Immerse Day 9 Observations

Text: Acts 19:21-28:31 (pp. 95-110)

• Following Ephesus, the Holy Spirit led Paul to return to Macedonia and Achaia, and then compelled him to go to Rome. We see the narrative swelling toward its apex.
• Timothy is now presented here as an assistant (along with Erastus). They were being sent ahead to Macedonia.
• Trouble, though, was brewing back in Ephesus, where the movement of Christianity posed a serious threat to the economy of pagan worship (and the sales of idols).
• Demetrius, an Ephesian silversmith, complained that the Gospel’s advance came at the expense of Artemis worship (and related commerce). The complaint was rooted in a sudden loss of prosperity, but couched in religious language.
  • This riled up the local community, and chaos ensued.
  • Eventually the mayor was able to settle them down, under concerns that the growing anarchy was putting them at risk with Rome.
  • understated points: false gods need humans to support and promote them in order to exist. In this, Artemis is a counterfeit god, and really just the mask of the more insidious false god of the love of money. People have the remarkable capacity to make ignoble things seem more noble. Doing this doesn’t make those ignoble things noble.
• Paul left for Macedonia, then went on to Greece for three months. When a plot to kill him was discovered, he went back the way he had come, and eventually ended up in Troas, where they stayed for a few days.
  • On the eve of his departure, Paul was preaching an extended message, where a young man named Eutychus fell asleep and fell 3 stories out a window to his death.
    • Welcome to the Scripture that has served as a pun-rife warning against long-winded preaching ever since.
    • Paul went down and took him into his arms. He was alive.
    • They all went back upstairs, celebrated the Lord’s Supper, and ate together.
    • And Paul kept preaching until sunrise.

• Paul pressed on toward Jerusalem, stopping in Ephesus to encourage them by saying:
  • the Gospel is the same for the Gentile and the Jew: salvation is available through Jesus.
  • Life offered suffering for the Gospel, but that the only value in life is to be found in obeying God’s will and doing the things God has established for you to do.
  • To the elders:
    • Guard yourself and God’s people. The church is God’s flock. They need guidance, provision, and protection.
    • There would be opposition, some of which may come from surprising internal sources (people looking to gain their own following, disregarding that the congregation is God’s, purchased by the blood of Jesus).
  • He closed with an exhortation for the people to work. Christians ought not be lazy or noncontributory to the community’s well-being. Be givers, not takers.
• He then bid a fond farewell and proceeded to Jerusalem.
  • He stopped in Caesarea and visited Philip (the deacon-turned-evanglist), who was now ministering here, along with his four daughters.

• Another prophet named Agabus, foretold that Paul would be seized by the Romans in Jerusalem, and handed over to Gentiles. This caused everyone else to worry, but Paul would not be dissuaded.
• understated points: even godly people will sometimes see adversity as indicators of a need to stop moving forward. Expect adversity and go forward in faith. God wants to deliver you through adversity, not around it.
• They finally arrived at Jerusalem, and were met by the church leaders there.
  • Paul recounted his experiences.
  • The leaders talked about the challenges they continued to have regarding Gentiles and expectations placed upon them.
  • They asked Paul to participate in the cleansing ritual so others would see he had not abandoned his Jewish heritage and identity, and that the expectations placed upon the Gentiles would remain has had been earlier stated (to honor the moral laws of abstaining from immorality, violence, and idolatry).
  • Paul did as requested.
  • Some Asiatic Jews later recognized Paul and formed a mob, accusing him with lies and unfounded assumptions.
    • They dragged him out of the Temple to stone him.
    • They only stopped when the Roman guard intervened.
    • The mob was more afraid of their earthly occupiers than of their divine sovereign.
    • The Romans arrested Paul. Then they tried to figure out charges.

• Paul made it clear he was a Roman (to the Romans who thought he was Egyptian), then he spoke in Aramaic to the Jews (their native language).
  • He gave his defense, and they fell silent until he said that God’s grace was being offered to the Gentiles, too.
  • At this, they called his message worthless and determined again to kill him.
    • Removing their coats would make it easier to throw stones.
    • Throwing dirt may by symbolic for their low regard for his message, or it may be what they threw at him because there were no rocks to be found there.
  • Continuing with judicial practices that kept Paul bound in shackles of irony, the commander ordered to have Paul whipped until he confessed to something. That’s when Paul, not rhetorically, asked if it was copacetic to be beating a Roman citizen without a trial?

• So, the soldiers stopped those plans.
• The next day, Ananias the high priest and the Jewish high council arrived. Paul addressed them.
  • Ananias ordered Paul to be smacked in the face.
  • When lies and accusations and mob mentality all fail, the carnal mind resorts to inducing fear, violence, and intimidation.
  • Paul, in turn, turned his own strategy to turn the two schisms (the Pharisees and Saducees) against each other by highlighting that all he was doing was preaching that resurrection from the dead was legit.
  • This tactic worked, in that it caused some Pharisees to support him, but it also caused the room to grow increasingly volatile.
  • Roman soldiers extracted Paul.
  • That night, the Lord visited Paul and encouraged him with the revelation that his mission would continue all the way to Rome.
• The conspiring Jewish leaders further developed their plot to kill Paul. Yet, Paul’s kin became aware of the plot and alerted the Roman commander, who increased their protection of Paul, and ordered that he be delivered to the Roman governor Felix for trial.
  • Felix agreed to hear the trial when Paul’s acccusers arrived.
  • Ananias and crew showed up five days later, along with a lawyer who tried to establish a case against Paul using lies, slander and hyperbole, supported by a liars’ choir singing a chorus of false testimony.
  • Paul took his turn and set the record straight.
  • Felix (who was familiar with Christianity) determined to delay his verdict.
    • In the next few days, Felix showed up to Paul, bringing his wife Drusilla, and Paul talked to the both of them about matters of faith.
    • What a picture of the sovereignty of God to bring the Gospel of peace to Roman leaders, drawing them to visit an imprisoned Jewish believer!
    • Felix had hoped that Paul would bribe him. This was common practice of that day. This commentary also gives us a peek into the mind of Felix, that even though he knew Paul’s testimony to be true, he was skeptical of spiritual matters (perhaps because so much of religion was corrupt, as were so many who represented faiths of different sorts). In fact, Felix kept calling on Paul to talk with him, giving Paul ample opportunity to make such a bribe.
    • The delay extended 2 years, because justice delayed kept Paul in prison, which pleased the Jewish authorities, which brought favor to Felix.
  • Yet, Felix was succeeded by Festus, and the Jewish leaders quickly approached him to revive their plot to kill Paul, trying to force Paul out into the open where he could be murdered.
    • Felix held a new trial, and floated the consideration of having Paul go back to Jerusalem to be tried (which was what the Jewish leaders wanted).
    • Paul forcefully declined, pressing his right to be tried by Caesar in Rome.
    • Felix was bound by the laws to honor Paul’s rights, so he agreed to Paul’s demand.
  • Soon after, King Agrippa (II, the son of Agrippa I who had ordered the Apostle James killed) arrived with his sister Bernice (with whom he was having an incestuous relationship). Festus talked with Agrippa about Paul, and Agrippa determined he wanted to hear from Paul, so they arranged the parties to convene.
    • This gathering took place the next day. Festus actually declared Paul’s innocence in this setting, in introducing Paul. Paul then spoke, recapping his testimony.
    • Festus exclaimed that Paul was crazy, which Paul rebutted, then appealed to Agrippa to concur with his theological conclusions.
      • This was savvy of Paul, because if Agrippa had agreed, he would have the highest Roman authority (present at that time) on his side (which was much more about Agrippa being self-declared in agreement with Paul’s teachings about Jesus).
      • Agrippa understood this, and wasn’t willing to identify as a Christian. Note, he didn’t disagree, either. He was determined to remain impartial and not personally identify with either side.
      • understated point: Paul was doggedly determined to share Jesus as the Way with everyone he could, regardless of heritage, title, rank, or position. He only cared about other people knowing Jesus the way he knew Jesus and relating with him the way he related with Jesus.
      • The leaders all agreed that Paul had done nothing deserving death or the treatment he had been receiving, and commented that they would have freed him if it weren’t for his demand to be tried in Rome in front of Caesar.
      • This brings to a close Paul’s third missionary journey, detailed here:

• Paul (and some in his party) were set on a boat for Rome, along with other prisoners. Julius, the captain of the Regiment, showed kindness to Paul on the journey.
  • They ran into bad weather, and Julius put the prisoners on a different ship sailing to Rome.
  • They hit more bad weather. Paul foretold that proceeding into the weather would bring shipwreck, loss of cargo, and endangered lives. The sailors proceeded anyway.
  • The bad weather carried them out to sea. As winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began dumping cargo (✔).
  • The storm raged for days. The crew didn’t eat. They began to despair. Paul told them to be encouraged, because he had been shown that none would die from this adversity…but they would be shipwrecked.
  • On the 14th day of the storm(!), they thought they were approaching shore, but soon found themselves driven against the rocks. Paul advised them and kept them safe – , but they were shipwrecked (✔✔).
  • As they were approaching the shore from the shipwreck, officers wanted to kill all the prisoners, but the commander remembered Paul and kept him safe – all 276 lives were saved (✔✔✔).
• They had landed at Malta, where the locals met the crew and party. At a campfire, the initially thought Paul was evil, but as he survived a venomous snakebite, they then considered him a god.
  • Paul prayed for and healed the sick dad of the Malta’s chief official. That attracted all the other sick, and Paul healed them all. When the time came for them to depart, they were supplied with all they needed.
• Three months after the shipwreck, they went on to Rome.

Upon arriving, they met other believers and Paul was permitted to have a private (but guarded) residence.

• Three days later, Paul called an audience with the Roman Jewish leaders, and shared his reason for being there, to be tried by Caesar.
• The Jewish leaders said they had not received a complaint about Paul, but they did want to hear more about his beliefs.
• So Paul welcomed them into his lodging and began reasoning with them to illuminate them about Jesus. Some believed. Some did not.
• When Paul had reached the full extent of being able to speak to the Jews, he explained that he was taking this same message to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.
• Paul remained in Rome for 2 years at his own expense (not on the government dole). He was faithful in proclaiming Jesus.
• And nobody tried to stop him.
• (wikipedia’s account of Paul’s death are available here.)