Full Transcript

In a running narrative of Acts chapters 23 and 24, we’ll see demonstrated the critical value of being bold and decisive. Decisiveness can be defined as devoting all our energy to a course of action that we know is right. We’re going to see highlighted a huge contrast in this respect between Paul and a governor in Israel that found doing what his heart told him was right was too inconvenient. Let’s get started. Acts chapter 23 and 24, an inconvenient truth. Acts chapters 23 and 24 are one running historical narrative that we’re going to work through today, but we’ll focus on one big idea from this piece of Paul’s life that jumps out at me, and it’s about decisions.

In my age now, being someone who spends maybe too much time analyzing the past, I realize that it was really only a handful of key decisions made over decades of time that largely determined the whole course of my life. Decisions. Decisions I was faced with, forks in the road. We’ll get to that. But first, let’s continue our story. Remember where we left off?

The Roman authorities have Paul in custody after he was almost torn apart by a mob in Jerusalem. They understand the Jewish leaders want him dead, but they don’t know why. After finding out he’s a Roman citizen, they are now obligated to protect his life until he is given a fair trial. Lysias, the Roman officer who was in charge in Jerusalem, decided to have Paul and his accusers meet face to face to see if he could get to the bottom of the issues between them. So he asked the Jewish religious leaders on the Sanhedrin to convene a meeting the very next day, and there Paul would come face to face with his most determined enemies. No doubt some of the senior members of that Sanhedrin still survived from the time 25 years earlier when young Saul of Tarsus worked for them.

This is the same body that had condemned Stephen and had him stoned. In fact, this hearing was no doubt held in the very same meeting hall where Stephen had been tried. Paul had been their hired anti-Christian enforcer back then, remember? It must have seemed like another lifetime to him now as he stood in the very hall where Stephen, the first Christian martyr, had stood. The men gathered there on this day hated Paul intensely, not only because they considered him a turncoat and a heretic, but probably even more so because they felt he represented a very real threat to their power and influence if people continued to believe the message that Paul and the other early Christians were preaching, that Jesus was in fact Israel’s Messiah, the Jesus they crucified. Where did that leave them?

What did that make them? Obviously, the murderers of the Messiah. Paul was very bold when he faced off with these powerful men. It was apparent from the very outset that he was not going to get any kind of fair hearing from them. He started to address them respectfully by saying, Brethren, I have lived my life before God in good conscience up until this very day. And just at that, someone nearby him slapped him in the face.

Ouch! And that led Paul to inadvertently insult the high priest. Oh boy! And it was only downhill from there. Tensions were way too high for a fair hearing from this group. Luke then recalls how Paul outsmarted his enemies that day, realizing that many of the members of the Sanhedrin there were of the sect of the Pharisees, as he himself had been.

While others, mainly the high priestly clan, were from a different sect, the Sadducees, Paul lit a fuse that ignited an argument between these two groups. These were two sort of denominations of Judaism. It wouldn’t be too far off to think of them as conservatives versus liberals, and there was a rivalry between them. Some of their main disagreements revolved around questions about life after death and also the supernatural in general. The Sadducees didn’t believe in life after death, nor in miracles and so on, but the Pharisees did. So when Paul understood he was not going to be treated fairly here, he deftly turned the tables on his opponents by insisting that the real reason he was arrested and was hated by so many was because he believed in the bodily resurrection of the dead, which was true, because Jesus’ resurrection is at the very heart of what Christians believe.

The members of the Sanhedrin then started arguing over that question: Will people rise from the dead? It got so contentious that the room devolved into chaos. There was shouting back and forth, accusations going back and forth. And at some point, the Roman officer Lysias decided to just get Paul out of there. He wasn’t going to learn anything from this situation after all. Paul was safely returned to the Roman fortress in Jerusalem, but his opponents didn’t intend to let this be the end of things.

On the heels of this, more than forty men, Luke says, entered into a plot to assassinate him. They were determined to not let him get out of Jerusalem alive again. They were so serious, they made a pact with each other that they would not eat or drink anything until Paul was dead. Pretty extreme, don’t you think? But God wasn’t going to let that happen because Paul’s life mission was not over yet. That very night, he heard these reassuring words from the Lord in a dream.

Take courage, Paul. As you’ve testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome. Boy, that had to be very encouraging because taking the gospel to the capital city of the empire was one of Paul’s greatest life ambitions. Luke relays how it was a relative of Paul’s that somehow heard about that plot against his life and reported it to the Roman commander. After what he had seen and heard, Lysias took it seriously. He knew he needed to get Paul out of Jerusalem and as soon as possible, and he decided to send him back to Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast where the Roman provincial governor was stationed.

He dispatched 470 soldiers from his command in Jerusalem, 400 foot soldiers and 70 mounted troops, just to accompany Paul safely to ensure he got to Caesarea alive. They left in the middle of the night with Paul probably dressed in disguise, riding in the middle of this large military escort. The centurion in charge carried with him a letter from Lysias to the provincial governor in Caesarea containing a sort of synopsis of the situation involving Paul as far as they understood it. Luke relates the content of that letter in chapter 23, starting in verse 26. It says this: From Claudius Lysias to the Excellency Governor Felix, greetings. This man was seized by the Jews here and was about to be killed by them when I and my soldiers came upon them and rescued him.

Having learned that he was a Roman citizen and desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. And when it was disclosed to me that there was a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him. Meet the governor, Marcus Antonius Felix, a man not unlike some of the modern politicians we find so distasteful today. You might, if you’re a history buff, recognize his first names, Marcus Antonius. This fellow had once been a slave in the household of a highly placed Roman lady named Antonia.

Follow me here if you can. Antonia was the daughter of the famous Roman Mark Antony. Even more importantly, she was the mother of Claudius, who became Roman emperor in 41 A.D. So this man Felix that we meet here as the governor in Israel was a freed Roman slave who had the good fortune of being part of a noble Roman domus, which produced a Roman emperor. In fact, his older brother was such a close confidant of Claudius that when Claudius became emperor of Rome, Felix’s brother was appointed secretary of the treasury. And Felix himself, the younger brother, was also freed and given various government jobs, eventually ending up here as governor of Israel.

So Felix, who was an ex-slave, was in this office because of who he knew. During his tenure in Israel, he was ruthless and greedy, history tells us. A Roman historian of that time, in fact, said about him, He exercised the power of a king from the mind of a slave. One thing Felix found his power was good for, though, was getting women, women he coveted. By the time we meet him, he had already been through two wives and was now on his third. Her name was Drusilla, and she was from the royal family in Israel, the Herod family.

Felix managed by hook and by crook to make the young, beautiful Drusilla his wife when he arrived in Israel, although she was only 17 years old. So this is the man who is now going to hear Paul’s case. When the prisoner and the military escort arrived in Caesarea, Felix read the brief Lysias sent along with them and told Paul there would be a hearing when his accusers arrived from Jerusalem. Five days later, they did, a delegation from the Sanhedrin led by the high priest of Israel himself. And they brought along a hired gun, a lawyer by the name of Tertullus, a smooth talker, someone who was familiar with Roman law who would try and press their case against Paul. When the day arrived and the hearing before Felix convened, Tertullus spoke first.

He said, We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought forth reforms in this nation. Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude. But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us out. There’s a word for all of this, but it’s not a polite word, so I won’t use it. Tertullus went on to make three accusations against Paul. First, that he was a big troublemaker who stirred up riots wherever he went in the empire.

Second, that he was a ringleader of what Tertullus called a cult of the Nazarenes, by which he meant, of course, the early Christians, followers of Jesus of Nazareth. He was suggesting that this was some kind of illegal, offbeat religion. And third, that when Paul was caught in Jerusalem, he was intending to desecrate the temple. Tertullus suggested that Paul was seized before he was able to do that, but he intended to. The Jewish leaders with him were chiming in that all these things were true. Then Paul was given a chance to speak in his own defense.

He started with a respectful but noticeably less fawning introduction to Felix. I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation, Paul said, so I’m glad to make my defense before you. He then explained exactly what he was doing in Jerusalem, and he freely confessed that he was, yes, a Christian, but disagreed with their characterization of Christianity as a cult. He said, I worship the God of my fathers, the same God these men claim to worship, but I do it as a follower of the Way. He pointed out that his accusers could not begin to prove any of the charges that they made against him. They didn’t even have any witnesses with them who saw what happened that day he was arrested at the temple.

How could they prove what Paul intended to do, as Tertullus had said? Even if he had intended to do something wrong, how do you prove something that didn’t even happen yet? Felix intuitively understood, after listening, what was going on here. It says in verse 22 that he was acquainted with the Way. Remember, that was an early term used to identify the Christian movement. He sensed that what was going on was driven by jealousy and rivalry on the part of the Jews.

After listening to both sides, his decision was to not make a decision. He deferred the case. He said, When Lysias the commander comes up here next, I will hear him and decide your case then. He ordered that Paul be kept in custody until then. I think Governor Felix hesitated to make a decision for a couple reasons. Although he was certain that Paul had not broken any laws, he didn’t want to antagonize these Jewish bigwigs.

Remember, I told you, he had gotten into this high office he was in because of his brother’s connection with the Emperor Claudius. Well, Claudius was out of office by the time this situation developed, and a new emperor was in power, to whom Felix nor his older brother meant anything special. So Felix needed to be in a good relationship with these people in Israel in order to stay in his office. On the other hand, we learn Felix was under the impression that Paul had money. He had recently brought that large collection to Jerusalem from the Gentile churches, remember? And Felix was hoping Paul or people around him would offer him a bribe, Luke says, in exchange for his freedom.

And if his bank account swelled, then Paul could very well get a favorable decision. But short of that, he didn’t see any personal advantage to acquitting Paul, so he just decided to do the most expedient thing and kind of like put this hot potato to the side and not do anything for now. The Jews left Caesarea grinding their teeth, and Paul was left indefinitely detained under house arrest in Caesarea. But Felix was curious about this man and the movement he represented. He knew something about Christianity, but he wanted to, and now had the opportunity to, find out more. Perhaps his young Jewish bride was curious as well.

Remember her father, Herod Agrippa, who had killed the apostle James and had arrested the apostle Peter. She knew something about this movement herself. She may be aware of it, and she may have been curious about it too. Whichever of them was the initiator, they set up a private audience with Paul. I think this is pretty interesting. Luke, who wrote this account of early Christianity, leaves me wanting for more details here about that encounter.

But here’s what he tells us. Several days later, Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul discoursed with them on righteousness, on self-control, and the judgment that is coming. Felix became afraid and said, That’s enough for now. You may go.

When it’s convenient, I’ll send for you again. When it’s convenient. That’s the part that really jumped out at me. So Paul is called to a private interview with this powerful Roman politician and his very connected young wife. He certainly knew Felix held his ticket to freedom, and Drusilla could be influential on his behalf if she was inclined to be. Yet what did Paul say, given the opportunity to address them in private?

I had to ask myself, what would I do if I was in that situation? What would you do? When given the opportunity, Paul talked with them about Jesus Christ and about faith in Him and what that meant. He shared with them, Luke says, on the topics of righteousness, self-control, and judgment that’s coming. Paul’s looking into the eyes of this powerful man, someone driven by little else but pride and lust and greed and self-preservation, and he’s talking to the man about righteousness and self-control and about the judgment that’s coming after this life and telling them they need Jesus Christ as their Savior. Wow.

That’s raw courage and conviction, don’t you think? Paul didn’t offer them a bribe. He didn’t plead for his freedom. He talked to them about why they, like everybody else, needs Jesus. Felix was noticeably shaken listening to him. It’s unlike anything anybody had ever said to him before, I’m sure.

He was, we would say, convicted. But the line that leapt out at me as I was reading this passage was, Although he was deeply affected, he responded, That’s enough for now. You can go. When it’s convenient, I may call for you again. And with that. With that, the encounter ended.

What I sensed was inconvenient was not the time. Felix had chosen the time for this meeting. What was inconvenient was the truth Paul was confronting him with. I have just this one simple thought I’d like to leave you with from this section of God’s Word. Try to visualize that meeting. It was an encounter between one man who would only do what was convenient and another man who so often did exactly what was not.

And I have to ask myself, who am I more like? Felix would not make a decision in life without being certain it was convenient for him, in his selfish best interest. He would not make a decision about Paul even here, regardless of what was right, because it seemed to him politically expedient not to make a decision. And he certainly wouldn’t make a decision about becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, even when he was gripped with conviction. Even as Paul’s words struck right at his heart and he felt the power and truth in them. Wow, that would be way too inconvenient.

Felix must have thought, what ramifications would there be if I actually became a Christian? Terribly inconvenient, extremely inconvenient. How many times do we, like him, make our most important decisions based on what seems to be convenient, what seems to be easier in that situation? On the other hand, I know you can see this in contrast. Realize this is one big thing that made Paul so different and so useful to God, his willingness to do whatever God impressed him to do, go wherever God told him to go, say whatever God prompted him to say, regardless of whether it was convenient or not. He was not controlled by doing only what seemed safe and easy, what was apparently in his immediate best interest.

When the Spirit moved him, when he sensed God’s direction, he just said, Okay, let’s go. In a nutshell, that’s the reason he lived such a spiritually productive and adventure-filled life. Few people know who Marcus Antonius Felix is today. Everyone knows who the Apostle Paul was. I know that when I’m sharing the Word with people, the effect is sometimes the same as Paul’s with Felix and Drusilla, not because of anything in me, but just because the Word of God is powerful. If you’ve been listening to Share the Word for a while, God may have been speaking to you for a while about your need of Jesus.

You may be feeling the conviction that you need this Savior that God sent. And if that’s the case, by all means, say yes to God. Or if you’re already a believer, maybe the Holy Spirit has been speaking to you about something specific, something He wants to do in or through your life. I don’t know what it is, but you might. When you’re confronted with the truth of God’s Word and you feel convicted by it, the Holy Spirit within is prompting you. Will you be more like Felix or more like Paul?

Luke says that Felix actually called and listened to Paul on several more occasions, but he would never act. The days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months, the months turned to years. Felix was fascinated by Paul. He was stymied, though, by too many other competing self-interests. It just wasn’t convenient to respond to the Spirit of God that was knocking on the door of his heart, and that’s tragic. Less than two years after these encounters with the Apostle Paul, Felix lost everything he was living for anyway and never, so far as we know, gained what he could have had, what Paul offered him, and that is a new life in Christ.

You know what we’ve been talking about in this lesson is in a word, decisiveness. Decisiveness can be defined as devoting all my energy to a course of action that I realize is right. I don’t know in what area of your life God might be speaking to you as you listen to His Word, but what could be more important than hearing from heaven? So when you do, whether it seems convenient or not, be decisive. Say yes to Him. It’ll be the start of a rewarding, Spirit-led adventure as a son or daughter of the Most High God.

Thanks for listening. This has been Paul for Share the Word. Thanks, Paul. We hope you enjoyed today’s episode here at Share the Word podcast. Each episode brings out the big idea of the chapter and furthers our focus to bring people to Christ and share the good news of the gospel. Help us with the Great Commission and share with others what you have experienced here at Share the Word.

Visit sharetheword.org, and if you’d like to contribute to furthering our cause, simply click on Give and follow the instructions. From all of us at Share the Word, our blessings and prayers go out to all of you.