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Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special Monday Morning Coffee Podcast. On this podcast, our preacher, Mark Roberts, will help you get your week started right with a look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through each other and better work the applications into our daily lives. Mark will then look forward into this week's battle reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday morning coffee with Mark.

Sermon Notes

Monday Acts 22

Tuesday Acts 23

Wednesday Acts 24

Thursday Acts 25

Friday Acts 26

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Good morning, good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee Podcast for Monday, March the 9th. I'm Mark and I'm holding some great coffee here, and I have notes from yesterday's sermon and a whole bunch of stuff about daily Bible reading. And while you're listening to this, I'm putting on a coat. Because that's right. I'm in Fairbanks, Alaska. Dean and I are off on a couple of days in RR chasing the Aurora, the Northern Lights, and we are freezing to death. That's just about the size of it because this is the fourth coldest winter in Alaskan history. I'm not sure what we're doing here because Dean and I don't like being cold. So just lots of hot coffee and hopefully clear skies at night to see the amazing vista of the Aurora Borealis, the incredible things the Lord has made. That is what we're doing this week. But yep, we're keeping up with Bible reading, and I'm still thinking about yesterday's sermon. Let's work on it all together. Grab your Bible, grab your coffee. Let's grow together. Yesterday, there's a little bit of that coffee. Yesterday, I talked a lot about how it takes a church to raise a child. And I want to say a word or two now to people who are inclined to offer some advice and encouragement to parents, particularly as we see them struggling with all the many things that go on in parenting today, and when we are asked, what should we do about that? Well, let's just start by remembering some guys who offered really bad advice. Think of Job's counselors. They made a terrible mess. Maybe, maybe Job was in fact a sinner and was being punished for it. That is certainly on the table. That's a possibility. But was that the best time to point that out? Here's a man who's lost all of his wealth and his family, and this is the time to say, hey, you're a horrible sinner. I don't think so. And I expect maybe we would be well reminded of what the Hebrew writer says in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 10. In Hebrews 12 and verse 10, the Hebrew writer there says, talking about our earthly parents, for they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness as seems best. You know what parents are doing? They're doing the best they can. And when we give counsel and advice, and when someone makes themselves vulnerable in that way and seeks the village, that is, their brothers and sisters in Christ in the church, they are doing the best they can. We need to give them credit for that, and so we need to be very careful in giving advice. That's a skill, that's an art. It involves knowing the right thing to say and saying it in the right way and saying it at the right time. I'm afraid too often people have advice, particularly when it comes to child rearing, don't think about any of that stuff. They're not careful, they're not wise, they don't plan what they'll say, they don't think about is this the best time? They just blurt out and smash and crush people, and that's not going to help anybody. We need to be careful. We need to be asked before we offer our advice, and we need to always, Hebrews 12 and verse 10, remember that the person we're talking to is doing the best that they possibly can. Hope that's helpful to you as you continue to think about yesterday's lesson. It does. It does take a church to raise a child. Open your Bible now. Let's go see what's happening to Paul. Let's read in our daily Bible reading. Now, on Friday, we left Paul in the hands of a Roman centurion who has managed to rescue him from a mob that wants to literally tear Paul limb from limb. What's Paul's answer to that? Paul's answer to that is, I want to preach the gospel to you. And the way he does this is just a masterclass. Sometimes we talk about how brilliant Paul is in Acts 17, because he is, and how well-scaled that lesson is to a Gentile audience. We need to pay attention to this sermon. This sermon is exquisitely Jewish. It starts with Paul, well, actually begins in the reading Friday, verse 40, addressing them in the language of the Hebrews. Some translations have in the Hebrew language. Really, this is Aramaic here, so he's not speaking Greek. And then he says all kinds of things like men, brethren, and fathers, verse 1. He emphasizes verse 3, his Jewish upbringing. He talks about how Ananias in verse 12 was a devout man according to the law. Verse 14, the God of our fathers, the righteous one. Verse 17, in the temple, I was praying. Paul is a good Jew. This sermon is very much about I'm not a renegade, I'm not lawless, I'm not some sort of rebel, I'm a good Jew because Paul wants to say that good Jews become Christians. And this does begin like Stephen's defense speech, verse 1, and there's a lot of touches here that sound a lot like Stephen and remind us of Stephen, and that'll be true in all of Paul's defense speeches. And so when they heard verse 2 that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language or the Hebrew dialect, as the ESV has in the marginal note, there are a lot of Jews who could not speak Hebrew. Even the greatest Jewish scholar of the first century, Philo of Alexandria, could not read in Hebrew. So for Paul to address people in Aramaic or Hebrew was an effective way of commanding their attention. And this is very, very Jewish. He gets Gameliel's name out there. He's a very famous rabbi, and he starts talking about Ananias. That's a Jewish touch. In 910, chapter 9 of verse 10, Ananias is identified there as a disciple. Here he's devout and observes the law and has a good reputation with Jews. Now watch for the touches here that connect Paul to Stephen. I've said before, I think Paul is the replacement for Stephen. So in verse 14, righteous one, Stephen uses that in chapter 7 and verse 48, chapter 7 and verse 52. And then the Stephen episode is brought up again in verse 20 when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed. So Paul never forgot that. And then Paul's working here, and I think things are going very, very well until he says the magic word, verse 21, I'm going to go to the Gentiles. And that just causes everybody to panic. Everyone just absolutely goes ballistic right here because to say that you can make a Gentile into a Christian by first porting him through Judaism, that's completely acceptable. But to say that Jews and Gentiles can both enter the kingdom of God on the very same basis, that you don't have to become a Jew first, is to say that Jews and Gentiles are equal. That the terms for admission into the kingdom of God are identical for both says that they are equal. That is unthinkable to this audience. So in verse 23, they throw off their cloaks. Anybody, anybody? Mm-hmm. Just like they did when Stephen was stoned. They threw off their cloaks and Paul held on to them. So Paul barely, once again, avoids being murdered right here on the spot. And then he avoids being flogged, something the Romans did to beat the truth out of people. And those floggings are famous and extremely dangerous. Sometimes people die. And so Paul pulls his Roman citizenship and says, We're not doing that today. And that sets up this amazing showdown in Acts chapter 23. The reading for Monday. Acts 22. It's Tuesday. It is Tuesday. Today we read Acts the 23rd chapter. And of course, Westsiders, there's no Zoom call tonight because Dean and I are out of town. Let's look at Acts chapter 23. Trials are such a big part of Acts, and I think that goes back all the way to Jesus' trials. Remember, Acts is about what Jesus did, the church does, and maybe one of the things that we'll have to talk about is the way Jesus got done is the way the church gets done. But in Acts, Paul's trials serve several key purposes. They fulfill the words of Jesus, for example, Luke chapter 9 and verse 15. They give the gospel access to governors and to kings, and it does show the dramatic difference in real Christianity and what the foes of Christianity say. Particularly, I think Luke emphasizes here that Christianity is no threat to the Roman government. We need to think a lot about that. Christianity is just not a political movement at all. And mostly, when Paul gets this kind of opportunity, what he does is show there is continuity between Judaism and Christianity. Judaism grows up and becomes Christianity. That's an important distinction. Maybe in your mind, you have some of that thinking that I grew up with, which is Judaism, Israelite, Law of Moses, that whole package. That was a fail. So we got a whole new thing. We got a whole new replacement for that. That is absolutely not true at all. There is not any replacement thing going on here. There is continuity. Judaism becomes Christianity. So we're in front of the Sanhedrin Council reading for Tuesday, Acts chapter 23, and there's a lot here that we just don't know. And all the sources that we have about the Pharisees and the Sadducees come from biased sources like Josephus, who is writing for a Roman audience. So we have to be a little careful about some of this kind of thing and how much we want to, how much stock we want to put by the various non-inspired writers who tell us something about these various groups. But Paul says something here in verse 1 about his conscience, and that's an important passage for us to remember. Your conscience is not the last word. That's not how that works. Your conscience is important. It has to be educated by the Word of God, though, for it to be a reliable check upon us. Verse 2 has the third Ananias that we've met along the way. This man received the office in A.D. 47, and historians outside of the Bible tell us that he was a terrible high priest. He used violence and assassination freely and often stole the tithe. Now Paul gets angry with him, and some people have wondered, verse 3, if Paul is sinning. I don't think so. Jesus protested when he was struck, John 18, 21, 22, 23. And I think Paul's just unhappy here at the Jewish leader's inconsistency. They claim he's broken the law. They're the ones that have broken the law. And then some have wondered, how could Paul not know this guy's the high priest? Well, this may be a very hurriedly convened council meeting. Maybe the guy's not wearing his high priest garments. Maybe he doesn't have that name tag that says, hi, I'm Ananias, I'm the high priest. And Paul is, by the way, famous for having eye problems. Remember in Galatians 4, he talks about that. Probably more than anything. This is just full-on sarcasm. You're not acting like the high priest, is what Paul is saying there. And of course, the key to all of this is verse 6. It's all about the hope and resurrection of the dead that I'm on trial. For Paul, the gospel is bound up in the resurrection of Jesus. That's the proof that he's the Messiah, that he's the hope of Israel. And Paul develops that in further defense speeches. And especially, I'm thinking about 1 Corinthians 15, aren't you? Let me get a little coffee here. 1 Corinthians 15, Paul really works the idea of resurrection. And then there's a transition here in verse 11. There's often a vision in various places where things are transitioning in the book of Acts. And we get a couple of stories here to remind us everything that's going on and where Paul is and how at risk he really is. And I love this story from 12 to 22 about Paul's nephew. I'd love to know more about that guy, wouldn't you? Maybe he's a source for Luke. Somehow he's on the inside circle. And I wonder how long these guys went hungry because they are not able to assassinate Paul. The Roman centurion makes sure of that. Verse 23, there are 470 soldiers here to guard Paul from 40 Jews. And Paul is conveyed down to Caesarea. He's out of their clutches, but unfortunately, as Paul will find, he's now in the clutches of Roman bureaucracy. No Zoom call tonight, Westsiders. I'll see everyone on the pod tomorrow. The reading for Tuesday, Acts 23. It's Wednesday, hump day, and it's Acts chapter 24 that we're reading today. The reading for Wednesday, Acts chapter 24. Let's talk a little bit about this fella Felix that Paul is standing in front of now. What do we know about him? He was a man of lowly birth who advanced very far politically because his brother Pallas used his influence with Claudius to get him appointed as procurator in A.D. 52. He was a terrible governor. He ruled over a time when there was more and more rebellion. There was all kinds of problems, including the rise of the Sicare, that's a terrorist group that killed people with long knives. And he was known to be utterly ruthless. Tacitus says about Felix, he exercised the power of a king with the mind of a slave. I'm afraid sometimes I don't get the tension in the story because I know how these things turn out. But when all these trials occur, and when Tertullus, verse 2 begins to make all sorts of false charges, the reality is these guys can be bought, they can be bribed, sometimes they're just arbitrary. Roman governors, Roman procurators are by no means fair, just, and kind. That's not what we're looking at here at all, and the reader would have a lot of concern for Paul's safety. Now, Paul works here a couple of big ideas. First, he wants the protection of the Roman state because Christianity is no threat to the government. It is a threat to these Jewish teachers who have such wrong ideas about Paul and about the gospel. And a big part of that then will be Paul showing that he is not veered from his ancestral faith. As I said, Judaism grows into Christianity. It's not a replacement for a Christian, not a replacement for Judaism. Paul wants those Jews to come on board. And there's the expression verse 2, most excellent Felix. And that makes us wonder if maybe Theophilus is a Roman government official, because in Luke 1.1, Luke uses that terminology of him. And in verse 5, this man we have found him to be a plague. Some translations have passed. And the intent here is to make Paul seem like a rebel, a leader of political revolution. That would get Paul into serious trouble. We don't want this governor thinking this is a matter of religious differences among Jews, some kind of weirdness with their law and their strange one God traditions. No, this is a bad man. He's going to cause you problems, Felix. You better deal with him. But Paul says, of course, that's ridiculous. I haven't been in town, verse 11, long enough to start a revolution, and I'm not a ringleader, verse 12. I'm all by myself. I'm just part of verse 14, the way. And one scholar says, claiming to be the way, the earliest Jewish disciples were insisting that they were the true Israel, experiencing the promised blessings of the Messianic era through faith in Jesus, rather than being one of several groups within the people of God. And so Paul goes on to affirm, I worship the God of our fathers, I believe in everything in the Old Testament that points to Christ. I have the same hope. I live the same way. That's good conscience right there. In fact, all I'm doing is bringing alms for my nation. That Paul says in Romans 15 and in verse 26 is Christians. That's who he is referring to there. And I wonder if maybe that's where Felix's ears perk up. Because as we read a little bit further, we see that Felix is hoping to get some money, verse 26. And maybe hearing that alms for his nation thing, hey, this guy, this guy could give me some money. And we do meet in verse 24, Felix's wife Drusilla. She is the youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, and at this time she's not even 20 years old. She had been betrothed to a prince in Eastern Asia, but it didn't work because the prince wouldn't convert to Judaism. So she was given to the king of Emesa, that's a small state in Syria. But Felix, this is scandalous, persuaded her to leave him and to become his third wife. She actually marries him and bears him a son named, well, of course, Agrippa, what else would you name your kid? And Agrippa, that Agrippa, he died in the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79. But I like Paul's preaching here in verse 25. The gospel affects life and how we live it. Righteousness, right behavior, self-control with an emphasis on sexual propriety. I'm looking at your wife, Felix, and judgment, the return of the risen Christ. Now, all of this would be about AD 59, AD 60, because Festus took power in A.D. 60. The reading then, our reading today, Wednesday, is Acts chapter 24. It's Thursday. It is Thursday, and our reading today is Acts chapter 25. Our reading for Thursday, Acts chapter 25. This is the briefest offense made by Paul, and it is made in front of Festus. Now, who is Festus? We don't know very much. His term began about A.D. 59, ended with his death in A.D. 62. I think an important key here is that he is an outsider. He doesn't know Christianity and he doesn't know Judaism. And amazingly, two years, verse 2, have gone by, but they have not forgotten. There is some serious hatred of Paul going on here. You'd think by now they'd be worrying about something else and have bigger fish to fry, but oh no, it's all about Paul. So Paul argues, look at verse 8. He has three answers to the things that they're bringing against him. I haven't done anything wrong to the Jews, I have not done anything against the temple, and I have not offended Caesar or violated Roman law. It's a good place to be reminded. We don't want to do anything that we can be blamed for. We want to maintain good reputations. I think by the time you get to verse 11, Paul's just had it. He's just had it and he appeals to Rome. A Roman citizen could do that. If the case was extraordinary, he would be sent at the Roman government's expense to Rome. And we don't know all the ins and outs of that, but we know it's a very old rite that goes back to the days of the Roman Republic. And to appeal did imply a criticism of the current local levels of justice. They're not getting the job done out here. I had to go all the way to Rome to get a fair trial. And it does not necessarily mean that Nero would hear the case. It would be heard by a tribunal in Rome. So Festus, a little is he a little flummoxed here? He decides he'd better talk to a friend about this. And here come Agrippa and Bernice, verse 13. Now Agrippa II, I have to track this out carefully. Agrippa II is the son of Agrippa I. That's the guy who got worms in Acts chapter 12. He is the grandson of Aristobulus, a man that is not mentioned in Scripture, and he is the great-grandson of Herod I. That's the guy who killed the babies in Bethlehem. Whoa, who's Bernice? Well, that's his sister. But hold on. She is more apparently than a sister. Rumors of an incestuous relationship just spread far and wide, and there were a couple of episodes where that could have been laid to rest, and Bernice did not do that. So there's a lot of controversy about what they are all about here. Interestingly, Bernice ends up with the Roman general Titus in the 70s. She becomes his mistress, but Titus finally jettisens her when a Jewish mistress will not help his political fortunes. It's very clear as we read through all of this that Festus doesn't have a clue what is going on. And so here Paul is standing in front of Agrippa. And all of this reminds you, it certainly reminds me, is this reminds you of when Jesus Stood in front of Agrippa's great uncle, Herod Antipas. Jesus and Paul are both in front of a Roman governor, and then they were brought before a Jewish king because the king wanted to hear them. Both are found innocent of any crime deserving death. And it is only in Luke that we read about Jesus going in front of Herod Antipas. So the stage is set. The stage is set. Paul will get this grand opportunity to make a real defense in front of some important people. Our reading for Thursday, Acts chapter 25. It's Friday. It is Friday, and today's reading is Acts chapter 26. The reading for Friday, Acts chapter 26. This is the third time that Paul recounts his conversion, and it is very carefully recounted here, the longest defense speech that Paul makes. This is the fifth one of those, if I'm counting correctly. In some ways, it's the climax of his defense speeches, maybe even the climax of the book of Acts. It's hard not to notice, as Paul's speaking here, that Festus disappears into the background. This is all about Agrippa. He's at the forefront because this is a very Jewish defense, and Agrippa is an insider. He knows about Judaism. Watch how Paul spotlights verses 6 and 7, 5, 6 and 7. I am a good Jew, and it's all about hope. All I've done is accepted the Jewish hope. I have become what Jews should be. The Jewish hope is the Christian hope. And in verse 14, you get this kick against the goads business. That is a proverbial expression. In fact, it was a well-known expression for opposing a deity. And the idea here is that the one driving the oxen, the plow, or the cart would have a sharp, pointy stick. And the animal kicks back against that stick, and the sharp pointed end hits his leg and it hurts the animal. Stop kicking, you're just hurting yourself, is the idea here. So the saying illustrates one scholar says, an ox delivering a swift kick only to experience the sharp pain caused by the point of the goad. The ox's unwillingness to serve its master leads only to pain. But when the animal performs the required task, the master can put the goad away. Metaphorically, this proverb applies to a man resisting God's call to serve him. Jesus wanted to use Paul's talent and training for the purpose of extending the kingdom of God, proclaiming the gospel, but Paul persecuted the church and his efforts resulted in pain. Paul's saying, I was fighting against God, and I'm only hurting myself. There's lots then, beginning at about verse 16, that sounds like Ezekiel and Jeremiah's commissioning, and there's lots of talk there that really lends itself to the idea of being commissioned to preach even more than just his conversion. And in verses 17 and 18, look at the Gentile emphasis there. I'm sent to you, Gentiles, to open your eyes, to turn you from darkness to light, to turn you from Satan to God, to get forgiveness for you, to get you an inheritance. Well, Luke just overkills that. Paul just overkills that. Paul addresses Agrippa three times by name, verses 2, 19, and 27, and six times by the royal title. Verses 2, 7, 13, 19, 26, and 27. And I think in verse 21, what Paul is saying there is, hey, the Jews have grabbed me because I'm trying to help people like you. And Paul then claims the prophets, verse 27 for Christianity, and says to Agrippa, if you believe the prophets, if you accept the Jewish Bible, you have to become a Christian. And that takes us to that famous verse, verse 28. Agrippa said, ESV, in a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian? There's a lot of different translations here. You almost persuade me to become a Christian, New King James. Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian? New International Version? Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily? Christian Standard Bible. Anytime you see that much variation in the different English translations, that clues you to some troubles in the Greek text. And let me just pass along what one scholar said about this. The reading here differs in three ways, in three points. First, does the Greek text refer to time in a short time or means with a few words? Next, should the text be translated persuade or think? And last, do we adopt the reading to become a Christian, to be one, or to make, make me be a Christian? And the basic viewpoints here, the way that breaks out, is there's about three different schools of thought. That this was sincerely said by one that was almost about to be converted, that it was spoken secondly in derision, oh, you think you can convert me, or he is touched but put off, kind of pushes him off, acting like he isn't really taking him seriously when in fact he does. I think the ESV probably has it right. Can you convert me in such a short time? Agrippa is not seriously considering conversion. It's an exclamation, you're overreaching, pal. You're not gonna make me into a Christian. But what I love about this is that Agrippa has come to hear a defensive Paul, and now he has to defend himself. Our reading for Friday, Acts chapter 26. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. If the podcast is a blessing to you, tell someone else about it so that they can enjoy it as well. It is, it is such a delight for me to have the chance to talk with you, share with you sometimes some of the comings and goings in my and Dina's lives and what we're doing. What we're doing today is getting on an airplane and coming home. I'm looking forward to being at Westside on Sunday. It's just a joy. Talk about the Bible with you, talk about the sermon from Sunday with you, and to help us all grow together. I'll see you, Westsiders. I'll see you Sunday. Everybody else, I'll see you on the podcast Monday with a cup of coffee.

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Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast, Monday Morning Coffee with Mark. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, just Christians.com, and our Facebook page. Our music is from Upbeat.io. That's Upbeat with two P's, U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we'll look forward to seeing you again with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday.