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Acts 23 "Authority"
At the end of chapter 22, Paul is rescued from the Jerusalem mob by the commander of the Roman garrison. After causing such a disturbance the commander wanted to find out the reason for and ordered Paul to be scourged. But Paul then told them about his Roman citizenship, which gave him privileges and made it a crime to torture him. However the commander still decided to bring Paul before the Jewish council so that he could hear both sides of the story.
Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?” And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” Then Paul said, “I did not know brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ (Acts 23:1-5)
The council wasn’t about to let Paul give any kind
of real defense. As soon as he opened his mouth, Ananias gave the command
to strike him. This really made Paul angry, because the hypocrisy was
so blatant. But Paul’s angry reply was cut short when he realised
that he was speaking to the high priest.
It is very interesting to see how Paul’s attitude changed when
he learned this. Suddenly he went from rebuking the man for his hypocrisy,
to apologizing for his behavior. And the Paul’s tongue must have
hurt from him biting down on it so hard. Because surely Ananias deserved
the rebuke and not the respect. Surely Paul was in the right and Ananias
was in the wrong. And yet, Paul dropped it, swallowed his pride and
stopped up his temper. Why? Turn with me to Romans 13:1-2,
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there
is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are
appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the
ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”(Rom
13:1-2)
How about the pagan Roman authorities, were they appointed by God? Yep.
How about the boss who is an atheist and hates Christianity, is he appointed
by God? Yes. How about the parents who are always criticizing the faith,
are they appointed by God? Yes! You see we are happy to be subject to
authority when that authority is good and we agree with them. But the
Bible tells us to be subject to authority even when we don’t agree.
And the reason why is that God has appointed these authorities, and
God is working through them. Remember the promise of God, that all things
work together for good for those who love Him and are called according
to His purpose. (Rom.8:28) God can work through people who are totally
hostile to the faith, to bring about good. God even used the evil kings
of Assyria and Babylon in the Old Testament to punish Israel according
to His greater plan.
David is a very good example of this in the Old Testament. David never
had any evil intentions towards King Saul, but little by little Saul
became more and more suspicious of David. David was winning battle after
battle and becoming a hero in the eyes of the people and finally Saul
decided to cut David down to size. David fled with his small group of
soldiers and was hiding out in caves in the wilderness. King Saul gathered
a group of 3,000 picked men and tried to hunt him down. However one
day King Saul grew tired and decided to make camp in the mouth of a
cave to beat the heat of the desert. What he did not know was that in
the back of that very cave, David and his men were hiding out. And one
of the men said to David "This is the day of which the LORD said
to you, `Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you
may do to him as it seems good to you.'" (ISamuel 24:4) “David!
Praise God, you can sneak up and kill Saul before anyone even knows
it.” But instead of killing Saul when he had the chance, David
only cut off a corner of his robe. And after Saul had woken up and left
the cave, David regretted even doing that much because Saul was God’s
anointed.
You see the attitude that we most often have towards those in authority
over us is critisicm. We jump on every weakness and wrong decision and
expose it to our friends. Like David’s men in the cave, we rejoice
if we get a chance to pull one over on the boss, or we get a chance
to show off his faults. But the attitude that we should have towards
those in authority over us is how we can bless them. Paul wrote to Timothy,
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, [and] giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings
and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and reverence.”(ITim 2:1-2) This is not
just being submissive to those with authority but actively seeking their
good. Praying for them, interceeding for them, giving thanks for them.
We need to do the same thing for our teachers, parents and bosses.
In the church this is very important too. I always try to keep this
attitude towards Pastor Hirano who is my authority. Now sometimes I
must admit that we may not agree on some point or another. And usually
he listens to me carefully and comes up with a wise compromise that
we both can agree with. But sometimes he is very insistent on his view
and will not change it at all. I get very frustrated and it would be
so easy to sit and comiserate with the church staff, or to express my
dissatisfaction in one of the Bible study groups. But instead I try
very hard to bite my tongue and be obedient, pray for him, and give
thanks for the good.
Actually I was very frustrated when we moved to the Sangenjaya building.
It was just so far away for people to come and I was disappointed that
people were not sticking around for fellowship after the service. I
was thinking it is allright for Japanese people, but it is difficult
for foreigners to come on the bus. But Pastor Hirano made the decision
to move to Sangenjaya. Now I am very glad that we did. The rooms that
we are using have been remodeled so that they are much nicer than they
were before, and we can use it with more freedom than any other place
that we could have gotten into. What I am saying is that God was guiding
us through Pastor Hirano, because he is the head pastor and I would
have been very wrong to criticise him, even though I felt like he was
making a bad choice. Submission, obedience, does not mean anything when
we agree with it. If it is something that we want to do anyway, it does
not mean anything for us to obey. It is when we humble ourselves to
obey something that we don’t agree with that we are learning real
obedience.
You might be thinking, “Ok Pastor, so I need to realize that I
am not always right and listen to what God might be telling me through
the people that are over me” But what if that person is telling
me something that is against God’s Word?” Well let’s
go back to the case of Paul and the high priest Ananias. Paul rebuked
Ananias for ordering him to be struck contrary to the law. And yet when
he found out that he was the high priest he apologized. So it is a little
more complicated.
I find that God often puts us in the position where we need to ask the
permission of those above us. And God uses this permission to confirm
His guidance in our lives. Maybe you feel that you should get married
and you want to know God’s will. Once you are fairly sure that
this is what you want to do, the best way to know God’s will is
to for you to ask her father. Perhaps you want to go on the mission
field and you are seeking God’s guidance, a good indication is
whether your church will send you, and a mission will accept you. These
are all authority issues, and God will speak through the authorities
that He has placed over you.
But what if you ask that girl’s father and he rejects you because
you are not the right race, are too religious, and don’t have
enough money. Do you say, “Well, I am God’s child and God
doesn’t care about race or money, so we don’t have to listen
to pop.”? What if you ask the church to send you on a mission
and the pastor rejects your application because the church doesn’t
have the money to support you right now. Do you criticise the pastor
for not having enough faith and go ahead on your own because God has
"called" you? I believe that even though the reasons they
state might be totally out to lunch, against God, or irrelevant, God
is still speaking through them concerning the matter at hand. If God
wants you to get married or go on the mission field he is going to change
the hardest heart.
My wife and I wanted to get married before our last year of college.
But I decided that before we got married we needed to ask her father's
permission. Now you need to know that Rie's father is not a Christian,
I was 21 years old, we were still in school without any job, and I am
a foreigner trying to marry his only child. Besides that my Japanese
was so poor that Rie had to write down the questions on a piece of paper
that I read over the telephone from America. I told Rie, if he says
"no", we will wait, no argument. But he didn't say "no".
He said "yes".
Just because your authority does not have pure motives, or godly reasons
for their decisions does not mean that you are free to do what you want.
The point that you are free to disobey, is when that authority commands
you to disobey a higher authority. For example, if your boss commands
you to disobey the law, I would start looking for a new job. If your
parents command you not to worship God, or pray, or read the Bible then
you need to disobey your parents.
Trust in the power of God! To work though all things, even your boss,
even your parents, even the politicians and rulers of this world. And
never cease praying for those in authority over you.
Anyway back to Paul and the council. Paul, seeing that there were two different factions in the council played them off against each other, and when another riot started to happen, the Romans again stepped in to save him.
Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks. But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.” And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul. Now you , therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.” (Acts 23: 10-15)
It is amazing to me that the council would even condone such a conspiracy, but it shows just how passionately the Jews felt about Paul.
So when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you.” Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside, and asked privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more fully about him. But do not yield to them, for more than forty of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you.” (Acts 23:16-21)
Two important things in this story. First, before Paul even knew about this threat to his life, God spoke to him a promise, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.” We have seen this pattern again and again. conspiracy not as something to be feared, but as his ticket out of Jerusalem. Faith means that we are expecting God to open the way for us. We are expecting Him to make the impossible possible so that we can start moving forward again.
The chapter ends with 40 Jewish men getting very hungry,
and Paul unhurt, heading in the very direction that he most wants to
go. Indeed God has done some miracles, even though on the surface it
looks like Paul was simply taking advantage of the situation.This is
not a command to Paul, "You must go to Rome." It is a promise
from God that Paul would make it to Rome. Just before the darkest nights
God gives us enough guidance to keep hope alive.
Second, Paul's reaction to hearing about the plot on his life. Should
we critisize Paul for sending the boy to the Roman commander. For if
Paul really had faith that God was sending him to Rome he wouldn't have
needed the soldier bodyguards. Shouldn't Paul have just smiled knowingly
at the boy and said "Don't worry, God will take care of me."
Don't misunderstand God. We are always in a strange partnership with
God. We are saved by grace, but at the same time must work out our salvation
with fear and trembling. We are the beneficiaries of God's mercy and
miracles, but nonetheless we must always be looking for these miracles,
like the man sifting the mud for gold ever vigilant to see the mercies
that could so easily sink back down to bottom again. The promise of
God keeps us from despair. For Paul in jail, God's promise is what kept
him looking out the window at freedom rather than staring at the bars
of his prison. For Paul God's promise is what let him see the
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