Paul in Rome

Paul's time in Rome must have been very frustrating as well as very significant. It was significant because he had, at long last, brought the gospel to the very centre of the western world. Here he was preaching almost without hindrance while under house arrest. Granted he was under arrest and so had to face a formal trial at some time, but in the meantime he was not too uncomfortable and had relatively free access to people.

Paul wasted no time. It was only three days after he arrived in Rome that he began to preach. He was conscious of the need to steward his time and energy. It would be more than two years before his execution but he was not to know that.

This was the very thing which also made it frustrating.  Many influential people came to hear him, but also he could not escape the Jewish party that saw him as an opponent to their way of religion.

In Acts 28 we see part of the outworking of this. Paul goes to great lengths to explain to the Jewish leaders about the Kingdom of God and how Jesus fitted in to their own history and understanding of faith.

Some believed and followed The Way, but others stirred up trouble. Paul then quoted from Isaiah the same passage that Jesus used.

Acts 28
26 “‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
27 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

Jesus used this passage to explain why He hid His teaching in parables rather than plain speech.

The passage explains that ultimately Jesus’ teachings can only really be understood through the eye of faith. Pure human reasoning will get you so far, to the point of curiosity, but will not bring you to a full understanding of Jesus and His Kingdom. Even when you have ‘crossed the river ‘ there is a fundamental need to keep moving forward towards the Father. Jesus the way, the ONLY way to achieve this. It is His Kingdom that we preach. It is Jesus alone that we worship. It is Jesus alone who we allow to govern our thinking and actions. He alone is the answer to every question that this world asks. His ways may (will) seem ineffective to those early on the path, but to those of us who have walked this part for decades, it is so clear that Jesus has all the answers if only He is heard properly.

There is a point where you need to stop trying to convince people about the Kingdom of God and move on to more productive grounds, where people will listen AND obey. Where this point is must be shown to you by the Holy Spirit. But there is a point where such action is to be taken. Jesus spoke of it in terms of wiping the dust off your feet and going to the next village. Both Jesus and Paul seemed to have a very low threshold of staying, and seemed to move on quite quickly.

Time is too short to spend excessive time in argument when there are others who will listen and respond.

The Isaiah quote has seemed harsh to many people, since it speaks of a veiling of the gospel to many, if not most, people. It speaks to a situation where people have heard and heard the gospel to such a degree that they are inoculated against the real gospel. It is a frightening thing to realise that we can do danger to people's faith by continuing to preach the truth them. People who have been so inoculated can't hear the truth anymore. Their spirits actually reject it in the same way as a person inoculated against a disease will actively fight that disease in their body.

Could that be part of the reason for the writer to the Hebrews saying:

Hebrews 6:4-8 NIV
[4] It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age [6] and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. [7] Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. [8] But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.”

This is a most serious matter. There seem to be many who would fit this category in many churches and among those who have left the church for a range of reasons. Ultimately it is Jesus who will determine who they are when he separates “the sheep from the goats” at the end of time.

While we do not determine who these are, we are told, in the passage under consideration, that we are not to spend too much time trying to convince such people.

Some will undoubtedly point me to Jesus’ teaching about the shepherd who leaves the 99 to go after the one lost  one. I would answer that this is a completely different matter from those who have “been inoculated.”

The bottom line in Acts 28 and elsewhere is that we are to be stewards of our time and opportunities. There are so many who need to hear of Jesus and His Kingdom that we are to be wise as to how much time and effort we spend on the “hard and rocky ground”, when there are so many productive opportunities and fruitful grounds where we could be investing our time and energy.

Who should you be moving on to?