Rick Graham showed himself to be a man of conviction when he drove around the streets of San Francisco for more than an hour to find a lady who had left her purse with $1792 in cash on the back seat of his cab. He found her and returned her money. Of course, she was elated! But I like best the account of what he said when some of the other drivers ridiculed him for not pocketing the money: "I am a card-carrying member of the Christian faith, and what good is it to go to church if you don't practice what you believe?"

Eric Liddell, the son of Scottish missionaries to China and a ministerial student, was a gifted athlete and the best sprinter in the British Empire. He first gained national recognition by winning the 100- and 200-meter races at the Amateur Athletic Association championships in 1923. In July of 1924, the young Scottish athlete was favored to win the 100-meter race in the Olympic Games in Paris. But a few weeks before the Olympics he learned that the finals for the 100-meter event were scheduled for a Sunday afternoon. Eric had a religious conviction that it was wrong for him to play sports on Sunday. For the last few weeks before the Games he quietly excused himself after evening dinner from the usual bull sessions with his classmates, then returned home exhausted hours later. A few weeks subsequent the whole world knew his secret. Eric had spent those evening hours practicing for a different event that was scheduled for a weekday and which required a different type of speed and endurance. On the closing day of the Olympics he stood on the winner's platform and received the Gold Medal as 400-meter champion. Liddell, who later became a missionary to China, died as a prisoner of war in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. His story was told in the 1981 award winning film, Chariots of Fire.(1)

Regardless of how you might feel about sports on Sunday, you have to admire a man with such courage of conviction. Olympic gold is no small prize.

This morning I'd like to ask you about your convictions. By "convictions" I mean your core beliefs - the standards or principles by which you run your life.

Are certain principles in your life not for sale at any price? Are there truths that you live by that aren't negotiable, no matter what the offer or cost?

As Christians, we all should have and live by certain predetermined Biblical principles - things that are decided beforehand, away from the heat of the battle and the squeeze of peer pressure - things that we hold with unbending tenacity.

We are encouraged to be people of unbending moral integrity when we see or hear of other men and women who are true to their principles and are paying whatever price is necessary to maintain their convictions. Likewise, we are discouraged when we see people cave in and sell out their integrity for lesser things. Sadly, it seems that in these days, far more are ready to sell out than to endure when there is a cost involved.

There is a call to compromise convictions in the fourth and fifth chapters of Acts that we ought to be familiar with. It has nothing to do with sports or the Olympics, but in it we do see certain men of principle refusing to bend at the threat of bodily harm. In the process, these men proved themselves to be men of courage, conviction, and clear objective. Hopefully, hearing their story will strengthen our own resolve for integrity.

This account actually backs up into the third chapter of Acts. There we are told that Peter and John, two of the Apostles of Christ, healed a lame man by the power of Jesus Christ. It resulted in an uproar as the man, overjoyed with the ability to walk after 40 years of being an invalid, rushed into the temple, dancing and leaping and praising God. It wasn't long until the Jewish leaders on the Sanhedrin council got word of the disruption. Peter and John were summoned to explain what they had done. During their explanation they told the council that the man had been healed by the power of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the One they had crucified earlier that year. In fact, Peter preached them a sermon accusing them of just that. It was a short sermon. They interrupted him and locked him and John up overnight. The next day the two Apostles were again brought before the council, where Peter, in no small display of courage, finished his sermon. The council was no more impressed than they had been the day before, but since many of the people had seen the formerly disabled man leaping and dancing and praising God, the Jewish leaders were afraid to do anything more than threaten Peter and John. We'll pick up the story in Acts 4:18.

I love their response.

And they didn't stop! After a prayer meeting with the church, they went right back to the temple and resumed preaching Jesus. Others were also healed to such an extent that multitudes were crowding into the temple to see and hear them.

It was inevitable that there would be another run-in with the Jewish Council.

This is their second incarceration. It was short, just like the first. This time they didn't even spend the night.

I love the angel's instructions. "Go right on preaching. Don't even cut the message back. Give them the whole message!"

Many modern preachers, when they hit opposition, sometimes find resolution by diluting the message - cutting it back - until it is acceptable to all. That was not what God wanted these men to do back then and neither is it what God wants us to do today.

So, there they were the next morning, out in the open, preaching Jesus in violation of the Council's warning.

Meanwhile, the Council members show up in chambers, ready to interrogate the Apostles, thinking they are still in their cells.

"We found the cells empty, but the door were still locked!"

I have news for you Mr. High Priest. His blood was already on your hands. Matthew 27:20 says, "But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and to put Jesus to death." People might succeed in blaming their dastardly deeds on others before the eyes of men, but their actions don't escape the all-seeing eyes of God.

Peter's answer shows what kind of men these Apostles were.

There was a bigger stake here - a core value - a conviction - that wasn't for sale.

Peter, then, started preaching to the council.

Whoa, Peter! Not exactly the thing you should be saying if you want to keep living!

Occasionally I have been told that some of my sermons get people upset, but I'm afraid they don't hold a candle to Peter's exhortation. Nobody has ever become so angry at my words that they were going to kill me! I think I have a ways to go. J

Gamaliel's speech was effective, as seen in the next verses.

Don't think lightly of that flogging. It was a beating with either a whip or rods. These men would be quite sore for several weeks after this. I'm sure the Council believed that this would make them stop.

I love to hear stories like this, don't you? These accounts stir me to stand up for what is right.

There are three quick things I want to say about these Apostles. Hopefully they will help us examine our own convictions. First, they were:

Like all children in grade school, I reluctantly did my share of book reports. For one report my folks bought me a book called Profiles in Courage, written by a young man who was then running for President of the United States. His name was John F. Kennedy. I realize that Kennedy's integrity has since been questioned, but that book really made an impression on me at the time. It was an anthology of stories of people who had courageously stood by their principles against tremendous odds. Each story was true. (A word to your parents: Don't ever think that making your children read things that might seem beyond them is a waste. I was quite young, yet I remember the effects of that book.)

For instance, the book tells of George Norris, a Senator from Nebraska, who, after making a very unpopular decision in the view of his constituents, stated: "I would rather lie in the silent grave, remembered by both friends and enemies as one who remained true to his faith and who never faltered in what he believed to be his duty, than to still live, old and aged, lacking the confidence of both factions."

I remember thinking that when I grew up I wanted to be like that - someone who had the courage to stand up for what he believed.

Along about that time (I think I was in the fifth grade) I also remember an incident involving an eighth grader that really impressed me. I was in the boy's restroom when another boy came in and was calling a kid about half his size a bunch of foul names and pushing him around. I stood there watching until a fourth boy came in - the eighth grader - and saw what was happening. I have never forgotten that day. That eighth grader walked up to the bully and pulled him back off the younger kid. Then he proceeded to tell him that if he didn't leave the kid alone he was going to make his life miserable all the way until the day he graduated from the eighth grade. The bully took off and I had a hero! I decided that I would like to be like that eighth grader when I got to eighth grade! (Isn't it funny how events like that shape your life? That was 40 years ago and I still remember it.)

Please allow me the risk of boring you with one more personal anecdote. I was still in grade school when another kid I knew came to class one day and told us how his family couldn't afford to buy school clothes for the kids that year because their dad had been disabled in an accident. The story is a bit sketchy in my mind, but I think the rest of it went this way: It seems that a drunk driver had hit the father in his car. The inebriated motorist had no insurance. Though this father had the opportunity to sue the offending driver, he had stated that his religious belief would not allow him to sue another person. As a result, he was paying the medical bills himself. Though I didn't understand the whole business of lawsuits at that time, it made an impression on me. Here was a man who was willing to suffer for what he believed was right. Again, I remember thinking that someday I wanted to be like that - a man with the courage of my convictions.

Today, as I read the story of these Apostles of Jesus, I find myself saying, "Yeah, that's the kind of Christian I want to be."

Don't you see why we need to know the Bible and teach our children the stories that are there? We need examples to follow! We need stories of courage to bring out the courage in us! God has given us our own book that we might call Profiles in Christian Courage. He's given us the Bible.

Is it any surprise, though, that we have a generation that lacks moral courage? They don't read the Bible. What do they have to challenge them? What do they have to show them the way? Raised on R rated movies written and directed by moral no-shows and roll-overs, they learn that everybody's convictions are for sale, if the price is right or if they are in any way inconvenienced.

"What kind of flower is that in your buttonhole?" a fellow asked his friend.

"Why, that’s a chrysanthemum," answered the friend.

"It looks like a rose to me."

"No, you’re wrong. It’s a chrysanthemum," insisted the friend.

"Spell it," the fellow said.

"K-r-i-s-, no it’s K-h-r-y-, no it must be C-r-i-s-...You know, I think you're right. It is a rose."(2)

Don't be inconvenienced. Change your beliefs! That's how many live.

These Apostles were men of courage! They were also:

The principle involved here is a very simple one to understand. It is no great theological discovery. To Christians, it is garden-variety. Verse 29 says, "We must obey God rather than men." Is that also your conviction?

Do we understand the difference between a conviction and a preference? I read recently that according to the U.S. Supreme Court, a preference is a very strong belief, held with great strength. You can give your entire life in a full-time way to the service of the preference, and can also give your entire material wealth in the name of the same. You can energetically proselytize others to your preference. You can also want to teach this belief to your children, and the Supreme Court may still rule that it is a preference and not a conviction. A preference is a strong belief, but a belief that you will change under the right circumstances - such as peer pressure, family pressure, lawsuits, jail, and threat of death. A conviction is a belief that you will not change. Why? Because you believe that God requires it of you. Preferences aren’t protected by the U.S. Constitution. Convictions are. A conviction is not something that you fall into. It is something that you purpose in your heart. A conviction on the inside will always show up on the outside, in your lifestyle. A conviction is something that if you violate it, it would be a sin.(3)

In this account in Acts, these men were not expressing a preference. They had a conviction. For them they would be in graver danger if they disobeyed God than if they disobeyed men.

In fact, when you think about it, that was the source of their courage - their fear of God. As Jesus put it in Matthew 10:28: "Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

It is no mistake to say that the source of Christian courage is really a greater fear of God.

Are the core principles that you and I hold convictions or preferences? Are they principles that cannot be changed for any earthly reason or are they mere firm choices?

A few years ago, Senator John Tower was nominated to be the Secretary of Defense. During the hearings that followed he was accused of being a drunkard and a womanizer, accusations that appeared to have some semblance of truth. During the proceedings, then Senator Barry Goldwater got up and said, "If they chased every man or woman out of this town who'd shacked up with somebody else, or gotten drunk, there'd be no government."

Is it really that bad? Have we really come to that? Is there anyone who has convictions anymore?

A personnel director was interviewing a development officer candidate for an opening. He asked the man, "Do you lie, cheat, steal, or come in late?" The applicant replied, "No, but I can learn!"

People of conviction are not common today, but they do exist.

Rick Graham showed himself to be a man of conviction when he drove around the streets of San Francisco for more than an hour to find a lady who had left her purse with $1792 in cash on the back seat of his cab. He found her and returned her money. Of course, she was elated! But I like best the account of what he said when some of the other drivers ridiculed him for not pocketing the money: "I am a card-carrying member of the Christian faith, and what good is it to go to church if you don't practice what you believe?"

Indeed. What good is it?

The example we have here before us is of men of courage, men of conviction, and finally:

In the early morning hours of July 4, 1952 a powerful swimmer named Florence Chadwick attempted to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast. The 21-mile swim through shark-infested waters began on a foggy morning. Less than a half-mile from the finish, however, Chadwick had to be pulled from the water. Later she explained that she hadn't been defeated by fatigue, but by the fog. The fact that she couldn't see her goal caused her to give up her objective. "If I could have seen land, I might have made it," she said later. Two months later, Chadwick did make it. Again, fog limited her vision, but this time she overcame her despair by keeping a picture of the coast in her mind.

One big reason why some Christians ultimately compromise their convictions under pressure is that they lose sight of their goal. The goal is eternal life. With eyes focused in that, there is less potential for compromise.

The Apostle Paul put it this way: in I Corinthians 9:25-27:

The "imperishable wreath" Paul spoke of was eternal life. Why was he willing to suffer rather than give in to the easy way? Like an athlete, he focused on the goal.

Why do we come together on the Lord's day and do the things we do? It's so we can keep the goal before us! It's so we can stay reminded that the coastline is still out there, waiting for us and that we need to keep swimming!

May I say that again? We need to keep swimming.

These Apostles in Acts 5 had a clear objective in front of them. They wanted eternal life. It's the greatest goal in the world. To them it was worth more than their very lives.

The expression "face the music" supposedly originated in Japan. According to the story I heard, there was a man in the imperial orchestra who couldn't play a note. Since he was a person of great influence and wealth, he had demanded that he be given a place in the group because he wanted to perform before the emperor. The conductor agreed to let him sit in the second row of the orchestra, even though he couldn't read a note of music. He was given a flute, and when a concert began, he raised his instrument, puckered his lips, and moved his fingers. He went through all the motions of playing, but never made a sound. The deception continued for 2 years.

Then a new conductor took over. He told the orchestra that he wanted to audition each player personally. One by one they performed in his presence. Finally it was the flutist's turn. He was frantic with worry, so he pretended to be sick. The conductor, suspecting something was up, ordered a doctor to examine him. After the exam, the doctor declared that he was perfectly well. The conductor insisted that the man come forward to demonstrate his skill. Of course, the phony musician had to confess the charade. He was unable to "face the music".

On a day that God has fixed that is yet in the future, the Great Conductor of the universe is going to audition all of us who have been playing in that great orchestra called the church. When that day comes we won't be able to call in sick. Whatever we are will become evident for all to see.

It would be far better for you and me if we "faced the music" before that day of audition - while we can still do something about it.

Are your core values for sale for the right price, or are you steadfast in your resolve to courageously hold to your convictions?

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place

1. Additional information about this event can be found in the 1999 Electronic edition of Encyclopedia Britannica under "Eric Liddell."
2. Winston K. Pendleton, 2121 Funny Stories and How to Tell Them.
3. David C. Gibbs, Jr. Christian Law Association, P.O. Box 30290, Cleveland, Ohio 44130, as recorded at:
http://www.bible.org/illus/c/c-134.htm

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

[Archive]    [Home]   [Comments]   [Search]