Last
Sunday, we looked at Paul’s standing before Felix and making a defense against
the charges that were put forth against him by the Jews. We saw that Felix’s primary concern as
governor of Jerusalem wasn’t to find out who was right and who was wrong so
that justice could be done. No, we saw
that his primary motive was to please everyone.
He wanted to keep his constituents in Jerusalem happy, but he also knew
that Paul really wasn’t guilty of any of the “crimes” that they were charging
him with. Ultimately, we saw that
Felix’s attempt to stay neutral wasn’t possible, and we said the same thing is
true today when it comes to the Christian faith. It is impossible for us to remain completely
neutral. I had a seminary professor who
always used to say, “When God’s word is preached, there is always a reaction;
either a seed is planted or a heart is hardened.” It’s what C.S. Lewis said about Jesus having
to either be Lord, liar, or lunatic.
However, as we
said last Sunday, it isn’t up to us.
Yes, we are the ones who choose to listen to God’s word or tune it
out. We are the ones who decide whether
we will stand for comments or portrayals of God that lessen Him and mock
Him. We are even the ones who make the
choices about how serious we are when it comes to living out our faith. However, the choice ultimately isn’t up to
us. We said that the choice is God’s;
one that He made before the foundations of the earth. Now, I won’t take time to revisit Ephesians 1
or look at Romans 9, but I encourage you to go and look at these passages if
you’re struggling with this language.
This notion that it isn’t about our choice but God’s is the backbone of
our statements about God being the only one who can change a heart.
I love being a pastor;
however, it comes with a certain set of challenges. One of which is that it’s always a tricky
thing meeting new people when you’re a pastor.
You meet someone through a mutual friend or at a social gathering and
you hit it off real well and eventually the conversation turns to, “So, what do
you do for a living?” Now, I’ve tried to
think of some really cool ways to tell people what I do. I’ve thought about saying, “I fight evil” or
“I try and help people avoid the brokenness in the world around them.” Although, I typically just stick with the
simple statement, “Oh, I’m a pastor.”
Y’all, the way that peoples’ faces change when those words come out of
my mouth are hilarious. Now, most folks
are nice about it, but you can tell that there has now been an invisible wall
constructed almost instantly between myself and who they really are. Others are more forthcoming with their
feelings, “Oh, you’re one of those. So,
I guess you’re going to try and convert me or something aren’t you?” I love these folks. Not only are they afraid of me, but in their
efforts to put me off they are actually presenting me with a golden opportunity
for gospel proclamation and teaching who God really is. “No, I wouldn’t even attempt to try and
convert you to Christianity. After all,
it’s not like I can do any good; only God can cause a person’s heart to truly
change.”
Our text for
today takes us back to perhaps the most prominent example of God changing a
heart that the world has ever seen. As
we ended with Felix’s indecision last Sunday Paul was sitting in prison, where
he would remain for several years.
Eventually, Felix was replaced by a man named Festus. Festus heard some of Paul’s case and also
knew the plan of the Jews to kill Paul that we saw last week. Festus was even willing to go along with the
Jews plan so that he could be rid of the Paul problem for good. However, Paul, during his standing before
Festus appealed to Caesar for a trial, which ended any talk of his being moved
and thus putting a stop to the plans of the Jews. Although, before Paul can stand trial before
Caesar, King Agrippa needed to hear what Paul had to say. After all, had Caesar asked Agrippa what this
entire thing was about Agrippa had to have at least some kind of information to
give to Caesar other than simply saying that someone was mad at him. Agrippa needed to know some of the facts and
details about this particular trial. So,
Agrippa asked Paul to lay out his appeal.
Paul began his
appeal by giving Agrippa the backstory of who he had been when he was known as
Saul. He spoke to him about his past as
a Judaizer, as a Pharisee in training.
He spoke to Agrippa about his zeal for God and how even since his time
as a young boy he had studied and trained to do the will of God. He even stated very plainly that early on,
much of his focus was aimed at opposing the name of Jesus. Paul told Agrippa of how he sought out
followers of the Way and punished them, even killing many of them. Paul made it very clear that for his entire
life, even before he could remember, he had been a devout follower of God and
that there was no limit to how far he would go for Him.
Then, beginning
in verse 12, Paul told what might be the most famous biblical story other than
the death and resurrection of Jesus; Paul told of his conversion, Paul told
Agrippa of how he was on the way to Damascus to carry out his work when a flash
of light blinded him and took his sight.
He spoke of the audible voice from heaven that called out to him. Paul told Agrippa that it was Jesus himself
speaking to Paul and commanding him to change his ways. He spoke of how instead of seeking out
followers of Jesus to punish them, Christ had given him the mission of seeking
them out to love them. And not only
that, Paul was to seek out those who didn’t know Christ as well so that he
could tell them the good news of the gospel.
Paul was standing on the fact that he in no way sought the destruction
of the Church, but that he wanted to further the true message of God. Verse 19, “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was
not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” After telling where he has proclaimed this
message, he then tells Agrippa, “For this reason the Jews seized me in the
temple and tried to kill me. To this day
I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to
small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come
to pass: that the Christ must suffer and
that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to
our people and to the Gentiles.”
You see, Paul
didn’t stand before any of these officials (Felix, Festus, or Agrippa) and say
that anyone else was wrong. He wasn’t
concerned with proving them wrong as much as he was just stating that he was
right. He was focused on speaking the
truth about the gospel. Now don’t
misunderstand me, Paul was a man who was perfectly capable of refuting any
other belief system out there. In fact,
he had done so numerous times throughout his ministry. However, his focus here isn’t on refuting the
false, but on proclaiming the truth.
Hearing Paul
give his defense before King Agrippa, Festus (the governor who wanted to send
Paul to Jerusalem) but in and said that Paul had lost his mind. He claimed that through all of Paul’s
rigorous studies that he had in essence caused his mind to snap. Paul assured them that he most certainly not
lost his mind and was very much sane. And
it’s kind of funny what the Apostle does here.
He spoke to Agrippa while addressing Festus. “I am not out of my mind, most excellent
Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these things, and to
him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded
that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in
a corner.” In other words, Paul
is speaking to Agrippa without speaking to him.
The other
morning I was getting the kids ready for school. Ashby was still putting on her clothes and I
told her that she needed to hurry up.
She asked me why I wasn’t getting on to Thomas since he still had things
to do. I spoke to her saying,
“Obviously, Thomas is done with everything since he’s just sitting there
playing right now.” Thomas looked up and
saw his sleeping clothes sitting in the chair, so he ran and grabbed them and
put them in the dirt clothes. This
method that Paul employed of speaking to someone without directly addressing
them can often be an effective tool.
However, there does come a point in time when we have to speak directly
to a person, and that’s exactly what Paul did.
“King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
I’m a firm
believer in the belief that the best and most effective way for us to witness
to and evangelize someone is for us to first build a rapport with them. I think that there is great benefit found in
building an open line of communication with someone based on something other
than the gospel. This allows us to
communicate with someone on a different level.
As I mentioned earlier, the conversation between myself and others
before they find out that I’m a pastor is a much less guarded conversation on
their part. Now, over time, we are able
to build up to speaking about our faith and the gospel. However, it’s usually done much like Paul’s
speech with Agrippa, it’s mentioned in front of someone, but maybe not directly
addressed to them. Eventually though,
there does come a time where we must follow Paul’s example and directly ask the
question “Do you believe?” It may not be
met the way we want it to be met. After
all, Paul’s question to Agrippa wasn’t met very well either. “In a short time would you persuade me to be
a Christian?” In other words,
Agrippa was telling Paul, “Do you really think that the little that you’ve told
me today is going to cause me to convert to Christianity? Don’t you know that I’ve got a position
within the Roman government; that I can’t be a biased Christian? Don’t you know that even if I did believe the
things that you’ve said are true that there is no way I could ever admit it
publicly? What are you hoping to
accomplish here Paul?”
Well, Paul
tells him that “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all
who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.” Well, there’s Paul’s humor isn’t it? He’s saying, “I don’t care whether it takes a
few minutes or a lifetime, my desire is that everyone know the truth that I’m
living in and that they stand firm in it just as I do. Oh, but I don’t want them to be shackled like
I currently am at this moment. I want
everyone to know the truth of the gospel.
I want everyone to know the salvation and the life that we have in Jesus
Christ. How long it takes doesn’t matter
to me, but what matters is that they eventually get there.” Now, Agrippa eventually comes to the conclusion
that Paul hasn’t done anything wrong and had he not appealed to Caesar he would
let him go, but we’ll see all that unfolded next Sunday.
I want to end
real quickly by just thinking about this whole interaction between Agrippa and
Paul. You see, we ought to be real
familiar with it. I think that many of
us can relate to Paul here a little bit.
Many of us can relate to the method of witnessing that I described
earlier where we build a report with someone before sharing the gospel with
them. We can also relate to the reaction
of Agrippa. Sure, we may not know anyone
who is a king, but we know plenty of folks who give us “reasons” for why they
can’t handle the gospel. “It’s just not
that simple to me.” “I’ve got some
beliefs of mine that Christianity just can coincide with.” And then there’s my favorite, “I just don’t
think that I’m good enough for what you’re offering.” You see, there are a million things out there
that keep us from the gospel. Or perhaps
a better and more accurate way of putting it is that there are a million things
out there that we use as excuses for resisting the gospel.
Friends, let me
give you some encouragement this day.
You’re efforts are not wasted, your time is not wasted, and you’re not
just spinning your wheels. I’ve been
there when it comes to gospel proclamation and witnessing. I’ve had folks who I’ve witnessed to for
years who continued to resist God; some of them are still resisting Him as I’m
talking to you. However, we mustn’t give
up; we must endure. We have to continue
just as Paul did to proclaim the gospel.
We can’t worry about disproving the value of the other things of this
world, but we must continue to proclaim the value and truth of the gospel. We’re going to be met with doubt. We’re going to be met with hostility. We’re going to feel disheartened and we’re
going to feel like we’re just not doing any good. However, we have to keep in mind the reason
why we do this. We have to remember the
Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples. We have to remember the words of Paul that
whether it happens now or whether it takes years, we just want to see it
happen. But remember that it may take
years. It may take decades. People that you witness to today may come to
a saving faith after you’ve moved away or even passed away. However, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t
reach out to them. We must continue to
follow the example of Paul here and proclaim the gospel no matter what the
situation and no matter what the consequences.
Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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