By Adam Harper
Have you ever had someone say something that was so audacious that it just annoyed you? The seeming pride, arrogance, and pompous attitude to say something so unbelievable just stirs something deeply within, something that just bothers me.
Then if someone does something audacious they actually put action into what they said. If that audacious action doesn’t land and the comment doesn’t come to fruition, there’s the feeling of validation for your skepticism. This fits the second definition of audacity, a rude or disrespectful behavior.
Then you go and read stories in John 11. Jesus walks in telling Martha that her brother will live again. It was such an audacious statement that Martha missed its true intent. When Christ asked for the stone to be rolled away, Martha was concerned about the smell.
This caused me to wonder, when Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out. What went through the minds of all the people gathered around? I try to put myself in that time and place. I can see myself silently scoffing and waiting for my internal validation to be appeased…but, that’s not what happened, is it? The shocking revelation of who Jesus is and what power He actually came walking out of the darkness of death and the tomb.
This audacity was passed to the disciples. For an example, we see in Acts 3 when Peter and John are walking to the temple and hear a man born lame begging. They go back and tell this man lame from birth to stand up and walk and then grab the man and lift him up. Again, I would be sitting there with a smirk of disbelief on my face, just waiting for their failure to validate my scoffing. I mean, have you seen legs that haven’t been used in a long time? There’s just no way, right? However, the man doesn’t just creakily stand up on weak, malformed, shaking legs. The man jumps. He has never walked before, but somehow he knew he had to jump. This seems to fit the first definition of audacity, a willingness to take bold risks.
…but is it a risk when God tells you to do it?
This caused me to beg the question, what audacious thing may God be prompting in my heart? A heart that is saturated in skepticism, doesn’t give a situation any opportunity to take on the breath of life only God can bring. What is God priming to happen around us that we are completely unaware of and aren’t audacious enough to listen and respond?
I think this is where it goes from audacious statements to audacious obedience to audacious lives. Doesn’t that characterize the early church? This leads me to a place of confession. If, based on listening to God’s audacious prompts and acting in audacious obedience, I would fall more in the crowd of the Pharisees than the disciples of Christ. The Pharisees were often seen as the “good guys”. They preserved the Scripture and were looked to for guidance during the years of silence. Obviously, they had gotten off the intended track. However, the gradual drift would happen to anyone not hearing the voice of God. So, when they were confronted with the very voice of God, their response was guarded and militantly opposed. Their response revealed how far they had drifted and how resistant they were to the voice of God.
I pray that isn’t true of our heart. I pray if we are graced to hear the voice of God calling us to respond in an audacious way, we will respond in audacious obedience. I pray we see the fruit of audaciously following Jesus and hearing the Spirit speak. I pray we see the Bride of Christ thriving as a byproduct of our Kingdom audacity. May the world see it and may our response lead them closer to Him.