Acts 24:1-16
English Standard
Version (ESV)
Paul Before Felix at Caesarea
24 And (A)after five days the high priest (B)Ananias came down with some
elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. They laid before (C)the governor their case against
Paul. 2 And
when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying:
“Since through you we
enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, (D)most excellent Felix, reforms
are being made for this nation, 3 in every way and everywhere we accept this with all
gratitude. 4 But,
to detain[a] you no further, I beg you
in your kindness to hear us briefly. 5 For we have found this man a plague, (E)one who stirs up riots among all
the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of (F)the sect of the Nazarenes. 6 (G)He even tried to profane the
temple, but we seized him.[b] 8 By examining him yourself
you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.”
9 The Jews also joined in
the charge, affirming that all these things were so.
10 And when the governor
had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied:
“Knowing that for many
years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. 11 You can verify that (H)it is not more than twelve days
since I (I)went up (J)to worship in Jerusalem, 12 and (K)they did not find me disputing
with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues
or in the city.13 (L)Neither can they prove to you
what they now bring up against me. 14 But this I confess to you, that according to (M)the Way, which they call (N)a sect, (O)I worship (P)the God of our fathers,
believing everything (Q)laid down by the Law and written
in the Prophets, 15 (R)having (S)a hope in God, which these men
themselves accept, that there will be (T)a resurrection (U)of both the just and the unjust. 16 So I always (V)take pains to have a (W)clear conscience toward both God
and man.
I
doubt that any of us have found ourselves in prison because of our testimony
regarding Jesus Christ and the resurrection.
Yet I am sure there will be some reading this who have been passed up
for promotions, left out of social events, or treated as someone with a plague
because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
There are people in this world who accuse Christians of being judgmental
yet they are the ones being judgmental of the Christians and they have no guide
to tell them that they are right and the Christians are wrong. Paul finds himself in the same boat only worse;
he is rejected by those who he used to lead.
He was rejected by those who claimed to love and worship God. He was accused by the leaders of the Jewish
faith. He heard his former companions
speak lies (exaggerated truths) regarding him.
Yes, a riot occurred but it was the boisterous crowd of people that
started it. They could not agree on the resurrection
of the dead and began to argue among themselves.
Paul
makes one statement at the end of this particular passage that I want to
meditate on today. Verse 16 states that
Paul lived his life in such a way that he could have a clear conscience before
both God and man. That is how I strive
to live my life. I want to be found
blameless first and foremost before God but by striving for this I should have
a clear conscience before man. The
difficulty is that not every man believes that God will judge them in the
end. So, when they find someone who does
believe in the resurrection, who does live a pure life, they look for ways to
discount them. No one can live a perfect
life and people will take whatever imperfection they can find in us to make us
look bad. As I learned many years ago in
school, someone with a low self-worth or confidence will find anything they can
to bring someone else down just to make themselves look better. Paul was a man of confidence, a confidence in
Jesus Christ our Lord, this made these men question their confidence and
instead of trying to become confident through accepting the Message they rather
tried to destroy the Message. Thinking
if they got rid of Paul they could get back to a life a normalcy they instead
found that Paul would be spreading the Gospel to many others.
As
you seek Him today, ask Him to guide you in such a way that you could go to Him
with a clear conscience. Live your life
as if Jesus is walking before you because in fact, if you know Him, He is with
you, He is your guide.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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