I love the first part of Acts 4. It speaks to my character, as Peter and John are called before the Sanhedrin. As happened with Jesus, the Sanhedrin saw themselves as threatened. They knew that if the gospel of Jesus spread, they would lose their influence. With that loss would come a loss of power, money, and fame. They could not stand for this, especially after the whole killing of Jesus thing kind of blew up in their face when He came back from the dead.
What I like about this is that Peter and John continued to preach the truth, even when threatened by those in power above them. Those that know me know this is well within my nature. I have no problem telling the truth, bluntly if needed, because I cannot stand lying just to make someone feel better. This has caused me problems in the past because I often lack tact in these situations, but to me, telling the truth is more important than my perception to other people.
18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." – Acts 4:18-20
When it comes to the truth, especially concerning Christ, there should never be compromise when spreading the gospel. What Peter and John faced as consequences here is tame compared to what other disciples face later in Acts. If they can move forward and preach the Good News without fear then we can as well.
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