Paul’s arrest, imprisonment and trials (which take up a large part of the latter stages of Acts) arise primarily because of the fact that he consistently preached about the resurrection of Jesus and how in Jesus all the prophecies of the Old Testament about God’s Messiah were fulfilled. In Acts 24:21 Paul said, ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’  Festus told King Herod Agrippa II that the disputes were ‘about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.’ (Acts 25:19) The one consistent thread to all of this is the fact that Jesus was dead and is now alive!

The death and resurrection of Jesus remain at the heart of the Christian faith (see 1 Corinthians 2:2, 1 Corinthians 15). This is why Easter is such an important time for Christians, because it is the time we remember Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross and that God’s acceptance of this sacrifice is seen through the resurrection. Death and sin could not keep a hold on the sinless Son of God; He was raised to life for our justification. (Rom 4:25)

We can understand why Festus seems rather perplexed about all this. After all, it makes no logical sense to say that a dead man named Jesus is now alive. Dead men don’t rise. They don’t come back to life. The one thing we learn from an early age is that death is the end.

Except in God’s kingdom, it isn’t. And that is the utterly revolutionary truth we need to proclaim. We serve a risen Saviour! Jesus said, ‘I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.’ (Rev 1:18) As we approach Easter once again, let’s be as convinced as Paul was that the dead man named Jesus is now alive, and let’s live in ways that reflect the hope and joy that this brings.

The Bible calls people to obey civil authorities as God’s representatives on earth (see Romans 13), but also makes it clear that God’s laws supersede civil laws. The line between the two can cause clashes, for God’s kingdom is very different from the world’s ways of doing things. In the book of Acts, we see how the apostles were frequently in trouble with religious and civil authorities and how they declared ‘we must obey God rather than human beings!’ (Acts 5:29) At times, that resulted in imprisonment and even death; there is a price to pay for being a follower of Jesus which all of us need to acknowledge.

In Acts 25, we see Paul still imprisoned and facing charges brought against him. This time, a full two years after he was first arrested, he is being questioned by the new Roman procurator at Caesarea, Porcius Festus. John Stott tells us, ‘The disturbances which Paul was alleged to have caused were religious in their origin but civil in their character.’ (‘Acts’, P 366) The Jews knew that the Romans were unwilling to convict people on purely religious charges, but were obliged to take note of civil unrest, and therefore they tried to give ‘a political twist to the religious charge.’ (ibid., P 366)

We may feel this is unfair, but the truth is that our faith does not exist in a spiritual vacuum. We are physical beings and spiritual things affect us physically as well as spiritually; we live in the world and therefore our faith has implications for how we live in this world. If we don’t have an integration of the two, we are likely to be ineffective for God and unhappy in ourselves. God calls us to think through issues and apply our faith in the real world. Obedience to God has to be our starting point, and may well lead us, as it did Paul, into conflict with the world. It’s not that we are looking to be disobedient or rebellious, but there are times when we will feel, as Martin Luther did, ‘Here I stand; I can do no other.’ Obedience has a price to pay; faith must prevail over expediency.

Both Paul and Festus (the successor to Felix as the Roman procurator in charge of Paul’s imprisonment) found themselves on the horns of a dilemma. Strictly speaking, Paul should have already been acquitted now, because he had not been found guilty of any crime, either religious or political, but Festus was keen to placate the Jews and therefore suggested moving the trial to Jerusalem. Compromise was his bedfellow, at the expense of doing what was right. Paul knew that would only lead to fresh accusations from the Jews (and potential ambush en route there.) If Paul were guilty of a capital offence, he was willing to bear the penalty. But if the Jewish accusations were false, no one – not even the procurator – had the right to hand him over to them, and so he used his right as a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar.

This raises the interesting question of how far we must push at doors to open them and how far we must wait for God to move. God has promised Paul he would testify for Him in Rome (Acts 23:11); Paul now ‘nudges’ the scene a step closer to Rome. Tom Wright says of this chapter, “This is an important point about the interaction between God’s purposes and our praying. Sometimes, when we pray and wait for God to act, part of the answer is that God is indeed going to act, but that he will do so through our taking proper human responsibility in the matter. It’s hard to tell in advance what the answer will be. There are times when ‘the Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still’ (Ex 14:14), and other times when it is ‘be strong and very courageous, for you shall put this people in possession of the land I swore to give them.’ (Josh 1:6) Discerning and discovering which applies in which case – and note that even in the latter case God is giving the people the land which Joshua is giving them – is a major element in the discernment to which all Christians, and especially Christian leaders, are called.” (‘Acts For Everyone Pt 2’)

It is not always easy to know when to be still and when to be pro-active. There are numerous cases in the Bible of people getting it wrong (Abraham with Hagar, Moses taking the law into his own hands and murdering someone and so on), and we clearly need much wisdom in this area, but the balance of our action and God’s action is a delicate one! One thing is clear. God specialises in the ‘third way’, doing things we generally haven’t even considered because they are so bizarre, unconventional or downright miraculous!

Yan Hadley quoted a famous poem tonight by John Greenleaf Whittier:

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a failure comes about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit—
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Our deliverance may be a sovereign work  of God’s grace, but we can lose the freedom He wants to give us through compromise, carelessness or lack of commitment. Gal 5:1 urges us not to submit again to a yoke of slavery, and we must take the responsibility for:

1. strengthening the foundations of our faith. We need a solid foundation which comes from knowing and obeying God’s word. (Matt 7:24-27)

2. singing the song of the redeemed. Joyful gratitude is what will keep us going through times of trouble; the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Neh 8:10) Is 35:10 speaks of this joyful singin; we must guard our hearts against defeatist attitudes and complaining and grumbling. We should begin each day with thanksgiving and allow God to keep us singing throughout the day.

3. surrendering daily to live for Christ. 2 Cor 5:15 reminds us that we now no longer live for ourselves but for Him. Self-centredness will do us no good personally, nor will it help the church or society. Instead, we must live Christ-centred lives, for we are now ‘under new management.’

It was a pleasure to welcome Yan Hadley, our guest speaker, tonight after a long absence! He spoke on the subject of ‘Triumph in Times of Trouble’, reminding us of the need to be strengthened by God’s power even in trying times. Rom 8:37 reminds us we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and 1 John 5:4 reminds us that faith is the victory that overcomes the world. We looked at Ps 40:1-3 to investigate the problem of despair, the puzzle of delay and the power of deliverance.

1. The Problem of Despair

It is not a sin to feel despair at difficult circumstances, but we must not cling to it. Despair leaves us feeling helpless and hopeless, and all of us feel this way on occasions. Despair can even lead us to contemplate suicide, but the hope we have is that God can meet with us even in a pit of despair. David spoke of being in a slimy pit, a barren and gloomy place to be, but as he cried out to God, God heard his cry. 1 Sam 1:6-20 shows us Hannah in despair over her childlessness; Luke 17:11-19 shows us ten lepers who were outcasts and rejected by society who cried out to Jesus. Mark 10:46-52 tells of blind Bartimaeus who felt useless and unloved but whose cry was heard by Jesus. The truth is that if we cry out to God, we will be saved (see Acts 2:21, Rom 10:13). When we cry out to God, He turns to us and hears us.

2. The Puzzle of Delay

There is no doubt, however, that God’s timescales are often baffling to us; we are puzzled and frustrated over God’s timing. Doubt, anger and resentment can creep in as we face troubles that just seem to keep on piling up. The confusion of God’s apparent slowness in answering us may well spoil our relationship with God, but David shows us we need to wait patiently for the Lord. Heb 6:12 tells us that it is by faith and patience that we inherit God’s promises. Jesus delayed when summoned to help Lazarus (John 11:5-6), and this delay baffled his sisters, especially since in the meantime, Lazarus died. But Jesus was able to do an even greater miracle by raising Lazarus from the dead; ther was purpose even in His delay. Eccl 3:11 reminds us that God makes everything beautiful in His time. We may find waiting testing, but we must learn to trust God in His puzzling delays.

3. The Power of Deliverance

Ps 40 shows us that God delivered David from the slimy pit; He set his feet on solid ground and gave him a new song to sing. David’s helplessness was transformed to hope; he went from sinking fast to standing firm, from sadness to singing a new song. Ultimately, it is in times of great testing that testimonies are born. Our deliverance is a sovereign work of God’s grace (note how many times these verses talk of what God does.) God’s deliverance will cause others to see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him. As we call on God’s name and stand firm on His solid foundation, we will know triumph in the times of trouble.