Grace & Truth Church
Acts of Jesus through the Holy Spirit - wk 22
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- Acts 22Today we are continuing with chapter twenty-two. Last week we read about Paul returning to Jerusalem at a time when the zealous Jews were stirred up and motivated to get rid of him. They were anxious to kill Paul because they were under the false impression that he was teaching people to abandon the law of Moses and reject their ancient traditions and rituals. In order to calm these tensions Paul participated in taking the Nazarite vow. This vow is described in Numbers six, and was intended to devote a person wholly to God. For Paul, it would have shown the zealots that not only was he not turning people away from the law, he was even participating in it.In the end, it didn’t matter because they seized Paul while he was at the temple and began beating him and trying to kill him. The beating stopped when Paul was arrested and taken to the barracks in chains. The commander thought Paul may have been the leader of a group of terrorists who had recently caused a lot of bloodshed and escaped capture. After clarifying that Paul was not that man, the commander allowed him to address the crowd who wanted him dead. That is where chapter twenty-two begins.For me, this is the point when the story starts getting difficult to read, or at least difficult to stick with. It’s hard to read stories about bad things happening, especially if what’s happening isn’t fair, but when a story starts to feel like it is losing hope it’s almost depressing.When I am focused on something or alone in the vehicle I like to listen to audio books. Right now I am listening to a fictional book that is getting to this point of hopelessness. It is part of a long series of books, and authors of books like this like to make each new situation more hopeless than the last. It’s like they are one-upping their own writing. This is book fifteen in the series, so I am pretty deep in the one-up-man-ship of the hopelessness. I know the story will end at least semi-happy because there are another five or so books to go, but at the moment it’s like, “well, this isn’t a good situation and there doesn’t appear to be any logical way to reach a positive outcome.”That’s when I start to think, maybe I should read a different book. I don’t know if it is from simply losing interest, or because it’s kind of depressing and I don’t want to willingly go into that dark room. I said all of this to say, that’s kind of where Acts is right now. Everything seems like it’s falling apart. Paul has been warned, been warned, and been warned over and over again, yet he goes willingly to his end anyway. As observers to the story we are watching as he reasons with near flawless arguments and the problem only seems to get bigger and worse.It is starting to feel hopeless. What positive lesson can we possibly learn from this? I don’t know, but one thing is for certain. There are plenty of thing to learn, so let’s pray for guidance and get started…PrayI want to take a second to quickly review what happens in this chapter and then zoom in on a few specific details around Paul’s speech.First, Paul takes the opportunity to address the crowd and explain himself. He begins by explaining that he was once zealous like them, but he encountered God on the road to Damascus. If you want to read Paul’s telling of the story with Luke’s earlier explanation you can flip back to Acts chapter nine. Paul continues by explaining that God did a miraculous thing with light, blindness, divine speech, a prophetic message, and commissioning Paul with a new mission while he was in the Temple.What Paul says to them only stirs them more. The crowd is done with Paul and ready for him to be killed. So the Commander ordered that Paul be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were upset with him. That’s an odd thing to me. “I am going to beat you until you tell me why these people are beating you!” This is in verse twenty-four…
Acts 22:24 NIV 24 the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.This was done with a weapon made of leather strips that had pieces of metal and bone attached at the ends, and it probably sounds very familiar. We talked about this a little bit last week, but Paul’s story is very very reminiscent of Jesus’ story. This is the same tool used against Jesus after He was arrested.As they are about to flog him, Paul asks the Roman centurion if it was legal for him to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t been found guilty. In short the answer is “no” so now Paul will be moving up the chain in the next chapter.If Paul’s goal was to put a pause on the Roman Government’s involvement in the matter, this was a very smart and calculated move. We’ve talked about this before too, but Paul was uniquely qualified for the mission work he has been doing across the known world. One of his unique qualities is his citizenship status. He is both a Jew and a Roman citizen by birth! How he got his Roman citizenship by birth doesn’t really matter too much, but it does give him a bit of an advantage in this moment…Acts 22:27–29 NIV 27 The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. 28 Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied. 29 Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.Through this conversation we see that the commander, who ordered Paul’s arrest and flogging, was actually outranked in citizenship by Paul. He purchased his citizenship, whereas Paul was a Roman citizen by birth! Now that Paul has appealed to this citizenship he is exempt from flogging and placed under the protection of the Roman Empire. Anyone who breaks this protection will have to answer for their actions to the Roman Empire. Now Paul will have to go through the Roman judicial process, which occupies the rest of the Book of Acts.To finish out this chapter, the commander decides to take Paul to the Sanhedrin to find out why he was being accused by the Jews.Now that we know what happens in this chapter, let’s circle back to Paul’s speech and find out what he said that made them so mad. Let’s start by looking at how he began the speech…Acts 22:1 NIV 1 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”I just want to pause here to point out the fact that this is the same way Stephen addressed the Jews at his trial in chapter seven, verse two…Acts 7:2 NIV 2 … “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! …”Stephen was the martyr that Paul approved of being murdered before he became a follower of Christ. He will even bring that specific incident up at the end of this speech…Acts 22:3–5 NIV 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5 as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.Here in the beginning of the address, Paul is establishing his credibility as a fellow Jew who was once zealous for the law. He is saying that, even though he was born in Tarsus, he was raised here in Jerusalem. He was taught by Gamaliel and trained according to the strict manner of the law, or Torah. Gamaliel was a teacher of the law and a member of the Sanhedrin. It is said that he was the most significant and influential Pharisaic educator in the early first century.Can you think of any well known preachers from our lifetime? (Joseph Prince, Adrian Rogers, Billy Graham) I imagine Paul referencing Gamaliel would have been similar to someone today saying they were trained by someone like Billy Graham. Actually, it would be more like we were members of Billy Graham’s church and the whole church was in an uproar about someone and they stood up to defend themselves to us and said, “Why are you mad at me? Billy Graham was my mentor, he trained me, I was his protégé! I’m one of you! I have the receipts, too. Ask any of the deacons, they were there with me. They are the ones who sent me to Damascus where God spoke to me!”I suppose you could say that Paul is trying to establish a bit of rapport with the Jews. He was just as zealous as them for the laws and rituals. He killed Christ followers for the same reasons they want him dead. So what changed? Verse six…Acts 22:6–9 NIV 6 “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ 8 “ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9 My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.Obviously, this is the same story we read in chapter nine. There is a minor difference in detail between the two stories. In chapter nine we are told that the men who were with Paul didn’t see anyone, but they heard a voice. Here we are told that they saw the light, but couldn’t understand the voice. These details only help to give us a more defined picture of what they witnessed. A bright light with a voice that spoke words they couldn’t understand. Additionally, this new information helps us to understand why Paul appears to be the only person who converted and began following and worshipping Jesus.Acts 22:10–13 NIV 10 “ ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ 11 My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. 12 “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.The picture of blindness definitely has strong connections throughout scripture. Jesus heals blind people, God talks about restoring sight to the blind throughout the Old Testament, like in Isaiah…Isaiah 35:5 NIV 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.If we skip down to Isaiah 42 we can read about the Lord’s servant who will bring justice to the nations…Isaiah 42:6–7 NIV 6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.He will be “a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind.” This is describing Jesus Christ, and what is interesting is that this is the exact mission that God sent Paul to work on. He opened Paul’s blind eyes, both physically and spiritually, and freed him from captivity to darkness so that he could spread the light of Jesus Christ, even to the Gentiles.When we read this today, we think, “Well, yeah. Of course!” Do you know what a first century Jew would have thought? Obviously, they didn’t like Paul actually doing it and saying that God’s servant brought justice to the nations, but they SHOULD have thought, “Well, yeah. Of course!” If they actually knew scripture they should have seen it coming.Next, Paul gives us another new detail in his testimony…Acts 22:17–21 NIV 17 “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 “ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20 And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ 21 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”Paul was given another vision by Jesus. The interesting thing about this vision is what it accomplishes. Paul probably decided to share it for these very reasons. Notice where the vision took place. In the temple! That is a huge detail. It’s more proof of Paul’s dedication to Jewish custom. Paul encounters God and is given a God-ordained mission and what’s the first thing he does? He goes to the temple.This detail also shows that Jesus is the God of the Jews and their temple because he appears to the zealous in the temple of God.Third, while Paul was praying in the temple he was given a prophet’s commission by God. Acts 22:17–21 “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”Paul’s experience mirrors what happened to Isaiah and Samuel. Isaiah was in the temple, saw the Lord in a vision, and heard Him give His commission. He was to speak difficult things to the people even thought they would refuse to understand. Both Isaiah and Paul needed to be cleansed before they were sent…Isaiah 6:1–9 NIV 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple… 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go…”Samuel had a similar experience. He was lying in the temple next to the ark of God and the Lord called his name multiple times…1 Samuel 3:10–11 NIV 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 11 And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.Samuel was in the temple, saw the Lord in a vision, and heard Him give His commission to speak difficult things to the people. Ezekiel and Jeremiah were also given similar experiences, although not in the temple. Jeremiah was told that he has been appointed a prophet to the nations…Jeremiah 1:5 NIV 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”Jeremiah 1:10 NIV 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”Leaving this verse on the screen for a minute, I wonder if this is why the Jews were so mad. Either they actually believed they were somehow defending God’s honor, or (to reference another relevant story from the Old Testament [Daniel 5]) they saw the writing on the wall.In other words, maybe they knew that God cares for the poor and the weak. Maybe they knew that God wants to spread His light and bring His kingdom to all of the nations. Maybe they knew that Paul’s experience mapped perfectly over Old Testament prophets and promises. Maybe they knew that God told Paul to “Go” just as He did Isaiah, and that He sent Paul to the Gentiles, just as He did Jeremiah. Maybe they were upset because they knew that God was in the process of uprooting and tearing down; destroying and overthrowing; building and planting.That is just a thought. Maybe I am giving them too much credit, because if recent history has taught us anything it is that people are capable of very evil acts based on misguided attempts at righteousness.Regardless of their motives, when Paul mentions the Gentiles the zealous Jews absolutely lose their minds! Paul probably knew this would upset them. He had to have known, because the accusation that started this whole conflict was that he had defiled the temple by bringing Gentiles into it. I like Nate’s summary of why Paul would have told them this…By sharing this aspect of his story, he told the Jews that their God has commissioned him to remove himself from them and go communicate His message to pagans. This opens the door to some dangerous possibilities (in the minds of first century Jews):• Gentiles could share equally in God’s blessings apart from Torah.◦ [In other words]: God Himself was bypassing the temple and priesthood, sending Paul directly to Gentiles with no requirement of them first becoming Jews• Gentiles stand on equal footing with Jews in access to God.◦ [Meaning that]: Israel’s privileges as God’s people were never the endgame. Those privileges were always meant to be extended to the nations.Paul did not flinch. He did not use euphemisms or careful speech to tiptoe around certain topics. He said what needed to be said. Period.Combining this information with something we discussed last week, I think a very difficult yet important lesson emerges for us today. Last week I made note of Paul’s determination to get to Jerusalem and do what God called him to do. People in scripture who react this way to God’s commission are often described as setting their face like flint to whatever it is. Setting their face like flint to God. Jesus set His face to Jerusalem, when He made His final journey there. It is a strong determination. People who stand against God with determination are described in the same way, but as setting their face against God.That picture emerges here in this chapter as well. Paul has his face set like flint on the Good News and how God transformed his life. The people have their faces set against God. In a situation like that, what we perceive as failure is often unavoidable. No matter what you do, the outcome seems set. It’s like an unstoppable force hitting an immovable object. I want to quote Nate again, because he described this lesson this way…Sometimes failure is the mission. Sometimes the journey God sends us on is to suffer and (apparently) not succeed.Sometimes failure is unavoidable because it is part of God’s plans. Like the book I’m reading that describes the hopeless situation with no apparent good ending, sometimes everything seems to be going wrong and you are simply ready to throw in the towel. To put down the book. To give up.Sometimes that is exactly where we are supposed to be because God wants us to realize that our hope and blessings are not found in good fortune and success. They are found in Christ alone. He is our success! He is our Good Blessing! He is everything we need! We should act like the church did in the Book of Acts and take failure and certain doom as a prompt to pray for boldness. Keep praying for God to give us strength and resolve to carry on.The reality is, without Jesus I can do nothing, but with Him I can do anything He asks of me. That includes being a part of His body doing the work that He calls us to. As part of Christ’s family we can be there for each other. We can encourage, support, and share wisdom with one another.I think Paul’s story is fascinating. He goes from being the first century version of a popular TV preacher to a traveling church planter with no money and loads of enemies who want him dead. Now he finds himself in a position of certain failure, but he never quits. The beautiful thing is that he realizes that what appears to be failure actually means success for the Gospel. To the flesh, his mission may have been failure, but Paul’s true mission remained clear because he knew exactly what God was calling him to do. With boldness he stood in front of his people as a prophet and proclaimed God’s Good News.This is kind of a philosophical topic, so I know we could sit and discuss it for a long time, but if you have anything you would like to share in regards to Acts twenty-two I would love to hear it.Pray Acts 22:24NIV2011
Acts 22:27–29NIV2011
Acts 22:1NIV2011
Acts 7:2NIV2011
Acts 22:3–5NIV2011
Acts 22:6–9NIV2011
Acts 22:10–13NIV2011
Isaiah 35:5NIV2011
Isaiah 42:6–7NIV2011
Acts 22:17–21NIV2011
Isaiah 6:1–9NIV2011
1 Samuel 3:10–11NIV2011
Jeremiah 1:5NIV2011
Jeremiah 1:10NIV2011
