Acts #25: What’s the dosage for the unusual and the supernatural in the daily life of the believer? (Acts 23); Patrice Berger

Sermon: Acts Chapter 23

Are you a Pharisee or a Sadducee?

The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, in angels, in spirits; the Sadducees did not believe at all.

Some believed only in what is tangible, others in aspects that go beyond the known.

Faith or reason?

And me?

And in relation to this, what situation do we belong to ourselves?

Two camps forever

In Christianity, two tendencies with opposite extremes:

• one tries to explain everything about faith and the Bible, with the support of science and reason;
• the other expects and “sees” the miraculous, the supernatural with an almost daily recurrence.

In view of the Bible

The text of the day, in Acts chapter 23, will allow us to reflect in this direction.

Indeed, the Pharisees and Sadducees, who sat together in a kind of parliament called the Sanhedrin, are irreconcilable on this theme.

Differences between Pharisees and Sadducees

As said before, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, in angels, and in spirits; the Sadducees did not believe at all.

What does the Bible say about the resurrection?

How to decide between these two contradictory ideas?

The best action as always is to look at what God says in the Bible concerning the

• resurrection,
• angels,
• spirits.

What does it say?

The resurrection

Some examples in the Bible: are in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

Old Testament :

• Elijah 1 Kings 17. 17-24
• Elisha 2 Kings 4. 17-37
• Man buried near Elisha 2 Kings 13. 20-21

New Testament :

• Resurrection at Nain Luke 7. 11-17
• Daughter of Jairus Luke 8. 49-56
• Lazarus John 11
• Tabitha Acts 9. 36-43
• Eutychus Acts 20. 7-12

The most emblematic example, Jesus

• He announces it: Matthew 16. 21 « From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer much at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the specialists in the law, be put to death and rise again on the third day. »
• He does resurrect  Luke 24.1-12.

Is it reliable?

Am I “telling it to myself”?

The disciples are terrified: they fear for their lives, and they barricade themselves to protect themselves.

John 20. 19 On the evening of that same Sunday, the doors of the house where the disciples were [gathered] were shut, for they were afraid of the Jewish leaders; Jesus then came and presented himself among them and said to them, « Peace be with you! »

Then they become hot for the Lord and will testify of the gospel to the confines of the world and will lose their lives for this testimony.

This is not a group effect because Thomas, who wasn’t with them, noticed it was indeed true afterwards. John 20. 24-29

The central importance of the resurrection in faith in Christ

The resurrection is a central aspect of the faith:

1 Corinthians 15

16 For if the dead are not raised, neither is Christ raised. 17 Now if Christ has not risen, your faith is useless, you are still in your sins, 18 and therefore those who are dead in Christ are also lost. 19 If it is for this life alone that we hope in Christ, we are the most to be pitied of all men. 20 But in reality, Christ is risen, thus preceding those who died. 21 For since death came through a man, also through a man came the resurrection of the dead. 22 And as all die in Adam, so also all shall live again in Christ, 23 but each in his own rank: Christ first, then those who belong to Christ at his return. 24 Then will come to the end, when he hands over the kingdom to him who is God and Father,

Angels

The temptation:

Matthew 4

5 The devil then carried him to the holy city, placed him on top of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down! For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will carry you up in their hands, lest your foot strikes a stone.” 7 Jesus said to him, « It is also written, ‘Thou shalt not provoke the Lord thy God.’

If Satan wanted to get his way, do you think he would have made an unrealistic suggestion?

What are the angels doing?

They are servants of God

“The word angel, whether in Hebrew (mala’ak) or in Greek (angelos), means “messenger”, “sent”.

It first designates a function: men can receive this title (Isaiah 44.26; Haggai 1.13; Malachi 2.7 – the very name of Malachi means “my messenger” –; Luke 7.24; James 2.25; etc.).

However, it cannot be disputed that it also designates a category of spiritual beings of a personal nature.

* Angels are in the heavenly court of God, and they worship Him (Psalm 103.20; 148.2; Revelation 7.11).

* They have the function of ministering to those who belong to God (Hebrews 1:14).

* They rejoice over the conversion of a sinner (Luke 15:10).

* They bring messages to God’s servants (Luke 1.11-20; Acts 1.10; 8.26; 10.3-6; 27.23-24).

* Even the law of Sinai was said to have been promulgated, not directly by God, but by angels (Acts 7.53; Galatians 3.19; Hebrews 2.2).

* They carry out God’s plans on earth, as well as His judgments (2 Samuel 24.16-17; Psalm 78.49; Acts 12.23).

* They are probably engaged in invisible combat with fallen angels (Daniel 10).

* Although they are spiritual beings, they can surrender.”

Excerpt from  »  For a Reflected Faith   » Edited by Alain Nisus, The Spirit a Divine Person, This content may be copyrighted. The fallen angels that revolted against God are of the occult world and demons:

2 Peter 2.4

4 For God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down and chained them into the abyss, where darkness reigns, to be kept there for judgment.

Jude 6

6 As for the angels who did not retain their rank but left their proper abode, he chained them eternally in darkness for the judgment of the great day.

The spirits

Jesus casts out evil spirits: Matthew 4.1 ;

Jesus gives this ability to the disciples: Matthew 8.16 ;

Jesus teaches about spirits: Matthew 12. 43-45.

two types of spirits

• The Holy Spirit: we talked about it last time.
• Spirits related to the celestial world in opposition to God, related to the occult world.

The Bible states quite clearly that…

quite obviously, God, through the Bible, shows that the resurrection is done, in the ability of God, and that angels and spirits exist.

Yet science…

Historical dispute

However, there have always been people in history who, on the basis of the science of the day, say that all of this is nonsense and that if we cannot

• prove it,
  • touch,
  • see him,

and if it can’t be explained, it’s because it’s a fable!

Disputes occurred from the time of Jesus, the Ages of Enlightenment, up till now

In the time of Jesus, the people at the forefront of science say it is nonsense.

In the Age of Enlightenment, with the rise of science, we certainly had to say the same things.

Currently, since the last century and today, some, in support of science, say that: – « as it is not explicable, it is nonsense ».

Rationalists or Faith

Rationalists rely on reason, demonstration and science, as opposed to those who trust in God, what He says, by faith; however people with faith can also be thoughtful!

Two observations, without going into a great demonstration of apologetics.

Science is in a constant evolution of discoveries

Science, medicine, as in the time of Jesus: what was its extent and how would we judge it now?

Science, medicine of the Middle Ages, of the Age of Enlightenment?

Today: do you remember the medicine of 50 years ago? How will people look at it in 200 years?

And science? E = MC ² would no longer be up to date…

E = MC ², is it over?

Earthquake in the scientific community: Albert Einstein’s laws of relativity could be called into question because some particles would go faster than light. A first of many laws that must be confirmed.

Science is a fluctuating criterion because it always progresses.

Be careful with its use, the assertions of yesterday will perhaps be called into question by the discoveries of tomorrow. Let’s all have humility!

The notion of God is beyond our understanding

The inexplicable is linked to God otherwise He would be human.

If God was all explainable.

If God was only capable of things that we usually face or are capable of, God would be on the same level as humans.

There, we would be wrong because human capacities are always confronted with a disastrous, fatal wall.

God is not a deity of the invention of men.

These are superstitious and sterile beliefs, but they demonstrate that whatever the cultures and ages, men seek an answer to their origin, to what goes beyond the usual, to what is in us.

God is beyond humans and their capacities

Basically, God cannot be the equal of man: if He is not our equal, He definitely has something superior, He does and acts in a sphere that is unknown to us.

The Bible tells us that He is the Creator and demonstrates it throughout the history of mankind.

We see, but cannot explain

If God is capable, and above all, Creator, inevitably He has capacities which exceed us and which we, creatures, have difficulty explaining. We observe, but we have no possibility of explanation!

Humanity is confronted with things that are beyond it

All that to say that humanity is confronted with aspects that go beyond it, which are not within its abilities or habits.

Is the miraculous so present?

Should we expect the extraordinary every day?

So, for all that, should we constantly, daily expect the extraordinary?

Already my sentence is wrong because if it’s every day, it’s no longer extraordinary, but ordinary!

Two comments:

The moments when humanity is confronted with the extraordinary

First remark: the Bible covers several hundred years and several millennia.

The times when God has confronted humanity with extraordinary moments are not very numerous:

Exodus

• Exit and migration of the Hebrew people from Egypt into Canaan Book of Exodus + Joshua 10. 13: certainly the longest period, about forty years.

The Kings

• The degrees of the sun (Ahaz in Isaiah 38:8)
• Elijah and Elisha in the Books of Kings (1 and 2 Kings).

Jesus and the apostles

• The 3 years of the ministry of Jesus (The Gospels)
• The beginning of the ministry of the apostles (Acts).

Providence is more usual; however, the extraordinary is rare.

Second remark: God rarely confronts us with the extraordinary and the miraculous, but much more generally with His providence:

• « The alignment of planets »,
• « Competition of Circumstances »

God is just as majestic with one as with the other.

God gives laws,

He doesn’t change them every four mornings

God has set laws, He does not redo the rules of the game along the way

This is so because He has fixed laws (physical, biological, etc.):

Psalm 148: Psalm of universal praise of Creation

5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created. 6 He established them forever and ever;

He gave laws and He will not break them.

Exceptions are not the rule

He is not constantly confronting us with exceptions to the laws He has put in place daily.

When there is a French rule, exceptions are not the norm.

It’s the same with God, if He has put in place physical laws, it is not to confront us on a daily basis with what is different!

We expect His grace in line with His divine providence

God has set laws, and He does not redo the rules of the game along the way, in this, we can expect God in all circumstances to act in His active grace and His providence.

On the other hand, it is quite rare that God acts through the exceptions to the rules that He himself has planned in advance.

Faith, Providence, Reflection

The believer, therefore, has faith in what cannot be explained and at the same time he reflects and rejoices in the way God is acting within the framework of the laws He has put in place, he rejoices and praises God for His providence that demonstrates His greatness.

So why has He confronted us with these exceptions?

Why has God confronted us with these exceptions?

A message, a demonstration in the history of humanity

Because He has a message for us:

• to show that He is God;
• to show that when He is present, everything changes;
• after the message has passed, He does not redo the demonstration for each similar situation.

He leaves us “all these demonstrations” in the Bible.

Exodus

In the Exodus to Canaan, God shows that the most insignificant people (Deuteronomy 7. 7) can experience an extraordinary destiny when they are at the heart of their life.

It is up to us to make connections with our lives.

Period of the Kings

In the period of the Kings, particularly with Elijah and Elisha, is an idolatrous dispute and persecution worthy of happenings in North Korea. God demonstrates through His prophets that those who are in control of the kingdoms are nothing compared to God. And that even if men “tell it to each other”, and enact laws and coercive things, God sweeps it away by showing that they are nothing.

It is up to us to make connections with the contexts in which we live.

Jesus

The ministry of Jesus is extraordinary. He shows that He is God and man. Creator, He has control over all creation, He repairs lives, even after life. He is above the invisible world.

Do we measure the greatness and divinity of Jesus when we read the Gospel?

The apostles

The apostles demonstrate, at the beginning of their ministries, identical faculties demonstrating that they are inhabited by the same Spirit as Jesus. This is the sequel and nothing else.

This certainty is established, it only remains to live with confidence in the teachings that these apostles left behind.

A real goal

These great periods had a purpose.

These exceptions were in the pedagogy of God.

But these exceptions are not the habit, the rule.

Consequences:

“theology” always has practical consequences

This has consequences in our words, in our expectations and in our way of life.

Vocabulary consequences

Let’s avoid overusing the term “miraculous” when it should say “usually acts by His divine providence”.

It is stupid and criminal to say, all the time, that we have experienced a miracle, that this or that was a miracle when it is not.

Because we discredit God and the testimony of the gospel around people who see in it, rightly, only a combination of circumstances.

Consequences of my decisions

In our way of life or in our expectations, God is not going to suspend His biological laws because we are inconsistent.

He can do it in His grace but He is not going to upset the biological, physical laws because we are light, and we lack divine wisdom.

Consistency and wisdom

To be inconsistent and then to expect or ask for the divine extraordinary is not a demonstration of faith but a lack of wisdom and almost every time a lack of a counter-witness.

Is God my nonsense insurance?

God is not the genius of Aladdin who arranges things in an extraordinary way because I am brainless then I say that it is faith and that in short, it suits me well.

God doesn’t usually act like that, so watch out!

Counter-testimony to those around us.

The big disappointment in my life: if I expect miracles and never see any (let’s be honest), I risk being destabilized. The problem is not God, but our way of doing things.

In today’s text

If I started with this, it is so that we can treat ourselves in the text that follows from Acts 23.

Same split faith and reason

We will see that in the first century there was exactly the same type of person as there is now.

• Some believe in what we can’t see and can’t explain,
• while others stop only at the visible and the explicable.

God intervenes especially for Paul

A personal intervention of God to encourage the apostle Paul and God acting in His providence to save the apostle from being lynched.

He didn’t do it all the time for Paul

However, on another occasion, God let people act against Paul and did not erase this persecution.

At Lystra, Paul was stoned and left for dead

Acts 14

19 Then the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and joined the crowd. After stoning Paul, they dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead

The normalcy of life and relationships preserves Paul

On another occasion, God gave Paul wisdom to avoid being the target of human hatred. It was not angels or a vision that intervened, but people like you and me who wisely warned Paul.

Acts 20 Paul wanted to intervene in Ephesus, he does not

30 Paul wanted to appear before the people, but the disciples prevented him, 31 and even some Asiarchs who were his friends sent someone to him to ask him not to go to the theatre.

Divine Providence

We will also see in the text of the day, the providence of God acting to put Paul in safety

 Let’s look together at the Word of God

Acts – Chapter 22

30 The next day, the commandant wanted to know with certainty what the Jews were accusing him of. He had him loosed and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to assemble; then he summoned Paul and placed him in the midst of them.

Ruse or testimony?

At first glance, we might think that Paul is a « little clever » and that he wanted to get out of the trap by dividing the Sanhedrin.

It is not certain, because we have seen that he did not care about his life. So saving his skin is not a priority.

On the other hand, the hope of the resurrection was really alive among the Pharisees.

And obviously, it seems that many of them have turned to Christ while remaining in the movement of the Pharisees.

It must have been on a certain ratio because it was not until the year 90 that there were rules to exclude these Christian Jews from participating in the worship services of the synagogues.

See Gospels and Acts, Encyclopedia of Biblical Difficulties Volume 5, Alfred Kuen, Emmaus

Read Acts 23:

Unique testimony to the Pharisees

So Paul certainly took advantage of this unique moment, knowing that he was unlikely to have this opportunity again, to challenge those who were open to the messianic hope.

It’s strong, 470 soldiers for Paul

470 soldiers for a prisoner transfer! Well, he’s not just any prisoner for Rome, he’s a Roman citizen.

And the number of soldiers mobilized is not only for Paul but also to guarantee the integrity of the troops.

Indeed, the region is very unstable, a guerrilla has settled and many skirmishes are causing damage to the Roman troops and many guerrillas.

Flavius ​​Joseph War II. 13.6; Ant. XX 8. 5-6: « Jewish terrorists caused innumerable damage under the administration of Governor Felix »

A beautiful demonstration of the providence of God

It was not a miracle but the providence of God that led to this.

Greatness of God

God is equally remarkable, commendable and great for this.

The greatest miracle we face is the saving of our lives, irretrievably lost, and saved by Christ.

Same for us

Do not deprive ourselves, expect His action in our daily life, that He acts, that He answers our prayers.

Realistic Answers with God’s Laws

We expect His answers in the normality of what He does in our daily lives.

He’s not necessarily going to tilt the continents to save me time because I got late!