As we near the close of the book of Acts Paul is in Jerusalem defending himself once again, this time to King Agrippa. In giving his defense he boldly stands before Agrippa and shares his testimony. He shares his life before Christ, his credentials as a Pharisee and his own disbelief of Jesus and his participation in the church’s persecution. Then he shares his conversion, his encounter with the risen Jesus and how that encounter changed everything. Even as he stares down the possibility of imprisonment or even death, Paul is less concerned with his physical life and more concerned with the spiritual life of those around him. When Agrippa asks Paul “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” Paul shares the heart that motivates the entirety of his life: “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but that all who hear me this day might become such as I am – except for these chains.” What motivates Paul to share his testimony, no matter the opposition or the cost, is that he shares the heart of God “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)
As we near the close of the book of Acts Paul is in Jerusalem defending himself once again, this time to King Agrippa. In giving his defense he boldly stands before Agrippa and shares his testimony. He shares his life before Christ, his credentials as a Pharisee and his own disbelief of Jesus and his participation in the church’s persecution. Then he shares his conversion, his encounter with the risen Jesus and how that encounter changed everything. Even as he stares down the possibility of imprisonment or even death, Paul is less concerned with his physical life and more concerned with the spiritual life of those around him. When Agrippa asks Paul “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” Paul shares the heart that motivates the entirety of his life: “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but that all who hear me this day might become such as I am – except for these chains.” What motivates Paul to share his testimony, no matter the opposition or the cost, is that he shares the heart of God “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)
As Paul says a tearful goodbye to the elders of the church in Ephesus we see two things about his ministry and calling. First, we see that wherever God placed Paul for however long He placed him there Paul was fully present and invested. His life, lived out daily, gave testimony to the message he proclaimed. The second thing we see is that Paul didn’t hesitate to go when God had a new assignment for him, even when that assignment was likely to lead to his suffering and even his death. For most of us it’s easy to become slaves of either the future or slaves to our comfort. We’re either too busy thinking about what God might have for us later that we don’t invest where He has placed us now or we get so comfortable with where we are now that we aren’t obedient to Him when He calls us someplace new. We need to be a people who are fully invested in the mission of God wherever He has placed us now and fully ready to obey the call of God wherever it may take us in the future.
As Paul says a tearful goodbye to the elders of the church in Ephesus we see two things about his ministry and calling. First, we see that wherever God placed Paul for however long He placed him there Paul was fully present and invested. His life, lived out daily, gave testimony to the message he proclaimed. The second thing we see is that Paul didn’t hesitate to go when God had a new assignment for him, even when that assignment was likely to lead to his suffering and even his death. For most of us it’s easy to become slaves of either the future or slaves to our comfort. We’re either too busy thinking about what God might have for us later that we don’t invest where He has placed us now or we get so comfortable with where we are now that we aren’t obedient to Him when He calls us someplace new. We need to be a people who are fully invested in the mission of God wherever He has placed us now and fully ready to obey the call of God wherever it may take us in the future.
Paul’s engagement with the people of Athens gives us some very helpful principles for how to engage people with the gospel. One of the key skills we need to learn if we are going to be effective witnesses for Christ is that we have to meet people where they are. Paul contextualized his message to the people he was dealing with and the questions they were asking. In Acts 17:2 we see Paul addressing Jews by appealing to scripture. Here, in dealing with Greek Philosophers who had a different source of authority and different questions they were asking, he changes his approach while keeping his message. As we engage with people who don’t know Jesus we, like Paul, ought to be grieved by their lostness, look for points of agreement, expose the weakness of their answers/solutions, proclaim God’s greatness and point them to Jesus and His resurrection.
It’s one thing to confess that salvation comes through Christ alone, but it’s another to truly believe it and live it out. With Gentiles now being included into what had previously been a Jewish-only church the idea that Jesus alone saves began to be put to the test. What about circumcision? What about the Jewish dietary laws? Doesn’t being a Christian also require one to follow the law of Moses? Even today it can be a struggle for us to believe that Jesus alone is enough to save. Can you be saved and not baptized? Doesn’t being a Christian also require giving to the church? Serving in the Church? Reading your Bible? While all of those are good things, maybe even obvious fruit of someone who has truly been saved, what the council of Jerusalem proclaimed and what God makes clear in scripture, is that salvation = Jesus + nothing.
It’s one thing to confess that salvation comes through Christ alone, but it’s another to truly believe it and live it out. With Gentiles now being included into what had previously been a Jewish-only church the idea that Jesus alone saves began to be put to the test. What about circumcision? What about the Jewish dietary laws? Doesn’t being a Christian also require one to follow the law of Moses? Even today it can be a struggle for us to believe that Jesus alone is enough to save. Can you be saved and not baptized? Doesn’t being a Christian also require giving to the church? Serving in the Church? Reading your Bible? While all of those are good things, maybe even obvious fruit of someone who has truly been saved, what the council of Jerusalem proclaimed and what God makes clear in scripture, is that salvation = Jesus + nothing.
These two chapters mark a pivotal moment in the history of the church. Here God makes it clear to Peter and through Peter to the rest of the church community that the gospel is not just good news for Jews, it is good news for gentiles as well. In fact what we see throughout the pages of the New Testament is that when it comes to the gospel barriers and partitions that divide and exclude are broken down and destroyed. As Paul says in his latter to the church in Galatia: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This means all our old prejudices need to be put to death and all our previous identities are made secondary because of the supernatural unity we are given through Jesus.
These two chapters mark a pivotal moment in the history of the church. Here God makes it clear to Peter and through Peter to the rest of the church community that the gospel is not just good news for Jews, it is good news for gentiles as well. In fact what we see throughout the pages of the New Testament is that when it comes to the gospel barriers and partitions that divide and exclude are broken down and destroyed. As Paul says in his latter to the church in Galatia: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This means all our old prejudices need to be put to death and all our previous identities are made secondary because of the supernatural unity we are given through Jesus.
If you were a member of the early Christian community the last person in the world you would have expected to become a key individual in God’s plan to grow and expand His church would have been Saul of Tarsus. In Acts 8:3 Luke describes Saul as “ravaging the church” going from house to house dragging off men and women who were Christians and sending them to prison, yet by the time we come to Acts 9:20 that same Saul is “proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues saying, “He is the Son of God.” The story of Saul is a reminder that God works in unexpected ways through unexpected people and is proof that no matter their past, no one is beyond the transforming power of God’s grace.