"That all who hear might become such as I am."

Acts 26 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

 Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

² “In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today; ³ especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; ⁵ since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion. ⁶ And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; ⁷ the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews. ⁸ Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?

⁹ “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰ And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.

¹² “While so engaged as I was journeying 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, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. ¹⁴ And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘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 get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; ¹⁷ rescuing you from the Jewish 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 dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁹ “So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. ²¹ For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death. ²² So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; ²³ that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴ While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad.” ²⁵ But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth. ²⁶ For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you do.” ²⁸ Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.” ²⁹ And Paul said, “I would wish to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains.”

Paul’s defense, his testimony, did not changed based on who it was that he was testifying to. In his letter the Corinthian church, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul says:     And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.  For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,  and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

In today’s text Festus responded to Paul saying:    “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad.”  King Arippa replied to Paul’s testimony of Christ saying: “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.”Two responses to the same words, one an utter rejection, a mocking the other perhaps doubt, uncertainty the account is not really clear as to exactly what Agrippa thought. Paul said this:    “I would wish to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains.”      Paul was a man of great learning, as Festus said. Yet he knew, as he said to the Corinthians, that preaching a message of persuasive words, even if they are words of wisdom is not the answer to reaching people with the truth of God’s word, with the good news of the gospel. If we debate on an intellectual level, trying to prove what we believe, we may win some intellectual acceptance of our ideas. But, for people to truly receive the gospel message, for them to experience a revelation of Christ requires the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says:   ” No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him”(John 6:44) The Holy Spirit is the one who draws people to Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who testifies to the spirit of men. Jesus says: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)    Most of the programs, the plans and the methods which the church and believers today employ to share the gospel are primarily focused on reaching people at either an intellectual level, trying to prove that people need a savior, and convince them by logic to change or at an emotional level, trying by hype and manipulation to convince them. Even actions of love and acceptance can be a form of manipulation if they are not based in true love, if they do not point to the demonstration of God’s love.  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) Too often our methods are focused on getting people to agree with us, to join the church or to be in agreement with our beliefs, our doctrine. On the other hand sometimes the focus of our methods is to get people to like us. We love, accept, even serve in order to win their approval of ourselves. Neither our words, no matter how accurately and eloquently we speak them, nor our actions no matter how sacrificial they may be can save anyone without the Holy Spirit’s power. Some may mock, some may doubt, that should not be our concern. Our desire should be like Paul’s, that:  “all who hear this day, might become such as I am(we are), except for these chains.” All that we say, all that we do should be focused on our consistent testimony, our witness of Christ. We should, like Paul, know nothing except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.   Neither our focus nor people’s faith should be based on our words or our actions but rather;   on the power of God, on the demonstration of His love, Jesus Christ, crucified for our sins and raised in victory.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; Holy Spirit thank You for drawing me, for revealing Your truth and Your love to me. May I be a faithful witness. May my words be Your words. May my love be a reflection and a testimony of Your love. May I not strive to convince others nor desire that they like me, but may my testimony, my words and my actions, aligned with the Holy Spirit be a revelation of the power of God.    Amen