The Acts of the Apostles- 94

Subtitle:  Paul Arrives in Rome

Acts 28:11-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 2, 2025.

The first part of this passage deals with Paul’s itinerary from the island of Malta to the city of Rome.  They had wintered on Malta for about 3 months, but now it was time to get these prisoners to Rome. 

They finish the trip from Malta to Rome (v. 11-16)

You can go to https://bibleatlas.org/ to see these locations.  From Malta, they sail north to the island of Sicily.  There they stay three days in the town of Syracuse.  They then sail along the southeastern coast of Sicily headed towards the Strait of Messian.  They spend a day docked at the town of Rhegium, which is on the tip of the “boot” of Italy.  They then take advantage of a south wind (blowing north) and head up the western coast of modern-day Italy.  They dock at a town called Puteoli and end up staying there seven days.  From here, they will travel to Rome by land.

In Puteoli, they found brethren (other believers in Jesus).  It is probably through them that word is sent ahead to the Christians in Rome.

As they travel to Rome, we are told that the brethren came out to meet them as far away as the Market of Appius, which was about 43 miles from Rome.  This would be similar to the Rome custom of greeting a hero, or emperor, coming home to Rome from war.  Of course, there is a lot of irony in the fact that Paul is in chains and on his way to Rome as a prisoner.  From the viewpoint of believers, this makes him a hero, but from the Roman pagan mentality, he is not a hero.

Verse 15 tells us that Paul thanked God and took courage when he saw them.  Though he is experiencing a situation that would discourage most people, we see him being encouraged by God through many means: angel visits, dreams, help from unbelievers, and help from other believers.  God can and does employ a multitude of ways to help His followers.

It is easy to lose sight of the humanity of a man like Paul.  If you tell someone to follow Paul’s example, or Moses, or Elijah, they typically scoff it off.  “He was a saint!  I’m not.”  Of course, all Christians are saints, i.e., people who have been set apart by God for His purposes.   But, it is easy to be derisive of such encouragement.  We feel like there is no way that we can relate with a man like Paul.

When Paul is coming to Rome, he is a saint of God who is being faithful to his calling in the face of persecution.  However, these people meeting him are just as much saints as he is.  Paul was encouraged because a part of him was struggling with the difficulty of everything.  He is just a man, needing God’s encouragement through whatever means it might come.  Do you think that the Holy Spirit may have stirred their hearts to travel 40 miles in order to walk back to Rome with Paul?

We need to pay attention to this area of being encouraged because the enemy wants us to be discouraged and quit the work of God, or at least become paralyzed.  Many of the encouraging things above cannot be controlled (angel visitations, what others do, etc.)  However, there are somethings that are intended to encourage us, and they are completely in our control (at least, generally).  We can read the Scriptures like this story and be encouraged that the same God who helped Paul is working in our life.  We can pray to God and be encouraged by the Holy Spirit in our hearts.  We can also be intentional in connecting with other believers.  God intends for us to encourage one another.

They arrive at Rome.  Paul is not handed over to the captain of the guard.  Instead, he is allowed to rent a place where he can stay under the guard of a soldier.  This treatment is most likely because Centurion Julius doesn’t think Paul is a flight risk and has requested this kinder treatment.

Paul calls for the leaders of the Jews of Rome  (v. 17-22)

Paul would normally visit the synagogue on Saturday, but he is under house arrest.  Therefore, he sends word to the Jewish leaders, asking them to meet with him.

When they arrive, he begins by explaining that he has done nothing against “our people” and the “customs of our fathers.”  These counteract the main charges against Paul that have circulated throughout the Jewish communities.  They accused him of being a traitor and undermining the Mosaic laws, as well as trying to destroy the temple.

Yet, he has still been delivered into the hands of the Romans as a prisoner by the Jews of Jerusalem.  He also mentions that the Romans were of the mind to set him free due to the fact that there were no grounds to keep him.  Yet, the Jerusalem leaders objected so much to a release that Paul had to appeal to Caesar.  In all of this, Paul makes it clear that he does not intend to lay a charge against Jerusalem before Caesar.  He will only present his innocence.

He tells them that he is wearing these chains for the sake of the “Hope of Israel.”  His faith and belief in the Hope of Israel is at the foundation of why he is there.  There are many things that we can point to as a hope of Israel, but most of these are things that they are hoping for. 

The hope of Israel is another way of referencing the God of Israel.  This is seen in the book of Jeremiah.  Look at Jeremiah 14:7-9, particularly verse 8.  Jeremiah addresses God as such.  “O Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?”  Again in Jeremiah 17:13-14, we see, “O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be put to shame.”  Ultimately God Himself was the Hope of Israel.  God had also promised an Anointed Son who would redeem Israel and set all things right in the world.  The Messiah then, by extension, becomes the particular means by which the Hope of Israel had promised to help and to save them.

Israel was still giving at least lip-service to the hope of Messiah’s arrival.  Of course, this hope was realized in Jesus, that is the point.  Jesus was the Messiah, the Hope of Israel.  Yet, the leaders were not having anything with that belief.  They rejected Jesus as anything but a heretic.

Let me just say that Jesus is the Hope of Israel, but he is also the Hope of Everett, WA.  He is the Hope of these Fractured States of America.  He is the Hope of every nation under the sun.  If we are to be mistreated and looked down upon, let it be for the sake of the Hope of America.

Yet, there is a personal thing here too.  The Hope of Israel has become the Hope of Paul.  How?  It has become so by faith.  He has put his faith in Jesus.  He has believed God’s witness of His Son.

If a person is connect to Hope with a capital “H”, then they have nothing to doubt or fear.  Yes, in our mortal flesh, we will feel doubts and fears, but the Hope of Jesus is there to keep us out of bondage.  By his Spirit, he helps us to fight through those doubts and fears.  Paul was a man just like you and me.  Yes, I can sense your eyes rolling. So, what is the secret?  Quit looking at the chains and start looking to Jesus.  Quit connecting to the doubts and fears and start connecting to the Hope of the World.

The Jewish leaders tell Paul that no letters or men have arrived in Rome.  They have heard nothing about his case.  This may be because they know they have no case and fear standing before Caesar “wasting his time.”  It may also be that they think the problem will go away now that Paul is removed from the equation.

Of course, the work of Christ is not dependent upon any one person, even the Apostle Paul.  Paul is important and you are important.  Jesus works in and through all of his followers.  However, no matter what happens to me, the work of Jesus will continue where he wants it to do so.  The enemy can do his best to get rid of this person or that person because of their effectiveness.  But, this will never stop the work of our Lord Jesus.

We need to adopt this attitude.  On one hand, I am irrelevant to God’s work because I cannot stop the work of God.  Yet, on the other hand, God wants me (you) to join Him in this work.  He plans to use your successes and failures in order to advance His kingdom.

When that attitude surfaces that says, “I’m not Paul, so I can’t do anything.”  Stop it immediately.  Instead, trust God and do what He says for us to do.  You know, the general call to be a witness of Jesus.  And then, seek His specific calling and will in your life everyday.  Do what He wants you to do.

Though these religious leaders have not heard about Paul, they have had reports about these followers of Jesus.  This group is “spoken against everywhere.”

It is not easy being in a group that is maligned, pilloried, and lied against.  This is what it means to stand with Jesus.  In fact, today, different groups under the banner of Christianity can be the very ones maligning you.  Such a place is not comfortable for our flesh, like being on a cross. 

May God help us to get our eyes on something greater than the attacks against us.  May we see the glory of the victory procession of King Jesus.  In that day, none of the malignant statements and lies will stand!

Arrives in Rome audio

The Acts of the Apostles 85

Subtitle:  A Plot Foiled

Acts 23:23-35.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 03,  2024.

Note: There is no sermon for October 27 because we had a visiting evangelist that morning.

We are looking at Paul’s journey of being a witness for and of Jesus.  As we do so, it is good for us to contemplate and pray about our own journey of being a witness for Jesus.  We do not know all that will happen, but the Lord will be with us.

On one hand, a plot of some assassins will be foiled in this passage.  However, on another level, a plot of the Sanhedrin to have Paul executed is also being foiled.  This is not done by any one person (a Roman commander, or a Roman governor), but by the hand of God.

Yet, even with these good things happening, Paul is no longer in control of his day and his whereabouts.  He has had a lot of freedom over the last 20 years.  Now, he has been arrested, and will continue in some form of custody for something  like 4 to 5 years.

Regardless, the Lord, who led him during those decades of missionary work and helped him to establish churches throughout Anatolia and Greece, can also work mightily through this imprisonment.  During this time, Paul will write four letters that are called the “Prison Epistles,” or “Prison Letters.”  These powerfully describe the position and power of the Lord Jesus, while also calling for believers to have the joy of Christ.  Imagine being in prison and encouraging others to experience the joy that you have.  The New Testament letters are: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon.

It is easy to see only the negative of our situations.  We need the same perspective that Paul had when he said, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NKJV).

Let’s look at our passage.

Paul is taken to Caesarea (v. 23-35)

Receiving news of a plot to assassinate Paul, the Roman commander realizes that he needs to get Paul out of town, not only for his safety, but also, to keep things from getting out of hand in Jerusalem.  Already several riots have occurred around Paul.  Volatile situations have a tendency to be triggered by smaller events that don’t seem so potent at the time.  Paul may be a nobody to this Roman commander, but he isn’t going to underestimate what can happen.

The commander formulates a plan to evacuate Paul to Caesarea on the coast that night.  This is where Governor Felix was.  Now, a night march is easier to ambush, but the commander would have the element of surprise on his side.  This would buy them the time needed to get Paul to a more secure location.

The threat is known to be 40 men who have vowed not to eat until they have killed Paul.  The commander’s response is to ensure that these 40 men, and any others who may join them, will not be successful, even if they do figure out that Paul is being moved.  The commander pulls together 200 soldiers, 70 cavalry troops, and 200 spearmen.  They will leave at 9:00 o’clock that night.

The 470 soldiers will be an intimidating force to the 40 men and any others.  This almost 12 to 1 ratio ensures that Paul will be safe.

The commander also sends a letter with the group that is addressed to Governor Felix.  There are a couple of things that we can know from the letter, which Luke includes in the story.  First we find out that the commander’s name is Claudius Lysias.

It is interesting that he tells the narrative of Paul’s arrest in a way that makes him look better.  He basically writes that he rescued Paul from a riotous crowd because he found out that he was a Roman citizen.  Of course, we know that he only found out Paul’s Roman citizenship because a soldier that he had ordered to whip Paul, found out that Paul had Roman citizenship.  This soldier then warned Commander Lysias about what he was about to do.

He does accurately describe that Paul is really accused of transgressions of the Jewish religion, and not things worthy of death.  Yet, there was a plot to assassinate him, so it was best to send Paul to the governor.  The Jews would then be able to appear before Felix and make their charges against Paul.

In the end, the commander is not doing Paul any favors.  He is protecting his own backside with the governor, who will be protecting his own backside with Caesar.  Yet, God is in control of those who think they are in control.  This is one of the underlying themes throughout the book of Acts, even the whole Bible.

The mission goes as planned, and the soldiers are able to take Paul to Caesarea without incident.  The march all night and make it roughly halfway to the city of Antipatris.  Then, the horsemen take Paul on to Caesarea while the other soldiers return to the barracks.

When Paul arrives in Caesarea with 70 horsemen, the letter from Commander Lysias is presented to Governor Felix.  After reading the letter, the governor briefly questions Paul.  The question of where he is from is probably an attempt to pass this case off to someone else, like Herod Agrippa II.  We are going to see him in chapter 25.  However, Paul’s origin in Tarsus of Cilicia ensures that Governor Felix has to deal with his case.  The “problem” cropped up in his jurisdiction, Jerusalem.  The governor most likely sees this as an undesirable situation that can acerbate relations between the Jewish leaders and him.

It is clear that the governor is not interested in hearing Paul’s story.  He will hear Paul’s side of the story when his accusers show up to press their charges.  Thus, Paul is kept in the praetorium, which was a fortress-like palace built by Herod the Great and currently used by the Romans as an administrative headquarters.

It is no fun to have your life is in the hands of an authority figure.  We do not know much about Felix, except what we see in the book of Acts.  He is going to keep Paul in prison/jail for two years.  On top of this, next week we will see that he was hoping for a bribe.

This is the kind of authority figure Felix was.  He was willing to leave an innocent man in prison for the hope of money and for the trade-off of somewhat warmer relations with the elders of Jerusalem.

You and I have not been in a situation that is exactly like Paul’s, but if we focus on the basic components of this situation we can learn some things.  First, we have a bureaucrat who has power over another.  All authority is supposed to be for the service of the people as a whole, but it is very common for bureaucrats to exercise power in ways that are best for them.  When your situation is in the hands of a bureaucrat who doesn’t care about helping you, and you are unable to move forward until you get their approval, you can end up in a kind of limbo. 

These can be very frustrating times that try our patience.  It is natural to feel these things.  You may even complain excessively and devolve into outright angry tirades against them.  These things will spoil our spirit.  It is important for Christians to learn how to step into that place of God’s peace that we see Paul demonstrating here in the pages of Acts.  Your circumstances may be dire, but God hasn’t changed, and the peace that He has for you hasn’t changed.  God has peace for you, even when the world around you is going crazy.  This is why Paul could write about joy while he was sitting in a prison cell, or under house arrest.

Paul will eventually be executed by Rome for serving God, and His Anointed King Jesus.  Paul’s ability to be frustrated and angry would be far more understandable than ours.  However, have you ever noticed that your flesh doesn’t care if your life is on the line or not?  Does your flesh care that Paul had it worse and demonstrated patience?  I don’t think so.  When something, or someone, gets in our way, we become frustrated and angry.

Think about how computers are supposed to make life better, but half of the time they make things harder and chew up your time trying to get them fixed.  What about government?  It is supposed to serve the people and make life better for us, but it often does the opposite.

We can find ourselves in a harassed, frustrated and angry place.  In those moments, it doesn’t take much to trigger a response that is less than Christ-like.  If that is you, then you are human like the rest of us.  Yet, God cares, and He has a plan for us in the midst of such harassing times.  The enemy of our souls wants us to explode as an individual and as a society.  Yet, we know that this is not what Jesus wants.

May God help us to fix our minds upon Jesus.  This reminds me of a verse in Isaiah 26:3.  “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”  Let us trust in the Lord, rather than letting a person on this earth who has some authority trouble our souls.

Plot Foiled audio

The Acts of the Apostles 83

Subtitle: Showdown in Jerusalem IV

Acts 22:22-23:5.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 6, 2024.

Last week, we stopped right as the crowd listening to Paul begins to riot again.  Paul is on the northwest side of the temple courtyard of the Gentiles and is standing on the steps that lead up to bridges, connecting to the Antonia Fortress.

The final straw is his depiction of the Lord telling him to leave Jerusalem because they wouldn’t listen.  Instead, Paul was to go to the Gentiles.  Regardless of whether or not they believed the Lord actually spoke to him, the message is that God’s grace would be taken from them and given to the Gentiles.  This ignited a new flurry of rioting.

Let’s pick it up there and look at our passage.

Paul is taken into the fortress (v. 22-29)

The Jews had been under the dominion of Gentile powers for a very long time, just over 600 years.  It started with Babylon, then Persia, then Greece, and finally the Romans.  There was a brief period of throwing off dominion under the Maccabees, but that was short-lived.

At the same time, they had a promise from the prophets of an Anointed King of the line of David that would set all things right in Israel and in the world.  The prophecies have a mixture of judgment and salvation that would go to the ends of the earth.

The unique position of having great things promised to you and yet enduring great persecution can breed bad things in your heart.  The average person would generally give up on such prophecies, or at least, treat them as never happening in your lifetime.  It can also create an overdeveloped sense of entitlement to being on top.  Yet, anger that it is not happening.  It can lead to an inability to see God’s love for those others, especially those who have dominion over you.  However, it also happened among themselves.  It can lead to having great zeal and passion, yet without the wisdom of God.  It can lead to a person becoming unable to hear and follow the Holy Spirit.

Do we have some of this in our hearts and denominations within Christianity?

This crowd is angered by the idea that they had crucified the Messiah and that Messiah would send grace away from them to the Gentiles.  We have to be careful as Christians that we don’t develop that same entitled attitude that ends up raging against the work of the Holy Spirit.

As Pentecostals, we can look back to the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox splitting and see a lack of following the Spirit of God.  We can look back to the Protestants and the Roman Catholics and see it again.  We can even see it among Protestant groups that railed against Pentecostals.  Can we be doing it again among ourselves?  Are we filled with a sense that we are the ones on the cutting edge of God’s work, and yet stand in the way of the Spirit in the name of God?  Of course, we can!

At this point, the Roman commander has Paul brought into the fortress to the shouts of, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!”  It is not likely that the commander understood Paul’s speech, at least immediately.  But, he could read the reaction of the crowd, and it wasn’t good.

The commander then gives the order for Paul to be interrogated under scourging.  Paul has been beaten in the past.  He was beaten with rods in Philippi.  However, the scourge was basically what they did to Jesus.  It had metal and bone tied into a leather flail.  This would easily break the skin and even tear off chunks of muscle.  Scourging often left a man maimed for life, and could even lead to death.  At this point, the commander will be absent, as a centurion has Paul tied to what is probably a post.  The centurion will run the interrogation while soldiers do the whipping.

It is at this point that Paul reveals his Roman citizenship.  He warns the centurion that he is about to break the law.  Of course, he is talking about Roman law.  No Roman citizen could be bound, much less beaten without a proper trial.  This piece of information brings the proceedings to a screeching halt as the centurion makes sure that the commander is aware of the full weight of his command.  This leads to the commander coming in to question Paul himself.

It is not clear exactly why he makes the statement about having obtained his citizenship with a large sum of money.  He could be implying that anyone with money can obtain citizenship (though it was technically illegal.  Roman citizenship was not officially for sale.)   It may be a derisive statement that doesn’t see Paul as capable of having citizenship.  Yet, Paul answers that he has Roman citizenship by birth.

This brings up a question.  Is Paul’s motivation purely out of fear of scourging?  Is he trying to get out of pain and suffering?  He hadn’t brought this up in Philippi until after his beating (Acts 16).  Of course, there is no indication that Paul ever pressed charges against any of these breaches of Roman law.  I believe Paul’s statements stand for themselves.  He is ready to suffer here in Jerusalem.  It was the Spirit of God that had led him to come.  Thus, it is very likely that the Spirit of God is moving him to plead citizenship.

Since we are on the subject of governments and rights, let’s notice that Roman rights were given by law, and they could be taken away by a change in the law.  Whereas, in these United States of America, our history has always held that these are from God and unalienable (at least without breaking the law).

We Americans love to holler about our rights, but we haven’t thought this all the way through. 

If God has given us rights, then he has a purpose a good effect in mind.  If we exercise those rights, then we have a duty to work towards the good He intends.  Take rearing children for instance.  The government doesn’t give you the right to have children.  It is given to you by God.  However, if you exercise your right to have a child, then you have a duty to raise that child for the good thing that God desires out of it.  Essentially, you are to raise up godly offspring to be a source of God’s love and truth into the next generation.  Thus, there is a flip-side to the coin of rights and it is called Duty, or Responsibility.  Precious few Americans are screaming about their duties.

Yet, even duties are intended to lead to a good effect.  That good effect then brings joy both to the duty-bound person and the recipient of that duty.  When the good fruit comes, it is a time of rejoicing. 

We must keep our eyes on God’s good purpose and the joy it brings while we are doing the duties.  You could lose heart, but to do so would be to give up on the joy.

In fact, Paul purposefully chose to endure rods.  Why?  Well first of all because he knew that Jesus had given him the right to take a beating for the Gospel.  I am not being funny.  The elders of the city took a completely different view of Paul and his teachings when they realized that he could take them before Caesar and they would not fare well.  Paul was working and enduring much difficulty for the joy of souls being saved from darkness.

Paul faces the Sanhedrin before the commander (22:30-23:5)

At this point, the commander has Paul’s bonds loosed, though he is still in custody pending investigation.  He is not condemned yet, but there are charges against him.  What are these charges?  This is what the commander wants to find out.  Thus, the Jewish legal body, the Sanhedrin, is called to answer for the treatment of Paul, and so that they can clarify the charges.

Paul is allowed to speak first, and he opens by declaring that he has “lived in all good conscience before God.”  This is not a statement of perfection, but of a lack of guile and intent to offend on his part.  Paul will later explain this in Acts 24:16.  “I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.”  He doesn’t believe that he has done anything that he feels should offend them.

However, notice his point.  We shouldn’t purposefully offend people, but we should even more so not offend God.  Have you ever noticed that choosing to please God can tick some people off?  It is impossible to please all people while pleasing God.  Some of the things that I would have to do to keep from offending you may offend God.  In his conscience, Paul has worked through this and believes that he has done a good job.

The high priest is offended that Paul would present his claim this way.  Most likely, he believes that Paul of all people should know that his actions are offensive to them.  Does the high priest actually believe Paul brought a Gentile into the temple?  That is not clear.  Is he more concerned about Paul pushing Jesus, who was condemned to death as a heretic by the Sanhedrin?  Or, is he thinking about Paul stirring up trouble in the synagogues within Gentile lands?  Regardless, the high priest calls for Paul to be struck on the mouth, and he is.

Commanding Paul to be struck in the middle of his testimony, i.e., no trying of the facts that could lead to a true judgment, demonstrates just how comfortable this man has become with having power and abusing it.

What he has commanded is against the Law of God.  Deuteronomy 25:1-2 says, “If there is a dispute between men, and they come to court, that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows.”

There has been no presentation of evidence and dispute between the parties.  There has been no trying of the facts and judgment of the judges.  Paul has just opened his mouth to give testimony and he is struck.  Does not this kind of thuggery create the affect of squelching testimony?  It is not enough to demonstrate that you rightly have power or position (though that is questionable in this case).  One must also exercise the power of the position rightly, or justly, as God would have it done.

Of course, it would have been illegal for them to strike Paul as a Roman citizen, but he would have never held that over his own people.

Paul turns and rebukes the man who gave the command.  “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”  This rebuke may have been led by the Holy Spirit, but it is also possible that Paul simply lost his temper.  Who could blame him?  Paul was not a perfect man like the Lord Jesus.  He may have spoken to soon out of anger.

It is interesting though that Paul’s declaration that “God will strike you…” did happen.  Ananias would later be assassinated by rebel Jews for working with Rome.

Why does Paul call him a whitewashed wall?  Jesus spoke of a whitewashed tomb in Matthew 23:7.  It looks clean and nice on the outside, but inside it is full of rot and corruption.  It is a picture of a man who uses the color of law and the color of morality externally to cover up their internal lawlessness and immorality.  This man purports to sit in the judgment seat of God, while breaking God’s command for there to be a trial of the facts first.  Intimidating a witness in the middle of their testimony is a age-old act of corruption.

Of course, they can’t see the irony.  A rebuke comes back to Paul that he is speaking ill of the high priest, contrary to the law.  There is an unequal weight and measure here, as they seem to have a big problem with verbal abuse, but none at all with physical abuse.

Yet, notice that Paul backs down and apologizes for his outburst.  Did he really not know that this was the high priest or did he lie when he said that he didn’t?  I don’t think that Paul is telling a lie.  In any address, a person is often looking to the larger group.  He could have easily not seen who gave the command.  Plus, it is clear from his letters that he does have eye-sight problems.  Between not expecting to be interrupted and poor eyesight, it is quite feasible, if not probable, that Paul did not know who had given the command.

It is also possible that Paul is making a back-handed point.  I didn’t know he was the high priest (stated) because a true high priest would never give an unlawful command (unstated).  At the least, we should recognize his heart.  He backs down and he apologizes.  He even quotes the passage that backs up the point of his enemies.

The wicked will always do wickedly.  Yet, the temptation is for us to respond in kind.  Paul isn’t this kind of man.  In the middle of this antichrist group, he models true repentance, acknowledging that he went too far.

Just as Paul’s accusers weren’t so kind and fair-minded, so our accusers may not be so kind.  No matter how well you do in trying to love others and not be an offense to them, many will be offended anyway.  We will be challenged to be about the purpose of God, rather than about our rights.  In fact, sometimes it is the very abuse of rights that opens people’s eyes to wickedness that is parading as righteous.

May God strengthen our hearts to stand with Him in this day, while being a light to all we come in contact with.

Showdown IV audio

The Acts of the Apostles 81

Subtitle: Showdown in Jerusalem II

Acts 21:31-40.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 22, 2024.

Last week, we ended with Paul being seized in the temple and dragged outside into the surrounding courtyard.  He was accused of bringing a Gentile into the courtyard, which would defile it.  This was a capital crime.

The temple building had warning signs along with a fence around it.  This warned Gentiles not to come any closer or their death would be upon their own head.

Paul of course is a Jews and has the right to be in the Temple.  Yet, the accusation is that he is against the Temple and has brought a Gentile into it on purpose in order to defile it.  We can notice that no one has seen this Gentile in the Temple, and no one has this “Gentile” in custody as proof of Paul’s alleged actions.  This is all angry speculation against one that is viewed as an enemy.

Well, let’s look at our passage.

Paul is arrested by the Roman Commander (v. 31-40)

From this point forward in the book of Acts, Paul is going to be under some level of arrest.  He has been sharing the truth of Jesus Christ for at least 20 years.  As best we can tell, this is around A.D. 57 to 58.  For perspective, we know that Nero is Caesar.  The Jewish revolt that will begin in A.D. 66 is only 8 to 9 years away.  The destruction of Jerusalem that will occur in A.D. 70 is only 12 to 13 years away.

Even though Paul is not in control of where he goes, God is orchestrating this to give Paul opportunities to share the Gospel in places that were opened up by his arrest.  His imprisonment is ironically accompanied with more freedom than most prisoners.  He is generally allowed to receive any visitors, as well as sending and receiving letters.

Of course, at the moment, we have Paul being beaten in the Temple courtyard.  The Jews from Asia have stirred up a mob, and one would presume that it is they who have taken the lead in beating him.  They have a vested interest in this.  Paul had been an annoyance to them back home.  He had  come into their synagogues and preached Jesus as Messiah.  This had ended up splitting many of the synagogues, causing the converts to Jesus to leave.  They also wanted to look zealous in the eyes of the Jerusalem Jews who would see them as sub-par.

Meanwhile, the Romans had a military compound that connected to the north wall of the temple.  It was called the Antonia Fortress.  It had towers that enabled the soldiers to look down upon the Temple courtyard and surveil its activity.  It also had two large bridges that connected to the northern porch.  This porch  went all they way around the Temple Courtyard had a flat roof that allowed soldiers (Roman soldiers) to quickly surround the area and back up any troops going down to the courtyard level via stairs.  Thus, at the time that Paul was being beaten, news of a disturbance had reached the commander of the fortress, and he quickly descended upon the scene with a show of force. 

We will see later that the governor is currently in Caesarea, which is the Roman headquarters for governing Judea.  Thus, this commander is responsible for the peace of Jerusalem while the governor is gone.

Those who are beating Paul stop once they are surrounded by Roman soldiers.  But, I would note that Luke describes them as “seeking to kill [Paul].”  This isn’t explained completely.  It is possible that they had sent people to the high priest in order to get permission to kill Paul.  However, it is also possible that they were in the act of beating him to death.  These are not men who are accustomed to killing another.  Though they are passionate and in a large group, there was probably enough fearful restraint to give time for the soldiers to arrive.

The commander immediately puts Paul in two chains.  A chain in such a situation would normally be connected to a Roman soldier.  Even if a riot occurred, Paul wouldn’t get far.  The two chains demonstrates extreme security.  It would signal to the Jews that Paul is not going to get away.  However, it would also signal to the Jews to calm down.  To strike Paul now would be to strike the Romans themselves because they have taken custody of him.  He belongs to them now.  The commander does this to dissolve the commotion.

We should recognize that the Romans are not wonderful, God-loving people who just want to “give peace a chance.”  The Pax Romana was a Roman boot in the face of other nations.  When the boot is removed, the people are expected to remain in a subjected attitude and activity.  If you do not, the boot will return quickly and harshly.  As long as you respected the Roman rules and decrees, you would have “peace.” 

One of the reasons that the Romans didn’t allow any mercy for riots is that riots often were the start of military uprisings.  Their job was to keep everyone in line so that there was no uprising.  Thus, their jobs were on the line.  If Caesar thought that they couldn’t keep things under control, he would have the leaders removed.  On top of this, there was always someone working to make you look bad so that they, or their man, could be put into the position of authority.  It was a dog-eat-dog world.

When he questions the people about the commotion, there is no clear answer from those who respond.  The commander decides that the best course of action is to bring Paul back to the fortress and question him there.  It would remove the “fuel” from the fire of this riot.  Yet, as he takes Paul along, the Jews are continuing the disturbance and shouting, “Away with him!”  By this, they mean that he should be killed.

Let’s take a moment to speak about being a person led by the Spirit of God rather than our flesh.  Both the Jewish crowd and the Roman’s are being led by their flesh, by the spirit of this world.

The crowd is led by passionate emotions, which generally overwhelm rational thought and righteous judgments.  There is no sense of a trial and evidence, only of lynching.  They have heard stories about this scoundrel, Paul.  Have you been hearing stories about people in our society?  It is easy to get worked up in our emotions and be led by the flesh to do wickedness.  God’s people should never be involved in such things.

Paul’s annoyance of these Jews of Asia Minor is more about Jesus than it is Paul.  Jesus is a polarizing individual.  The cross is an offense to those who are full of self-righteousness.  However, others realize the powerful truth behind it, and they learn to embrace the One who went to the cross for them.  Self-righteousness is not a Jewish problem, it is a human problem.  We all have it to one degree or another.  Jesus is the test to whether it rules us or not.

Communism loves to pit two groups against each other.  One is called the victim, or oppressed, and the other is called the victimizer, or oppressor.  Of course, they don’t just stop with one group dynamic, such as the poor versus the rich.  They continue to work their discontent between group after group.  At this point, you can have people who are members of a greater number of oppressed groups versus someone who is a member of a greater number of oppressor groups.  Of course, most of these distinctions become yours at birth and require no choice from you:  women and men, black and white, poor and rich, 3^rd world country and 1^st world country, transgender and cisgender, and it continues ad infinitum.  The goal is to keep us divided and subjugated.

Yet, this battle regarding what the Bible calls sin is not about these groups.  You might be in one of those groups and don’t understand how others see you in only one way.  But, the brights, the brilliant ones, of our society use these dividing lines to manipulate us along the path of their designs.

Do you want to know where the real dividing line is between victim and victimizer?  It is right down the middle of each and everyone of our hearts, your heart and my heart.  The question is always in front of our heart, “Am I going to follow my flesh, or am I going to follow the Spirit of God.”  The Spirit of God comes and convicts us of our own sin, but we too often only shout louder about the sins of others.

The person and work of Jesus confronts every single one of us with this question.  Am I going to be me, living for my selfish self, or am I going to die to my selfish desires and live for the righteous purposes of Jesus? 

Well, we see how the Jews are following their flesh, in their emotional rage against Paul.  However, passionate emotions are not the only way to follow your flesh.  We can also follow our flesh by being extremely rational and using our power to exercise our will upon others.  Of course, this describes the Romans in this passage.

The Romans are used by God to spare Paul’s life in the moment, but that does not mean that God thinks they are righteous.  Yes, we must guard against being a person who is easily manipulated through our passions.  Yet, we must also guard against being a person who is captured by the rationales of the spirit of this world. 

There are rationales going on throughout the Church, lots of them.  The fact that many of them are contradictory shows that it is not all led by the Holy Spirit.  The spirit of this world does not care about you being a Christian.  It only cares that you don’t actually follow Jesus.  Think of it.  In the name of following Jesus, a person can have a rationale that is actually self-serving, or serving some other brilliant, religions genius.  If you don’t see that, then think about the high priest Caiaphas.  In the name of following Yahweh, he worked to put Yahweh to death.

So, how can we guard against becoming such a person?  You can only do this by becoming a person who studies the word of God, prays daily for wisdom,  seeks the leading of God’s Spirit, and then walks out by faith what He is saying.  This is what Paul was doing.  He was a man being led by the Holy Spirit.

Our flesh will protest in such moments.  Surely, if God was leading me, it would end up in a bad place, would it?  Our flesh loves to be at the Red Sea and have God split the waters and drown the armies of Pharaoh.  However, it hates to be in line for crucifixion on a cross.  In Christ, we are to learn the joy of dying to ourselves and living for Christ by His Holy Spirit.  In fact, following the flesh only brings pain and sorrow in the end regardless of momentary pleasure up front.  Suffering is the reverse of this.  Our sufferings are only for this moment.  However, we shall have joy in the presence of God for eternity!

Paul has had a bad day.  Yet, in a beaten and arrested state, he has the wherewithal to speak to the commander.  In this moment, God provides him the opportunity to give one last testimony to his people in Jerusalem.

Paul speaks to the commander in polished and polite Greek.  This obtains a double-take from the commander.  He was operating under the working assumption that Paul might be an Egyptian Jew who had led 4,000 men against the Romans previously.  Josephus mentions this story.  The men were destroyed by the Roman legions, but the leader was never caught.  The commander’s response is more of a recognition that Paul isn’t this Egyptian. 

In this moment of being caught off guard, Paul asks to address the crowd.  He tells the commander that he is a Jew from Tarsus of Cilicia and wants to address the people who are even then shouting, “Away with him!”

It is not clear why the commander permits Paul to speak to the crowd.  It could be that he is caught off guard by Paul’s demeanor.  In the end, I believe that it really was God who helped him to do it.

Paul as a person caught a lot of people off guard.  He was Jewish, but also Roman.  He was schooled in all the ways of the Pharisees, and yet, he could speak in Greek.  Paul is going to address the crowd and the same way that the commander lets him speak, the crowd quiets down and let’s Paul speak.  What is he going to say?

When tough things happen, when we are treated unjustly and brutally, we can be too focused on challenging God.  Why is this happening to me, God!  Really, we should be looking for opportunities to share the Gospel and glorify Jesus.  Paul could have been wrapped up in fighting for himself.  It is very hard to let people publicly lie about you.  Yet, there is no sense that Paul, and his companions for that matter, were fighting back against the crowd.  He was surrendered to God and had an awareness of what God could do in the situation.

A person led by the Holy Spirit will not be about justifying themselves.  They will be about pointing others to Jesus.  May God help us to do the same.  The noise and the fear in our society is used by the enemy of our souls to capture us in differing modes of living for our flesh.  God help us to reject them, no matter how tempting they are.

Let’s live for Jesus!

Showdown II audio