Let me pray for the reading and teaching of God's Word.
Heavenly Father, we ask that you will speak to us.
We are hungry for your righteousness.
We humble ourselves before you to receive meekly the implanted Word, which is able to save ourselves.
Amen.
We want to be faithful witnesses to Jesus.
So in this passage, speak to us.
Teach us from Paul's example here of how to do that, even when our environment, people around us are hostile to faith.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Acts chapter 22, starting verse 22.
Up to this word they listened to him.
Then they raised their voices and said,
Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live.
And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogged to find out why they were shouting against him like this.
But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by,
Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?
When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him,
What are you about to do?
For this man is a Roman citizen.
So the tribune came and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?
And he said, Yes.
The tribune answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum.
Paul said, But I am a citizen by birth.
So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid,
for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
But on the next day, he desired 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 be vile 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 acknowledged 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 meeting Jews,
so you must testify also again.
When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath,
neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
There were more than forty who made this conspiracy.
They went to the chief priests and elders and said,
We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.
Now therefore you, along with the council,
give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you,
as though you were going to determine his case more exactly.
And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.
Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush,
so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.
Paul called one of the centurions and said,
Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.
So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said,
Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you,
as he has something to say to you.
The tribune took him by the hand and going aside, asked him privately,
What is it that you have to tell him?
And he said,
The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow,
as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.
But do not be persuaded by them.
For more than 40 of their men are lying in ambush for him,
who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him.
And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.
So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him,
Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.
Then he called two of the centurions and said,
Get ready 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen
to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.
Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.
And he wrote a letter to this effect.
Claudius Lysias, to His Excellency the Governor Felix,
Greetings.
This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them
when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him.
Having learned that he was a Roman citizen.
And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him,
I brought him down to their council.
I found that he was being accused about questions of their law,
but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.
And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man,
I sent him to you at once,
ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.
So the soldiers, according to their instructions,
took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatrus.
And on the next day they returned to the barracks,
letting the horsemen go on with him.
When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor,
they presented Paul also before him.
On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from,
and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,
he said,
I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.
And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's praetorium.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Various religious groups face persecution for harassment for their faith
throughout the world, according to the Pew Research Center.
But according to the research which started around 2007 and continues to today,
Christians are harassed in more countries than any other religious group.
Open Doors USA wrote in their 2021 World Watch List report
that 340 million Christians live in places where they experience high levels of persecution.
It's one in eight believers worldwide.
In other words, many fellow Christians live still, to this day,
in an environment that is hostile to our faith,
much like the believers in the book of Acts.
And our passage today teaches us some valuable lessons
on how we ought to conduct ourselves in such an environment.
So this will be a particularly relevant message for those of you who will become missionaries
in places where Christians are persecuted.
But most of you might be wondering,
well then, what does this have to do with me?
I'm not planning on becoming a foreign missionary.
And there's no persecution here in the U.S.
You're right that the U.S. has largely been spared
of the persecution that Christians face much in the world.
However, it is becoming increasingly clear
that there is a growing clash of worldviews and ethics
in our cultural moment.
And in some places of even this country,
being a Bible-believing Christian
is no longer something that confers social respectability.
Rather, it is a social liability.
To give you one example,
Carl Truman, a Presbyterian pastor
and professor at Westminster Theological Seminary,
widely respected, highly regarded,
he recently wrote a book entitled
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,
which is a thoughtful and theological
and philosophical critique
of the American cultural attitudes towards sex.
There's no hate-mongering in that book at all.
Both the ideas in the book
and the tone of the book
are eminently reasonable.
But on August 7th of last year,
he gave a series of talks on this topic
to the Sacramento Gospel Conference,
which was live-streamed
through the YouTube channel
of the Emmanuel Baptist Church.
And the Wall Street Journal notes that,
quote,
twice during the event,
the live broadcast was booted off the air.
Viewers were informed
that the first interruption
was due to a copyright violation,
possibly the result of Christian music
that the conference organizers
played during the break.
But in the second,
more mysterious instance,
Truman's presentation went dark
because of a, quote,
content violation.
Neither Truman nor Emmanuel Baptist Church
has been told
whether that was intervention
by a machine's algorithm
or by a human being
who was watching it,
who had been flagging it.
What is clear is that Google,
which now owns YouTube,
determined that the Bible's teaching
on sexual ethics,
as communicated by Truman,
was, quote,
harmful content,
or a form of hate and harassment.
Admittedly,
this is still nothing like
the censorship and persecution
that believers
in some other parts of the world face.
Nevertheless,
in a real way,
some Christians' beliefs
are marginalized
and viewed as irrational
and unacceptable.
And for that reason,
even for us,
this passage offers
some very helpful insights
on how we should navigate
this complex world,
how to conduct ourselves
as witnesses for Jesus
in such climate.
In Matthew 10, 16-18,
this is the New International Version,
Jesus said to his disciples,
I am sending you out
like sheep among wolves,
therefore be as shrewd as snakes
and as innocent as doves.
Be on your guard,
you will be handed over
to the local councils
and be flogged in the synagogues.
On my account,
you will be brought before governors
and kings as witnesses to them
and to the Gentiles.
What Jesus told his disciples
is happening exactly
in this passage.
Paul's taken before kings
and governors
to bear witness to them
about Jesus.
He's taken before the Gentiles
and Paul must be shrewd
as a snake
and innocent as a dove.
And that's the main lesson
that Luke wants to convey to us
here through Paul's example,
that as sheep among wolves,
we must be shrewd and innocent,
trusting in God's presence
and protection.
So let's first talk about
Paul's shrewdness
and then we'll talk about
Paul's innocence
and then about finally
God's presence.
So Paul is here
in the middle of his defense
before the Jewish mob.
He's sharing his testimony
of his conversion,
how the Lord Jesus,
the reason Lord Jesus
met him on the road
to Damascus.
And he's trying to explain
to them that he's not someone
who is against the Jews,
hostile to the Jewish people
and the law and the temple.
But he's trying to tell them
why he was sent
by the Lord Jesus
to go minister to the Gentiles.
But as soon as Paul mentions
going to the Gentiles
to talk about Jesus,
the Jewish mob is fed up with him
and will hear him no longer.
It says in verse 22,
up to this word
they listened to him
and then they raised
their voices and said,
away with such a thumb
from the earth,
for he should not
be allowed to live.
They want to get rid
of Paul for good.
They want not just
his censorship
or imprisonment,
but his execution.
The mob starts
getting out of control again
and then they start
in verse 23 shouting
and throwing off their cloaks
and flinging dust
into the air,
which are all gestures
that Jews use
to protest something
or to express indignation.
And not wanting
to lose control
of the situation,
the Roman Tribune
orders Paul
to be brought
into the barracks
saying that he should
be examined by flogging
to find out why
they were shouting
against him like this.
He knows something
that Paul has said
that has provoked the mob,
but he didn't understand
that because Paul
was speaking to them
in the Hebrew language
and so he plans
on interrogating him
by flogging,
basically torturing him
to extract information
from him.
This was a really
cruel method of torture.
Some people died
from the flogging
that the Romans used.
A lot of people
were crippled for life.
So Paul's facing
grave danger
at this point in time.
And as Paul
is being stretched out
in preparation
for the flogging
for maximal damage,
Paul says in verse 25
to the centurion
who was standing by,
is it lawful for you
to flog a man
who is a Roman citizen
and uncondemned?
This is a rhetorical
question.
Paul already knows
that the answer
is no.
It is not lawful
for the Roman citizen
to be flogged
without due process.
But this is Paul's
polite and indirect way
of informing the centurion
that he is,
in fact,
a Roman citizen
with certain protections
and legal rights.
Earlier in chapter 21,
verse 38,
the tribune
had mistaken Paul
for an Egyptian.
But now he's mistaken
him for an ordinary Jew,
just a Jew,
and not as a Roman citizen.
It would have been fine
for him to do that
to Jews,
but it would have been
illegal for him
to do it to a Roman citizen.
So this alarms him.
The centurion is taken aback
by Paul's declaration
of citizenship.
And so he goes
to his superior
and reports it back to him.
And he expresses
some cynicism
because he had to pay
a lot of money
to become a Roman citizen.
So he says,
I bought this
for a large sum.
In order to become
a naturalized Roman citizen,
you have to be sponsored
by someone prominent,
usually a military general
or even the emperor
of the Roman Empire itself.
And so he must have been
a pretty well-to-do,
prominent person
with social standing.
He purchased the citizenship
for a large amount of money.
And so he's implicitly
questioning Paul's claim.
How can you,
a poor Jew,
afford something like that?
But Paul replies to him
in verse 28,
I am a citizen by birth.
In order to be
a Roman citizen by birth,
both of your parents
have to be Roman citizens.
And being a citizen by birth
was considered at that time
to be more prestigious
than being a naturalized citizen.
And so it says in verse 29,
those who were about
to examine him
withdrew from him immediately.
And the tribune also
was afraid,
before he realized
that Paul was a Roman citizen,
that he had bound him.
You can imagine
the tribune's predicament.
Even though Paul
was guaranteed due process,
before he was condemned
by a fair trial,
he had bound him
and very nearly
flogged him,
even though he was not
even allowed to find him.
If Paul were to seek
legal redress,
he could be punished
and possibly lose his post.
He had to stop the record.
That's why the tribune
was afraid.
Now, this episode
is a very good demonstration
of Paul's shrewks.
Paul knew his legal rights
as a Roman citizen.
And he used it
to his advantage
when the situation
called for it.
Likewise,
we should know
our legal rights.
Whether that's here
in the United States
or the foreign country
you happen to be in,
administering in,
and we should appropriately
invoke those rights
because we can continue
to proclaim
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
However,
there is an important caveat.
The fact that
some situations
call for us
to assert our legal rights
does not mean
that we should always
do so.
For example,
as chapter 22,
verse 29 tells us,
the Roman tribune
was not allowed
even to bind Paul
before he was condemned.
But earlier in chapter 21,
verse 33,
he bowed to him
before a Jewish mob.
When they came
to arrest him,
Paul could have
asserted his Roman citizenship
right then and there
and said,
I am a Roman citizen
by birth.
But this Jewish mob
over here,
they're abusing me
without cause.
Paul could have done that.
He could have easily
turned the table on them.
And maybe the Roman tribune
wouldn't have even
arrested Paul,
would have instead
arrested some of the people
who were trying to kill him.
But Paul didn't do that.
It's impossible to say
exactly why,
what is going through
Paul's mind
because Luke doesn't tell us.
But remember that
these Jews were accusing
Paul of being
against the Jewish people
and the law
and the temple.
And Paul's assertion
of Roman citizenship
right before the Jews
in order to preserve himself
at their expense
would have confirmed
to them that Paul
was in fact
someone who had betrayed
his Jewish sympathies
long time ago.
So it's possible
that Paul,
even though it would have
been expedient for him
at that point
to reveal his citizenship,
that he didn't do so
for the sake
of his gospel witness
to the Jews.
For Paul,
the ultimate goal
was bearing witness
to Jesus
not self-preservation.
In fact,
he already said
in Acts 21,
verse 13,
I am ready not only
to be imprisoned
but even to die
in Jerusalem
for the name
of the Lord Jesus.
But when he is away
from the Jews
facing the Roman tribune,
Paul surely invokes
his Roman citizenship
so that he might be
scared of the plogging.
We see Paul sure this
in other parts
of this passage as well.
Claudius Lysias,
that's the name
of the Roman tribune,
having been unable
to discern the real reason
why Paul was being
accused by the Jews,
convenes the Jewish
council again
so that he could observe
their formal examination
of him.
But as the examination
proceeds,
Paul realized
very quickly
that the odds
are stacked against him.
This is not a fair trial.
The Sanhedrin
is already prejudiced
against him
and have predetermined
his guilt.
So it says
in chapter 23,
verse 6,
when Paul perceived
that one part
of the Sanhedrin
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.
The Jewish ruling
council,
the Sanhedrin,
was at that time
majority Sadducees,
but they had
a very strong
and vocal
Pharisee minority.
There were
several theological
differences
between Sadducees
and Pharisees.
The Pharisees
were reformers
who supplemented,
who added
to the Mosaic law
by counting
the rabbinic traditions,
the oral traditions
handed from generation
after generation
as authoritative.
The Sadducees,
on the other hand,
were traditionalists,
and they rejected
not only the oral tradition
of the rabbis,
but also the books
of scriptures
besides the Torah,
the law,
the first five books
of the Bible.
They rejected
the rest of the Old Testament.
And the one effect
of that was that
Sadducees denied
the resurrection
of the dead,
which is really
only explicitly tied
in the later
scriptural passages
like Ezekiel 37
and Daniel 12.
So the Sadducees
believed that both
body and soul
ceased to exist
after death.
They believed
in the annihilation
of the soul.
And taught
that there is
no afterlife
where the soul
or the spirit
is in an angelic state
or as a spirit
awaiting the future
bodily resurrection.
Now these differences
are summarized by Luke
in chapter 23,
verse 8.
The Sadducees say
that there is
no resurrection,
nor angel,
nor spirit,
but the Pharisees
acknowledged them all.
Paul,
given his extensive training
as a Pharisee
under the esteemed
Pharisee Gamaliel,
is well aware
that the resurrection
of the dead
is the hot button
theological issue
of the day.
He knows that
that doctrine
is a central point
of contention
between Sadducees
and Pharisees.
And he is exploiting
that to divide
the opinions
of the St.
Pedro concerning him
and win over
the favor
of the Pharisees.
And Paul is not,
I want to add,
being deceptive
or manipulative
here,
he is a Pharisee.
He was descended
from Pharisees.
And the central
theological issue
at hand
is the resurrection
of Jesus
from the dead.
And for Paul,
Jesus' resurrection
in particular
was inextricably tied
to the general
resurrection
of the dead.
That's why
when some believers
in the city of Corinth
argue that there is
no resurrection
of the dead,
Paul wrote to them
saying in 1 Corinthians
15, 16 and 17,
if the dead
are not raised,
not even Christ
has been raised.
And if Christ
has not been raised,
your faith is futile
and you are still
in your sins.
Belief in the resurrection
of the dead
is at the very heart
of the Christian faith
because without it,
there is no resurrection
of Christ.
So Paul is not
distorting the truth
when he says,
it is with respect
to the hope
and the resurrection
of the dead
that I am on trial.
Even though Paul,
of course,
understands that the Pharisees
didn't agree with him
on every point,
he recognizes that
they are on the same page
about this particular matter
and so he uses that
to his advantage.
And Paul's calculation
proves accurately.
He says in verse 7,
when he had said this,
a dissension arose
between the Pharisees
and the Sadducees
and the assembly
was dividing.
The word translated
dissension here
is later translated
24-5 as riot.
So the disagreement
here is not
a civil,
cordial one.
Verse 9 confirms this.
It says,
then a clamor arose
and some of the scribes
and Pharisees
and 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?
So imagine,
people are rising up
from their seats,
they're raising their voices,
they're flailing their arms,
possibly even calling names.
There is great clamor
and sharp contention.
And this verbal brawl
soon erupts into
an actual physical brawl
because it says
in verse 10,
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.
Just as Paul
surely addressed
the tribune
as a Roman citizen,
he now surely
addresses the Sanhedrin
as a Pharisee,
which helps him
escape the kangaroo court
that had already
predetermined his guilt.
And like Paul,
we also need to know
our theology
and we need to know
the culture of the people
with whom we are
sharing the gospel.
What are their belief systems?
How is their society run?
What will be the stumbling blocks
for them coming to faith
in Jesus?
So that we can navigate
the complexities
of that culture
and the ministry
effectively among them.
There's one more episode
in this passage
that showcases
Paul's shrewdness
as a missionary.
In chapter 23,
verses 12 to 15,
this is more than
40 Jews
bind themselves
with an oath
that's saying
that they would neither
drink nor eat
until they've killed Paul.
That means they are
literally dead serious
about killing Paul.
They're willing to lose
their lives trying
to kill Paul.
In God's providence,
the son of Paul's sister,
which we didn't even know
he had,
overhears this plot.
And then it says
in verse 17,
Paul called one
of the centurions
and said,
take this young man
to the tribune
for he has something
to tell them.
So he hears from his nephew
about this plot
and then Paul
sends the nephew
to the tribune
to report that to him.
And the centurion
takes him over
and then nephew
gets to share this
with the tribune.
But notice a couple
of things here.
Notice that Paul
refers to his nephew
generically as a young man.
Doesn't call him
his nephew.
And the centurion
also calls him
a young man.
And notice that Paul
doesn't tell the centurion
about the assassination plot.
Instead,
he wants his nephew
to tell the tribune
directly.
It's obvious
that there is an interest
in keeping this intelligence
confidential.
Because verse 19 says,
the tribune
took him by the hand
and going aside,
asked him privately,
what is it
that you have to tell him?
And after hearing
Paul's nephew's report,
he says in verse 22,
that the tribune
dismissed the young man,
charging him,
tell no one
that you have informed
me of these things.
Why are they so
hush-hush about him?
There's several reasons.
Paul is protecting
the whistleblower,
his nephew,
by referring to him
genetically as a young man.
Because if word gets out
that Paul's nephew
leaked this valuable information,
then him and his family
might be endangered
by the Jews
that were trying
to kill Paul.
Possessing intelligence
about an assassination plot
was potentially
a money-making opportunity.
In the same way
that people nowadays
make money
by divulging
valuable intelligence
to interested parties.
So if Paul
entrusted
this sensitive information
to the centurion,
or if the nephew
told the centurion
about the conspiracy,
the centurion
could have leaked it
to other parties
in order to gain
the favor of the Jews,
or maybe in hopes
of some kind of payment.
And that would have
prompted them
to change their plans.
So in a dangerous
situation like this,
communication
had to be
discreet
and careful.
Similarly,
when there is
intense persecution
against Christians,
we have to be
judicious about
how we speak
and how we act.
Avoiding
inflammatory language
and other potential
triggers.
Being discreet
about our ministries
and meetings.
In the book,
God's Smugglers,
Dutch missionary
Andrew van der Beek,
who is the founder
of Open Doors,
a missions organization
that supports Christians
who are persecuted
around the world,
recalls how
in the latter half
of the 1990s,
in the communist countries
behind the so-called
Iron Curtain,
Christians could not
meet openly
for worship.
So they had to keep
their gatherings
small,
in secret.
So instead of
all the worshippers
arriving around
the same time
like we do,
their arrival
would be staggered,
timed,
and spread out
over several hours.
Only one person
or two arriving
at a time
to avoid any suspicion.
As sheep
among wolves,
we must be shrewd.
But the fact
that we are
to be shrewd
does not mean
that we can
sacrifice our integrity
at the altar
of pragmatism.
Jesus told us
not only to be
as shrewd as snakes
but also to be
as innocent
as doves.
Jesus taught us
this for a reason.
Luke points out
how Paul is a model
of this principle
as well.
There are several
attestations
in this passage alone
of Paul's innocence.
Several people,
really all of the
major characters
in this passage
attest to Paul's
innocence.
First,
it is from
Paul's own mouth
in chapter 22,
verse 25.
Just before
he is to be
flogged,
Paul says,
I am uncondemned.
Is it lawful
for you
to flog a Roman
citizen
who is uncondemned?
The Roman
legal system,
at least for citizens
at the time,
required,
like our legal system,
that the defendant
be presumed innocent
until proven guilty.
And Paul's claiming,
I am uncondemned.
I'm innocent.
Is it lawful
for you to treat me
like a criminal?
So Paul is innocent.
Even some members
of the Sanhedrin,
the Jewish ruling
council itself,
in chapter 23,
verse 10,
says this of Paul,
we find nothing wrong
in this man.
Again,
Luke's reminding us
Paul is innocent.
And finally,
the Roman tribune
himself,
Claudius Lysias,
writes in his letter
to Governor Felix
in chapter 23,
verse 29,
I found that he was
being accused
about questions
of their law,
but charged with
nothing deserving
death or imprisonment.
Three times,
Luke's emphasizing
Paul's innocence.
Christians may indeed
turn the world
upside down
by preaching Jesus
in the power
of the Holy Spirit,
but they are not
to be violent threats
or mutinous outlaws.
They are to be
aided to peace,
not disorder in society.
And Paul's innocence
is contrasted
from the miscarriage
of justice
by the authorities
themselves.
In chapter 23,
verse 1,
when Paul's testifying
before the Sanhedrin,
Paul says,
Brothers,
I have lived my life
before God
in all good conscience
up to this day.
That's a bold thing
to say.
Paul is saying,
up to this very day,
I have not been
transgressing God's law.
I have a clear conscience.
There's nothing wrong
that I have done
that I have not taken
before the Lord
in confession.
There is no
unconfessed sin
in my life.
I have a clear conscience.
I've been keeping
the law
to the best of my ability.
And then the high priest
Ananias orders Paul
to be struck in the mouth.
That's because
he's trying to show
people that Paul's a liar.
Strike him in the mouth
so he can lie
with his mouth again.
But Paul is not a liar.
So he says in verse 3,
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?
Leviticus 19.15,
the law,
the Old Testament law,
forbids partiality in court.
But Ananias was clearly partial,
having already presumed
Paul's guilt.
So in the same way
that Jesus pronounced
woe on the Pharisees
and describes for their hypocrisy
in Matthew 23.27,
calling them whitewashed tombs,
which outwardly appear beautiful,
but within are full
of dead people's bones
and all uncleanness.
Paul pronounces God's judgment
upon Ananias
who calls him
a whitewashed wall,
a wall that is rotting
and crumbling on the inside,
but whitewashed
to look sturdy
and clean on the outside.
Though he is supposed
to be, Ananias,
rendering judgment
in accordance with the law,
he is himself
in violation of the law
as the supposed judge himself.
And at this point,
Ananias' associates
scold Paul in verse 4,
saying,
Would you revile
God's high priest?
And Paul's response
is to me surprising.
He says,
Humbly,
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.
I think if I were
put in Paul's place,
I would have responded
a little bit differently.
I think I would have
been tempted to reply,
I couldn't care any less
that you're the high priest,
Ananias.
You're all pretending
to be dignified
and presiding over this trial
when this is all a farce.
This is a mockery of justice
and you deserve every word
I said to you moments ago.
That's what Paul
could have said.
But he doesn't do that.
Even while he's being
subjected to a sham
of a trial,
even at the face
of his own death,
potentially,
he wants to hold on
to his integrity
and do what is right
by God's word.
Because God's word says
in Exodus 22, 28,
You shall not speak evil
of a ruler of your people.
Even when we are wronged,
we must do no wrong in return.
Even when we are reviled
and sinned against,
we must not revile
and sin in return.
Peter Wenner,
who is a conservative
policy advisor
and political speech writer,
he was formerly working
for George W. Bush,
he wrote in an article
recently in The Atlantic
critiquing Donald Trump Jr.'s
recent speech
at Turning Point USA.
saying,
this is what
Trump Jr. said,
quote,
if we get together,
they cannot cancel us all,
okay?
They won't.
And this will be contrary
to a lot of our beliefs
because
I'd love not to have
to participate
in cancel culture.
I'd love that it didn't exist,
but as long as it does,
folks,
we better be playing
the same game,
okay?
We've been playing
T-ball for half a century
while they're playing
hardball and cheating,
right?
We've turned
the other cheek,
and I understand,
sort of,
the biblical reference,
I understand the mentality,
but it's gotten
us nothing,
okay?
It's gotten us nothing
while we're seated
ground in every major
institution in our country.
First,
Trump Jr.
is mistaken
to conflate
conservatives
with Christians,
even though there are
a lot of conservative
Christians.
there are
atheist conservatives
and there are
corrupt conservatives,
just as there are
atheist liberals
and corrupt liberals.
Second,
claiming
that turning
the other cheek
has gotten
us nothing
exposes
his naked
pragmatism.
For him,
it's about
what works,
what gets us
things,
what gets us
influence,
what gets us
clout,
what gets us
power in this country,
what gets us
the things that we want.
to be
but that's not
what following
Jesus is about.
I want
the major
institutions
in our country
to reflect
Christian values
and Christian
priorities
just as much
as the next
person,
but not
at the expense
of our integrity,
not by
compromising
our witness
to the world,
not by being
disobedient
to our
Lord's commands.
Jesus did not
say,
I am sending
you out
like sheep
among wolves
that forget
outfitted
with body
armors
and guns,
slander back
when slander,
revile back
when revile.
No,
that's not
what Jesus
said.
He said,
I am sending
you out
like sheep
among wolves
and that
means you're
going to be
torn apart.
That means
we will
suffer.
That means
we will be
persecuted.
And that
means some
Christians
will even
die for
their faith.
But that
is the
path of
Christian
obedience.
Why must
we follow
that path?
1 Peter
chapter 2
19-25
says this,
for this,
I can have
this to show
you,
for this
is a
gracious
thing.
When
mindful of
God,
one
endures
sorrows
while
suffering
unjustly.
For what
credit is it
if when
you sin
and are
beaten
for it
you
endure?
But if
when you
do good
and suffer
for it
you
endure,
this is a
gracious
thing in the
sight of
God.
For
two days
you have
been called
because
Christ also
suffered for
you,
leaving you
an example
so that
you might
follow in
his steps.
He
committed no
sin,
neither was
deceit found
in his
mouth.
When he
was reviled,
he did
not revile
in return.
When he
suffered,
he did
not threaten,
but continued
entrusting
himself to
him who
judges
justly.
He
himself
bore our
sin in
his body
on the
tree,
that we
might die
sin and
live to
righteousness.
By his
wounds you
have been
healed,
for you
are straying
like sheep,
but have
now returned
to the
shepherd and
overseer of
your soul.
Because
Jesus,
the Lion of
Judah,
who had
all the
power in
the world,
died as
the sacrificial
lamb of
God.
We are
now to
be his
sheep,
following in
his footsteps.
Living as
sheep among
wolves,
so that
we might
bear witness
to Jesus,
even in
a hostile
lamb.
And because
we are
sheep among
wolves,
it is
necessary that
we be as
true as
snakes and
innocent as
doves.
And as
we're enduring
suffering and
persecution for
Christ's sake,
maintaining our
innocence,
God assures us
that we will
never suffer
alone.
And that's
my final point,
and it's my
shortest point,
so don't
worry.
God's
presence.
Smackdown in
the middle of
this passage,
chapter 23,
verse 11,
it says this,
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.
Isn't that
wonderful?
what God
said?
The Lord
himself, the
Lord Jesus
himself appears
to Paul.
He didn't send
an angel here.
He appears
himself, and
he says the
Lord stood
by Paul.
He stands
by his people
who bear
faithful witness
to him.
He stands
by his people
who suffer
for his
name's sake.
It reminds
me of what
Paul said at
the end of
his life.
In 2 Timothy
chapter 4,
verse 16,
when he was
being persecuted,
he says,
at my first
defense,
no one came
to stand
by me,
but all
deserted me
may not be
charged against
them.
But he says
this,
but the
Lord stood
by me
and strengthened
me.
In the
face of the
most intense
persecution,
even when
your family
members leave
you,
even when
every single
one of your
brothers and
sisters in
church forsake
you,
even when no
one else
stands by
you,
the Lord
will stand
by you.
That's the
promise of
this passage.
Right after
Paul's traumatic
trial before
the Sanhedrin,
and right before
the Jews plot
to assassinate
him,
he says the
Lord stood
by Paul,
and he told
him,
take courage,
assuring him
that he will
not die in
Jerusalem.
In fact,
you're going to
go all the
way to Rome.
You will bear
witness to me
even in the
capital of this
empire.
You will bear
witness to the
name of the
Lord Jesus
before Caesar
himself.
You will not
die here.
Take courage.
Take heart.
God had to
say that to
Paul because
Paul was
losing heart,
because his
courage was
failing.
Even a
weathered
veteran like
Paul grows
weary,
weak,
and fearful
at times,
and our
gracious Lord
Jesus knows
that.
Our Lord is
not callous.
He's not
indifferent to
our suffering.
When we
bear witness
to Jesus,
Jesus is
with us
to strengthen
us.
He will
never leave
us alone.
Some of
you have
testified to
your Lord,
our Lord
Jesus,
to your
friends and
family over
the holidays,
and maybe
you're
discouraged by
their response.
Perhaps
some of you
were mocked
or ostracized
recently for
your faith in
Jesus at
school or
by your
family members
or at
work.
And maybe
you're not
afraid to
take a stand
for Jesus
again.
But the
Lord Jesus
says to you
this morning,
take heart,
take courage.
Those who
acknowledge him
before man
will be
acknowledged
before God
who is in
heaven by
the Lord
Jesus himself.
so let's
bear witness
to him
as sheep
among wolves,
shrewd and
innocent,
trusting in
God's presence
and protection.
Let's pray
together.
God,
we thank you
that you
are a
gracious,
gentle,
and kind
Lord and
master.
We thank you
that when we
suffer for your
name's sake,
you do not
leave us.
You are not
indifferent.
You're not
callous.
You
sympathize.
you
empathize.
You
are near.
You're not
far off.
God,
we ask
that that
truth,
that we
would remember
that truth
and that we
would be
encouraged by
that truth
to bear
faithful witness
to Jesus
here at home
and to the
end of the
earth.
because your
name is
worthy of
it all.
Because there
is no other
name under
heaven given
to mankind
by which we
must be
saved.
It's in
that precious
name we
pray.
Amen.