Now That We're Saved We Have Work To Do
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Making our Defense in Preparation to Lead
Making our Defense in Preparation to Lead
Review
Review
Ch. 1 What
Ch.2 How
1500 years of legal history. Top down leadership. Had to come to the temple to be close to God.
New org. New way of doing things. Power in the rank and file. The church goes out and God goes w/ then indwells all believers.
Equals. Pork. Different ways of doing things.
ch.20 passing the torch
Jesus died and what happened to the church?
Paul will die, and all the apostles. What will happen?
ch.21 beginning to see fruit from the new leaders
Philip and James re-emerge as leaders
Tim will be in Ephesus
New churches in many little communities
Jewish leadership was not happy w/ Paul or the development of the church.
Back in Jerusalem and at the temple.
They had him arrested.
Mistaken ID
Mistaken ID
As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”
“Do you speak Greek?” he replied. “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”
Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.”
After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic:
Who did they think He was?
Josephus wrote of an Egyptian imposter who claimed t/b a prophet, came to Jerusalem, also claimed the walls would fall down on his command.
He had 4000 followers. The Romans came and shut him down. They trampled and killed many of his followers. He got away.
The Jews wanted him arrested for his claims against them. The Romans wanted him for the riot he caused.
As a Jewish man he had the right to be in the temple.
He learned Greek in Tarsus, known for an educated population.
He spoke Aramaic. The common language of Jews in the Middle East in c.1.
They wrote Greek and spoke Aramaic and knew Hebrew.
Christianity is not the religion of dummies. It still holds up today to intelligent scrutiny. But you may need to study to be prepared.
Paul begins his defense. 3 parts like any good sermon:
His conduct (1-5)
His conversion (6-16)
His commission (17-21)
Defense by Conduct
Defense by Conduct
“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”
When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
Brothers & Fathers
Same way Stephen started his defense. What was Paul doing at the time?
At the temple, mostly Jewish men.
They were impressed by educated ppl. He spoke both Greek and Aramaic which led them to settle down and listen.
He came up thru the education system in the Jerusalem temple. Gamaliel was a well-known Rabbi. Beloved and esteemed.
He was all-in, committed to the law and eliminating what he thought was heresy, Xians and the church.
He was an equal-opportunity executioner.
He came w/ great references.
He bel’d he was doing right by God. Not rebellion. He called himself a murderer, but he was commissioned by the Jewish leadership to carry out the executions.
Do you know what you are talking about?
How impressive is your education? I don’t know that I would tell anyone you study under me. Who’s he?
What credibility do you have? Should you have?
Defense thru Conversion
Defense thru Conversion
“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
“ ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.
“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
Why was he going to Damascus?
Senses. He saw it and heard it. His traveling companions only saw the light, didn’t understand the voice.
This was just for Saul/Paul.
Who was he persecuting? How?
When someone messes w/ Xians b/c of their faith they are messing w/ X. He’ll handle it.
Kind of like Abraham. God to Damascus and you’ll be told what to do once you get there.
I’d like a little more detail, please.
Assigned. Not his choice. God had an assignment for him.Acts
Had t/b led b/c he was blinded by the light.
How many Ananiases are there in the bible?
3. This one. Ananias & Sapphira. The high priest.
Who was he? Highly respected by the Jews and a Xian.
What’s the point of the miracle?
The miracle wasn’t the point! The point was, Paul was blind, Jesus would enable him to see, spiritually, all the truth.
If you need understanding for a situ, ask God and He will tell you what you need to know. (Maybe not what you want to know).
Hear more from Jesus. He is alive. He speaks.
Paul had a unique experience in the wilderness according to Galatians.
Witness: Just tell your own story.
I am the world’s foremost expert on my own opinions and experiences.
When was Paul saved?
You may not have an extraordinary conversion experience, or you might, either way, it’s miraculous and a powerful tool for introducing others to Jesus.
Where is/are the miracles in your conversion?
Learn to tell your story in several different 5-min ways.
Shyness. I was different that night.
Purpose in life. Career.
Role of a husband.
Others are looking for what you found. Help them find theirs in X, too.
Defense from Calling/Commission
Defense from Calling/Commission
“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’
“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
Jesus spoke directly to him.
If you remember, the Xians pressed Paul to leave. The HS talked to Paul, too. Confirmation!
Why did he think he couldn’t do what God called him to do?
Not qualified. I approved of Stephen’s death. My past.
How did God respond? Sending him to the Gentiles.
What about your past do you think might DQ you from ministry? Does it?
Theme of Acts? Who has work to do? Who has spiritual gifts? Who has a job to do? What’s yours?
Attitude Change
Attitude Change
The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”
As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”
When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”
The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered.
Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.
Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
What changed their attitude?
God called Paul to take the message to the Gentiles. It wasn’t just the message. It was the message that Jews and Gentiles are equal under the law.
They still did not want to include them.
Confirmation of their complete rejection of the gospel of Jesus. The chasm is irrevocably established.
In another 20 years (ad70) Jerusalem will be in ruins. Can’t come to the temple. The church is going.
Intense anger!
The Roman officer could not understand Aramaic so he didn’t understand what was going on. Confused.
Flogging Paul was a ploy to get things settled down.
By law, a Roman citizen not proven guilty of a crime could not be flogged.
He was mad that he couldn’t flog Paul.
Paul was a citizen by birth. The commander had to buy it.
A false claim would result in death so no one tried to claim citizenship who wasn’t.
This paved the way for Paul to eventually get to Caesar.
We are citizens of heaven. What privileges do we have?