Responses

Introduction

Last week we saw the Apostle seize the opportunity he had been given to speak to the people to share his personal testimony. He connected with the people reminding them that he was once as they were, he told of the change that Christ had wrought in his life, and how that God had called him to go to the Gentiles.

In this passage we will see the response of the people to the apostle Paul’s words, we also see the apostle Paul’s response to the enemies of the gospel, and finally we see God’s response to the entire situation.

The People’s Response to the Apostle Paul (Acts 22:22-23 & 24-26)

Instead of the multitude turning to Christ, they responded by crying out against him and again threatening his life.

Notice that their anger is stirred when the Apostle Paul reveals that God had called him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. This reveals the prejudice that the majority of the Jews still harbored against the Gentile nations.

The people allowed their prejudices to hinder their hearing of the gospel and it was their own prejudice that caused them to miss the importance of Paul’s testimony.

We are called of God to deliver the gospel to those who are lost and we must recognize that not all who hear it will respond positively to the message.

There have been and will always be those who reject God and many times it is due to their own prejudices and preconceived notions.

We cannot allow the rejection of some cause us to lose our resolve to share the message of the gospel.

We may have no record of anyone coming to Christ as a result of this event but surely there may have been many among the crowd in whom was sown some see which would ultimately germinate and result in their turning to Christ.

There may be times when it seems that the response to the gospel is altogether negative but we must remember that God has promised that his word would not return unto him void. (Isaiah 55:11)

Paul had the comfort of knowing that he was still in the center of God’s will and what he was doing was what God had called him to do. If you and I are confident that we are doing the will of God we can rest assured that regardless of the results or the response we must do what God has called us to do.

Our sharing of the gospel and the Word of God should never be contingent on the response we receive.

Paul’s Response to the Enemies of the Gospel ( Acts 22:27-30 & Acts 23:1-10)

Paul had been unjustly treated and his life had been threatened but he was still able to keep his composure and avoid compromising his testimony for Christ.

Paul was again seized by the Roman soldiers and they prepared to scourge him in an attempt to force him to confess to the crimes that the people had accused him of.

Paul knew that, as a Roman citizen, it was illegal for them to scourge him without a proper indictment and trial so he used his citizenship to prevail upon them for his release.

Paul never sought out suffering and was certainly willing to do what was necessary to avoid it so long as he did not have to compromise the will of God to do so.

Paul certainly understood that there was still much work to be done in Jerusalem and ultimately in Rome for the cause of Christ and he was intent on continuing to testify of Christ.

We should also be willing to take full advantage of the legal protections we have as American Citizens to promote the furtherance of the gospel.

Once they recognized that there would be serious consequences if they moved to continue the examination they loosed him and moved instead to call together the Sanhedrin, a court made up of 70 members of the Pharisees and Sadducees including the High Priest.

Paul is now brought before a court which is comprised of Jewish religious leaders which are undoubtedly extremely biased against Paul because he had left the Jewish faith and has aligned himself with Christ and His followers.

The inherent bias is seen from the very onset of the proceedings and yet Paul still manages to keep his composure.

He begins by stating the fact that his behavior was right in the sight of God and that his conscience was clear. The decisions that Paul had made to this point in his life were consistent with what he knew to be right in God’s sight. Paul had not regrets regarding leaving Judaism and turning to Christ.

The high priest was so incensed at Paul’s claim that he immediately commanded those standing by Paul to smite him. What a terrible injustice to treat the apostle Paul in such a manner.

Paul speaks out and condemns the behavior reminding them that the Jewish law expressly forbids such injustice. It seems that Paul is possible on the verge of losing his composure.

In his statement Paul points out the hypocrisy that was by this time rampant among the religious leaders in Israel. The same could be said of so many in our world today who call for tolerance and justice but engage in behavior themselves which is exactly the opposite.

Paul then learns that it was the high priest who gave the command and as a result he refuses to speak any further against him out of respect for the authority of scripture and for the office of the high priest.

A great lesson can be learned here. We understand that it is God which has ordained the powers that be and even when we disagree with their policies we ought to show respect for their office, be it the governor, the members of the congress, or the president we must always speak with respect regarding them.

Paul knew that the court would most certainly condemn him but then he seized upon the one issue which he knew would likely bring some to his side and that was resurrection.

Paul wisely brings up resurrection in hopes of finding some common ground which might lead to his acquittal. He succeeds but likely not as he planned for now the court is in such an uproar that the soldiers are again forced to intervene to preserve Paul’s life.

Through all that he endured, the apostle Paul kept his composure and did not do anything that might be harmful to the cause of Christ or to his personal testimony for Christ.

We must do the same, striving to keep a pure conscience and a good testimony for the sake of the gospel of Christ.

God’s Response

Certainly Paul would have been discouraged and disheartened by the proceedings and he may have questioned if he would ever again have the opportunity to speak of Christ and to labor for the Lord.

Paul may have felt that there was little chance of further usefulness and that his ministry had come to an end.

Yet just when Paul thought he was alone without help and without hope God stood by him in the night to comfort and to encourage His faithful servant.

God speaks to Paul and reassures him that he is not finished with him yet and that he will still have the opportunity to carry the gospel to Rome though not as he had planned.

What a joy to know that when we come to the end of our strength and we feel we can’t go on God will come alongside us and faithfully encourage and strengthen us to continue on.

None of what has happened to Paul has taken God by surprise, in fact it was all a part of his plan for the gospel to arrive in what was likely the most powerful city in the Gentile world at the time.

God was still going to use the apostle Paul and give to him opportunities that he would never have imagined to testify of Christ to kings an powerful men along with soldiers and household servants such that eventually there would be believers in Caesar’s own house! Philippians 4:22

Truly we can see that all things worked together for good in the apostle Paul’s life to bring glory to God. Romans 8:28

We may not always understand what God is doing but if we will continue to seek His will and follow His leading, we can be sure that what comes to pass will be for our good and His glory.

You may grow weary in service and you may become discouraged by seemingly small results but God will strengthen and encourage you and you can trust that He is still at work and that He has a plan that is beyond our comprehension but is most certainly what is best.

Conclusion

We can expect to be treated unjustly and to endure opposition and persecution but we must not allow this to cause us to lose our composure or to ruin our testimony for Christ.

We must remember that if we are following the Lord and we are in the center of His will, He will help and sustain us and will yet use us to bring glory to His name. He is not through with us until the moment that He calls us home to spend eternity with Him.