Third Last Sunday Service

Sermon Text:

Acts 26:1-32

So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

2 “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! 8 Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. 21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

24 And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” 25 But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. 26 For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” 28 And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” 29 And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

30 Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. 31 And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Agrippa’s words to Paul near the end of our text are interesting for us to consider this morning: “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” He says it ironically. He suggests that it’s somewhat of a crazy notion. It’s audacious. A prisoner stands before one who is to question him, not merely hoping to avoid some sort of harsh treatment from him, but hoping even that he will be able to convince him to join his side! That’s a twist, isn’t it? Agrippa seems to have found it amusing. 

It’s a compelling moment in Scripture, though. It’s a moment with tremendous implications for King Agrippa. He will hear from Paul the clearest presentation of the Gospel; and he will be confronted with whether or not to accept it for himself.

Paul has come to be before Agrippa after Jews have continued to pursue him in the previous chapter of Acts (remember that last week we heard of a plot to kill Paul while he was incarcerated). He’s been before a Roman official named Festus, who heard a case made against him that, frankly, doesn’t interest him. It was, as he later says to Agrippa: certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. Paul, having Roman citizenship in addition to being a Jew, had appealed to the Roman Emperor, Caesar (which is his right). So, that would be carried out now. He would appear before Caesar. 

But in the meantime, Festus receives visitors. Agrippa and a companion come to stay with him for several days. He tells him the story, and Agrippa is interested enough to request that he hear Paul the next day. Agrippa is a Jew from Herod’s line, who rules under the Roman Empire. He controls the Jewish Temple, appointing the High Priests, even. Paul will seize on his being a Jew as he sort of presents his case before him.

And it’s interesting to know that there isn’t as much at stake here for Paul as you might think. Agrippa isn’t deciding whether he will live or die, whether he will spend his life in prison, whether he will receive any sort of beating or anything like that. All of that has been taken out of his (and Festus’) hands when Paul appealed to Caesar. So Paul’s motivation in this address he gives in our text is not to save himself; his motivation is to save his listeners. His whole argument will be for the purpose of getting them to consider the Gospel message, and, hopefully to believe it for themselves. As one commentator says, Paul has made this a church, and he is the pastor.

Paul knows that Agrippa knows certain fundamental things about Judaism. One of the things he knows and understands intimately (unlike the Roman, Festus, who Paul had appeared before earlier) is that there are different factions within Judaism. Pharisees and Sadducees are two of the factions. The Sadducees don’t believe in a resurrection from the dead. But Agrippa is not in their camp. He is among those who most definitely do believe in a resurrection. He would believe along with the Pharisees, that God’s promises proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets include a bodily resurrection. 

Paul takes the tack, that it is because he believes in the resurrection and preaches about it to both Jews and Gentiles, that he comes to be in custody and up on charges. Of course that doesn’t tell the whole story. If that were the whole story, he wouldn’t be saying anything different from the greatest part of the Jewish population. They believe the words of the prophets including Moses, too. They believe in the resurrection, too. Agrippa does, too. So, there wouldn’t be any real fuss if the resurrection were all there was to it.

But it isn’t just that Paul talks about a resurrection. It’s a certain someone’s resurrection that he keeps talking about that bothers the Jews; it’s Jesus’ resurrection. We mentioned that Agrippa will be faced with whether or not to believe the message of God’s grace in Christ (the Jews who are accusing him are faced with the same).

But before Paul reveals that particular thing to Agrippa, he tells a little bit about himself. Formerly, he had been a Pharisee - one among the strictest party of the Jews. And very importantly, Paul says, he continues to believe what he so strongly held to as a Pharisee. He hopes in the promise made by God to their fathers. And if there needs to be any evidence of whether or not Paul is a legit Pharisee, he was convinced that he had a responsibility to defend the beliefs that all of them standing there today believe - so much so, that he had taken it upon himself to oppose a certain movement that seemed to be threatening it. He would go throughout Jerusalem locking up followers of Jesus, punishing them in various ways, voting for their executions (forcing many of them first, to blaspheme the Name of Jesus). He didn’t stop in Jerusalem either. He pursued these followers to the outer cities as well. So, Paul isn’t some crackpot coming in from the outside to cause trouble among the Jews. He’s a Jew’s Jew.

But what he has to say before Agrippa and all the rest of them today, is that the same God Whom they all believe in - the one Who spoke to their fathers and in whom is their hope for salvation caused him to see even a little more (and it’s the most important part!). It doesn’t do any damage to what they have believed before. It brings into focus the picture that had been somewhat fuzzy. They have always been anticipating a Messiah - an anointed one from God who will bring to completion His promises to them. Paul now knows who that individual is. He knows it because while he was on his way to another city to persecute more Christians, Jesus Himself blinded him and then spoke to him. He told Paul that He is the one Paul has been persecuting, and that from now on Paul will be proclaiming His Name.

It would seem crazy to think that someone like Paul could be the one proclaiming this particular Name. That’s kind of the theme of his message, here. How could that happen?! He had been heading in the opposite direction. He had been so deceived about Jesus that it would seem unthinkable that he could end up this way. In fact, we could say about him like Agrippa goes on to say of himself, that, “in a short time,” he’d been persuaded to be a Christian. 

Now that’s an interesting thought. Think of the power behind that. And it isn’t that he had been overpowered. You know, there was a time in history when the Roman Emperor Constantine declared that everyone has to become a Christian. Well, that doesn’t work. You’ve converted them in status, I guess; but you haven’t converted their heart. Jesus converted Paul’s heart. He brought him to know God’s grace that forgives sin through the blood of Christ. He brought him to want that mercy, that forgiveness for himself. He wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing today before this ruler and these people if he hadn’t been changed substantially. Now, we talk about the Holy Spirit as the one who converts us, who brings us to faith that saves us from punishment. Though it doesn’t mention Him here, it has to be the case the Spirit converted Paul’s heart through the Word that Jesus spoke to him. That’s how it works.

It isn’t any different for you, dear fellow believers in Jesus. The Bible tells us that our situation before we were converted was no different from Paul’s. Because we have inherited our first parents’ sin, we only want to oppose Jesus like he was doing. We want to avoid Him. We want to deny that we have guilt that condemns us before the perfect God (when our sinful nature exerts itself and we want to sin, we still show this in our lives). As part of this nature we don’t want to think that if God were going to send someone to do us good, that it would be someone who suffers and dies like Jesus did. The crowd of Jews who are present as Paul is addressing Agrippa are thinking that. That’s why it’s irritating to them to think that Paul is presenting as the Messiah someone who has risen from the dead. It isn’t that they don’t believe in the resurrection as a concept. They just don’t want any part of a Savior who would have to rise from death; because that means He has to have been weak and frail to die in the first place. That’s how our sinful nature thinks. And it’s how Paul had been thinking before. We’re condemned according to this way of thinking, according to having hearts that believe like this. Without God’s grace we face eternal punishment.

But “in a short time,” Jesus had persuaded Paul to be His follower. The same happened in your Baptism (or in your hearing of God’s Word) through which the Holy Spirit converted you from unbelief to belief in the Christ Whose blood covers your sins. You have forgiveness in this believing. Your sins are not held against you. Christ willingly took the punishment for them. That He would suffer and die and rise again had been the prophets’ message. It is the message that will save Paul’s audience if they will only believe it. It is the message that has saved you. In a short time, you were made a Christian. That has eternal implications for you - the best kind. God be praised. Amen.