Author: missionspaul

In front of your nose

Acts 26: 7 “This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me.”

Paul uses this ancient phrase, ‘the 12 tribes’ to signify:

They are a body, a united assembly under God.

They are longing to see what they hope for.

They are a worshipping congregation.

They are 24/7 servants of God.

They are an earnest, expectant and fervent group.

However, the message of Paul regarding this hope:

Did not fit with their timing.

Did not fit their pre conceived minds of this hope.

Did not fit their own experiences of this hope.

The end result is that they missed what they were looking for.

You can give your whole life to something, sacrifice much in order to attain it and yet completely miss what you are looking for when it comes along.

“But I tell you, Elijah (John the Baptist) has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Matthew 17:12
In 1946 George Orwell wrote an essay entitled, ”In Front of Your Nose.”

”… We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield… To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle. “

The Jewish mob were fixed and unmovably so on one thought that Paul was a heretic and had to be stopped because of his message of Jesus. They refused the struggle.

Today whatever you know let it be tested by the struggle that you could be wrong. You may be missing what is right there, in front of you, but you are blinded to it. Be flexible in enough to be wrong, to have missed it, to have wasted your chance. You can make the change to be right.

The hope will cost you

Acts 26:6 “And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today.”

Paul knows why he is on trial. He knows it is because he truly believes that the Old Testament hope is found in Jesus. All that the writers, prophets and priests longed for, the coming Messiah, is now found in Jesus. The hope has come. He knows it and believes it but the Jewish mob missed it.

An atheist website recently cancelled its event called, ‘A Reason To Hope’ because of the lack of interest in it. Clearly people were not bothered with what they had to offer.

A little boy was found waiting at the foot of an escalator in a shopping mall. He was watching the hand rail going round and round. A concerned security guard asked him if he was lost or needed help. He said “No I’m just waiting for my chewing gum to come back”. Quite a good definition of hope perhaps.

But today Jesus is still the hope of the Old Testament. He is still the hope for the world.

Yet holding to Him as such puts Christians in many dangers around the world.

On January 15th Boko Haram burnt down 2 churches on the border of Cameroon and Nigeria.

On January 18th 6 Christians in Yunnan province, China, were jailed for 13 years for preaching Jesus.

On January 23rd Muslim High school students in Nairobi, Kenya, beat and stabbed Christians who refused to convert to Islam.

I could go on and you know so many stories. Today the family of God who hold to the hope of the world are paying the price.

We are called to pay the price for the hope. Whatever that cost looks like for you, it has to be paid.

The hope can put you on trial. It can cost your life. It demands your all.

Living life with the rulebook

Acts 26:5 “They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.”

As a Pharisee Paul followed the laws of Moses and mans application of the laws in minutia detail.

They lived in communities that were closed to others. Apparently there were many in Jerusalem. Getting into such groups was strictly regulated. There were vows of obedience to all of the ceremonial laws and an allegiance to the dietary purity laws. The members would be monitored and scrutinised with the aim being accuracy and perfection.

Why does Paul start here in his defence? Perhaps it is to say that this was the foundation of his life. He lived under a strict regime so it cannot be possible that he is now guilty of some notorious crime.

He says ‘they know who I am’. But they wouldn’t testify as they didn’t want anyone to see any good in Paul at all.

What has been the foundation of your life? Rules don’t mean you will follow them as an adult and we know many people who have walked away from the church when they were old enough. Yet rules do give a basis for building a strong value system. Maybe getting children to follow more rules will help their next chapters of life.

Outside and inside the church rules are replaced with a readiness to believe and do anything.

Is it time for a reforming of some strictness upon you?

Will that keep you from making errors?

Do people know how you live and will they testify of how you live amongst the community?

Let them see you.

Acts 26:4 “‘The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem.”

Today I am 52 years and 1 day. How this can be I do not know. It has been a long time since we were able to fit candles on my cake. Yesterday I had just a number 5 and a number 2 and sadly it was in that order. Messages poured in from people who said I was still young and in my prime to those who said I was now so old I was senile and virtually every part of my body was now not working like it should. It was a mixed day!

Those messages came from people who have known how I have lived since I was born.

My parents sent me messages. My school friend sent me a message. College friends, work colleagues from different jobs, members from the 2 churches I pastored, close friends who have walked with me for years, leaders from the UK and around the world all sent messages. These people “all know the way I have lived” and for some “ever since I was a child” and in different parts of the world too. They know my beliefs, my values, my priorities, the vision I follow, the challenges I face, the struggles I have. For some they have seen that for many years.

My life is far from perfect. I have failed throughout the years. If I could do life again I know I would do it better. However, being known is worth the vulnerability, drawing people into your life is the essence of it all.

Today I am thankful for the people who have known and know me. I look forward to the years ahead of engaging with the old and new. My encouragement for you today is to continue to engage with people. You may have been hurt but do not pull up your draw bridge. Friends will come and go, families will separate and some severely, but there will always people to journey with.

Let people come close enough to see how you live. It is good for them and it is good for you.

Finding someone who knows

Acts 26: 3 “… and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.”

Paul is defending himself before Agrippa. We now see the reason why he thinks himself fortunate. It is because he is not speaking to someone who doesn’t understand the Jewish culture. Agrippa was not ignorant and because of that Paul felt safe to begin his defence.

Finding somebody who not only will listen to you but who understands your life is so important.

Those who are ignorant to your life, work, your ways and challenges can only offer nodding heads and passing comments which may not help but also hinder your progress.

We all need someone who understands and who can see the difficulties we go through. They may even be people you would never expect to know. Agrippa’s great grandfather was Herod the Great who had attempted to kill Jesus as a child. His father was King Agrippa I, who beheaded James and tried to kill Peter also. The point is you wouldn’t think Agrippa standing as judge before Paul would be making him feel fortunate. Don’t dismiss people outside of your situation or profession or even culture. Like Paul you may end up saying ‘I am fortunate to have you and to speak with you’.

 

It could be worse

Acts 26:2 ‘King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defence against all the accusations of the Jews,’

This does seem strange doesn’t it?!

After Paul had spent 2 long years waiting for trial on trumped up charges, he has had to defend himself before Felix, then Festus and now King Agrippa. So in today’s verse we may not know why he deems himself fortunate but we can ask ourselves how can he say such a thing?

In lesser difficult circumstances we would not be saying we are fortunate.

Paul has learnt to be content in all circumstances it would seem.

He has learnt to find the good, to focus on the positive, even when the situation is bad and everything is negative.

“It could be worse’ is his motto.

Is the glass half empty or half full for you?

It is easy to think that our difficult situation is completely at a loss and there is nothing good at all. Maybe today we can all begin to appreciate what we have? Instead of always focusing on what we don’t have we should find something to be thankful for, someone to appreciate and realise that things could be much worse and that indeed we are fortunate.

 

 

Raise your hand

Acts 26: 1 “Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You have permission to speak for yourself.’ So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defence…”

Acts 12:17; 13:16; 21:40; and here in this verse today, Paul before he speaks motions with his hand.

Ancient statues throughout cities and towns have some orator speaking with a hand raised. We can easily imagine this scene.

So why did Paul do this and why did Luke record it and more importantly what lesson can we learn? Let me try and answer this from 3 perspectives.

1. For those ready to start a new chapter (as we have done today!): Be ready to begin.

The hand signal was the sign he was beginning. Just as in the athletic world a hand for many years being raised by the referee was the sign that the race was to begin. Are you ready? If called upon you to give your testimony, share your faith, can you raise your hand and say I am ready? Are you ready? If God called you to speak up, move out, change course would you bravely raise your hand and move into that new moment?

2. For those who are called to communicate: Listening is easier when we have something to look at.

Recently someone recounted how they had to listen to a communicator read their entire talk from their script, head down and totally disengaged with the crowd. The result was they didn’t listen. Communicators have to get better at communication and that is not necessarily finding the right words but also finding the right way to say them. Everything from the way you dress, the way you stand and what you do with your hands can be major distractions to what you are saying.

3. For those who are frustrated at their circumstance: Don’t be the loudest voice, be the only voice.

Be different. Don’t fit into the noise. You are unique and you need to live your life how God created you. Learn to silence your world so that your voice can be heard. “No one knows I am here, no one cares, no one is listening” then make it happen. This is your moment to shine and thrive, to be all that you can be, to step out from the shadows. Don’t let any man contain you, suppress you, mould you into something you were never created to be, raise your hand, silence the intimidation.

This is your moment, raise your hand.

Common sense is not all that common

Acts 25:27 “For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”

Festus thinks that if he sends Paul to the Emperor without a report of the charges against him it will look ‘silly’ (Message), ‘absurd’ (Amplified), ‘no sense’ (NLT). It is ‘unreasonable’. Festus is using common sense.

I need to qualify what I am about to write before I write it: I am the first to say that God can speak in ways higher than our ways. God can ask us to do the most unusual of things: Elijah ate from a bird; Ezekiel laid on his left side for 390 days; Hosea named his children ‘unloved’ and ‘not my people’. But I have also known people to do the most ridiculous of things because ‘God asked them to’ that turned out to be indeed ridiculous.

However … I believe common sense is underrated, especially the common sense within the life of a follower of Christ.

This verse today inspires me to thank God He gave us a brain that can perceive, understand and judge situations without some specialised knowledge/gift or training. I speak not of human wisdom per se but a common sense that has been touched and influenced by the Spirit of God. Paul in 1 Corinthians 2 writes about how the Spirit does not bypass our minds but works in our lives to give us the mind of the Lord. Paul says we have wisdom taught us by the Spirit which is above the wisdom of the world.

I believe as a Spirit filled follower of Christ that you can make an informed decision that turns out to be the best one simply because your mind has been trained by the Spirit. This decision process is far better than that of Festus or anyone else who doesn’t know Christ.

Since an early age I was always worried I might ‘step pout of the will of God for my life’. What does God want me to do? That question became such a strain on me. I looked at others who seemed to hear from God so easily and for me well I would either make it up to join the crowd or fall into discouragement that God doesn’t like me because He doesn’t speak to me like the others.

For the majority of my life I have lived hearing people say: “God has told me or God has confirmed to me”. I have not heard many people say “It seems good to us (our own thinking in a group accountability setting) and the Spirit (who is within us)”. I wonder why?

• Some people need God to tell them to do everything (I found this a bit tiresome as a parent when wanting my children to use their own brains, but I am sure God is not tired by this!).
• Some people know what they should do but are uncertain and lack faith so look for confirmatory signs that what they are going to do anyway (whether they get the confirmation or not) is indeed the right thing.
• Some people talk to trusted disciples of Christ to gauge response to decisions they have to make and then rely on the Spirit within them to interrupt or indeed work with their mind in that decision. That interruption could come through a prophetic word. But in the majority of cases the reports are that interestingly it is more of a confirmation than an interruption.

For me I find the last one more mature. I think it is okay to wake today and make decisions that seem more reasonable, have more common sense, within an accountability filter, knowing the Spirit is giving us the mind of Christ. I don’t necessarily think I need to get a ‘divine special word’. I actually think the common sense I have in my brain is good (some may disagree!). It has freed me up. I can do my world with the Spirit within me. I can have fun. I can make decisions. Actually it is okay if not everything goes right for me so long as I made the decision as best I could, there are lessons to be learnt in mistakes. This journey with the Spirit is far better than being told what to do on everything or being such a nervous wreck I am looking for signs in my breakfast cereal that God is smiling approvingly at me.

Let’s have more common sense, it isn’t all that common.

Decisions

Acts 25:26 “But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write.”

Festus admits defeat. He cannot find anything to write about Paul to Caesar. Paul has not committed any crimes worthy of a trial in Rome. Festus would look foolish to send Paul to the Emperor without a reasoned report. So he is now hoping others especially Agrippa will be able to see something that he cannot.

Yesterday I was discussing with the students of the Missionary Academy how in some cultures the Bible is always read and studied together. One couple shared how as they were studying the Bible together they both saw things differently and yet it brought a fuller understanding. When I was a Pastor I had a season where I brought together groups of people to read the passage I would preach from before I actually prepared the message. Their task with me was to discover something through the lens of many not just mine. It went against my cultural upbringing of going into a solitary place with my Bible and God and coming down the mountain with a powerful word!

I say all that because this verse can tell us something today: we need others. Whether it is in the understanding of the Bible or trying to understand a person or situation, we need someone who is looking from a different angle.

If you are trying to make a decision today and you are not sure what to do then make sure you do not do that alone. Draw others in. Ask them what they see and what they would do. Remember that even from their perspective it is not complete. But the more sides you see into that decision making process the better you will be for making the decision.

What does He see?

Acts 25:25 “I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome.”

Festus had looked into the accusations against Paul and spent time with him and found nothing deserving his death of which the Jewish mob had demanded.

The enemy of Paul had failed.

On a much lesser level perhaps we all need to realise the failure of our constant accuser of our life. John in Revelation (12:10-11) says he accuses day and night. Can you imagine waking up today having had a restless night with condemning thoughts and then going through the day having doubts about your abilities and who you are? And can you imagine in all of that trying to be the best you can be for others, yourself and for God?

I want to give you 2 important words from this verse that jumped out at me when I read it this morning. A verse that Festus speaks but he uses two words that belong to God: I found …

When God looks at you, when He investigates you, what does he find?

One of the most destructive events in the Bible, the plague on Egypt, was prevented from coming on the people of God because of the blood that was on their houses. But see this:

Exodus 12:13. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

When I see the blood. 12:23. When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

When I see the blood, it doesn’t say when you see it. It is what God finds on you. He finds the sacrifice of His Son. He finds His righteousness placed on you. He finds no condemnation. He finds grace, mercy, forgiveness.

Colossians 3:3 “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

What people find is immaterial. What your enemies find matters not. Even what you may find in your self-condemnatory life does not count. It is what HE finds that counts.

I do love Chris Tomlins song ‘Indescribable’. It is a song that is trying to describe the indescribable God. He is high, He is deep, no one can fathom Him, He is uncontainable, all powerful, untameable and we are awestruck. However, it is almost the last line of the song which I particular value: “You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same”. YOU SEE. That is the point. Our faith needs to be on what He sees.

If we lived our life on what He sees and what He finds and not what we know and what the accuser says then maybe we will live better and perhaps the many decisions of life will be easier.

Festus saw and found nothing. Our Father in heaven sees and finds the blood of Christ, we are hidden in Him!