The Citizenship Card Series

THE CITIZENSHIP CARD

Text: Acts 22:24-29

Introduction

1. Illustration: In America, unlike any other country of the time, the Founders envisioned a land where people of all faiths could worship God without fear of persecution. The freedom to worship would, in turn, cultivate the piety and virtue necessary for the success of self-government. Washington noted that it would be folly to believe that national morality could be sustained without the support and guidance of religion. And although the Founders provided the widest scope for religious liberty, they presupposed that the principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition would be enshrined in the hearts of all citizens. These religious principles, Benjamin Rush argued, should be encouraged for they “promote the happiness of society and the safety and well-being of civil government.” (William J. Bennett. Our Sacred Honor: The Spirit of America. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997).

2. This nation has been built on the principle of religious liberty. In fact, it is a part of the First Amendment of our Constitution. Yet, in recent decades, religious freedom has been dwindling under the disguise of “separation of church and state,” something which does not appear in our Constitution.

3. For this reason, I feel it is important that we realize what our rights are as citizens of this great nation.

4. Read Acts 22:24-29

Transition: It is vital that we…

I. Know Our Rights (24-25).

A. Is It Legal

1. Paul had found himself in a difficult predicament. The crowd around him wanted to kill, and the Roman commander wanted to know what all of the trouble was about but wasn’t able to find anything out because of all the chaos.

2. So, the commander decided to take things into his own hands. In v. 24 we read, “The commander brought Paul inside and ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess his crime. He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious.”

a. The Roman commander was losing his patience with this situation.

b. He couldn’t get anything out of the furious crowd, and although he had a connection with Paul because he had spoken to the commander in his own language, he couldn’t get anything from him either.

c. So, he figured he’d beat it out of him. He gave an order for Paul to be whipped hoping to get a confession out of him.

d. Now Paul had been subjected to his share of physical abuse over the years. He had been stoned and left for dead, and he had been whipped with canes, just to name a few.

e. But this was far more severe than anything he had experience up to this point. This was the same flogging that Jesus had received before his crucifixion.

f. This particular form of torture, called the flagellum in Latin, involved being whipped with leather straps that had pieces of bone, sharp metal, or glass imbedded in them, and it was attached to a wooden handle.

g. This beating was so severe that if it didn’t kill you, it could leave you lamed, taking several months if not years to recover from, if you recovered at all.

3. However, look what Paul does before the beating commenced. In v. 25 it says, “When they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to the officer standing there, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?”

a. Now, here’s the scene. The soldiers had tied Paul down and were getting ready to give him a beating. But Paul, as the savvy and intelligent man that he was, knew his rights as a Roman citizen.

b. So, he looked up at the officer standing there and asked him, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen what hasn’t even been tried?”

c. You see, the commander nor the soldiers were aware that Paul was a Roman citizen by birth. They assumed he was a local Jew, but actually his father was a Roman citizen, and therefore, Paul by birth was a Roman too!

d. By law, a citizen of Rome could not be punished without first having a trial, and a Roman citizen could not be interrogated by beating or torture.

e. Since Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, what they were about to do to him was illegal, and they were in jeopardy of being punished severely for what they were about to do to him. And Paul knew it.

f. Now it’s one thing to be tortured, or even die, for the sake of the Gospel if you have no other choice. But Paul had a choice, so he exercised his rights.

g. The important thing that we need to see here is that Paul knew his rights.