Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

By being transformed by the hope of the Resurrection (Part 1) (9/27/09)

Sermon Series: Acts: Enlarging our Vision

Title: : By being transformed by the hope of the Resurrection (Part 1)    Text: Acts 26

Introduction: As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest. 

There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all, hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and rose from the dead.  (Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p. 26.)

Hope.....Brezhnev’s widow hoped that her husband was wrong and the Scriptures concerning Jesus were true. In particular that he rose  from the dead and his promise that all who place their faith in him will also be raised to life one day.

Hope...what is it that you are hoping for this morning?

Paul’s hope was in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

·       It’s what he looked forward to.

·       It’s what transformed him.

·       It’s what sustained him.

·       It’s what empowered him to be bold in proclaiming the Good News of forgiveness and life in Jesus Christ.

Hope...it’s the foundation of Paul defense, of Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our text this morning...and it’s the very core of our existence as followers of Jesus Christ.

Transition: Open your Bibles to Acts 26:1 (pg. 854 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) For it’s there we will discover we enlarge our vision of God by being transformed by the hope of the Resurrection.

I. Acts 26:1-3              Introduction

Read: Acts 26:1-3

What a scene this must have been. Paul, stood before this huge gathering of political dignitaries, royalty and the upper crust of society of that day

He stood there, in chains. Not as an equal, but as entertainment for the privileged.  

No one came in hope of being converted to Christianity...but Paul had hope, as we will see, that many would come to place their faith in the hope of the resurrection, fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, Israel’s Messiah, and Savior.

It didn’t matter to Paul that his audience was made up of the ‘rich and famous.’ He only saw them as lost and in need of a Savior. The Gospel will be preached today, in that arena, to that group of people, with great enthusiasm, and with hope.

Paul addresses King Agrippa personally and politely. He acknowledges the Kings experience with the Jewish people. Paul’s appeal, his message, has a strong Jewish flavor.

·       I believe it’s because Paul wanted to connect Judaism with Christianity.

·       He wanted to show that just as Jesus fulfills the Law and the Old Testament, Christianity fulfills Judaism in that it is the realization of the hope Jews live for.

But I get ahead of myself.

Transition: Lets look at how Paul begins his defense and you’ll see what I mean.

II. Acts 26:4-8   Looking for the hope

Read: Acts 26:4-8

The Jewish religious leaders consistently attempted to present Christianity as a counterfeit Judaism, as a sect that did not have the approval of the Temple officials. They tried to show that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is diametrically opposed to the historic faith of the Jews.

Paul, on the other hand, spent the latter part of his life trying to prove to the Jews that Christianity is not opposed to Judaism, but a fulfillment of it. Here, Paul does this by asserting his ‘Jewishness’

...by stating the fact that he strictly followed the Law and lived according to the hope of all Jews. What hope? The future resurrection of the dead for those who, in obedience, follow the Law of God.

Paul is saying that he is really not on trial for opposing Judaism but for adhering to it. The truth is, it is his opponents, the Jewish religious leaders, who have abandoned historic Judaism.

Paul addresses King Agrippa here, because there are not many Jews in attendance, and he says ‘Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead.’ He said this because the belief in and hope of the resurrection of the dead is a fundamental premise of Judaism.

Paul was saying the Jewish religious leaders were not living consistently with what they knew as the truth...in other words, they denied the truth because it didn’t manifest itself they way they expected.

Paul told the King...this is the problem between me and the Jews...the hope of the resurrection from the dead has been realized in Jesus Christ, and the Jewish religious leaders have chosen to deny it.

Transition: Paul having given the King and Governor the basis of the problem between him and the Jews, will now further identify himself with the Jewish religious leaders by describing his own fight against the hope they all share.

III. Acts 26:9-14         Fighting against the hope

Read: Acts 26:9-14

In verse 14, Paul hears a voice from heaven say:

‘...Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

What in the world is a goad? I’m glad you asked because it’s actually important to understanding what Paul is talking about in these verses.

The word ‘goad’ is only found here in Scripture...so we need to go outside Scripture to see how it was used in Pauls day.

·       Goads were sharp spikes often mounted on the front of chariots and plows. If a horse or ox kicked back he would hurt himself against them and the animal learned not to fight the one who was in the chariot or behind the plow.

·       Jesus was telling him ‘Paul, you are as stubborn as an ox and your attempts to fight me are futile. Your persistence in resisting the Holy Spirit will only hurt you.’

·       To use a contemporary phrase... ‘Paul, you’re shooting yourself in the foot by fighting against me.’

How was Paul fighting against God? Paul gives his own explanation of his own fight against Christianity, which by the way, was the same fight of the Jewish religious leaders.

Paul says he was caught up in the heat of the argument and was convinced that he needed to do everything possible to oppose the name of Jesus...that meant all that Jesus taught, did and was said  to have done.

Paul told the King he was just like the jewish leaders, in fact, he was the poster child for persecuting the Christians.

Paul had been seeking God all his life through books, ritual and Law.

·       Until one day when he was confronted with the truth.

·       Until one day when he met the One who fulfilled the hope of the Jews.

·       Until one day when he met, the resurrected Jesus.

But that’s for next weeks message.

Conclusion

Remember I said the Jews failed to live consistently with their beliefs? Particularly their hope in the resurrection of the dead?

They believed in the resurrection of the dead...in principle, but they refused to accept it in practice

...when they saw it fulfilled in Jesus. The same is often true of many Christians today.

There are many truths in God’s Word that professing Christians believe, are firmly convinced of in principle, but which they refuse to accept in practice.

·       We say we believe in the goodness of God, His omniscience and in his omnipresence, but when life throws us a curve, when we face a difficult situation or challenge, we are not so willing to act upon the truths we claim we believe. In the Experiencing God study we learned that this is called a ‘Crisis of belief’.

Are we will to live out in practice what we claim to believe in principle?

Paul said yes...how about you?

ILL: An Arab sheik tells a story of a spy who was captured and then sentenced to death by a general in the Persian army. This general had the strange custom of giving condemned criminals a choice between the firing squad and a big, black door. As the moment for execution drew near, the spy was brought to the Persian general, who asked the question, "What will it be: the firing squad or the big, black door?"  The spy hesitated for a long time. It was a difficult decision. He chose the firing squad.  Moments later shots rang out confirming his execution. The general turned to his aide and said, "They always prefer the known way to the unknown. It is characteristic of people to be afraid of the unknown. Yet, we gave him a choice."  The aide said, "What lies beyond the big door?"  "Freedom," replied the general. "I’ve known only a few brave enough to take it." (Paul Gabriel)

·       Life is like the firing squad...we can see it, we know what will happen...to some extent, it’s familiar.

·       Hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the big, black door. It’s the unknown and we’re uncomfortable, no, we’re terrified of the unknown. So we refuse to take the step of faith and go through the door of hope in Jesus.

The choice is yours, and only yours to make. What will you choose?

We enlarge our vision of God by being transformed by the hope of the Resurrection.