On Trial for Truth
Would your mother be proud of you if you were in prison? The Apostle Paul's mother could have been. Acts 24:10-21 reports that Paul was falsely imprisoned and "On Trial for Truth." Let's look at the four truths he used in his defense, and what those truths mean in our lives as well. May 8, 2011.
“I’m proud of my son, too,” one glowing mother replied to the gaggle of gals bragging to each other about their children. “He’s in prison, you know.” Another mom sent a text message to her 19-year-old daughter: “Honey, congratulations on getting arrested last night.”
Mothers typically boast about their kids for their good grades, good decisions, good behavior, good jobs, or making grandbabies. Not getting arrested or going to prison. Yet Paul’s mother could have been so proud. In today’s account from Acts we witness the Apostle Paul On Trial for Truth. He’s been arrested and imprisoned based on false charges by the ruling council of Jewish leaders. But Paul doesn’t back down from his beliefs: “I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and people…My accusers cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me. However, I admit that…”
“I admit.” More like, “I am writing my ticket to jail.” What beliefs do you hold so firmly that you will not back down from them, even if it means inconvenience, discomfort, pain, imprisonment, or death? What values are so engrained in you that if you walk away from them you no longer are you? What truths offer you such hope and meaning that you practice them without thinking sometimes, and without need for recognition or reward? Paul states four such truths in his defense.
I worship the God of our fathers
“I admit that I worship the God of our fathers.” Paul isn’t a cult leader wooing a crowd to worship him, or a sect leader inventing a new religion. Worship belongs to the ancient, eternal, covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Jewish leaders knew that full well, but chose instead to worship themselves. The fatal trust that we place in ourselves is as old as sin, when our first father, Adam, trusted in his own wisdom and way as better than God’s. Like Adam, we recoil at the idea of living under God and would prefer to operate as his equal, or even his superior, a sin only forgiven by the merciful promise of God who told our father Abraham, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). Blessed. To be blessed is to accept an undeserved gift by faith. Paul has done that, and his forefathers of faith like Adam and Abraham had done that, but his Jewish opponents have not.
Join Paul in this uncompromising truth: The God of our fathers is our God today and will be God forever, the only God of salvation by grace. Fear, love, and trust in him above all else and above self. Today I’d like to present you with portions of some essays written by a group of Grace 8th graders being confirmed this spring. Listen to one of our Grace confirmands explain how important it has been for her to receive the torch of God’s grace passed to her by her parents, who helped instruct her: “What I admire most about my parents’ faith is how much they love and live by God’s Word. I am blessed to be raised in a Christian home.”
Mom and Dad, you can give your son or daughter all the greatest gadgets and the best education, but it will one day vanish when the God of salvation presides over this world’s end as either your child’s friend or foe. If you are a parent, do whatever it takes so that your child can say what this confirmand said, “My favorite faith activity would be praying before bed. My parents did this with me every night when I was little…Praying is so important and meaningful to me because it’s a way I can really connect with God…He is my Best Friend and my Savior.”
I follow the Way of Jesus Christ
The Way. Sounds like a ’50s rock band, but it’s the name designating those believers who followed Jesus Christ after his resurrection and ascension. The Way is not a place like a religious club, not a status like your name on a church membership roster, but a direction, a journey, an act of following. Paul testified that he was “a follower of the Way.” Another confirmand at Grace similarly confessed, “I’m glad I was baptized because now I am a child of God. I am a true believer and follower of Christ. I want to obey his commands faithfully.” Jesus is the Way—the Way to forgiveness so that you can live at peace with God, the Way to a joyfully content life now and a glorified life forever, the Way who leads when you’re confused and need direction, when you’re weak and need strength, when trouble interrupts your life like an uninvited storm.
Other confirmands comment, “For believers in God, troubles may serve as a trial or as a discipline that culminates in spiritual gain…God may and does let bad things happen in our lives, but in the end, he makes them work out for good.” “Through confirmation, we are vowing to stay with God forever and even die for him. He has given us salvation and we want to thank and praise and obey him.” Follow that Way.
I believe everything that the Bible says
The God of mercy equipped Paul for the Way by giving him the map of God’s Word. Paul said, “I believe everything that agrees with the Law and…the Prophets.” One confirmand stood in front of a group of family and friends, reading his 350-word essay that contained more of the Bible’s words than his own words. Cheating? Quite the opposite. A good lesson for us to read, memorize, quote, and talk about God’s Word in greater proportions. Another confirmand encourages us, “The Bible is the most important book in the world because it tells us all about God, his grace, and his promises. If the Bible was the only book you ever got to read, you would be one of the most blessed people in the world.” Why? Because it offers unchanging truths as certainty for sure hope in changing times. “We trust the Bible [because God] inspired the writers to write what he wanted them to write. Even though there were many different writers at many different times…there are absolutely no contradictions in the Bible.” How’s that for an anchor to hold you steady in the midst of this world’s storms, and a key to open the gates of everlasting life?
I have hope in the resurrection
But there’s more than this world. There’s the next, the everlasting destiny of “both the righteous and the wicked.” Paul speaks to this destiny with confidence when he says to his accusers, “there will be a resurrection…It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you.” Some aren’t interested in the final resurrection, wanting instead to worry exclusively about the cares and concerns of this life. Others aren’t interested in the final resurrection because they’ve redefined hell to be a less-than-ideal accommodation but not bad enough to avoid. One confirmand stated, “Jesus died on the cross to take away the sins of the world and then he rose again from the dead and will come again to judge the living and the dead.” There will be a final reckoning for the righteous believer and the unrighteous unbeliever. Put your hope in Jesus now so that when you die, your eternal destiny is secured to his death and resurrection, and heaven will be yours.
This weekend I’ve personally encountered at least five mothers, including my mother and my wife, who demonstrate one of the finer traits of motherhood. Giving of themselves for their children, even giving up themselves. Giving up their wants, their needs, their time and plans because their children need something sometimes simple like laundry folded with love and sometimes complex like moving to a new home. In so doing, mothers picture for us all the gracious work of God who gives up for us—gives up his Son, who gives up heavenly riches for earthly poverty then gives up his own life for us without needing anything from us. But God didn’t lose his Son forever, and Jesus didn’t lose his life forever. He rose. He lives victorious over our sins and fears. Today as we thank God for giving us our mothers, we also thank him for giving us his Son. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on May 8, 2011
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