Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 26-28.

The first thing that struck me about this passage is the insights we get about sailing on the Mediterranean Sea during the First Century, including a bit about how decisions were made on ships.  I’m not going to write about those details, I just wanted to bring up the ways in which Luke’s writing provides us insight.  So, now that I have covered that I will get on with the heart of my study for today.  Paul’s testimony in his own defense before Governor Festus and King Agrippa teaches us a lot.  While Paul’s testimony is about his specific calling, I believe that some aspects of it apply to all followers of Christ.  Our first calling is to turn people from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God.  Some of us are called to do so by speaking, teaching, and preaching, as Paul was.  Others of us have been called to do so by our actions, demonstrating what it means to live in the light by the power of God.  However, whichever way we are called as our primary ministry, we need to do the other as well.  Those of us who are called to reach people with words need to live according to what we preach.  Those of us who are called to reach people though our actions need to speak so as to make clear what motivates us to take those actions.

Of course, we also need to take note of the reaction which Paul received here.  Festus thought Paul was crazy, and Agrippa essentially said, “Well, I’ll think about it.”  In response to Festus’ skepticism about God’s power (Festus thought Paul was crazy for saying that Christ was raised from the dead), Paul appealed to Agrippa, for whom Festus had already demonstrated respect for his opinion, and whom Paul knew to believe in God’s power (as well as having been in the area when Jesus was crucified).  Paul reacted to Agrippa’s hesitancy by saying that he wished everyone listening would accept Christ’s teaching, no matter how long it took.  Despite the resistance to Paul’s message, he did not become discouraged.  We see that by the fact that almost the first thing he did when he arrived in Rome was to reach out to the Jewish leaders there and preached to them.

I want to add that when Paul spoke to the Jews in Rome, he used the Old Testament in his attempt to persuade them about Jesus.  Which once again reminds us of the importance of reading and studying the Old Testament.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 26-28.

I am always struck fairly hard by what Paul said to Agrippa towards the beginning of this passage when Agrippa asked him if he thought he could persuade him so quickly to become a Christian. “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”  The sentiment which Paul expresses there should be at the heart of our thoughts and motivations whenever we speak to people, or even interact with them in any other way.  We should desire that somehow, someway, the Spirit would move the hearts of those we interact with such that they will come to know Christ Jesus.  However, today I was struck by the juxtaposition of those words of hope which Paul spoke to Agrippa with the words with which he parted from the local Jewish leaders in Rome.

I want to first emphasize that I do not take what Paul said in Rome as being just about Jews.  Rather, I interpret it as applying to anyone brought up to be religious, or who strives to be religious for other reasons.  So, what did Paul say?  He told them that these words applied to them:

“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.”

Despite saying this to these people, we know from Paul’s letters that he felt about them just as he had felt about those he spoke to in front of King Agrippa, that all listening to him would become as he was: a disciple of Christ.  Further, I want to point out that he made that depressing statement to a group of which some had been convinced.  That quote was a statement of how things are, of the choices people have made, not a statement of how God desires it to be.  So, when we see things like the acts of Hamas on October 7th, let us weep, not just for the victims, but also for the perpetrators.  Because if they, the perpetrators, would truly look with their eyes and hear with their ears what God is saying to them, they would understand with their hearts and turn to God.  And He would heal them.  Let us pray with all that we are that God’s Spirit will find reception among them so that they will allow Him to heal them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 26-28.

When Paul was speaking before Governor Festus and King Agrippa he said something which struck me.  He told them that when he was working to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth, he would seek out Believers and attempt to force them to blaspheme in order to have them put to death.   So, Paul, when he was still Saul, thought that followers of Jesus should be put to death, but knew that he needed to convince others that they were guilty of some crime deserving death.  To accomplish that end, he sought to get them to say something which he could twist to being taken as blasphemy.  In the same way today, many who oppose Christ will seek to get His followers to say things which they can use to convince others that His followers are hateful people.  Be careful not to let such people turn you against other Believers.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 26-28.

Paul’s final statement in his audience before King Agrippa should color our thoughts when we speak with those who are not yet Believers in, and Followers of, Jesus Christ: “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”  Let us seek in all we say and do to influence those around us to repent of their sins and turn to God.  I want us to think about the fact that Paul made this statement after King Agrippa recognized that Paul was attempting to convert him.  All too often when we are confronted by those to whom we are witnessing, we apologize rather than following Paul’s example and saying, “Well, of course I am trying to convince you to follow Christ, I care about you.”

I read a blog this morning which condemned the pastors and leaders of many Christian (or, perhaps, merely supposedly Christian) Church groups for completely shutting down during the Covid lockdowns.  Specifically, he spoke out against the Church of England forbidding its priests from responding to the call from England’s NHS for volunteer chaplains to minister to the sick and dying out of fear that those priests might contract Covid and die.  The reason that struck me relative to today’s passage is because many of those same priests, and other Church leaders who behaved similarly out of fear of Covid, often present themselves as successors to Paul.  In today’s passage, Paul survived a shipwreck, where the odds against his survival were much greater than those for someone who contracts Covid, and the bite of a poisonous snake, which those present thought was divine judgement for his sins.  Having said this, I want to also commend those shepherds of God’s people who refused to stop ministering to those whom God put in their care in the face of government persecution.  Let us remember that God is supreme and let us serve Him knowing that even sure death is not sure if God chooses otherwise.  Let us serve Him, even if He does not choose to rescue our bodies, because the eternal reward far outweighs the short term mortal suffering we might experience.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 26-28

OK, I usually have a plan for what I am going to write when I start writing this blog.  Today, nothing “speaks” to me, but there are several elements which I feel worthy of some comment.  There are two tidbits from Paul’s audience/trial before Herod Agrippa.  When Paul began his “close” (a term from sales referring to when the salesperson makes the argument to which their listener will have no choice but to say “yes”), King Agrippa interrupts him to ask if Paul thinks he can persuade Agrippa so quickly.  Paul’s answer is one which we should strive for all of our non-Believer friends to be aware of, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”  We may not be in chains, but we should wish that those we interact with would share our faith in Christ.  Those we associate with should know that we desire for them to come to have the joy which our faith in Jesus gives us.

The other tidbit comes when the audience concludes.  King Agrippa says to Festus, the governor, that if Paul had not appealed to Caesar he could be set free.  We know that is not really true.  The reason that Paul appealed to Caesar was because he knew that Festus would bow to political pressure to transfer him to Jerusalem, where he would have been killed.  King Agrippa was certainly aware of the political situation and would have known that Governor Festus would not go so far as to stir up the political problems which would have arisen from releasing Paul.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 26-28

Luke’s account of Paul’s testimony before Agrippa contains two things I want to highlight today.  It seems that for most of Paul’s testimony, Festus viewed it as pointless exposition by a religious scholar.  However, when Paul declared that he believed in the resurrection of the dead, Festus could contain himself no longer and declared that Paul was crazy to believe that.  We will find many who are willing to listen to the Gospel as long as we talk about the moral code it enacts, but who will be unwilling to continue when we explain why that moral code is binding.  Paul’s responds to Festus’ accusation of insanity by appealing to Agrippa’s knowledge of what had happened.  I want to note that Agrippa clearly felt that Paul’s appeal to him was an attempt to get him to make a commitment to Christ.  Which brings me to something we should all strive for.  We should all pray, just as Paul did, that those we encounter come to know the Lord, whether it happens quickly or takes a long time.  We should strive to have the same urgency to communicate the Gospel which Paul had, desiring people to respond at once but being willing to wait for the Holy Spirit to work.

Luke’s account of Paul’s trip to Rome as a prisoner tells us a lot about Paul’s character and how others saw him.  When the ship docked in Sidon, the commander of the guards escorting Paul allowed him to go onshore to visit with friends.  Then later, when they were in Fair Havens and debating whether to go to a better winter harbor, Paul was consulted, even though they did not take his advice.  Then when the ship became caught in the storm which eventually wrecked it, Paul took a leadership role, encouraging those aboard, convincing the soldiers to keep the sailors  from abandoning ship, and getting everyone to eat shortly before they ran aground.