Sermons Worth Stealing - Pt 14

[Paul said], “Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.” And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. (Acts 22:1-2 ESV).

This sermon from the Apostle Paul takes place in Jerusalem. Luke, the writer of Acts, was concerned with Paul as a credible witness for the gospel both before Jews and Gentile political figures. The sermons we’ll see in the next few days afford us an opportunity to learn something of Paul’s background and how he spoke to different audiences. Today’s reading begins simply enough. He delivers it from the steps of the Antonia fortress and deal with the personal charge against him, that he had acted like a Jewish apostate (cf. Acts 21:28). As he spoke, Paul locates his missionary work in a Jewish context, and stresses that his teaching is based on a revelation from God. Note how he begins by speaking in Aramaic (v. 1). By speaking Aramaic, Paul was putting himself on the side of the crowd. When he referred to his listeners in a personal way, Paul was trying to make himself one with the group. Here in Jerusalem, before this angry Jewish crowd, Paul wanted to emphasize that his former life demonstrated his zeal for God. His Jewishness could not be disputed by any of his hearers, and so they continued to listen to him. Paul continued setting out his “credentials.” Paul could cite his earlier persecution as overwhelming evidence for his zeal toward God and Judaism. He made the same claim in several of his epistles. The real impact for us today might just be in this truth that he was concerned that his audience be able to understand what he was telling them. When he uses his personal conversion story as the heart of his message, he is not discounting the importance of the Scripture. He is merely giving his audience a means to understand this new work of grace in a personal context. Luke finds this story so important that he records it three times. It is true there are slight differences in each of the accounts. However, this only emphasizes the varying circumstances of each setting. It was not a canned story that Luke “plugged” in for verbal color. The important thing that comes out in each account is that God worked a reversal in Paul’s life on the Damascus road. Paul’s conversion was the result of a dramatic confrontation with Jesus. He hadn’t casually adopted a new religion, he hadn’t sought out a new spiritual experience, and his new beliefs had not been imposed on him by any peer group. I would offer the principle that our individual stories of conversion are just as important. These are the words of a true “eye-witness.” What we know best is that which is our story. Those are the words of life. Give them to others that they might truly see Jesus!