Stiff-Necked or Lionhearted?

God's Urgent Call for a Boldly Courageous Church

The word "bold" is all over scripture - in the Old Testament, in the New Testament. The challenge for the church is to be bold, to act boldly.

There's an interesting connection between the concepts of boldness and being "stiff-necked." I grew up hearing a lot of King James Version references to a "stiff-necked people." It means being obstinate or resistant, not listening, not doing what you're supposed to do. The Hebrew word picture behind it is of an ox that, when goaded to turn to one side, would stiffen its neck and continue on its current path, refusing to turn.

In a sense, boldness and stubbornness are two sides of the same coin. When we agree with the direction someone is going in their boldness, we applaud them as courageous. But if we disagree with their direction, we condemn them as bullheaded. As we consider what it means to be a bold church, we must carefully discern what the right direction is - how do we ensure our boldness is rightly directed?

Scripture gives some striking examples of misplaced and rightly-placed boldness. Multiple times it speaks of God hardening someone's heart, such as Pharaoh, so that they continue in stubborn rebellion against him. Exodus 33 says of the Israelites, "You are an obstinate people, and I should go up in your midst and destroy you." Proverbs warns that the one who hardens his heart falls into calamity. 2 Chronicles 30:8 exhorts, "Do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the Lord and enter his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his burning anger may turn away from you." Even Jesus' opponents had hardened hearts. John 12 says, "He blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart so they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted, and that I would heal them."

On the other hand, the book of Acts commends the early church for proclaiming the word of God boldly, even in the face of threats and opposition. Acts 28:31, speaking of Paul under house arrest in Rome, says he was "proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance." The apostles are praised for testifying to Christ's resurrection with great courage and power. Acts 4:31 recounts, "When they prayed, the place where they assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly."

So the key question is, how do we discern whether our "boldness" is in fact godly conviction or simply stubborn self-will? How do we ensure we are courageously following God's direction rather than recklessly running our own way?

The starting point, I believe, is prayer. The passage in Acts 4 gives a helpful pattern. When the early church faced threats, they responded by lifting their voices together to God. They declared his sovereign power as Creator and Lord. They asked him to consider the threats against them, and to enable them to speak his word with all boldness. They prayed for God to stretch out his hand to perform signs and wonders. And as they prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God boldly.

This prayer was no timid, half-hearted plea. It was wholehearted, faith-filled crying out to the God they knew was able to do exceedingly abundantly above all they could ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). And God answered with a display of his power and fresh infilling of his Spirit to enable them to keep speaking boldly despite the dangers.

If we want to be a bold church, we must be a praying church. Prayer is the first and most crucial step. As Hebrews 4:16 encourages us, "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Through prayer, we realign our hearts with God's purposes. We declare our dependence on and confidence in him. We ask for his guidance and power. As we draw near to God in intimate communion, he draws near to us (James 4:8). He speaks to us, leads us, and emboldens us with his Spirit.

Now, have any of you ever been in an earthquake? My wife and I experienced one when we were in Costa Rica. We were on sabbatical, staying at a place with a pool. I remember waking up in the middle of the night thinking, "Sheila, what are you doing? Why are you shaking the bed?" In my groggy state, my first thought was that she must be standing at the foot of the bed, jostling it to wake me up. But then I came to my senses and realized that would be completely out of character for her.

So I got up and looked out at the pool - the water was sloshing around like in a shaking basin. Then the magnitude of the situation started to dawn on me. We were only a kilometer from the ocean - were we about to be hit by a tsunami? I couldn't find any information about the earthquake online. It was not a comforting experience, to say the least!

But in Scripture, there are multiple instances of God's presence being manifested through shaking. It talks in Hebrews about things being shaken so that what cannot be shaken will remain. I believe there is a sense in which God sometimes shakes us when we come into his presence, especially when we earnestly seek his face together. He shakes us loose from our complacency, our fear, our selfish ambitions. Like a loving father, he destabilizes what is not built on him so that what cannot be shaken will remain.

As we draw close to God, he reveals the things we have put our trust in apart from him. He exposes the false identities we have constructed and calls us back to find our identity in him alone. This can be a painful process, but it is ultimately liberating. We begin to recognize the false comforts we have clung to, the idols we have served, the sins we have cherished. As we repent and realign our hearts, we experience a greater fullness of God's love, grace and power.

Of course, this is not a one-time experience. Boldness in God's service requires ongoing intimacy with and realignment to him. We need his daily direction. One of the common mistakes Christians make is to assume one dramatic experience of God's leading is enough to carry us through the rest of our lives. We camp out on past moments of guidance or blessing and fail to persistently seek his face in the present. How much more powerful would we be if we continually sought fresh encounters with God and fresh fillings of his Spirit?

When our hearts are synced with God's heart and we are filled with his Spirit, we can discern his promptings and speak his words with confidence. Like the Old Testament prophets, we need to hear from God and be in step with his Spirit to prophesy accurately and boldly. We see this modeled in the book of Acts - the believers speak the word of God boldly as the Spirit empowers and directs them.

This boldness is not a matter of human personality or willpower. Some of us are naturally more assertive and outgoing while others are more reticent and soft-spoken. But Spirit-empowered boldness transcends human personality. When God moves us to speak or act, even the most timid among us can declare his word with authority and conviction. And even the most naturally confident can learn to humbly seek and rely on his leading rather than running ahead presumptuously.

Consider the contrasting examples of Joseph and Daniel, both godly men who served in high positions in pagan kingdoms. Joseph's wisdom and planning saved many lives, and he showed admirable personal integrity. But his guidance ultimately led the Israelites into a situation where they were vulnerable and ended up in slavery. Daniel, on the other hand, served just as effectively but also courageously challenged the ungodly edicts of the kings he served. He respectfully but unflinchingly refused to compromise his convictions. And as a result, pagan rulers ended up acknowledging and honoring the Most High God.

Or consider Elijah confronting the wicked king Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Those two were pretty used to killing off anyone who opposed them. But when the word of the Lord came to Elijah, he marched right into the palace and fearlessly pronounced God's judgment on Ahab for his idolatry and wickedness. Later, Elijah rebuked Ahab to his face for murdering Naboth and stealing his vineyard. He wasn't just being a self-righteous loudmouth - he was speaking the very words God had given him.

Contrast Elijah's boldness with Obadiah's timidity. Obadiah was a God-fearing man who served in Ahab's court. At great personal risk, he had hidden 100 of the Lord's prophets in caves to protect them from Jezebel's campaign to wipe them out. That took courage. But when Elijah told him to go announce his presence to Ahab, Obadiah basically said, "Are you crazy? Ahab's been hunting for you everywhere, and if I tell him you're here, he'll kill me when you disappear again!"

Obadiah was caught between a rock and a hard place, but his primary concern seemed to be staying safe and avoiding the king's wrath. Elijah, undeterred, told him, "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.' I will surely present myself to Ahab today." He feared no man, only God. And he went on to soundly defeat and destroy the prophets of Baal, call down fire from heaven, and prove decisively that the Lord is God.

If we want to be a bold church, we can't just play it safe. We can't let fear of consequences or desire for self-preservation hold us back from declaring and demonstrating God's word as he directs us. We need both the backbone to stand against ungodliness and injustice, and the heart of compassion to serve and share generously. True boldness is not bluster devoid of love. It is courage and conviction married to Christlike humility and grace.

Too often, boldness gets a bad rap because of people who presume to speak for God or serve in his name but do so without the leading of his Spirit, or do so in an obnoxious or graceless way. If our "boldness" does not flow from a Christ-centered, Spirit-dependent heart, and if it is not saturated with God's love, then we are likely running ahead of God rather than being propelled by him. Religious zeal without knowledge or grace does much damage.

But when God's love compels us and his Spirit sends us, we can be boldly generous like the early church in Acts. Amid escalating need and even in the face of persecution, these believers were of one heart and mind, sharing everything in common and giving to all who had need. Acts 4:33-34 recounts, "With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each to the extent that any had need."

Imagine the impact if the church today was known as the most open-handed and big-hearted people in our communities? If we were on the front lines of meeting practical needs with no strings attached? There's a lot of fear these days about economic instability, political turmoil, and potential societal breakdown. You hear about people stocking up on supplies, filling up their gas tanks, preparing for the worst. "Make sure you've got a full tank and extra food for the eclipse! Stock up, it's a state of emergency!"

But what would it look like for Christians to be the first ones to open up their pantries and share what they had stored away? If there was an emergency and everything shut down, what if we threw open our freezers and said "Come on over - we've got to cook all this meat before it goes bad, let's fire up the grill and have a neighborhood BBQ!" If the power went out, instead of hoarding our generators and supplies, what if we turned the church into a welcoming station with food, water, phone charging, and a place to sleep for anyone in need? We could be the ones setting the example of generosity and hospitality while everyone else is hunkered down in scarcity mode.

This kind of generosity requires boldness because it makes us vulnerable. It's risky to share when there is no guarantee of being replenished. It's costly to love when there is no promise of being appreciated or loved in return. But such open-handed living demonstrates that our security is in God, not in material possessions or comfortable circumstances. If we truly believe he is our unshakeable refuge and will supply all our needs, we will be free to give and serve with abandon.

Unfortunately, the attitude we often see in the church, and in our own hearts, is more like the third servant in Jesus' parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). He was so afraid of losing what was entrusted to him that he buried it in the ground and played it safe. When his master returned, that servant had nothing to show for himself and was strongly rebuked.

We have been entrusted with the precious good news of the gospel, with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit, with the calling to be salt and light in the world. Will we have the boldness to invest what we've been given for the glory of God and the good of people? Will we be willing to spend and be spent in loving service, knowing our God is able to replenish us? Will we be willing to stick our necks out in order to see his kingdom advance?

We don't have to figure it all out or manufacture boldness on our own. We access it directly from God through prayer. Not just casual, tack-it-on-at-the-end prayers, but consistent, fervent, faith-filled intercession that realigns us with God's heart and fills us with his Spirit. Prayer is the key that unlocks the storehouses of heaven. It is the conduit through which God's power and wisdom flow to us.

He invites us to ask, seek and knock and promises to answer, provide and open doors. He invites us to abide in him so that his life, love and truth will flow in and through us to a world in need. As we seek him wholeheartedly, he will guide us specifically in what to say and do in the situations we face.

Proverbs 28:1 says, "The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion." I love that image - bold as a lion! Not timid, not cowering, but standing strong, head held high, roaring with the authority of the King of kings. The wicked are skittish and fearful even when there's no real threat - they flee when no one is chasing them. But the righteous have a steady, unflinching boldness that comes from knowing whose we are and whom we serve.

So let us commit to being a praying church, a Spirit-filled church, a risk-taking church. As we walk in daily dependence on God and obedience to his leading, he will make us bold as lions for his glory. Where might God be calling you to take a stand or step out in faith this week? Is there a conversation you need to have, a bold move you need to make, a courageous act of love you need to extend? Don't over-spiritualize it or make it more complicated than it needs to be. Just ask God for his heart and his wisdom in the situations before you.

Have the guts to take a step and see how he shows up. Be attentive to his promptings throughout the day. If you get a nudge or a sense that you're supposed to do or say something, don't second guess it to death - step out and act on it. (Well, do a quick check to make sure it lines up with God's word. If you feel "prompted" to do something that contradicts Scripture, then it's not from him!) But otherwise, trust that as you step forward in obedience, even if it feels risky, he will guide and provide.

And let's encourage one another in this. We're not meant to be bold all by ourselves. We need to challenge and cheer each other on. Let's spur one another on to love, serve and speak boldly in Jesus' name. Let's be a people who pray hard, love big, give generously, and proclaim the gospel fearlessly. A people whose bold, persistent witness points our desperately needy world to the goodness and greatness of our God.