
To be Unashamed Among Wolves
This past March, pastor Dhati Lewis of Blueprint Church in Atlanta published a phenomenal book about disciple-making titled “Among Wolves”.
The title refers to Matthew 10:16, in which Jesus told his disciples, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
In Lewis’s commentary on this passage, he admits that living as a sheep among wolves sounds dangerous. It sounds uncomfortable. I’ll add, it sounds anti-American Dream.
This explains, Lewis said, why so few fit the description. He cited Dr. John Ewart, professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, who said, “95 percent of evangelical Christians never even intend on sharing their faith, never intend on making any type of disciples and never tend to obey this verse.”
Ninety-five percent of evangelical Christians never even intend on sharing their faith.
I don’t know if this statistic is an educated guess by Ewart or from a study. In 2012, LifeWay Research surveyed 2,930 “church-going American Protestants” and found that 61 percent had not “told another person about how to become a Christian in the previous six months.”
Whether 95 or 61 percent, God’s Word gives hope for the timid Christian.
‘We cannot but speak’
Acts 3–4 tells a story about the Apostles Peter and John, which begins with a visit to the temple in Jerusalem.
At the temple gate, they encounter a lame man, who Peter heals “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” This man, who couldn’t walk, then starts jumping up and down in celebration, which naturally attracts attention in the temple. Peter proceeds to rebuke everyone for being astounded by the same power of the One who, just weeks earlier, they had denied—Jesus.
But Peter didn’t stop there, knowing hope existed for even them. He called the crowd to repent of their sins, and John joined him in proclaiming that the “resurrection from the dead” is in Jesus.
This they proclaimed among wolves. After five thousand put their faith in Jesus’s name, “greatly annoyed” priests, Sadducees and the temple captain arrested Peter and John for their preaching. More powerful religious leaders gathered the following day to confront them and asked, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
Peter, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” kept preaching:
Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:8–12).
Peter’s boldness caught the religious leaders off guard. Without a crime to charge him and John with, though, the leaders just told them to shut up about Jesus.
Peter and John weren’t interested.
“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,” they said, “for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
What Peter and John saw and heard was life-changing. What they saw and heard was invaluable — something that was more precious than their safety and comfort. What they saw and heard not only had implications on their lives, but also the lives of everyone around them, so Peter and John were unable to shut up about it.
One cannot grasp the gospel and not speak of it. Its implications are too monumental.
God, the Creator and Lord of the universe, crafted us to find joy in worshiping him. We all rebel against his lordship, disobeying his commands and exalting finite creation over the infinitely valuable Creator in our pursuit of pleasure— sin which warrants eternal punishment in hell.
The only way for a perfectly holy and just God to reconcile himself with rebellious humanity was to pay our debt himself. This is why he sent his son Jesus to live a sinless life on earth, so he would be a worthy replacement to bear the wrath of God instead of us. Jesus did so on the cross, died and, on the third day, resurrected — abolishing death forever for those who by grace through faith believe in him as Lord and Savior.
The New Bible Commentary noted important context to Peter’s boldness in Acts 3–4:
“The courage of Peter and John in such circumstances is astounding. It is perhaps the more so for us who know, as the council did not, that when some of these same men accused Jesus a few weeks before this, Peter timidly cowered outside. Far from facing up to the high priest then, he had made frightened alibis to servants” (Luke 22:54–62).
Just a few weeks before Peter stood up to the high priest, the most powerful Jew on earth, he was ashamed of Jesus. What changed in those few weeks?
Jesus resurrected. And Jesus sent the same Holy Spirit who resurrected him to live in Peter and all those who put their faith in his name.
That’s what changed. And that’s what gives hope to the timid Christian today.
There’s nothing about us that should evoke courage to make disciples as sheep among wolves. Everything about Christ, however, should evoke courage. The same gospel that saves us emboldens us.
Being a sheep among wolves means persecution is guaranteed. But to magnify God’s infinite, earthly-comfort-exceeding worth — and to be used by God to save your hearers — is worth the cost.
