LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1992, Page 84

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84. LIFELIGHT BIBLE STUDY

heaven behind them. That English officer was confident
because he knew his government would stand behind him.
Sometimes we act as if we don’t know who stands behind
us. A young playwright convinced a well-known actor to
preview one of his plays. During the performance, the actor
dozed off. Afterwards the playwright asked him, indig-
nantly, “How could you sleep when you knew I had asked
you here for an opinion.” “Young man,” the actor answered,
“sleep is an opinion.” No matter what we say to each other
in these grand conclaves of the church, the world has been
noticing our drowsiness, our timidity, our self-concern. We

fail so often to demonstrate the vibrancy of our election, -

the knowledge that our names are written in heaven and
that behind us stands the very government of God. What-
ever else the charismatic movement is, it is a response to
a vacuum, a vacuum we ourselves have created.

Peter and John surprised their friends and enemies.
They were not very impressive in terms of power or influ-
ence, and probably the authorities anticipated no great

' difficulty in handling them. The odds were so heavily
weighted on the authorities’ side, But the odds didn’t make
any difference. Somebody was on the side of Peter and John
who made them more than conquerors. People cannot
stand against God. And people cannot stand against men
and women when God stands with them, Those who sup-
pose big battalions are decisive have failed to reckon with
big convictions, And the conviction of the elect is that God
is with them, His government is behind them, and His Son
is going on before.

I don’t suppose it is too terribly surprising that ordinary
mortals such as you and I should lose sight of that fact.
Even the saints have not been immune. There was a time
when the subtle, stubborn scheming of Ahab and Jezebel
had been getting on Elijah’s nerves and one day brought
about hia total, spiritual collapse. “I am finished,” he cried.
“No one cares, | am through.” It happened to Jeremiah.
“Don’t talk to me about a God of creation,” he said that
day. And then, turning to that God, he added, “And don’t
You give me any of Your specious promises filled with noth-
ing but hot air.” “Empty wind,” the Bible puts it. It hap-
pened one day to the apostle Paul. That aching thorn in
the flesh was spoiling everything and, worst of all, it was
cramping his style of ministry. “How long id this supposed
to go on?” he asked. “Take it away.”

No. It isn’t too terribly surprising that we should have
occasional moods of feeling helpless. Even the saints have
not been immune. When that happens, remember, behind
us stands God, help from above, the government of heaven.
Thus to Elijah whimpering under his juniper tree, an angel
came to strengthen him. Thus to Paul, at the end of his
tether, a voice told him, “My grace is sufficient for you”
(2 Cor. 12:9). But not all the stories of help from above
come out of the past. Our boldness, yours and mine, rises
up out of the conviction that behind us too stands the very
government of heaven, and it makes us bold and even a
little bit brassy.

There is a place where St. Paul bewails his human
frailty and impotence. “I am under the law of death,” he
says in Romans 7. “I cannot do what I should. Wretched
man that ] am. Who shall deliver me?” But then, you turn
over one page in your Bible to Romans, chapter 8, and you

find this. “There is now no condemnation. J am free.” What
happened while the page was turning? Paul remembered
that his name was written in heaven. Paul! has no monop-
oly on that. Whence great boldness? What made Peter
brassy? Why can we be confident? We have an authority
to live by. Jesus is our king. We have a purpose for our
lives; to share Him is our purpose. Behind us stands the
government of heaven; Jesus’ resources are our strength.
And one more thing: Chriat’s victory is our triumph. No
doubt about it, for our names are written in heaven.

Bible Study 5
With Great Boldness
(Acts 4:29)

“Enable your servants to speak your word with great
boldness.” I searched around in Holy Scripture to find a
preeminent example of the kind of spirit that sentence calls
for, a standard against which to measure ourselves vis-a-
vis our convention theme. I think I found it. It is the story
of the Sunday of the Palms. Remember? Jesus and His
disciples were approaching Jerusalem from Bethphage.
Jesus sent two of His disciples on ahead, telling them that
in the city they would find “an ass tied, and a colt, the foal
of an ass.” They were to untie the animals and bring them
back to Him. And if anyone questioned them, they were to
say, “The Lord hath need of them.” The disciples did what
they were told and found it as He said. Now Jesus was not
aiding and abetting what in our day might be regarded as
illegal snitching of transportation from an unguarded
parking lot. As I see it those two disciples went straight
tothe same inn in Jerusalem where Jesus and His disciples
always stayed whenever they visited the city. They found
the animals and were untying them when the owner of the
inn came out to see what was going on. They turned to
face him, and he recognized them right away. When they
told him Jesus needed those animals he gave them per-
mission. Of course. Those animals were the equivalent of
today’s motel van and were there for the convenience of
the guests. So, off they went. Now in those days Jesus was
often surrounded by a crowd and on that day by a multi-
tude. And since Jesus was headed for Jerusalem the crowd
began to wonder whether this might be the time when He
was going to throw the Roman rascals out. It was a festive
mood therefore as they put Him on that donkey and led
Him back into the city. And—well hear the story from
Scripture itself. “A very great multitude spread their gar-
ments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees
and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that
went before, and that followed, cried, saying, ‘Hosanna to
the son of David: blessed is He that cometh in the name
of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest’ ” (Matt. 21:8-9).

They didn’t use palm branches when our troops re-
turned from Desert Storm. They used shredded telephone
directories and ticker tape. But there was the same aban-
don about it all, the same refreshing recklessness as the
spirit of man lets itself go, leaving all its neat and careful
calculations at home in the ledger, snatching off its jacket,
throwing its cap in the air and tossing onto the ground any
token of devotion, of loyalty it can lay its hands on. Well,
it was just such a day in Jerusalem. People shouted happily