"Divide & Conquer" Sermon: Acts 22:30-23:11

“Divide & Conquer”
[Acts 22:30-23:11]
March 6, 2011 Second Reformed Church

Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). Even in the polite United States, as we witness to the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are engaged in “wrestling” – in warfare – with the variety of forces that seek to have the Gospel put to shame – whether that be a quiet disbelief or all the way up to violence and murder.

We have been looking at Paul’s defense before the crowd of Jews that followed him from Asia and then stirred up the crowds in Jerusalem to try to kill him by claiming that Paul was against the Law, the Temple, and the people of Israel.

We saw the Roman, Claudius Lysias, give Paul permission to address the crowd and explain to them who he is and what he had done. He explained his upbringing as a Jew, his being taught by the greatest of the Pharisees, Gamaliel, how he had become a Pharisee, himself, and been hired by the Sanhedrin – the Jewish high council – to hunt down Christians and bring them for trial. He explained that Jesus had met him on the road to Damascus, converted him, sent him to Ananias for instruction, and then sent him forth as the apostle to the Gentiles – that it was time to fulfill the promise made to Abraham, that the Gospel – the Covenant made with Israel – would extend to every nation and every people – not just the Jews. With that, the crowd exploded and demanded that Paul be put to death.

So, then, Claudius Lysias, took Paul and decided to flog him – to torture him – to quiet the crowd, but, at that point, Paul called on Lysias to uphold Paul’s civil rights as a Roman citizen, so he would not be flogged, and would, in fact, be protected by the Romans from the mob. Lysias was shaken by the revelation that Paul was a Roman citizen, and, in fear, he protected Paul from the crowd, again, and did not flog him.

The next day is where our Scripture picks up this morning. Lysias was completely confused about why the Jews were angry with Paul – angry enough to kill him, and Lysias wanted an explanation – he wanted to understand why he had been put in this trouble and now had to protect Paul and see that he made it safely to Rome, since Paul claimed his right to appeal his case before Emperor Nero.

So Lysias called the Sanhedrin – the Jewish high council – to come before him, with Paul, and explain what was really going on. Lysias realized the problem was not a political one, but a theological one, and he had gotten himself stuck in the middle of it by Paul being a Roman citizen, so he wanted to understand what he was in the middle of.

Paul stared at the council members – taking stock of them – who was there – who he knew, and he spoke first, addressing them as equals – “Brothers” – not as his superiors or judge, as they would have preferred. And Paul professed that he had “lived [his] life before God in all good conscience up to [that] day.” Paul told them that he had lived a righteous life and God was a witness to it. He was telling the Sanhedrin that they had no reason or right to put him on trial.

The high priest, Ananias, (not the Ananias that had helped Paul in Damascus), was outraged and told those closest to Paul to punch him in the mouth. (This was a customary action of contempt and reproof.)

Paul responded by revealing Ananias’ true character and prophesying against him:

Paul said, “God is going to strike you.” This prophecy was fulfilled in 66 A.D. when Ananias was assassinated.

“You white-washed wall ” A wall is “white-washed” when it is cracked and falling apart, and rather than repair it with mortar, it is plastered over. It looks good, but it is lacking integrity; it looks strong and solid, but it was actually weak and falling apart underneath. That was the character of Ananias – he looked good on the outside, but inside, he was rotting and falling apart.

“Are you sitting to judge me according to the law” Paul tells Ananias that he doesn’t have the authority to judge Paul. Paul answered to the true High Priest, Jesus, not to the false high priest, Ananias, who was a hypocrite.

“and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” Ananias had, indeed, broken the law by instructing Paul to be struck. The law says that a person may only be struck after a court proves guilt.

Other members of the Sanhedrin responded in shock, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” We will remember that Paul explains in Romans that all authority is put in place by God and we are to submit to the authority as long as it does not require us to sin. The Sanhedrin understood Paul’s words to mean that he was despising the authority and position of the high priest. But he wasn’t.

Paul responded, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” What did Paul mean? Let’s assume that Paul was not lying – even if Paul did not know that Ananias was the current high priest – because the high priest changed rapidly under Roman appointment – Ananias would have been dressed in the high priestly robes and seated in the position of authority. It really would have been impossible for him not to know that this man – even if he didn’t know his name – this man was the current high priest.

So what did Paul mean by his response? Paul was most likely saying this, “You may call Ananias the high priest, but neither God nor I recognize him as the high priest. However, I do agree with you that God calls us to honor the office and the authority and the person that God has legitimately installed in the office.” More bluntly, Paul would be saying, “I respect the High Priest, his office, and his authority, but Ananias is a charlatan, a poser, a false high priest.” And so we see that there are times when we are called to expose false teachers – false ministers. Jesus tells us how we are to correct our brothers and sisters and bring them back to faith. But there are times when a teacher is so outrageous and so obstinate in teaching falsehood – even attacking the very Gospel, that we are right – cautiously, with wisdom – to call that person out and expose them – for the sake of the Church.

A modern example would be the TV preacher, Kenneth Copeland. I have watched him and read him, and his primary message is that God wants everyone to be healthy and wealthy. That’s a lie, and it distorts and distracts from the True Gospel – that God came to earth as a human being, lived, died for our sins, rose from the dead, and ascended back to His Throne, just as the Scriptures said He would.

Paul called out the high priest Ananias for who and what he was, and while they recovered their composure, Paul looked at the Sanhedrin: the Sanhedrin was made up of the two major Jewish religious parties – the Pharisees, who were in the majority, and the Sadducees, who were in the minority. Both groups claimed to believe and follow the Torah – the Old Testament, but the Pharisees believed that there was a resurrection of the body to come, that angels exist, as does the human spirit or soul. The Sadducees denied all of these thing; the Sadducees believed that the material world is all that there is and when you’re dead, you’re dead.

And Paul used the wisdom God gave him to divide and conquer – these two parties – the Pharisees and the Sadducees – were united against Paul, and they were getting violent. The Romans might not have been able to keep the Jews to taking and killing Paul, so Paul turned the Pharisees and Sadducees against each other – taking their interest and rage off of him for the moment.

Paul cried out, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

And the Sadducees said, “What nonsense ”

And the Pharisees said, “There’s nothing wrong with that – perhaps an angel or a spirit did speak to him – who are you to say?”

“We can say because there are no angels or spirits – it’s a bunch of mythology that you Pharisees believe in.”

“You dare to go against the teaching of the Torah in this holy council?”

“We’re not going against the Torah – just your misguided interpretation of it.”

“Why you ”

“Get them ”

Paul had turned the Pharisees and Sadducees against each other, and they began to violently attack each other. And the tribune, Claudius Lysias, likely with his mouth hanging open, ordered Paul to be taken back into the barracks before he – and all of them – were torn apart by the crazed mob.

Could that ever happen today?

Let’s suppose a Jehovah’s Witness and a Mormon arrived at your door at the same time, and they were both in very bad moods. Let’s suppose that you did your best to explain why you didn’t believe either of their religions, and they began to get hostile with you and pushed you into your house and began berating you and saying you would go to hell if you didn’t follow their religion now. This might be a time to divide and conquer – if you knew that the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus was only a human being – that He was not God, and that the Mormons say that Jesus was a human being Who, through His good works, became God – just like we all can do with hard work. It might be wise to say something like, “Well, the reason I believe what I do is because Jesus is God.” The Jehovah’s Witness will argue He was not; the Mormon will argue He became God, and they might end up arguing with themselves and going away.

Of course, the goal is not merely to get them to go away – the goal is to tell them the Gospel, but, in certain cases, it is wise to divide and conquer, as we see in this morning’s Scripture.

Jesus said, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:1620, ESV).

Healthy and wealthy, indeed

What is Jesus saying?

Jesus is telling us that He knows very well that He is sending us into danger. The life of the Christian and the witness of the Gospel will bring us into danger. However, we have been sent by our God and Savior. And He tells us to be wise as serpents – we are to use all of our skills at understanding and all of the wisdom that God gives us through His Word and through the Holy Spirit working in us that we might address those we meet with words of power from God. And, we are also to be innocent as doves – we are to do everything within and by and through the Power of the Holy Spirit working in us to live lives of holiness, innocence, and righteousness. We are to do everything we can by the Power of the Holy Spirit to keep from sinning. Why? Because God calls us to holiness, and because people look to seek if our words and our actions align. If we don’t live what we say, people won’t believe us.

Often we end up being as innocent as serpents and as wise as doves: we use inappropriate means – sinful means – and speak and explain ourselves poorly. It is a sin to shoot a doctor who practices abortion. It is counterproductive – and possibly a sin, depending on the circumstances – to burn another religion’s “holy book.” It is a sin to deface another religion’s meeting place.

Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will help to us speak, but let us understand that the Holy Spirit will not give us something that we are unacquainted with. The Holy Spirit may help us to form our words and explain what we believe, but we have to know what God has said in His Word. This Scripture is not a promise that God will suddenly enable us to know and speak and present Scripture we don’t know. One of the most important things you and I ought to be doing is reading our Bibles.

Yes, there are difficult passages. Ask someone. Ask me. Look up commentary on a text. Come to our Bible study and adult studies. I read the Bible using a reading plan that takes me through the Bible each year – I continue to find things and understand and make connections that I had never seen before. If you spend your life reading and studying the Bible, you will not understand everything, because the Bible is the Word of God, and our minds are finite.

I know some of you are reading the Bible. Let me encourage you to keep reading and read again and seek understanding and ways to put into practice what you have learned in thanks for what Jesus has done. Your thoughts and questions have guided me to look at the concept of “the Image of God” for our Lenten sermons, and we will likely look at the book of Hebrews starting around January, based on your comments and questions about it.

God helps us to understand and remember His Word as we read it and study it and hear it preached – and God has promised to bring His Word to our memory when we need it (John 14:26). Wisdom is formed through the knowledge of God’s Word, and innocence is formed through obedience in thanksgiving to Jesus.

So let us learn what God has said and rely on Him to help us to understand and to apply His Word as we face those who oppose God. Let us pray that God would help us to know how to proclaim His Word so people will hear the Truth of the Gospel and false teaching would be defeated. And let us pray that God would help us to follow after Him in thanksgiving and holy obedience.

With the crowd still screaming and trying to break into the barracks, Paul was visited by the Lord Jesus, Himself, and Jesus told Paul, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

Jesus told Paul not to lose hope, but to take courage in Jesus, because Jesus is faithful and He will bring about whatever He has planned for His Glory and our joy. Jesus planned for Paul to be a witness to the Gospel in Jerusalem and in Rome. Paul had witnesses in Jerusalem, and Jesus would make sure that he also had the opportunity to witness in Rome. That does not mean that everything would go well between now and then – Paul would suffer between Jerusalem and Rome and after he arrived in Rome. But Jesus was faithful to bring him to where He would have him to accomplish His Will.

That should be an encouragement to us – not that we will be healthy and wealthy – but that Jesus will never forsake us. He is always faithful to His Plan and to His people. Jesus will accomplish all that He intends with us and through us and for us – without a doubt. We can take confidence and hope in that. As Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b, ESV).

Let us take comfort in His Word and in His Promises, as we trust in Him for wisdom, and seek to know Him better, as we continue to be formed into His Image.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we take hope and courage in the promise that You will never leave us nor forsake us. Help us to be diligent in reading and studying Your Word that we might always be prepared, that You might use us to make Your Gospel known and defeat the false teachings that are ever around us. We ask as we receive the bread and the cup and meet with You in the elements, that You would strengthen us and prepare us for all that You have planned in Your Sovereign and Good Will. Give us Your Joy and Grace for this day. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.