Acts 23. 11-35

Acts 23. 11-35
For Paul, life was getting g more and more challenging.  To remind you of the background, he had turned up in Jerusalem after travelling through Turkey and Greece telling people the good news about Jesus.  He had  been accused of bringing a non Jew into the Jewish Temple – which although it sounds trivial to us, was a big deal to Jews.  He had nearly been lynched as he had tried to talk about his encounters with God and about the challenges of following Jesus.  The Romans had arrested and imprisoned him for his own protection – and he had narrowly escaped a flogging as the Romans tried to find out what he had done, before they realised he was a Roman Citizen.  So he is still under arrest, but also under the protection of Roman law now they know he is a full Roman citizen.  And I can let yo into a secret: he will remain under arrest for the rest of the book of Acts – probably for the rest of his life. Life was tough.  It was going to get tougher.  It would be kind of tempting to despair; to lose a sense of direction in the midst of chaos  and pain, or to begin to feel self-pity... 

It was at this most strategic point that Lord stood near Paul and spoke to him : “‘Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”   Luke records these direct, visionary experiences, happening to Paul at this conversion (Acts 9. 3) and again shortly after his conversion (Paul tells the story in Acts 22. 17-21) and on four separate occasions during his mission: here and at 16. 9 (when he had a vision of a man from Macedonia, calling for help); 18. 9f (in Corinth when the Jews turned against him); and  27.23f (after the great storm and just before he was shipwrecked!).  These experiences are real, dramatic, powerful; they take place at decisive, and mostly dangerous points in the story;  they are all about God's call on Paul's life; and they are all about mission to those outside the Christian faith. 

Vision gives us a missional destiny
In our world, we need that.  We are not used to visions, to “God-experiences”.   In a  context where there are trials, discouragements, possibly direct threats,we need those vision moments.   Maybe God gives us pictures of beautiful valleys full of flowers and wonderful sunsets over calm seas.  But whatever the vision, they are  given to remind us who God is,  to make us strong, to renew a sense of purpose and destiny, and a missionary focus  so we can not only survive but grow, thrive and make an impact in our world.   They are about maintaining an “Overriding desire to see the world recognised the Lordship of Jesus Christ...”     D L Moody said “God has given me a lifeboat and said to me 'Moody, save all you can'”

Prov 29. 18 says “Where there is no vision, the people perish”.  The word perish has connotations of nakedness.  Without a God vision, we are unprotected, left to our own devices, embarrassed and unprotected from whatever the enemy wants to throw at us – or whatever people choose to throw at us.  

On holiday I've been reading “Birthing the Miraculous” by Heidi Baker, an evangelist and missionary in Mozambique. She writes “I encourage you to reflect on the calling God has given you.... What is it that you want to do?  Who do you want to become?  For what do you want to be known? If you have never asked the Holy Spirit to speak to you about these things I encourage you to spend time doing so now.” 

I believe we need that.  We need to know what God has called us to.  It may not involve going off to Mozambique.  It may be the same thing we have been doing already.  But so long as it's not just what we do for the lack of the imagination and passion to do something better.  So long as it's God's call.   That call, that vision will keep us in shape, keep us together, keep us strong and focussed, when the enemy, the culture, and our personal circumstances are undermining and destroying us, making us feel very very insecure.  

Vision makes sense of circumstances
V. 11, which places Paul’s desire to go to Rome within the purposes of God, also serves as the introduction and keynote for pretty much the rest of the Acts of the Apostles:  “as you have witnessed for me in Jerusalem, you are going to witness for me in Rome”....  And look what follows:

The very next day, (v 12-15) forty Jews, probably highly political types, take a solemn oath, that they would not eat or drink until they had killed  Paul.  A conspiracy, motivated only by bigotry, jealousy and hatred.   They go to the Sanhedrin and tell them to tell the Governor they want to examine Paul again, the next day (They obviously didn't want to go without food too long!)  the idea was that when Paul was being transferred from prison to court, they would make their move and assassinate him.

And the Sanhedrin (who were not above using the most dishonest and underhand means to secure what they wanted) were willing to co-operate with them.  The worldly-wise Sadducee party held the power.  Even those among the Pharisees who felt positively about Paul, weren't prepared or able to oppose this or report it. 

That was left to Paul's young nephew!  The nephew – and indeed Paul’s relationship with his family – is shrouded in mystery.  We don't know anything about this young man and we wish we did!   The young man certainly knew he needed to take action, went and told Paul.

How might Paul have felt at that moment?  How often have God's people been left in  a position like that.  I think of King David in the Old Testament, whom Saul in a fit of jealousy and paranoia pursued, forcing him to live like a bandit, afraid of betrayal.  I think of Martin Luther when he stood trial for posting his 39 theses on the door or Wittenberg cathedral.  I think of David Armstrong, who was hounded out of this church in Limavady for taking a stand against hatred and bigotry.  I think of Heidi and Rolland Baker in Mozambique. Rolland writes, “Our years in Pemba have been tumultuous, intense, filled with demonic attacks, violence, threats, opposition from the government, discouragement, theft, loss, disappointments, failures, staff turnover, and the constant, unrelenting demands of extreme poverty and disease all around us.” But Paul in all his difficulties,  knew what God had said to him   “you are going to witness for me in Rome”. 

 So Paul (now he was recognised was a respected Roman Citizen) was able to get the support of the centurion to introduce the young man to the Commanding Officer.  In the end, the Commander was able to operate discretely to outwit the Jewish plot, rushing Paul to the safer city of Caesarea, which was the “capital” of the Roman province, was in gentile-dominated territory, and had a larger garrison.  The governor, Felix, was the Jerusalem Commander's superior.  Claudius Lysias, the Commander in Jerusalem, wrote a very professional and respectful letter to Felix, that Luke gives us the gist of.  Felix was a freedman: he and his brother had been slaves, but his brother had been freed and had then become a favourite of Emperor Claudius; so Felix also had been freed and had risen up the ranks.  As Governor of Palestine, he had in the words of Tacitus, “the power of a king and the mind of a slave.”  in other words, eh was no gentleman; he continued to be self-seeking and to work the angles for his own personal gain.  Such was the man in  whose hands Paul’s fate now lay.  But as Paul was transferred from Jerusalem to Caesarea, and as the self-seeking shrewd and rather unscrupulous Felix put him under guard in Herod’s palace pending trial – maybe comfortable surroundings but frustrating ones – he knew what God had said to him   “you are going to witness for me in Rome”.

Whether it is the evil and hatred  and fanaticism of conspirators and the hypocrisy of conniving Sanhedrin members, or the meticulous care of a bemused Roman tribune, or the self-seeking arrogance of Governor Felix, or the single-mindedness of Paul himself, are all being used by that sovereign hand of God. 

Vision empowers us for action. 
Paul, his young nephew, and the Roman Commander in Jerusalem, were each able to take discrete, careful steps to defeat the plot against Paul’s life.   In fact, they were able to defeat the plotters using their own strategies – secrecy and subterfuge.  Sometimes we need to defeat evil, on its own terms.  In Lk 16. 1-9  Jesus told a strange  parable about the servant who cooked to books so he would be looked after when he got the sack, and then he said “the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.   Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings”  I am not saying that it is OK to engage in dishonesty – and that is not what Jesus was saying either!  What we are to do is, like Paul, use what we have – opportunities, skills, resources – for the benefit of the Kingdom of God.   Christian missions is the announcement, embodiment and extension of Christ's reign in the world by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father.

 Paul is able to harvest the experience – or the knowledge it communicated – to enable him to remain calm, confident and dignified throughout the difficulties of the next few years!   Believing God didn’t mean sitting doing nothing.

We need to have the strength of conviction that Paul had, but to combine that with the wisdom and shrewdness to avoid squandering our opportunities.   So we need to have a vision; and we need to do what we can.   As William Carey said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”

© Gilmour Lilly October  2014