an uneducated common fisherman could preach so eloquently and assert himself so boldly. They were astonished.


I love how Luke tells us they had “been with Jesus”. There is no amount of education that can replace that. We can know all about Jesus. We can study every word He’s ever said and every miracle He’s ever performed. We can listen to a thousand sermons, but until you sit at His feet and ask Him to teach you through His Holy Spirit, you’re just an unschooled ordinary person.

Nothing in Peter’s circumstances had changed during the last fifty days. What changed was his understanding and perspective. His priorities shifted. His focus sharpened. His purpose paved a mission that he relentlessly pursued. His whole sense of reality expanded and Jesus’ resurrection became his abiding reality.

Circumstances became inconsequential, resulting in Peter’s becoming filled with courage and faith and the urgency to tell others about Jesus. Maybe the most unexplainable thing in our lives wouldn’t be changed circumstances, but a change in us. As we allow the Holy Spirit to change us, the way we handle circumstances is bound to change as well, because our perspective toward them and our reaction to them will be different. By the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to walk through those circumstances with a confidence, peace, or joy that becomes unexplainable apart from God to those who are watching us.

What are some of the circumstances you need God’s perspective and power to react differently?

A fractured marriage?
A failed relationship?
Victory over a recurring temptation?
Development of a healthy habit?
Peace with a difficult circumstance?
Boldness to share your faith with a loved one?
Something else?

As we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with His peace, joy, and confidence in God’s goodness, our enemy’s hands become tied. (I love how these religious leaders knew there was nothing they could do to stop Peter- and you and I become unstoppable when we are driven and empowered by the Holy Spirit!). When we submit to Jesus, the enemy loses control. Just as in Acts 4 and Luke 20, those opposing the work of God stood by astonished, wringing their hands.

Will you and I come and sit at Jesus’ feet and allow Him to teach us? To make us people who live unexplainable lives? Will we “be with Jesus”?

Today’s reading is an excerpt from An Unexplainable Life: Recovering the Wonder and Devotion of the Early Church