Paul's First Defense

Introduction

Back when I played soccer in high school I was about 145 lbs. I wasn’t the most strapping or large buy at the time. Boy how things have changed. We used to have practice out back in the field behind the church where we had one soccer goal set up. At that time, we also had a guy on our team who was probably 6’7”. He was huge. Any you know how soccer practice goes, we practice. We practice shooting, we practice dribbling, we practice passing and we practice defending. I remember one time, I was trying to dribble the ball and I think this guy must have been defending, but all I see is this huge 6’7” guy come barreling toward me. There was no where I could go, I couldn’t change directions and run. In the end, we both ended up on the ground.

When we see danger approaching, our natural response is to want to defend ourselves. When others are critical or accuse us of something our most common response is to become defensive. It is understandable, but often times what we do because of it is detrimental. Defensiveness is defined as the quality of being anxious to challenge or avoid criticism. The behavior intends to defend or protect. It can be an attitude (a feeling that rises up inside of you when you feel attacked) or it can come out as an action. While it has its purpose, defensiveness is often misdirected and destructive.

Common ways that people show that they are being defensive include:

making excuses

justifying our actions

blame shifting

minimizing the other person’s feelings (you’re blowing this out of proportion)

shutting down the conversation (We’re done or I can’t talk to you)

bringing up the past (you attacked me so now I am going to attack you)

The bible clearly deals with this attitude of defensiveness in passages like:

1 Peter 2:23 “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:”

Matt 5:39 “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Romans 12:18-19 “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

Defensiveness is at is root pride. So if we were thinking about this truth, it would surprise us to read in Acts 22:1 “Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.” come from the lips of Paul. Aren’t we not supposed to defend ourselves? The purpose of this message is not to deal exhaustively with the idea of defensiveness, but to give you one instance when it is alright to defend.

The word defend here is the Greek word from which we get apologetics. Maybe you don’t know what that word means, but it basically means to make a case for what someone is doing or believing. Apologetics today is making a case for Christianity. This is exactly what Paul is doing in Acts 22.

Notice Paul does not defend himself against the personal attacks of the people. Back in Acts 21:28 “Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.” The accusers made this a personal fight when they said, This is the man…

Paul does not defend himself nor does he even refute their arguments in this case. He doesn’t address the accusations of teaching against the temple, the law, and jewish customs. He does not address the accusation that he had polluted the temple even though Luke clearly knows there is evidence to the contrary. Paul begins his defense as a defense of the gospel.

There are going to be times when people do not understand why you do what you do. They will even misjudge your motives because you are a Christian. In those moments, it isn’t so much important what others think of you. That’s just the fear of man. In those moments, what is important is what people think about Jesus Christ. Paul begins to defend his actions because God’s reputation is important and because the gospel is important. This morning, I want us to look at how Paul defends the glory of God and the gospel in his first defense before the people.

Paul tells them who he was vs 1-5

How Paul addressed the people

Paul begins his defense addressing the crowds. I can’t help but notice how Paul begins to defend the gospel.

Notice how respectful he is. This is the crowd that was just trying to kill him, but he calls them Men, brethren and fathers. You will not get anywhere by treating people like trash or down talking them when you are trying to witness to them. I know there has been movements within our circle of churches that preach down to people all the time. This is not how Jesus taught us to act nor is it the example of Paul.

He identified with them. brethren…I am a man which am a Jew. Paul does not highlight the differences between him and the people because their is something more important.

He shared with them his story. Not everyone needs a comprehensive biblical argument from a million passages of scripture. In fact the average person today holds the bible in little esteem. And while faith comes by hearing, your story has power to bring that message down to their level. Everyone has a story. Maybe its not as exciting as the drug dealer who got saved, but everyone has a story. And God is actively changing you even now. You may not be an expert in apologetics, but you can do exactly what Paul does here. Tell your story.

What Paul told the people about his past

Paul was religious- There are a lot of people who are religious, but they are not saved. All the good things you could ever do can never erase the sins that you have committed. Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Good deeds don’t make you right with God; in fact, God gave the law or the 10 commandments to show us that we aren’t truly good. We are all sinners Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” So being religious and doing good things doesn’t fix the problem that we all have.

Paul was zealous- Paul was not just religious; he was zealous. He had a lot of passion and zeal. He was sincere in his faith. Isn’t it just good enough to be sincere about your faith. No in fact, I can be sincerely wrong. Sincerity just means your are dedicated to whatever pathway your have chosen and people choose wrong pathways all the time. A drug addict is sincerely passionate about his drugs and yet they are killing him. A tribal man is sincere that his faith requires him to make a human sacrifice, but he has still murdered someone. Sincerity does not save you.

Paul’s actions led to people getting killed- Paul was so sincere that he actively sought to have Christians killed. While he may not have personally killed anyone; he brought them to be killed. This was who Paul used to be. In many ways, he was just like these Jews standing before him now. Notice as ye all are this day. He relates to them because he was one of them. Can you relate to the lost people that you witness to? Can you relate to the dedicated Catholic girl who goes to mass each week? Can you relate to the guy who works hard but gets drunk every weekend? We can all relate to the lost because they are just sinners; just like everyone of us was and is without Jesus Christ.

Paul tells them what happened to him vs 6-11

Paul then tells of his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He tells how a great light shone about him and he fell to the ground. He heard a voice, the voice of Jesus calling out to him and asking why do you persecute me. Notice how Jesus identifies with his people. Paul killing Christians was Paul persecuting Jesus Christ. Matt 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” In vs 8, Paul is confronted with the person of Jesus Christ.

The experience that everyone of us needs to have is with Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can change us. He is the only one who can save us. Your religion can’t do it. Your self-help program can’t do it. Your hard work can’t do it. The central part of Paul’s story must be his personal experience of Jesus Christ. Have you had a moment in your life where you met Jesus?

For many of us, we have never had an experience so drastic as Paul’s. We didn’t see a light and hear a voice. In fact, faith is believing without seeing, trusting in what can’t wrap my mind around. But Paul’s experience was not a subjective experience. Some unverifiable event that happened somewhere in the desert when he was alone. The men that Paul traveled with in vs 9 saw the light and they heard the sound. In Acts 9:7 “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” it says, they heard something. This might seem to be a contradiction, but the Greek word for heard in this passage is used to convey the idea that they heard something but did not understand the words. The point is this there were witnesses to what happened to Paul.

Believe it or not there are witnesses to your salvation as well. I can not say with any definiteness whether anyone in this room is saved because I do not know the heart, but Jesus said Matt 7:16 “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” There are those who knew you before you got saved and who know you now. Do they see the change? Don’t you see how important it is to live a life that others can see and know that Jesus truly does change lives?

Paul tells them who he has become vs 12-22

He was chosen- When ever you see the word chosen in the bible it would do us all good to ask ourselves for what? It doesn’t always mean the same thing in ever passage. Here Paul was chosen to know God’s will and have this special relationship with God. You could boil it down to say Paul was chosen to serve alongside of God. God had a special purpose for Paul’s life. Phil 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

He had a vibrant ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ - Paul would also have the type of relationship with Jesus where he would be permanently impacted because he had seen and heard Jesus. The tense of these verbs indicates an action with an ongoing affect. People could look at Paul and tell, he loved Jesus.

He was a witness for Jesus- Loving Jesus, motivated him to want to tell others about Jesus. 2 Cor 5:14 “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:” 2 Cor 5:20-21 “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” You are God’s ambassador on this earth. You are His witness. People can deny the resurrection of Jesus historically, but the one thing they cannot deny is His life living in you.

He was led by God- Paul was also led by and obedient to God. There are so many Christians even now who do not live in obedience to Christ. Some it seems don’t even consider it or care. But Paul showed the power of the gospel to change lives by living a life obedient to the leading of the Lord. I love how Paul has his little rebuttal though. It shows that he was comfortable talking to God about anything, but I know that Paul was submitted to God’s will either way. We don’t always understand what God wants of us, but we still need to obey.

Conclusion

The greatest defense of the gospel is a changed life and your testimony. Here is Paul’s point, the gospel changes people. It is powerful. As he would say in Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” We do not need to be afraid of that message. We do not need to back down and cower when our faith is challenged by unbelievers.

The best thing you can do when others mock Christianity is tell them the story of how He changed your life and then live a consistent life before them. They may not listen now, but they can’t ignore the truth of what Jesus has done in your life.