You are Out of Your Mind

Scripture Reading

Acts 25:23–26:3 ESV

23 So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24 And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. 25 But I found that he had done nothing deserving death. And as he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him. 26 But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we have examined him, I may have something to write. 27 For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him.” 1 So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense: 2 “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, 3 especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

Thank you for reading this morning Sheila. Let’s pray.

Prayer

Father may our contentment rest in your peace, provision and your providence for our lives. Everything is for Your glory without any wasted moments to prove Your faithfulness to Your promises. Please teach us boldness. Help us to see Your gospel as so valuable that we can’t help but preach it in all circumstances. Give us not just intellectual ascent to believe, but conviction to act according to Your righteousness. Thank You for Jesus’s transformative power in our lives. Allow us to read and respond to Your Word with faithfulness, producing the same conviction within us. Allow me to be faithful in proclaiming Your truths this morning. Amen.

Introduction

Ambassador for Christ

Paul refers to himself and fellow laborers of the gospel as “Christ’s Ambassadors.” He writes in 2 Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 5:16–20 ESV

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

When you think of an ambassador for Christ, what do you think of? What does it mean to be an ambassador?

Living in the 21st century, we think of an Ambassador as a representative of a nation to a foreign nation. Often we think of Ambassadors as part of our diplomatic “peacekeeping” process. Our country sends a representative to another country to promote diplomacy between the two countries so we can work together, increase favorable trade for our nation, promote peace between nations, or even prevent war.

This is not the concept Paul has in mind. In the Roman world, an ambassador had a more serious function. They were messengers that were sent from a superior army to the weaker army that was about to be destroyed. They are part of an ancient military custom. Ambassadors brought the terms of surrender. If the weaker army accepted the terms of surrender, they would be offered peace instead of destruction. Ambassadors would present this final offer before the weaker army was wiped out. That is what Paul has in mind here. Be reconciled to God because judgment is coming.

Being an ambassador for Christ isn’t about peaceful toleration of another nation. It’s not about allowing unrepentant people confess false belief in God for the sake of “appeasement” with God. Since God is above all nations, thrones, rulers, and dominions, it is His rule that will ultimately reconcile everyone under Christ’s judgment. His judgment will lead those who have placed their faith in Christ and His resurrection into a glorious new creation. His judgement will lead those who have never turned away from their sin and believed in Christ to eternal damnation in hell.

Although Paul is imprisoned, under trial, and threat of assassination, he knows exactly what His responsibilities are. As an ambassador, he will proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in every circumstance including this one. He doesn’t regard Festus, Agrippa, the Jews, or the Gentiles according to the flesh. That is, Paul isn’t making superficial judgments based on external appearance or status. He’s not concerned with nationality or language. The only distinction that matters to Paul is whether one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ or not. Whether one is a living new creation, or dead.

Luke presents Paul’s trial as if Christianity itself is on trial. As an ambassador for Christ, Paul will share the good news of the resurrection, make his defense, and appeal to Rome and the Jews to be reconciled to God.

Propositional Statement

This morning we’ll examine

Paul’s Resume. Why do his words matter so much?

Paul’s Words. What is his message?

Paul’s Purpose. An Ambassador for Christ.

Paul’s Resume – Before Christ (4-11)

Testimonies

A testimony is quite literally the accurate and truthful telling of an account or event, often in a court of law.

As Christians, we often talk of sharing our testimony. Usually, that means sharing what our life was like before Christ, how we came to know Christ, and what our life looks like because of what Christ has done for us.

In Paul’s case, he gets to do both things. He will share an accurate and truthful account of why he is in prison as he gives his defense and share his Christian testimony.

Paul’s resume before the courts begins with an account of what his life was like before Christ revealed himself to Paul. Paul was not always an ambassador for Christ.

Paul is a Strict Jew, a Pharisee (4-5)

Winsomely, Paul begins his defense by giving his credentials.

Acts 26:4–5 ESV

4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 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.

His parents have raised him according to Jewish law and wisdom that they should:

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

The Pharisees believe all of the Old Testament, including the passages about a Messiah that will come to reconcile man with God. They also believe in the resurrection. Since Paul’s parent’s believed this, he believes it too. Believing in the coming Messiah and resurrection have never been a problem for Paul or the Pharisees.

Paul is on trial for the Resurrection (6-7)

Acts 26:6–7 ESV

6 And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 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!

The irony is thick. Paul is on trial for believing in the resurrection of the Messiah. Paul is not acting inconsistently with what he has been taught and believes. In fact, most Jews hold to this same orthodoxy! They believe in both the coming Messiah and in the Resurrection. Even Agrippa is at least required to say that he believes these teachings in the Old Testament if for no other reason than to appease the Jews that he is established over. Paul is on trial for Pharisaic beliefs. He’s being accused by Pharisees of the very thing the Pharisees are supposed to believe in.

Why is it incredible that God raises the dead? (8-11)

Acts 26:8 ESV

8 Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

Resurrection in the Old Testament

Job

It wasn’t incredible for Job who confessed in his grief:

Job 19:25–27 ESV

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

Elijah and Elisha

It wasn’t incredible for Elijah who raised the widow’s Son.

1 Kings 17:23–24 ESV

23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” 24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

Or Elisha, when the Shunamite Woman’s son died and was raised by God’s power:

2 Kings 4:32–35 ESV

32 When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. 33 So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. 35 Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

Isaiah

Or Isaiah who prophesied to Israel:

Isaiah 26:19–20 ESV

19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. 20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.

We don’t have time to look at all of the OT teaching of the resurrection in Psalms 16, 49, 71. Nor Isaiah 53, Ezekiel 37, Daniel 12, Hosea 6, or Jonah 1-2. All of these passages have been used to identify the resurrection by the most strict and pious religious sect in Judaism, the Pharisees.

Paul rages against those that believe in the resurrection (9-11)

And Paul knows exactly what he once was. While believing in the coming Messiah and in the resurrection as a Pharisee, he helped imprison and put to death those who proclaimed the resurrection of Christ. Instead of investigating the claims of a resurrected Messiah, he persecuted Christians directly affected by the Messiah and resurrection.

Acts 26:9–11 ESV

9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 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. 11 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 raging Fury.

Paul’s passion overrode his reason in these moments. He wasn’t thinking, he was just reacting.

Application – Passion

Paul’s reflects on his passion being in the drivers seat, dictating his actions, convictions, and violence against Christians. This is what happens when belief becomes hijacked by passion. It makes sense when Paul would write about putting the old man, the unregenerate man, to death that he would include bitterness, wrath, and anger in his descriptions. Just consider what he writes to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 4:26–32 ESV

26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Often, our passion overrides our reason, especially when it comes to beliefs. Today, in the West collectively, belief has been utterly reduced to base passion. If we are passionate about something, it means that we believe it. The problem is when we never question the legitimacy of our passions in light of reality.

For example: Sharing the gospel with mormons becomes more difficult because of their passion. One could share the most logical presentation of the gospel, dismantling the necessity of works for salvation and presenting salvation as a God’s gift of grace through faith, and not be able to overcome one’s “burning in their bosom.” They just feel it’s true, so it must be.

Sharing the gospel with buddhists, bahai, and some atheists becomes challenging because they may not believe in objective reality – Things that they can taste and touch. “It’s an illusion.” How do they know? Not because of reason, but because they believe it to be true.

Practically, nobody does what they know to be right. It’s just not what we operate from. “I know __________ is bad for me, but I want it because I want it so I’m going to go get it. I don’t want to question my beliefs because I might need to change, and I like what I am.” We operate from what we want, our desires, our passions.

Passion isn’t always a bad thing. But it can’t control all of our faculties. For Christians, both our reason and our desires need aligned with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must not only know the Scriptures, but prove our love for them by acting upon them.

Look at how God has brought Paul, who knows his bible, out of his sinful raging fury against God’s people. Christ shows Himself to Paul through blindness, so Paul can open the eyes of the Jews and the Gentiles.

Paul’s Resume Pt. 2 – Paul’s Conversion (12-18)

This is the 5th time Paul has given his testimony in Acts, and the 3rd time that he shares about his conversation on the road to Damascus.

Let’s read it together.

Road to Damascus (12-18)

Acts 26:12–18 ESV

12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 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. 14 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.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 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, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 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.’

Application

This is Paul’s Apostolic confirmation as an ambassador for Christ. Jesus blinds Paul with light, and commissions Paul to open the eyes of the Jews and Gentiles just as Jesus restores Paul’s sight.

At the end of Matthew’s gospel, Christ appears to the disciples and says:

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is our commission too. We are to make disciples of all nations, not merely converts. Ambassadors who are disciplined, just as Paul was by his parents, to be trained in such a way that they will not depart from it. Discipline requires time and patience. It requires a knowledge of when to be firm and gentle.

I don’t love microwaved food. It’s highly processed, tasteless, it’s always heated unevenly, and I only buy it when I want a quick meal.

Real cooking takes more time. It requires peeling, cutting , sauteing, baking, boiling, grilling, seasoning, marinating, poaching, and plenty of other things that I don’t know how to do. It takes more time, but the reward in flavor sustenance and pleasure in eating the food is always greater.

We always want a program or a quick plug & play repeatable process for disciples. I want to set it in the microwave for 3 minutes and call it “food.” Maybe it is, but it may not be good food for the body of Christ.

As ambassadors for Christ, we need to instill discipline in disciples. We need to put all of that good stuff we spent time preparing in the crock pot overnight for the better meal to come tomorrow.

That’s what Paul shares before Agrippa and Festus next. He shares how he has traveled in obedience to Christ as his ambassador, declaring the gospel.

Paul’s Words – Paul’s Defense (19-23)

Acts 26:19–20 ESV

19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 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.

Paul shares the gospel of Christ, redemption from sin and reconciliation with God through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ with the Jews and Gentiles. He teaches repentance from sin and turning to God. Their lives, their deeds, should reflect their repentance. That’s what an ambassador for Christ does.

Acts 26:21 ESV

21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

This is really the only direct defense Paul makes in response to the formal charges against him. Paul isn’t responsible for civil disruption. This is a religious dispute now before the Roman courts. Paul doesn’t Roman role, position, law, or practice in his defense because his defense is based on “a divine calling through Jesus.” “It was the risen Jesus who gave me this call and made me do it. I was directed from heaven to do so.”

Including the gentiles in his message of salvation greatly irritated the Jews. For many Jews, there was no possibility that Gentiles could share in divine eschatological blessing, that is, they cannot share in God’s promised blessings.

Paul is in prison for pronouncing God’s gift of salvation through the resurrection of Christ to both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus is the Messiah and has resurrected from the dead. Paul proclaims those who submit to Him as their King won’t be destroyed, but reconciled to God. He proclaims this as an ambassador from a greater nation’s army to a weaker nations army. To not be destroyed, they must surrender.

Paul can proclaim this message in prison and on trial before seemingly greater authorities because he knows of God’s power, and God’s sustenance in Paul’s weakness: Consider what he says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul knows that his help comes from God as he proclaims the same teaching he received from his parents when he was a younger Pharisee:

Acts 26:22–23 ESV

22 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: 23 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.”

This is our message as Ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Christ suffered, and is the firstborn from the dead. It is his message of salvation from the consequences of our sin that is light to all mankind. Jews and Gentiles. Praise His Holy Name!

Let’s continue our reading:

Paul Interrupted (24-29)

Acts 26:24 ESV

24 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.”

This is a pastor’s worst nightmare. You spend all week praying and preparing for a sermon that convicts both you and Lord willing your congregation when someone stands up in the middle of your preaching yelling “Pastor, you’re nuts!” with others around him nodding their heads in agreement.

Whenever I have a bad dream it’s usually either this, or my high-school calling me, telling me that my graduate degree is void because they realized I didn’t pass my Chemistry Final my senior year. That dream happens a lot actually.

Paul’s testimony has pushed Festus’s materialism to its limit. A sensible Roman does not believe in resurrection, let alone Jesus appearing in a vision and charging Paul as His ambassador to reconcile people to God.

Not only that, but Festus is a hedonist – he lives for a pursuit of pleasure. Seeing Paul embrace suffering in this way doesn’t make sense. It looks more like a mad obsession than the reasonable materialism he is used to.

Paul has embraced his role as an ambassador to the point that it is his all encompassing identity. Where Festus favors his hedonism – his indulgences, pleasures, luxuries, and status – Paul calls a waste. Paul wrote that he himself was of such a high class among the Jews that he was:

Philippians 3:5–7 ESV

5 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; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Paul left everything about his high reputation and considered it a waste for the sake of Christ. Ambassadors for Christ consider their calling above their status or worldly pleasures.

I once read of a Christian scholar debating in a personal conversation with an LGBT professor. The professor just couldn’t believe that Christians believed in monogamous marriage. The Christian scholar’s response was, “If you think that’s crazy you would be shocked to hear that we believe that Jesus is coming again from the heavens on a white horse.”

The world system thought that Paul was mad. The world thinks we’re mad too. To be earnest about wealth, power, science, pleasure, or athletics is not crazy from the world’s perspective. But to be fervent about spiritual things is called madness.

Paul speaks to this too. He knows that our affliction, the accusation of our madness is fleeting. In 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 he writes:

2 Corinthians 4:17–18 ESV

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

How would modern day Christians regard Paul? Too excitable? Too one sided? I think we would be uncomfortable around him to say the least. Maybe we’d think we could help him find some of his marbles.

God blesses Paul’s madness. Most of us believe everything Paul believed, but haven’t acted in faithfulness to it’s logical conclusion like Paul did. If we bore more of a resemblance to Paul, perhaps our world would be a saner happier place.

Ambassadors of Christ need not shy away from the accusation of being “mad.” We are not out of minds. We know the eternal will of God revealed in the Scriptures.

Paul’s Defense (25-27)

That’s exactly how Paul defends himself against Festus’s proposed madness:

Acts 26:25–27 ESV

25 But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. 26 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. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”

“I’m not crazy Festus. This is a common belief among the Jews. Just ask King Agrippa. He knows about the promised resurrection and messiah revealed through the prophets. Right Agrippa?”

This, my friends, is called a political tactic. Agrippa is probably caught off guard by Paul’s appeal to him. I imagine him pausing, calculating, before responding to Paul.

Agrippa’s Defense (28)

Acts 26:28 ESV

28 And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”

Boom. Deflected. It was a quick counter question to get Paul off of his back. Otherwise he would have to commit to Jewish beliefs which would make him look either just as crazy before Festus and the Roman courts or denounce the prophets Paul appealed to which would turn the Jews against him.

Paul won’t drop it though. If Agrippa won’t be persuaded to turn to Christ, then he will have all of eternity in hell to consider his madness.

How does Paul respond to Agrippa’s very political deflection?

Paul’s Response (29)

Acts 26:29 ESV

29 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.”

An ambassador for Christ looks to unbelievers around him and says, “I wish you knew Christ like I do. I want you to be as I am in Christ because you don’t understand the judgment that is coming against your sin.”

An ambassador for Christ looks to believers around him and says, “It doesn’t matter what they call you. Press on and proclaim the gospel regardless of your circumstances!”

The Verdict (30-32)

Acts 26:30–32 ESV

30 Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. 31 And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Conclusion

Festus and Agrippa recognize that Paul is mad, but hasn’t done anything deserving of death or imprisonment. They now send this imprisoned ambassador to Nero where it is assumed that Paul will make the

If Paul is an ambassador for Christ, the it is Christ’s message and mission that is on trial. The verdict is that Christ, his message, and mission deserve neither death nor imprisonment.

Paul’s resume, being a “Pharisee of pharisees,” prepared him to be used as an Ambassador for Christ. Though he once persecuted Christians because of their message of the resurrected Jesus, Christ’s revelation caused him to repent, becoming an ambassador of the risen savior.

Christians, Christ has sent us:

Acts 26:18 ESV

18 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.’

May we hold fast to this sacred calling as Ambassadors of the greater army confidently calling the world to repentance that they may relish in the salvation and brotherhood of Christ lest they face destruction as a rebellious weaker army. Preach the gospel and do not be ashamed at being called “mad.”

Let’s Pray.

Pray