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Evangelism Lessons from Paul

October 6, 2024 Speaker: Jim Davis Series: The Book of Acts

Passage: Acts 26

When I started to look at this text last week, I was like, “Seriously, we are now in the fourth consecutive trial for Paul and he is giving his testimony for the third time. How many more angles are there to look at a very similar set of events?” And what was Luke’s point in recording it so thoroughly? But then, quite late in the week it hit me. So, let me set the stage a bit and explain. 

Paul was arrested originally by a Roman Commander, he was sent to the Jewish high council who wanted to murder him, so the Roman Commander took Paul back and sent him to Felix, the Governor. Felix then kept Paul in custody for two years. Then, Festus took over for Felix. Festus actually gave him the chance to go back to Jerusalem and be tried there, but Paul knew that would not go well, so Paul appealed to Caesar. A right only Roman Citizens have. But now Festus didn’t really know what to do with Paul. If he sent him to Caesar, what would he say? Paul hadn’t done anything he could see. It would make Festus look like a fool. But, Festus learned that King Agrippa was coming to town. The newly installed Festus sees Agrippa’s visit as a great opportunity. Maybe he can get Agrippa to hear Paul’s case and make some formal recommendation. 

Now, if the name Agrippa sounds familiar, it should. This Agrippa here is the son of Herod Agrippa in Acts 12 and the great grandson of Herod the Great. Just think about this scene. Herod the Great tried to destroy the infant Jesus. His son, Antipas, beheaded John the Baptist. His grandson Agrippa 1 killed James the son of Zebedee. And now we see Paul brought before Agrippa 1’s son. So, persecuting the faith was kind of like a family business. 

Festus discusses the case with the King and asks for help. Agrippa seems interested which opens the door to Paul sharing his faith with Agrippa. Paul sharing his faith is what we are going to zoom in on today, but it’s not just because Paul is doing this and I have run out of other things to say. This is what clicked for me this week. Luke has recorded Paul’s testimony three times now, but this time, he includes things that aren’t in the others. Paul tells Agrippa not just that he was converted by Jesus, but to what end. To become the person who brings the gospel to the gentiles. This is what Luke is building up to. Chapter 26, verses 16-18. 16 But rise and mstand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, nto appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those inwhich I will appear to you, 17 odelivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—pto whom I qam sending you 18 rto open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from sthe power of Satan to God, that they may receive tforgiveness of sins and ua place among those who are sanctified vby faith in me.’ - Acts 26:16-18

This became so clear once I saw it. You have Paul explaining that he was called by Jesus to be the greatest and most influential minister of the gospel the world has ever known, and here we get to see him sharing the gospel with a man whose family has done more damage to Christianity than any other family in the world. The last time we walked through Paul’s conversion, we focused on God’s role in bringing people into the faith. You can go back and listen if you missed it. All that I said is both true and important. But, today, I want to look at Paul and see a bit about our role in bringing people into the faith. We can learn three things from Paul’s evangelistic message here. 

  1. Paul is winsome

Paul’s day in front of Agrippa has arrived. In verse 23 we see that Agrippa and his wife entered with great pomp. I was laughing this week when I listened to an Allistair Begg sermon on this passage and he said that he used to think Agrippa and his wife arrived with someone named Great Pomp. No, that just means that they entered with lots of fan fare. They were followed by the military tribunes and many prominent men. Think about a graduation you’ve been to. Lots of fanfare and pomp as the academy enters with a parade of important people in robes, funny hats, and long hoods representing the various degrees they have. Something like that is what I have in my mind. 

Everybody found their places and Festus opened by introducing Paul and explaining Festus’ situation. Here is Paul, according to Festus, who the whole Jewish world wants dead, but I can’t find anything that he has done that deserves death. Then, Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Which feels like a little bit of a dig at Festus, but who knows? Then, Paul begins in verse 2, 2 “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today magainst all the accusations of the Jews, 3 especially because you are familiar with all the ncustoms and ocontroversies of the Jews.Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. - Acts 26:2,3

This isn’t just a formality, this is what Paul has been doing all along. He honors positions and people whenever he can. He wrote to the Romans that we should outdo one another in honor and that is what we see him doing here. He’s not arrogant, he’s not argumentative, he’s not spiteful, he’s winsome. Winsome is defined as having an attractive or appealing character. The word winsome, though, like deconstruction, Calvinism, or even Christian Nationalism has become fairly polarizing in recent years. Just to be clear, when I use this term, I’m not talking about inappropriately accommodating the culture to win people over, I’m talking about displaying the fruit of the Spirit in our interactions with the culture. I’m talking about doing what Paul is doing in this passage. 

We have to be careful that the pendulum doesn’t go too far in the direction of cultural accommodation or cultural combativeness. Both are fundamentally self-centered positions. Tim Keller once said, “It is possible to seek to be winsome and persuasive out of a self-centered desire to be popular rather than being God-centered. But, it is just as possible to be bold and strongly polarizing out of a self-centered desire to be right rather than being God-centered.”

What we see Paul doing here and what we should strive toward is evangelistic speech seasoned with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. That’s what we see Paul doing. He doesn’t see lost people as projects to be won or enemies to be conquered, but souls in need of saving. Winsomeness is the product of Spirit led humility. 

Many scholars have pointed out that this trial is a picture of the church before the world. As our culture becomes increasingly hostile toward us, we need to become increasingly humble toward them. Not because we are scared in any way, but because we are following in the footsteps of Paul.

  1. Paul understands the power of story

Paul isn’t just spouting off doctrine, he’s putting that doctrine in the context of his own story. He’s intersecting the story of the Bible with the story of his life. He starts off by telling Agrippa that he used to be a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was the Michael Jordan of Pharisees. He wasn’t a lowly Kobe or Lebron, he was the greatest. He’s using his story to communicate that he understands these Pharisees. The problem isn’t that Paul misunderstood the Jewish faith, the problem is that the Pharisees didn’t understand their own faith. 

Paul’s faith wasn’t some new thing, it was the prophesied fulfillment of the Jewish scriptures. This is why he says in verse six, 6 And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in vthe promise made by God to our fathers, 7 wto which xour twelve tribes hope to yattain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope zI am accused by Jews, O king! - Acts 26:6,7 Paul was not worshiping a new god, he was worshiping The God of the Old Testament in Jesus Christ. The same triune God from Genesis. 

Then, Paul goes on to tell Agrippa the story of how Paul used to persecute Christians too! He locked many up in jail. He voted for their execution. And he did this in synagogues in many different cities. Even cities outside of Israel. And he did it with fury in his heart. Then he tells the famous story of Jesus appearing to him on the road to Damascus changing the course not only of Paul’s life, but the whole Christian church forever. I won’t recount that story in great detail because we have covered it twice already. But this is the first time Luke has recorded Jesus asking Paul, “Why do you kick against the goads?” A goad was a long stick used to get Oxen to go the right direction. It is counter productive for an Ox to kick against that stick. And in the same way, Paul persecuting Jews for believing in Jesus is just as counter productive because Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish faith! It’s like driving down I-4 in the wrong direction. 

And here, at the end of the story, Paul intersects the gospel with his story. Verse 21. 21 For this reason dthe Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 eTo this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so fI stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what gthe prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 hthat the Christ imust suffer and that, jby being the first kto rise from the dead, lhe would proclaim mlight both to our people and to the Gentiles.” - Acts 26:21-23

Paul keeps using this word ‘hope.’ He’s using his story to intersect with the hope promised to Israel. He’s essentially saying that these Pharisees hope in the resurrection, but they are completely missing the fact that the resurrection they hope for only comes through Jesus who resurrected. The issue at hand isn’t the resurrection, but the resurrection in Jesus. Even today, it’s pretty easy to talk with someone about life after death, reincarnation, or even some general resurrection, but when you talk about the resurrection in Jesus, they get all weird and shut down. But, when we tell the story of the resurrection and intersect it with how Jesus has resurrected us to a new life and the sure hope we have of a true bodily resurrection, it becomes less theoretical or academic because it is our lived experience. 

Paul actually shared the gospel three times in his story. In verse 18, he says Jesus is sending Paul to open the eyes of lost people, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus. No one can say that Paul is watering it down here. He is as clear as can be. And you have to wonder if Agrippa himself is considering the possibility that he is in the dark under that power of Satan and needs forgiveness for his sins.

By using his story, Paul is disarming Agrippa. I have a friend named Jen Wilkin, who many of you might be familiar with, and I think she is one of the best examples today of using the power of story. I actually think this is the secret to her fruitfulness in ministry. And I got to see this again a few weeks ago. As many of you know, the elders have been on a two year journey to seek God on what it looks like for OGC to be a place where women flourish. Jen has helped me a lot in this process and she offered to come meet with our elders on her own dime and help us process. This happened a few weeks ago and instead of coming in and telling us what she thought we needed to do, she just told us her story. She said there are no villains in her story, but she told us how she grew up as a smart and capable woman and she was embraced as such in her home, in college, in the secular workplace, but the church had no idea what to do with her. And by using the power of her story and intersecting it with key passages of Scripture, what could have been a very heated conversation was disarmed. Instead of being a tense conversation, she allowed us to feel the emotions she and many other women feel. 

Stories in general are powerful. I was reading this week about an experiment called ‘Significant Objects.’ In 2009 two men oversaw a project where they bought hundreds of cheap antique knick knacks for a total of $128. Their goal was to resell the items on eBay by adding one thing: a story. They hired more than 100 creative writers to add interesting, funny, or sentimental backstories for each item. All of them were, of course, fake stories. But, the result was that they sold those objects for over $3600. That’s a 2800 percent return on their investment simply by adding stories. Now, I’m not saying this to go ‘used car salesman’ on the lost world. I’m simply saying that stories have power in the natural world. How much more power do they have then in the supernatural. 

Our conversion stories are real and they are supernatural because they intersect with the greatest story of all human history: the story of the gospel. You may think you aren’t a great evangelist or as well studied as some RTS grad, but if you are a Christian, you have at your disposal one of the most powerful and irrefutable tools in your belt: your story. Every single one of our stories are beautiful because our beautiful God wrote them. And if made up stories about knicknacks have that much power in the natural world, then how much more power do they have when they intersect with the supernatural work of the Spirit? And that’s exactly what we see Paul doing here.   

  1. Paul is bold

After Paul told his story, Festus was livid. Maybe Festus was regretting giving Paul this opportunity to speak. Festus then with a loud voice, said, “Paul, nyou are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” - Acts 26:25 And then Paul boldly responds, “I am not out of my mind, omost excellent Festus, but I am speaking ptrue and qrational words. 26 For rthe king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. Ok, remember the setting Paul is in. To address the king in this way was unheard of. But then Paul takes it a step further. He addresses the king in the first person which no one did! 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” - Acts 26:27 Paul is now intersecting with Agrippa’s story. He himself has Jewish heritage. Paul isn’t just sharing the gospel, he’s boldly asking Agrippa to respond. 

No gospel presentation is complete if we haven’t asked someone to respond to Jesus. But, the challenge is knowing when and how. How do you balance being winsome and bold? How do you value the relationship and truth? This takes a lot of wisdom and prayer. We have a new book in the resource shelf called Before You Share Your Faith by Matt Smethurst. Ragan Bartholomew, our Ministry Operations Director, wrote a great Enews article on it this week talking about the two ditches on the road to evangelism. She said, “On the one side of the road of evangelism, there is the ditch of ignoring friendship evangelism. This happens when we put evangelism above building relationships - thus people become projects. More often than not, this is the case when we share the gospel with strangers or those who we don’t really know. We’re more interested in getting to share the gospel, checking off a box or feeling good about ourselves, than stopping to listen, learn, and get to know people at their deepest level. This method results in individuals withdrawing while feeling awkward at best and hurt at worst. 

On the other side, there is the ditch of indefinite friendship evangelism. This happens when we overcompensate and instead of being bold to have gospel conversations we idolize relational comfort. We fear that presenting the truth to someone might push them away, make things uncomfortable, or even lose the relationship. So for the sake of “peace,” we shrink back hoping that a better time will present itself later.” Then, quoting Smethurst, says, “If the danger of the first ditch is rushing the clock, the danger of the second is assuming the clock will tick forever.”

Paul had a read on the clock. Paul saw that his window in this case was short. And Agrippa then responded to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be sa Christian?”2 29 And Paul said,“Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day tmight become such as I am—except for uthese chains.” - Acts 26:28b,29 Paul is bold not because he wants to be released, but because he wants Agrippa and all who are hearing to believe! This isn’t just a legal defense, it’s evangelism. 

I’m sure all of us have people in our lives with whom we have rushed the clock and others where we assume the clock will tick forever. But, for the sake of the teaching in this passage, I want us to consider if there are relationships that we need to be more bold in. It could be as simple as asking someone, “What prevents you from following Jesus today?” And combining the teaching from Paul's second testimony to this third one, we can be bold because we know that God is the one working in peoples’ hearts. We have a real role to play, but only God can change hearts. And because he does change hearts…because every Christian in this room has seen him change our hearts…we can be bold. We can be winsome, we can use the power of our story, and we can be bold. 

And we can be all three of these things, because it was all three of these things that saved us. If winsomeness is defined as being attractive or appealing in character, never has there been someone more winsome than Jesus who listened to hurting people, healed the lame, cured the blind, and associated with the social outcasts at great cost to himself. Who, being the true God, took on human flesh to come and save us.  

Never has there been a more beautiful and powerful story as he was miraculously conceived, lived the perfect life we could never live, died sacrificially on the cross receiving the wrath we deserve, and resurrecting three days later securing our hope of a resurrection. In fact, the lionshare of Jesus’ ministry was in fact storytelling. And never has there been someone more bold to speak against the Pharisees and to stand before Pontius Pilot and Herod and claim to be God himself. We model these three characteristics because they were perfectly embodied by Jesus to save us. 

The passage closes with all these important people talking and concluding that Paul had done nothing to deserve death or imprisonment and he could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar. Once you pull that card, it can’t be pulled back. But, you have to wonder if anyone in that room believed that day. These are questions we won’t know the answer to until we are with Jesus, but I really think someone came to faith that day. Just imagine Paul in heaven with some of these people who believed. The joy and awe that God used him to bring these people into eternity with him. That joy and awe can also be ours as we share the gospel with other people. And that joy and awe should be our motivation in doing so. 

 

In this passage we see Paul practicing what he preached in 2 Corinthians 5 20 Therefore, owe are ambassadors for Christ, pGod making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.21 qFor our sake he made him to be sin rwho knew no sin, so that in him we might become sthe righteousness of God. - 2 Cor 5:20,21

More in The Book of Acts

November 10, 2024

When God Answers Questions You Aren't Asking

November 3, 2024

God Did What He Said He Would Do

October 27, 2024

And So We Came to Rome