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Do you believe the Scriptures? I know that you believe. In our passage this Sunday, Paul asks King Agrippa this simple but very pointed question. And yet, there is more going on beneath the surface. The real question Paul is asking is: "will you believe in Jesus?" What if someone asked you that question? You would probably say "Yes, I have already believed in Jesus!" But like Paul, I would like to press a little deeper with that question, do you believe in Jesus, and what difference has that made in your life?
Acts 25 seems to read a lot like Acts 24. The same story seems to repeat, a couple more times, as if it's a loop on repeat. It feels a little frustrating as we read it, it must have felt all the more frustrating to Paul to live it. There's a world to reach with the Gospel, yet Paul is stuck in a cell in Caesarea. There's a new governor, but the same false accusations, failed plots and political paralysis. But Paul doesn't stay stuck, and God has something to say to us from how Paul takes the next step in God's calling, according to God's Word and by the means God has given.
Peter tells us to always be ready to give an answer to others concerning the hope that we have in Jesus (1Pet 3:15). But it can be hard to give an answer when everyone is shouting... In Acts 24, Paul is accused before the governor, in ways that parallel Jesus on trial before Pilate. In Paul's answer, our Lord shows us how to give an answer that might be heard beyond the shouting. There's an answer here for Felix to hear, and there's also a word here for each of us who know someone who needs to hear.
In Acts 23:1-11 Paul could seem to be acting somewhat randomly before the council. He claims to live in all good conscience, then blasts the High Priest, for which he then humbly apologizes. He seems to align himself with the Pharisees of all groups, and is once again at the center of a riotous commotion. I can imagine the evening news reporting on the latest chaos Paul has caused. But that would not be an accurate report. Actually, Paul is the one person staying steady in the midst of this storm. From his experience, the Lord speaks to us about how we too can stay steady in the midst of storms and opposition to our testimony of Jesus and His Gospel.
This simple question changes the course of history. It has in the past. It could change your future. In Acts 22, Paul tells his story to an antagonistic crowd. In that story he tells how one man was sent to him by Jesus, to ask that very question. "You have seen the truth; you have heard God's Word. Why do you wait?" I think it's a question that we need to be asked now and again. I also think it's a question which, in one direction or another, God will ask you this from His Word.
What is the right way to worship? If you asked ten people from ten different churches you would probably get ten different answers. We all have traditions, and practices, and preferences when it comes to worship, and this has been true all the way back to the start of the Church. In Acts 21, as Paul arrives in Jerusalem, some rumors have gone ahead of him and people are concerned that Paul wants to disrupt the way that they worship the Lord according to their faith in Christ. But what we find out along the way is that WHO we worship is far more important that HOW we worship.
Have you ever had a friend tell you what they planned to do because their counselor said to, but the plan didn't quite ring true? We all benefit from sound advice, as Proverbs 11:14 says, "Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety." But how can you know if the advice you're given (or are giving) is godly or worldly? How can you know if your plans are true spiritual wisdom or just common sense? In Acts 21:1-16, Paul is given well-intended but faulty advice. God has recorded this incident for us, to help us recognize the true standard by which we can direct our steps.
We talked about the young man who fell asleep and out the window last week. What if that story is not just about a person? What if it's about a church, or the church leaders? I think Paul still had the Eutychus incident on his mind when he gave his farewell exhortation to the Elders from Ephesus. In Acts 20:17-38, we'll see what God says we must focus on to stay awake and fruitful and effective as a church.
The story of Eutychus falling asleep and out of the windows in Acts 20:1-16 is an odd incident with an important warning. In the midst of a significant moment of great opportunity we still might find ourselves asleep. But there's more to the story than a warning to stay awake and alert, there's also a pattern being laid, a bar set of what is normal for us in new life in Christ. This Sunday we will see God's grace for those who may fall asleep and the glory of waking to a new kind of life.
This weekend, on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate the foundational truths of the gospel: that Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead. On Good Friday we will remember Jesus’s faithfulness in his death for us. On Resurrection Sunday we will look at how a core invitation to believe, Romans 10:9,10, is rooted in the implications of Jesus the risen Lord. Both of these services are a great opportunity to invite a friend to come with you. They will hear God’s invitation to receive his salvation by trusting in Jesus, in a way they may not have heard it before.