When Faithfulness Feels Like Failure
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Theme/Topic (What’s the problem, the question, etc.)
Have you ever done the right thing… but still felt like you lost?
William Wilberforce was a British politician in the late 18th century whose conversion to Christ dramatically reshaped his life’s mission: to abolish the British slave trade.
He spent years introducing legislation that failed over and over. For nearly 2 decades he faced opposition, ridicule, and exhaustion.
Imagine pouring your life into something you believe honors Christ… and watching it collapse again and again in front of you.
To many watching, it looked less like victory… and more like faithful failure.
And if we’re honest, that’s a tension many of us feel — not in Parliament, but in our everyday lives.
You try to sharing about your faith with a coworker or a neighbor, who shuts donw the conversation.
You serve in a ministry at church, pouring into people, and seeing little visible fruit.
You try to parent faithfully while a child continues to resist your loving godly influence.
You try to live with integrity at work or school, and people question your motives.
And in those moments, a question starts to rise in your heart:
When people reject your witness to Christ, and your faithfulness feels like failure… what sustains you then?
That’s exactly where we meet the apostle Paul in Acts 22 and 23.
He has been faithful to speak about Jesus.
He has shared his testimony openly.
And yet everything around him feels like it’s falling apart — accusations, violent conflict, and condemnation from the very people he hoped would listen.
In our text today, we’re going to see how God sustains Paul when faithfulness feels like failure. And we’ll discover how God still sustains us today.
Scripture
So, grab your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 22, beginning in verse 30. If you need to use a pew Bible, you’ll find today’s text on page 1108. Once you’re there, please stand with me if you are able and follow along with me as I read...
But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”
And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.
Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?”
Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?”
And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”
Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”
And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.
The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”
This God’s Word!
Prayer
Father, may your Word revive our souls as we see afresh the beauty of Christ. And may Your word make us wise for navigating dark seasons of the soul. We ask this in Christ’s name — Amen!
Intro: Formal (give context to passage, setting the scene, big idea)
Before we walk through this passage together, it’s important to remember Paul’s experience so far since arriving in Jerusalem.
He arrived with a desire to encourage the church and to testify about Jesus.
But instead of celebration, he faced…
Suspicion from believers,
False accusations from the Jewish crowd,
He was then physically dragged out of the temple by a mob that nearly beat him to death in the temple courts.
He was dragged away in chains by Roman soldiers.
He stood before an angry crowd that shouted him down when he spoke about Christ.
Then he narrowly avoided being flogged by the Romans
And now — as we come to Acts 22:30 — The Roman Tribune brings Paul before the Sanhedrin, the highest religious court in Israel, to help him understand why Paul is such a troublemaker.
From the outside, nothing about this moment looks like success.
It looks like rejection.
It looks like failure.
And that brings us right back to the question we asked a moment ago:
When people reject your witness to Christ, and your faithfulness feels like failure… what sustains you then?
Here’s what this passage shows us:
When people reject your witness to Christ,
and faithfulness feels like failure
— the risen Christ stands with you,
sustaining your courage,
defining your success,
and ensuring your mission.
That’s the thread that runs through everything we’re about to see.
And Luke helps us see it unfold in three movements:
First, we’ll see When Faithfulness is Condemned — as Paul’s integrity is questioned and human judgments collide.
Second, we’ll see When the Gospel is Rejected — as the real issue becomes the resurrection of Jesus and the message Paul proclaims.
And finally, we’ll see that Then Christ Meets You in the Darkness — when the risen Lord Himself stands near to encourage His servant.
Now let’s begin in verse 1 of chapter 23 and watch how God answers our question.
When Faithfulness is Condemned
When Faithfulness is Condemned
Paul begins by addressing the council affectionately as “brothers.” We saw this same posture last week when he spoke to the crowd.
Even standing before an angry courtroom, Paul begins by speaking with respect — not hostility.
Then he makes a bold statement in verse 1:
“I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”
Paul isn’t talking about private feelings or claiming moral perfection. He’s making a covenantal claim.
Standing before the highest Jewish court, Paul is essentially saying:
“My faith in Jesus has not made me unfaithful to the God of Israel — it proves that I have followed Him faithfully.”
In other words, Paul is declaring that he can be a faithful Jew and a follower of Christ at the same time.
And that’s exactly what enrages the high priest.
Because Paul isn’t apologizing for believing in Jesus — he’s claiming that faith in Jesus is the truest expression of devotion to Israel’s God.
So the hot tempered high priest orders him to be struck in the mouth.
Imagine this scene: long robes, authority, religious power — and yet instead of justice, there is rage. The very leaders who claim to uphold God’s Law act contrary to it.
Paul responds in verse 3 with a sharp rebuke:
“God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall!”
He exposes the hypocrisy — clean and respectable on the outside, but corrupt and unstable in heart.
And here’s the irony:
Paul is the one on trial… yet suddenly it is the council that’s on trial standing under the judgement of the gospel!
Now when they accuse him of speaking disrespectfully to the high priest, Paul humbly acknowledges the Law and clarifies that he did not realize who he was addressing. Luke doesn’t explain why — and that’s fine.
What matters is that Paul shows a desire to act with integrity and respect.
And we shouldn’t pretend Paul is flawless in this moment either. He is human after all. And even faithful servants can make missteps under pressure.
Remember Jesus’ words:
But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And later Paul himself writes:
When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
And while Jesus also confronted hypocrisy with sharp truth, — remember: when He stood on trial, He did so with remarkable restraint.
So Luke isn’t presenting Paul as perfect — he’s showing us something deeper:
Paul believes he is being faithful to God… and yet that faithfulness is condemned.
And that’s not just Paul’s story.
There are moments when obedience to Christ places you at odds with the expectations of the culture around you.
Think of people like Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker, who sought to follow Christ according to his conscience and faced years of legal battles that nearly destroyed his livelihood.
Faithfulness does not always lead to applause.
Sometimes it leads to misunderstanding.
Sometimes it leads to rejection and condemnation from those in the world.
Because of that we need to hear this clearly:
Standing firm for Christ does not guarantee comfort — but it does reveal where our allegiance truly lies.
So when your faithfulness is condemned, don’t assume you’ve failed. Sometimes condemnation is simply the cost of conviction.
Now Paul doesn’t stay focused on defending himself.
And this brings us to the second movement: WHEN THE GOSPEL IS REJECTED.
When the Gospel is Rejected
When the Gospel is Rejected
In verse 6, Paul reads the room — and he realizes that this trial isn’t really about him.
Beneath the shouting… beneath the accusations… lies a deeper issue — the very heart of the gospel itself.
Luke tells us the council was made up of Sadducees and Pharisees.
The Pharisees were the religious conservatives who believed in angels, spirits, and the resurrection of the dead.
The Sadducees, on the other hand, denied almost everything supernatural — especially a bodily resurrection.
And Paul knows that this question — resurrection or no resurrection — is the deepest dividing line in the room.
So he makes a bold and strategic move.
He identifies himself as a Pharisee and declares in verse 6:
It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
From here, chaos erupts! The Pharisees begin to defend him. The Sadducees grow furious. The conflict becomes so violent that Roman soldiers have to pull Paul away to keep him from being torn apart.
Now understand what Paul is doing here.
He’s not trying to dodge the issue or unnecessarily kick the hornets nest. He’s bringing the conversation back to the one truth that actually matters — the resurrection.
Because if you lose the resurrection, you lose the gospel.
Paul says it plainly:
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Yes, the cross is essential — but if Jesus only died and did not rise, then sin would still reign and death would still win.
The resurrection is God’s declaration that the cross worked.
That sin has been paid for.
That forgiveness is real.
That death does not get the final word.
Paul goes on to say:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
The question is, “Are you IN CHRIST today?”
This is the tragedy Luke wants us to see:
The Sadducees were not in Christ because they could not accept the supernatural.
The Pharisees were not in Christ because while they believed in resurrection as an idea — they rejected Christ who said to Martha in John 11…
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
And that same dividing line still runs through hearts today.
Some people reject Jesus because they cannot accept that God could do something miraculous.
Others assume their morality or religion will make them acceptable before God.
But listen carefully:
True hope is not found in being rational enough.
True hope is not found in being religious enough.
Your ONLY hope is found in the risen Jesus Christ alone.
If you’re here today and you struggle to believe in something supernatural — don’t dismiss the resurrection before you’ve truly wrestled with it.
The empty tomb is not wishful thinking; it stands at the very center of history and the testimony of Scripture.
And if you’re here trusting in your own goodness, hear this: no one is good enough to stand before a holy God.
That’s why Jesus came — to live the perfect life you could never live, to die in your place, and to rise again so that you could have new and abundant life.
Jesus went on to say this to Martha in John 11…
Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
This question isn’t just for Martha — it’s for you.
DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?
Will you trust Him?
Will you turn from self-reliance and place your faith in the risen Christ?
Call on Him today.
He will save everyone who comes to Him in faith — not because they deserve it, but because He is gracious.
And this is why the gospel remains controversial — because it confronts both unbelief and pride.
Now after all of that chaos… after the shouting, the division, and the violence… Luke gives us a quiet scene that almost feels like a whisper after a storm.
The crowd is gone.
The courtroom is silent.
Paul is alone.
And that’s often what rejection feels like, isn’t it?
After the conversation ends… after the conflict fades… you’re left alone with your thoughts, wondering if any of it mattered.
And it’s right there — in the darkness of that night — that something extraordinary happens.
Let’s look at this now in the 3rd movement…
When Your Faithfulness is Condemned…
And When The Gospel is Rejected…
Then… Christ Meets You in the Darkness…
Then Christ Meets You in the Darkness
Then Christ Meets You in the Darkness
Verse 11 is the key verse in this passage — because it helps us understand everything that came before it.
After the chaos… after the accusations… after the violence… Paul is left alone in the barracks.
And you can almost imagine the questions running through his mind:
Will I make it out of Jerusalem alive?
Will I ever reach Rome?
Did any of this matter?
But in that moment, the Lord gives Paul exactly what he needs.
And that should encourage us — because God knows you completely. He understands better than you do what you need, and He gives it at just the right time.
Let’s look now at what the Lord gave Paul at just the right time…
First, Luke tells us that the Lord Himself stood by him in the night.
Up to this point, Paul has encountered Christ in dramatic ways — the blinding light on the Damascus road, in a vision, in trance. But here the language is deeply personal: the Lord stood by him.
Whether this was a physical appearance or a uniquely felt manifestation of Christ’s presence, Luke’s emphasis is clear:
Jesus was not distant from Paul’s suffering — He was near.
And that nearness is the greatest comfort Christ gives His people in times of trial.
This reminds me of the fourth figure in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — not preventing the flames, but standing with them in the fire.
God could have rescued Paul by removing him from danger entirely — but instead He chose to give him something better:
His presence.
Now look at the second thing Christ gives Paul…
The next thing Jesus does is speak — and the first words out of His mouth are:
“Take courage.”
That phrase is only one word in the Greek and it appears only five times in the New Testament, and each time it comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself — bringing comfort to those who are weary or afraid.
You see, Paul didn’t need more arguments.
He didn’t need a new strategy.
He needed courage — and Christ gave it.
And years later, writing from prison in Rome, Paul reflects on what God was doing even through his suffering, writing…
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel,
And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
The courage Christ gave Paul didn’t just sustain him — it strengthened the entire church.
Now notice a third thing Christ gives Paul…
Then Jesus says something incredibly tender here:
“As you have testified about me in Jerusalem…”
Pause there for a moment.
Paul may have felt like a failure — shouted down by crowds, beaten, chained, punched in the face, dragged from temple, to the barracks, and to the courtroom.
But Jesus says, in essence:
“You did exactly what I asked you to do. You were successful!”
Not a word about outcomes.
Not a word about applause.
Just this: You testified about Me.
You see, it’s Christ who defines Paul’s success — not the crowd, not the council, not the chaos.
And his success was his faithfulness!
Finally, let’s look at a fourth thing Christ gives Paul…
Here Christ gives a promise:
“So you must testify also in Rome.”
Paul may have wondered whether he would even survive Jerusalem.
But with these words, Jesus gives him unshakable assurance: I’m not finished with you yet.
So, no matter what lies ahead — trials, prisons, storms — Paul now knows that his future is secure because it rests in Christ’s promise.
As David says in Psalm 31:
My times are in your hand!
And those words are just as true for us today.
As long as you have breath in your lungs, Christ has work for you to do. Your life is not random — it is held in the hands of a sovereign Savior.
In 1926, a young missionary named Raymond Edman became gravely ill with typhus fever in Ecuador. Doctors were so certain he would die that they scheduled his funeral — and his wife even dyed her wedding dress black to wear in mourning.
Many years later, Dr. Edman — then president of Wheaton College — collapsed while addressing students and went home to be with the Lord.
God gave him 41 more years of faithful service beyond those dark days in Ecuador.
Let this be a reminder to us all that God’s servants are immortal until their work is done and no servant of God ever dies a premature death.
God still had work for Paul to do — and no one or no thing could derail God’s plans!
What an incredible word of encouragement for Paul to keep going!
Now with Christ’s presence beside him…
Giving him courage.
Defining his success.
And ensuring his mission.
The Lord sustained Paul for the remainder of his mission staying faithful through what often didn’t look like success.
But how do we receive that same encouragement today if we don’t see Jesus standing beside us or hear His voice audibly?
Let me remind you, Christ still speaks today — by His Spirit, through His living and active Word.
So don’t neglect the Scriptures.
Meet with Christ there.
Let you heart marinate in the gospel.
Let His Word shape your conscience, steady your heart, and remind you that success is not measured by the reactions of people, but by faithfulness to Christ.
So, when rejection comes…
And when faithfulness feels like failure…
May you know the presence of Christ — meeting you right there — with sustaining grace.
Conclusion/Response (Gospel & Repent/Believe)
Let me take you back to where we began.
William Wilberforce stood year after year before Parliament, introducing bills to abolish the slave trade — and year after year they failed. Many who watched his life thought they were seeing a man wasting his influence… pouring himself into a cause that would never succeed.
But history tells the rest of the story.
After nearly two decades of apparent failure, in 1807 the British slave trade was finally abolished.
And near the end of his life, Wilberforce lived to see slavery itself begin to fall across the British Empire.
What looked like faithful failure… was actually faithful obedience unfolding in God’s time.
And that brings us back to the question we asked at the beginning:
When people reject your witness to Christ, and your faithfulness feels like failure… what sustains you then?
Our text today in Acts gave us the answer.
Not applause.
Not immediate results.
Not the approval of the crowd.
But it’s…
The risen Christ who stands with His people —
sustaining their courage,
defining their success,
and directing their mission.
That’s exactly what we’ve seen unfold in Paul’s life.
When faithfulness was condemned, Paul stood with a clear conscience before God even as others judged him wrongly.
When the gospel was rejected, Paul refused to move away from the resurrection — because Jesus Himself is our only hope of life.
And when everything grew quiet and dark, Christ met Paul personally — standing beside him, giving him courage, defining his success, and promising that his story was not finished.
And church — that same Christ still meets His people today.
You may never stand before a Sanhedrin.
You may never face a mob.
But you will face moments…
When obedience to Jesus feels lonely…
When faithfulness feels invisible…
When rejection makes you wonder if any of it matters.
And in those moments, the gospel reminds us that success is not measured by visible results — but by faithful witness to Christ.
Wilberforce didn’t know when the victory would come.
Paul didn’t know how the journey to Rome would unfold.
But both men were sustained by something deeper than outcomes — they were sustained by the presence and promises of God.
So, when people reject your witness to Christ…
When faithfulness feels like failure…
Remember: The risen Jesus has not left you alone.
He stands with you.
He gives you courage.
He sees your obedience.
And He will finish the work He has begun in you.
So keep speaking.
Keep loving.
Keep serving.
Keep trusting.
Because the same Lord who stood beside Paul in the darkness still walks with His people today — and one day, every act of quiet faithfulness will be revealed as victory in Him.
Prayer
Father, thank You that when faithfulness feels like failure, we are never alone.
Thank You that the risen Christ stands with us — to give us courage, to define our success, and to guiding our steps on mission.
Strengthen us to remain faithful when we are misunderstood or rejected.
Fix our eyes on Jesus, the resurrection and the life, and send us out with renewed hope to testify about Him. We ask this in His wonderful name of Jesus — Amen.
Closing Song: For the Cause
Closing Words:
As we’ve just sung, we give our lives for the cause of Christ the King — not because our faithfulness always feels successful, but because the risen Jesus stands with us and sends us.
If you’ve realized for the first time today how desperately you need Jesus to be your Savior — don’t walk away and don’t put it off. Turn to Him now. Believe that He died for your sins and rose again, and call on Him to save you. And take comfort in knowing that He will save all who come to Him in faith. Come pray with someone after the service up front.
And for those who already belong to Christ, ask yourself: what is your next step of obedience? Maybe it’s speaking more openly about your faith. Maybe it’s reconciling with someone, or pursuing baptism, maybe it’s seeking to become more mature in your faith by joining a discipleship group, or finally becoming a member, maybe it’s finding a place to serve in the life of our church. Whatever your next step is, you can initiate it by simply filling out a Next Steps Card and dropping it off at the Welcome Counter on your way out today. And someone will reach out to help you take your next step of obedience to the Lord.
Now church, let’s go from this place with courage — ready to share Christ with whoever the Lord puts in your path this week. And may He direct our steps until the whole world hears the good news of the risen Savior.
Benediction: Hebrews 13:20–21
“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
