Reputation.  It’s one of the only things in life that we get from others.  And once it’s damaged, it’s hard to repair.

Reputation is part of the reason it’s becoming so difficult to be a person of faith in the public square.  You call yourself a Christian?  Then be prepared to be labeled and shunned.  Our world sees Christianity as an exchange of reason and compassion for superstition, intolerance, hypocrisy, and repression.

But this is nothing compared to the life of Paul.  In this phase of our story, Paul becomes the focus of a high-profile court case.

THE PEOPLE’S COURT

Acts 24:1 Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor.

The charges against Paul were simple: he was falsely accused of violating Jewish law by bringing a Gentile into the temple.  Previously, Felix had refused to decide Paul’s case until his accusers arrived.  In this chapter, they arrive, and their appearance takes the form of a courtroom drama before Felix.

Opening statements

 Acts 24:2-9² When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation.  ³ Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude.  ⁴ But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.  ⁵ “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect  ⁶ and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.  ⁷⁸ By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”  ⁹ The Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true.

 Riots had broken out, and Paul was accused of being the “ringleader.”   Why would the government care about this?  Riots were a threat to political and social order.  The Jews were tolerated by the Romans, but Christianity threatened to upset this delicate balance.  Rome had previously allowed the Jews to execute those who violated the temple, and now the Jews wanted to cash in their chips.

Paul’s response

Acts 24:10-21 ¹⁰ When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.  ¹¹ You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.  ¹² My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city.  ¹³ And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.  ¹⁴ However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,  ¹⁵ and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.  ¹⁶ So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.  ¹⁷ “After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.  ¹⁸ I was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple courts doing this. There was no crowd with me, nor was I involved in any disturbance.  ¹⁹ But there are some Jews from the province of Asia, who ought to be here before you and bring charges if they have anything against me.  ²⁰ Or these who are here should state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin–  ²¹ unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.'”

Paul could only respond to the charges by countering them with the truth.  His defense was twofold:

• Lack of motive. He had not been in Jerusalem long enough to cause any riots (24:11), but had rather come for the Feast of Pentecost (cf. 20:16) and to worship.  In verses 17-18 he makes mention of bringing an offering from Gentile churches.
• Lack of evidence.  None of his accusers had evidence or witnesses to verify that Paul had started any riots in Jerusalem.  (24:12-13)

Paul’s “counterclaim” was that his accusers were really the ones who had stirred up a disturbance (cf. v. 12).

PAUL AND FELIX (Acts 24:22-27)

Acts 24:22-27 ²² Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. “When Lysias the commander comes,” he said, “I will decide your case.”  ²³ He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs.

²⁴ 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 Christ Jesus.  ²⁵ As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”  ²⁶ At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him.  ²⁷ When two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, but because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews, he left Paul in prison.

Felix gives no indication that he leans one way or the other.  He is familiar with Christianity (“the way”)—could it be that he empathizes with Paul?  But he can’t risk his political career by upsetting Paul’s accusers.  So what does he do?  He stalls.  He waits until the commander, Lysias comes to decide.

But we never hear of Lysias again.

Maybe out of guilt, maybe because he knew of Paul’s innocence, Felix allows Paul a lot more freedom than usual, including visits from friends.  Felix even has conversations with Paul.  Unfortunately for Paul, these conversations proved too convicting.  Drusilla, his wife, was Felix’s third marriage and he had to break up another marriage just to have her.  All this talk of “righteousness” must have made him sweat.  So he left Paul in prison, calling for him only on occasion out of hope for a bribe.

This went on for two years.  Felix eventually got replaced—he had been too cruel in squashing a Jewish and Gentile conflict and replaced by Festus.  But, to keep the Jews happy, Paul was left in prison.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY

There are times and places when faith will earn you more foes than friends.  The temptation we face is to try and change our reputation.  How might we do this?

• Fight back.  The best way to build ourselves up is to tear others down.  We can attack others for their political views, their moral views, or even spiritual views.  But this only deepens the cultural divide.
• Distance ourselves.  Chances are, you’ve probably said something like this: “It’s a relationship, not a religion.”  For some, this is a great way to remember the truth of the gospel.  But for others, this statement does more to comfort followers than convert skeptics.  It’s a convenient way to distance ourselves from “those” kind of Christians.

If the gospel is true, than my reputation is built on the righteousness of Christ.   I don’t need to leverage my reputation in the eyes of others.  I have God’s approval—who else’s do I need?  Our prayer is that we learn to shed the shackles of focusing on our own reputation, and learn instead to live in His.

A NEW MISSION

In this passage, Luke records the birth of “foreign missions.”  Up until now, mission to the Gentiles had been a result of God’s provision more than man’s purpose.   The early church was blessed with many skilled teachers.  Now God called them to be missionaries.

Acts 13:1-3  Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.  ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  ³ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Where do we expect change to come from?  For some, we expect change to come from the mouth of a skilled politician.  For others, from the united voice of grass-roots movements such as the Tea Party or Occupy group.  But do we believe that God can change the world?  If we do, that changes everything.   When God set aside Barnabas and Saul (later called Paul), it was out of a clear intention: God empowers the few to impact the many.

The prayers of the church confirmed this new mission.  Their identity as God’s representatives had not changed, but there was now new work to be done.

A NEW CULTURE

The men travel to the island of Cyprus.  Since the days of Alexander the Great, the Jews had been migrating to this island.  There, they shared the gospel in several cities:

Acts 13:4-12  So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.  ⁵ When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.  ⁶ When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.  ⁷ He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.  ⁸ But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.  ⁹ But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him  ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?  ¹¹ And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.  ¹² Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Paphos was an interesting place.   It was there that the religions of ancient Greece blurred together with Jewish beliefs.  We meet two characters:

• Bar-Jesus: Though God’s word condemned such practices, magic was known to be a part of Jewish folk religion.   “Elymas” was his title.  It most literally means “wise,” probably referring to his magical insight.  His actual name was Bar-Jesus—literally meaning “son of Jesus/Joshua”—so it’s ironic that Paul would call him a “son of the devil.”  Paul confronts and God intervenes. Bar-Jesus is temporarily blind.  No one would not sit in this man’s darkness as Paul brings a message of light.
• Sergius Paulus: He was a prominent Roman official.  History tells us that he was in charge of water management.  Apparently Bar-Jesus had been his spiritual advisor.  When Paul removed this source of darkness, he experienced the true light of the gospel.

Sadly, we know nothing more about what happened in this community. But do you see God’s plan at work?    God used these early missionaries to transform a culture from the top down.   The leadership was transformed by the gospel—not influenced by a deceptive spiritual advisor.

We must therefore pray for similar transformations to take place, both near and far.  The mission of the gospel is lighting up the darkness—bringing the Light of the World into the darkest corners of our culture.  Let’s pray that this light would continue to spread.

“As the Father has sent me,” Jesus told His disciples, “so I send you” (John 20:21 KJV).  To be a messenger of Jesus means to face the same challenges and rejection that He faced.

Stephen was one of seven men selected to serve as a bridge between the Greek-speaking “Hellenists” and the rest of the church.  These seven men were also from Greek background, so they “fit right in.”  What the disciples were to the whole church, these seven were to the Greeks.

Acts 6:8-15  And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.  ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.  ¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.  ¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”  ¹² And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,  ¹³ and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,  ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”  ¹⁵ And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

The synagogue was a local house of prayer and learning.  If the temple gave the Jews a sense of spiritual unity, the synagogue gave them a sense of spiritual diversity.  In Stephen’s day, there were roughly 400 synagogues operating in Jerusalem alone—each with its own unique flavor.  The synagogue mentioned here was run by “Freedmen,” most likely founded by former slaves or prisoners of war.

The Jews were threatened by the early Christians.  The Jews enjoyed an uneasy peace with Rome.  Jesus had tugged at the threads of the social fabric.  Now His followers threatened to unravel it entirely—unless, of course, they could be stopped.

When their arguments could gain no traction (v.11), they turned to rumor.  They  accused Stephen of saying that Jesus would destroy the temple—the centerpiece of Jewish religious and national life.   The religious leaders had probably heard Jesus predict the temple’s destruction (John 2:19), so there was enough truth here for the lie to be believable.  Still, Jesus never said that He would destroy the temple.  The rumor was designed to make Stephen look unspiritual and unpatriotic.

Do the details of Stephen’s trial sound at all familiar?  They might remind you of Jesus’ trial before the Jewish leadership.   As Christians, we follow a Savior who was misunderstood, mocked, then executed.   How did you expect your life to turn out?

Ask the average person what the world could do without—what do you think they’d say?  The answers would  almost certainly include “religion.”  Extremism is dangerous.  No one wants to be a religious fanatic.  Christianity is increasingly being defined by its opponents—recast as an intellectually backward, sexually repressive, morally regressive band of homophobes.  Just like the lie told of Stephen, it doesn’t have to be true—it only has to be believable.

But if the gospel is true, we need not fear such challenges.  Why?  Because Christ’s sacrifice clothes us in His righteousness.  We have God’s approval—who else’s do we need?  This tells us at least three things about living in a hostile world:

• Our reputation is secure.  Because of the gospel, God labels me “righteous.”  What does it matter, then, if others label me a “fanatic?”  Who I am in the world’s eyes doesn’t change who I am in God’s eyes.
• The gospel gives us the power to offend others, if that’s what they need.  The gospel is offensive to an unbelieving world(Galatians 5:11).  It makes us uncomfortable to make others uncomfortable.  But if I have God’s approval, I don’t need to fear the consequences of sharing my faith with outsiders.
• Christ wins.  Jesus has already been through this before.  He conquered sin and the grave.  His resurrection tells us that no matter how bad things get, it’s not the end of the story.  He really will make all things new.

The gospel gives us the confidence to follow Christ in a hostile world.  Therefore, let us pray that like Stephen, we can pray for boldness and confidence in sharing our faith with our world.

Church division is nothing new.  The church had barely begun before church leaders faced a crisis:

Acts 6:1-7  Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

In first century culture, men married young.  Women often outlived their husbands.  Leaders in Jerusalem had established an early form of “welfare” to care for these widows.  But there was a cultural problem.  The “Hellenists” had embraced Greek culture and language, while the “Hebrews” had maintained their Jewish roots.  Because of this division, the Hellenists thought that their widows weren’t getting a fair shake.

Today’s church is no stranger to complaints.  The music is too loud.  The music is too soft.  The speaking is too deep.  The speaking is too shallow.  The toilet paper unspools in the wrong direction.

In today’s individualized society, preference trumps purpose.  How often have you found yourself looking for a church that “satisfies your needs?” And these are hard expectations to live up to.  Social scientist David Wells observes that the role of the church leader has shifted from “shepherd” to the dual roles of “manager” and “psychologist.” In short, pastors are expected to be all things to all men.  The gospel takes a back seat to “crisis management.”

But the early church understood that it could never live up to this ideal.  So they found a solution:

² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.  ³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.  ⁴ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”  ⁵ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.  ⁶ These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

Up until now, the church was a network of households.  But the church was expanding.  Social challenges had to be met.  The choosing of the seven was the first step toward greater organization.  The church would later call these men “deacons,” from a Greek word that refers to serving tables (see verse 2).

But these men were not chosen at random.  The choosing of the seven represented a very specific strategy:

• Choosing Greeks: If you were living in that culture, you’d notice that all seven men had Greek names.  The men chosen to address the problem understood the culture they were addressing.  This was more than a “crisis management team.”  This was a strategy for healing division.
• Focusing on the gospel: Did you notice the purpose behind the selection?  Read verse 4 again: “But we [the disciples] will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.”  The disciples would not permit a momentary crisis to overshadow their eternal purpose.

Focus on preference and you create a culture of consumers.  Focus on purpose and you create a family of disciples.  Today’s church is in need of leadership whose priority is the gospel.  How can you pray for your church leadership?

• Spiritual strength.  It’s not just easy to “coast” on your natural skills and ability—it’s deadly.  A leader’s sense of value is often based on his last performance.  Pray that your church leaders would not measure themselves based on others’ expectations, but be continually refreshed in their identity in Christ.
• Social support.  It truly is “lonely at the top.”  Leadership strains relationships, and pastors can suffer from feelings of woundedness and inadequacy.  Pray that your leaders find support in friends and family.
• Skillful steering.  Like the early church, leaders have to pick their battles.  Pray that they have the wisdom to handle these crises, and maintain a clear focus on the gospel.

But above all, pray that leadership would be a continual source of joy.  Our passage concludes with the results of these leadership choices:

⁷ And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.