The first impeachment trial of a President of the United States began on March 30, 1868. The
54 Senators were at their desks in the Senate Chamber, and at the front was Chief Justice Salmen P.
Chase of the Supreme Court, who would preside over the trial. The President himself was not there.
He felt it beneath his dignity to honor the trial with his presence, and so he remained in the White
House.
It was a complex case. Abraham Lincoln did a strange thing. He asked his Republican
Convention to let him choose a Democrat to run as his Vice President. Believe it or not, they
nominated Andrew Johnson for the Vice Presidency. Lincoln had appointed Johnson as military
Governor of Tenn. Johnson favored Lincoln's plan to unite the North and South after the Civil War,
and not seek to punish the rebel South. Many radicals in Lincoln's party wanted revenge, and they
wanted the South to be punished. Lincoln won support for his plan for unity, and the result was a
Republican-Democrat team won the election. A Republican President with a Democrat Vice
President would be strange enough, but it gets even stranger.
When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, Andrew Johnson became the President. Our nation
went from a Republican to a Democrat President with no votes or election whatever. It was not a
ballot, but a bullet that brought about this radical change. The Republicans were not pleased with
this turn of events, and they set out to make life miserable for a man they never liked in the first
place. To make a long story short, they finally found a way to bring impeachment charges against
him when he forced his Secretary of War to resign, who was a Republican. The Republicans
controlled the Senate, and all it took was a two-thirds majority of the Senate to impeach him.
It was a 6 weeks long battle with the best lawyers in the country on both sides. When the vote
was finally taken on May 16, 1868 Andrew Johnson won by one vote, and survived as President.
The only way he could have done it was if his lawyers were clever enough to divide his enemies, and
that is precisely what they did. Seven Republicans were persuaded not to vote with the radicals.
They paid with their political lives, and they never won another election to office, but Andrew
Johnson, thanks to his clever lawyers, not only survived, but after his term ran for the Senate and
won. He sat in that very chamber where he narrowly escaped his greatest defeat.
I share this long introduction out of our history because it is a fascinating example of the
complexity of life, and of the importance of cleverness for success and survival. The only way a
minority can win in a conflict with the majority is by the strategy of divide and conquer. The only
way you can win in a court case is to get the jury divided. If they are all united against you, you are
sunk. But if you can break that unity and get opposition among them, you have a chance to win. If
you are before the Supreme Court and all of the judges are united the battle is lost. But if you can get
the judges divided you have hope of winning. The very essence of being a clever lawyer is in having
the skill to bring about division in the ranks of your opponents.
The Apostle Paul in all of the trials of his final years never had a lawyer. Jesus was his heavenly
advocate, but he represented himself before both Jewish and Gentiles judges. In chapter 24 the Jews
brought a lawyer with them in Paul's trial before Governor Felix. One of their reasons for their
bringing professional counsel is because of Paul's clever maneuvering here in chapter 23. As his own
lawyer he was able to outwit the Supreme Court of the Jews. It was certainly a great embarrassment
to them to be outwitted by Paul's cleverness. I suspect it is an embarrassment to many Christians
even that Paul was so clever in his escape. The reason is that the Christian is often conditioned to
think that being clever is more in tune with following Satan than the Savior.
So much of the cleverness of history has been the cleverness of evil. The cunning serpent was
able to deceive Adam and Eve into choosing death for life, and by his cunning he has deceived the
majority of mankind. We tend to think of cleverness as the ability to get away with something in a
negative sense. Like the clever little boy who was warned by his mother not to take seconds. When
his hostess at the party saw how eagerly he gobbled up his ice cream, she asked if he wanted some
more? The boy said, "I promised mom I wouldn't except more the second time, but if you ask me the
third time I guess it would be alright." Or what of the boy who asked his teacher, "Would you punish
someone for something they didn't do?" When she said, "Of course not," he said, "Good, because I
didn't do my homework."
We think that cleverness will lead to the con-man mentality that devices sting operations that
cleverly rob people legally and ingeniously. And the reason we think this is because it is true.
Vincent Teresa in his book My Life In The Mafia tells of all the clever ways he got people to give
him money. He didn't need a gun to rob a bank. He would go into cash a ten-dollar check, and when
the teller asked for ID he would say he had none. She would send him to the manager to get it
okayed. He would go to the manager's desk and show his license and get the manager to initial the
check. Then instead of cashing it he would take it and trace the manager's initials on a bogus
4000-dollar check, and then send his accomplice to the bank to do the same thing. He would be sent
to get his ten-dollar check okayed by the manager, and when he came back to the teller he would
switch to the 4000 dollar check. She would see it initialed and see he just came from the manager
and give him the money. They took many banks by this clever scheme. He tells of all kinds of ways
they robbed insurance companies of millions. Evil thrives by cleverness, and that it why we tend to
think of it as evil.
We see satanic cleverness at its best in his temptation of Jesus. He came to a starving man and
urged him to use His power to make bread of stones. He came to a man who was lonely and in need
of fellowship seeking to entice Him to jump off the temple and have the cheering crowds at His side.
He came to a man who felt weak and powerless, and offered him the kingdoms of the world if he
would bow down to him. Satan is a master of cleverness, but we are blind indeed if we think he is the
king of cleverness. Jesus outwitted him at every point and takes the throne as king of cleverness.
From that victory in the wilderness Jesus went on to His public ministry where He had to outwit
the Scribes, Saducees and Pharisees time and time again.
Then He had to outsmart the devil even in death, and gain control of his realm by getting the keys to
death and hell. Jesus not only outwitted the best minds of His day, He outwitted the serpent himself
and became the greatest example of the power of sanctified cleverness in overcoming the forces of
evil. If you are going to win any battle against the forces that promote prejudice, racism,
discrimination, and all forms of injustice in the world you must develop the virtue of cleverness.
Cleverness is a skill, and it does not mean anything negative in itself. There are many positive
synonyms such as apt, adroit, bright, capable, smart, talented, ingenious, sharp, intelligent and keen.
If you don't think it is a virtue for a Christian to be clever, then you just as well cut out all the
wisdom literature of your Bible. For the whole point of wisdom is that we might be clever in all
areas of life in doing what is good, true and beautiful, and also beneficial to both man and God. If
you are anti-clever then you will be promoting the opposite, which is dull, stupid, slow, perverse,
clumsy, awkward, senseless, witless, foolish and ignorant. I think it is safe to say that there are no
Christian ideals in this list, but there are in the synonyms of cleverness. We can conclude that the
Christian is called to be clever, for it is the only way we can win in the conflict with the powers of
darkness.
Jesus said that sometimes we don't win because the children of darkness are wiser in their
generation than the children of light. They are not wiser in the long run, but for their generation they
may win the battle, for they are more clever, and so they outwit the forces of light. Cleverness is one
of the chief ingredients in any battle, and to be without it is to face armed opponents without a
weapon. Paul had no sword as he stood before his judges, but he was not unarmed. He had the
sword of the Spirit, and so he was armed with the weapon of cleverness that enabled him to win in
spite of great negative odds.
You may still have more negative feelings about cleverness than positive ones. I needed more
assurance that this could really be a biblical virtue, and so I went to my ten volume Kittels
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. I looked up clever, and to my surprise it was there.
The Greek word Sophizo is used only twice in the New Testament, but what a revelation those two
uses are. They make it clear that cleverness is either good or evil depending on what you use it for.
The word is used very negatively by Peter when he says in II Peter 1:16, "We did not follow cleverly
invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The KJV
has cunningly devised fables. Peter is saying that the world is full of clever religious con-games that
ensnare people by one psychological trick or another. Evil is clever. If it wasn't we would not have
to be very sharp to avoid it.
This is the side of cleverness we have so often stressed that we seldom ever think of the other side
of the coin. How are we supposed to win in a world so full of clever evil? How are families
supposed to survive in a world with so many clever forces out to destroy them? How can you ever
raise children who will escape the clever forces of evil that entice them into every sin and folly that
can destroy them? How can Christians outwit the forces that entice them into every kind of
immorality and compromise? The answer is that we need to fight fire with fire and develop, as Paul
did, Christian cleverness.
Listen to the only other use of this Greek word Sophizo in the New Testament. Paul uses it in II
Tim. 3. Let me share some of the context. In verse 13 Paul writes, "While evil men and impostures
will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." Paul describes the worldly cleverness that
is a vicious circle of folly deception. But then in contrast he goes on in verses 14 and 15, "But as for
you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those
from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are
able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ." The word there for wise is the
word we are looking at. The same word to describe the clever and cunning myths of the world is
used to describe the clever plan of salvation in Christ.
Do you think God is not clever, or that he is not able to outwit the devil? Of course he is. That
is the basis for all our hope. The Christian has to be constantly growing in his knowledge of the
Bible in order to be clever or wise in salvation. Paul was saying that Timothy was the sharp
Christian he was because he grew up in a home where he learned the Scripture from infancy. Show
me a mother and father who teach their children the Word of God and I will show you some clever
parents. They are clever because they know they are giving this child a weapon that will enable them
to defend themselves from the clever wilds of the devil.
The more you face the forces of evil, the more you need to be armed with the virtue of Christian
cleverness. Elizabeth Wordsworth wrote,
If all good people were clever,
And all clever people were good,
The world would be nicer than ever
We thought that it possibly could.
But somehow, tis seldom or never
The two hit it off as they should.
The good are so harsh to the clever,
And the clever so rude to the good.
The poet's ideal is to see good and clever combined in the same person, and that is what we see in
Paul as the Apostle of Christian cleverness. Let's look at how he exhibits his cleverness in facing
insurmountable odds. And remember, this is the only way the underdog can win, for he has to
outsmart the superior opponent. David could not match Goliath in strength, and so in a face to face
combat he would be dead in seconds. His only hope was a specialized skill that would help him
defeat the giant at a distant. That was David's key to victory. His clever use of the sling enabled him
to take Goliath by surprise. God led His people to victory many times by means of clever strategy.
Gideon faced the host of Midiannites that covered the valley like thick locust. They had so many
camels they could no more be counted than the sands on the seashore the Bible says. He had only
300 men, but by the clever maneuver of banging jars and blowing 300 trumpets and shouting they
threw that vast army into a state of panic. They began fighting each other, and they fled in fear. That
was very clever, and God used that kind of cleverness to save Israel time and time again. Paul's
escape by means of cleverness reveals that God has not given up on cleverness as a key weapon for
His people.
I. THE CLEVERNESS OF PAUL'S APPROACH.
The first thing you have to do in confronting an opponent is to test them and try to find out where
their weakness is. This is true in war, sports and politics. Wherever there is a matching of wits, skills
or strength you have to approach the battle with some strategy that will give you a clue to your
opponent's weakness. Paul does this by approaching the Sanhedrin in such a way that he can test
their objectivity. If he can get the high priest to compromise the integrity of the court by revealing
that the judges are prejudice against him he has already won a moral victory.
Paul does this by what he knows will be a very offensive approach. His first words before the
court are a plea of not guilty. Paul says, "I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to
this day." That was like saying that here you are as the Supreme Court of the land waiting to pounce
on a man who is totally innocent, and who has never knowingly broken a single law of Israel. If Paul
meant this to get under their skin, if sure worked, for the high priest responded with immediate anger.
He ordered Paul struck for such arrogance. Paul had the audacity to imply that the Supreme Court
had nothing better to do than harass innocent citizens.
Paul took the slap but he won this opening round, for as is usually the case, the first one to get
mad in a conflict is the first one to make a mistake. The high priest was responsible to maintain a
high level of objectively in the court, and he has already lost his temper. By his rash action against
Paul he has violated the very law he is sworn to uphold. Paul got the high priest to reveal something
that he would rather have kept hidden. That put him on the defensive and gave Paul some measure
of control in the situation. Getting an opponent to reveal what is hidden is part of what cleverness is
all about.
Modern man has electronic devices to help him detect hidden weapons, but it is not a new idea.
The ancients had this same cleverness. In ancient China the capital city Siam had its gates made of
loadstone, which is a natural magnet. If a would be assassin came through the gate with a concealed
dagger the loadstone would pull on the weapon like an invisible hand. Startled, the assassin would
grab for his weapon and train guards would grab him.
If you find a way to make your opponent reveal what he is up to, it gives you an advantage.
Paul has already established that he is standing before a hanging judge, and that any pretense that he
is facing an unbiased court is a farce. This is not only important in the strategy to divide and
conquer, it is important for ones own motivation. It is so much easier to be clever when you know for
sure that you are facing a real foe who is not going to treat you fairly.
Next we see-
II. THE CLEVERNESS OF PAUL'S APOLOGY.
We can't spend much time on this, for Paul certainly didn't either. When he was accused of
insulting the high priest he backed off from his aggressive approach and became apologetic. "I didn't
realize he was the high priest," Paul said. Then he shows that he knows the honor he is to give to the
leaders of Israel by quoting the Scripture. Paul had just accused the high priest of violating the law,
and everyone could see he had just done so, for it was illegal to strike an accused man until proven
guilty.
Paul has lost his temper also in firing back with the name-calling. He says, "You white washed
wall," and then gives the prophecy that God would strike him. The tension here is very intense, but
Paul is clever enough to know that if he is going to get into a one on one duel with the high priest he
is signing his own death warrant. He has been provoked into anger, but he is still in control, and so
he cools it by submitting to the law, which demands respect for one's ruler. Had he not gained control
here, but let his anger go on blazing at the high priest, he would have hung himself before the trial
began.
A part of cleverness is the ability to see when your opponent has set you up to destroy yourself.
If you play his game he will win, and Ananias almost had Paul right here, but Paul could see where
the chain of events was leading, and he refused to follow. He choose the way of strategic retreat
where you stop fighting the war your opponent wants you to fight, and you go fight one of your own
choosing. That is what Paul does here. He apologizes and closes down this front, and then he
immediately opens up a new front where he is in control. He gets the court to focus on their own
emotions rather than on him. There is just no question about it that this was clever maneuvering for
survival.
One of the reasons that being so clever bothers us is because it seems unlike Jesus who stood
before His judges and opened not His mouth. We forget that Jesus was not trying to defend Himself
and escape. He was submissively laying down His life for our sin. Paul is not doing that. He
couldn't do it if he wanted to. He was fighting for his life, and so he did open his mouth and use
every clever trick he could think of to escape an unjust death.
If Paul could see how his death could benefit the church, he probably would have, like his Lord,
surrendered to the unjust plot. But Paul had no such revelation. He was fighting evil forces to stay
alive in order to do the will of God. Jesus did this same thing time and time again until it was the
right time to lay down his life. He would have been killed much earlier if he had not used clever
means and even miracles to escape death by violence. Paul's day came too, but until then he was a
survivor, and if it meant apology to a tyrant to do it, that was the choice of Christian cleverness. Next
we see-
III. THE CLEVERNESS OF PAUL'S APPEAL
The essence of cleverness in court cases is the element of surprise. The surprise witness, or
surprise bit of evidence, that is so conclusive, or even better yet, the surprise confession is what makes
the world of difference. It blows the case wide open and all is changed. Paul makes a surprise move
and appeals to the Pharisees in the court to recognize that he is really on trial for being a Pharisee and
believing in the resurrection of the dead.
Everyone was surprised but Paul. He knew exactly what the reaction would be. Cleverness is
the ability to get your opponent to play your game. I know whether I am going to win or lose very
early when I play tennis. I know if I can get the opponent to play my game I have it won. This is
what Paul is doing. Soon there was no order in the court as conflict broke out among the judges.
Paul knew the history of the conflict between the Saducees and the Pharisees. He knew they would
fight like cats and dogs if their favorite bone of contention was thrown into the ring.
There is humor in this cleverness, for we have to chuckle when we see a large number of his
enemies have suddenly become witnesses for his defense. The Pharisees were saying, "We find
nothing wrong with this man." It is amazing and amusing that Paul could pull this off and have the
Supreme Court judges fighting over him. It would have cost a fortune to hire so many lawyers, but
here they are defending Paul for nothing, and that is clever.
A Jew in Russia, who owned a large farm, was arrested and kept in jail. One day he received a
frantic letter from his wife, saying, in part, "I'm going crazy-how am I ever going to take care of the
farm?" The husband answered the letter, concluding: "P.S.-don't worry; I have taken care of us on
the northern 40 acres." A week later the prisoner received a letter from his wife. "What are you
thinking of?" she wrote nervously. "How could you write such a thing in a letter? Since it came the
Secret Police have dug up the whole 40 acres." To this the husband replied, "Good! Now plant!"
When you enemy is playing your game you are being clever. The cross is the symbol of Christ's
cleverness. Satan and all the forces of darkness worked overtime to get Jesus crucified, and in so
doing they played right into the hands of Christ, for it was by means of His death that gained the right
to redeem all those in bondage to Satan. Just as the Pharisees were working for Paul, and the Secret
Police were working for the Jewish prisoner, so Satan was working for Christ. Because of this we
can look at the cross and see it as the ultimate symbol of godly cleverness.
All through history clever Christians have been able to get their foes to help them achieve God's
plan. One of the cleverest Christian women in history was Evangeline Booth, who was the General
of the Salvation Army. The liquor industry organized attacks on her because her ministry was
hurting their business. They threw things at her, hollered curses, and just generally harassed her. She
approached the ringleader of the gang in the neighborhood and asked for his help by being her
bodyguard. He was proud to need his leadership needed, and his gang followed him in protecting her
from those who threatened her. She used a segment of the world to protect her from another segment
of the world. That is Christian cleverness.
The mother of Moses used the daughter of Pharaoh to raise the child that Pharaoh ordered to be
killed. She was using his money to train and educate her son who would be wise enough to lead the
people of Israel out of Egypt. When you can get your enemies to subsidize the plan for their own
defeat, that is clever.
Paul was clever because he knew human nature, and he knew what effect this appeal would
have. It is in knowing how what you do will make others react that makes you clever. Eugene Nida,
the Christian linguist who has helped thousands translate the Bible into many languages, has always
been clever. He tells of how he sold vegetables in the summer as a boy. He would put up a sign
across the road saying don't look at the other side. He knew people would look, and by this clever
method of getting their attention he sold more vegetables.
A synonym for the word clever is quick or quick-witted. Clever is the man who can come up
with a quick solution to a problem. F. W. Boreham tells of a man on a train in England who put his
head out the window forgetting he had his top hat on. It, of course, blew off. Quick as lightening he
grabbed his leather hatbox and threw it out the window. He was asked, "Why in the world did you
do that?" "Well, you see, the hat box has my name and address on it, but the hate doesn't." And sure
enough his hat was returned because of his quick thinking.
In Acts 27 the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea. They were about to abandon the ship.
Paul had to think quick or all would be lost. He said to the Centurian and Roman soldiers, "Unless
these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved." That one sentence motivated them to act, for
their own salvation was involved. The next verse says, "So the soldiers cut the rope that held the
lifeboat and let it fall away." Paul by his quick wit saved the day again for all of them. Paul had tothink fast to save himself many times.
In 1066 when William the Conqueror landed on the English shore with his Normans he boldly
led the way. When he stepped ashore, however, he slipped and fell. A great cry of distress went up
from his soldiers. It was an evil omen! But the clever William bounced to his feet clutching two
handfuls of English soil. This is no evil omen he shouted! "This is a sign from God! See my hands,
by the splendor of God I have taken possession of England with both my hands. It is now mine and
what is mine is yours." The soldiers were cheered and swarmed ashore eager to possess the land.
This fall could have been a disaster, but by his quick wit and cleverness he turned it into an asset, and
he marched on to be the last invader to ever conquer England. He created the British Empire, and his
blood became the royal bloodline of England.
He had to be clever in battle as well as in psychological warfare. When it looked like there was
no way to penetrate the wall of English soldiers he ordered a retreat. The English thought they had
them on the run and broke their ranks to pursue them. When William decided that they were
thoroughly out of formation he gave the order to halt the retreat and attack. The English were not
prepared for this, and were too unorganized to hold them back, and the Normans won the battle and
all of England.
This strategy was used very effectively by the Jews in the Old Testament. It is one of the clever
tricks of warfare. The very essence of cleverness in any conflict is to gain control, and have the
opponent doing what you want him to do. You pretend you are going to hit the ball one way so that
he turns that way, but then you hit the opposite way and hit a winner. In warfare it is done all the
time. You send you men to build a bridge across a river, and the enemy thinks this is where you plan
to invade. They station their army near that place to intercept you. Meanwhile, you have sent your
major army to invade in another place while they watch you build a bridge. The classic cleverness
that wins wars is making your opponent take actions that serve your purpose. This is just what we
see Paul doing, and he was a master at it.
We love to see our team make clever plays that score. We love to see our favorite politician
make clever moves that win votes. We love to see winners in all areas of life who succeed by their
cleverness. The point is, God also loves to see His children outwit the devil and all of the forces of
darkness. He loves to see wisdom in action. He loves to see Christians escape the traps of evil by
their cleverness. You may have never asked this of God before, but will you join me now in praying
that God would give us the wisdom to develop our skills in Christian cleverness.
