TO OFFEND IN NOTHING

Acts 25:9 ... "I have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the Temple or against Caesar."

      Paul remained under arrest in Caesarea for two years while Felix ruled as the procurator of Judea. Soon after Festus succeeded Felix in 59 AD, he arranged a hearing in Caesarea at which he had the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem present their case against the apostle. It says in v.7 that they brought "many and serious charges against him which they could not prove." When he was given license to speak for himself, Paul proclaimed, "Neither against the Law of the Jews or against the Temple or against Caesar have I committed an offense." Then, refusing to go up to Jerusalem for a formal trial before the Sanhedrin, believing he would be ambushed and murdered along the way, (see v.3), he exercised his right as a Roman citizen to appeal his case to the Emperor in Rome.

      Paul's disclaimer that he had offended in any way the Law of the Jews, or the Temple, or Caesar is actually the ideal behavior for every Christian. Followers of Christ are to be model citizens in their communities in order to bring honor to the Name which they wear. We are exhorted in I Pet. 2:12-16, "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as to one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God." This passage is telling us that our behavior is on display before the public, and since we are Christians, it broadcasts an important message about the effects of Christ in our lives. If our conduct is blameless with respect to community standards, it speaks well for the beneficial power of Christ acting within us. But if we occasionally disregard or defy those standards, it gives occasion for critics of Christianity to speak out against us and ridicule our Lord.

      To behave oneself is no guarantee, however, that malicious people will not still make accusations and seek occasions to vilify our Lord and His gospel. Paul had done absolutely nothing for which to be arrested, reviled as a public nuisance, and held in custody for a period of about four years. It is entirely possible, in fact even quite probable, that the irreligious, filled with venom against Christ, will make atrocious charges against Christians. Rather than be surprised and discouraged when such unjust treatment comes, Christians must be prepared. We are forewarned in the New Testament that if we are the witnesses for Christ we must be, such adverse reactions will come against us. Then Paul's ordeal becomes valuable inspiration to us. Finally, there is Peter's encouragement in I Pet. 4:16, "If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that Name let him glorify God."

A MORE CONVENIENT TIME

Acts 24:25 ... "And as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, 'Go away for the present, and when I find time, I will summon you.'"

      After Paul's arrest in the Temple and the aborted hearing before the Sanhedrin the following day, he was transported by the Romans to Caesarea. Five days later a Jewish delegation came down to place formal charges against Paul. The apostle defended himself well against this inimical group with the result that Felix, the Roman governor, postponed any decision until the centurion from Jerusalem should come and give testimony about what had happened in the Temple. Paul was then placed under the guard of a Roman officer, but allowed the privilege of receiving visitors. Several days later, Felix and his wife Drusilla decided to hold a private hearing with Paul.

      When Paul was brought before this couple and permitted to speak, he "discussed righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come." It is significant that, rather than attend to the needs of his own personal security, the apostle  turned his attention to the spiritual needs of the pair who sat before him. He directed his words to the matter of righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come. His words hit home, for there was nothing Felix and Drusilla needed more to hear and consider than these grave matters. They were quite devoid of righteousness and self-control; in fact, their conduct had been a public spectacle of the opposite. He was completely unscrupulous and willing to hire thugs to murder his closest supporters if they displeased him. Drusilla, the daughter of Herod Agrippa, the king who had beheaded the apostle James and imprisoned Peter, was first married to the King of Emesa, but had yielded to the seduction of Felix to forsake her husband to marry him. This couple became very uncomfortable as they listened to Paul's pertinent message, especially when he related everything to the final accountability in the judgment.

      When the inner tension became so great he either had to repent or cancel this disturbing meeting, Felix chose the latter. At once he exclaimed, "Go away for the present, and when I find time, I will summon you." What a frightful decision this was that Felix made, for there is no record that he ever obeyed the gospel of Christ and obtained release from his lifetime of sin. The more convenient time that he supposed he would have never came to him or his wife. This ancient politician is a prototype of the countless individuals who have come face to face with God's will for human life, and seeing it is contrary to what they enjoy and desire, decide they will turn away from the moment of truth to find what they think is comfort in the deception of sin.

      Because of the hardening effect of sin, (Heb. 3:13), it is dangerous to circumvent the opportunity to become a Christian. The growth and influence of sin in the heart will make it less sensitive to the appeal of the gospel and less likely to renounce that sin in submission to Christ's call. The "more convenient time" to obey the gospel is the first occasion when your heart indicts you as guilty and challenges you to seek redemption. Thus we are told in II Cor. 6:2, "Now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation."

LIVING IN GOOD CONSCIENCE

Acts 23:1 ... "Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, 'Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day'."

      On the day after Paul's arrest in the Temple the Roman captain brought him before the Jewish Council and the chief priests in the Temple court in order that he might ascertain what charges the Jews were bringing against him. When given an opportunity to speak, Paul opened with the statement quoted above. The high priest, considering Paul's declaration to be sarcastic, gave an order for him to be struck on the mouth. To save himself from such treatment Paul, who was an authority on the Mosaic Law, reminded them that to strike him before he was convicted violated the Law. Even this appropriate statement seemed like impudence to the officials standing around, who indignantly asked the apostle, "Do you revile God's high priest?" Paul replied that he did not know that the one there in the high priestly clothing was indeed the high priest. In effect, he was saying that he did not concede Ananias was fit to hold the office. Ananias was a notorious character, a glutton, a thief, a rapacious robber and quisling in the Roman service. By calling him a "whitewashed wall" (v.3), Paul compared him to a tomb painted white, echoing the words of Jesus in Mat. 23:28 to the Jewish elite, "Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Outwardly, Ananias was garbed in the spectacular vestments of the high priestly office, but inwardly his heart was as rotten as the inside of a tomb.

      Paul's statement that he lived in all good conscience before God set his life in bold contrast to the high priest and his minions arrayed against him. There was no dichotomy in Paul's constitution. His inward life and his external life harmonized. Unlike his opponents, he did not project himself as a spiritual leader and expect people to defer to his sanctity and piety while in his heart he violated the canons of spirituality, integrity, purity, and sanctification. He wrote to the Christians in Corinth, "I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified," (I Cor. 9:27). The sincerity of this confession of Paul's inner struggle to be consistent in what he taught and what he practiced is evidence of his good conscience. One's conscience is a product of his moral and ethical education. It acts as an inner judge that approves of one's behavior if it conforms to his moral code, and it condemns his behavior if it violates that code. To violate one's conscience in and of itself is an offense against his own soul; i.e., it constitutes a sin against his own self, (Rom. 14:23; Jas. 4:17). A fundamental principle of a blameless life, therefore, is living in harmony with your own conscience.

      It is a serious matter to violate your conscience. When you do, you experience emotional pain that we refer to as a "guilty conscience" that is "hurting you." In time, however, that pain will pass if you choose to ignore it. But the result is a scarred, less sensitive conscience. After multiple instances of such treatment one's conscience becomes callused and totally unresponsive to unethical and immoral behavior. In I Tim. 4:3 Paul refers to liars who, by means of hypocrisy, "seared their own consciences as with a branding iron." A pained conscience is a spiritual warning that your behavior has strayed from the guidelines of your ethical and moral training. It is important that you never disregard such an alert, but act at once to correct the situation while there is still time and opportunity. Thus Jesus teaches in Mat. 5:23-24, "If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." In other words, to rectify a situation your conscience is disapproving is more urgent than the need to worship, since worship from a guilty conscience being ignored is not acceptable to God.

BEING A WITNESS FOR CHRIST

Acts 22:15 ... "You will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard."

      In Acts 22:1-21 Luke records the speech Paul made on the flight of stairs that led from inside the Temple compound up into the adjoining Roman fortress. Moments before, Paul had been mobbed by angry Jews who assumed he had brought a Gentile into the Temple. He would likely have been killed by them had not the watchful Romans saw the trouble and rushed down with a squadron of troops to rescue him. When he got up the stairs, Paul asked permission from the captain to address the crowd. Surprisingly, the agitated people became quiet and allowed Paul to speak until he mentioned the word "Gentile" (v.21); then they again flew into a rage.

      While they listened, Paul recounted to them the event of his conversion to Christ at Damascus. After seeing Jesus in the sky above the road on the approach to the city, he heard His command to "arise and go on into Damascus" where he would "be told of all that has been appointed for you to do," (v.10). Later, a man named Ananias,"a man who was devout by the standard of the Law," came to Paul with the Lord's instructions about what was appointed for him to do. First, of course, there was the necessity of obeying the gospel. Ananias said to him, "Why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name," (v.16). Now that he was a Christian, Paul was ordained by the Lord to be the primary instrument by which His gospel of salvation was to be carried to the Gentile nations to the north and west. Unto this great purpose Christ appointed Paul to be an apostle, declaring that "you will be a witness for (Me) to all men of what you have seen and heard."

      Although these words were directed to Paul with respect to the monumental work as an apostle that lay before him, there is a sense in which they may apply to every Christian. Paul literally saw Jesus in His heavenly radiance in the noonday sky, and he clearly heard the very voice of Jesus speak to him from high above. In his years of ministry for Christ, Paul received a great number of special revelations from the Lord in visions and dreams; in II Cor. 12:7 he refers to them as "the surpassing greatness of the revelations." It was his appointed task to be a witness to the things he had seen and heard, for it was by means of his testimony that others were to be led to the faith, persuaded to obey its provisions, and be saved by its power, (Rom. 1:16). No one today receives revelations in dreams or visions; no one hears the audible voice of Jesus or is permitted a visual experience of His radiant Form. But we can, nevertheless, still be witnesses, and very important ones at that!

      Every Christian is to be a steadfast student of God's word, which contains an inspired description of Jesus' deeds and words of salvation. In our faith we can "see" Jesus as He performed great deeds and can "hear" His vital sayings, lessons, and sermons. In Jno. 20:29 Jesus pronounced a special blessing upon those who build faith in Him without having seen or heard Him in person like His apostles were privileged to do. It is therefore our mission also to be "witness(es) to all men of what (we) have seen and heard." We should always be eager and prepared to share these insights with others for their good unto salvation. With this divine appointment filling his heart, Paul later declared in Rom. 1:15, "For my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome." Christians today, motivated by their knowledge of Jesus and His gospel, should also feel this same eager desire to communicate their knowledge unto salvation to any and all whom they can get to listen.

JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS

Acts 21:27-29 ... "The Jews from Asia, upon seeing him (Paul) in the temple, began to stir up all the multitude and laid hands on him, crying out, 'Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people, and the Law, and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled the holy place.' For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple."

      At the conclusion of his third missionary journey Paul, along with several Christians from Asia, including Luke the physician, went to Jerusalem. His visit there had a triple objective:  to report to the church on the progress of the gospel in Asia and Europe where he had labored, to bring gifts from the Christians in those regions to their poor brethren in Jerusalem and Judea, and to worship in the Temple. It was this latter activity that led the apostle into extreme trouble and danger. Paul was well known to the Jews from Asia who had come to Jerusalem to observe the festival of Pentecost, for he had preached in their synagogues and engaged in lively debates with them. They fairly hated Paul, for they understood his message to be an attack against orthodox Jews, against the integrity of the Law of Moses, and against the Temple with its sacrifices, rituals and priestly administrators. More than once in Asia they had tried in court to remove him from circulation, and failing that, had tried outright to kill him. With this loathing and rage pent up within them they simply lost control when they spotted their adversary right there within the sacred precincts of the Temple.

      No Gentile was allowed to pass through the gate into the Court of Israel within the outer Temple complex. Having earlier seen Paul somewhere on the city streets in the company of Trophimus, a Gentile of Ephesus, "they supposed Paul had brought (him) into the Temple." Their hatred of Paul immediately erupted in violence.  Starting a riot, they began to beat him with the intent to kill him, and would have done so had not a Roman police squadron quickly run down into their midst and pulled him to safety. As it turned out, Paul had not brought Trophimus or any other Gentile into the Temple, for he fully respected the rules governing the Temple and Jewish reverence for the sanctity of the Temple. The uncontrolled outburst of these people had been based upon a false presupposition. Groundless logic had led them to a false conclusion which almost cost an innocent man his life and made them guilty of murder. Had the Romans not restrained their fanatical zeal and foolishness, they would have spilled innocent blood in the Temple and polluted its sacred grounds far worse than Paul would have had he actually sneaked a Gentile inside.

      There is a most appropriate lesson evident in this account. How often do we size up someone, or an idea, or a situation when we know little or nothing about it? Do we not rush into conclusions when our grounds consist of rumors, appearances, or garbled and unsubstantiated reports? Sometimes we think we have the answers when, in reality, we don't even know the questions. Hardly a one of us hasn't once suffered disgrace and shame when we found ourself suspended in mid-air because we jumped to a conclusion, only to find no substance where we were sure a bedrock of fact existed. We should learn from such an awful experience to be more careful next time and gather more information before we set our mind and begin to act. Worse than our own embarrassment and personal chagrin, however, is the suffering inflicted upon the victim of our baseless, hasty judgments. That person is not due the catastrophe brought upon him, but the person who brings it by groundless, impulsive conclusions is due every part of the shame that comes back upon him when his error is exposed.

REMEMBER THE LORD'S DAY

Acts 20:7 ... "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message till midnight."

      As Paul made his way back to Jerusalem at the conclusion of a third missionary journey, he came to the city of Troas in Asia Minor. Evidently he arrived on Monday, and although he was in a hurry to move on toward Jerusalem, (v.16), he nevertheless tarried in Troas for seven days, or through the following Sunday. The purpose for his delay is indicated in the text, " ... on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together." Knowing it was the practice of the Christians there to assemble each Sunday, Paul knew that if he waited until then he would be able to meet with them. With the passing of the authority of the Mosaic Law, the sacred day of the week for God's people had changed. The Fourth Commandment, (Ex. 20:8), had decreed, "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy." For a period of about fifteen hundred years the nation of Israel observed Saturday as a day of rest, worship and devotion to God. During Jesus' ministry, which spanned the last days of the authority of the Mosaic Law, He faithfully observed this commandment, as He did every commandment. We read in Lk. 4:16. "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath." It was Jesus' custom (settled practice) to meet with fellow Jews on the Sabbath Day to worship God, "leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps," (I Pet. 2:21).

      When Jesus was crucified, He fulfilled the Law of Moses and terminated its authority.  We read in Col. 2:14 that Jesus "cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He took it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." At dawn on the third day thereafter, which was Sunday, (Mk. 16:1-2), Jesus came forth from the tomb. A new era had also dawned for mankind ... and on Sunday at that! The day is to be honored as the one on which our Lord was resurrected, proclaiming victory over sin and death, (Rev. 1:18). Sunday is also the birthday of the church. The church was established on Pentecost, which fell on Sunday. The day is to be honored as the one on which God swung open the door of His eternal kingdom for admittance to all who in faith will obey His gospel. Acts 20:7 is our approved example for gathering together to worship our Supreme God. As those under the Mosaic Law had to "remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy," it is necessary for Christians to "remember the Lord's Day (Sunday), to keep it holy." It is not optional for Christians to meet on Sunday to worship. In fact, it is not even a question open for discussion. To the contrary, it is a sin if we don't, (Heb. 10:25-26)!

      The focal point of the Christian assembly in Troas was "to break bread," that is, to observe the Lord's Supper. Paul had well taught these brethren just what he had taught those in Corinth: "The Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of Me'," (I Cor. 11:23-25). Acts 20:7 is our approved example for determining the time of "as oft as you drink it." Those Christians, who were under the supervision of the apostle Paul, who in turn was under the supervision of the Holy Spirit, met "on the first day of the week" to observe the Lord's Supper. As each week arrives, it begins with a "first day," Sunday. As often as that happens, about 52 times a year, it is the duty of Christians to assemble together in their congregations to memorialize their Lord's death for their sins in this sacred meal.

CONTRADICTORY RESPONSES

Acts 19:9a,18 ... "Some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude. ... Many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices."

      On his third missionary journey Paul came to Ephesus and for the span of three months preached in the Jewish synagogue where he managed to convert several of its members to the Way of Christ. Most of them, however, responded differently in the manner described in the text above. As a result of the mounting opposition it became necessary for the apostle to separate the disciples from the synagogue. Thus the church of Christ in Ephesus assumed its own identity and became visible as a religious organization separate from Judaism. For the next two years Paul continued in Ephesus. teaching daily in the School of Tyrannus, so that "all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks," (v.10). It seems that it was during this period that the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2-3 were established, either by Paul himself or by men he trained in the School of Tyrannus and then sent out into the surrounding province to evangelize. As the months of this great spiritual activity continued, great numbers of people, mostly Gentiles, believed the gospel, confessed faith in Christ, and publicly repented of their evil deeds, especially the practice of magic, (v.19). The victory of Christianity over heathenism was so great that v.20 exults, "So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing."

      The two verses juxtaposed above vividly highlight contradictory responses to the same preaching. Paul and his assistants preached the life and doctrine of Christ as God's outreach to save man from sin and its destructive course in human life. They revealed God's love, concern, and grace for those who had been unaware of His existence and of their rebellion against Him. But there were two different reactions to this wonderful good news. Some hardened their hearts, refused to believe, and spoke evil against the Way of Christ in public. Others, however, put their faith in Jesus, confessed Him as Lord, and repented of their sins to live new lives of righteousness. We are made to wonder what caused this difference, for it still occurs among people when the gospel is preached today. Why do some people see Christ as Savior and as The Way to a better life in this world and then to eternal life hereafter, and others see Christ only as a nuisance, an enemy to be resisted, and a threat to the kind of world they want to live in, (disregarding, I might add, any serious consideration of another existence beyond the present one)?

      The answer has to lie in the nature of the human heart. We all know that the sun melts solid ice into easily flowing water, while it bakes wet clay into bricks so hard that houses can be built with them. The nature of a substance determines what effect the sun will have on it. In something of the same way the nature of our hearts determines what effect Christ and His gospel will have on us. The human spirit that is full of pride, self-will, arrogance, and bitterness will probably only be irritated and provoked when the gospel is proposed to it. But the human spirit, though otherwise sinful, that is not controlled by these attitudes is much more likely to be persuaded by the gospel to believe, repent, and render obedience. The next logical question is what set of factors produce these differences in our mental construction. It seems that the answer lies in the nature of our early education, when the basic constitution of human personality and character is being formed. It this be the case, it emphasizes all the more how essential it is for parents to "bring (their) children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord," (Eph. 6:4). The greatest "soul-winning" that the average Christian can do is to train young minds to be receptive to the gospel when they reach the stage of maturity to be accountable.