Sermon Tone Analysis

“I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

“Look at what is before your eyes.

If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.

For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.

I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters.

For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.’

Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.” [1]

We each face impossibilities—some of us face greater difficulties and some of our situations are more likely to qualify for the title of impossible than those of others.

The impossible situations that I have in view for this message today are of such a nature that only divine intervention will resolve the conflict.

If we’re not careful, we will view those seemingly impossible events or conditions strictly from the external perspective; when we do this, we will attempt to handle them ourselves—and that often leads to failure.

In the Tenth Chapter of the Second Corinthian Letter, we read the account of Paul, the writer of the letter, as he defended himself against those who attacked him because of what he had written and because of his ministry style.

Those who were attacking him complained that his letters were weighty, but that argued that his presence was weak—all talk and no action, they would have said.

If he were the man he claimed to be, they argued, he would do this and say that.

They had an agenda; and he didn’t live up to their expectations.

Writing in his defence, the Apostle put his finger on the problem itself: “Look at what is before your eyes” [VERSE SEVEN].

One statement describes how most of us live, how most of us view conflicts, and how most of us handle life; it is found in VERSE SEVEN: “You are only looking on the surface of things.”

[2] We view matters externally; we see them as physical situations; we study them through the eyes of physical logic.

So, we come to physical or logical conclusions and deal with them accordingly, only to fail, drawing upon none of the power of God’s Holy Spirit in us.

In the preceding verses, Paul has written: “Though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” [2 CORINTHIANS 10:3, 4].

Underscore in your mind the particular words he has used—“in the flesh,” “according to the flesh” and “of the flesh.”

Think of the phrase “before your eyes” from VERSE SEVEN as being virtually the same as the word “flesh” in VERSES THREE and FOUR.

As long as we are on this earth we have physical bodies, physical brains and a physical basis for thinking.

Although we live out our lifestyle according to the fleshly point of view, our battles are really not in the realm of the flesh.

Our battles are often against invisible forces, deeper than just the physical, meaning that we need another sort of armoury from which to draw weapons—we need a weapon that will handle that kind of non-flesh battle.

Paul says in VERSE FOUR that “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh.”

Our weapons do not consist of human logic, human strength, human decisions.

Instead, the weapons of our warfare are divinely powerful.

THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE says these weapons are “mighty before God.”

THE LIVING BIBLE speaks of them as “God’s mighty weapons” and the BERKELEY BIBLE states that they are “powerful with God’s help.”

Stop and consider that concept: the weapons of our warfare are powerful—with God’s help—for what?

Paul says these weapons are entrusted to us for the destruction of strongholds.

Are you chained inside an impossible situation at this time, unable to get out?

Are you imprisoned by big, iron bars and massive gates which shut you in? Paul would say to you, “None of that is beyond the power of God.

God is able to break you loose and to pull off a remarkable deliverance.”

Underscore in your mind this singular truth—write it down to think over later: *LOOKING AT LIFE FROM THE OUTWARD PERSPECTIVE BREEDS PANIC AND UNREST*.

Keep that in mind as we look at ACTS TWELVE, the account of a classic case in point.

The Christians of the first century jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

Things were tough eight years earlier when Stephen was stoned; but now conditions had become almost impossible to bear.

The Christians had experienced a long season of persecution, difficulty, misery and misunderstanding.

They were being hounded to prison and to death, their words were distorted to make them appear as savages and they were hated by all people.

We who live in this generation—thank God—know nothing of being persecuted for the Faith—that is, really persecuted.

We will likely raise our families and see them raise their families (if the Lord tarries), and we will not lose them because of persecution arising from their relationship to Christ.

That was not the situation in the first century.

Don’t hurry so fast through the Bible that you miss the details God provides.

As Dr. Luke begins this portion of the book, he starts with a situation relating to persecution—“about that time” [ACTS 12:1].

About what time?

We read these words and pass over them as though they’re just understood by everyone.

Yet most people reading them don’t know to what time he was referring.

This period to which Luke refers was a time of intense persecution for our spiritual forebears.

About the same time that the saints had gone into Antioch and had begun to experience a new work of God, there was a backwash of pain, conflict, murder and death.

Also, something happened in Jerusalem that was tough to handle, and it related to a man mentioned in VERSE ONE: “About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.”

How many readers could answer the question, “Which Herod?” That’s like saying, “The most difficult time in Canadian history was during the government of the Prime Minister.”

Which one?

We’ve had a number of them.

“Herod” was a surname; it was like “Caesar” for a title.

It was like the title “Prime Minister” or “General” or “Commander.”

The world of first century Palestine was a Roman world.

Even though they had their own vassal government, Judea really was under the authority of Rome.

The Roman Empire was ruled by one man—the Caesar.

Think of the structure of this government as an umbrella having a metal point sticking out the top—that point would be the Caesar.

One of the spines of the Roman umbrella was Palestine, governed over an extended period by a series of rulers known as Herods.

The Caesar at the time of which Luke is writing in CHAPTER TWELVE of ACTS, was Claudius.

Every person on earth (at least within that ancient civilised world) answered to him, one way or another.

When he declared taxation, taxes were collected from the people.

When he declared death, executions were carried out.

When he declared life, people were spared.

He was the sole authority.

He, being Roman, magnanimously allowed the Jews to have their own puppet government ruled by the Herods.

Herod Agrippa I—that’s the Herod mentioned in ACTS 12:1, 2; and what a ruler he was!

Both he and his predecessors were jealous, petty, cruel tyrants; the Herods were men of conspiracy, many of them trying to ride the fence with one foot planted firmly in the Roman world and the other foot planted firmly in the Jewish world.

Orthodox Jews viewed the Herods as half-breeds.

Josephus says that Herod Agrippa I was a man who was vain and who scrupulously observed the Jewish rites.

A. T. Roberson, the noted Baptist scholar, states that Herod “was anxious to placate his Jewish subjects, while retaining the favour of the Romans.”

[3] Herod was trying to scratch both backs.

He built theatres and held games for the Romans and the Greeks, and he killed the Christians to please the Jews.

He rode the fence.

“He was … selfishly ambitious and fond of popularity.”

[4] There can be little doubt that Herod Agrippa I possessed personal magnetism.

He was no dummy.

He was cruel and murderous; but he was smart.

He was conniving and cunning; and he used his intelligence to curry favour with the people he ruled, placating them even if they didn’t particularly love him.

These other writers agree with Luke, who wrote that he “laid violent hands on some.”

When he had put James to death, he saw that this despicable act the Jews.

Remember, Peter, James and John were the three disciples who were closest to Jesus.

That’s the James here—not the writer of the book; this was the close disciple of the Lord Jesus.

Herod Agrippa I had murdered James; and “when he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also” [VERSE THREE].

He was a man-pleaser; he wanted very much to gain favour with the Jews, even if it meant that he would have to be unjust or be required to act unrighteously.

Do you remember the truth to which I just called your attention in SECOND CORINTHIANS: *LOOKING AT LIFE FROM THE OUTWARD PERSPECTIVE BREEDS PANIC AND UNREST*?

Believe it, these Jewish Christians were terrorised by James’ brutal murder.

Remember, it wasn’t all that long before this murder these believers had witnessed the death of Stephen; and they were now faced with an awful decision.

Their close friend, a recognised leader within their assembly, Peter, was imprisoned and facing death.

They had a decision to make.

If they looked at the matter from the outward perspective, they would see three events which conspired to threaten the future of the Faith.

First, /Peter was imprisoned/.

VERSE THREE states that “he proceeded to arrest Peter also.”

Jail was not a new experience for Peter.