Turning Your Worst Times to Your Best Legacy (Acts 22)
We see a lot of reality shows on TV today but perhaps my favorite is Bridezilla. It amazes me how what should be the best time of a young woman’s life turns out to be her worst legacy. The show chronicles the life and experiences of young brides as they prepare for their weddings in a full display of their fury, hysteria and controlled obsessed fashion. Instead of the greatest day of their life, the preparations up to the wedding bring out the worst in the bride as she loses her self-control in a myriad of sad and humorous displays of anger, rage and generally bizarre antics. One bride became so incensed as her maid of honor for dropping her cake that it seemed that the whole wedding was in jeopardy.
In contrast Paul the apostle took one of the worst times of his life, being hauled before a Roman court to be on trial, and turned it into his most shining moment. Paul leaves a legacy of how not to whine but to shine in the midst of our darkest hour. Consider the major points of Paul’s appeal.
1. Paul speaks in a conciliatory tone using Aramaic to appeal to the patriotic pride of all conservative Jews in the national language of the day. Learn to speak in terms that will appeal to the heart as well as to the heads of your listeners. Remember that you are not only responsible for what you intend to say but also considering the effects your communications will have. (vs 1,2) Notice, "When they heard he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect they became even more quiet."
2. Paul identifies with his audience by indicating his experience to be exactly like their own. He implies that his disposition and training were such as would not lead to change with an adequate cause. (vs 3)
a. He declares himself to be a true Jew by birth, by training and by conviction.
b. He discusses Jewish law by mentioning his own strict adherence.
c. He describes his zeal, as the Jews have, even though he implies theirs is mistaken.
3. Paul adduces the proof of his identification with the Jews by his former persecuting ways.
a. It involved women as well as men
b. It extended even to death
c. It included Damascus, a city far from Jerusalem
d. He cites Caiaphas, the high priest, as his witness
4. Paul describes his conversion through a vision that could only occur through a supernatural intervention by God. (vs 6-11)
a. God’s actions alone could account for the change in his life.
b. The time of day was noon, but the heavenly light was all the more striking and authentic
c. Paul describes Anaianas, a man devout of the law, an orthodox Jew, as a credible messenger. Here was a man who was most unlikely to do something that opposed to Judaism. (vs 12)
d. God appointed you to know His will and see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. (vs 14)
e. Delineation of Divine purpose (vs 14,15) proves that Paul had been chosen to know His will and to see the Just One.
f. Paul was first invited to come and see and hear then to tell. We all should follow this pattern in our testimonies and ministries. There cannot be a testimony without first having a test.
5. Paul is given directions to be baptized.(vs 16)
a. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality
b. The Greek words having called on the name of the Lord indicate that one is not saved by the physical act but by faith in asking for forgiveness and cleansing through the Lord Jesus Christ’s atonement.
c. Baptism is not a mere mechanical rite that can bestow forgiveness. It is a sign and expression of that attitude, and spiritual reality that has already taken place in the heart. (Rom 10:9-11) Baptism is an expression of the attitude of repentance and faith which is the sole condition for salvation. (Eph. 2:8,9)
6. Paul’s commission happens in the Jerusalem temple. (vs 17-21)
a. Paul honored the spot where the trance, vision and commission happened. The details of our commissioning should be delineated, described and declared.
b. God spoke to Paul and gave a sight and a sound to show that the Lord was the speaker not an intermediary
c. God gave a divine appeal for haste, indicating danger that the Lord attached to Paul’s presence in Jerusalem. The Lord knows when we are in dangerous territory and He wants to give warnings. It was not that Paul was wrong in going to Jerusalem but that radical changes in his life had caused revulsion of feeling in respect to him.
7. Paul thought his testimony would carry special weight with those who knew him well, but the immediate impact was not evident. Do not be surprised if the initial reaction is not positive to your message. Your advantages may not always work the effects you might hope for. (vs 19,20)
a. Paul’s former friends became intensely angered at what they regarded as desertion and change of front.
b. Not even participating in Stephen’s martyrdom would impress them now as it had before.
c. The word consenting meant that Paul suggested that he had pleasurable agreement with the stoning of Stephen. Paul admits that he was terribly callous and hard hearted towards Christians.
d. God did not reply to Paul’s arguments but he still commissioned him to leave Jerusalem and to go and preach to the Gentiles.
e. Paul wanted his audience to realize that it was God’s choice to minister among foreigners not his own. That he went with a measure of some reluctance but under obedience to God’s direct orders.
8. The Stubborn Prejudice Against a Godly Messenger
(vs 22,23)
a. Everything went well up to this point in Paul’s testimony until he mentions the word Gentile. This inflamed the hatred that the Jews had for the Gentiles.
b. The Jews expressed their hostility toward outsiders indicating their jealousy, wrath and fear of losing their special privileged place before God and all others.
c. The Jews shouted at Paul saying he ought not to have been kept alive by the Romans.
d. The Jews threw off their garments in uncontrollable excitement.
e. The Jews cast dust into the air as a mark of intense anger.
9. God’s Strong Protection (vs 24-30)
a. God who is always in control, engineered the Romans to provide protection for Paul in this most perilous circumstance. The Romans were puzzled by the crowds reactions so they determined to know the reason by ordering that Paul be tortured.
b. By suggesting that through examining Paul by cruel scourging, the victim was stripped, tied with thongs to a pillar and stretched on a frame and lashed with leather straps tipped with lead till he gave information or made a confession.
c. Paul would not be treated this way and he spoke to the subordinate officer in charge of the operation questioning the legality of torturing a Roman Citizen.
d. In claiming exemption from abuse Paul amazed the Roman soldiers. We must speak of our rights in order to maintain the privileges and positions God has afforded us.
e. The first centurioni and then captain quickly recognzed the offense of scourging a Roman as liable to severe penalty and became disturbed.
f. The chief captain found it difficult to believe that one whom he regarded as a Jewish sedition-monger could really be a Roman citizen and so referred proudly to his own citizenship gained through a heavy purchase price.
g. Paul, however, could and did claim it by birth (vs 28) though we do not know the circumstances leading to his family’s obtaining this privilege; but it was a great thing for a Jewish boy to inherit indicating that his human Father was a Pharisee of some influence.
h. It was possible only to have Roman citizenship by three ways:
1). By birth from citizen parents
2). By reward for services
3). By freedom after slavery. During the reign of Emperor Claudius, citizenship was sold and perhaps it was this that accounted for captain’s name Claudius Lysias (23:26)
10. The Privilege (vs 29,30)
a. Paul’s claim being sufficient to prevent scourging was at once released.
b. Paul was beseached not to seek vengeance of the soldiers. Suddenly the tables has turned but Paul did not take advantage as Christ did not.
c. Paul now received friendliness and favor from the Roman officials.
11. Paul’s testimony is characterized by:
a. An attitude of conciliation
b. A perservering spirit
c. A cultural identification with the Jews and the Romans
d. A narration of the facts
e. A calm, composed and collected presentation in the face of great pressure
f. A definite object in the Lord Jesus message to Paul about his reconciliation and redemption and ministry to the whole world.
g. A realization that Paul’s initial ministries met with failure on the surface as far as the Jews were concerned..
h. A recognition that God over-rules in the affairs of men.
i. A recall how God over-turned and overcame the opposition of the Jews and the Romans allowing Paul’s worst time to become His best enduring legacy.
Challenge - Can we, like Paul trust and obey God even when our best efforts for Him seem to initially fail?
