Unchained Gospel

How would you like an all expenses paid trip to one of the greatest cities on Earth? In 2021, an organization called Resonance Consultancy published a report ranking the top best cities on Earth. They filtered all the criteria down into six categories and ranked each city according to their scores in those categories. The city that took the #1 spot was London, followed by Paris, then New York, Moscow, and Dubai placing 5th. Rome placed #11 on the list. Rome is a beautiful city and I hope to visit it some day. But so did Paul. In fact, he wrote the letter to the Romans we know as the book of Romans having never been there. He always had the desire to go, but never the opportunity.

You will recall from last week that Paul finished his third missionary journey by traveling to Jerusalem, where he was arrested on trumped up charges of preaching against Judaism and desecrating the temple. The Jews were going to beat him to death until the Romans stepped in. Paul went through round after round of undecided court cases that he finally played his final trump card as a Roman citizen. He appealed to Caesar. The moment he did, his fate was sealed. He would live under the protection of the Romans until he got his all expenses paid trip to the grandest city on Earth at the time: Rome.

As you follow the narrative of the final chapters of Acts, you see Paul does make it to Rome, though not the dream trip he wanted. Paul is going in chains, but he is going. He survives violent windstorms, being shipwrecked on an island called Malta, and survived a bite from a viper, using every opportunity available to him to share the truth with those he came in contact with. Finally, in verse 14 of Acts 28, Paul arrives in Rome.

When he arrives, verse 16 tells us he was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who was guarding him. So Paul is not in a prison as you and I think of prison with a 6x8 ft. cell with metal bars, and a metal toilet. The accommodations are probably considerably nicer. Verse 30 tells us this place was at his expense. It was also large enough that a sizeable group came and visited with him.

He did the same thing he always did when he came to a new city. He called the leading men of the Jews together to make an appeal to them. Verse 21 shows that the Jews in Rome had not received a report of any kind concerning Paul himself, but the message he carries is spoken against everywhere.

So in verse 23 they set a day where they could hear Paul and his views concerning Jesus. He spent the entire day outlining the truth about Christ from all of scripture. If you have been following along, by now you see the pattern. Everywhere Paul goes, he gets a mixed response to the gospel. There are some who believe and there are many who don’t. The Jewish leaders begin arguing among themselves and they take their leave.

I think the most interesting, and perhaps the most important verses are the last two:

Acts 28:30–31 NASB95

And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.

Look at how this book closes. Anticipation has been building for Paul’s grand stand before the Roman emperor himself. This is like the last battle, the epic final conflict, the climactic clash in the movie, the season finale…but it isn’t there. Paul spends two years in Rome and we don’t get to read the fate of the beloved hero. A story without a climax feels…incomplete. And this is how it feels to read the end of the book of Acts.

Even though we are left with wondering what happened to Paul and how his case before the emperor went, we gain a glimmer of insight into what he did in the two years he was imprisoned in Rome. It is during this time Paul writes what are known as the prison epistles. These are the letters of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Verse 30 says he welcomed all who came to him. Paul was operating with limited mobility. He was in his own rented quarters, but he could not leave. He could not go outside, walk the streets, visit the synagogues, or the coliseum. He was in the grandest city on Earth but he did not have the freedom to see it. So everybody had to come to him. He spent his time preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ, but how? With all openness, unhindered.

There is not a lot here in these final verses. This concludes book two Luke writes to the man named Theophilus. What do we make of these verses, and how do they inform us in our ministry and mission here nearly two millennia later?

While men may try to silence preachers, the gospel of Jesus Christ will always advance forward through his faithful followers.

Remember that the reason Paul is here is because of the relentless pursuit of the antagonistic Jews who wanted him dead. He was forced to play the appeal to Caesar card. Paul was in Rome, but not how he wanted to be in Rome. There is hostility toward Jesus everywhere. The Jews hated him for claiming to be God and claiming the power to forgive sins. They went after Jesus, they went after the disciples, and they came after Paul. If you stand on the truth of the Word of God, people will try to silence you.

But before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples that they would be His witnesses after having received power from the Holy Spirit, who would embolden them to do the work. We know that this command is not just for the original disciples, but anyone who calls himself a disciple of Jesus. We, like Paul, are commissioned with the task of sharing Jesus to the world. There are many things that can hinder this work, but as we examine his life, Paul shows us what it takes to be successful.

Be ready

Everywhere Paul went, he was ready to share the hope of the resurrection of Jesus. To his Jewish audience, his time as a Pharisee equipped him to use the scriptures we know as the Old Testament to persuade them that the prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Christ. He had a foundation to start from. He used what they knew, built a bridge to the gospel message, and souls were won.

The Gentile audience required a different tactic. They were unfamiliar with the Jewish scriptures. They had their own religious system with their own gods. For Paul to preach to them just like he did with the Jews would have resulted in misunderstood messages. If you remember in Acts 17 Paul had to address what they knew, establish a connection to the truth, and then build his case from there. He had to convince them that the gods they believed in were not real. Instead, there is the one true God, who sent His son as a sacrifice to atone for your sins and mine, who was killed and rose from the dead.

Everywhere he went he was ready. He never passed an opportunity. He didn’t seem to care what people thought, how they reacted, or what the outcome might be. Paul cast his net and caught whatever the Lord put in his net.

Be tenacious

I think one of the biggest secrets to an unchained gospel is for God’s people to be tenacious. To be tenacious is to be determined, or steadfast, unwavering in what you believe and in a course of action. Paul was unwavering in his commitment to preach the gospel. One might say their mission trip was not successful if they got run out of every town they went to. This is a pattern in Paul’s ministry. Those who opposed him drove him out of town. You will recall in Lystra when he was stoned and left outside the city presumably dead. Then he got up and went back inside the city to keep encouraging and ministering to the people he had reached.

He went to Jerusalem knowing he would be put in chains, but he went anyway. He arrived in Rome and was placed under house arrest. He was allowed visitors and he preached to them from morning to evening. He spent two years receiving visitors and preaching to them with all openness and unhindered.

The gospel is unchained when God’s people are willing to endure any hardship, and restriction, any challenge or hurdle and continue to share the truth about Jesus.

What keeps you from being a more faithful witness to others? Is it fear? Is it doubt? Is it busyness? Is it that it’s just not that important? We have to remind ourselves that in this battle we are playing for keeps. If someone chooses not to trust Jesus, that is an eternal decision. We only have this life to carefully persuade people to see Jesus for who he really is. There is no second chance for those who pass from this life having made the wrong choice.

You know, it doesn’t matter where life takes you or where life keeps you. If you look around, there are always people you can share Jesus with. Paul was incarcerated. He couldn’t go anywhere, but God brought people to him. The people God has lined up for you are already here. All we have to do is walk out our front door.

How can you be ready for every opportunity and be tenacious?

Do your homework

Living in Three Rivers means there is less diversity than places like Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio. There are not very many people groups in Live Oak County. In a way that is good news because this means that as you continue the work of sharing Jesus to the world your conversations are going to start sounding very similar to one another. The bad news is objections abound and it can be challenging to anticipate them and respond well to them.

Doing your homework is a vital part of being ready and tenacious. Doing your homework means you have a grasp of another person’s worldview, which is simply the underlying belief structure that determines how one sees and understands how the world operates. From atheist, to agnostic, to Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Jehovah’s Witness, to Roman Catholic or Protestant, everyone has this underlying belief structure that informs how they see the world. The question is whether there are good reasons to maintain such beliefs. Our job is to help people see why ours is the only legitimate way because as I said last week, it’s true.

It can be a daunting task to share your Christian convictions with anybody. But I want to encourage you this morning. I have been reading a book called Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing your Christian Convictions. It is written by Greg Koukl, a leading expert in Christian apologetics, which is the arena of defending one’s faith. He says,

“It may surprise you to hear this, but I never set out to convert anyone. My aim is never to win someone to Christ. I have a more modest goal, one you might consider adopting as your own. All I want to do is put a stone in someone’s shoe. I want to give that person something worth thinking about, something he can’t ignore because it continues to poke at him in a good way.”

You don’t have to hit a home run. You don’t even have to get on base. All you have to do is get up to bat. But the more you do your homework, the more often you will get a base hit, or maybe even a home run.

This was Paul’s life and he spent two years of it chained to a Roman guard. The preacher may be chained, but the gospel will continue forward through Christ’s faithful followers. Let’s go put some stones in some shoes.