On trial before the Sanhedrin

KIDCITY & PRAY

Everyone has a bucket list, right? You have that thing you want to do before you die, that place you want to go or sights you want to see or whatever. For the Apostle Paul, he wants to see Rome. But it appears that he doesn’t want to get there just to see the Colosseum. He wants to go there and be a witness for the gospel. Why? Because the book of Acts started with Jesus saying to the apostles, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And now here as we get closer to the end of Acts, we’re watching the Apostle Paul do exactly that. He’s been a witness for the gospel in the regions around Jerusalem for sure, right now now he’s being a witness here in Jerusalem, and his goal really is to get to Rome at some point and be a witness there – potentially even all the way to Spain, which was the end of the earth in his mind.

But, he’s not there yet. We’re picking up where we left off last week, here in Acts 22, where Paul as been bearing witness for the gospel in Jerusalem. He has been arrested by the Roman government because they found Jerusalem Jews trying to kill him outside the temple. And since Paul is a Roman citizen, he can’t just be arrested without being formally charged, so the Romans now need to figure out why there was such a disturbance in the temple – which ended with the Jews trying to beat Paul to death. So they have to get to the bottom of this. The angry mob was no help – they all just shouted things and tried to attack Paul, so that didn’t work. The next option was to look for a more formal, civil way of getting the truth, and they call for a gathering of the Jewish leading council in Jerusalem, known as the Sanhedrin. This group was composed of seventy of the leading Jewish teachers, with the high priest presiding. It was their responsibility to interpret and apply the sacred Jewish Law to the affairs of the nation, and to try those who violated that Law. The Romans gave this council permission to impose capital punishment where the offense deserved it (Wiersbe, 1:494).

So, they 30 … brought Paul down and placed him before them. Remember, Paul is the kind of guy who is always ready to talk about Jesus. He is always ready to be a witness to the gospel – Never let a good crisis go to waste. That’s Paul. So, chapter 23:1, Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day.”

I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day. What does Paul mean by that?

The author of Hebrews writes this in Hebrews 13:18 “Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything.” So there you go – that’s a pretty decent definition right out of the gate. Having a clear conscience has to do with conducting ourselves honorably. The apostle Peter takes it a step further in 1 Peter 3:15-16, when he writes that you should always be ready to tell people about the hope you have in Jesus, “Yet”, he writes, “do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.”

In other words, conduct yourselves honorably, especially when you are sharing the gospel, so that anyone who starts accusing you of something or spreading rumors about you will end up looking like the dumb ones in the end. Paul would go on to write in 1 Timothy 3:9 that every leader in the church should live like this. They should “[hold] the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.” This may seem a little bit heavy, but if Paul were writing that sentence to River City, he would be saying that every discipleship leader, every Community Group leader, every Pastor, every Worship leader, every ministry leader, every KidCity or Pathfinders teacher –– basically every male or female in any area of leadership should be able to preach or speak the gospel in area of leadership they are in, and have a clear conscience about it. I’m not telling other people to believe something I don’t believe. I’m not telling people one thing, and then I’m doing the opposite. They conduct themselves with gentleness and respect in everything they do. That is what it means to hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

Paul is on trial right now because rumors have been floated about him. Rumors get started all the time – it’s just part of life. There have been a few rumors floated about River City in the past six years, and it is what it is. When you hear them, you have a couple of options:

You can retaliate with something defensive, snarky and aggressive – “Good ol’ small town Iowa”. You can retaliate with rumors of your own that you’ve heard!

Or, you can let it go and live in such a way that the rumors just end up being smoke that appears for a second and then disappears because it has no substance. And if the situation presents itself to confront the rumor, you do it with gentleness and reverence, so that they see your good conduct in Christ.

Paul doesn’t have the option to just let it go – he’s on trial. But what I love about Paul is that in 1 Corinthians 4:4, he says, “For I am not conscious of anything against myself, (In other words, I’m pretty confident that I haven’t brought shame to the church or the name of Jesus anywhere. (But then watch this)… but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me.”

What Paul is saying here is I might look at my life and say, I am not aware of anything that I haven’t dealt with. I don’t have anything against anyone else. I don’t know of anyone who has anything against me. I’ve asked forgiveness where I need to. I’ve forgiven those I need to. I might be able to say, you know, I really think my conscience is clear – But, Paul says, I don’t get to say what is nailing it and what isn’t. I can’t even trust my own conscience! I can’t think of anything, but It’s the Lord who knows what’s really true. My own conscience isn’t the final say. Only you see my heart; only you know my true motives. So I think my conscience is clean, but I can’t justify myself.

And almost as if on cue, Paul’s statement is put to the test! He gets one sentence out, Brothers, I have a good conscience, and verse 2 The high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth. And as he gets smacked in the face, Paul just explodes on him, verse 3 …“God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?” You’re judging me because I supposedly broke the law by letting a Gentile in the temple, and now you have me punched in the face which is against the law. You’re a whitewashed wall. You sit in this room and judge everyone else according the law, while you break the law yourself!

4 Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare revile God’s high priest?” You just said you have a good conscience, and now you verbally assault the leader of the Jews! And watch how Paul responds. Oh, my bad. 5 “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul. “For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.”

Paul says, “oh, my bad. I didn’t realize he was the high priest.” This statement seems weird coming from Paul, since he’s been around Judaism for a while. How would he not know who the high priest is? History tells us that Paul’s eyesight was never great, not to mention, they just tried beating him to death, so maybe it’s an honest mistake – I’m really sorry, my eyes aren’t so good. Honest mistake. Or maybe it’s Paul’s backhanded angry way of saying, I didn’t recognize you as the high priest because you’re not acting like one!

But based on Paul calling them brothers, and his immediate apology and use of scripture, I’m going to assume it was an honest mistake, because Paul, who literally just said I have a clear conscience, now clears his conscience!

A couple things about this:

A CHRIST-WITNESS IS NEVER OFF-DUTY

Paul is on trial, being wrongly accused, just got smacked in the face, responded in a completely understandable and human way – yet is still bearing witness to Christ.

Colossians 3:17 says “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Whatever you do, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Whatever you do in word or in deed…

Our choice of words, our use of language, either bears witness to Christ, or gives people a reason to say “if that’s how a Christian acts, I don’t want anything to do with them.” The book of James tells us that fresh water and salt water can’t come out of the same spring. Blessing and cursing shouldn’t come out of the same mouth. Even under the grace of God, we have to watch our language, watch our speech, and watch how we talk about things we love and things we hate. The same with our actions.

Our choice of actions either bears witness to Christ, or gives people a reason to say “if that’s how a Christian acts, I don’t want anything to do with them.” 1 Peter 2:12 encourages us to “Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.” Even under grace, where our past, present and future sins are under the blood of Christ already, we are still expected to conduct ourselves honorably – especially around unbelievers, so that when they slander us and we don’t respond the way they expect, that they will be drawn to Jesus and become ready for his return.

And one of the ways Paul honors God with his words and his actions is through how he apologizes. He is very specific. Brothers, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have done that if I had known – because God’s word instructs me in Exodus 22:28 “You must not blaspheme God or curse a leader among your people.”

I love how Paul has the word of God etched into his heart – even in the middle of an incredibly frustrating moment.

SATURATED IN THE WORD

Psalm 119:11 “I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.” When David wrote those words, he understood that if I do not have God’s word etched into my brain through repetition, I am much more likely to recognize sin against God. Hopefully, I recognize that sin while I’m tempted by it, and I can resist the devil in that moment – but even if I carry through with the sin, knowing God’s word helps me know how to repent. When Jesus was being tempted by the devil early on in his public ministry, he said, “Man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by ever word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In other words, God’s words are LIFE.

I need to get God’s word into my heart more and more. What if an apology to my wife looked more like this:

I’m sorry I snapped at you this morning over breakfast when we were talking about finances – Matthew 6 says not worry about anything, but to trust that if God takes care of the flowers and the birds, he’s got us. I didn’t trust God, and I took it out on you, and I’m sorry.

What if, as a parent, I could say to my teenage daughter – I’m sorry that I got on your case about being on your phone tall afternoon. The truth is, Psalm 119 says “turn my eyes away from worthless things” and I’m frustrated with myself for the amount of time I spend on my phone – and I took it out on you. I’m really sorry.

See even in our apologies, we can bear witness to the gospel. Pointing people to the Truth, and representing Christ well. There’s one more aspect of apologies that isn’t right here in the text, but I think it’s important.

SORRYS WITHOUT BUTS

Paul doesn’t try to justify his actions with a BUT. Paul doesn’t say, “Look, I’m sorry that I yelled at you, Ananias, but you had these guys punch me in the mouth for no reason! If you ever had to apologize to a child for something, it might sound like this: Hey buddy, I’m sorry I yelled at you there at dinner, I shouldn’t have done that. BUT I told you a lot of times to stop playing with your food, and you didn’t listen.

Or we say to our spouses, hey about this morning – I shouldn’t have said that, I’m really sorry. BUT, you were sort of egging me on. You know how to push my buttons, and you kept hounding me about it after I said I would get the kids’ lunch ready.

I’m sorry you caught me with porn, but I wouldn’t have to look at this if you would just __________________.

I’m sorry I stay at work so long every day, BUT YOU don’t really make it fun to come home at night.

Or we say to our friends, look I’m sorry I didn’t come to your thing, but you didn’t come to mine. I’m sorry I did this, but you did this to me. Why did you hit your brother? Because he hit me first! You get the picture.

The problem we’re up against is that to actually admit our sin, confess it, and own it without adding the BUT, is that we lose control. We don’t like the humiliation of humility. And the argument goes, If I confess that I was wrong in what I said or did, why should anyone ever trust me or listen to me again!? Why should my husband ever trust me again if I apologize for doing what I did? I want him to love me, to cherish me, to want me – but if I confess this, it might drive him further away. Why should my wife ever trust me again if I confess to this or that; I want her to respect me and think of me as capable and strong, but if I own up to my sin, she’s going to lose respect for me. Why should my parents ever trust me again if I apologize for lying to them, or my teacher if I admit that I cheated, or why should my boss ever trust me again if I admit to this thing I did; why should the elders trust me to lead something at church if I’m honest about this sin?

So, in an effort to save ourselves, we don’t take our sin to Jesus and let the cross clear our conscience, we try to do it ourselves by pushing our sin off of our shoulders and onto someone who cannot redeem us. I’m sorry I lied (my sin), but you (I just pushed it off onto you). You can’t redeem me. You can’t justify me. You can’t clear my conscience. You can’t give me life. You can’t rescue me. And my sin is only compounded. Are you tracking with me on this?

No question, getting smacked in the face would have made Paul’s blood boil – he’s human. No question about it. But Paul once again takes seriously this call to be a witness, and it shows in how he handles himself when he was in the wrong. But then, even as he is apologizing for his sin, Paul looks around the room and notices something about this crowd that might help him out.

Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 10:16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.” A disciple is a sheep in a world of wolves. You are always at war. You need to always be on your guard. When you get lazy you get eaten. You have to stay close to the Good Shepherd, or you are going to be done for.

SHREWD AND INNOCENT

Therefore, Jesus said, because you are sheep in a wolf world, be as shrewd as serpents ( that means be cunning, be wise, be prudent, use the situation to your advantage) and be as innocent as doves (harmless, blameless, the accusations don’t hold any water – or to use Paul’s words, live with a clear conscience).

Paul has already been innocent as a dove. He sinned, and immediately cleared his conscience. If someone in the room were to start a rumor that said Paul is a jerk! He yells at the High Priest, disrespects him, treats him poorly – everyone else who was there could say, yeah, but he apologized a second later. He didn’t see it was the high priest. You’re making a bigger deal out of it than it was. So Paul is proven himself to be blameless in that way. Now it’s time to be shrewd and cunning. He looks around the room, and, verse 6 When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!”

I knew a truck driver once, back when CB radios were used a lot more, who used to drive through the city of Chicago and over the CB radio say things like “Boy the Packers sure look like a good team this year.” And then he would sit back and just listen to people yell at each other, yell at him, and what not. He said if he was ever fighting sleep, that was one way to stay awake for another hour or so.

That’s what Paul is doing. He spots a rivalry, and he goes for it. 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. Here’s the rivalry in the Sanhedrin: 8 For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, and neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees affirm them all.

So for Paul to say “I’m a Pharisee, and I’m here because I believe in the resurrection” – The Pharisees would defend him as one of them, and the Sadducees would say Paul is full of it. Well, it accomplished the same affect as the trucker on the CB radio – 9 The shouting grew loud, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party got up and argued vehemently, “We find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” And of course, the Sadducees would respond, THERE ARE NO ANGELS!!!!!!! And round and round it would go, each side getting louder and more angry, 10 When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, take him away from them, and bring him into the barracks.

Paul has shrewdly found the distraction that got him out of the situation – the troops remove him, and back to the barracks he goes, but what would you suppose his emotions are like at this point? He’s still got bruises from people trying to beat him to death yesterday, he narrowly escaped being tortured with whips last night, and today almost got torn apart when the Sanhedrin turned violent. I mean, he’s probably sitting in his jail cell wondering, God, am I ever going to get out of here alive? I really, really wanted to get to Rome. In Romans 1 he tells them how much he wants to encourage them, and strengthen them, and preach the gospel to them. Yet, there’s a good chance he never leaves Jerusalem, the way things are going.

What’s more is there’s no record of the Church standing up for him. There’s no record of James and the elders showing up and defending him. They had told him, man you should take these four guys to the temple for the vows and the Jews might leave you alone, but when that plan didn’t work, you don’t hear anything from them again.

But someone does show up in the prison cell that night. Someone does stop by and encourage Paul – and it’s the Lord himself. The same Lord whose glory blinded him on the road to Damascus, the same Lord who opened his eyes to the good news, the same Lord who called him to be a witness to the Gentiles has appeared the night, verse 11 … and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”

Have courage! Take heart! Look at that last verse: As you have… in Jerusalem, so it is necessary… in Rome. Jesus encourages Paul that he will actually get to fulfill this part of his bucket list. He’s going to make it to Rome. Paul can sleep at night, knowing that the Jews are not going to kill him, the Romans aren’t going to kill him – he’s going to get the chance to be a witness in Rome. That had to be very encouraging and exciting for Paul.

Isn’t it awesome to know that Jesus

Jesus had said, if you are faithful in small things, you will be trusted with bigger things. And Paul, you’ve been a great witness here in Jerusalem, so you’ll get your chance to be a witness in Rome. The same witness you’ve had here in Jerusalem is the same witness that will be necessary in Rome. You’re in chains in front of the rulers here, that’s how it’s going to be in Rome as well.

So as we bring this to

SOURCES

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 1:494.