Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

On Sept. 17, 1787 the leaders of our nation signed a document, which is to our freedom as Americans what the New Testament is to our freedom in Christ.

They signed the Constitution Of The United States, and that is now the longest lasting Constitution every drawn up by leaders of a major nation.

It is not perfect, and it has been changed considerably.

Some of it is outdated and as obsolete as the musket, but it is still the solid foundation for most all of the values we treasure as citizens of the this great land.

Abraham Lincoln said of this valued document, "Let it be taught in the schools, in the seminaries, and in colleges, let it be written in primers, in spelling books, and in almanacs, let it be preached from the pulpits, proclaimed in legislative halls and enforced in courts of justice.

And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation."

In other words, if you are truly an American, you will base your legal and political convictions on this document, just as you base your theological convictions on the Bible.

There is much truth to this, but the analogy does break down, for the Constitution is manmade, and as good as it is, it is not God's Word, and so it can be, and has been changed.

Nevertheless, it is one of the wonders of the world in its impact on man's freedom under government.

Constitutions all over the world have been developed by using it for a guide.

The Apostle Paul was fortunate to have lived at a time when he had the blessing of a form of government that was based on law and not men.

Roman law was concerned about justice and fairness.

Paul appealed to Caesar because of his reputation for justice and fairness.

Augustus Caesar, whom God used to make the decree that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, was known for his zeal in justice.

He stayed in court until nightfall, and when he was ill he would have himself carried to court, or sometimes have the cases brought to his sick bed in the palace.

He fought hard to make and enforce laws that encouraged and protected the family.

He was strongly anti-divorce, and he was strict on limiting the obscene in the theatre.

Tiberius Caesar followed in his footsteps and spoke often to the Senate about the sanctity of the law and their duty to uphold it.

The point is not that pagan Rome and it rulers were perfect or ideal.

The evil and folly are abundantly evident, but the point is, they had an empire that was the most powerful and longest lasting in history because they had law and order, and because justice was highly prized.

This was a life-saver for Paul because he was often in serious trouble with the Jews who wanted him legally eliminated.

There are ten occasions in the book of Acts where they plotted to kill Paul.

On this occasion of our texts he was under arrest because the Jews were furious over his preaching that God loved the Gentiles equally with the Jews.

When they heard this, their hatred was so aroused that they shouted, "Rid the earth of him!

He is not fit to live."

The Roman guards saved Paul's life, for they were in the process of inflicting their judgment of capital punishment upon Paul.

We see this clearly stated in 21:31 where we read, "While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar."

These government agents saved Paul from the religious mob, but they could not grasp what the riot was all about, and why the Jews were so angry at Paul.

They decided to get at the truth by beating it out of Paul.

Paul did not see a lot of value in being rescued from one beating to take another, and so he said to the Roman who was preparing him for a flogging, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who has not been found guilty?" Paul is not doing research on the law at this point.

He already knows the answer.

He is asking this to reveal his rights as a Roman citizen.

His question set off an immediate alarm.

The Centurion went to his commander, and he came and talked to Paul about his citizenship.

This put a definite damper on the inquisition, and all those connected with the incident made themselves scarce.

They were hoping Paul would never recognize them, for they had already violated his rights by putting him in chains.

Paul could have taken them to court and many heads could have rolled because of this legal blunder.

Paul did not press charges, however.

After all, they just saved his life, and they assumed that a man being beaten to death by a mob was probably a low life ruffian, and not a citizen of the empire.

Paul was just happy to be in their hands where there was an obligation to treat him with dignity and justice.

From this experience of Paul we learn two important points about our rights as citizens.

Both points can make us treasure our status under the United States Constitution as Paul treasured his status under the Constitution of Rome.

The first point is-

I. RIGHTS WILL BE VIOLATED.

Paul was under arrest because the Jews hated his freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

They could rid themselves of this man's rights by ridding Paul of his most basis right of all-the right to life.

The Romans stopped them from beating him to death in chapter 21, but in chapter 23 we read that 40 men made a vow not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.

Few men in history have been object of such a sinister conspiracy as was Paul.

He was saved, and again, it was by the help of the Romans.

It is no wonder that Paul loved the Gentiles, for they were God's agents in keeping him alive so that he could take his testimony into all the world.

Had he not been under the protection of the laws of Rome, he would have been an early martyr.

Paul lived in a world, just as we do, where everyone wants freedom, but where few want everyone else to have it.

People have their prejudices and hatreds, and they want the right to deny rights to those they despise.

This means the violation of rights is inevitable in a world where you have any kind of conviction or conduct that is not acceptable to others, and especially if the others are in authority.

The Jewish leaders and the masses of Jews all felt Paul was a pain, and that he should be eliminated like a headache.

They were the majority, and they had the power, and so they set out to get him killed.

Majority rule is only good if the minority are protected from the majority.

If one cannot be a minority without being crushed by the majority, the minority has no right to be non-conformists.

Paul was seen as having no rights by the majority, and so they were going to destroy him.

He did the same thing to the minority group of Christians when he was in power and had the authority to do so.

He rounded them up and put them in prison, and even persecuted them to death.

Life is a terror for minorities when the majority has the power to violate their rights.

Paul's chances of survival were about as slim as that of an ice cube in Death Valley.

It was because the leaders of Israel were determined to violate his rights.

Paul was in the same position the 13 Colonies were in when England was in power over them.

Their very existence was threatened because the majority power was determined to rob the minority of their rights.

When the Colonies drew up the Declaration of Independence they were doing the same thing Paul was doing when he asked if it was legal to flog a Roman citizen who had not been found guilty.

The Declaration says, "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed."

Governments exist for the sake of promoting people's rights and in preventing the loss of those rights.

Government exists because the violation of basic human rights is inevitable in a fallen world.

Paul would have been sunk without government help to protect his rights.

God used government to save Paul on the physical level.

God choose this period of history for the spread of the Gospel because it was the best time for government protection of human rights.

United States has been one of the greatest sources of power for spreading Christianity into all the world.

And it is because it has a form of government that promotes and protects basic human rights.

It is a never-ending battle to protect these rights, for man is ever drifting toward gaining the power to violate the rights of others.

That is why the Declaration of Independence says, "Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to altar or abolish it, and to institute a new government."

People have a right to a government that protects their rights, and when it doesn't, they have a right to change it.

They may do so by peaceful means or by revolution, which ever one it takes to do it.

Our Constitution provides for peaceful means of changing the government.

The people do not exist for the government, but the government exists for the people, and for the sake of preserving their rights.

One of the reasons we have such a good form of government is because it is based on the full awareness that the violation of rights is inevitable.

Our government is based on the reality of man's sinful nature.

Our Constitution assumes that the President will be a sinner and a tyrant if he can get enough power, and so it is designed to prevent that.

It assumes that the Congress will be corrupt and rob people of their rights, and that the courts will be likewise.

So it is designed with a balance of power to prevent any branch of government from getting so powerful that the other branches cannot control it.

The reason the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution was because our founding fathers knew that even American leaders would eventually become corrupt and begin to violate the rights of the people.

Jefferson said in a letter to Madison, "A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth..."

Many great men felt this was not necessary.

Alexander Hamilton felt is was a waste of time, but Jefferson argued, "I have a right to nothing which another has a right to take away."

He knew the depravity of man would lead to the violation of rights because times would change, and they would not all be united as they were then.

Paul was a part of the Jewish community just a few years before this confrontation.

He was one of their leaders who was doing their dirty work in persecuting the Christians.

Now is the object of their wrath.

Without government protection of his rights he would have been a goner.

His former friends were now his foes, and they were out to violate his right to even be alive on the planet.

The one lesson that history teaches clearly is that people in power will violate your rights unless they also are under a law that restrains them from that abuse.

Even godly people will use their power to violate their rights if they are not restrained by law.