Kicking against the Goads

Introduction

Review and context

Before we read through the passage, I want to remind us that we’re not reading this in isolation, but to make good sense of it, we need to read it in its context. Acts 1:8 helps us remember to put this passage into literary perspective and helps us see what Luke has been telling us throughout his book and particularly in this passage. Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” Keep this in mind as we go.

Another important thing to keep in mind as we read today’s passage is Acts 9. Acts 9 is a narrative description of what Paul is going to give in his own words here and it will be good for you to go back and re-read this later.

As we heard Margie read earlier, Festus took over as governor of Judea from Felix who had left Paul in prison in order to appease the Jews. Festus also seems to want to simply appease the Jews but knows he has an obligation to Paul as a Roman citizen. Festus doesn’t exactly know what to do with Paul because there is no clear indictment against him, but defers to Agrippa in regard to what to tell Caesar.

Reading the Passage

Acts 26 ESV

So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense: “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities. “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. 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.” And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” But Paul said, “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. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” And Paul said, “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.” Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Main idea

As we read its always important to keep in mind that these words are written to a people who’s culture is much different than our own. So we make sure to pay attention to the historical content and context as our starting point, but also to relate them to our present day, in what ways do our cultures meet? How is it that we’re dealing with the same issues?

the tendency toward trying to earn salvation through following the rules of our religion

our need for personal encounter with Christ and ongoing relationship (with revelation) with Christ

Point us away from works-based salvation and toward a relational salvation that is mediated by Christ himself.

We do not worship a God who set the world in motion and then left us to our own devices, he is actively engaged in it and in redeeming the world to himself. As we’ll see, Jesus is not the content of the gospel, but also its communicator.

Paul’s Ongoing Encounter

Explanation

If you go back and compare this account of Paul’s vision of Jesus on the way to Damascus to the one in Acts 9, there are a couple of things that will stand out as different between the two. We’re going to focus on this conversation that Paul has with Jesus.

Acts 26:14 tells us that Jesus addressed Paul saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’”

Kicking against the goads is not a totally familiar metaphor for us, but it was common in Greco-Roman thought. A goad was a sharp stick that ox drivers used in order to maintain control of the ox or to spur the ox on. One of the first uses of kicking against the goads is from Euripides play Bacchae:

Dionysus

I would sacrifice to the god rather than kick against his spurs (or goad) in anger, a mortal against a god.

Paul uses this allusion because he was apparently in a similar context of working against the one with divine authority. In other words, Paul’s persecution of Christians was not going to stop God from bringing his kingdom to reality on earth, but only bring him harm in his efforts.

In Paul’s efforts to follow the law and be justified by his zeal for protecting God, he found himself opposed to the God he supposedly worshiped. As he reflected on the time prior to knowing Christ, Paul wrote to the Philippians 3:4-8 “... If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. . . ” In other words, to the best of his ability he did what he thought he could do to be justified. He goes on: “… But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

In this moment on the road, Paul experienced Jesus, but it wasn’t to be a one time experience. Look at what Jesus says in verse 16: the NIV translates it this way ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.” Jesus told Paul that he would be a witness of what he had seen of Jesus and what he will see of Jesus.

It seems to me that Jesus told Paul that there was going to be an ongoing relationship between the two that would impact what Paul would share with the people he encountered.

In what we call the great commission we hear Jesus say Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus ended with a promise to be with his disciples. Similarly, it sounds to me that Jesus was promising to be with Paul to the end of the age in a very real way. What good does it do for someone to say that they are with you if they are not actually present. The presence of Jesus with his disciples must be an experiential reality for us just as much as it was for them. Over and over we have watched Paul recount experiences of Jesus encouraging him or giving him messages of direction. We saw it take place with Peter and John and the early church in Jerusalem. What they describe is the presence of the Holy Spirit in palpable ways.

In Acts 2 there is the physical presence of the Spirit in tongues of fire on the disciples.

In Acts 3 there is a man healed in the name of Jesus.

In Acts 4 Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit to speak to the Sanhedrin so that they saw he had been with Jesus, later the believers together prayed and the house they were in shook, they went out and spoke with boldness.

In Acts 5, the apostles are set free from prison by an angel and told to go preach in the temple and find themselves rejoicing because they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus.

In Acts 6 the Spirit showed the disciples who ought to be in charge of taking care of the Greek-Jewish widows, Stephen becomes an example.

In Acts 7 Stephen is empowered by the Holy Spirit and comforted by Jesus before he’s stoned.

In Acts 8 there is a second type of pentecost with the Samaritans and a unique story about Philip and the Eunuch where Philip is spoken to by the Spirit.

Acts 9 is Paul’s encounter with Jesus and more healing done in Jesus’ name by Peter.

Acts 10 is where both Cornelius and Peter have visions, and Peter has a conversation with the Lord about his.

Acts 11 tells us about Agabus who foretold a famine by the spirit.

Acts 12 is about a miraculous escape from prison for Peter.

Then we have Paul’s 3 missionary journeys that point to the active work of Jesus in his life and direction of ministry.

If the book of Acts shows us anything it is that Jesus is still active in the world and he is active in our lives! Paul’s testimony was that Jesus told him that his initial encounter on the road to Damascus would not be the only time Jesus would reveal himself to Paul.

Application

This is something we ought to wrestle with today. I’ve heard it said that God has no grandchildren. No one is born into right relationship with him. You aren’t a follower of Jesus because you assume the title, “Christian”; you aren’t a follower of Jesus because your parents took you to church and had you baptized; you aren’t a follower of Jesus because you said a prayer; you aren’t a follower of Jesus because you’re a good person with a high moral standard who knows their Bible inside and out, or because you can recite doctrinal statements and creeds. You are in right relationship with God because you have an encounter with Jesus through the gospel. But not only that, you follow because he is always with you guiding you.

If he’s always with you and relationship with him is the goal, how is it that you hear God speaking? Do you hear him speaking? Do you want to hear him speaking? Are you growing in your relationship, not just your practices? Can you say with confidence, I encountered Jesus and I continue to encounter Jesus? My concern is that we have a tendency to describe an encounter with Jesus, but do not continually encounter Jesus as we walk through life. This stuff is scary because it requires us to change, it requires us to give up control of our lives, it requires us to live differently than those around us. But apart from the relationship with Jesus, all you have are rules to follow. Rules don’t bring life.

Paul’s Gospel Proclamation

Explanation

Light was a theme throughout Paul’s speech. There was light associated with the Damascus experience and light in his understanding of the gospel. Light can be seen in the sense of the illumination of one’s spirit through Jesus and this took place in a physical way when Paul encountered Jesus on the road, but it also deals with the spiritual reality of our experience.

The darkness to light metaphor is not new to the New Testament, but finds its roots, unsurprisingly, in the Old Testament particularly in Isaiah:

Isaiah 9:2 echoed in Luke 1:79 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

Isaiah 42:6-9 ““I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”” then later in that same chapter

Isaiah 42:16 “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.”

Isaiah 49:5-7 “And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.””

Theme of light and darkness in this passage is consistent with Paul’s writing in Ephesians 5:8 “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” In Thessalonians (1 Thess 5:5) “For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.” And in Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,”

In this section we come to a summary statement of Paul’s life since he encountered Jesus initially:

Paul’s message to both Jew and Gentile was to repent and turn to God. Salvation and forgiveness of sins are spoken of as the result of turning from darkness to light, from power of Satan to God. Paul elaborates what that looks like some in verse 20 (Acts 26:20) “...“that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” There is an unmistakable reference to John the Baptist’s message of repentance. In Luke 3:8 he says the exact same thing: Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. This is biblical conversion.

I want to have a quick discussion about what we call conversion.

Dictionary.com defines conversion this way:

Conversion: noun 1. the process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another.

"the conversion of food into body tissues"

2. the fact of changing one's religion or beliefs or the action of persuading someone else to change theirs.

"my conversion to the Catholic faith"

Its the second one that is commonly referred to as conversion, but biblical conversion is the first definition: transformation from one to another; darkness to light; power of Satan to God.

The Greek word that Luke uses to talk about the result of repentance is prasso (gk). It’s translated - (CSB) do, (ESV) perform, (NIV) demonstrate; The NLT reads: and prove they have changed by the good things they do.

It’s not that the works are how we repent, as if we’re trying to "prove we have changed by the good things we do." Rather, verse 20, James 2:14ff, and Luke 3 are all consistent. Our faith bears fruit of works in keeping with repentance. I like image of bearing fruit like John uses. Bearing fruit is something that springs up from what's within, not something that happens on the outside that changes the inside. Bearing fruit is a result of being empowered by God. John 15 speaks of this. It is the vine that feeds the branches to bear fruit, not the branches that force the vine to provide the nutrients required to bear fruit. A branch cannot bear fruit apart from its vine.

So Paul doesn't talk about or model conversion in the popular sense (he's a Jew before and a Jew after) rather repentance of turning away from his life in darkness (within Judaism) and into light (still within Judaism). This was what John proclaimed and this was what Jesus proclaimed. Conversion as we often view it is relative to the rules one follows as part of a group (may or may not include relationship with God), repentance is done apart from the rules but speaks of a relationship with God and brings the relationship within the context of (and hopefully redeeming) the rules of the people we are part of.

In Biblical conversion as we hear the gospel proclaimed: that Jesus has brought his kingdom to earth and we can be part of it, we are invited to come into the light out of darkness, we are invited into the power of God and away from the power of Satan, we are invited to receive forgiveness of sins and adoption as children of God. All the while Jesus continues to proclaim light to us as we become witnesses of what he has shown us and what he will show us.

Application

Where does that leave us today?

First, I hope that if you haven’t considered the gospel, I hope you have the eyes of your hearts enlightened so that you can see the light of Christ. Turn away from the darkness that you have been living in and come into the power of God.

For those of you who have responded to Christ’s light, I invite you to consider what your relationship with Jesus looks like. Is your relationship with Jesus marked by rules to follow, events to attend, and guilt when you don’t live up? Is your relationship with Jesus purely that you have accepted what he’s done on your behalf and you don’t think much else of him? Or are you walking in his power daily, having a relationship built on communication, communion, and ultimately union of you to him?