Our View

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

OUR VIEW

Acts 28:17-22

17 Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: "My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. 18 They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. 19 But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar — not that I had any charge to bring against my own people. 20 For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain." 21 They replied, "We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. 22 But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect."

NIV

So now we have come to the beginning of the end of this book of the Acts of the Apostles. Paul is in Rome and has some freedom at least, although still having some sort of chain keeping him in one place. Perhaps it is a metaphorical chain because we will see that he is allowed to live in a rented house with a guard, yet he is not able to leave this place but able to entertain as many people as he desires. He invites all the leaders of the Jews in Rome to his place for a visit. He explains to them he has done nothing wrong against the Jewish people, note he uses the term our ancestors, as to make sure they understood he was still a Jew. These men have heard nothing of all the uproar over Paul’s preaching about Jesus Christ back in Jerusalem but have heard of this sect, which must have meant Christianity. The number of people who believed in Jesus Christ was sufficient to be known about as far away as Rome. Of course we also know there were brothers, believers in Rome, who had greeted Paul when he got there. The way was spreading and there wasn’t anything anyone could do to stop it. The truth be known, not a single person or a whole nation of people cannot oppose the will of God. At least they cannot oppose him and live to tell about it. God had a plan to redeem his creation himself as he is the only way he can satisfy his own need for justice. Here we see these Jews are open to hear exactly what Paul believes even though they have heard people everywhere were talking against Christianity.  What can we learn from this? It would seem we cannot beat people over the head with the Bible, but it might be more advisable to wait for the Spirit to prompt people to ask to hear what we believe. Certainly that would require that we live as we believe, live out in the open, speaking the truth of God at all times, being a vessel of God, open to being used to either heal people, or perform some miracle, or whatever God would have us to do. As with Paul, it might cost us something, but the purpose of his life was to be a witness of the Gospel. What is the purpose of our life? Is it self-gratification, or self-aggrandizement or some other form of fulfilling self? God has a plan and if we oppose that plan with self-fulfilling activities will we live to tell about it? Maybe we cannot all be exactly like Paul as it surely seems he was called by God to the life he had. But we too have been called by God to a life of serving him that is if he is our Lord and Master. We must live so that people will ask what our views are. What is our view?