ACTS 26: 28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." 29 And Paul said, "I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains."
PERSPECTIVE AND PERSUASION
Text: Acts 26:28-29
“Former Michigan State football coach Duffy Daugherty once received a letter addressed simply to Duffy the Dope. A friend asked him, "Didn't that make you mad?" Duffy replied, "The card didn't make me mad. In fact I thought it was funny. What bothers me is that the East Lansing post office knew exactly where to deliver it." (Steve May. The Story File. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, p. 40). When Festus told Paul that he was out of his mind in verse 24, Paul could have taken offense but he did not. Unlike Agrippa, Festus would not have been familiar with the prophets, like Agrippa because he was not as familiar with the Jewish religion. Paul was speaking soberly about his subject. Paul also called Agrippa’s attention to his own knowledge of the prophets.
PAUL’S PERSPECTIVE
You would think Paul would be more defensive in an offensive way. Why? Paul was in prison for two years before this conversation took place. Was his sentence and imprisonment justified? Knowing his circumstances, you would think he be bitter. How would our spirit be if we were in prison for two years when it was excessive. Consider Paul’s words in the earlier part of Acts 26:5 – 8: "My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. 5 They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. 7 To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. 8 Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? (NKJV). After two years, you would think Paul would be talking legal issues, but he is witnessing on behalf of the gospel instead.
Paul’s presentation was pleasant. How well is our presentation in the face of adversity? When we face adversity are we as pleasant as Paul was? He was pleasant when most others would have been bitter. If Paul would have been bitter, then the whole situation might have changed. He used the situation to make his presentation an opportunity for witnessing. We can only wonder how things might have been different had he been bitter.
Paul former perspective was that of a persecutor of Christians. Paul was now a persecuted Christian. Paul talks about his past in verses 9 – 18. There is no doubt that the old Paul, when he was known as Saul would probably have handled things differently. He might have wanted an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
THE ALMOST PERSUADED
Did Agrippa refuse to be persuaded because he was afraid of what others would think? Many a man has turned down the opportunity to accept Jesus because they were afraid of what someone else thought. What is it to be Almost Christian? It is to see your need and not confess it. It is to wish to be saved and remain undecided. It is to be at the door, but still outside. (James Smith and Robert Lee. Handfuls On Purpose. Volume X. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971, p. 221). To be almost Christian is not enough. To be almost Christian is to still be lost because sin is still the master and we know that its wages are death (Romans 6:23). To die without Jesus is to be lost for eternity.
Did Agrippa refuse to be persuaded because he was haunted by his past? "This Agrippa was Herod Agrippa II, son of Herod Agrippa I ..." who had James executed (Acts 12:2) 16 years prior to this moment. He was also the "... grandson of Herod Antipas who had killed John the Baptist and mocked Christ, great grandson of Herod the Great who had murdered the children of Bethlehem". (H. H. Halley. Halley's Bible Handbook. New Revised Edition. (65th printing in 1988). Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1927, p. 580). Paul gave his testimony to Agrippa, then he gave an invitation to salvation (Acts 26). Agrippa was almost persuaded.
To be persuaded means that people have to let go of what is holding them back? Our perspective determines whether or not we will be persuaded. It has been said that “God never alters the robe of righteousness to fit the man, but the man to fit the robe”. (E. C. McKenzie. 14,000 Quips & Quotes. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990, p. 394). How people do we know who try to spend their lives making the robe of righteousness fit? Trying to make the robe of righteousness fit is like trying to make an oversized square fit into an undersized circle. Our perspective determines whether or not we will be persuaded. Agrippa was almost persuaded. To be almost is like getting near the threshold but never entering the door.
Before the whole thing was over, Agrippa said that Paul had done nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. He also said to Festus that Paul could have been free if he had not appealed to the Emperor. Paul did not waver in his passion or his witness.
How many almost persuaded people do we know? We all know people who are like Agrippa and Festus. There are people like Festus and Agrippa everywhere. For one reason or another these people have their convictions that persuade them and their hang ups that hold them back.
As someone (Albert Barnes) once put it concerning the almost persuaded: (1.) The almost but not persuaded. “They are found among (a) those who have been religiously educated; (b) those who are convinced by the argument of the truth of Christianity; (c) those whose consciences are awakened, and who feel guilt, and the necessity of some better portion than this world can furnish”. (2.) There are other things that hold them back (a) “the love of some sin that they are unwilling to abandon”; (b) the “fear of shame, persecution, or contempt, if they become Christians”; (c) the “temptations and cares of this world”; (d) the “love of an office, the pride of rank and power as in the case of Agrippa”; procrastination while waiting for a more “favorable time”. (Albert Barnes. Barnes’ Notes On The New Testament. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, n. d., p. 529).
Are there people that we know who are almost persuaded in any of these ways?
Do we know any celebrities who are or at one time almost persuaded? Here is one story that might surprise you.
It has been said that at one time former Beatle, John Lennon claimed he was a Christian some thirty-one years ago in 1977. Unfortunately his Christianity was short-lived. There are two authors (Robert Rosen and Geoffrey Giuliano) who have ran across Lennon’s personal diaries after his death. .”… Because of legal problems, neither Rosen nor Giuliano …” able “… to quote directly from the diaries, but both have drawn on the information.”
One of those authors, Robert Rosen cites Billy Graham as the main influence, whereas Geoffrey Giuliano mentions both Graham and Pat Robertson. Both agree that the period, during which Lennon peppered his everyday conversation with "Praise the Lord" and "Thank you, Jesus," was brief. Giuliano says it lasted for "a matter of months." Rosen suggests it was "about two weeks."
Giuliano, … pinpoints the conversion to a Palm Sunday and says that Lennon was so moved by a series about Jesus broadcast on Robertson's CBN that he broke down in tears. In the following weeks, he attended church services and took his son, Sean, to a Christian theater performance. He even called The 700 Club help line to request prayer for his health and troubled marriage. "He prayed for forgiveness when he stepped on insects or snapped at the maid," Giuliano writes. "He became convinced that Jesus was personally protecting Sean."
So profound was this change for John Lennon that he even wanted to share it with his wife Yoko Ono. "The dramatic conversion worried Yoko," Giuliano writes. "She feared John's new faith would clash with her own ideas about spiritualism and threaten her iron hold over him."
In the end Ono won. In his final years, the man best known for his lines "Imagine there's no heaven / It's easy if you try" was living a life dictated by astrologers, numerologists, clairvoyants, psychics, herbalists, and tarot-card readers.
The one song that Lennon wrote during his born-again period has never been released. "You Saved My Soul," which recounts being prevented from attempting suicide while staying in a Tokyo hotel, is known only to Beatles bootleggers. (David P. Barret. ed. Perfect Illustrations For Every Topic And Occasion. Wheaton: Tyndale, 2002, pp. 19 -20).
How many other celebrities are there who might be persuaded in similar ways?
Like Paul, all we can do is try to reach people where they are. All we can do is share our perspective and witness. We do not know how the story ended for Agrippa and Festus. Did they ever cross the threshold and enter the door of having a relationships with the Savior? We do not know. All we know is that at least some seeds were planted. Sometimes that is all we can do is plant seeds that someone else will one day water. It is God who brings the increase (I Corinthians 3:6 – 9). Like Paul, we need to remember that is important for us to do all we can in our witnessing and let God do the rest. God is patient and not willing that anyone should perish, but that everyone should come to repentance (II peter 3:9). The time will come when God will not overlook times of human ignorance commanding everyone to repent to (Acts 17:31). Although it is God’s will for everyone to repent, repentance is not up to God—it is up to each individual. Sin separates us from God and to die in sin without having repented is indeed the biggest tragedy. Again, all we can do is plant seeds and leave the rest to God. Like Paul, God wants us persuasive from our perspective.
