Defending Your Faith and God's Way

Well folks, as we turn to that passage, please do have it open in front of you.

We'll be dipping in and out of it, so it'll be great if you have it open in front of you in the pew Bibles,

if that's convenient for you.

Let us pray before we think about this passage together.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, when we come to a passage like this, we have questions.

We have maybe doubts of what it could teach us.

Father, I pray that you would help me to preach faithfully.

Father, would you bless the meditations of our hearts and the words of my mouth.

Would it all be pleasing to you, our wonderful rock and our redeemer.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Now, have you ever read a story, watched a movie or seen an episode series

and it doesn't quite pan out like you think it would.

There's that moment where you're following along, everything is happy and fine,

the story makes sense, but then something happens and it throws it.

It throws you completely off.

You're left shocked, unsure of what will happen next.

You are confused and you have questions.

That's similar to where I think we find Paul this morning.

He's been one of the most well-known people in the New Testament who went from town to town,

telling people about Jesus, planting churches, encouraging Christians.

But then last week in Acts chapter 21, we saw that he was told he would be bound in Jerusalem

Acts 21 · chapter mention

and handed over to the Gentiles.

That is not what you would expect of this great apostle.

What good can come from this, we might be asking.

Now, maybe you found yourself in that situation as well.

Questioning why God has placed you where you are.

Why God has placed you around the people that you are around.

It all seems hard and you have no idea what good could come from any of this.

Well, two things we can learn from Paul this morning as he found himself in a similar situation.

Always be ready to give a reason for your faith in Jesus

and remember that God's ways are not your ways.

Now, we'll cover that passage that Alistair read to us under two headings

that summarise the teaching points of these verses.

But also that help us think about how to apply this passage to our lives.

Let me give you a quick overview of what happened in the passage.

So a group of Jews were angry with Paul and they gather a mob.

They create absolute chaos with false accusations and they try to kill him

until the Roman authorities step in.

Then Paul asks to speak to the crowd who just tried to kill him.

And he tells the story of his own life and what God has done.

He then stands before the religious high court and another chaotic scene breaks out.

There's another plot to kill Paul, but it is all discovered by the Romans

who, as we'll see next week, take steps to keep him safe.

Now, what can we learn from this historical retelling of one man's story

intertwined with courtrooms, with chaos and with religious customs?

Well, we can learn that we always need to be ready to give a defence for our faith

and that God's ways are not our ways.

So let's look at this passage together with those two things in mind.

The first thing we see in this passage is that Christians should always be ready

to give a defence of their faith.

Always be ready to give a defence.

Now, last week we looked at the beginning of Acts chapter 21

Acts 21 · chapter mention

and saw that Paul was told he would be bound in Jerusalem

and handed over to the Gentiles.

And people begged him not to go to Jerusalem.

But Paul says in Acts chapter 20 verse 22

Acts 20:22

that he is compelled by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem.

And the prophecy from last week happens in verse 27.

Read it with me.

When the seven days were nearly over,

some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple.

They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him.

Now, these are probably Jews from Ephesus because of verse 29

where it tells us that they recognised one of Paul's travel companions

and assumed that Paul had taken a non-Jewish friend into the temple.

Look at their accusations in verse 28.

They say,

Fellow Israelites, help us.

This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere

against our people and our law and this place, meaning the temple.

And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple

and defiled this holy place.

See, these men are accusing Paul of things

they haven't actually even seen themselves.

But they've assumed.

They are hostile and lying in order to get the result they want.

They want Paul dead.

Now, this is a pattern we've already seen in Acts before, isn't it?

Paul is accused of teaching against the Jews,

against Jewish law and against the temple.

But this time they create a mob.

And verse 30 says that the whole city was aroused

and people were running from every direction to join in.

The Romans arrive and they bind Paul with chains

and try to figure out what all the commotion is about.

But look at verse 34.

The crowd is confused.

One shouting one thing, one another.

They have no idea what they're even there for.

This has all come about through hostility and lies.

Now, what would you do in a situation

where people have already started beating you to death?

I think you'd see the police coming

and you would welcome the rescue, wouldn't you?

You'd go into custody.

You would try to get as far away from the mob

as humanly possible.

It is our natural instinct to run from danger,

to preserve our lives,

to keep on fighting for another day.

What does Paul do?

At the end of verse 39, Paul says,

please let me speak to the people.

Paul responds to the hostility and lies of the crowd

with honesty and loyalty.

Look at chapter 22, verse 1.

Paul says,

brothers and fathers, listen to my defense.

Paul begins like this to highlight their shared heritage

and also his respect for the Jews.

He doesn't go in all guns blazing.

He isn't wanting payback.

He isn't out to launch an attack on them.

He simply wants to be honest about who he is

and how his life has been changed.

So Paul tells his story.

He tells them what happened to make him so different

from the Paul they maybe remember from a few years back.

The Paul who went around persecuting Christians,

who spent time going from town to town

hunting Christians and throwing them in prison.

Now we've already heard Paul's story before in Acts 9,

haven't we?

And we'll hear it again in Acts 26.

But maybe as Alistair read it to us,

you thought that it sounded a little bit different.

That there were additional details or phrases

used that we haven't seen before.

Now why is that?

It's because Paul is intentionally using words and concepts

that would be easy for Jews to understand

so that he can witness to them.

He's highlighting that he is one of them,

that they have the same background,

but he's also highlighting his Jewish pedigree.

He's showing them his religious CV,

which for a Jew was very important.

And so in verse 3, Paul says,

I am a Jew born of Tarsus of Cilicia,

but brought up in this city, meaning Jerusalem.

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.

He then says how he persecuted Christians

and even brings in the high priest

and the whole council in verse 5 as his witnesses

to the man he used to be.

But something changes, doesn't it, in verse 6.

Paul says on traveling to Damascus,

about noon as I came near Damascus,

suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.

And Jesus spoke to Paul from this bright light

and asked, why are you persecuting me?

Now again, notice how close Jesus is with his people.

Jesus doesn't say, why are you persecuting my people?

Jesus says, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And for a Jewish audience,

that bright light from heaven in verse 6

would make them think of nothing else

other than God's presence,

because God's presence was revealed to them

in the Old Testament by a bright light.

So Paul has been blinded by this light

and is told by Jesus to go to Damascus

where he'll meet Ananias,

who Paul describes in verse 12

as a devout observer of the law

and highly respected by all the Jews living there.

See, the accusations against Paul

are that he is disregarding

and encouraging Jews to disregard the law.

He highlights that Ananias

was a devout observer of the law.

So with each little phrase,

Paul is showing respect

and being honest about his life story,

highlighting that along the way

he has met faithful, devout people

who are all doing the will of God.

And then in verse 14,

after Paul has miraculously received his sight,

Ananias says, read with me, verse 14,

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.

Now at this point,

every Jew would know

that the righteous one

is a reference

to God's promised Messiah

from the Old Testament,

the one who would come

and save God's people.

Then in verse 16,

Paul is told to call

on the name of Jesus,

God's Messiah,

to be saved through his death

and resurrection

and to be baptized.

Now that is abundantly clear

to everyone in this crowd

listening to this.

Paul isn't hiding anything.

He isn't holding anything back.

And so far,

they've listened to him

until verse 21,

where he says,

then the Lord said to me,

go and I will send you

far away to the Gentiles.

Now the crowd hear this

and they go wild.

They conclude that

the only good outcome

from this

is that Paul needs to die.

They work themselves

into a frenzy

and in verse 23,

they start throwing their cloaks

and dust into the air.

Expressions of lament,

condemnation and anger.

But notice through

this whole interaction,

Paul hasn't once

gone on the offensive.

He hasn't attacked

those who attacked him,

but he has faithfully

and honestly relayed

the story of his life

and how Jesus changed him.

Friends,

as we go into a world

that is increasingly moving

away from the Bible,

a world that is becoming

increasingly antagonistic

towards Christianity,

a world where it feels like

Christians are being sidelined

for our faith,

attacked maybe on every side,

we need to do two things.

First,

we need to remember

that Christianity,

that the church

has been opposed

from the very beginning.

This is nothing new.

And yet,

the Lord has continued

to grow his kingdom,

hasn't he?

What started

some 2,000 years ago

with a small number

of followers

is now

a number,

a group of billions

of Christians worldwide.

Nothing will stop

God's plan

for people

to hear

about Jesus Christ.

No amount

of opposition

will prevent

the kingdom of God

from growing

and God

will never,

ever leave

his people.

The pattern

throughout Acts

and arguably

throughout the whole

of church history

is that the gospel

grows

as it is opposed.

See,

when we become Christians,

we are signing up

for a life

of being sidelined,

a life of difficulty,

a life of constant

spiritual battle

where people

will try to silence us,

people will try

to stop us

talking about Jesus,

people will question

our beliefs

and the way

we live our lives.

But it is a glorious,

glorious life

of forgiveness,

a glorious life

of a relationship

with our Creator

and a life

of eternal significance

because we are living

and working for God,

the one who holds

all things together

and one day

we will be

in his presence forever.

That is the future

that awaits

every Christian

and no amount

of opposition

should hinder us

from living

for Jesus.

The second thing

we need to remember

is that like Paul,

we should always be ready

to give a defense,

always be ready

to explain to people

why we have hope

in Jesus,

why we live our lives

for him

and why they should

listen to the message

of forgiveness

and peace with God

that is offered

through Jesus' death

and resurrection.

And the way we do that

is important.

The manner in which

we speak with people

about Jesus

really matters.

The only offensive thing

about any Christian

sharing the gospel

should be the gospel

itself.

The gospel will

naturally offend people.

The Bible makes

that clear.

But like Paul does here,

we need to be honest

and respectful

to those we share

the gospel with

and why we trust Jesus.

Now this goes for

in-person discussions

and online interactions

and the way we live

our life.

How many of you

became Christians

because someone

was trying to win

an argument

rather than winning

the person they

were talking to?

How many of you

became Christians

because someone

pointed out your hypocrisy

on a Facebook post comment?

I'd say probably

next to none.

The way we speak

to people about Jesus

really matters.

The life of a Christian

should be one of

constant witness

to the goodness

of Jesus

and so we always

need to be ready

to give a defense.

But the second thing

we see in this passage

is that God's ways

are not our ways.

God's ways

are not our ways.

So this crowd

have just absolutely

lost it with Paul

and the Romans

have to step in

again and protect him

but their means

of getting to the truth

also wasn't really ideal.

Read verse 24 with me.

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.

See the Roman commander

wanted to get to the truth

of why the crowd

was so mad at Paul

because at this stage

Christians were seen

as a subsect

of Judaism.

They had no idea

that Judaism

and Christianity

were different.

That realization

would come later on

in the Roman Empire.

So the commander

decides to get

to the truth

by torture.

And they stretch

Paul out to be flogged

but it all comes

to a halt

in verse 25

when Paul asks

the question

is it legal

for you to flog

a Roman citizen

who hasn't even

been found guilty?

See Paul knew

that it was illegal

to beat a Roman citizen

without a fair trial

and a guilty verdict.

And so he uses this

to his advantage

as he has done

before in Acts

and so they retreat

with their tail

between their legs.

Verse 29 says

they withdraw

immediately

and are alarmed.

Now this might sound

like a minute detail

but it gives Paul

the opportunity

to stand before

the high court

of the religious leaders

in Acts 23.

Look at chapter 22

verse 30.

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

that's the Jewish

high court

to assemble.

Then he brought Paul

and had him stand

before them.

Paul stands

before this group

of men

and basically says

in chapter 23

verse 1

I'm innocent

of the charges

you bring against me.

The only thing

I have done

is exactly

what God

has called me to do.

Now he isn't saying

he's a perfect man

but he's saying

that he has been faithful

in carrying out

his calling

from God

and the chief priest

hears that

and orders the man

standing next to Paul

to punch him

in the face

because he doesn't

want to hear anything

from this perceived

blasphemer

and Paul responds

in verse 3

by saying

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.

Now at this point

Paul could be

denouncing

faithless

and corrupt

leadership

within the religious

leaders of Jerusalem

but it's more likely

that he's just

responding out of anger.

I mean he's just

been beaten

by a mob

nearly flogged

by the Romans

and now he's

standing before

the very court

of religious leaders

who are supposed

to recognize

God's work

and he gets

punched in the face.

Paul is a human.

He gets angry

to be honest

if that was me

I would be raging

but then he composes

himself

and after finding out

that it was the

high priest

he had snapped at

he says in verse 5

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.

Paul's being smart here.

He's using the

Old Testament law

as part of his

apology highlighting

as he did with the

crowd earlier on

in the passage

that he has

respect for the

Jewish leaders

and their shared

heritage

and so Paul gets

to speak again

and very cunningly

because he knows

the political feel

in the room

he says in verse 6

read it with me

my brothers

I am a Pharisee

descended from

Pharisees

I stand on trial

because of the

hope of the

resurrection of the

dead

and again

this unleashes

chaos

because the

Sadducees

other religious

leaders who were

present didn't

believe in the

resurrection

but this isn't

quite like we see

in the House of

Commons in Westminster

so you've probably

seen clips of the

different parties of

the House of

Parliament shouting

across the benches

at each other

right laughing

and passing

what I assume

are little jokes

about each other's

policies and

character etc

when it all starts

to get a bit heated

in the in Parliament

the speaker says

order

and it may take a few

moments but it goes

quiet

there is no speaker

in this Jewish

courtroom

they are divided

and it gets so

heated

the Romans

have to take

Paul away

because it

became so

violent

verse 10

says that they

feared he would

be torn

to pieces

now put yourself

in Paul's

shoes

his own

countrymen

people who

he maybe even

studied with

people who

he maybe stood

shoulder to

shoulder with

in debates

as they were

praying in the

temple

people who

maybe he even

looked up to

I've just

tried to kill

him twice

can you imagine

the betrayal he

would feel

imagine the pain

he'd be in both

physically and

emotionally

but I can also

imagine him

sitting there

thinking I

used to be

these guys

I have been

on the other

side

because Paul

went from being

the persecutor

to the

persecuted

Paul can

speak so

well to

these people

because he

used to be

in their

shoes

and many

of us will

remember a

time when we

weren't Christians

we all know to

some extent what

it's like not to

know the truth

about Jesus

and it should

give that should

give us a deep

empathy and love

for people rather

than an attitude

of I'm better

than you

because that's not

true

it should

conjure in us

a love for a

world that is

lost without

Jesus

Paul must be

so hurt at

this point

but do you see

that God is not

distant

God cares for

his people

look with me

at verse 11

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

now from a

human perspective

we might be

tempted to look

at Paul's time

in Jerusalem

and think that

it was an

evangelistic failure

we have no

record that

anyone came to

faith

the only thing

we know is

that chaos

and confusion

ruled

and yet Jesus

appears to Paul

and encourages him

whilst this must

be hard and

maybe confusing

for Paul

this has been

part of God's

plan for the

spread of the

gospel

from the very

beginning

remember back

to Acts

Acts 1:8

chapter 1

verse 8

where Jesus

said to his

followers

you will be

my witnesses

in Jerusalem

and in all

Judea and

Samaria

and to the

ends of the

earth

all of this

going on

is part of

God's plan

that will take

the gospel

to places

of power

to people

in power

and to people

who aren't

in power

why

because every

single person

needs to hear

about Jesus

now when

you're feeling

completely out

of place

questioning

why you are

where you are

questioning

maybe even

why you're

here

why has

God put

you in

the place

you are

at that

specific

time

prayerfully

consider

that you

have

opportunities

to share

the gospel

maybe that's

why God

has placed

you where

you are

Paul is

here in

the midst

of this

crowd

who want

him dead

why

to share

the gospel

you may

be in a

job that

has no

future

prospects

you may

be looking

to move

house and

it's just

not coming

about and

you are

getting

frustrated

could it

be

that God

has placed

you in

those social

networks

to share

Jesus with

people

think and

pray

why has

God placed

you where

you are

God wants

all people

to hear

about Jesus

so maybe

that's why

you are

in that

classroom

that you

really

don't

like

maybe

that's

why

you are

in that

particular

flat

with some

housemates

that you

really

struggle

with

maybe

that's

why

you are

with work

colleagues

who

just

wind you

up the

wrong

way

share

Jesus

with

people

God's

ways

are not

our

ways

Jesus

words

in verse

11

confirms

Paul's

own

understanding

of his

calling

to go

to Jerusalem

from chapter

19

verse 21

and the

word spoken

through the

high priest

in chapter

9

verses 15

to 16

Paul was

set aside

to take

the gospel

to the

Gentiles

and he

will

suffer

for the

gospel

that happens

as another

plot is

discovered

in chapter

23

verses 12

to 22

to kill

Paul

and he

will

eventually

end up

in Rome

God's

ways

are not

our

ways

we

are not

promised

a bed

of roses

we're not

promised

a pain

and suffering

free life

we are

promised

that a

life

of humble

submission

to Jesus

and faithfully

living for

him will

lead to a

life of

suffering

and persecution

and rejection

but it will

also lead

to people

hearing about

Jesus

and some

of them

coming to

eternal

life in

him

God

has a

plan

God

has a

mission

and nothing

no chaotic

group of

religious leaders

no Roman

commander

no slander

from your

work colleagues

no insults

from family

or friend

members

no oppression

or persecution

will ever

stop God's

plan from

happening

we're not

all called

to do

something

spectacular

we're not

all called

to go to

the far

off land

and proclaim

Jesus

to hostile

people

but we

are all

called

to go

to the

people

who we

live

next to

to live

faithfully

and to

proclaim

Jesus

to them

we all

know those

moments that

take us

by surprise

whether it's

in stories

movies

or in

real life

we're left

with questions

and we are

confused

asking ourselves

what good

could come

from any

of this

that's where

Paul found

himself in a

similar situation

this morning

and we

can learn

from how

he dealt

with it

and do

the same

in our

lives

too

Christians

always be

ready to

give a

defense of

your faith

always be

ready to

tell people

why you

have hope

in Jesus

and always

remember

that God's

ways are

not our

ways

let us pray

together

heavenly

heavenly father

with the

ups and

downs of

life

we realize

it's so

easy for

us to

feel that

you have

abandoned

us

we look

at our

lives

we look

at our

world

and we

think

that you

maybe

have

turned

away

father

we thank

you for

the truth

of your

word

that you

never

leave

your

people

lord

would you

help us

to live

according

to your

will

help us

to have

good

conversations

with people

about Jesus

help us

to willingly

and openly

share our

faith

and point

people to

the hope

that we

have

that eternal

hope

eternal

life that

is found

through Jesus

and his

death and

resurrection

and help

us remember

that your

ways are

not our

ways

but lord

doing this

by ourselves

is impossible

we need

you by

your holy

spirit to

come and

give us

strength

to give

us

opportunities

and to

give us

boldness

to take

them when

they arise

father help

us be

faithful

as we

serve you

in Jesus

name we

pray

amen