Acts 24 - James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS

‘But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.’

Acts 24:14

St. Paul, face to face with his opponents before the judgment-seat of Felix, on the one hand makes an admission, on the other puts forward a claim. He admits that his beliefs are not those of the Jews who are prosecuting him. The way of Christ which he follows is not the way of their religion. They call his way by a hard name, but at the same time he claims that he and they worship the same God, the God of his fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he goes on to assert that he believes all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. How far was he justified in making this claim? Ceremonial law for him had ceased to be of any practical efficacy, but yet he still fully recognised its Divine origin and the Divine purpose which it had served. He felt that Christ had come not to destroy but to fulfil the law. He felt that the God of Moses and the God of Jesus Christ were in the fullest sense of the words the same. St. Paul’s view that the Gospel of Christ supplanted and at the same time carried on the Law of Moses finds numerous illustrations in the subsequent history of the Christian Church.

I. All great religious movements within the Church stand in a twofold attitude towards the past.

(a) On the one hand there is a break with the past. New ideas take possession of men’s minds. Some old belief, some old form of worship is seen to be in some respects false and unworthy.

(b) On the other hand, there is also continuity with the past. The new development still has its roots in the past. It is adjusted to the old beliefs which are still retained. The fundamental principles of Christianity remain as true as they were before, but they are viewed in a new light, they are presented in a fresh way.

And this twofold aspect of religious movements is strikingly marked in the English Reformation. The Reformed Anglican Church broke away from many past errors and abuses, but it did not become a new Church. It still stood firmly rooted in the past. The Church of Rome has condemned our Reformed Church as heretical and schismatic. May we not say, on the other hand, ‘In a way that they call heresy, so worship we the God of our fathers’?

II. Every generation has its own religious ministry, its own way of presenting to the world the Gospel of salvation. It has not merely to adjust itself to the preceding generation, to take up and carry on the work and ideas which have been handed on to it, but it has at the same time its own special problems to consider. It has to take into account the newer ideas on scientific and social questions which are continually growing up. Each generation of Christians gives its own interpretation to the difficulties of Christianity. Each generation accommodates its needs to the eternal truths of the teaching of Jesus Christ. No one generation can ever fully understand another. That is, of course, especially the case where religion is confronted with scientific problems, and over and over again the leaders of religious thought have betrayed religion by putting forward its accidental characteristics as if they were essential. It is essential evidence of the truth of Christianity that it has this wonderful power of assimilating all that is good and true in modern thought. If it had not possessed this receptivity, this flexibility, it would run the risk of becoming fossilised. It could not continue to be a living force if it ceased to be in touch with the highest forms of modern progress.

III. Our own generation has its own religious problems, and it may be that it will hereafter be regarded as a great turning-point in the history of Christianity. At present we are too near to it, too much under its influence to be able to judge about that. There are those who would have us believe that Christianity has been weighed in the balance and found wanting, that our faith is crumbling away underneath us. I do not believe that those who hold this view appreciate the latent resources, the reserve force of Christianity, but the fact that such things are said throws an immense responsibility upon individual believers. We need all the adaptability and all the resoluteness of St. Paul. It rests with us to show that a man may be a sincere Christian without in the least cutting himself off from the social and intellectual movement of his time. It rests with us to let our light shine before men, to prove by our life that religion is a living force within us, something that we have made a reality to ourselves by striving after truth to the best of our power. Do not lightly cut yourselves adrift from that great Christian past which you have inherited from those who have gone before you. Even though you have doubts and difficulties, do not give up the practice of prayer. The God of our fathers is still very near us. He is still ready to hear us in our struggles and temptations as He heard His people in the days gone by. We cannot, of course, as Christians all hold exactly the same opinions. Our forms of worship may not be in all cases exactly the same. But we have one common object of worship, the God of our fathers. That is the link which binds all Christians together. Christ is in us and God is in Christ. ‘I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.’

—Rev. Dr. H. G. Woods.

Illustration

‘Suppose a Christian of to-day could be transported into the Christianity of the third, or the tenth, or even the sixteenth century, it would often be difficult for him to understand or sympathise with the ideas, the aspirations, the conduct of these Christians of the past. The principles would be the same, there would be a common ground of faith, but the atmosphere would be different. The ideals would not be the same. The character of the religious life would not be altogether the same. There were, no doubt, in those times many examples of beautiful and saintly lives, still in some respects there would certainly be a sense of discord between the past and the present. That is because the Christianity of each age necessarily reflects to some extent the spirit of its age, and so it is true that, within certain limits, what were regarded as heresies in one age have become the commonplaces of later generations.’

RESURRECTION TO LIFE AND TO JUDGMENT

‘There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.’

Acts 24:15

These words spoken by St. Paul in presence of Felix, who probably noted reference to ‘unjust.’ He was a bad man, and possibility of retribution made him tremble.

Men nowadays do not tremble when they hear of resurrection of unjust; but there are some who, when on Holy Days like Easter the truth is brought home to them, are conscious of questions rising up in soul.

The Lord leaves us in no doubt; the resurrection of the just will be to life, of unjust not to damnation but to judgment, to a first examination upon which the final decision irreversibly turns.

I. The resurrection of life.—What is it? The unjust make a resurrection of life in a special sense—a resurrection of judgment. How will it be with the righteous? Our Lord’s words are plain: ‘He that heareth My Word … cometh not into judgment:’ and ‘He that beliveth … is not judged.’ Some, therefore, will be so blest that for them, when the Lord comes to judge, there will be no judgment. Is this in accord with tenor of Holy Scripture? Yes, there is undoubtedly proof of a first resurrection, and that they who are worthy of it will reign with Christ during the mystic thousand years. These are they who come not into judgment.

II. What is the spiritual character of those chosen ones? Here Christ has revealed it in passages above quoted—‘He that believeth.’ But if such be the power of faith, what of the lower powers of belief? We must leave it with Him, knowing that even weak faith in Him will never be counted as though it were not.

III. On faith in Jesus Christ—Incarnate, Crucified, Risen—depends all our future, here and hereafter.

—Bishop Ellicott.

Illustration

‘The Resurrection of Christ is no isolated fact. It is not only an answer to the craving the human heart; it is the key to all history, the interpretation of the growing purpose of life.’

TREMBLING AT THE JUDGMENT

‘Felix trembled.’

Acts 24:25

And well he might! for he was now brought face to face with three things which had never troubled him before, but either of which was enough to make him tremble. The first thing was Sin; the second was God; the third was Judgment to come. The verse from which I draw my text speaks also of righteousness and temperance, but I do not think it was either of these that made the covetous old judge tremble. I believe it was ‘ Judgment to come,’ and that subject would include the other two things I have named; and I think the Apostle would speak of them in the order I have named them.

He would first speak of sin. No doubt he knew that Felix was what even the world would call a bad man, by which would be meant a man not living up to the light of his conscience; and he must have been a very bad man to have ‘hoped that money should have been given him of St. Paul, that he might loose him.’ Felix stood to St. Paul in the relation of a judge. In that capacity he was utterly unworthy of his position. He would prostitute the sacred cause of justice for his own venal purposes. His judgment-seat was corrupt! You are no longer surprised, then, that when the Apostle reasoned of ‘judgment to come’ he touched a raw place, even in the hardened soul of the tyrant. ‘Felix trembled.’ He saw the greatness of his sin, and though he repented not, he ‘trembled.’ He saw—can we doubt it?—the spotless purity of God painted by the Apostle in vivid contrast to the baseness of his own character, and though the ‘goodness of God’ did not in his case ‘lead to repentance’ (Romans 2:4), he felt a twinge, and ‘trembled.’ More than all, he heard, doubtless for the first time, of that terrible but just judgment to come, which must one day be his portion, and which would, unless he repented, bring about such a terrific retribution for his misconduct in the judgment-seat; and hearing all this, can you wonder that he winced under the castigation and ‘trembled’?

Following this line of thought, I would bring you, first of all:—

I. Face to face with your own sin.—Until a man has fairly faced this great enemy there is little hope of ‘reasoning’ with him with any success, either about judgment to come or anything else. I grant that to one who is pure-minded the recollection of past sin causes mental pain of the most acute description; I know also that the feeling of being awakened to sin for the first time comes as a shock, often so severe as to make a man most intensely miserable for days or weeks, or even more. It is undoubtedly an awful thing to discover ourselves as being rebels against God, despisers of His goodness, wanton rejecters of His mercy. But I will tell you what is more awful still. It is— Not to feel your sin! The poor sinner just roused to a sense of his miserable state may indeed with reason feel great dejection, but the man who ought to tremble is you who are still unconscious of your peril, you who have remained so long insensible to every argument that has been addressed to your mind, and to every effort that has been made with a view to rescue your perishing soul. It is to you that I speak, and that not in anger, but in love, when I say— Face your sin!

II. Felix was brought by the Apostle’s reasoning face to face with God.—Not only his sin troubled him, but he felt a passing tremor of awe at the revelation of God’s goodness contrasted with his own wickedness. Now, to face God is the solemn duty to which I now call you. It is a fiercer ordeal even than the last, that of facing your sin. But it must be done. All religion has this object, to bring men face to face with God. Shrink not from the ordeal. Make it your business to seek out God. In every means of grace you may find Him. In the Holy Eucharist He specially manifests His Presence, and to this great Sacrament I lovingly bid you, and suggest to you that the spirit in which you should come to that Feast of Love is best expressed in the Psalmist’s words,’ Thy face, Lord, will I seek’ (Psalms 27:8).

III. But if you will not face your sin, nor seek unto God, then I can only reason with you as St. Paul reasoned with Felix, and leave you to a profitless trembling at the fear of judgment to come. The certainty of that judgment is established beyond all possibility of doubt or cavil by almost every book of Holy Scripture. How terrible a trial it will be, even for those that pass through it in safety, Jesus Christ has Himself declared. Prophets and apostles, saints and doctors of the Church, martyrs and confessors, priests and holy laymen, have all combined in different ages to force upon men this great question, ‘Are you ready to face the Judgment Day?’

—Rev. J. H. Buchanan.

Illustration

A priest one day watched from his sacristy the people as they came into church. One face arrested his attention. It was that of a man who plainly bore the mark of Cain upon his brow. Sin, shame, and woe were all plainly revealed in the lines of that face. “I will seek him after service,” said the good priest to himself, “and see if I can help him.” Service ended, the man of God went into the porch and awaited his friend. He approached. But only by his clothes could he be recognised. The face was not the same. Every trace of shame and woe was gone. An air of calm and manly humility lit up the features which had been so dark. “Nevertheless, I will speak to him:—Friend, a word with you if you will. Step in here. When you came into church you were miserable. Is it not so?” “Even so, sir, very miserable.” “And now you are happy? Is that so?” “Very happy, sir, very happy.” “And may I ask what has wrought the change in so short a time? “The priest’s kindly manner bespoke confidence, and the other replied, “Sir, I have been during the last half-hour face to face with my sin, and I have found strength to resolve to go forth and fight it. Hitherto I have been afraid of it. Now, I begin to think it is afraid of me. Pray for me, that I may overcome.” ’

RESISTING THE SPIRIT

‘Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.’

Acts 24:25

Felix made two great mistakes. He did not know what constituted ‘a convenient season’; and he presumed he might repent and turn to God whenever he pleased.

I. The folly of trusting to external circumstances.—We are all apt to give too much weight—whether to help or hindrance—to external circumstances. It is a testimony to true religion that almost every one will say, that he hopes and means some day or other, to be, if not very religious, yet certainly more religious than he is now. But, then, all fancy that by and by they will be in a position which will be more favourable to make a beginning They will be holier; or, their anxieties will be fewer; or, their temptations will be less; or, their religious advantages will be greater; or, their associations in life will be more fitting. So their state of mind will be better prepared. They picture a certain future, which wears a sober, and almost a religious, aspect; and then they call that ‘a convenient season.’

II. It is the Holy Spirit Who calls.—It is the felt willingness of God to receive us; it is the ‘still small voice’ consciously heard within—it is the drawings of the secret, constraining power, which is the operation of the Spirit of God upon the conscience and the affections—these make the ‘convenient season.’ Where these are, everything is sure to be ‘convenient’—God will make it ‘convenient’—how unlikely soever it be. Where these are not, there will be an ‘inconvenience’—an utter impossibility. Remember, if the Spirit is now striving, the ‘convenient,’ the most ‘convenient,’ the one ‘convenient,’ perhaps the only ‘convenient season’ of life is come.

III. The danger of procrastination.—It needs no other proof that ‘now’—that emphatic ‘now’ that God has written before your eyes, so awfully and so solemnly—your ‘now’ is here! No man can say that the Spirit will work in him at any given time. Felix might think, ‘I will send for Paul another time.’ But he would not have the wish to send for St. Paul unless the Spirit put it in his heart; and, if even he did send for St. Paul, could he command that the Spirit would come too? And yet, if St. Paul came, and the Spirit did not come, what use is it? We are, most of us, so accustomed to have the good Spirit always acting on our hearts, that it is very difficult for us to imagine a time when He shall not act. No man can say that a year hence, or a day hence, or an hour hence, the Holy Spirit will lead him to God and enable him to repent. All religious procrastination is an insult to the Holy Ghost.

—Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

‘The Hindoos believe that the waters of the Ganges possess such attributes, that he who drinks of that stream must enjoy eternal life. Two pilgrims who had come from afar reached the river together, and one ran down at once to lap the waters; but the other stood on the bank and said, “I am in no hurry; you go back home to-morrow, hut I am about to build my but here, and shall spend all my life here, and drink whenever I please.” He built his hut, and every day would say to himself, “I shall be here to-morrow, and shall drink then.” He lived there for years, and died without tasting the Ganges, as he always put off till the morrow his opportunity.’