What Did You Call Me?

What Did You Call Me?

5 We have found this man to be a troublemaker who is constantly stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the cult known as the Nazarenes. 6 Furthermore, he was trying to desecrate the Temple when we arrested him.” 8 You can find out the truth of our accusations by examining him yourself.” 9 Then the other Jews chimed in, declaring that everything Tertullus said was true. Acts 24:5-9

24 Suddenly, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!” 25 But Paul replied, “I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. What I am saying is the sober truth. 26 And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner! 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do—”28 Agrippa interrupted him. “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?” Acts 26:24-28

Within just a matter of a few chapters the Jewish leaders throw every accusation they have at Paul in front of the Roman rulers of their day. He is a liar, he leads a cult, he wants to bring Rome down, he kicks cats just for fun. There was just no end to their insults even though they had no evidence to back up their claims. Of course evidence wasn’t an issue when it came to accusing Jesus either. Then as if that wasn’t enough Paul is called a lunatic by Festus and is slammed by King Agrippa who was no doubt feeling the conviction of the Lord. None of this seems to phase Paul in the least because he just keeps talking. He had left his reputation behind when he gave his life to Christ and his credibility and authority came from no one else but Christ. When you embrace a life of chains and jail to advance the Gospel some insults or misrepresentations don’t even phase you. Paul’s whole goal was to bring each and every person he came across to make a choice about Jesus regardless of what they chose to think about him.

As I read this I am reminded of how Jesus warned the disciples that the student will experience no less then the Master. Just as an encounter with Jesus required a choice as liar, lunatic or Lord so too Paul’s life brought people to the same choice about Jesus. What this means is that even though we believe relational evangelism is the most effective there will come a point when people have to choose and they may choose to call me names, to insult me, and impugn my reputation. Just the other day I had someone comment negatively on my blog and it tweeked me a lot more then I thought it would. There’s still a little too much “self preservation of Jon” left in this process. I have always wanted everyone to like me, but if I’m not careful this will cause me to soft pedal the Gospel instead of allowing the weight of choice to be fully felt.

Lord, I lay down my reputation and put all my insecurities in Your hand. I pray that regardless of the audience you bring me before I would not curtail the truth of who You are in order to appease the hearers. You are my Lord and that means that there will be people I come across who think that I am a liar or a lunatic. Help me to love them more then my own need to justify myself and my belief in You!

Here’s what C.S. Lewis had to say about this point of choice we all arrive at with Christ:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was,Trilemma and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.