Acts 24:1-16 Be Content in Everything!

Acts 24:1-16  Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor.  When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation. Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude.  But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.  “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.  He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.  By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.  ”The other Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true. When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.  You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.  My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city.  And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.  However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect.  I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.  So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

In the above scene we see Paul’s accusers in Caesarea some 60 miles away from Jerusalem.  The leading priests were before the Roman governor, Felix, to present their case against him with the hope Paul will be executed for his supposed misdeeds. They possessed a deep hatred of Paul and his Christian ideas.  They brought the lawyer, Tertullus, to present to Felix their charges against Paul.  Their accusations against Paul were false: that he was stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world, and he even tried to desecrate the temple.  Paul was an apostle but not the ringleader of the Christianity cult; they resided in Jerusalem.  Tertullus in the courtroom was doing his best to paint Paul as a troublemaker.  First, and as with Paul later, Tertullus complimented Felix on what a great ruler he is, a glad-handed technique to win favorable treatment from him.  We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation.  Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude.  Later we hear Paul doing the same thing,  I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.  Paul is implying that Felix is such a good and fair judge that he will see through the Jewish leadership’s frivolous charges against him as a troublemaker that deserves death.  Earlier the Sanhedrin had done away with Jesus by describing him as a troublemaker, falsely accusing Jesus of wrong-doing.  The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.  But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.  (Matthew 26:59-60)  Now before Felix they were using the same deception, lying before the authorities of Rome.  Jesus understood well the hearts of the Sadducees and Pharisees.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  (John 8:44 )  These leading priests for selfish reasons were willing to lie before the leadership of the world.  They were using the native language of the devil to hold on to their place of leadership in the Jewish community.  They now knew Christianity was spreading like wildfire within the Greek and Jewish communities, so they felt they had to beat back this fire by having Paul executed.  They were 60 miles from Jerusalem, expressing lies before Felix, hoping that Felix would help to solve their need to quell Christianity by killing Paul.  However, Felix quickly ascertained that this was a religious matter, not a secular misdeed.  Paul in presenting his defense had painted this as a spiritual fight not a secular matter.  I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.  So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.  For Felix, a secular ruler, these charges against Paul by the Jewish leadership did not come under his jurisdiction, for they were about spiritual issues.  Although not to alienate the Jewish leadership, he kept Paul in confinement.

We know Paul had learned to be content in all situations.  I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  (Philippians 4:11)  So, this confinement was but another problem he had to endure.   Paul’s life was one of troubled seas.  Nothing in his life was very placid for long.  Jesus had promised him a turbulent life.  The Lord said to Ananias, “Go!  This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”  (Acts 9:15-16)  At this juncture in his life he finds himself presenting the Good News to a governor, satisfying part of his commission, given to him by the Lord.  He is now once again revealing the Path to a secular leader and to the Jewish elite.  The Good News had been rejected by the Jewish leadership many times.  They construed the message as nonsense, perpetrated by demons.  They hated this idea of Jesus being the long-awaited Messiah.  They despised that Jesus claimed divinity, coming from God, as the Son of God.  They believed his words were from the demonic world.  The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”  “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me.  (John 8:48-49)   For the Sanhedrin, Paul was following this demon possessed man, Jesus.  He was spreading lies about Jesus being the Messiah.  Of course the Sanhedrin was doing this for their own selfish reasons; they knew for them, this cult of Christianity was a death knell if the Jewish people accepted Jesus as their Messiah.  They had no choice but to stamp Christianity out as quickly and aggressively as they could.  For them, Paul must be executed.  Paul, as Jesus, knew their hearts.  Jesus told them explicitly that their father was the devil.  He told them they were following the ruler of this world and not God the father of Abraham.  They claimed Abraham as their father, but they possessed murder in their hearts, first towards Jesus and now towards Paul.  They were following the one who so contaminated the world with his evil that God destroyed all humans except for Noah and his family with a catastrophic flood.  The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.  (Genesis 6:5)  Rather than peace and tranquility reigning in humans, violence, disruption and destruction filled their every action and thought.  Sadly the Sadducees and Pharisees followed the liar Satan.  They thought of themselves as being wise, but in reality their wisdom and knowledge followed the natural ways of the devil.  They laid heavy burdens on the people through their teachings, yet not helping the people to find the God of grace and mercy.  They championed themselves as being people of God, the intermediators between God and men and women.  However, God had a better understanding of them and their supposed importance to the people, Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;  they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.  (Matthew 23:5-7)  Paul's existence and his extolling of Christ as being the Savior of all mankind was a threat to their lifestyle and position of authority within the Jewish community.

The Jewish traditions perpetrated by the Priests lay very heavily on the people’s shoulders.  The priests made it very hard for the people to be right with God.  Tradition and discipline can be good to know God, but it also can shield from them the grace and mercy of God.  The Good News which the priests rejected was very simple and straight forward.  The Good News relied on Jesus and his works, not the works of men.  The works of men as a path to know God is difficult and tiring: it usually depends on a  strenuous effort on the part of men and women to be right with God.  But Jesus forgoes all that effort of men and women by saying,  “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.   Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live."  (John 5:24-25)  The Path to know God was what Paul preached, a deadly message to the survival of the priesthood.  The Path hinges on faith in Jesus’ words and deeds.  Paul tells the Romans, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.  For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith."  (Romans 1:16-17)  Righteousness is not leverage by works but by faith in God’s words.  Jesus meant it when He said, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  (John 3:16-17)  Not following the law and its regulations correctly brings condemnation.  And the spiritual officers were there to condemn you if you stepped out of line.  Now for them, Paul has stepped out of line.  For them, Paul seems to have sidelined the law.  But really Paul was preaching Jesus had fulfilled completely the law and regulations, releasing people of such an obligation, freeing them from their efforts to please God through works.  The PATH to satisfy God’s requirement of righteousness for men and women was one of freedom, not law and its regulations.  Friends around this breakfast table we are free, free indeed.  We do not slumber in this race we are running for the glory of God.  We are obligated to run this life in the garment of our Savior.  He paid the full price for our salvation.  None of us should run this race of life in our own garments.  Our attire should reflect the glory of our Lord.  We do run hard in our freedom, for we run for the glory of God.  We serve the world as Jesus served the world, with faithfulness and love.  We run the race hard as Paul tells us and illustrates in his own life; not for us to know God but to reflect God to the world.  Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.   Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  (1  Corinthians 9:24-27)  We will not be disqualified dear friends, for we run in Jesus’ attire every day, bringing glory to his name, THE PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH.  Amen!  

 

Acts 23:23-35 When You're Weak, You're Strong!

Acts 23:23-35  Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight.  Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.  ”He wrote a letter as follows: -- Claudius Lysias. To His Excellency, Governor Felix:  Greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen.  I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin.  I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment.  When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once.  I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him. --  So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris.  The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks.  When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him.  The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from.  Learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers get here.”  Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.

After Paul’s nephew told the Roman Commander that some Jews in Jerusalem had taken up an oath to kill Paul, the officer of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem decided to get Paul out of Jerusalem.  He had 470 Roman soldiers to escort Paul out of the city, a strong enough contingent that no group of Jews could dare attack these Roman soldiers.  They started out at night and at Antipatris, 28 miles away from Jerusalem, the foot soldiers were relieved of their responsibility of protecting Paul.  They went back to the Jerusalem garrison.  For the next 30 miles to Caesarea only the cavalry would be responsible for Paul’s safety.   They would deliver Paul to the authorities in the Roman’s governing headquarters.  Paul’s adversaries would have to travel to Caesarea to present their case against Paul to the Roman authorities.  Their hatred of the Good News that Paul preached compelled them to go to Caesarea, hoping to end Paul’s life by execution.  The leading priests understood well that their fight against the Good News was a life and death struggle.  Paul was preaching a new covenant in finding peace with God.  No longer would the sacrifices of animals be necessary to please God, neither would priests be important as intermediators between God and man.  If the Good News won the hearts of the Jews as the real way to be right with God forever, then the leading priests and elders of the Jewish society would lose their place of deference in Israel.  The book of Hebrews relates that for the Jews finite priests were necessary to appease the holy God of creation.  They would be the ones who would sacrifice animals and present their blood before God in the Temple.  This blood of a dead animal would keep God from judging them and the people with death for their many unrighteous deeds.  However in the New Covenant between God and man, Jesus’ one and only sacrifice appeases God, satisfies his requirement of righteousness on sinful mankind.  Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.  Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.  Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.  He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.  For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.  (Hebrews 7:23-28)  The Good News Paul preached is The Way to God. Through faith in Jesus' work on the cross, righeousness and perfection would be inherited by all who place their trust in Jesus’ work.  This way to God would eliminate the need for priests and for sacrifices.  By making the Temple and the priesthood of no affect, the old way of being right with God through obedience to laws and regulations was replaced by faith in Christ's work on the cross.  The priests realized Paul is a threat to the status quo in Israel.  As the scriptures say, When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete.  It is now out of date and will soon disappear.  (Hebrew 8:13)  Well  then, how about the necessity for being obedient to every jot and tittle of the the law.  We find that in Christ;  Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)  Jesus because he was sinless, set apart from sinners, satisfied the law completely.  No man or woman can do that, as Jesus said himself, call no one good.  However, Jesus tells us, I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 5:20)  We know the Pharisees were extremely righteous outwardly, giving even a tenth of their spices to God so that they might be right with God.  But we also know their hearts were far from God; nevertheless, following the law was their expertise.  We are to be better than they, but Jesus is the completion of the law.  He fulfilled the intent of the law outwardly and inwardly.  Consequently, we who are IN CHRIST through faith fulfill the law completely, facing God with HIS PERFECTION, not by our works of the flesh.

Paul, a man who zealously followed Jesus and propagated the message of Jesus Christ as the Messiah was now in the hands of the Roman government, people who could execute him legally.  He would live from this time on in chains.  He would write a few of his letters that are part of our Bible in chains: Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon.  His ministry of the Good News would never cease until his death around 64-68. A.D.  As he wrote to the Corinthians his life was not easy.  Preaching the Good News of eternal life to all who would believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior was full of trouble and potential disaster.  To the Corinthians we hear Paul enumerate to them the reasons that he deserves to be treated as a true apostle sent by God.  He lays down his credentials before them of being an apostle they should honor.  I have worked much harder (than other esteemed apostles).  I have been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.  Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?  Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?  (2 Corinthians 21-29)  Paul definitely was weak in many ways.  He carried a physical weakness throughout his missionary journeys.  This physical weakness attacked his self-esteem.  He healed others, yet physical imperfection was evident by all who met him.  He could not find healing for his own body.  In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)  We see in this quote that Paul carries other weaknesses in the flesh, maybe from beatings and mistreatment, but he also carries weakness in the spirit too, for he had to endure the insults and damaging words to his spirit.  We do not know much about what he thought in the midst of attacks, but we do know that in Philippi he refused to disappear from their city until the leaders acknowledged their illegal act.  Otherwise, he was angry and disgusted with them.  But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison.  And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?  No!  Let them come themselves and escort us out.”  (Acts 16:37)  We see places in the Bible where Paul is angry with the world and with Christians.  Paul’s attitude and demeanor did not always reflect the grace of Jesus Christ on the cross: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.  (Luke 23:34)  Often he wanted justice, correct decisions of his role in life.  Consequently, we now see him in the hands of the Romans until his death.  He appeals to Caesar to get the justice he deserves.  

What other weaknesses does Paul consider to be part of his life?   We do not know, but we do know he received a message from the Lord that My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  This statement separates Paul’s work from God’s work.  Grace is a gift, a present to us because of God’s goodness to us.  It cannot be earned, neither can our well-being in the flesh nor our spirits indicate how much grace we are receiving from God.  Paul struggles many times in his life with fear and anxiety.  As with Elijah, a man of many wonders, Paul is sometimes weak with fear and anxiety, weaknesses he carried throughout his life.  We see Elijah fearful after God performed a mighty miracle on Mount Carmel, revealing himself as the only true God.  The 450 priests of Baal were killed by Elijah and his followers.  Such a carnage of the followers of Baal made Ahab and Jezebel swear revenge on Elijah; they wanted his head.  Elijah was afraid of their power so he ran for his life.  (1King 19:3)  Paul also ran for his life a few times, after learning people in a community where he was ministering intended to kill him.  These two men of God were powerful men.  They performed marvelous deeds, but even after the miracles they performed, their flesh often felt God could not protect them from fleshly men.  However, in their weaknesses, God’s power is made perfect.  God uses his presence in them to perform HIS MARVELOUS DEEDS in the world.  We must always remember, when we seem most weak, lacking faith or spiritual health, God’s strength is made strong in our weaknesses.  Why?  Because we possess the enduring love of God because of his unmerited grace given to us.  Elijah, Moses and all the prophets possessed this unmerited love from God.  Paul possessed that same love because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Paul was hidden IN CHRIST’S DEEDS, not in his own work.  So, in his weaknesses, Christ's work in him becomes strong, taking over for Paul’s frailty.  A famous radio preacher who is now deceased proclaimed that smoking was a habit that he could not put aside.  He smoked all of his life.  He knew this habit was bad for his health and was in many ways a detriment to his claim that faith brought victory in people’s lives.  Yet, smoking was part of his life.  But grace is God’s gift, not something we earn, and that grace is power in our lives.  This minister brought many people to the realization that through faith in Jesus Christ comes a new life.  We who are around this breakfast table have many weaknesses in our lives.  Sometimes these weaknesses prevent us from associating freely and without guilt with other Christians.  We often think, if others only knew us dressed in our weaknesses, they would not want to associate with us as a Christian.  By thinking this way, we are belittling the grace of God that is given to us through the works of Christ on the cross.  Being right with God is a very simple step, Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.  (John 5:24)  Friends around this table, do you believe the truth, are you a follower of Jesus Christ?  Do you believe God sent Jesus to earth to lead people from death to life?  If you do, you are saved, possessing RIGHT NOW eternal life.  Paul is going to Caesarea with eternal life throbbing in him.  He will follow the steps that God has planned for him in his life.  He will end up this fleshly life in chains, but God will say to him, Well done, my good and faithful servant.  Paul’s weaknesses did not deter him from accepting God’s role for his life.  Dear friends, do not push your weaknesses in front of doing the will of God in your life.    

   

  

Acts 23:12-22 Understand and Do Good!

Acts 23:12-22  The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.  More than forty men were involved in this plot.  They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul.  Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case.  We are ready to kill him before he gets here.”  But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul.  Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.”  So he took him to the commander.  The centurion said, “Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”  The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, “What is it you want to tell me?”  He said: “Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him.  Don’t give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him.  They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him.  They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request.”  The commander dismissed the young man with this warning: “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this to me.”

In the above scenario we see something very sad.  The chief priests and the elders are willing to deceive, to lie, for the sake of murdering Paul.  They are the leading spiritual leaders of Israel, yet they are willing to lie for their own purposes.  Jesus identified their hearts when He told them that their father was not Abraham but the devil.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  (John 8:44)  The devil speaks his native or natural language.  Now we see the leaders of Israel speaking the devil’s native language.  The Sanhedrin will ask the Roman commander to have Paul come before them, wanting more accurate information about his case.  Of course this is a lie.  They wanted to kill Paul, an innocent man who had done no wrong against them or anyone else.  But their father the devil is also a murderer.  He caused Abel’s blood to be spilt by Cain.  Cain, because he was envious of Abel whose gift was accept by God as being good, desired to murder Abel.  By doing this he mutinied again the basic tenant given by God to all humans: to love and take care of others as we love ourselves and take care of ourselves.  Human interactions with others should be based on love, not hate.  God is love; the devil is hate.  Cain was jealous of his brother so he killed Abel.  The priests in Jesus’ time were jealous of Jesus’ huge crowds so they killed him.  We then discover the leading priests’ were jealous of the disciples in Jerusalem after Jesus was executed.  The disciples were healing people, casting out demons.  Many gathered around the disciples, listening to their ministry about Jesus being the Messiah.  When the Sanhedrin saw these large crowds around the disciples, they were filled with jealousy.  Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.  (Acts 5:17)  As with Cain the leading priests decided on murdering Jesus’ followers as a solution to snuffing out the Christian cult to Judaism.  In the above focus we see the Sanhedrin repeating this idea of killing Christianity by doing away with those who ministered the Good News.  They wanted Paul killed.  However their scheme was thwarted by Paul’s nephew.  Paul's nephew exposed their plan to a Roman officer. To the credit of the Roman centurion, he believed the boy and relayed his information of the conspiracy to kill Paul to the Commander of the base.

The Jews' hearts were hardened to the Good News, a salvation message that would make them right with God.  They rejected the idea that Jesus was the Messiah sent to them from God.  Jesus revealed himself as the Messiah through healing and miracles.  The Jews saw him do many supernatural things that no man from the beginning of time had done.  However their unwillingness to believe Jesus as the Messiah was prophesied by Isaiah.   Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: “‘Go to this people and say,“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”  For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’" (Acts 28:25-27)  God’s chosen, the treasure of God’s heart, were often very far away from following God the Creator of all things.  In their prayers the priests would affirm God as the Creator of all things, but their lifestyles were filled with other gods.  You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.  (Jeremiah 11:13)  Even though God had rescued the Israelites from slavery, even though He gave them a land of milk and honey, their hearts were adulterous, filled with envy for other gods.  The carnal nations around them served gods that made it possible for the carnal nature of man to be free to do the evil things lurking in their hearts: lust, debauchery, depravity, murder.  These idols they worshipped freed their flesh from obeying or recognizing the righteous Creator of all that exists.  The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,  since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  (Romans 1:18-20)  God’s treasured people fell into worshipping idols. They broke their covenant with God, Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant— the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’  I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.  Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.”  (Jeremiah 11:3-5)  For a time they lost their land of milk and honey, but now in Jesus and Paul’s time we see them in the land of Israel, no longer with idol worship, but John the Baptist and Jesus said that his covenant people were living in hypocrisy.  They failed to serve God with their hearts, not seeing the grace and mercy of God, not the Messiah who would lead them out of slavery to their fleshly wills.  Jesus said of them, They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!  (Mark 4:12)  (Isaiah 6:9)  The Jews unwillingness to accept Jesus as their Messiah would cause them much sorrow in their immediate future.  The Romans would come and destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D.

This hardness of the heart of the Jews follows Paul throughout his missionary journeys throughout Arabia and Macedonia.  From the very beginning of his outreach to these lands he would be harassed by the Jews.  He had been a faithful Jew, a follower of God from his early childhood.  He lived a life of zealousness to Judaism.  To preserve the purity of Judaism, he persecuted and destroyed the lives of anyone who dared to corrupt God’s covenant with the Jewish people.  But his jealousness for Judaism was disarmed by Jesus on the road to Damascus.  A new assignment was given to him by Jesus.  He would be a point man in telling the world that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Messiah sent from God and that through Jesus Christ alone would come to people the mercy and grace of God.  However, he learned quickly his ministry of the Good News from God would be opposed by the Jews everywhere he went.  In his first missionary journey, the fierceness of the Jewish opposition to the Good News would be revealed.  In  Pisidian of Antioch, his ministry was new and exciting to many people, but the Jews refuted his ministry.  On the next Sabbath (in Pisidian Antioch) almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.  When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy.  They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.  Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first.  Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.  (Acts 13:44-46)  Paul left Antioch and went to Iconium to minister the Good News, but there he met opposition by not only the Jews but the Gentiles.  There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.  But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the gospel.  (Acts 14:5-7)  However in Lystra, the Jews from Antioch and Iconium came to Lystra to quell Paul’s teaching of the Good News of Jesus being the Messiah sent from God.  Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over.  They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.  (Acts 14:9)  They stoned Paul to the point they thought he was dead, but he revived, went back into the city, encouraging the converts there and then went back through Iconium and Antioch to encourage the believers there to follow Jesus.  Even though threatened with death, Paul strongly carried the message of redemption through Jesus Christ the Lord to these communities.  The threat of death was not going to deter him from spreading the Good News of how to be right with God and how to inherit eternal life with God.  He willingly spread this Good News throughout his missionary journeys.  On his third and final journey, he once again felt the hand of opposition, this time from the Gentiles.  In Philippi, the Gentiles rebelled against Paul and Silas, beating them with rods and throwing them in jail, broken and bruised, but God delivered them out of that jail by an earthquake.  In this incident in Philippi, we hear the succinct message of how to be right with God.  Paul's words to a fearful jailer of how to be saved are very direct and simple, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”  Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.  (Acts 16:31-32)  These words of redemption were opposed by the Jews who wished to kill Paul.  They could not accept the idea that there was any other way to be right with God other than their own efforts of following the commandments and regulations given to Moses on Sinai.  For them their own righteousness would give them right standing with God.  However the scriptures point out in God’s righteous view of mankind, There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.  (Romans 3:11-12)  Dear friends around this breakfast table, do you believe that?  Do you believe God’s gift of Jesus Christ is THE WAY to be right with him?  Or, are you still putting up your effort of works to please him?  We are confident that you are placing your trust in Jesus and not your works.  The way to be right with God is to accept his gift of deliverance through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen!      

 

  

Acts 23:1-11 Take Courage; Go in Peace!

Acts 23:1-11  Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.  Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”  Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!  ”Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”  Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees.  I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”  When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.  (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.) There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said.  “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”  The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them.  He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.   The  following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.

Paul has been arrested by the Romans.  As with Pilate and with Jesus, the officer of the Roman army had no real specific reason why the crowd was so angry with Paul.  He thought Paul must have done something very wicked to have a mob trying to kill him.  Therefore, he arrested Paul and now the next day, he gathered together the Sanhedrin to figure out the specific charges against Paul.  The Sanhedrin consisted of senior Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law.  They were the ruling class in the Jewish society.  The majority of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees.  They were the administers of the Temple; the high priests always came from their sect.  Since they disparaged the idea of a resurrection of the dead and almost anything else that was considered supernatural beyond the concept of a God, they were very hostile to the preaching of a resurrected Jesus.  The high priest's anger surfaces immediately when Paul tries to address why he serves God as a Christian.  At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.  Paul responds harshly against the high priest’s command to have him struck, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  However, he is reminded quickly that he was violating God’s command about submission to authorities.  How dare you insult God’s high priest!   Paul repents, he knows what the laws states about insulting leaders.  Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.  (Exodus 22:28)   When Jesus is arrested, He is very quiet before Pilate, a legitimate authority of Rome.  Jesus tells Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.  Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”  (John 19:11)  Jesus is before Pilate because of the demands of the ruling class in Jerusalem, especially the priesthood.  These leaders will receive a harsh judgment by God because of their intense hatred of Jesus’ teachings and of his popularity with the people.  After Jerusalem falls at the hands of the Romans in 70 A.D., the priesthood disappears as the religious leaders of the Jews.  The priesthood who put Jesus in the hands of the Romans to be executed were the people culpable for the death of Jesus on the cross. The ones who handed me over to you are guilty of a greater sin.  Pilate’s part in the killing of Jesus was not ignored by Jesus, but the leaders of the Jewish society were the most responsible for his execution.  This submission to authorities is part of the Jewish covenant, but we see even in the New Testament disciples striking back at authority.  Peter and John slap the Sanhedrin in the face by saying, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?  You be the judges!   As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  (Acts 4:20)  Paul disobeys the leaders in Philippi when they wanted Paul and Silas to leave their town quietly,  The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released.  Now you can leave.  Go in peace.  ”But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison.  And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?  No!  Let them come themselves and escort us out.”  (Acts 16:36-37)  In the Old Testament we see the Israelite army going against many leaders of the world.  In fact they fought seven Gentile nations to occupy Canaan.  The Lord said the land of Canaan was ready for conquest because these nations had filled their cups of wickedness to the brim.  Paul understood the benefits of order and authority, so he repented for his vehemence against the High Priest; he knew God was in control of his situation.  

Jesus violated the Sabbath many times, but He was the author of life, the creator of the Sabbath.  He was the Lord of the Sabbath, and in a spiritual sense THE SABBATH.  He is the Lord; IN HIM there is no more struggle to be pleasing with God.  Jesus also fought earthly leadership sometimes.  When He enters the Temple, He disrupts the environment and activity in the Temple.   He has no earthly authority to do anything in the Temple that is disruptive.  On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?  But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”  (Mark 11:15-17)  This action of Jesus, his audaciousness, must have angered the High Priest greatly, for he was the chief administer of the Temple.  What he allowed to take place in the Temple was his decision, not Jesus’ decision.  Jesus had absolutely no right to disrupt any activity in the Temple.  For the High Priest, Jesus was but a man from Galilee, considered a disreputable part of Israel.  However, the Sadducees sect knew of Jesus having a very large following.  They were envious of his gatherings of huge crowds, so they attacked Jesus’ teachings anytime they got the opportunity.  They and the Pharisees criticized Jesus for frequently breaking the Sabbath rules.  Jesus said his Father was always at work; therefore, so was He.  He did many miracles on the Sabbath.  The Sadducees questioned Jesus about the resurrection from the dead, a belief they held to be of superstition.  Jesus responds to their question about the resurrection from the dead by pointing out in their readings of the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible, that God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’.  He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”  (Matthew 22:29)  Of course the Sadducees sect is well versed in the Old Testament.  Jesus tells them that God is the I AM God of the living, not the dead; Abraham and Issac are still alive even though their bodies have been buried.  Paul before the Sanhedrin knows it consists of Sadducees, Pharisees, and teachers of the Law.  He also knows they are in disagreement in theology.  Paul takes full advantage of their theological differences by claiming, My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees.  I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.  Of course that statement is not absolutely true; the  Pharisees who believe in the resurrection were also foes of Paul’s teachings, for they believed Paul was belittling or avoiding the importance of the law in his ministry.  Consequently, this statement of Paul incited a violent disruption in the Sanhedrin.  The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them.  He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.  Sadly with all humans, even priests, strong beliefs are often backed up by violence.  Even in churches of the Living God today this remedy of violence to support faith in Christ is implied some times as healthy.

After this commotion in the Sanhedrin, Paul is now alone in his cell, probably filled with anxiety about his future.  The Sanhedrin is a formidable foe as Jesus found out before his execution.  What they desire for Paul, his murder, might be reluctantly carried out by the Romans to please the rulers of the Jews.  Pilate executed Jesus for that reason, to pacify the leadership of the Jews.  However, Jesus never abandons his children and in this case He comes to Paul and tells him, Take courage!  As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.  (Acts 23:11)  Jesus tells Paul he has a future, that his life will not end before he testifies in Rome.  Of course these words comforted Paul, knowing that this ordeal he was in the midst of would not end in death.  God, as with us, is in control; He knows the number of our days.  Paul knew the voice of God, for he had heard it many times in his life.  When in midst of serious trouble in Corinth, the Lord came to him in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”  So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.  (Acts 18:9-11)  Now alone in his cell, under the arrest of the Romans, he is once again encouraged to be strong under strong opposition.  God is asking him to keep on speaking, do not be silent.  And as we see Paul journeying to Rome, he keeps on speaking about the Good News; he is never quieted by fear.  Even when shipwrecked off the coast of Malta, Paul is magnifying the name of Jesus.  He tells the crew before the ship is grounded off the island that God is with them and that none of them will lose their lives if they stay with the ship.  Paul is never quieted by fear.  He is following the tradition of the prophets of old.  When God confronted Jeremiah with the fact that He has chosen Jeremiah to be his voice to the people, He tells him, “Get yourself ready!  Stand up and say to them whatever I command you.  Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.  Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.  They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.  (Jeremiah 1:17-19)  Paul is facing the same mission that God gave Jeremiah: you will stand against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.  Paul stood before governors, kings, magistrates, Roman officers, and the riotous people to deliver God’s Good News to the world.  “Do not be afraid” rang in his ears daily.  He served God with diligence and faithfulness.  We who are around this breakfast table have the same commission, “Do not be afraid”, be found with the poor, the hurting, the fearful, the lost.  I am in the midst of these people, says the Lord.  Do not be quieted, no matter if there is a shipwreck ahead, stay on your mission.  You who participate in this breakfast have a heart to fill your days with the goodness of the Lord.  As you sit in your homes, as Jesus said to Paul, Take courage, I am with you and I will direct your path, all  the way to Rome.  God bless you in your journey.   

Acts 22:22-30 Display Fruit in Your Life!

Acts 22:22-30  The crowd listened to Paul until he said this.   Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him!  He’s not fit to live!”  As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.  He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.  As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”  When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it.  “What are you going to do?” he asked.  “This man is a Roman citizen.”  The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”  “Yes, I am,” he answered.  Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”  “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.  Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately.   The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.  The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews.  So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble.  Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.

At the end of Paul’s explanation of his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus, he mentioned that Jesus sent him to the Gentiles to preach the Good News.  This comment infuriates the mob.   “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”  (Acts 22:21)  For them Christianity was an apostate religion, attacking Judaism as the only way to be right with God.  For the Jews anything less or more than following the laws and regulations given by Moses was an anathema.  Consequently, they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him!  He’s not fit to live!”  As angry as bulls in a bullring, they threw dust in the air and snorted the fire of judgment on Paul.  “Get rid of him!”  To calm down the riotous crowd, the commander of the Roman’s soldiers arrested Paul and brought him into the barracks.  He assumed Paul had to be a dangerous criminal, a threat in someway to the community of Jews.  To find out what criminality Paul had done to the Jewish community, he ordered his officer to interrogate Paul by flogging him.  He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.  But the officer in charge of the effort to find the truth of Paul’s misdeeds discovered that Paul is a Roman citizen.  To punish a Roman citizen before giving him his right to defend himself before a magistrate or responsible authorities was an illegal act, and probably carried severe consequences from Rome to those who allowed such a scene.  Therefore, when the commander heard that Paul was a citizen of the Roman Empire from birth, he grew fearful.  His soldiers when hearing that Paul was a citizen withdrew immediately from the scene.  The Commander rescinded his order of flogging but kept Paul in custody.  The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews.  So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble.  Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.  Paul had been punished many times, in many cities, for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ being the Lord.  He was on a mission to reconcile all people to the Creator.  This message resonated with many Jews and Gentiles.  However, most of the Jews in these Greek communities where he ministered were very hostile to the message that Jesus was and is the long awaited Messiah promised in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.  They considered the preaching of Jesus being the Messiah was an apostate message, a cruel hoax upon those who would accept such deviation from serving God through laws and regulations.  But Paul’s message revolved around John 3:16-18: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  For the Jew this theme of the Good News of Christ only put away their efforts to be right with God through obedience to the law and its regulations.  Something they could not accept.

Paul’s message was straightforward: you must be born again to be right with God.  The blessings of God would come only to those who are in right standing with him, and that does not come through obedience to the law and its commands and regulations.  No man can stand before God in right standing with him through their own effort.  Why?  Because mankind can never fulfill the complete requirements of the law.  Jesus told the people who were listening to his sermon on the Mount that you must be perfect as God is perfect.  No flaw of human nature will ever enter the kingdom of God; eternity will not accept imperfection of any kind.  Therefore, Paul preached that only Christ fulfills that requirement of being perfect to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Only those who find themselves IN CHRIST through faith in his work on the cross will be introduced to God by Jesus the Christ.  The Kingdom of God will be the home of those who are as God is: perfect.  Jesus said, people must be born again; they cannot come to God in their old tent of the flesh.  Paul says, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)   As Jonah said after being rescued from the depth of the ocean, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”  (Jonah 2:9)  New life comes only through the Lord; no other activity or idea can save a person from the depths of sin.  Only God has the power to conquer evil.  David met Goliath with a mere sling.  He faced the giant not with strength of his own, no physical power or dexterity to defeat this symbol of the enemy.  David proclaims by faith,  “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.  This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”  (1 Samuel 17:45-47)  Jesus would not knuckle under to Satan’s power either.  In the wilderness, weak with hunger, he wields the sword of God’s word toward Satan, Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!  For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.  (Matthew 4:10)  As David, Jesus seems weak, but faith in the mighty power of God makes all believers strong and dangerous to the devil.  Paul puts this new power of a Christian very succinctly, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  The old life, the old tent is controlled by the works of the devil: filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice; slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; inventing ways of doing evil; disobeying parents.  In the devil’s control, they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  Romans (1:29-31) Salvation in Christ brings a new life to us in the present, not later but now, a new life has begun.  In this new life we have a responsibility to that new creature inside of us.  We are to keep in step with the Holy Spirit.  The display of God’s Spirit will emanate from our new creation: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23) Our tent will be different from all the others in the wilderness.

When the children of Israel were released from Egypt and after they cross the Red Sea, they lived in tents.  When they would settle down, hundreds of tents would spring up in that hot, dry land.  But there was always one tent that would be different; it would be called the Tabernacle of God.  In this tent, the voice of the Lord would dwell.  The Tabernacle might not have looked a lot different from the other tents, except for its size, but it was completely different, for a new and different life was inside that tent.  Moses would enter that tent often to hear the voice of God, to find the direction to the Holy Land and to deal with the rambunctious nature of the people he was leading to Canaan.  As a friend of God he entered the presence of God often.  He was always in the reconciling mode of delivering the Israelites to God.  We who are alive in the Spirit possess the power and presence of God all of the time.  We are the tabernacle that crossed the wilderness.   In us exists the voice of God.  And as Moses, we are in the reconciling business.  Paul writes to the Corinthians of our responsibility to God, to display God to others and to call them to be reconciled to the living God.  God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)  We see after the cross, God is not counting people’s sins against them, for Christ has paid the full price of redemption for every soul.  But then what does God count against us?   God will not allow anyone to come in their own clothing, their own tent, even though cleaned up.  The marriage feast is for those who come in the clothing of the Holy One Jesus Christ.  His garment is the appropriate one in the kingdom.  What is the ultimate sin, rejecting the gift God has given us.  The gift of Jesus on the cross was for all of mankind; He alone paid the ransom cost for for every person.  God is merciful and loving to even the worst of humans.  Jonah was extremely angry because God was merciful to a city that represented the darkness of evil: Nineveh.  Jonah had paid a tremendous price to cry out to the people of Nineveh of God’s impending judgment on them.  Jonah had spent three days in a large fish, a sentence of death on him from God. Now he is disgusted with God for treating this city with mercy rather than judgment.  God tells Jonah of his everlasting mercy to the wicked to help stifle Jonah's anger about life, should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”  (Jonah 4:10-11)  God’s mercy to a world in darkness has been revealed to us through the gift of his Son on the cross.  Paul tells us to  conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.  We are to stay in our reconciling mission, even loving our enemies, the Nineveh’s of the world, regardless of the cost.  In the above focus, we see Paul once again in the hands of the enemies of God, but Paul’s stays on course, for he must go to Rome and reconcile others to God.  Friends around this table, let that be your mission today: fulfill God’s plan for your lives regardless of the cost.  

       

    

Acts 22:1-21 You Will Rejoice!

Acts 22:1-21  Then Paul said: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city.  I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.  I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.  I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify.  I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.  “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.  I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul!  Saul!  Why do you persecute me?’   “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.“  ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.  My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.  “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus.  There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’  My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.  “A man named Ananias came to see me.  He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’  And at that very moment I was able to see him. Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  And now what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’  Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  And now what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’“  When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me.  ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’  “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.  And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’  “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

In the above scene, Paul speaks to the mob who attempted to kill him.  Paul is rescued by Roman soldiers, carried on their shoulders into the barracks.  Because Paul wanted to speak to these rioters, the Roman commander allowed him to do so.  Paul addresses the mob in Aramaic, causing the riotous crowd to calm down.  By speaking to the angry crowd,  Paul probably thought he could alter these people's view of him by speaking of his conversion.  He first relates how he was as zealous about Judaism as any of them, for he studied under the prestigious Gamaliel.  He was trained well in the law and the Jewish traditions.  His Judaic zeal was so great that he persecuted and killed the apostate Christians.  I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.  He went on to say that one day his attitude towards Christians and Jesus changed completely.  He was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians there and to bring them back in chains to Jerusalem.  However, as his companions and he were approaching Damascus, they were confronted by a brilliant light, so powerful that they all fell down.  Then he alone heard a voice out of that light, ‘Saul!  Saul!  Why do you persecute me?’  He asked who He was and he told him, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.  Paul alone was struck blind by this light.  After this confrontation he was helplessly blind, needing his companions to escort him to Damascus.  In Damascus A man named Ananias came to see me (him), one who was well versed in the law and the Jewish traditions, well respected in the Jewish community.  He laid his hands on him and prayed, immediately his sight was restored and he was filled with the Spirit of God.  Then he told him that Jesus, the Lord, had commissioned him to know his will and to hear words directly from Jesus’ mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  Paul more than any of the other disciples will hear of God’s mysterious plan formulated from the beginning of time to save humans from destruction through the works of his Son, Jesus Christ.  

Because of the hardness of the hearts of the Jews and because their ears have been stopped and their eyes have been blinded by their own efforts to please God, Paul is sent to the Gentiles.  Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.  This statement enrages the Jews who are listening.  They consider themselves as the only people who are right with God because of their knowledge of the law and its regulations.  But Jesus knew their leaders were hypocrites, for they were not living up to their knowledge; they were not close to God but far away from him.  Their allegiance was to their heritage of being children of Abraham, but not to the God of eternity.  They lacked the love and mercy of the grace of God; instead they viewed God as rigid and demanding, the mercy of God was pushed aside in their thinking.  As we see in the above scene, God has a timetable for everything that is happening on earth.  Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately.  We see the Lord telling Paul to hurry.  Why hurry?  God is in charge of happenings on earth, why quick?  But the events on earth are on God’s timesheet, not man’s.  The Lord wanted Paul to move quickly into addressing the needs of the Gentile world, not to be lethargic and lazy in fulfilling God’s will for his life.  In Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25 about the master going away to a far country, the master gives three servants bags of silver according to their abilities.  One is given 5 bags of silver, another two bags of silver, and one was given one bag of silver.  The first two doubled the amount given to them by the master, but the third lived his own life in the way he desired.  He buried the money so that he would have it when the master returned.  But the judgment of the master of the third servant was very harsh.  Wicked and lazy, the third servant lived his life, indulging himself with the things of this world.  He was a worthless servant, not doing the will of the Master.  Paul was directed away from his self-life by the Lord.  Quick, get moving now.  The timetables for our lives are on God’s agenda for us: his will, not ours.  If He calls, we should answer quickly.  Paul answers and goes back to the Gentiles.  We see God’s timetable for people everywhere in the Bible.  A good example of God’s timing is Peter’s escape from prison.  When the angel enters his cell as Peter was sleeping, waiting to be executed the next day, we hear the angel tell Peter, Quick, get up!  God had a timetable for Peter, and He wanted Peter out of that jail immediately.  He had a purpose for Peter to fulfill in his life.  Peter was not to die that day.  Peter would be used to open the mystery of God of his salvation plan for all people on the face of the earth.  Cornelius and his household would all receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the same gift the apostles received on Pentecost.  Peter was not to die as James did by Herod’s hand; instead, he would continue on with his life, fulfilling God’s agenda for his life.  He would not be put in the category of a worthless servant, experiencing life for his own benefit.  No, he would live his life to express the will of God to all people.  Sometimes the will of God is not to move on so quickly.  We discover this idea in Paul’s experience in Philippi.  He was beaten with rods and thrown in jail.  This was illegal in a Roman city: to beat a Roman citizen before a trial to defend himself.  When the city officials realized what they had done, they were fearful of consequences from Rome, so they released Paul and Silas, wishing for them to move on to the next city, but Paul rejected this idea to move on quickly.  But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison.  And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?  No!  Let them come themselves and escort us out.”  (Acts 16:37)  He forced the leaders of the city to humiliate themselves by admitting they were in the wrong.  He placed fear of retribution on their heads: something they would have to live with the rest of their time in power.  God has his timetable for all of us, either to move on quickly or wait for what God wants in our lives.  We are God’s servant, not our own servant.  We are to live for his glory regardless of the consequences in our lives.

Abraham was chosen by God to be a man of faith.  By trusting in God’s love, way before the regulations and commandment of the law, he received the mercy and grace of God, a mercy that would cover all people on the earth if they would put their trust in God's love for them, which today comes through trusting Jesus the Christ and his work of love on the cross.  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.  (Genesis 18:18)  In today’s focus we see Paul carrying out the promise of God through Abraham, to bless all people on the face of the earth.  Paul is sent to the Gentiles; his focus in life is to spread the Good News to those who were living in darkness.  They were humans under the power of sin.  Their lives reflected the devil and his character.  As Paul tells the Galatians, The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  (Galatians 5:19-21)  Paul’s ministry was reaching into this dark world.  The devil did not like this invasion of his territory, so he had placed a target on Paul’s life.  Paul never knew whether death would catch up with him by the hands of the wicked.  But, he was unwilling to cease his ministry because he had seen the risen Christ, just as the apostles had seen the risen Christ after his death on the cross.  They, except John, would die violent deaths without recanting, for they had seen the risen Christ.  As Jesus was talking to the apostles about his death and his subsequent resurrection, He tells them Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.  (John 16:22)  No persecution, no threat of death, no death can take away your joy of seeing me alive after the crucifixion.  This joy will abide with you through all your trials and tribulations.  Paul knew this peace and joy the disciples felt, for he too had seen the risen Savior.  He too had heard his voice, and he too would know the purpose of Jesus Christ on earth.  He explains very clearly to the Colossians who Jesus is and why He came to earth.  The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.   For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  (Colossians 1:15-20)  Paul knew God was in the reconciling business in the telling of the Good News.  Friends around this breakfast table, you are the good news, the reconciled ones that God has chosen through Christ from the beginning of time.  You are the ones God will honor before all angels and principalities of the unseen world.  Just as God the Father loves his only begotten son, He loves you in the same way.  Jesus’ love for you was so great that even when you were enemies of his He died for you.  Paul was stopped on the road to Damascus; he a flaming enemy of Christ.  God said to him, Saul, why are you persecuting me, why not submit to my will and have eternal peace with God.  Paul was struck blind, but when his eyes were opened he was filled with the Spirit of God.  The purpose of his life was laid out to him by Ananias. So dear friends today is a good day to GET UP!