Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Have you ever heard someone say, “God was with me that day!”?

What do they usually mean?

They usually mean that they avoided the worst.

They were in a terrible car accident, and they didn’t die.

They expected some dreadful news from the doctor, but instead all was well.

Some catastrophe occurred at a place they normally go, but for some reason they didn’t go that day.

But is that what God’s presence means?

Does God being with His people mean that they won’t suffer, or that circumstances will work out for the better?

Or has God in Christ actually promised to be with His people through the midst of the worst circumstances… to be with them in the fire, to be with them as they face persecution, to be with them as they suffer for the sake of Christ’s name?

Today we’re continuing our study through the book of Acts, and we’re deep into the last leg of Paul’s mission to testify about Jesus all the way to Rome.

What we encounter in the passage before us is a faithful Christian and the providential God, who works all things according to His wisdom and goodness and power.

In just a moment, we’re going to read a lengthy passage that’s part of several scenes in an unfolding storyline.

We’re looking at a few of those scenes today, as part of this one episode, and I want to give you a little heads up about the length of our reading as well as my rationale for starting and stopping our reading at what might seem like odd places.

I’m so thankful for the 16th century printer who was a Frenchman named Robert Estienne.[i]

He is better known by his Latinized name, Stephanus, and he is the man who added verse numbers to the Bible.

There were chapters divisions in the Latin text, added sometime in the 1200s, but Stephanus gave us verses.

Often, Stephanus did a great job with his verse divisions.

But sometimes, the chapter and verse breaks just don’t make sense to me.

In our passage today, for example, chapter 23 begins with the phrase, “And looking at the council, Paul said…” (v1).

But what council?

And why was Paul talking to a council?

Well, Acts 22:30 tells us these details.

That’s why my passage selection doesn’t match well with the chapter and verse numbers, and I’m even going to stop in mid-paragraph at the end.

You may not agree with my section-breaks, but at least you know I’m consciously trying to keep Luke’s sections intact as we go.

Let’s stand together as I read this lengthy account of Paul’s last couple of days in Jerusalem from Acts 22:30-23:32.

Scripture Reading

Acts 22:30–23:32 (ESV)

30 But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.

23 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall!

Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” 4 Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’

”

6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees.

It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man.

What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” 10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

12 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

13 There were more than forty who made this conspiracy.

14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.

15 Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly.

And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

16 Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.

17 Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.”

18 So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” 19 The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”

20 And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.

21 But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him.

And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.”

22 So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

23 Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.

24 Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”

25 And he wrote a letter to this effect: 26 “Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.

27 This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.

28 And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council.

29 I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.

30 And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

31 So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

32 And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him.

Main Idea:

God intends Christians to live virtuously, to testify faithfully, and to find their courage to do both in His good and meticulous providence.

Sermon

1. Paul’s Life (22:30-23:5)

After having been rescued from the Jewish mob twice (in chapters 21 and 22), Paul was brought to what was apparently an unofficial meeting with the “chief priests and all the [Jewish] council” (Acts 22:30).

This meeting seems to have been neither religiously formalized by the Jewish leaders nor legally binding according to Roman law.

Instead, it was a fact-finding mission since the Roman tribune wanted “to know the real reason why [Paul] was being accused by the Jews” (v30).

I’ve marked off these six verses as emphasizing Paul’s life, not because it tells his whole story – Paul had summarized his life in his “defense” from the steps of the barracks in Ch. 22 – but this section emphasizes Paul’s life in the sense of his character.

Paul’s life bears witness to his virtue and consistency as a God-fearing man, and Paul’s life (his character) is on full display here.

We see it first in his own statement that he had a clear or “good conscience” as he stood in front of that council of accusers (v1).

The council had already condemned Paul, and they wanted him dead.

But “before God,” Paul said, my “conscience” is “good” (v1).

Whatever Paul was specifically saying about his “life before God” and his “good conscience up to [that] day” (v1), we know at least that Paul was claiming that he – and not the council – was on God’s side.

And this was no shallow or careless claim.

Paul knew God’s word (he cited a specific verse from memory in v5!), and Paul knew the implications of what he was saying about Jesus having been resurrected and God’s blessing now going out explicitly to the Gentiles.

In short, Paul was saying, “Whatever happens from here, God is my witness, and I’m doing and saying what is right; and God will vindicate me on the last day.”

The council didn’t like to hear that, so “the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by [Paul] to strike him on the mouth” (v2).

This just shows how corrupt and enraged this council was, since they appear to have been completely disinterested in any discussion or debate.

They answered Paul not with scriptural arguments or careful reasoning but with an outburst of violence.

And this brings us to the second display of Paul’s life or character here.

He didn’t return violence with violence, but instead he pronounced God’s judgment.

Look at v3. Paul said, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall!” (v3).

This was a prophetic word of judgment, not in the sense that Paul could see the future, but in the sense that Paul was judging Ananias’s act as outrageously hypocritical.

And Paul expected that God would – either in this life or the next – “strike” Ananias as the corrupt sinner that he was.

Notice too the similarity between what Paul said here and what Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees during His earthly ministry.

In a litany of seven “woes” or seven prophetic words of God’s judgment, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28).

Twenty years or so later, the Jewish leaders in front of Paul were standing under this same prophetic condemnation.

It's also worth noting that hypocrisy and corruption and self-preservation are recurring themes in our passage today.

The Jewish council repeatedly acted hypocritically in an effort to kill Paul, though the Jewish high priest was supposed to be the model of virtue.

So too, the Roman tribune acted out of self-preservation, though he actually worked to save Paul’s life… at least for a time.

But this is not the Christian way!

And Paul’s example here is excellent!

He did not strike at his accusers, even after they struck him; and he forged ahead with a clear conscience, even as the highest Jewish authority alive at that time acted with a complete disregard for truth and justice.

But there’s still one more!

Look at v4-5.

Someone in the council pointed out that Ananias was in fact the “high priest” (v4), and Paul’s word of judgment had been directed at him (v3).

Paul’s response is curious, and I confess that I’m not sure exactly what to do with it.

I can say, at the very least, that it does speak to Paul’s life or character, in the sense that Paul seems to apologize and even honor the position of high priest, even though the man in the role is dishonorable.