PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 25:23–27
The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”
CONSIDER THIS
As noted in a recent post, the apostle Paul was a big fish in the small pond of the church in her early days; however, he was quite the minnow in the big ocean of the rest of the world.
So how does Roman citizen #353883, living in a backwash corner of the empire, find himself imprisoned for more than two years and now on trial for no reason anyone can discern other than he claimed a dead man was alive? How does this obscure human being find himself standing before a governor and a king?
Short answer: Because Jesus said so. Remember back in Matthew 10 when Jesus sent out his twelve apostles on a missionary journey? Remember what he told them? Let me jog your memory: “On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles” (Matt. 10:18).
It’s been about three hundred posts ago, but I recounted the story of a conversation with a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky where he said, “God gets us where he wants us, no matter the machinations.”
Come on! When has it ever happened that a person gets sent to the highest court in the land and those in charge have no earthly idea of why they are sending him there? It gets better. Here’s a prisoner who’s basically been forgotten in jail, and the governor, probably after running out of things to talk to King Agrippa about, brings him up in conversation. And he wants the king, who knows neither Paul nor the case, to help determine the charges to send on to Caesar. This is astonishing.
Remember as I noted the other day, as readers, we must put ourselves into the situation and read forward rather than reading all that we know today back into that moment. When I’ve read this in the past, my easy assumption was to say, “Of course, Paul is standing before kings and governors. He’s only one of the most important people in the history of the world.” Wrong. At the time, a person like Paul—a prisoner of no consequence—doesn’t get an audience with a king. It just doesn’t happen. (Well, there was Joseph!)
Remember, Paul is not on trial in today’s text. King Agrippa requested to hear him. Paul is being given an audience with the king, with all the pomp and circumstance, bells and whistles, fine regalia, military generals, and prominent men of the city.
Paul, the imprisoned criminal, is not on trial as a criminal. No, he stands before King Agrippa as a witness of none other than Jesus himself, the King of all kings. Here’s the real kicker—King Agrippa was being given an audience with Jesus Christ.
I want you to revel in the glorious gravity of this moment.
God gets us where he wants us, no matter the machinations.
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness. I long to be like you.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
Come, Holy Spirit, transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
Do you find this to be a true marvel—how Paul gets to Rome? Consider this scene in light of the declaration of Jesus’s identity as the King of kings.
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “Christ for the World We Sing” (hymn 450) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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3 Responses
Thank you, JD, for helping us see more clearly.
–See More Clearly–
Hearing a sermon
And singing some songs
Will be deceptive
If they don’t align
With the Bible.
Search the Scriptures
And do what they say.
Hear what God’s Spirit says
So you won’t be deceived.
“Humble yourself.”
“Bless those who curse you.”
“Love your enemies.”
(See Acts 17:11 & James 1:22.)
Today’s Daily Wake-up Call, is in my opinion, an illustration of how our individual stories are integrated into God’s big story. In other words, or calling is for us to remain faithful to our calling, regardless of how external circumstances seem to be unfolding. We need to keep in mind what Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus after reminding them that they were saved by grace through faith and not by their own works: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) In other words, when faithful to our individual calling, God will use use us to accomplish his will and purpose. We may not even realize how, this side of eternity.
I remember the even larger machination by God: Rome existed to create roads, economy, stability to allow the rapid spread of the Gospel.