Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
ACTS 4:13
In the fall of 2009, I pulled into an unfamiliar church parking lot to attend an unfamiliar thing called a Bible study. As a newlywed and a new believer, I was looking for ways to meet other women in our area and grow in my walk with the Lord. Since my husband and I hadn’t settled on a church quite yet, I
took a recommendation from a friend and decided to try Bible Study Fellowship.1
It was humid and I was already running a couple of minutes late. I hunted for a parking spot and hurried in alongside moms lugging toddlers as women in tailored tweed jackets and stylish flats swung the church doors open to greet me. Within a few heartbeats, I could tell this was more than I bargained for. I almost walked out but was so mesmerized by the wealthy suburban women singing hymns that I collected my name tag and found a seat in the back.
For thirty weeks, I walked through those church doors to study the Gospel of John. Each week, I’d struggle to complete my homework, and I’d skip over what I would now consider to be the most basic questions. I sang in a whisper during worship because I didn’t know the melody of these apparently “classic” hymns. Praying out loud made me sweat and mumble pat phrases over and over. Though I’d carried my Bible
everywhere for the better part of three years and I’d read it frequently, formal Bible study showed me I didn’t know what much of it meant. I was held by the gospel of grace as I grasped for understanding.
Maybe you’re a new believer and you can relate to being in over your head with Bible study. You show up to church and are moved by the sermon, but there are a lot of things you still don’t understand. You smile and nod in deep conversations with older believers, but later, you Google words like “justification” and “orthodoxy” to find out what they mean. You know the feeling of being weak in your knowledge of God, and you hope you can catch up before somebody catches on.
Or maybe you’ve been in church all your life and you think you have no excuse for not knowing the answers. You’ve attended decades of Bible studies and listened to countless sermons, but sometimes you still question elementary doctrines and forget the finer details of your faith. As a seasoned believer, you don’t want to come up short with your Bible facts and look foolish.
There’s good news for those of us who are still learning—no matter what leg of the journey we’re on. Though God wants us to grow in our knowledge of and love for him (Philippians 1:9-11; 2 Peter 3:18), he doesn’t need us to look supersmart and impress people with all the big words we know. Though some Christians will be brilliant, glorifying God through intelligence, research, and clear communication of truth, those qualities aren’t the only way to give God glory. Ultimately, Christians aren’t recognized by what we know but who we know.
This was the case for two of Jesus’s apostles in the early church—Peter and John (Acts 4:1-22). They stood on trial before some very important religious leaders who demanded answers and explanations. How and why had they healed a lame man? Why were they preaching about the resurrection? When Peter responded to the council, he spoke through the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:8). The answer to the religious leaders’ questions boiled down to a name they didn’t want to hear: Jesus Christ.
Peter and John were not the kind of men with verified blue check marks on their public profiles. They weren’t Ivy League grads or on track to launch the next big tech startup. They weren’t about to whip out a bunch of research studies on healing and quote famous philosophers on the resurrection. They were just common men—average guys you’d walk by and not even notice. But their ordinariness was the perfect contrast to the brilliance of Christ.
As you go about life today and fumble to find a helpful piece of advice for a hurting friend or a clear and convincing response to your child’s toughest spiritual question or the right answer to this week’s Bible study question, don’t despair. If you know Christ, you already know the most important person and the most important truth (John 17:3). In spite of all you don’t know, it could be your humble boldness and simple explanation of Jesus that cause your friend or your child or your fellow churchgoers to marvel and grow. Not because of you but because of him. And isn’t that what you want after all?
Additional Reading
Acts 4:1-22
Jeremiah 9:23-24
John 17:3
Questions for Reflection
I am weak
- Where are you on your journey of knowing God and understanding his Word? In what areas do you still fear looking weak and foolish, even if you’ve been a believer for a long time?
- Why is it so scary to not have all the answers? What do you hope to gain by having more Bible
knowledge or theological prowess?
He is strong
- How might believing the gospel, knowing Christ, and being filled with the Spirit equip you to glorify God in a regular situation today?
- How does knowing that God is able to work mightily in and through anyone (even “uneducated,
common men”) give you hope and courage? What action steps might you take to share more boldly or keep learning?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- Bible Study Fellowship is a global, nondenominational Bible study that I participated in in two cities over the course of about seven years. Visit https://www.bsfinternational.org/ for more details or to find a study in your own area.
***
We all feel weak sometimes.
He Is Strong, by bestselling author Emily A. Jensen, encourages you to rest in God’s help and strength for every one of your inadequacies. Filled with devotionals containing honest stories about her own feelings of weakness, Emily will lead you back to the gospel for wisdom, hope, and comfort. As the familiar hymn says, “They are weak, but he is strong.”
Learn more about the book and how to purchase here.
Leave a Reply