Title: Paul's Faith / Acts 24:1-13
Contents
The corrupt clericalists of Judaism did everything they could to get rid of the ‘righteous’. For those who spoke and acted rightly were like thorns in their eyes.
For those who practice unrighteousness, the 'righteous' are always a stone of stumbling blocks and are like thorns.
Because as long as there is the cry of the righteous, we cannot do injustice with our hearts. So they tried to throw Paul away.
It is the same today. Those who do not like to hear the right voice and block their ears because the cry of the truth is a burden is proof that their hearts have become arrogant, hardened, and corrupt.
That is why we can see that the activities of the evil group, who are trying to get rid of the righteous by wielding the sword of the priesthood, are actively taking place both inside and outside the church today.
Verse 1 says, “Five days later, Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and Tertullus a preacher and accused Paul before the governor.”
Five days after Paul was imprisoned, the high priest Ananias mobilized some elders and even a lawyer named Tertulus to sue Paul before the governor.
Its purpose was to condemn and kill Paul. Satan's work is always to condemn and kill others. However, the work of the Holy Spirit leads us to the path of forgiveness and life. Those wicked people even hired a lawyer, because to call good evil, they had to be good at sophistry.
In verses 2-4, we see a lawyer named Tertullus using flattery to win the governor's heart in order to achieve their purpose. If you listen to Dudlow's argument, it's easy to tell that he's a man whose conscience has been crushed. Inwardly, he neither respects Felix nor acknowledges his achievements, but can see him flattering and praising Felix as if he were a great warrior. And to bury the innocent, they pretended to have things that were not there, as if they had seen things that had not been seen, and condemned Paul as a riot, a heretic, and a blasphemer.
And in verses 5-6, you can see that the governor, who is the symbol of the aggressor, is accumulating the highest praise in the sartorial sphere, but he is using words that call it a plague and a monster toward his people without hesitation. It says, “Mr. Felix, we are ignorant in every way and everywhere that we are at peace through you, and that this nation has been improved in many ways because of your foresight. Roughly speaking, I want you to be patient and listen.” How abominable are you? Truly, they are masters of flattery and manipulation, and they are inferior to animals whose conscience has been completely paralyzed with their dual personality.
At that time, a man named Felix, the governor of Judea, was famous for his wickedness. He was a cruel and greedy oppressor who used his privileges to do all kinds of evil, promoted assassinations, and supported assassins. That is why revolts were frequent at that time. Toward such a person, he exalted himself to the heavens as if he were a great and great ruler.
There is always evil and iniquity lurking inside flattery. And he who loves flattery will one day become a slave to iniquity and lawlessness. Because lies are the father of Satan. As always, there are very few people who like flattery without a disastrous ending. And the same goes for the flatterers.
However, we have one issue to address here. It is the inability to distinguish between flattery and kindness. Flattery is a cunning and deceitful act of winning the heart of another to satisfy one's own self-interest, while kindness is an act of showing love for the benefit of others. In other words, flattery is the act of pretending to be for the other person for your own benefit even when your heart is full of hatred for the other person. It's a lie covered in honey. But kindness is not. These are words and actions that come from the true heart of loving the other person and trying to provide even a little bit of benefit and convenience.
In verses 5-6, the magistrate's courtiers flattered the governor and captured the governor's heart, then accused him of four crimes. The first is called a plague, the second is a riot, the third is the chief of the Nazarene heresy, and the fourth is a defiler of the temple. Plague is a terrifying epidemic that makes many people sick. They treated Paul like a plague. But he was the one who saved many people. And a troublemaker means a person who disturbs the peace and well-being of society. And they said that they are heretics and defilers of the temple, so all of them were blatant lies. They are hypocrites who say evil is good and good is evil, and they are hypocrites who blame their iniquity and injustice on others and pretend to be righteous.
Paul never defiled the temple. However, as Jesus said, in the New Testament era, it was just rightly reported that God is looking for those who worship in spirit and truth everywhere. This is not a defilement of the temple, but rather the true meaning of the Old Testament temple.
In verses 10-13, Paul is stating the truth without any flattery or any excuses. Here Paul spoke with anger and conviction that all of Tertullus's charges were groundless, false, and fabricated.
That's right. When a person is in a position of truth and righteousness, there is no fear. It is something you can be brave about. Yes, yes, yes or no, boldly say no. Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
I don't know how many people surrounded Paul and tried to kill him. No one wanted to help Paul. Because of fear, he had no choice but to abandon the truth and compromise with the unrighteous. If you go on, you will definitely die. However, Paul was not afraid at all because he believed in the help of a God who loves and delights in the truth. Rather, it was bold. This is the attitude of a believer.
People are full of things that can only be feared when they only look at reality. However, since the God of justice lives, God will take care of us as long as we sincerely do our best. Because God is a righteous judge. Therefore, Christians do not depend on people or lawyers, but only rely on God, who is in control of all history and human life, death, and happiness.
We often see a mountain that we do not have to climb and we worry and fear. I worry about the river I won't cross. I am afraid of an accident that I will never meet. Newspapers and T.V. these days show a lot about cancer and scary diseases. People in their 40s and 50s have the highest incidence of cancer. So, some people worry, 'Isn't this cancer?' even if the body is a little strange.
Many people today are openly worried and afraid of a disease they will never get. That's why there are so many people who get sick. This does not mean that we should be indifferent to disease and live haphazardly. Things to be careful about are preventable, and things to be diagnosed and treated early must be treated in advance.
Now, we should not have to worry about vain worries and worries that we shouldn't have. Folks, faith and fear cannot coexist. Because Paul was a man who fully believed in God, he lived boldly, entrusting everything to God, no matter what the reality might be. And I did my best in reality and lived according to righteousness and truth until the end. This is the Christian life.
Dear saints,
In the new year, we Christians, like the apostle Paul, entrust all of our future paths and all the events of the group to the Lord, and do our best in the given circumstances with peace of mind and courage. If we do that, we believe that God will lead us to a good and blessed path.