Acts 28:17-31

We’ll just wait. Now’s not the time. We’re just not comfortable. It’s not like we imagined it would be. Maybe another time, in another setting, when things are different, maybe then we’ll say something. We’re waiting for ideal conditions. We want things to be just right. We want the setting to be perfect before we take that big, scary step of, gasp, talking to somebody about Jesus.

But it’s just not quite right, yet. I mean, no one has asked me to, quote, give them the reason for the hope I have, at least not in so many words. And they don’t really look like they’re interested in going to church or anything. I mean, they don’t look like they would want to dress up on Sunday morning, and if they don’t want to do that, then why should I talk to them about becoming a Christian? And besides, we’re at work, and we’re supposed to be doing our jobs, so I better not bring it up. Or, they’re a neighbor, and you want to keep good relations with your neighbors because if you bring up Jesus, and they don’t want you to, that just makes things awkward living next to each other. And they probably don’t want to hear about Jesus, and I don’t want to talk about Jesus unless someone really wants to hear about Jesus. So, no, not yet, not here, not with this person, not at this time. I’ll just wait.

We’ll be waiting a very long time if we’re going to wait for the perfect situation, the ideal conditions. We will always feel incompetent, we will never feel up to it, we will never feel trained enough, smart enough, able to answer anyone’s questions. We will never find the right setting, the right person, the right time to talk about Jesus.

But that doesn’t matter, because even in the worst circumstances, even with the biggest obstacles, even feeling weak and incapable, the gospel still has an effect. The news of Jesus dying and coming back again still gets through and works its way into the hearts of people who need to know Him. All we need to do, no matter where we are, no matter who we’re talking to, no matter how awkward it is, all we need to do is open our mouths, and let the name of Jesus be spoken once in a while. Let Him come up in conversations. Let Him be referred to frequently, not obnoxiously but periodically.

And something will happen. In spite of poor conditions, in spite of our inability, in spite of things not being just right, people come to know Jesus. You know how I know? Because that’s the way it’s always been. Only, ever, in less than ideal conditions, have people been saved by coming to know Jesus. No matter where you are in life, what you do for a living, where you live, what you know, you can be used to bring someone to the Savior.

We’ve come to the end of the book of Acts. We’ve taken a look at just a few glimpses of what happens when someone is affected, infected with the gospel of the resurrected Jesus. When someone has met a Man who died and then rose again, when someone has this God take over their lives, there’s no stopping them, not from going to a temple to pray, not from speaking a message that can’t be stopped, not from singing in a prison through an earthquake, nothing can stop us. And there’s dozens of more stories through this book about what people do with the gospel.

But for all the victory and strength and joy, none of these disciples were in ideal conditions to bring the gospel. They were being hunted by Roman soldiers AND Jewish Pharisees. They were whipped and jailed and often killed. Their draw to come to Jesus wasn’t that you could be rich if you did, or powerful, or popular. No, coming to Jesus meant possibly losing your own life, just like Jesus did. It certainly meant giving up everything we own and letting Jesus do what He wants with it. The call to Jesus was a call to sacrifice, coming from people running for their lives.

And under those circumstances, in that setting, thousands gave their lives to Jesus. It hardly seems possible, but they did. They heard the message, and they received that message. It started at Pentecost, with 3000 people. And it didn’t stop there. The message spread out as the apostles went out, and within the lifetime of the apostles, the gospel had been heard and received all the way from India to Spain, to Britain, down into Africa. All while being hunted and chased and imprisoned.

And that’s where we find Paul, here in Acts 28. He’s been around the world, at least the known world of his time, three times. And the last time he came back to Jerusalem, he was caught, arrested and accused of crimes against the Jewish people, of inciting riots and spreading dissension that threatened national security. And even though the Pharisees couldn’t make the charges stick, they still wanted Paul killed. Paul appealed his case to the highest court, to the ruler of the Roman Empire, to Caesar himself.

And so, now, here he is, in Acts 28, under arrest, in custody, in Rome. Not ideal conditions for spreading the gospel, and yet, that doesn’t seem to stop Paul. Verse 17:

In every town Paul had visited, bringing the gospel, the first place he went to was the synagogue, to let the Jews know that their Messiah had finally come. It hardly ever worked, Paul was usually thrown out, but he kept going to the Jews first anyway.

And this time, since he can’t go to the synagogue, he asks the synagogue to come to him. Now, he’s taking a huge risk here. After all, it was the Jewish leaders back in Jerusalem that started this whole mess in the first place. But Paul is up front with them. He explains the situation, that even though some people think he was doing a bad thing, in reality, he was bringing good news, THE good news, the gospel. Verse 20:

Well, surprisingly, providentially, because the Spirit is working, these Jewish leaders don’t react so bad. They haven’t heard anything bad about Paul, so they don’t have a beef with him. In fact, they’re a little curious. Verse 22:

So, let’s just see what’s happened so far. Paul is arrested in Jerusalem, way back in chapter 21. Since that time, he’s almost torn to pieces by a mob. 40 men take an oath that they’re not going to eat until Paul is dead. There’s a conspiracy to kill him on his way to Rome, which fails. He’s sent to Rome on a ship, and they survive a hurricane that blows them around for about a week.

And instead of these catastrophes, these disasters, making Paul stop and give up, each one only served as a stepping stone to this group of Jewish leaders "wanting to hear what Paul’s views are."

And Paul is more than ready to talk. Once again, he’s talking to Jewish leaders, the last people you would think would want to hear about Jesus. And he’s talking while under arrest, with Roman soldiers making sure he doesn’t escape. And yet, verse 23:

There’s two things that Paul talked about. First, he talked about what they knew. He went to their experience, what was most precious to them. They knew the law of Moses and the prophets backwards and forwards. The Law and the Prophets were their lives, and Paul meets them where they lived. If Paul was talking to Greeks instead of Jews, he would never start with the law of Moses. He would start somewhere else, maybe with Zeus or something like that.

But with the Jews, Paul starts with the law. First, he starts with what they know. And then the second thing Paul does is he talks about Jesus. He could have just talked with them about the ten commandments, about David and Goliath and all the rest. And there wouldn’t have been any disagreement. But then they wouldn’t have heard the gospel either. They still wouldn’t have known Who it is that saves us. So, Paul is sure to bring up Jesus, to mention Him by name, to make clear that it’s Jesus that is Savior and Lord. Paul explains that Jesus is the one in Genesis 3:15, the one who would crush the serpents head. He explains that Moses and Joshua and David were great, but they were only pointing to the greatest, and that the name of the Greatest is Jesus.

And some of the them get it, and some don’t. Verse 24:

Especially when Paul quoted Isaiah 6:9:

Both and Isaiah and Paul tell their listeners this harsh, accusing statement for the same reason, to shake them up, to shake them awake, that maybe if they hear these words, then they WILL understand, that maybe their eyes WILL be opened, and they’ll get it. Paul is so driven for his fellow Jews to get it, he tells them like it is, hoping they’ll finally know Jesus. And he’s taking any and every opportunity to get the message across, whenever he can. Because he’s not waiting for the ideal setting, the right moment, when he feels like. In fact, he’s creating the right moment to talk about Jesus. And some listen and accept.

And some will listen and some will accept, if we will talk. We can’t wait until they ask the right questions using exactly the right words, we can’t wait until they come to our Bible Study or attended our church for a few months. We can’t wait to find the right kind of person with the eager look on their face. We can’t wait for them to come up and ask us, "So, what am I supposed to do in order to be forgiven from my sins?" This won’t happen. We can’t wait.

So, we make the opportunities. We connect with people, even people that are not like us, people that are different than us. And we do what Paul did. First, we come to where they are. We start with what they are interested in. We start with what they know. And this first step, coming to them, can take a long, long time. Finding out what a person values can take a while, and what they value probably won’t be very spiritual. Everything from racing to football to gardening to carpentry, we listen for their interests, how they spend their time, what are they thinking about a lot? Moms think a lot about raising kids. Dads do too, though dads don’t talk about it as openly and clearly as moms do, sometimes. We listen, we do a lot of listening, way more listening than talking. We hear their fears, we hear what cheers them up, we know what gives them value, we what makes them feel worthless. We know their lives. That’s first.

And then, second, we talk about Jesus. Not morality, Jesus. Not doing good things, Jesus. Not just parenting skills, Jesus. Not just "cheer ups", Jesus. We tell them that Jesus takes dead things and makes them living things. He takes dead things, like fears and worries, like failures, like embarrassments, like loss and grief, He takes all the things that drag us down, and He buries them. And in their place, He brings life. He brings living things like peace and rest, like forgiveness of others, forgiveness of ourselves, like comfort from sorrow, freedom from being trapped, hope for the future, meaning and purpose. We tell them what Jesus has done in our lives, and we tell them what Jesus can do in theirs.

And some will be convinced, and some won’t. Some will want to hear more, and some will get out as quickly as they can. Some will love us for telling them about Jesus, and some will hate us for the very same reason. And we keep coming into people’s lives and telling them about Jesus.

There is no such thing as ideal conditions, and actually conditions are getting worse. We celebrate Memorial Day this weekend, and tomorrow, we give thanks for our freedoms, and for those who paid the greatest price so that we can be free. But while we are thankful for this free country, we recognize that this country is becoming less and less open to Christianity, not more and more. So if we’re going to wait for ideal conditions to talk about Jesus, it will never happen. And this country, and our community, our neighborhoods, our friends, even our families will continue to drift slowly away from Jesus, while we wait for them to ask us the right question.

We won’t wait. Like Paul, we make the most of where we are. Verse 30:

Wherever we live, wherever we work, wherever we hang out, whoever we know, without hindrance, without hesitation, we boldly preach that the kingdom of God is here, that the Lord Jesus Christ is taking broken lives and fixing them. He’s taking sinful people and making us holy. He’s taking dead and dying people and making us alive.