UNSTOPPABLE 14 – A study in the book of Acts
Acts 22-26 (ESV)
August 18, 2013
(Video-opening sequence from Forrest Gump-feather floating)
This is the opening sequence for a movie most of America has seen, the 1995 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Forrest Gump. While this might be a winsome way to start the movie, it is most likely an introduction to a quandary that drives the entire movie. Are we simply floating through this life or does destiny guide our every step? Is there a purpose in every step and misstep we take or are we simply unbearably light items floating through this vast world? Another theme that really powers this story forward is a simple premise: what keeps this man moving forward? Why does he end up where he does?
This is an important question that we all face. Why? What takes us where we are going? Does God have a plan for our lives that we should intentionally pursue or should we just thrive where we are planted? Should we seek out a specific calling in life or simply try to love God and love others in whatever way seems appropriate? When you boil it down, these are questions of existence. Why do we land where we do? What do we do when we get there?
After this opening image, Forrest Gump begins to recount the story of his life in what can best be described as a series of upward stumbles. Without intention or real ambition, Forrest continually finds himself in positions of greater power, influence, fame and wealth. This is all the more striking because of Forrest’s simplicity in the world’s eyes as a man of thoroughly average significance because of his low IQ. This lowly man, this common man, spends his entire life stumbling upward. This average Joe continues to find himself upwardly mobile through no real intention of his own.
While working a menial job on a college campus, he runs through a football practice and because of his great speed he is recruited by the football team only to become an All- American player. Because he is an All-American player he stumbles upward andmeets the president of the United States.By the end of the film, he has met three US presidents. He stumbles upward again when he joins the Army and earns numerous awards of valor. And yet again, he speaks and rises to fame at a rally on the Washington DC National Mall. After the war, he stumbles upward again when his creaky old boat is the only one that survives a storm and he makes a fortune in the shrimping business. And yet again, he stumbles upward as he invests his money in a “fruit” company called Apple and becomes a multimillionaire. Along the way, he becomes famous for his run across America and his ping-pongprowess. All of these accidental events, which he stumbles into, drive him forward, even though they were never planned. All of these events mirror a lightweight feather that is carried from place to place by the wind, a lightweight object that is moved along by the whims of external forces. From one perspective, it seems that our lives are not perfectly charted out but are instead a series of events that happen and it’s up to us how we respond to them. From another perspective, you could see the wind as a divine presence that is placing this feather of a man exactly where he should be.
Comically enough, I think the Bible is full of Forrest Gump type characters. One of them is Paul. That comparison might strike you as odd because Paul, in retrospect, is revered by the Christian church through history as a theological heavyweight. Paul was a man of great intellect, righteousness and vision. He was a pillar of the early church that ended up writing the majority of the New Testament.
I want to take you back to the context of the early church. This man was really a bit on the fringe. While he was accepted by the church, you have to remember that he was always viewed with a bit of skepticism or loathing for his past persecution of the church. He wasn’t somebody important like James, who presided over the church in Jerusalem. His mission was not that important or well known because he was out ministering to the Gentiles. External sources tell us that Paul wasn’t physically imposing, good looking or attractive. And by his own admission, Paul wasn’t all that impressive in person or as a great speaker. On top of all of that, if he was low within Christian circles, he was especially low in the Roman world as a tentmaker who heralded a movement involving the death of a Nazarene carpenter. That’s it, nothing more.Two thousand years later, with the benefit of hindsight, this is a man worthy of emulation. But at the time, he was a lowly man on the fringe and not widely known.
This man was a lightweight and of little consequence. But the last few chapters of Acts follow his upward stumbles. Specifically Acts 22-26 follows Paul’s upward climb to more influence, fame and exposure. And it is not because he engineers it. It’s not because he intentionally charts a path to the greatest audiences possible. He keeps getting blown around, stumbling upward.
If you were not here last week, we covered Acts 21 as Paul wrestles with the Spirit’s leading to go to Jerusalem. He doesn’t know what awaits him there beyond preaching Jesus. He only knows that it is what he should do. But specifics and any grandiose goals are absent. And so he goes to Jerusalem. And he does what he normally does; he preaches to the Jews in town. This causes an uproar and leads to a riot in which Paul begins to be beaten by a mob.
The tribune of the Roman cohort who was assigned the task of overseeing this area of town hears the commotion and goesto figure out the issue at hand. He sees Paul being beaten and rescues him. We find out in chapter 22 that this Roman man has no idea who this common man is. He thinks he a part of an Egyptian group of assassins. Paul probably laughs a bit and tells the tribune he is simply a Jew from Tarsus and he asks to address the crowd. The Roman tribune agrees and Paul stumbles upward.
Paul goes from one-on-one discussions or proclamations to small groups, to speaking to the entire community from the steps of the temple. He goes from a lowly rabble-rouser to a proclaimer of the Gospel in front of thousands. He tells the story of how he used to persecute the Church but Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus and how he was dedicating his life to proclaiming the Kingdom of God and the Kingship of Jesus. This incites another riot and Paul stumbles upward again.
The Roman tribune carries Paul away and brings him before the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the high court of Jewish law. It included Pharisees and Sadducees and the High Priest of all of Israel. In chapter 23, this lowly and common man stands before the most important men of Israel and proclaims the power of the Resurrection. He has gone from minor audiences around the temple, to speaking to the whole assembly and now he is speaking to the spiritual leaders of the entire nation. As has become the standard, his preaching incites a riot. A group of men plot to kill Paul, but the feather keeps floating onward and this plot is exposed and the Roman tribune thinks it best to take Paul to the next level.
Paul stumbles upward again. The tribune takes Paul before the Roman governor, Felix. He has gone from small potatoes, to one of the leaders of the land. Rome is at the height of its power and Paul is now standing before one of the governors of this great empire, a man of influence and great power. In chapter 24, Paul is put on trial before Felix. The High Priest is acting as the lead prosecutor, Felix is the judge and Paul is his own defense. Paul defends himself and then does what he always does best. Once again, before the Roman governor, the Jewish high priest and multiple onlookers, he proclaims the Resurrection through the work of Jesus.
And the feather keeps floating onward. Paul is held under arrest for two years, during which he continues to preach to the likes of Felix’s wife, Drusilla, who is the daughter of HerodAgrippa. Felix steps down as governor, and a man named Festus takes over. In Acts 25, Paul preaches to this man and his entire court and then King Agrippa shows up. Festus has inherited this prisoner and heard his case but he is unsure of what to do. So he invites King Agrippa, the great grandson of Herod the Great to consider Paul’s case. And so Paul stumbles upward again and preaches about Jesus before King Agrippa and his wife Bernice. In chapter 25, verse 23 scripture says that King Agrippa came to Paul’s trial with great pomp including the presence of several military tribunes and the prominent men of the city.
Consider Pauls’ trajectory over the course of two years. He has preached to the entire religious assembly of the temple, he has spoken to the gathered Sanhedrin including the High Priest, he has preached before two Roman governors, and now he has presented the gospel to the King and every important person in town. To cap it all off, Paul appeals to Caesar and that is most likely why the whole book of Acts was written. Historians believe that chapters 27-28 wrap up the story of Acts, but not the story of Paul. The story ends with Paul in prison awaiting his trial before Caesar. The book of Acts was written to aid in his formal defense before the most powerful man in the world.
Over the course of four years Paul stumbled up, way up. This was not a result of a 5-year plan or a well placed strategic set of goals. This man became more and more influential and reached more and more audiences as the Holy Spirit carried him from place to place. The word for Spirit is actually the same word for wind. That is why Acts 2 describes the introduction of the Holy Spirit as a mighty rushing wind. And that wind carried this common vessel to great heights and new places because he was willing.
This is actually not an uncommon thing in the Bible. Joseph is the least of his brothers and is thrown in a hole and proclaimed as dead to the world. He is then sold into slavery. God blesses him and he becomes the leader of Potiphar’s household and through no fault of his own, he is framed and thrown into prison. While in prison, he gains the attention of Pharaoh and ends up working for him. Joseph works his way up and becomes Pharaoh’s second-hand man. He is the second in charge of the world’s most powerful nation. He keeps stumbling up.
Now in an era with the Internet and reality TV, people can become famous overnight. On top of that, we live in a highly transitory culture where people can take new jobs across the globe and move there in a moment. We also live in a world where one good idea and one massive IPO can make a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks immensely rich. In our culture, you can become rich, famous and successful overnight. Not so in this culture. That concept was unheard of. You were born into a certain station in life and you likely stayed there. You didn’t jump classes nor did you skyrocket into wealth. You generally stayed where you were with limited upward mobility. If you did move upward it was because of extreme talent and a lot of luck. You definitely didn’t stumble upward. But Paul did. He kept getting bigger and more important audiences every step of the way. Before long, the Caesar of Rome had heard his story. How did this happen? How did he make it from point A to point B?
I read a story last week about a woman in New Zealand who participated in an extreme form of sleepwalking. In fact, she wasn’t even walking. While in a deep sleep, this woman drove for five hours towards the beach, a distance of 190 miles. That is astounding. And she did it in her sleep. How did she accomplish that when no one else could? It wasn’t even her skill or talent; she just kind of floated through the night and made it safely. How much more so for Paul? The guy went from making tents and preaching to small groups to preaching before high courts, governors, kings and Caesars.
We get a glimpse into Paul’s mentality from a few letters he wrote while in prison in Rome.Specifically, it is believed that Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon during this time. And while these letters address different churches and individuals with different issues, one thing holds all of these letters together. Paul starts off every letter praising God and thanking him. While I think Paul was intentional and focused, he had no other priority than praising Jesus. He probably often dwelled on the words of Jesus, “Seek first the Kingdom…” and everything else will fall into place. Jesus was simply restating the value of Psalm 37:4; “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
We often get this backwards. This one is easily applicable to a pastor. Anyone would be envious of a preacher like Paul with such great influence. Preaching to huge audiences. Preaching to the most influential people of his day. But that wasn’t Paul’s passion in life. God added those things to him because Paul was able to say this in one of his prison epistles:
Philippians 3: 8-11
“I count every thing as rubbish.” This is actually a pretty crass word; junk, trash, worthless. “I leave it all behind so that I can know him. I am not pursuing accolades like preaching before kings and governors. I want to know Jesus. Everything else is rubbish, trash, garbage.”
There is a great scene at the end of Forrest Gump where Forrest is reunited with his childhood friend and the great love of his life, Jennie. Forrest is telling her about his travels and the beauty he saw. And the movie pans back to his days in the war. His days on the boat and the days he is out running. And he tells her,“You were with me in all of those places.” You see the “aha” moment at the end of this movie that nothing else ever mattered. It was always the story of one great love. The All-American accolades, meeting the presidents, becoming a war hero, becoming famous for ping-pong, making a lot of money on the shrimp boat or a ton of money with Apple. The money, the fame, the awards, all comes down to this moment. This is what drove him, to see her again, to be with her again. Everything else was rubbish.
Paul the Apostle had an amazing life. If you ask many Christians today, outside of Jesus, who do they look up to in the faith? And a majority of the people will say Paul. He did so much. He showed extreme faith, he authored the majority of the New Testament, he preached without fear to the most powerful and influential people of his time. And yet Paul said, “It is rubbish.”
It’s easy to be amazed how Paul stumbled up to success in this world. But if you asked him, I am certain all of those things would be the last thing he would have mentioned. Instead, he would say, “ I knew Him. I knew the depth of his grace, the power of his forgiveness, the glory of His goodness. I knew Him.”Jesus actually prioritizes this mentality early on in his ministry.
Matthew 7:21-23
I know you know this, but one day it will all fade away. And all that will remain is your great love. And the question will be, “Did you know him?” In the beginning I raised the question about destiny and fate and if God has a specific plan for our lives. That was actually a bit of a red herring. While I think those questions can be important, I think they can also quickly become a form of idolatry. We live in a world that has a significance obsession. What are the plans for my life? What does God want me to do? Where should I be? What job should I take? What will I achieve? None of these are bad questions but they aren’t THE question. Do you know your one great love? Everything else is junk.
When we started this series, the premise was built upon being an Unstoppable Church. That is appealing for pastors and appealing for congregations. It’s fun to be a part of a church that people are talking about. Oh, you go to SFC and there is some cool stuff going on there. I heard about building houses in Mexico. I heard about people getting baptized. I heard about you serving the poor. And those are all good things. But the real appeal of being an Unstoppable Church is not a goal unto itself. The goal is to know him and he will add all of these things.
The Unstoppable Church is focused upon knowing their one great love.