Bible Reading Challenge Blog

I’ve had a common misconception that if Paul had not appealed to the emperor then he could have been freed and he would have been fine.  We see that alluded to by Agrippa at the very end of chapter 26 in vs.32.  But the problem was not that the Romans were going after him, but rather that there were 40 sworn men who were determined to take Paul’s life.  You can find them again in Acts 23:12.  They were already twice foiled in their plot to ambush Paul, and any opportunity that might arise they would be sure to take.  If Rome had not protected him in their prisons then he surely would have died at the hands of the Jewish mobs riled up by the chief priest and his lackeys.  So no, Paul would not have been okay if he had just kept quiet and not appealed to the emperor, in spite of what Agrippa says in these verses.

I love Paul’s unabashed attempt to bring the Gospel to Agrippa, and Festus, and Berenice.  It becomes obvious to all gathered that he was trying to win them over to his side.  Listen to what he says in vs.26-27: “Indeed the king knows about these things, and to him I speak freely; for I am certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner.  King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?  I know that you believe.”  Agrippa calls him on it and Paul responds right back with saying: “How I wish you were just like me.”  Paul understood what it meant to be exposed to Jesus and to his teachings and turn your back on it.  He knew what it meant to “kick against the goads”.  What does that mean?

When Paul recounts the story of his conversion he speaks about how he had consistently been the one who gathered the names and persecuted the Christians more than anyone else.  He was probably present when Jesus taught and when he was killed.  No matter what we say, any exposure to Jesus would be sure to put a seed of thought in your mind that his words weren’t necessarily so crazy after all.  But he continued to carry out his duty and to live his life as a righteous Pharisee…until Damascus.

“Why do you kick against the goads.”  The goads were sharp pointed sticks that were used to ensure that animals behaved.  The more the animals kicked against the sticks the more painful it would be.  The term: “goad someone on” comes from this usage where a person is cajoled to go in a certain direction, hopefully not with pointy sticks.  But Paul had been tapped to be a leader within the Christian community but it took him a long time to respond to the guidance.  He fought Jesus’ presence and he kicked against anything which might turn him to follow him and to love him.  Until Jesus spoke to him directly.

I am sure we have all had times when we have kicked against the goads.  There have been times when we have simply decided that God’s way is not the way that we are going to take, either because we have too much to lose, or the alternative is too compelling.  In the end, however, we will find out that it is much more painful to resist God’s desires in our lives, than to pursue our own wishes.  This Scripture is a great reminder that God is going to eventually win us over, it is just a matter of when.  On their way out, if nothing else, the three people of power, Festus, Agrippa and Berenice all realize that he was innocent.  But off to Rome for Paul.

It seems as if Paul is climbing the rungs of authority to hear his case without even attempting to gather attention.  It reminds me of a case that goes before our courts and then eventually ends up in the Supreme Court.  Paul had become, by this time, quite a celebrity.  Felix was no longer the procurator of Judea, but he has been replaced.  The way that you can think of it in modern terms, is that Judea could be a sort of state within the Roman Empire.  Festus was the new governor.  Agrippa, who is called King in this Scripture, would be the next person in power just under the Emperor.  He took the charge from Herod.  Agrippa has an interesting history.  Bernice, who is mentioned as accompanying Agrippa, is actually Berenice and is the sister of Agrippa.  The gossip of the day was that he was living in an incestuous relationship with her.  There was much tension between Jerusalem and the Jews living there and Rome.  Agrippa had just built a palace that blocked the view of the temple.  They ended up kicking him out in 66 AD, which would have been soon after this trial of Paul.  

Notice that throughout these verses in chapter 25 the high priest and his cronies are wanting to get Paul back to Jerusalem because they knew that once he was back there they would be able to dictate what would happen to him.  They had control over Jerusalem much more than the Romans did.  But Paul did everything in his power, and he succeeded, in getting himself an audience with the Emperor which would prevent him from going to Jerusalem and give him at least half a chance of saving his life.  Even Festus said he saw nothing wrong with Paul.  That should sound vaguely familiar to Jesus and Pontius Pilate who said he saw nothing wrong with Jesus.  

The audience that Paul has with Agrippa and Berenice is a big deal.  The next chapter lays out what Paul says to them.  I think you’ll like how he leads them to a knowledge of Jesus.  

I had to look back and be reminded where Paul was being held prisoner.  This is especially true when it states that he was held there for well over 2 years (vs.27).  He had to be taken away from Jerusalem which would have been problematic with the high number of Jews that wanted his life in that town.   So they took him first to Antipatris and then on to Caesarea.   Below you can find a picture of Caesarea that John Faltin took when we made the trip to Israel.  It is the same location where Herod died some years back and we already read about it in Acts 12:23 (go back there to refresh your memory).  It was a very Roman city with very little Jewish presence.  Paul was safe here and no mobs of Jews would come after Paul, not even the 40 from the previous chapter who had sworn to kill Paul.  

Now that we know where this all took place, let’s go back to the beginning of the chapter.  The high priest comes to see Paul and brings along his lawyer, just to make sure that Paul doesn’t get away with this, and to ensure that Paul would no longer cause any trouble.  They needed him gone once and for all.  The nitty gritty of this chapter is that the high priest makes an accusation and Paul defends himself.  It ends there.

But does it?  Felix is said to know something about the Way.  He knows something about Jesus.  We don’t know who planted the seed or why he knows about the Way, but he is curious.  He lets Paul live as normal as possible allowing Paul’s family members to meet his needs.  He had a smattering of freedom which was far more than most prisoners under Roman care.  After all, look what happens to Jesus when he is imprisoned under Roman rule.  Not quite the same outcome, nor the same treatment while under arrest.  So Felix doesn’t make a decision regarding Paul, but rather invites his own wife, who was Jewish, to come along and to listen to Paul.  Paul speaks about, and this has always been a curious triumvirate to preach about to people in power and authority, “justice, self-control, and the coming judgment”.  When I think of Pontius Pilate and how frightened he was of Jesus and the possibility that he represented one who could bring about the coming judgment, it seems to me that there is a theme.  All those in leadership recognize that their power is limited.  There will come a day when their lives will be demanded.  So if you talk to Felix about justice, it makes sense, because they have the justice of the land, and the future justice of Paul, in their hands.  Why talk about self-control?  Because all people want some advice from people who are considered experts on life changing opportunities on how to live our lives better.  But speaking about coming judgment put fear in their hearts.  I’m guessing it is at that point that Felix says: “Go away.”

Felix leaves Paul in the prison because he was expecting a kick back.  It didn’t happen so Paul stayed for two years.  I’ll never forget our trip to St. Petersburg from Moscow.  We drove, big mistake.  When we got to Tver, and I was speeding, the police pulled us over.  It was our first year there and my mother was with us.  I didn’t speak much Russian, and so I called the driver of the president of our church council.  The driver spoke to the policeman and it didn’t go well.  When the policeman gave me back the phone the driver said: Bob,  you are in big trouble.  The policeman is going to have you follow him to the station.  We got to the police station and in we walked, my three girls, Stacy, my mom, and I.  The head officer in the station saw the procession and chewed out the officer who had brought us in.  Then the officer told me to call the driver again.  After a while the officer was laughing and handed me back the phone.  He said to me: “Bob, give the police officer 1,000 rubles ($30) and go, go, go.”  I went into the police car, the officer went into the police car, I left a 1,000 ruble note on the back seat (I knew enough not to hand him the money), and I went, went, went.  

I think many Americans would be surprised by the commonality of “expediting fees” (read bribes) in most countries.  When we served in Italy to a lesser extent there was some pervasiveness of this as well.  In Russia I lost count of how many times I sat in the back of a police car and left money on the seat.  I was at least able to write it off on the church account.  The denomination was not happy about this until my boss came and visited and we were stopped.  I made him come in the back seat with me.  He understood.  Paul didn’t pay the expediting fee simply because, I think, he wanted more time with Felix.  He wanted more opportunities to teach him about Jesus.

Paul is now standing before the chief priest and the entire council of the Jews.  The chief priest, Ananias, orders Paul to be struck and Paul basically curses him out.  When he finds out that it was the chief priest that he cursed out, he apologizes.  It is a weird sequence but it follows with what we are going to be seeing in Romans 13:1 which is a verse with which I have often struggled.  Being a strong believer in civil disobedience when it is required, that verse has often given me pause.  But it fits that it would be Paul who requires this of the Roman believers when they are in a context where they are being persecuted tremendously.  Paul, at least, is someone who can speak from experience.  He knew what it meant to be persecuted, beaten to the point of death, so it is not as if he is telling people to put up with persecution never having experienced it himself.  No, he knew it firsthand so he is speaking from the vantage point of someone who understood.

I hope you realize what happens starting in vs.6.  he self-identifies as a Pharisee, well, because he was.  But he knew very clearly that there were both Pharisees and Sadducees in the midst of that assembly.  He knew if he brought up the resurrection that they would go at it.  Remember in the past we talked about the differences where the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and the Pharisees, of which Paul was one, did believe in it.  He knew perfectly well that the reason why they were examining him had nothing to do with the resurrection, but rather because he was a convert of Jesus the Messiah.  On the other hand, the belief that Jesus rose from the dead is central to Paul’s theology.  So let’s not just pass over too quickly his statement as one of convenience, but rather recognize, as Paul states in I Corinthians 15:14, that no matter what we preach, if the resurrection is not part of our Gospel message, then it is vain.  Well, as you can imagine, this caused quite a stir among those assembled.  So much so that the Roman tribune had to intervene, once again.

Vs. 16 gives us some insight into Paul’s family.  We know that he had a sister and that he had a nephew.  We know for sure that this nephew loved him and thought the world of him.  He sacrifices his life by bringing Paul this message that there is a band of 40  people who were determined to see Paul’s life end suddenly and imminently.  Paul knows exactly what to do and the message is sent to the right person and once again Paul’s death is averted under the protection of the Roman government.  Paul is a master at taking advantage of the situation and finding what can work to his advantage.

Pretty much the rest of Acts and the letters that are coming up cover the life of Paul and his writings.  We pick up where we left off from chapter 21 of Acts with Paul about to speak to the Jews on the steps of the temple.  It is an angry crowd because they were told that Paul had allowed the unclean gentiles to enter the temple and worship God.  This was not true, but it was believable because Paul did spend a lot of time with the gentiles.  They were now his primary targets to convert to Christianity, but bringing them into the temple was blasphemy.  So they took him, beat him, and would have killed him if the Roman guards had not intervened.  He then beseeches the tribune, the head of the Roman guards that were taking him away from the temple, to allow him to address the crowd.  This is where we pick up in chapter 22.

Paul begins his defense by giving the crowd his credentials.  The most convincing was his studying under Gamaliel.  It would be as if you had graduated from an Ivy League and studied under the master of whatever discipline you can imagine.  He was credentialed by the best of the best.  But not only that, he was also right where they were.  He went after these people who belonged to the Way.  He went after them to the extent that he was directly responsible for many of their deaths.  He was, in many ways, more Jewish than they were.  He knew the temple inside and out.  He received the best Jewish education possible.  He zealously went after those who would threaten the Jewish state and its beliefs.  But then a miracle happened.

Something happened on the road to Damascus.  Jesus came and spoke to him and blinded him.  Something happened that changed his life forever.  Jesus became more than a name, he became a relationship that affected him daily and made him a follower of the Way himself.  He couldn’t explain it, he could only recount it.  He has them captivate, until he makes a tactical mistake.  Okay, I can understand that Jesus became your Lord, I would like that as well.  He then mentions that God has opened the door to salvation to the Gentiles as well.  This was too much.  Paul, you said too much too fast.  You could have brought them along more gradually.  They start to try to stone him when the Roman soldiers had to intervene again. 

Well the tribune had had enough and orders him to be questioned under a severe beating.  Paul then pulls the Roman card.  Since he was born in Tarsus which is a province of Cilicia and it fall squarely under Roman rule and is considered a free state then all those who come from there are considered Roman citizens.  You can be a Roman citizen if you are born in a free state, like Paul, or you can buy your citizenship, just as this tribune had done.  You could also become a Roman citizen by dedicating your life to its military.  Paul saves himself from a beating by declaring that it was not constitutional to beat a Roman citizen, or even tie him up.  The tribune is worried.  We will see that while at this point his Roman citizenship helps him, later on it will cost him his life.

Chapter 21 has daughters who prophesy, Paul who is arrested, and the beginning of a speech that finds its words in chapter 22.  

Today we find ourselves in Paul’s farewell tour at least in regards to the leadership of Ephesus.  It is fairly clear that Paul loves the Ephesians and there is a special place in his heart for them.  You notice that in verse 5 the Christians are still celebrating the Jewish traditions.  They are celebrating the festival of unleavened bread, which would have been the traditional passover meal.  How many Christians today celebrate Passover as well as Easter and Christmas and all the other Christian holidays?  We see the same theme come up when Paul wants to quickly make his way toward Jerusalem and skip Ephesus because he did not want to miss Pentecost (vs.12) in Jerusalem.  The assumption is that this is the Jewish celebration of Pentecost, but you have to wonder if it has now become a very powerful Christian celebration in Jerusalem in Paul’s day as well.  How could they forget the day that the Holy Spirit had descended up on the church?  So maybe Paul wanted to get back in order not to miss the Christian celebration of Pentecost which by now may have become quite a big deal.

How do we celebrate our Christian Holy Days?  By the way, that is from where the term holiday came.  They were considered Holy Days.  I know, some of the holidays that we celebrate seem like anything but Holy.  But we celebrate Easter in church and maybe a special meal.  How much of a Christian take do we give to the time that we spend together on that day as a family?  Christmas is a bit different.  We certainly do emphasize the birth of Jesus and the exchanging of gifts follows along in that vein.  What about Pentecost?  We wear red…and we wear red.  There really is nothing done in society about Pentecost.  We don’t sell decorative flames, or bobble head dolls that speak in different tongues.  Pretty much Pentecost is one of the few Holy Days that is commerce free.  It has remained a Holy Day, and we should probably celebrate it as such in our families.  Not only has it been skipped by society, but it seems we have skipped it as Christian families as well.  For Paul, it was such a big deal that he wanted to hurry back to Jerusalem just so that he wouldn’t miss it.

I think it was a big deal that he skipped Ephesus on the way back to Jerusalem.  Follow along starting in vs.17 and following and we see that he sets up a special envoy of people to meet him in Miletus.  Now, if you look at a map, and below you will see Paul’s third missionary journey, you will see that Ephesus is not that far from Miletus. 

They are so close that Paul called for the elders and then waited for them to arrive.  He spends a good amount of time convincing them of his loyalty to them, of his work among them, and overall, how much he cares for them.  Personally, I think he was worried about going to Ephesus considering what had happened last time he went there and how he had almost lost his life to an angry mob.  Maybe, just maybe, he also didn’t want to cause trouble for the Christians living in Ephesus by going back there.  Sure it would have been nice to see him there, but with him there maybe they would become bigger targets.

In 2009 while we were serving in Russia we got word from the US Embassy that a FLOTUS team (in case you didn’t know it stands for First Lady of the United States) was going to make a site visit because First Lady Obama was considering visiting our soup kitchen when she visited Russia with her husband.  It was a big deal for us.  When the team arrived we talked through the logistics, and we had everything we needed to make it a safe visit and one where she could get in and out, no problem.  At the end of the visit we talked about our clientele which were elderly Russians who had fallen through the economic safety nets of society.  Perfect, that would look good with Mrs. Obama rubbing elbows with destitute elderly Russians.  Then we spoke about our staff and our volunteers, they were primarily African immigrants, most of them illegal, who were trying to scrape by and what we provided them was, for most of them, the only income that they received.  They asked us, how will that affect them when all of the attention of the nation is on them.  We quickly realized that for those of our staff who were illegal, it could mean arrest and deportation.  We asked our staff and they said they were willing to take that risk, but FLOTUS, understandably, simply was not willing to put us in that position.  She did not come.  

There is a sense that when you are in a position of leadership, in this case even a position of power or at the least a position of notoriety, it carries a certain responsibility that not all people have to face.  Paul, I believe, understood that, and so wanted to protect the community in Ephesus by not showing up there.  He says, and I believe him, that it is not about him being safe, but more about them being safe.

He meets with them and prays with them, weeps with them, and says goodbye to them.  We don’t know how he knew this would be his last journey, maybe he was getting old, but he was right.

Ephesus has to be one of my favorite New Testament cities.  The Apostle Paul spent a lot of time here, even just in these verses we find him spending two years.  John, the Gospel writer, also spent a lot of time there and it is thought that he wrote his Gospel in Ephesus.  When Stacy and I went there almost a decade ago I was absolutely enraptured.  So much of Scripture came alive.  Since John the Gospel writer is one of my all time favorite people, it was almost as if I had arrived at a place of God’s strong presence.

This is the burial place of John in Ephesus.  It is also thought that in the hillsides of Ephesus Mary, Jesus’ mom, lived and had her home.  Now most of this latter story is non-historical and more of legend than anything else, but it sounds good.  But remember when Jesus was on the cross when he said to John in the Gospel of John 19:27 that Mary would now be his mother, and he would be her son.  From that it is implied that because John settled and ended his life in Ephesus, so did Mary.  After all of that is said, I love Ephesus.  But the people of Ephesus did not necessarily love Paul, at least not those who were involved in making the idols for this town which was at the center of idol worship.

The chapter begins with those who, like Apollo originally, had only been baptized by John which would have been a baptism of cleansing in order to enter the temple.  They did not know who Jesus was, that he was the Messiah.  Upon hearing and receiving that news they then turn and give their lives to the Savior.  The Holy Spirit descends upon them after Paul lays his hands on them.  When we ordain, when we commission, when we baptize, when we send people off, we lay hands.  We believe so strongly, because of the example that we have in Scripture, that the laying on of hands is not just symbolic, but a powerful tool that God can use to indwell those who have hands laid on them with the Holy Spirit.  

I’ll never forget an argument that I heard from a student at my college that Paul was almost as important as Jesus.  I think you know where I stand on that statement.  I do believe that Paul was incredibly infused with God’s presence and power, but I’m not crazy about some of his statements or his character flaws.  But in vs.11 and following we see how God was able to work miracles through him.  Diseases and evil spirits left people who came into contact with Paul, or even his clothing.  That’s pretty powerful and also, if you’re not on that side, pretty scary stuff.  All of the residents of Ephesus were awestruck.  Verse 19 states that those who practiced magic burned their books.  Now, not to confuse the book burnings of days gone by where people burned books out of ignorance.  Here, these books were burned because they directly were teaching others in black magic.  We do believe in a spirit world.  One is of God, and one is not.  I don’t see much of a grey area in the spirit world.  It is either of God or it is of the devil.  My approach is never to get caught up in any kind of spirit world that is not of God.  I don’t understand it all, don’t believe all of it, but I do move cautiously because I don’t understand much of it.  When we talk about evil spirits, it is best to just stay away and not play around with it.

Trouble then starts in Ephesus.  Once again in vs.23 we see a reference to the name of this religious group with which we identify which we call Christians.  They were called the Way.  The problem was that because Ephesus was such a hot spot of idol worship, the temple of Artemis was located in Ephesus which was one of the 7 wonders of the world at the time, that those who created those idols were feeling an economic pinch because Paul’s words were actually effective and winning converts.  It wasn’t just those who followed the Way that were the problem, Jews would also have been a problem because they did not condone idol worship.  Now, the Jews would not have been as militant as those who followed the Way, like Paul, and in fact Jews and Greeks lived in harmony for quite some time in Ephesus.  The Jewish community allowed the Greeks to worship their gods without a problem, and the Greeks allowed the Jews to worship their one god.  But when Paul comes around, well, he tells people it is wrong to worship the idols and that we should probably get rid of them all.  That was a problem.

What could have potentially turned into a lynch mob is quieted down by the town clerk.  Originally a certain Alexander who was pushed forward by the Jews as someone to speak sense to the people, was shouted down by the people.  As a Jew he had nothing to say that would be of benefit to those trying to save their livelihood.  The town clerk, we don’t know who that was but he was obviously one of “them”, then quiets down the crowd.  He appealed to the law of the land and to allow that to play itself out.  The assembly disperses.  

Paul is on the road again, but he stays in a few places quite a long time.  We find him first in Corinth.  Now, keep in mind that many of the books in the New Testament are books written by Paul to these individual congregations addressing specific issues that may have come up.  We have I and II Corinthians which is Paul’s letters to this church in Acts 18.  Paul spends a year and a half in Corinth working together with a member of that Christian community making tents.  Have you ever heard the term tent-maker?  That is a term describing pastors who are bi-vocational.  It comes from these verses.  For example, many Mennonite pastors in this region are bi-vocational.  John Meck is a pig farmer and he is the pastor at the Mennonite Church here in town.  By the way, as an aside, if you have never seen a pig farm before I would highly recommend it.  I was incredibly impressed with John’s operation, the time, the care, and the love that he has for what he does and for those creatures.  But here in these beginning verses of 18 we find Paul seeks out a believer in Jesus Christ who was also a tentmaker and teams up with him.  This believer was Aquila who came to Corinth with his wife Priscilla to flee the persecution in Rome, Italy.  It was amazing to see the synagogue in Rome and know that on or near that location there has been a community of Jews since well before the 1st century.  It always gives me goose bumps seeing that synagogue and knowing that Priscilla and Aquilla came from that community.  

This Scripture tells us that every single Saturday Paul was in the synagogue at Corinth, for a year and a half, arguing that Jesus was the Messiah.  This is a common theme.  The arguments that people make that Jesus is the Messiah.  It becomes, it seems, a bit of a war of attrition.

In so many of these accounts we find conversions of some of the leaders in the society and in the synagogues.  We see Crispus, the official of the synagogue in Corinth who converts, and then at the end of the chapter we see Apollos who was African, probably a person of color, who was a God fearing man.  He did not know Jesus and was only baptized as John baptized for cleansing in order to be prepared to enter the temple.  Priscilla and Aquilla take him under their wing and the conversation probably went something like this: “Psst, hey, I love what you’re doing.  But, there’s one thing, Jesus, he wasn’t just a good teacher, he was actually God.  So next time you go out and speak, make sure you include something about Jesus being the Messiah.”  If you look at vs. 28 you will see that he was a powerful speaker who showed that Jesus was the Messiah.

We can’t forget Apollos.  Later on in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth he is mentioned as a key elder in that congregation.  Some, including Martin Luther, believe that he was responsible for the writing of the Hebrews in Scripture.  That’s appealing.  

I’ll never forget my very first Bible Study that I led for my small group in college.  We met informally around a dining room table in the dining hall and I had prepared a study on Acts 17:16-34.  In that teaching I laid out a plan for evangelism that involved being with people where they are and not forcing people to come to where you are.  Let’s go backwards through this chapter.  Let’s look first at Paul’s visit to Athens which for me contains such relevant approaches to those who do not know Jesus.  He went to Athens and found himself in the middle of the people and was not afraid to speak his mind.  When they invited him to speak openly and to the leadership of the city in front of the Areopagus, he used words and referred to people that they would know intimately.  He uses their material, the idols, to point to Jesus as the one who is the great Creator and who came so that we would be raised from the dead.  Many joined Paul as a result, including a number of the leaders of that community.

Let’s break down this interaction and apply it to today.  We have become a people who expect those whom we want to reach to come to us and become like us.  We expect to evangelize by providing the right programs and the right opportunities for those who might want to wander into our sanctuary.  We are capturing people who wander into our sanctuary, but this is not at all the strategy that Paul and other Christians used to wins people to Christ.  They were constantly on the go.  They had no office hours.  There were no bulletins and no courtyards with memorial tress.  They simply identified individuals, and groups of people, that they were exposed to and let them know about the truth found in Jesus.  This is the type of calling which is exciting and worthwhile.

The beginning of chapter 17 provides us with a continued stream of conflict and persecution that Paul and Silas faced.  You see in vs.2 that he was in the synagogue for three Sabbath days.  That is at least 3 weeks.  This was not something that he just came, tried, and if it didn’t work, he moved on.  No, he stuck to it.  The city officials of Thessalonica became concerned and drove them off.  But Paul and Silas just moved down the road to Beroea and continued their work.  The people of the much larger Thessalonica become even more enraged and pursue them there.  At this point Silas and Timothy stay while Paul moves on to Athens.  

Here is the map for Paul’s second journey.  Again, it is hard to follow but all the cities are there and you can at least see how close they are to each other.