Acts 26:1-23
October 5, 2003
Gospel Transformation
Jerry Seinfeld expressed the insecurity many have about public speaking when he said:
According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two fear is death. Death is number two!!! Now, this means, to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy!!" (J. Seinfeld monologue, episode 61 of Seinfeld)
While that is true of many people when it comes to public speaking, the fear factor for many Christians increases when they are asked to give their testimony.
That word, testimony, refers not to giving evidence in a court of law, but of telling others about their coming to Christ. While some Christian traditions make a lot of this monologue, for many in a Presbyterian tradition, the idea evokes feelings of discomfort; they freeze like a deer in headlights, feeling an awkward, stomach churning sensation, not knowing exactly what to say.
That may be due to the fear of public speaking as much as the fear of talking too much about themselves in salvation. In some churches testimonies are often elaborate autobiographies of a person’s wretched life with a quick mention of the change that came when they made the right decision by putting their faith in Christ. John Stott, the great Anglican evangelical, has said:
So much so-called "testimony" today is … thinly disguised self-advertisement that we need to regain a proper biblical perspective. All true testimony is testimony to Jesus Christ, as he stands on trial before the world.
For others, there is awkwardness in knowing what to say, for all too often when we hear the testimonies of others, we wonder if we would ever have such a powerful testimony. If you have had the great privilege in being raised in a Christian home, if your profession of faith in Christ has always been a part of your life, you may feel you don’t have much to say. You compare the story of your conversion to that of some and you feel grossly inadequate.
God’s Word may not help. In Acts 26 Paul gives the third account of his conversion in Acts. Luke’s coverage of the early church is often compressed and what he includes is extremely important, so it is interesting that Paul’s coming to faith in Christ is given more space in the NT than any other event except the passion of the Lord. More space is devoted to telling that history than even that devoted to the resurrection of Christ.
I would argue that Paul’s testimony of what God did in his life is normative; it should inform how we understand our conversion. It is normative not in the ways we often imagine, but what happened in his life happens in the life of every person, young or old, who is born anew by the Spirit of God. His conversion illustrates what God does in each and every person.
As Paul gives his final defense in Acts before the Jewish King Agrippa and the Roman governor Festus, Luke highlights for us the transformation which takes place when we are gripped by God’s grace in the work of Christ. The transformation which takes place is illustrated here. READ Acts 26:1-23
WE HAVE A RADICAL TRANSFORMATION Acts 26:18
Radical transformation means we may have been moral, but were opposed to Christ
The way Paul describes himself may seem a million miles from our own, but our lives are not that different. While none of us can claim the spiritual ancestry he did, not to mention malicious attacks and murder, or the supernatural light and voice from heaven – his transformation is ours – radical.
What was Paul like before coming to faith – pious but opposed, religious but resistant.
He lived in the strictest manner of the Jewish faith (v5). The word for religion here is not the derogatory word of Festus (superstition) in 25:19, but of religious service. But while Paul was doing everything right, he was so very wrong.
It’s not necessary to think one must begin as a wretch, some lowlife in order to be radically transformed. Paul’s early life was moral, upright, albeit misguided, he sought to honor God, but he lived opposed to the work of Christ solely because he did not believe Jesus was the Messiah, that Jesus’ death was a punishment for his own sinfulness and not as a substitute and that he was not raise from the dead.
Jesus had to radically transform him thinking.
No one is neutral to Christ. Even if we were good before coming to faith in Christ, that goodness is worthless to earn God’s favor. What is needed is a new allegiance.
Radical transformation means a new allegiance
In Paul’s testimony, the same as in our own, it is God who initiated the change.
One cannot come away from any of Paul’s testimonies with the idea that he had anything to do with God changing his life. His transformation was radical for it was from God alone.
While some here may have come to faith through dramatic circumstances, none can claim quite the change that Paul claimed in his personal experience. Yet even the small child, who mouths words of faith in Christ, evidences God’s grace. The young teen who gives himself to Christ, experiences God’s radical transformation.
When God initiates change, the change is radical, as we are transformed from being at war with God to a steward of God’s grace to our world.
Paul was stopped dead in his tracks; he was at that moment appointed to be a servant and a witness (v16). We are likewise given a special calling by God to speak of the new allegiance we have because of what Christ has done. The change which has taken place in your life is one of being blind and now seeing, moving from darkness to light, from Satan to God.
With this healing metaphor, we have a glimpse into the spiritual sickness which pervades our world. They are blind and under dominion of another. No one can abandon the gloom, the ignorance, the oppression apart from the work of Christ.
That we are dead in our trespasses and sins, that our alienation from God pervades every aspect of our life is a truth that we must never forget. Earlier we heard read Colossians 1:21-23, but glance what Paul says earlier in vv9-14. READ
The change which takes place when one professes faith in Christ is not just window dressing. There is new ownership, new allegiance. When confronted by this new allegiance, of moving from the darkness to the light. The radical nature of that transformation should instill in you the realization that you will never go back to the darkness.
Back in 1998 a solar eclipse crossed over Haiti, causing tremendous fear due to the superstition that the absence of the sun will kill them. Following this eclipse a family of four was found dead in their home as they died of a combined overdose of sleeping pills to alleviate their anxiety as well as suffocation as they sealed their home in plastic to block out the frightening effects of the sun’s absence.
While such superstition is indeed tragic, are we able to understand such apprehension of what life would be like blind, darkened and under the dominion of the evil one? While it is impossible to eclipse God’s love for us, does the imagination strike terror in you? When you consider the radical transformation, the new allegiance, it should.
Radical transformation means a new relationship
What makes transformation so radical is that our new allegiance means we have a new relationship
Just as Paul was instantly transformed from an enemy of God to a son of God, just as he was no longer blind or dominated by Satan, so he received the benefits of that transformation: forgiveness and a place among those who are likewise transformed.
Forgiveness of sins – that all encompassing benefit of our new life in Christ is how Jesus began and ended his work here on earth. It is the message that Christ continues to preach through his Church today. In Luke 4:18 Jesus begins his ministry reading from Isaiah 61, that there is freedom from captivity, that God’s favor is now ours. After the resurrection, before he ascends, he commissions his church to continue that message when he says in Luke 24:44-48.
If you struggle today whether God accepts you, this truth will transform your life. To know that your sins are gone, forgiven, is to know peace.
What is more there is a new place. This word means a portion, an inheritance.
Forgiveness is that all important vertical, right relationship, but this next word takes us to the horizontal – that we’ve inherited a new home, a new family. New life in Christ and the new community of Christ always go together. This new family, of which you are a member, are sanctified, made holy. You may not feel very holy, but notice the tense here – you have a place among those who have been and now are – holy. We are all standing on solid ground before our God; for he has made us what we are not so that we might become what he desires us to be.
The change that God brought about in your life is a real change, a radical transformation, not merely window dressing. It is not like the decision a few years back by the California Prune Board that saw sales plummeting so they spent 10 million on an image make over by calling prunes – dried plums. No, for radical transformation means repentant transformation
WE HAVE A REPENTANT TRANSFORMATION Acts 26:20
Repentant transformation is an about face in life
The transformation in Paul’s life meant he did an about face. As he states in v19, he was not disobedient to the vision, but began to live out the change that had occurred within. His message to those who would listen describes what God has done in our lives as well. In v20 we see the summary of the gospel message as repentance, turning from and turning to with evidence.
When the gospel takes a hold of our lives, there will be change. The change is first described as “repent” a word which is at the heart of the gospel, a word of transformation. The Greek word here is metanoein, to change the mind. The transformation which takes place in our lives is one of thinking differently about ourselves, about Christ. But not only must we change our minds, there must also be a change of life, a turning to God.
A little girl was at her first wedding and sat in awe at the entire ceremony. When it was over, she asked her mother, "Why did the lady change her mind?" Her mother asked, "What do you mean?" "Well, she went down the aisle with one man, and came back with another one." Changing our mind is not always a bad thing. In fact, it's the essence of repentance. Repentance is a change of mind which leads to a change of life.
If you leave here after worship and wish to drive north toward Sussex, and you go out Wolf Rd, head south on Hwy 164, you will never drive north to Sussex, for even if you circumnavigate the globe, you will end up driving south to Sussex. There is no other response that we are to have, but a faith in Christ which results in a turning from our sin and toward God’s work in Christ.
Repentant transformation is an evident new life
What does this repentant transformation lok like? It will be evidenced in one’s life, performing deeds in keeping with repentance (v20). This is just what John the Baptist said in Luke 3:7-8, that transformed behavior is the evidenced of a transformed life. You can not have one without the other.
There is no difference between saying that Jesus is Savior and that he is Lord. If God has transformed you by the gospel, then it will be seen in your life as you turn from that which is displeasing to God and embrace the good news that forgiveness is yours. Faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin; they will always complement one another.
Faith will lead the charge, but repentance is always on its heels. As a Puritan once put it,
"Repentance, the soul's pump, is dry...until faith pours in the blood of Christ, and the water of gospel-promises. So that, faith must precede repentance, as the cause to the effect, the mother before the daughter." (Zachary Crofton in Packer, Pursuit of Godliness, 173)
We may not relate to priming pumps, so we may say repentance is the engine, faith the fuel, together they do the work, both are a gift of God’s grace.
Faith is the essential prerequisite of true repentance. Walter Marshall, the author of the greatest work on sanctification, The Mystery of Gospel Sanctification, put it this way:
"We must first receive the comforts of the gospel in order that we may be able to perform the duties of the law." And, practically, Thomas Halyburton reminds us, "the most effectual inducement to obedience is, a constant improvement of the blood of Christ by faith, and a sense of forgiveness kept on the soul."
When we are radically transformed by God’s grace, we find ourselves at the threshold, the doorway of a new life. When you open the door to a room, you don’t stand on the threshold, but walk in.
Too often we make the point of regeneration all that matters, an expression of faith is the only evidence that matters. But entering the room is the evidence you are in the room. The focus of attention should be on God’s constant power to renew. The only real proof of our conversion is an obedient and fruitful life. (taken form David Wells, Turning to God, p.39,40)
Too often we spend our lives standing in the doorway, afraid what it means to enter the room, to live as God calls us to live. Are you afraid that a repentant life is too demanding? It is, if you seek to do it on your own. It’s not, if you place your faith in the one who sanctifies, as we read in v18. We should learn to pray as Augustine, who said:
Command what you will, O Lord, but give what you command.
WE HAVE A RESURRECTED TRANSFORMATION Acts 26:22-23
Resurrected transformation is based on God’s Word
The transformation in Paul’s life, in all of our lives who have placed their hope in Christ and have borne evidence of that transformation by a changed life, comes about not because of our desire to change ourselves, but comes only because of the death and resurrection of Christ.
As you will recall from last week, the resurrection forms the grid through which we now understand who we are and how we are to live. Paul summarizes this message in vv22-23, a message which drew sneers from the Roman governor Festus and indifference from the Jew Agrippa. The resurrection is what calls for a response. Here Paul makes it clear that this is the heart of his message – not changes he has wrought in himself, but what God has done.
Note that the core of his message is the core of the whole of Scripture. The resurrection is not some value added benefit of being a Christian. It is not an after thought of the New Testament, but is at the core of what the Prophets and Moses taught. We read all of Scripture in this light: that Christ must suffer and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he proclaims light to both Jews and Gentiles.
Paul’s transformation is a reflection of what God promises in his Word. Paul shares not: ”This is what happened to me and it can happen to you…” kind of testimony we so often hear.
Rather what happened to him only serves to illustrate the truths repeated through God’s Word, truths that are ours as well. His testimony is of one who was dead in his sin but is now made alive in Christ. Why? Because Christ died in his place, the great exchange occurred. In the same way, Paul lives, you and I live, because Christ is risen. He is the first to rise; you and I follow him today in a resurrected life. Not just in the future, at the last judgment, but today.
Resurrected transformation is living a new life
hrist’s resurrection and ours should be the heart and soul of our testimony. It is the basis of moving from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, it is the reason we are forgiven, it is the guarantee of our inheritance of a home among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ.
That Christ died to sin, and that you too are now dead to sin, that Christ is raised and you too are raised in him means you are a new creation. The light we proclaim shines not on us, not on the changes we have made to our lives, but always and only upon the greatness of Christ’s work in us. If you struggle knowing what to say about how you came to faith in Christ, what it means to be a Christian today – look at Paul’s testimony as your own, for both your life as well as the Apostle Paul, merely reflect the greater story – that of a life transformed because Christ rose from the dead.
We live in an age in which people long for a change, if not of their soul, they will at least settle for their outward appearance. I read recently that if you don't like your face, you may soon be able to choose a new one. The British Association of Plastic Surgeons recently discussed a surgery to replace a patient's facial features.
A proposed microsurgical procedure could give new skin, bone, nose, chin, lips, and ears from deceased donors to patients disfigured by accidents, burns, or cancer. One of the possible techniques would transplant underlying bone as well as the fat and skin of the donor, so the patient would end up resembling the donor. Nearly everyone longs to replace ugly parts of themselves with more beautiful versions. But in Christ we have the willing donor, who has given us not just a new face, but a new heart, a new life, a transformation beyond description. (B. Harding, "Full Face Transplants No Longer Science Fiction," Reuters 11/27/02)
And now we join to celebrate that transformation. Just as in the Garden God provided our first parents with food, just as in Revelation we are promised a tree of life bearing fruit, we have a foretaste of God’s gracious provision here and now in this banquet put before us.
The simple elements of bread and wine are transformed, not physically as some may believe, but spiritually, that as we combine faith in the completed work of Christ you and I receive spiritual benefits from this heavenly banquet served here on earth.
If you need your faith strengthened, your repentance more evident, come and eat. Be nourished by what only God can provide. As you look in faith to Christ’s completed work for you, God will continue the work of transforming you into his image.
