Paul, the Council, and Lessons from the Mission

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.” Acts 23:6

Acts 22:30–23:11 – The Story of the Church: Living Into This Drama in the 21st Century
Second Sunday of Christmas – January 2, 2022 (am)
 

One of the things that energizes humanity is when they feel as though they are part of something. When people feel as though they are part of something it infuses their days with purpose and meaning. Brothers and sisters, those in Christ, you are part of something…something huge, something glorious…the Mission of God.

We just finished a season in which we celebrate the Incarnation—the coming of God, taking on human flesh, to live (as the last Adam) the lives we were all supposed to live and die to pay for all of our sin, all the ways we haven’t lived how we were created to live. This Babe in a Manger came on a mission. He lives, He dies, He is resurrected, He sends the Spirit, and He calls people to join Him on His mission. If you have trusted Jesus, if you are in Christ by faith, you are part of the mission— Your life is infused with purpose and meaning. Every day has a purpose and that purpose is set by the One who created and rescued you—not the circumstances of the day.

The book of Acts is a recording of the beginning of the mission of God through the New Covenant people of God. I’m going to let you behind the scenes
—during our Preaching Team meetings we discuss the upcoming sermon and whoever is preaching fills out a sheet and the first question is:

1. What is the main idea, God’s message, in this book?

Luke completes his gospel by telling the early story of fulfilling the great commission and spreading the church/kingdom/gospel/Word of God

That’s what we’ve been studying for some months. And since we are continuing the very same mission, this book should have a ton of lessons for us. Note the Great Commission—Here from the end of Matthew’s Gospel:

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

So Jesus is King…all authority has been given to Him. We “go” with that authority, bringing people into that mission, raising up worshippers and followers of the King. Because the message of Jesus is King flies in the face of Ceasar is King what’s going to happen? Trouble. Push-back. But as we go…we are assured that Jesus is with us always.

 We see so much of what this mission is going to look like in real time in today’s passage. Where are we in this story?

In Acts 20:16, Luke tells us that Paul wanted to make it back to Jerusalem for Pentecost. In 20:22, he says that he is “going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit”, not knowing what will happen to me there”. He says in Verse 23, “that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and affliction await me.” Chapter 21 finds Paul landing in Tyre, staying seven days, and disciples “through the Spirit” warn him not to go to Jerusalem. The group then moves to Caesarea, where a prophet Agabus takes a belt, bounds his hands and feet and says “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles” (21:11). In Verse 13, Pauls says “I am not ready to not only be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus”.

Paul then arrives in Jerusalem. He is there seven days when Jews from Asia saw him in the Temple and stirred up the whole crowd, laying hands on him (21:27). Verses 28-29 lay out the charge, ““Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.”

Verses 31-33 tells us, “And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done.” The Tribune allows Paul to speak to the Jewish people, in which he gives an impassioned plea about how He grew up just like them…and attained even the height of Phariseeism…and then Christ changed his life. As soon as he mentions Christ followers being send to the Gentiles, the crowd escalates (a lot of Jonah shadowing there). The Tribune takes him away, was going to flog him, but is made aware of Paul’s citizenship. Which brings us to today’s passage— which has us rejoin Paul in Jerusalem and this passage has several “Lessons From The Mission”

Verse 30 tells us that the Tribune still wants to get to the bottom of this. Why all the commotion—the unrest. So he demands that the chief priests and all the council (Sanhedrin) come together. Paul is brought in. How does Paul start? “Brothers, I’ve lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day” (Acts 23:1)

Not sinless, but rather responding to God’s revelation with zeal, obedience (out of love for God), repentance and faith

What a model for us as we’re on our mission!

Well, the high priest doesn’t quite see it that way…after all this man who claimed to live in good conscience was following and proclaiming a blasphemer— Jesus. He was defiling the Temple. He was denigrating the Law. Good conscience? The problem? This High Priest (Ananias) was a particular godless high priest.

Serving from 48-58AD, he was known as a glutton, one who took bribes, one who stole from temple offering, one who was way too friendly with Rome. And this godless High Priest responds godlessly (and against the Law) to Paul—tells one of his men to give him a crack in the mouth. How does Paul respond—anger….God is going to strike you, you hypocrite! You’re calling me out for breaking the Law… and you’re breaking the Law in calling me out!

Paul’s anger outburst draws a rebuke “You are reviling God’s high priest?” Paul says “Whoa…I didn’t know” Why did Paul not know? Was he out of the loop, being away from Jerusalem? Was it bad eyesight (thorn)? Or is he tongue and cheek saying: I couldn’t tell by his behavior that he was the High Priest? Regardless, Paul recognizes he was wrong. He was threatening that “living in good conscience” claim by violating what God revealed in His Law (Exodus 22:28). So Paul backs down..admits he’s wrong. Violating God’s command by responding in kind. Here we see a “Mission Lesson”: As we carry out our mission we will encounter godless behavior aimed at us. That does not give us permission to respond outside of how God has commanded us to respond.

God has called us to not revile in return. Sure, Christ called the Jewish religious leaders “Whitewashed tombs”…but He was the Christ, correcting the hypocritical nature of the covenant people’s religion. Christ’s teachings emphasize an other-worldly response—offer the other cheek when struck on one, go two miles when asked to go one, etc. Part of our mission is to respond in such an other- worldly manner that it stuns those we come into contact with. The essence of faith is entrusting the situation to God, allowing Him to do His work. We see this in Paul instruction to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:24-25:

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,
25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth

 You can see hints of this in Peter’s instruction:

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. (1 Peter 3:1-2)

When we obey God, act godly, in the face of whatever we are facing is a sign of entrusting the situation to God AND God often is pleased to use that to affect great change.

—The problem: The flesh often “goes first”—

Now Paul’s in the thick of it. Got the Sanhedrin there. The High Priest who he just insulted (though he was right to some degree…God would strike Ananias down, he’d be assassinated in about a decade after he was no longer High Priest). The Roman Tribune is there watching all of this. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Then….Verse 6, “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.” Paul mentions resurrection. The Sadducees didn’t believe in it. They held literally to the Pentateuch but didn’t believe in some forms of the spiritual realm, angels and the like, and they didn’t believe in resurrection. And Paul pounces on this. This is the wake-up bomb. 100% true. This Jesus, whom the Jewish people cried “Crucify Him!” didn’t stay dead. Your plan didn’t work. In fact, His death and resurrection further proved that He was Messiah. Paul hurls that glorious truth into the crowd.

 A question I ask myself: From where did Paul’s words come. The perfect words that not only set his accusers against one another—but actually (Verse 9) find one part of those accusers standing up for Paul? Could we argue that those words were a manifestation of “I’m with you always”—and was that manifesting itself in Christ’s promise found in Matthew 10? Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:16-20)

Could this be a manifestation of that very promise?

Mission Lesson: As we carry out our mission we will be faced with difficult situations, but one of God’s Gospel promises is that the Spirit will be with us, guide us, and even give us the words to say when the chips are down—as a manifestation of Gospel grace.

—That should make us bold and courageous—

Well, the party turns violent. And the Tribune has his men snatch Paul out of that and bring him to the barracks. Stop and think for a bit: What must Paul have been feeling? Chaos yet again? Every where I go, trouble. Hard times. Even in light of God’s promises, it would be understandable if Paul sometimes felt overwhelmed. 2 Corinthians 1:8 certainly tells us he was there. We are all there at some point, aren’t we in this Kingdom Mission? Are you there today? So much before you that you don’t see a way forward? You can’t possible see any good coming out of this season?

Look what God does: He appears to Paul (the presence of God is always our ultimate comfort) and and says “Take courage”. Why? Because God has a plan for Paul and northing will derail it. No human government, no persecution will thwart God’s good plan and His purposes for Paul. Paul needed to hear that—particularly in light of what comes next in the chapter. We all need to hear that. In fact, that’s a Mission Lesson: God calls us and accomplishes certain purposes in us and through us. Nothing is random. Nothing is out of control. Rather it is part of God’s good plan for His children, even though it may be hard to see in the moment.

—We need to constantly preach that to ourselves and have faith that it is true—

—God’s people are blessed when we walk by faith on the Kingdom Mission—

God appears and gives Paul a promise. A promise that He has a plan for Paul and nothing will derail it. God’s promises are always sure. God’s promises are always comforting.

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Next week, we’ll learn that the Jews aren’t done yet, and Paul is doing to have to have that promise at the fore of His mind, as things get a little hairy.
Kingdom mission is often quite hairy.

NEXT WEEK: A Zealous Plot, Sovereign Protection, Acts 23:12–35, Kipp Soncek